Travelling Genes

Setting off to travel round Europe after John's retirement seems ordinary in the 21st century but it set off a train of thought.

I remembered my grandmother, Emma Burton's epic Round the World trip on her retirement at 60 sometime in the late 1950's I think.

Emma was born to poor 1840 German immigrants to South Africa. My mother said they were of peasant stock. She had to leave school at 14 and spent most of her childhood barefoot outside her parents' trading store where they sold African green maize beer from a 44 gallon drum. By the time she was 60 she had been separated and widowed for about 20 years. She sold ladies gloves and haberdashery at Meikles Department Store in Fort Victoria, Rhodesia. (Now Masvingo, Zimbabwe) and saved up money to realise her dream of travelling around the world. To my shame I remember very little of her stories about the trip - I was at boarding school I believe. I know she visited the black Forest in Germany, crossed Canada on the Great Pacific Railway and sailed to Australia. The whole trip took her about 6 months and she made friends and continued to correspond with them for many years. Most of her travelling would have been boat and train I guess. I thought I would add this story to our blog so anyone in my family who knows about Emma's trip might be kind enough to tell me? I have added some pictures too. One of Emma's wedding to Benjamin Burton, one of her with her first two children, and one of her in her eighties I think. She was obviously a courageous woman.