The Silver War Badge Records 1914-1920

Was your ancestor discharged from the military because wounds or illness left them unfit to continue service?  They may have been among the 800,000 recipients of the Silver War Badge whose records are now available at Ancestry.com.

In September 1916, King George V authorized the Silver War Badge (SWB) to honor all military personnel who had served at home or overseas since 4 August 1914 and who had been discharged because of wounds or illness. The SWB was a small, circular badge made of sterling silver that bore the king’s initials, a crown, and the inscriptions ‘For King and Empire’ and ‘Services Rendered’. The badge could also be worn by personnel who were discharged because of age. 
 
The SWB was not simply an honor; it also served a practical purpose. At the time, men of military age in England who were not obviously in the service were sometimes accosted or insulted by civilians presenting them with white feathers—a symbol of cowardice—for shirking their patriotic duty. The badge, which was worn with civilian dress, served as an outward symbol that the wearer’s duty to country had been honorably fulfilled. 

Thousands of women appear on the rolls as well, serving overseas in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, which provided cooking, mechanical, clerical, and other support services.  Many others served as nurses.

 One thing to keep in mind as you search for your own WWI ancestor. Millions were wounded in the war—some, like J.R.R. Tolkien, so severely that they never did return to the front—but unless they were discharged, they won’t be on the Silver War Badge rolls. 

For those of you who do not have a subscription to Ancestry, check your local library to see if they have a library subscription.  Ancestry Library Edition is available via our free public internet at all branches of Campaspe Regional Library.

Canberra Congress

There is little more than a week to go before the AFFHO Canberra Congress 2015 begins and I am in full swing getting ready.  The car is serviced, the suitcase is out, the neighbour has been organised to catsit and the cat is sulking.  My 'to do' list is finally shrinking rather than expanding as I am actually crossing off items faster than I can think of new ones to add.

This is the first time I will attend a Congress, having missed out on the last few due to family and work commitments, and I have been following official Congress Bloggers like Shauna Hicks and Jill Ball as they talk about everything in store for us and interview many of the speakers.  Many thanks to both these ladies, and all the other bloggers out there who have been talking about the Congress and how to get the most out of your time there.  I have even installed the Congress App on my smartphone.

It has been diffcult to choose which sessions to attend from each of the four concurrent sessions per time slot.  I considered each according to speaker, topic and relevance to my research areas and current expertise - and still wanted to be in two (or three, or even four) different places at once.  I'm also looking forward to visiting vendors in the Exhibitors hall, sharing and networking with colleagues and Congress delegates.  There is also the Librarian's Seminar the day before the Congress itself - just to make sure I really get into information overload!  We are fortunate to have access to so many international and Australian speakers during the Congress, as well as the exhibitors and other events.

See you at the Congress!

New Military Records Online

Ancestry has added thousands of Australian service records from the First World War. Digitised from dossiers held by The National Archives of Australia, the collection covers personnel from the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF), Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train (RANBT), Australian Flying Corps (AFC) and the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS).

Ancestry has also uploaded a tranche of records regarding UK citizens resident in the United States who served in the British Expeditionary Force between 1917-19. Released in partnership with the US National Archives and Records Administration, the collection comprises scanned index cards, providing the name of the resident, their address, date of birth, marital status, civilian occupation and date they entered service.

Finally, Ancestry has added the records of men who served in the Royal Navy during the First World War. Spanning 1900-1918, the Registers of Seamen’s Services can reveal information such as birthdate, birthplace, vessels and dates of service. Family historians can also click through from the transcriptions to view scans of the original documents, held at The National Archives, which provide additional details such as physical description.

Thousands of women’s military records have been made available on Findmypast for the first time. Launched to coincide with International Women’s Day on 8 March, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps Service Records collection provides details of women who served in the unit (known by the acronym WAAC) in England, France and Flanders during the First World War. Digitised from records held at The National Archives, the files reveal details such as birthplace, physical description, medical history, education and parents’ nationalities.

Forces War Records has now uploaded more than 100,000 First World War medical records to the web. Originally launched with 30,000 entries in October 2014, the Military Hospitals Admissions and Discharge Registers collection comprises transcriptions of files created by field hospitals between 1915-18, containing details of men treated on the front line and the nature of their ailments.

Researchers looking for family living in Jersey during the WW2 German occupation can now download their registration card, including a photograph. The collection of German Occupation registration cards, recognised by UNESCO for its importance, has been digitised and added to the Jersey Heritage website by Jersey Archive. The collection includes 90,000 images that can be searched for free, although there is a fee of £5 to download a card.

With so much happening during the Centemary of World War 1 I'm finding it quite hard to keep up with all the records and information coming online - especially as I an researching family members in several countries.  I hope you all find something useful in the sites mentioned above.

England's Immigrants 1330-1550

The British National Archves has just launched England’s Immigrants 1330-1550, a major new research database.  This work is the result of a three year project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) directed by Professor Mark Ormrod, of the University of York’s Centre for Medieval Studies, who headed a team of researchers based in York at and here at The National Archives.
The British Isles has seen a steady flow of immigrants over the past two millennia. Invasions by the Romans and Normans, sanctuary sought by the Protestant Huguenots, or the need for a workforce encouraging West Indians to immigrate all have had a part to play in making Britain the nation it is today.

