This name, our name, is Curnow. Once we were a small family close to the land at the western tip of the British Isles. Our roots were there long before our first ancestor adopted the surname uniquely suited to expressing pride that we are Cornish. We might all still have been close to the soil of Cornwall had it not been for remarkable processes that were transforming life a century and a half ago. The Industrial Revolution raged, the British Empire was a presence everywhere, and the winds of change came blowing across the moors and crofts into miners' cottages that had been home forever. Change set us on difficult paths. For some the path involved traditional Cornish grit and determination to make life work at home in Cornwall. For others that path led far away, requiring personal sacrifice and equal determination to make life work on unfamiliar shores. As a result, much has changed. For many "home" now means Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, or the United States of America. But much will always be the same -- we're Curnow's, and we're Cornishmen.
The Curnow Family: A Family History Resource Book William John Curnow Jr, 1990 |
When a society or civilization perishes, |