Time Travel Can Be Done (Sort Of)

April 6, 2011 | By Mike Cameron

St John The Baptist Church – Chilcompton

I recently traveled to England for some business meetings and I took an opportunity to “travel back in time” and visit some historical sites of some deceased ancestors. My wife and I left a few days before the business meetings started and we brought two of our adult children along for the Time Travel Journey.

Prior to going we did some internet research and found the names and locations of some ancestors from both sides of our families. We got our children involved in the process and identified some great, great, great…grandparents who were from England. We were able to find the dates and locations of their births and their deaths and this became our “Time Travel” itinerary.

We started out in Chilcompton, Somerset, England where one of my great grandfathers, George Woodland, was buried on September 11, 1856. We found the only church and the only cemetery in the entire community. The gravestones from the 1800s were all worn beyond recognition but we believe we “traveled back in time” to his resting place.

Discovering our Ancestry – Barlow Hall

We then traveled to Chorlton Cum Hardy, Lancashire, England and found Barlow Hall (my wife’s maiden name) where one of her great Grandfathers was born, in 1557. It turns out that Sir Alexander Barlow was a Knight! We found a plaque on the wall that detailed the name of the king who knighted him and a long list of her ancestors. Not only did we “travel back in time”, our children found out about a great grandfather who was knighted.

In between the two stops we visited Liverpool England and visited the homes where John, Paul, George and Ringo grew up. This presented another opportunity “to travel back in time” to visit part of our “heritage.” Our visits included Penny Lane and Strawberry Field.