Introducing the PRIOR kids Down Under family tree

We are the first generation of our PRIOR family tree to be born in Australia. Our father came from Hockley Essex UK in the 1960's, at 18 years of age. He emigrated to Sydney Australia as a '£10 pommie', to stay with his Aunt Hurling (nee Prior) & her family, who had emigrated some years earlier. He met, fell in love with and married an Australian girl, starting the first generation of Prior kids Down Under. 

When we were growing up together we were often referred to collectively as 'the kids', an Australian colloquialism. Sometimes it was 'big kids' versus 'little kids', or other individual nicknames, but universally it was the 'kids' on a daily basis, and therefore appropriate in the title of this blogspot.

This blog was created for us, our children, our families, and their children; to tell the story of our family, our relatives and ancestors, about who they were and where they came from, and so perhaps link and connect us in some way. 

The Australian flag, in recognition of Federation on 1 January 1901, incorporates the Union Jack flag of Great Britain and Ireland, the Commonwealth star, and the Southern Cross constellation.

The Prior family coat of arms depicts three red chevronels on an ermine bend, between four gold stars of eight points wavy, the Crest being a star (as in the arms). The surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "prior", a monastic official immediately subordinate to an abbot, originating as an occupational name for the servant of a prior. Later, the name became a nickname, a common practice in the Middle Ages, for a person bearing the qualities associated with a prior. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Priur which was dated 1205, in the (Kings Court) "Curia Regis Rolls of Suffolk" during the reign of King John. Surnames became necessary when England's government introduced personal taxation, known as Poll Tax.

Acknowledgement

This blog is dedicated to my great uncle Ernie (E.H.Prior) and granddad Frank (F.C.Prior), the genealogists of the family who sparked my interest with their endless 'snippets' of family history, all meticulously recorded by hand. This verse was written by Grandad Prior the year before his death:

                      ‘Genealogists’ Lament’

          To search in vain, can be a great pain; - - -

    But to search with success, brings great happiness.

      There is always Shame, when there is no Name;

         Death is the wooer, for a Genealogists Cure.

                  (Margerum/Prior, August 1999)