Our Ancestry

 

Cover of book photo taken from Vinod Sebastion/India Picture: Tree Tops, Oxford India Paperbacks

I was recently looking into my ancestry, and although I am aware that some of my closest relatives were, and are still today, very creative, it was interesting to see just how many of my ancestors were writers, which makes sense to me why writing has been on my heart since my childhood, so it’s definitely in the blood, so to speak. 

 

I find it amazing to think of them writing all those years ago and I wonder how different it would have all been then to how it is today, with all our modern technology.  

 

Isn’t it funny how certain traits filter their way through to different members of the family.  You feel a special connection to the ones that have similar talents to you, as though somehow they are encouraging you with your gift, that has been passed down through the generations.

 

One of my ancestors is a man called Jim Corbett, who was born in Nainital, India on 25 July 1875.  He was frequently called upon by the government in India to help with the tigers that were killing people in the villages.  He felt he needed to protect the wildlife from extermination, and eventually opened a wildlife sanctuary in North India, which is famous for its tigers, but also includes other animals and is called Jim Corbett National Park.  He has written several books about his life with the tigers. 

 

One of his books is called ‘Tree Tops’ (photo above) which is about the time that he was invited by HRH Princess Elizabeth (at the time) on 5 February 1952 to accompany her and the Duke of Edinburgh when they visited the Tree Tops Hotel, which was a little hut that sat in a Ficus tree in Kenya, where they stayed for one night. He was there to accompany and protect them from any threat of roaming wildlife, and also to join them for dinner. The very next day, 6 February 1952, was the day that HRH Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II, after her father, King George VI passed away, and she received the sad news while she was staying at the Tree Tops.  

 

Jim Corbett said that on 6 February 1952, he wrote in the visitors book from the Tree Tops that was given to him: “For the first time in the history of the world a young girl climbed into a tree one day a Princess, and after having what she descried as her most thrilling experience, she climbed down from the tree the next day a Queen – God bless her.”  Jim Corbett.

 

I believe all our gifts are given to us by God.

Derrice has written a book called “Glenna’s Angel – A Miracle from God” when God sent an Angel to her mother and healed her instantly in the ambulance from a near-death stroke.  It changed her mother’s life from that day on. The book is on Amazon and can be obtained in bookstores worldwide.