"About us ... "

As a boy I lived in N Ireland, and wondered why there were only 3 Clemitsons in the local Telephone Directory – one was my father and the others, my two uncles. 

We had inherited a large family bible, which had belonged to my great-great-grandfather, born in 1801.  From the flyleaf, I knew that the family ancestors had originally come from Northumberland.    Although my great-great-grandfather had had several children, all seemed accounted for (many had died young), - and so if we were related to any other Clemitsons, it was obviously from before 1801 !

Many years later in 70s & 80s, whilst working for the Post Office, & then BT, I had access to a full set of phonebooks,  - and that prompted me to contact all the Clemitsons listed. 

After a considerable amount of research, such as visiting local record offices and St Catherine's House in London, and by correspondence, and reference to printed material, such as Boyd's Marriage Index, and the Mormon microfiche (we didn’t have the internet in those days !),  I was able to work backwards to 1647 to a William Clemen(t)son in Hexham, Northumberland.  

I drew up an enormous tree, which I deposited with one or two central points, and copied to many of my correspondents.

Job done, I thought, but I’ve been amazed since then with the number of subsequent developments, including learning in 1996 of the Canadian branch, and in 2002, of the South African branch.

Now, with the advent of the electronic age, it’s time to put some of this on the internet, if only to aid future generations of genealogists.

The Author
Michael Clemitson - lives in Cardiff, and worked for the PO/BT in Engineering & in IT for 39 years, retiring in 2008.   As well as Genealogy, his interests include Fencing, Photography, and playing the guitar.