My Connections to the British Isles

Why do I want to go to the British Isles? This trip means connecting with my heritage. I can trace my family on both sides to the United Kingdom. When researching family history, I've found that having family pictures rather helpful. Having a famous ancestor also helps, just a tad.

My last name, Pittock, is a word for kite, that comes from Kentish, an Old English dialect spoken by the people groups that settled in southeast England, or Kent. Scholars disagree on whether or not these people were the Jutes from Denmark, or some other people group from northwest Europe. Fast forward a few millennia, and we come to the 19th Century England. A certain Frederick Pittock immigrated to Pennsylvania with his parents in 1836, only to return to England to break into the printing business. There he met his wife Susanna Bonner, had several children, including Henry Lewis Pittock and Robert Bonner Pittock,(my great-great grandfather), before moving back to Pennsylvania.  These two brothers joined a wagon train to Oregon, splitting ways in Eastern Oregon. Henry went to Portland and made his name through The Oregonian. Robert went to Coburg, though his life eventually brought him further south to San Diego, where he died.

On my Mom's side, I can trace my history back to Scotland.  Pictured here is my great-great grandmother Elizabeth Cora Ella Allen-Jacobs, who was from Paisley, Scotland. As you might guess from her outfit, the picture was taken in the late 1800s. I'm not sure when, but eventually Elizabeth or her descendants immigrated to the United States, settling in New England.

In 1918, my great-grandfather Walter Jacobs purchased a homestead in Bend, OR. He's pictured here with his son Don, my grandfather. Sometime later, I think during the Great Depression, Don Jacobs moved to Medford, where I grew up.

I probably won't have to see much of Kent or Paisley, if at all. Still, the chance to brush shoulders with distant relatives I refuse to take for granted. If nothing else, at least English and Scottish people won't butcher the pronunciation of my last name.  (I can't guarantee the same for the tour-guides at the Pittock Mansion.)