This is a question often asked by anyone trying to prove their cultural credentials but it is a valid question and if your name is Dolly Parton and it crops up with increasing regularity, then perhaps, quite rightly, ears will prick up. And if your name is Dolly Parton and the reason for it cropping up is because it has been established that you have Welsh blood running in your veins, then it is not surprising that this will cause something of a stir in Wales and a lot of mentions in the Press.
It has been said that Dolly and her family will be visiting Wales later this year presumably to see where her ancestors hailed from. Tenby, in West Wales, is said to be their destination and also a visit to the ‘valleys’, so maybe there is thought to be a connection there too.
However, recently during a TV interview, a lady who I think, might be Dolly’s cousin, said that Tenby was incorrect and in fact the ancestors came from North Wales. Since Dolly and her family will be using her new found ancestry to make a TV programme, it seems to us that there might be something of an accuracy problem involved.
Why should that affect us I hear you say. Well, not at all really except from a professional point of view in this case. Nevertheless as Wales Beckons is an inbound tour company specialising in Ancestry Tours to Wales we cannot but be interested Not surprisingly, a lot of people who seek our help in arranging a tour for them to find out more about their ancestors are from the USA.
The search for ancestors in not always an easy one and perhaps especially in Wales, with its Welsh language and difficult place names to non-Welsh people, there is a lot of scope for mistakes to creep in. And there lies the rub.
We at Wales Beckons, do not claim to have any in depth knowledge about ancestry and that is why we are so fortunate to have working with us a lovely lady, Elinor Gilbey who is a renowned genealogist. In fact it was Elinor who worked a few years ago, with the Osmond family, yes Donny and Marie especially, to trace their ancestry in Wales. (they come from Merthyr by the way). Elinor is also happy to directly advise our clients who would prefer some professional attention being paid to their family tree and their own efforts at tracing their ancestors.
Only the other day we were sitting with Elinor who was pondering over some family records which she had received from a client. These, to say the least, were not very helpful and perhaps not even accurate but she was working her way through her own sources and will, by the time the clients arrive, have a better family tree for them than would otherwise have been the case.
It should be remembered that searching for a Jones, Evans or Williams in Welsh records is something of a mammoth task especially when exacerbated by incorrect spellings of names or place names.
What Wales Beckons excels at is arranging superb, well curated tours to enable our clients to see the places to which they are linked by history. We cannot guarantee it, but it might even be possible to find a living descendant of those who left our shores many years ago or even a relative. This has been done for one of our clients.
If tracing your Welsh ancestors is something you would like to do, please get in touch and we can assure you that your search will be the very best possible and you will have a wonderful time in Wales. Check out our website or call us on +44 1269 823355.
