Changing things a bit

I’ve been publishing this blog for a while now, and although, I really like the set up here at WordPress, there are a couple of things that make life a bit difficult. One, the lack of javascript support – I know there is a good reason why we can’t use it here, but it’s frustrating none the less. The other problem I have is with uploading videos. It’s supposed to be easy, but I’m not finding it so. Both problems are quite minor, but I do feel that this blog lacks something because I can’t easily use the same tools as other bloggers. So, I’ve decided to split it into two blogs.

I’ll still update this one with information pertaining to my family – a lot of cousins have found me here, so it’s definitely worth keeping that going. However, I’ll be posting general genealogy advice at a new blog I’ve set up at Blogger, where I’ll be able to use the same bells and whistles all the other bloggers use. I hope you’ll join me there

Bloggers Unite: Because everybody has the right to know where their family is

I was going to write about this subject on my other blog but, on reflection, it fits better here.

“There have been refugees coming to this country for as long as records have been kept: Huguenots, Jews, French Catholics, Russians, Poles, Hungarians, Ugandan Asians… If you can’t find any in your family you’re probably not looking hard enough.”
Mark Haddon

This month, Bloggers Unite is raising awareness of the plight of refugees with special emphasis on reuniting those who have lost contact with their families.

Like most people who had the good fortune to be born in a rich, western democracy I have no idea how it feels to be a refugee. My life has not been torn apart by war or famine. No one has ever persecuted me for my beliefs, ethnicity or gender. I have never lain awake at night wondering (literally) where on earth my children where.

Two branches of my family were refugees though. They came to England to escape religious and racial persecution. The Clesters were Anabaptists who arrived from Holland in the 16th century. A century later, the Jewish Toders made the journey, also from Holland. Both families set up home in Nottinghamshire, initially making a living from farming.

The England they arrived in was not an overtly tolerant and liberal one. Religious conflict was rife, but does not appear to have been as widespread as that found elsewhere. In rural areas particularly, people do seem to have adopted a ‘live and let live’ attitude. Both the Todors and the Clesters became part of their local communities, and married into local families. From the information I have gleaned about them, I think it is safe to say their lives improved dramatically, not least because they had been able to come here as almost complete families. Unfortunately, that is not the case for many modern refugees.

Sadly, conflict causes chaos which leads to people becoming separated and lost. Parents will often find a way to remove their child from danger – as seen during the famous Kindertransport in World War 2 – only for that child to end up thousands of miles away and, effectively, lost forever. For most people, losing contact with family is terrible in the best of circumstances. For it to happen at a time when you most need the support of the people who love you must be heartbreaking, and terribly frightening. To find yourself alone in a strange country, surrounded by people who can’t understand anything you say, whilst worried sick about the fate of your loved ones truly is the stuff of nightmares. Fortunately, there is a service which helps to reunite scattered families.

Refugees Reunited works in much the same way as the social networks most of us use everyday, giving people the tools to reconnect with family and friends they have lost contact with, but with one difference: It was designed for use by refugees. The site is free to use, available in a number of languages and, most importantly, anonymous, therefore giving any displaced person a safe way of reconnecting with their loved ones, and, no doubt, providing much needed peace of mind. It’s a wonderful example of the power of the internet which, underneath all the bells and whistles, is about bringing people together.

“Refugees United is an innovative tool to assist refugees around the world in finding family members. In a pioneering way the innovators of Refugees United have used modern technology to alleviate the terrible pain that separation from and uncertainty about family members bring. Our toolbox has been expanded with a very important new instrument”
Morten Kjærum, Director of Fundamental Rights Agency

Further Reading:

• British Red Cross Refugee Service
• United Nations Refugee Agency
• The Road to Refugee
• What is a Refugee?
• Life as a Refugee in Modern Britain – I think the Toders and the Clesters would be shocked and disappointed if they knew others were not receiving the warm(ish) welcome they received.

Pro Patria Mori

Poppies

Image courtesy of foxypar4

Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!– An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.–
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,–
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen

Tagged for a meme

Image via Wikipedia

I was tagged for a meme by the California Genealogical Society and Library blog, and it seemed like a good way of breaking the ice on this blog, because I haven’t posted for so long.

Ten years ago I was:

1) Newly arrived in the village I now live in (this may even be the anniversary of my arrival) and not quite sure if it was a good idea. I didn’t know anyone apart from my DH and his parents, and it was all very strange and new.

2) Working in sales and marketing and hating every minute. I don’t do that any more, thank God!

3) Totally unaware of the wonders of the internet, but that was about to change.

4) Undisputed Bubble Bobble champion of the whole house!

5) Feeling quite old, because I was 31 and my son had started secondary school, what little I knew LOL

Five things on today’s “to-do” list:

(I’ll do tomorrows because it’s Sunday evening and I don’t have a to-do list on Sunday)

1) Sort some bills out I’d be ever so rich if I didn’t have to pay any.

2) Give the kitchen a good going-over, it always looks like a tornado blew through by Monday morning.

3) Finish an article I’ve been working on for the past week – it doesn’t usually take that long, and I’ve no idea why this one has because it’s very basic and covers a topic I’m very familiar with.

