I've always been interested to know what my ancestors did in the past, especially as my Dad's side of the family is full of Reiver surnames. I was brought up to be proud of being Scottish, as three of my grandparents were Scottish. Despite having been born and brought up in England I always felt Scottish probably because my mum drilled it into my head that I was Scottish, but also because my English grandmother had a Scottish surname and was also from a small town less than 5 miles from the border. Since studying my family I have found out that I am actually 40% Scottish, 30% English and 30% Irish. My Irish roots came as quite a surprise to me, I can say that I may owe exisitance to one of the greatest disasters in Irish history, the Great Hunger. Unfortunately I am only able to trace my Irish ancestors back about 200 years as many of the Irish records were destroyed in a fire during the war for independance.  The majority of my ancestors worked the land, but quite a few were Butchers, making them upper working class, some were weavers, others mariners, there is the odd tailor, dressmaker, household servant, mason, blacksmith, warriner and husbandman. My mum did mention to me that my paternal grandmother thought she was descended from the middle class, surprisingly she wasn't wrong! The Atkinson branch of my family were Innkeepers, the most interesting fact being that my great great great grandfather William Atkinson was the proprietor of the Stenhouse Arms in Crosscanonby and could boast Charles Dickens as one of his customers. In 2009, I descovered that via paternal grandmother I am actually  descended from Royality and even a Saint. Not bad, eh?