I meant this year to be a year of consolidation – tidying my notes, adding sources to my tree, working on tweaks to personalize the website design etc.

Researching my Kent ancestry

But in practice I’ve done far more fresh research than I expected. In July I went to Kent on holiday; I did plan to do some research while there. So in preparation I did some research thinking I would get up-to-date with what could be done from home. I had no idea how many resources are now available for research at home. I did so much that when a few days before my holiday I planned where I wanted to visit and what I wanted to look for / at in the record offices that I realised I would need at least 3 weeks, not one. (And have done more since I got back, and have more to do when time permits).

Email links

I get several genealogy emails regularly and I currently have a subscription to Ancestry – so of course there are links to new material online or sites I wasn’t aware of to follow up. On Ancestry I’ve made use of the England and Wales BMD index being online up to 2005 to extend the Goatham tree, and found PR entries for relatives in London;  I’ve found ancestors or other close relations as apprentices or with apprentices (especially interesting when the PRs do not indicate occupation), …
I’ve even found some other family members using their BMD index, despite their complete hash of putting entries in the right counties making it much harder to search for more common names than it should be. Their lack of openess about their mistakes is very unhelpful and causes me and I’m sure many others to waste time and feel no sense of loyalty to them.

Contacts

When I first put my tree online the intention was to catch up with my to-do list – to make it easy to share info. with people I was in touch with, mainly through GRU. (I had so many contacts when I first added my tree to GRU that whilst I could easily share my tree I couldn’t keep up with sharing certificates etc. that might be of interest.) But putting my tree online, especially since I moved it to use TNG software and submitted a sitemap to Google, has resulted in so many new contacts that I’m even more behind. But it’s been great to be in touch with relatives close and distant.

Photos

I’ve started to scan old family photos to add to my tree – and to photograph items associated with family history and add those photos too. It was very exciting just after last Christmas to discover a box tucked in the corner of my spare bedroom that I had forgotten about, ever since it arrived after clearing my parents’ house.

So …

I’m still behind with replies, my site is still untidy – but you may find more on my family tree to interest you.