Announcing the publication of my new family history blog – sourcingancestors.com – related to the discovery of the origins and lineage of the Sambells clan during the past 1000 years. The blog will take you on a journey along pathways and paper trails as I discover the footsteps of my ancestors. Postings in a section called “Ramblings” reveals stories of my travels to churches, castles, manors and farms which were so familiar to my ancestors. Postings in a second section called “Discoveries” follows the paper trail of ancient documents which reveal a continuous lineage of my ancestors since 980 AD.
About frank
Frank Sambells is a retired geography/environmental science high school teacher who started researching the origins of the Sambells surname and his own ancestors in the early 1990’s. He has identified the earliest origins of the surname in both England (1154 AD) and France (980 AD). Applying genealogical proof standards Frank has traced his own pedigree back to earliest parish registers of the mid 1500’s. He is presently taking a series of certification courses in genealogy research methods from the National Institute of Genealogy that are offered through the University of Toronto.
Recently Frank made two trips to the Cornwall Records Office in Truro Cornwall in 2010 & 2011. Researching the Tithes Surveys he has discovered new information concerning the agrarian life style of his ancestors during prior to the census of 1841. He is in the process of incorporating this information into a book which will document his research findings of the past two decades.
After completing the documentation of his family tree back to the 1500’s Frank was compelled to make attempts to contact other branches of the Sambell/Sambells families from around the world. His research over the years provided many clues that suggested the emigration of several Cornish and Devon Sambell/s in the eighteen and nineteen hundreds. This lead to the establishment of many different branches of the clan throughout the world. His efforts to make contact with other branches of the family were very successful. He was amazed to discover the enthusiasm that many other people had in researching their paternal Sambell/s origins.
As a result Frank was inspired to develop this website as a venue to support and encourage other family historians to research and make collective contributions to writing the story of the origins, migrations and life of the Sambell/s clan over the past 1000 years.
To forget one’s ancestors
is to be a brook without a source,
a tree without a root.
Chinese Proverb
