Page 32 - Today's Family

Chapter 8         The Family of Today.

Today’s Family.

After six generations of Bermondsey Pettards, our line descending from Thomas Pettard (1806-1846) would appear to be thinning out and maybe within a few more generations this Pettard line may fad into history.  If indeed this family line from Bermondsey named Pettard does expire in name, it will, nevertheless, live on in soul and spirit through other family names such Allum, Tomlin and Underdown, and no doubt many other family names that we are not aware of.

The reason for this seemingly less secure foundation can be attributed to many factors, one obvious reason being the reduction in size of families that has take part over the last two or three generation, birth control of course plays a major part in this trend and where a family of four to six children in our grandparents times was common place, by today’s standard this is almost unheard of with two children being quit the norm today.

Woman today are far more career and independent minded and do not see their adult life has simply a passage in time to bear children, also the social structure of our society has change so much over the last three generations, with both parents being the bread winners there is not the burning issue to produce sons to support an ever growing family.

If we review the family as it stands today in light of who will foster further generations of this line of Pettards, we see the scope is narrow with maybe no more then a few possible candidates to carry the name into the future and produce descendents.  The ratio of girls to boys within our family of today is 4 to 1 in favour of the girls; here I am counting all the offspring that I am aware of from my brother’s and cousin’s families.

As we have seen the early families centered themselves about a relatively compressed area of London, no more then a stones throw from the south banks of the river Thames stretching from Lambeth to Rotherhithe.  Bermondsey was the start point and the early generations evolved about its fulcrum relying on the river to sustain life, we have seen this dependence in the form of Seal Skinners, Ivory Cutters, Lighterman, Tanners, Leather and Dock workers all feeding on the spoils the river trade brings.

The contrast with today’s families could not be greater, I can think of only one member of our line living in the general area of our ancestors, which would be Caddy Danielle Pettard great grand daughter of Dennis Patrick Pettard. The family of today is seeded about the outer London counties of Surrey, Kent and Middlesex and north to Yorkshire and its West Riding.