I knew nothing about these past endeavours when I started my own research - how much time and effort it would have saved me if I had! But starting with a blank sheet of paper allowed me to enjoy the challenge of unravelling history and discovering for myself a remarkable family tree.

I found that my family are descended from a mixture of races including English, Scottish, Irish and French and over the centuries have spread themselves far and wide to countries such as India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and North America. Some of them were aristocrats, some were very poor. A considerable number had distinguished military careers while others took up less adventurous roles such as that of doctor, priest, teacher and artist.

Although this website is principally about the West family inevitably it includes branches of many other families, most notably Barker, Chauncy, Dalbiac, Dawson, De Morgan, Faulkner, Francklyn, Pitcairn,and Perry. In fact there are well over 250 different surnames listed representing more than 1000 individuals. For reasons of privacy this site does not contain personal information on any of my family who are still alive.

If you are looking for a particular person you could use the search facility located on this page but you will probably find the following two sections more useful:

- the surname-grouped index of all entries in my family tree showing an individual's immediate family and occasionally biographical information.

- the full alphabetical listing showing relationships and ancestor and descendant trees.

Additonal information on certain individuals can also be found on other websites or in publications - the links and bibliography sections should help if you are interested.

I have received assistance from many people during my research. In turn, I would like to help others with theirs so please feel free to contact me. My email address is pelhamwest@gmail.com