Texan woman journeys to Cumbria in search of ancestral homes

Yahoo

24-05-2025

With a sole focus on finding the three houses that appeared on her family roots search, started some 30 years ago, Belinda Gurette took a solo first-time trip from Austin, Texas to the UK to find her ancestral family homes, dating back to the late 1700s.
These three houses, Bowman House near Walton, Lannerton House - straddling Hadrian's Wall and Mallsdale House near Stapleton, were all potentially older than her native USA, so it was just too intriguing for Belinda after she found out that not only were they still standing but they were and still are, actual homes to families in Cumbria.
Before her final two days of her trip, crossing the border to Scotland to see the Scone Palace in Perth and then Edinburgh, Belinda said: "I've never been to England before, or Scotland and I still haven't been to London,' clearly still excited after achieving her goal of finding her ancestral homes.
Bowman House in the 19th century (Image: Supplied) Initially in search of the Bowmans, she realised that the wider family of the Littles at Mallsdale House and the Robinsons at Lannerton House, were also in the same neighbourhood.
John Bowman had left Brampton in 1836 after marrying Hannah, the daughter of John Robinson and Ann Little in Brampton in 1833. Hannah and their son John, would follow John senior five years later.
Joining John senior in Bethel, Anson County, North Carolina in 1841, the new Cumbrian settlers would attain their new US citizenship in 1848.
Belinda Gurette outside Mallsdale House, near Stapleton (Image: Supplied) "This search has seen me go back eight generations to our family homeland near Carlisle and just north of Hadrian's Wall," she said.
Sitting at home in Austin, Texas in 1996, Belinda discovered that the houses her ancestors had lived in were all relatively close to each other and also close to Hadrian's Wall.
"I couldn't believe it that they were all still standing, so I just had to come and see them' she said, adding "I love hiking, so to be able to walk all of Hadrian's Wall and to actually see inside the houses that my families lived in centuries ago, has been absolutely amazing."
Belinda also couldn't believe the warm and friendly welcome she received at all three houses, as she explained: "I was a bit wary going and knocking on people's doors – but when they opened the door to this lone strange woman from Texas, they invited me in for a cup of tea.
"It was overwhelming and it is the cherished memory I will take back home with me. The folk back home just can't believe it."
Belinda Gurette at Lannerton House, which straddles Hadrian's Wall (Image: Supplied) Walking 10 miles every day, Belinda completed the Hadrian's Wall walk and felt very comfortable with a feeling she was "at home".
But, it's a fair distance from her present home in the rural outskirts of the sprawling Austen and even further to the rocky region of Colorado, where they lived prior to moving to Texas, so she found the Cumbrian and Northumberland scenery to be "just perfect."
The weather on the trip had also lived up to expectations, with our region enjoying dry, hot and sunny weather all the way through April and early May.
Those lofty expectations had been set by her husband of French descent who told her wryly, "It never rains in England."
Her Gallic husband no doubt had a twinkle in his eye when he said that but it looks like he'll pay the price for the cheeky quip, as Belinda has been so enamoured with northern England, she demanded "he must now take me to France!"
Reflecting on her experience, Belinda said "There is a saying back home that you really do 'die twice', once when your body passes and the second time is when the last person thinks of you.
"I feel like I have let those families live a little longer, as I have thought about nothing but them."