Hi,
I first got interested in finding out more about my family in 1983 when I attended a Family reunion that was held for the Ancestors of my Mothers Great Grand father.
In 1984 I joined the Society of Genealogist New Zealand and got my Great Grandfathers Marriage certificate along with his intention to marry, his Marriage certificate told me that his Father was John GRIMSHAW and his mother was Ann GRIMSHAW, her maiden name being BERRY, it also told me that my Great Grandfather came from Armagh, Ireland, having found this out I thought I would see if I could get in contact with some GRIMSHAW’s in Ireland.
So I wrote to all eleven (11) that where listed in the Telephone directories of Ireland, out of those 11 GRIMSHAW’s only one replied, see my story that I wrote for the Irish Link.
What I do not say in that story is from the records I had transcribed I became the Authority on that family as at that point I was now aware that my GRIMSHAW family was not a true GRIMSHAW family as such.
With that information I got interested in seeing how many of the GRIMASON’s I could trace forward to present day, this in essence was the beginning of my One Name Study even though it would be a number of years before I was to First Register the GRIMASON surname as a One Name Study.
The thrill I get out of this hobby is putting Family back in Contact with fellow Kin, see “The Best Christmas present” story of mine.
Many years ago after doing some research on a GRIMASON family which part of it had migrated to Queensland Australia, this was not the first family to Migrate to Australia, that honor belong to one John GRIMASON otherwise GRIMISON who features in the Book called “Echoes Down the Years” written by Bruce Caird GRIMISON, this is a well written book and gives the reader a good idea of what early life in Australia was like.
From my research I was told that I was The Sherlock Holmes of the family, this I take as being an honor and a standard which I do my best to up hold.
When in contact with others that show an interest in the GRIMASON surname or a variant I normally will give a link to the source of my information, case in point is the Census of Canada, Ireland, Scotland England and Wales, plus USA.
