History, Family and Genetics

Last week I sent a picture in to the Auroran that I found in a box of genealogy from my grandfather. The picture is of the management team of the T. Sisman Shoe Co. Ltd., and was taken in about 1950:


It's has created quite a stir. Dad got a call from a lady who's lived in the area for many years, who just wanted to know if the Heather Sisman who submitted the picture was any relation to him.

Another lady whom I met at the dinner for the former mayor, Tim Jones, on Thursday night was very enthusiastic about it - she remembered this person and that person and she gave me details on a whole bunch of information that I could have used to write a history report, no doubt. Sadly, I didn't write any of it down.

I will though! The history of my town, and my family, is of great interest to me. My paternal grandfather, John Eades Sisman, (centre, back row of the photo above) traced the Sisman name back as far as 1686 in Leighton Bromswold, Huntingdonshire, England.

I've learned that there are Sismans and Sissmans and Sisemans in Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S.A., and thanks to the internet I've even made contact with some of them. I have a 9th cousin twice removed in Australia, who is about my age. I also have a 3rd cousin twice removed in England, also about my age. Together we've shared genealogical data, names, dates, charts, etc., as well as stories and rumours. I find it all really interesting.

I've heard that genetically all humans share 90% of our DNA with other intelligent life forms like the banana (we're all organic, which accounts for most of it). I wonder though, how it works in form of pedigree, and the genes we share from one family member down the line.

I studied a lot of biology in school, both in highschool and university. I can draw a basic chart of how to figure out what colour your offspring's eyes are likely to be:


My brother looks like our father, who looks like his father, who looks like HIS father, but not all of them have the same eye colour. I can see resemblance in photos between my own brother who was born in 1978 to my great great grandfather who was born in the early 1800s.

I wonder, genetically, what kind of other similarities there are between myself, and these distant cousins who live on other parts of the planet.

At any rate, I plan to keep learning and researching all of this. I want to learn more about the history of my family, the T. Sisman Shoe Co. Ltd., and the town in which I live.

There simply aren't enough hours in the day to squeeze it all in! I'm hoping that anyone out there who sees the pictures in the Auroran, or who is reading my blog, might have more information to share with me.