family tree

some of the sidebottom girls








✥ only three weeks til i go back home for my cousin donna's wedding.... im SO excited! its been nearly a year since i was home and i can't wait to see everyone again!
the wedding is gonna be extra nice since its an outdoor wedding, in the bush in the middle of summer and my whole extended family will be there. im maid of honour and donna asked me to do a speech.... of course i was really happy that she asked me but now its crunch time and i have to start composing it. i want it to be really special and different, so ive been brainstorming ideas. her surname (also my mum's maiden name) is 'sidebottom' so in my research i decided to google the history of the somewhat humourous name. i remembered mum had once told me something about a skeleton in the closet and a dodgy name-change that became my mum's family name... and the blessed google didn't disappoint me....

how hilarious that i'm a descendant of a convict!! my english friends love to tease me about being from the colonies and having convict blood. and its actually true!!
my ancestor, william langford from cheshire, england, was busted for thieving and was transported to the convict colonies of tasmania back in the 1800's. to avoid disgracing the family name, he lied that his name was sidebottom (his mother's maiden name). years later after he was released, he went into the liquor trade and made a fortune, which he then invested in land and numerous hotels around melbourne... he invited all of his brothers to migrate over and set them all up in the family business which flourished.

with a hint of pride, i recounted the story of my delinquent, boot-legging, business-minded ancestors to jerry and he enviously demanded how i found that information because he wants to look up his ancestors too!