My research on the Skottowe family began when, about 25 years ago, a genealogical correspondent informed me that the mysterious Margaret Skottowe married to my 3X great-grandfather, Richard Neville Parker of Passage West, County Cork, was the daughter of John Skottowe, Governor of the tiny island of St. Helena in the south Atlantic. I was immediately hooked and have subsequently spent countless hours combing the records both online and in various libraries and archives, as well as visiting the towns and villages in England where the family lived over the centuries. The story begins in Norfolk, moves to Yorkshire and Buckinghamshire, and finally takes the family to most of the outposts of the British empire.