Tag Archives: Earl of Derby

Most Stanleys, especially the Southern variety, sooner or later get around to trying to connect themselves to the famous lords and ladies of Shakespeare and English history. My father did, though never very convincingly. In the ancestor hunt, you’re supposed to start in the present and work backwards, not pick a famous somebody in the past and try to trace their descendents forward to you. "Over 80% of Stanleys known to have emigrated to America were transported there as convicts," concludes Nigel Stanley, author of a British genealogy site I’ve been following for several years, who has finally gotten around to a section on Stanley migration to the USA. "Stanley was a common surname amongst the ordinary and poorer classes of the population." Realism, especially in genealogy, is good. Ancestor digging helps you locate yourself in time, demonstrates your potential genetic resources and proves that your life is not an accident. But ancestor worship is going too far.