Travel plans, genealogy and compromises

Once we decided to include a visit to Wales and Devon in our UK itinerary, I had great plans to spend time doing research and further work on my genealogy.  In my mind, I was drawing up lists of questions to be answered and directories to be consulted. I wanted answers to those questions that kept me up at night... like when and why did my great-grandfather, Thomas Huxtable Ball, leave South Wales for Leeds, and what may have pushed or pulled him to Yorkshire?  I really could have spent the whole of the four days allotted for Cardiff trolling through local library and archives resources.

Our initials plans also included a day trip to Filleigh, Devon to see where my 3x great-grandfather, John Ball, had his tailor shop. My North American sense of 'drive anywhere' and straight line travel took a beating once we rented a car in Cardiff.   My husband did admirably driving a right hand stick shift, but we spent a couple of hours lost in various places - albeit in the lovely Welsh countryside. We decided to enjoy the journey rather than race about keeping to a timetable. The 3+ hour trek (each way) to Filleigh went by the wayside in favour of exploring more of Cardiff and nearby Caerphilly.

In the end, I realized that making this a research trip would not be fair to my husband and daughter, who don't share my fervent interest in genealogy and ancestor hunting. After all, this was their summer vacation too. Instead, we decided to make this trip about connecting - with family, with the land of my ancestors and the beautiful country that is Wales. 

In retrospect, the research trip is a journey for another day and my mother would be the ideal travel companion - now that has me thinking...

William Huxtable Ball, 1835-1927

William Huxtable Ball was the father of Thomas Huxtable Ball. William was born in the area of Filleigh or South Molton, Devon, England.

This is a map of the area of around Filleigh:


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and South Molton:


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Filleigh and South Molton are east of the city of Barnstaple, in the county of Devon.

His year of birth is given 1835 or 1837 in various documents. Since his birth predated civil registration in the UK, the actual date has been difficult to pin down. However, it is likely 1835 as he is shown in the Filleigh Baptisms Index 1813-1837, which appear in GENUKI, a "virtual reference library of genealogical information of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland." William appears in the Filleigh Indexes as being baptized on 6 Nov 1836, the son of Elizabeth Huxtable and John Ball, Tailor of South Molton.

Cheers, K.