Heather Sims
Back in April 1998 my husband purchased a copy of the genealogy computer program Family Tree Maker. The result was that my interest in family history was awakened and I have been totally hooked ever since.
My maiden name was Lock. My father, Thomas Clarke Lock came from a long line of Somerset farmers, while my mother, Christine Nisbet Pollock was from Scotland, her maternal line hailing from the Edinburgh area and her paternal line from Glasgow and surrounds.
The Sims family were Quakers, and there are many interesting people in that line. The earliest Quakers suffered greatly for their faith, while many in Victorian times were prominent people of the age. It is through Oliver's mother that we can find a link (albeit distant) with royalty. One of her ancestors married the daughter of the 5th Earl of Meath, and it is through that line that Oliver can claim Edward III as a grandfather. Family folklore also says that another ancestor, Julia Berkeley, was related to the Earls of that name, but I have been quite unable to prove it ... unless you know better!!!?
However, the family that possibly interests me most is the Monsarrats (my husband's maternal grandmother's name) probably because it is a fairly unusual name outside France. Oliver's great-great-grandfather came to Ireland from France during the French Revolution and there sired 21 children. Almost all the Monsarrat descendants in the English-speaking world descend from him, with the exception of a few from his two brothers who emigrated to America.
