Ten Years
The 28th November 2008 will mark ten years since the creation of this website.
It has changed a few times throughout the decade but it has remained popular with web users and has generated a LOT of correspondence and led to some fantastic discoveries.
Thank you for helping me with my research and for encouraging me to continue it. At times it has been frustrating, at times it has been very demanding of my time, and it has also been very sad too.
Ten years on and it pretty much remains my 'guilty pleasure'. At the age of 30, friends the same age are not interested in their family trees but the likes of the BBC's 'Who Do You Think You Are' has at least made genealogy socially acceptable.... and maybe a little bit 'cooler' than it was before.
So here's ten things from the archives...
1. Blue Blood
That old 'must find that link to Henry VIII' gauntlet that nearly every researcher sets themselves is still no nearer to providing that blue (nor event a hint) blood.
There are Howards and Seymours in the tree but no links have provided that all important monarch.
2. Getting It Wrong
A wrong turn, made with the help of ambiguous records and my error in not enough checking, resulted in a number of surrogate ancestors... none of whom turned out to be related at all. Well, it was nice 'knowing' them!
So it's goodbye and farewell to Mary Waters and Jane Hescue. We will miss you.
3. The Undesirables
At least one ancestor was caught up in The Littleport Riots of 1816. Luckily for him, the jury weren't convinced there was enough evidence to incriminate his character.. and those two silver spoons ended up NOT being stolen by him after all!
Still, if I find two silver spoons from the early 19th century, I'll be keeping quiet.
4. Photos
The photos are incredible. There are some beautiful portraits, wedding photos, and also a few photos that make the subject look terrifying.
Two of my favourite photos are below:
The group photo is shows quite a motley crew of people - a strange mixture of railway men, yachtsmen and a small monkey (on the shoulders of my ancestor). Click on it to see a larger view.
The portrait makes my Great Great Grandmother look ferocious. Perhaps she was after all the heartache she went through losing so many of her children during the War time. Plus, the photo probably took ages to be taken and she was fed up being stuffed into that corset.
The photos show the real character of some relatives; the status of others; and the everyday struggle of the rest.
I recommend the photo website Flickr as one of the best places to put your photos - and a basic account is FREE.
You can show off your photos to friends and family, enable people to add comments or even get people to add notes 'on top of' the image (which is good for identifying people in group photos).
5. Keeping It In The Family
The fens wouldn't be the fens without a bit of intermarriage - after all, webbed feet may come in handy in these low lying lands.
Cousins married eachother, brothers and sisters married eachother's widowed spouses, even an Uncle and Niece did the altar walk.
6. War
The tragedies of War saw whole families torn to pieces as sons, brothers, uncles and parents died in War during the 20th Century.
Discovering those newspaper reports detailing the loss and finding photos of families happy together just months beforehand, makes it all hit home as to how difficult and heartbreaking it must have been.
7. Infant Mortality
Without even the most basic of healthcare available or education, so many babies and young children failed in the fight (and what a fight it must have been) to survive into double figures.
A premature baby in 1894, with under-developed lungs, survived 4 hours with what can only be assumed as no assistance.
Those who did survive, would probably have the joy of Tuberculosis (TB) to look forward to in about 30 years time.
8. Ag Lab
Ag Lab, Ag Lab, Ag Lab, Ag Lab, Ag Lab... oh look, a Dom Serv! Nearly everyone worked in agriculture in 19th Century Cambridgeshire. Those who didn't tended to be servants, dressmakers or publicans.
Yawn.
9. Accidents
An ancestor worked as a miller of Haddenham died when getting caught in the workings of the mill back in 1829.
Sounds horrific and it's no surprise that he was buried the next day and reported in the newspaper the day after that.
There's more on Mills at www.millarchive.com.
Similarly, my Martin Great Great Great Grandfather, who survived the death of at least six of his children due to TB and Scarlet Fever, was 'struck' by a train near Little Downham just a few years later whilst working for the GER.
10. Technology
The internet has really opened the door to family tree research and correspondence and sharing in general. Prior to this it was all paper based, postal delays and photocopying.. not forgetting the trawling of phonebooks for common surnames.
Forums, personal websites, online archives and of course email have revolutionised how we share information and how we obtain it too.
In addition, family tree data software has really moved on at a fast pace. I'm using Reunion 9 on my Apple Mac - it's easy to use although as with most family tree software, the reporting and report styles are somewhat lacking.