When I was very young, my Maternal Grandfather used to take me and my Sisters for long walks along Shore Road in Brooklyn. It was usually on a weekend, and he would point out ships in the harbor ( many more cruise ships in the early 1960's) or how construction was progressing on the Verrazanno Narrows Bridge. Construction began on the Staten Island side, and the steel towers were rusty orange. Once, I pointed out to my Grandpa ( who we all called "John" --long story) that the tower looked like a capital H. He repeated that story to my Mom, thinking it was a mark of great intelligence, since I wasn't in school yet. So, wherever I have lived, in either Brooklyn, Massachusetts, or New York, I found peace and comfort by the shore.
As I have pursued Mom's genealogy, it struck me that many of our ancestors lived by the sea or a river. Newport was a major seaport in the 19th Century. Henry Hignell, my great great great grandfather ( imagine the fuss if one of his grandchildren had called him "Harry") was a retired dock worker--a longshoreman. The Hignells came from the Bristol area of Gloucestershire, which is also a port. Could this sense of wellbeing be rooted in my DNA
? The first photo is the shoreline at Goldcliff, Monmouthshire. Some of the Hignell family settled in Goldcliff, and Henry's brother, William Hignell is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, Goldcliff. The second picture shows Monmouth Castle, in Newport, and the third is the Narrows Bridge in Brooklyn. In a long journey from Newport to New York City, the Hignell family remained close to the harbor.
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