I looked out to sea — to the West, the North-West, the North and the East — and on the waves I heard the voices of my ancestors, from far away and long ago.

On my first day at school in England, a teacher asked what my ethnicity was. I was thirteen. I said I was from the General Population. She replied: That’s not an ethnicity.

This site is my answer, sixty years later.

The routes that made a family

Every line on this map represents generations of people whose journeys converged on one small island in the Indian Ocean.

Who were they?

Tracing the Jerome line across four continents: from Africa and Madagascar, through the colonial world of the Indian Ocean, to Europe and beyond. Family tree, memoir stories, and photographs spanning eight generations.

Genealogy

What does the code reveal?

Phased DNA evidence connecting living descendants to historical migration patterns. Chromosome mapping and shared segment analysis.

DNA Analysis

Who came, and when?

From the Dutch arrival in 1598 through French colonisation, British rule, and independence. The waves of people who shaped a polyethnic island.

Mauritius History

How far did the words travel?

The Austronesian expansion to Madagascar, traced through cognates, migration maps, and the linguistic ancestry of Mauritian Creole.

Anthropology

From the blog

Welcome to My Blog

An introduction to this blog and what you can expect to find here.

Read more →
See all posts →

Based on original research combining genealogical records, DNA analysis of multiple family members across three testing platforms, and historical and linguistic scholarship. Presented at the Birmingham & Midland Institute and developed with encouragement from academic colleagues.

Read more about this project →