Family histories being passed down through the ages verbally and in random collections of photographs and other memorabilia are nothing new, but only a small proportion end up in print, and that is something which Bermudian author John Cox decided was not going to happen to the material relating to his genealogy, much of which had been researched by his ancestors and forebears, so he devoted two years of his life to researching and writing his newest book, ?Bermuda Lore, 1649-1900?, which focuses on two 18th century family matriarchs, Christiana Love Dill and Jane (Old Ma) Spencer Smith, and their descendants.

The project proved to be a real journey of discovery, during which the author was able to extend the family tree right back to beginning when Sarah Spencer, a courageous British Royalist, fled Cromwell?s wrath in England and arrived in Bermuda in 1649 with her infant son and only child, Nicholas, after a storm-battered crossing.

The book is not, however, an exercise in personal vanity, for Mr. Cox has always been interested in researching early life in Bermuda, and family histories in general. Growing up, he had always delighted in hearing the fascinating stories of his ancestors, some of whom loomed large in their accomplishments and good works. ?My main purpose in writing this book was to keep Bermuda folklore alive,? he says. ?I feel that publishing the stories means they will not be lost, because they form a really rich mosaic of Bermuda history and folklore.?

As painstaking as research can be, however, it does turn up interesting twists and turns, and even some unexpected surprises, and Mr. Cox?s journey back through time was no exception.

He discovered, for example, a link between both his mother?s and father?s sides of the family (Smith and Cox respectively) which makes them distantly related ? something they had initially not known. From the records of a previous family historian, Aubrey John Cox (1861-1929), himself a descendant of Sarah Spencer, John Cox realised that he was descended from Christiana Love Dill through the Spencer line, but it was through discussions with the late Bryden Hyde that he learned about his mother?s ancestor, ?Old Ma? Spencer Smith.

?I thought my father was a Spencer, and my parents would say, ?We are from old Bermuda families, but we are not related?. Now I know they are. ?Old Ma? lived in the old house opposite Coral Beach Club, which is still there today, and she became a legendary figure in my mother?s family,? Mr. Cox says. In fact, the late Mr. Hyde?s wife, Diana, is also a Spencer descendant, and Mr. Cox has dedicated ?Bermuda Lore? to Mr. Hyde in recognition of his invaluable research, which helped to solve many genealogical puzzles and piece together the lineage of ?Old Ma?.

Tracing a family tree can make tedious reading to outsiders if written in ?X begat Y and Z? biblical style, but Mr. Cox avoids this pitfall by wreathing his genealogy in entertaining, informative and anecdotal text that is universally appealing.

Of the intrepid Sarah Spencer, for example, he reveals that, following her harrowing voyage, she stepped ashore here with but one possession: an oak armchair in which she had concealed a Bible, and a (kept) vow never to cross the ocean again.

Apparently possessed of ?second sight? (seeing the newly dead), records confirm her eventual imprisonment awaiting trial for witchcraft, but nothing more is known of her fate. ?The records of her life are lost, but since there is no sign of her after 1696 it doesn?t look good,? Mr. Cox says. ?Her trial would certainly have been the very last for witchcraft in Bermuda, and probably the New World too.?

Sarah?s son, Nicholas Spencer, became a prosperous shipping owner whose three marriages produced 21 children. Granddaughter Christiana Dill became a legendary figure in the Cox, Dill and Watlington families of Bermuda. ?She is revered as an ancestral beacon when writing up the past,? Mr. Cox says. ?It was the governor of St. Eustatius in the Caribbean, where she was born, who gave Christiana, later known as ?Kitty?, her name.?

Tales of supernatural sightings by descendants of Sarah Spencer are also recorded. Christiana Dill had ?second sight? and frequently ?saw? people who were not there.

On one occasion, while riding a horse, she became extremely distressed because she ?saw? a man called John Stone riding too close to her. Fearing he would knock her off her mount, she begged her husband to lift her down. Despite his assurances that there was no-one there, he did as she requested. The next day she learned that Mr. Stone had dropped dead at the very moment she ?saw? him while riding in the vicinity of his home.

On another occasion Christiana ?saw? her eldest son, dripping wet, standing at the foot of her bed, and knew at once that he had drowned at sea.

On a more cheerful note, Christiana Harriott?s marriage proposal was written on the back of a door by her suitor, Captain Watlington, during a morning call at the family home. He returned the same afternoon for her affirmative answer. ?Life centered around the church and people married people within their own parish,? Mr. Cox notes of the union. ?They rarely married outside their parish.?

Deaths at sea, through disease, and other causes also dot this family history, and grief was keenly felt. A 1796 mourning brooch commissioned by bereft Jacobus Crisson, and bearing a portrait of his late wife Dorothy fashioned from her own hair, has a history of its own.

Misplaced out of doors by a young relative, who searched unsuccessfully until dark and was then sent to bed without supper as punishment, the brooch turned up the next day between the teeth of the family dog. From that day forward has remained safely preserved in a cedar chest. Later, Mr. Crisson died at sea.

Tragic, quirky and unusual tales such as the foregoing are skillfully interwoven with light portraits of successful, eccentric and lovable members of this large family tree, the sum total of which is an easy-to-read insight into the history of some local families.

Yet it is not only humans who occupy the pages of ?Bermuda Lore?. Mr. Cox also includes interesting architectural information on family homes which still exist today, including details of their internal and external features.

At ?Verdmont?, (now a Bermuda National Trust museum still without electricity), we learn that then-occupant Miss Lilly Joell had the newel posts of her creaky staircase removed, and candles fitted to light her way to her bedroom ? the only upstairs room not permanently shut off.

Other aspects of the period touched upon in ?Bermuda Lore? ? commerce, agriculture, land transportation, shipping, and meteorology among them ? help to create this colourful word portrait.

The book is divided into four parts: The Spencer Connection; The Will of Elizabeth (Spencer) Dickinson; Christiana Love Dill and her family; and the Bermuda-Dutch connection. There is also a bibliography, and a Foreword by relative Elfrida (Smith) Chappell, and an Afterword by Mr. Cox.

Certainly, Mr. Cox?s rationale for undertaking the book ? to provide a permanent contribution to the recorded fabric of Bermuda life, makes it an interesting addition to home and public libraries. ?I didn?t want these stories to sit in a drawer, or be lost. By publishing them I knew they would survive, which means everything to me, and I also thought Heritage Month was a good time to launch the book,? the author says.

?Bermuda Lore? is currently sold at The Bermuda Bookstore, the Bookmart, A.S. Cooper & Sons Ltd., Trustworthy, and The Book Cellar in St. George?s. More outlets may follow.

Mr. Cox is a former associate editor of ?The Bermudian? magazine, and has been a Bermuda National Trust docent for many years. He has also written ?Lord of the Marshes?, a history of the Cox family.