Blogging 101 – Edit your title and tagline. Make your reader’s first impression a good one!
Naming your blog is almost as difficult as naming your first-born child. As today’s assignment so glaringly points out, your title is your reader’s first , and possibly last, impression of your blog. Like many people, I struggled naming my blog. I wanted something catchy, something creative, something that rolled-off-the-tongue when you said it out loud. Something that yelled “READ ME!.”
Originally, this blog was called Relative-LY Speaking. I thought the “relative” tied in well with the topic of genealogy, and I was going to “speak” about my dead relatives. The capital LY was there simply for show. The first two Blogging 101 assignments motivated me, however, to dip a little deeper in the creative well.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, every family tree has a “hall of fame” branch for those famous, or infamous, relatives they lay claim to. According to a FoxNews report from 2006, “Almost Everyone on Earth is Descended from Royalty”. I had a story to support it. Or so I thought.
My grandmother’s family name was “Kee”, originally spelled “Key” and a variation of the British name “Keyes”. Our genealogy alludes to the possibility that we were descendants of Thomas Keyes, a member of the royal court during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and his second wife, Lady Mary Grey, Maid of Honor to Queen Elizabeth, younger sister of Jane Grey the Nine-Days Queen, and great-granddaughter of King Henry VII.
My family does not fool around with its claim to fame.
My first thought when I found out was, ‘WOO HOO – I’m Almost Royalty!”. (This would have been a great blog title but unfortunately the BBC already claimed it). I thought my daughter, who is really into all-things-British and an amateur historian when it comes to the British family, would be thrilled. She just called me a traitor. It seems the politics surrounding the succession to the throne were pretty nasty back in the day of Good Queen Bess.
As we all know, Queen Elizabeth, ‘The Virgin Queen’, was childless and without heir, so according to the will of Henry VII, the next in line for ascension were the Grey sisters. This also made any potential marriages by the Greys a state affair, subject to approval by the Queen. Knowing that Elizabeth would not approve her marriage to Thomas, a man without a title, Mary committed treason by secretly wedding Thomas. The ceremony was done in private while the Queen was attending another affair, with numerous witnesses present so Elizabeth could not declare the marriage invalid. Being Queen, Elizabeth had other options.
Fearful that the marriage might lead to ‘little bastard Keyes laying claim to the throne”, Elizabeth separated the couple, placing Mary under house arrest and sending Thomas to the royal fleet. They never saw each other again. But most important… THEY NEVER HAD CHILDREN! From a genealogical standpoint, any claim to descendency from Thomas Keyes could only have come from the children from his first wife. Relationship with Mary Grey is just a great story.
So now you know the story behind the blog. And my tag line ‘ …and other family myths and mysteries’, you will just have to come back for more!
Disclaimer – Any information conveyed here should not be used as genealogical proof of any relationships. Please do not source this. If you are into genealogy, use only valid sources for your information.
Redbuds and Roserocks 
I love your writing style! It is informative and makes someone else’s family history fun to read! I think everyone’s family has some sort of rumor like that. My family’s claim to fame (although no one has researched this extensively) on one side is that we are related to Martin Luther’s wife. The other side (and there is proof of this) brags about being related to a horse thief. It’s kind of funny. 🙂
Thank you for your kind comments Terri. I think people find it more interesting to be related to greatness rather than a farmer, or even a horse thief. I actually find the shady relatives are more interesting.