4) Buy some pasta, it’s spag bol night, but it won’t be if we don’t have pasta.

5) Find a map of Cheshire from around 1790 – 1800.

Five snacks I enjoy [the healthy version]:

1) Marmite on crackers
2) Raisins
3) Bananas
4) Hummus on anything – love hummus
5) Tuna and tomato sandwiches made with wholegrain, seeded bread.

Five places I have lived:

I’ve only ever lived in Warwickshire or Yorkshire, apart from a brief spell in County Durham, but I was only there for a few months so I’m not sure it counts.

Five jobs I have had:

1) Various hotel and restaurant jobs – I was very, very bad at all of them.
2) Data input personage for a computer dating agency, which was both interesting and depressing.
3) Sales rep, I was good at that, but I came to loathe it.
4. PA, enjoyed this and have been thinking of setting up a virtual PA business.
5. Mum (the toughest, by far!)

Schelly included two more categories:

Five places to visit again:

1) Cologne in Germany
2) Oxford, England
3) Stratford on Avon, my home town
4) Malvern, Worcestershire (I think), it’s really lovely
5) Barry Island, Wales

Five places I want to visit for the first time:

1) Greece
2) Norway
3) New Orleans, USA
4) Edinburgh, Scotland
5) Rome, Italy

All the genealogy bloggers I know seem to have already been tagged, so I’ll just say if you read this, you’re tagged! If you have a go, don’t forget to leave a link in the comments so I can come over and have a read.

Just popping in

We are in the middle of the long summer holidays here, so I’m not doing a great deal of blogging or genealogy. However, I did have a rummage a couple of days ago looking for more information about the STALLAN family from Duxford in Cambridgeshire and, to my delight, came across the will of my 9 x great grandfather, John Stallan which not only provided some useful family details, but also revealed the fact that his wife Elizabeth, my great grandmother, had been a widow at the time of their marriage. Great stuff! I had assumed her surname at that time was her maiden name and had been trying to find her under that name for a long time. Not so good, the parish registers in Duxford (St. John) don’t include a mother’s maiden on baptism records, so she only appears as Elizabeth in the entries for the children from both her marriages Even more infuriating, I realised from the dates that my 10x great grandfather John SWANN was the curate at St. Johns when many of these babies were baptised and therefore may have been responsible for the omission.

You know those questions often posed on genealogy forums, the ones that ask ‘if you had a time machine who would you visit?’ I think my answer will now have to be, John Swann, to suggest he takes a bit more notice of mothers, not just because it is the right thing to do, but also because it might avoid his granddaughter banging her head against her monitor screen.

My Earliest, Scariest Television Moment

I found this meme over at Terry Snyder’s, Desktop Genealogist blog, but it was started by Cherry Kinnick at Nordic Blue.

My earliest, scariest television moment is without doubt the advert shown in the accompanying video. This ad was aired in the early 70s as part of a series of public information films and was intended to warn children about the dangers of playing near open water – and it worked! In fact, I should imagine it traumatised an entire generation and it is surprising that any Brit over the age of 38 ever dares venture near anything larger than a puddle.

I have no idea who developed or directed the film, but I’m guessing they went on to work in the video nasty market because if they thought this was suitable for children, I hate to think what they would serve up for adults. I can remember watching it for the first time with my eyes wide open and a creeping sense of dread crawling up my spine. During subsequent airings, I made excuses to leave the room – I think my mother became convinced I had a stomach problem because I made so many visits to the toilet LOL

Some Weekend Muzak

This song will be familiar to anyone who was around during World War 2. It was a favourite of my maternal grandmother and she played it so often my younger brother became quite taken with it. As soon as he heard the opening bars he would jig about in time (or so he thought) to the music, while singing merrily along. Anyhoo, it is said brother’s birthday on Monday, so I’ll dedicate it to him. Happy Birthday Will! Have a wonderful day – and remember, stay one step ahead of Dragon Lady

And now for something completely different

After the last rather long and detailed post, I thought a little light relief was in order. So here, for your delight and delectation, is some genealogical humour. That’s jokes for you in the back

We begin with a nice selection of genealogy jokes. I particularly enjoyed these entries in the Ancient Rules for Ancestors section.

(13) Thou shalt name at least 5 generations of males and dozens of their cousins with identical names in order to totally confuse researchers.

(14) If thou wife shall die before you, thou may only be wed again to a woman with the same given name.

I’m related to people who did that

Next – we often say our dogs are part of the family, but would you include yours on the census?

And finally, don’t you wish all your ancestors were like this.

Photo (not mine)

(Photographer: Ian Britton Photo courtesy of freephoto.com)

Rather nice photo from my home town of the Bancroft Gardens with, if I remember correctly, a wood yard in background. It always seemed an odd place to have one, but I’m guessing it predates the touristy elements of Stratford.

Because it’s Friday (again)

Here is some music. Once again, kind of, family history related. This was number one one the day I was born. Get your dancing shoes on . . .

watch?v=Y_1QwoFZWpc

Because it’s Friday

I thought a tune was in order. This one is appropriate because this is a family history blog, and listening to this song on the radio is one of my earliest memories. So, grab a tissue  . . .