Personal Information

Welcome! My name is Bill. I'm a Curnow. That last sentence conveys much more than it would appear. It represents over 400 years of history, a history that I'm proud of. Allow my father to explain:

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.

When a society or civilization perishes, one condition can always be found. They forgot where they came from.'                                        Carl Sandburg

The Curnow Family: A Family History Resource Book
William John Curnow Jr, 1990

So where did the path take me? I'm glad you asked. I'm the Manager of e-Business Architecture at Plains Cotton Cooperative Association, and the owner of Kernow Internet Solutions, an Internet consulting firm.

I currently call Lubbock, Texas (USA) my home, but the path I've traveled has taken me all over the world. I started life in Florida. From there, I went to New Jersey, then California where my sister was born, and then back to New Jersey. In 1978, my family was transfered to Tokyo, Japan for three years. Five years later, we were sent to Hong Kong and then Venezuela. Rather than attend high school in Venezuela, I wound up in boarding school in Connecticut for two years. We didn't move back to the United States until 1988. Any guess where we went? Finally, in 1990, I found Lubbock, Texas. After years of moving, I'm enjoying setting down some roots.

I wouldn't know where to begin talking about the benefits of having seen so much of the world. Someday, perhaps I'll try. In the meantime however, I can list some of the drawbacks. Each time you move, you have to say goodbye to all of your friends and try to make new ones. You know, it's been almost 15 years since I've seen or talked to some of my closest friends. Another drawback comes a couple of times each year during Alumni Pledge Week. I currently have The American School In Japan, The Hong Kong International School, The Wooster School and Bucknell University and Texas Tech University asking me for money.