My
name is Stephen Eric Norman Cranstoun and this is the story of
the Cranstoun family. The story begins with the passing of my
mother Gladys Ellen Perrin Cranstoun on December 12, 2011. After
being married for over 60 years my father sort of lost his way
due to my mother’s passing.
One day as we were going through old family pictures I began to ask some questions about who was in the pictures, then it hit me, we need to know who we are, my father seemed mildly interested and it took his mind off my mother, so I began a family tree tracing it from me and the adventure began.
I don’t suppose the average person undertakes to write a family history on purpose, I know I didn’t. I started off with the express idea of finding out who I was, for me, my children and my grandchildren. I was planning on making a simple family tree. I knew nothing of genealogy, DNA, research, national archives or keeping records.
When I first visited Antigua and my cousins, Diane and Gail, suggested I write a family book, it was the furthest thing from my mind. The more information I obtained the more I thought about it and one day I finally decided to write the book. After all I had the perfect title from my great grandfather’s headstone, “In My Father’s House Are Many Mansions” and I quickly slapped together an eighty page book and put the project away.
As time progressed I found out more information and curiosity got the best of me and I went into finding out about my family with full vigor. I researched my family, found history books, so, so many books, found birth, death, marriage certificates, Wills, property deeds and travelled to different countries to find out who I was.
At first my record keeping wasn’t very good, if I found some information I just jotted it down and moved on. It was when I contacted Dr. Susan Lowes PhD., and kept contacting her until she became a mentor to me that I finally got it right. No paper trail equals no proof. Having a mentor proved to be just what I needed as she allowed me to bounce ideas and thoughts off her and she’d point me in the right direction and keep me focused on the job at hand.
I learned family stories are just that, not too much credence should be paid to them as there is only minor truths in the stories and most times they just make people feel good. I learned when you stir the pot you may not like what you find, get over it, you didn’t do it and remember one thing, whose name is on top of
the tree!
This was an adventure I never saw coming. It introduced me to people around the world I am related to and would never have known about if I wasn’t so driven with enthusiasm. The most fascinating and rewarding comments came from postings and a family website I created which allowed contact from family I would never otherwise have found, and allowed me to provide some joy and insight for them about the past.
Learning that my family came from Antigua and learning how small and close the society was gave me a great appreciation of the history I was reading and made me want to know more, because I actually understood what I was reading. The same feeling eventually hit me when I was in Scotland and I finally understood how small the society was back then and why marriages were arranged between families, for money or title.
I
uncovered a family lie which was very hard to swallow after all
the time and effort I had put into finding out my family history.
I am still perplexed as to why no one said anything. I learned
that some will carry forth the grudges of their parents and have
no qualms about voicing their opinions, right to your face but
they
are family stories not truths and when you back up your facts
with a paper trail they can’t dispute the facts. I truly
hope you enjoy the Cranstoun family history you are about to read.
When I started my serch I got very lucky to stumble upon the thesis of Dr. Susan Lowes which presented my family tree right off the bat. Susan later becaame a mentor to me a guided me during time of confusion. I remember her saying you, "You just want to be royalty, You must have a paper trail, when I foud my paper trail Susan was the first person I contacted.
Lowes Part 02 - page 30 in this section mentioned my family and started me off on my journey.
Let's begin with my great grandfather Langford Selly Cranstoun.