Alien poll tax inquest for Northamptonshire, 15 April 1469

The central information is drawn from taxation records. In the mid-fifteenth century, as a response to growing tension against England’s immigrants, a series of alien subsidies were granted by parliament. Other records from the period also survive, including various letters patent on the Patent Rolls, detailing requests for immigrants to remain in England and be treated like denizens.  It reveals evidence about the names, origins, occupations and households of a significant number of foreigners who chose to live and work in England in the era of the Hundred Years War, the Black Death and the Wars of the Roses. 
The database contains the names of a total of 65,000 immigrants resident in England between 1330 and 1550. In one year, 1440, the names of 14,500 individuals were recorded, at a time when the population of England was approximately 2 million.
All of this information has been gathered onto the database providing easy access to complex data for the first time.  The database is accessible to all and is a fully searchable and interactive resource, from which data can be downloaded.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 32 - Asylum Records

Shauna has chosen Asylum Records for her topic in Week 32, and tells us that "there were many kinds of asylums apart from mental asylums including benevolent, children’s, sick, destitute and infirm asylums. Even those in a mental asylum may not have been suffering a mental illness, they may have simply been old, frail or sick with no other place to go."

Having spent over 18 months caring for my father who had developed Alzheimers, I have become more aware of the support and care services we enjoy today which would not have been imagined by our ancestors.  For those 200 years ago with illnesses such as dementia, schizophrenia, epilepsy, alcoholism, even post-natal depression, there was little (or no) support, services or understanding of their condition.

Formal mental health care began in Australia with the opening of the Australian Lunatic Asylum at Castle Hill NSW in 1811.  In those times mental illness was viewed as madness and related to ‘bad blood’ or character flaws rather than illness, and management was custodial and by physical restraint, isolation and control.  There was little emphasis on treatment and early facilities were staffed by untrained care assistants. 

The mid to late 1800s saw medical superintendents in charge of asylums.  The philosophy was increasingly one of humane care, although overcrowding often resulted in custodial management.  A 1867 Act of Parliament sent people with mental illness to asylums rather than prison.  There is still little understanding of mental illness and people with a variety of illnesses/disablities found themselves in asylums – people with Alzheimers, epilepsy, Downs Syndrome, alcoholism, etc.  Nursing homes were very rare – there was often nowhere else for people to go if their families were unable to care for them.  

By 1900 medical superintendents had started training some staff, and the introduction of female staff was being considered.  There was a growing awareness of age-related dementia being different than other mental illnesses and physical disabilities were becoming better understood.  The 1950s saw the commencement of specialization in nursing and an illness approach to mental health problems, with a curative focus.  The major tranqulizers were being developed and pharmaceutical management rather than physical restraint became possible.  We was the beginning of nurses working therapeutically with clients individually and groups, and nursing homes became more common as mental health care as we know it today developed.

I have 2 ancestors (that I currently know of) who have been inmates of an asylum.  Both were elderly when admitted and both died in the asylum, although I have little further information about their conditions and why they were admitted.  This will become a project for me to follow up this year.

Shauna adds that "Asylum records are mostly held by the State Archives and there may be a handy guide to the records held.  Check whatever state you are interested in and read the guide for any hints before starting your research. There is usually a closed access period of 100 years although it varies from State to State."  To read Shauna's full blog entry on asylums, click here.

Blogger Beads at the Canberra Congress

Jill's Blogger Beads

The AFFHO Congress in Canberra is fast approaching and I am all booked up and ready to go.  There is a great list of speakers and vendors and Jill Ball from GeniAus has just arrived home from the Rootstech Conference in Salt Lake City bearing some lovely blogger beads so all the bloggers at the conference can identify each other. 

So if you are Geneablogger and would like to let others know by wearing Jill's Geneablogger Beads please let Jill know by emailing her at jillballau@gmail.com with Blogger Beads in the subject line and stating your name and the URL of your blog. 

See you at the Congress!

53 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 31 - Photographs

As part of her 52 Weeks of Genealogy, Shauna has chosen Photographs for her topic for Week 31.  In her blog Shauna asks "Are photographs genealogical records? Do they actually tell us any useful information other than giving us someone’s likeness or an image of where they lived? If someone has written on the back that can be very useful, especially if it tells us who, when and where. Sadly most of my photographs do not have anything written on them making identification difficult, if not impossible."
How well are your photos notated??  Are they in albums with names, dates and places attached?  Or are they like most of my family snaps, tossed in a shoebox and largely unidentified?  Who in your family will look after them in the future?

My parent's wedding day, scanned from a slide.

I have been lucky enough to amass quite a collection of family photographs, combining original photos, copied photos, digital photos and slides (any relatives out there please note - I am always happy to swap and share).  A few years ago I acquired a neat little device that could attach to my computer and scan old negatives and slides, creating nice digital photos and I spent several weekends busily scanning away, hugely expanding my photo cache.  Many I waved in front of my parents, seeking details of when, where, what and who, and have made notes on each of as much information as I have.  Like Shauna, many of the photos I have acquired have little information noted on them to help.
Other photos I have acquired from relatives - some quite distant and whom I have never met in person.  Again, I have noted what I can, but sometimes its pretty sketchy.  Who is in the photo - can each individual be named?  When and where was it taken?  What was the occasion?  I want all these details but rarely have them all.
Then, during the cleaning out of a wardrobe, I can across a box with dozens of old photos inside.  And I could have cried as I sifted through them, turning over print after unidentified print, with not a note or a date on any of them.  Several were easy to identify, but others are still a mystery to me, and I have no clue who is in them, when they were taken and why they were included in that box.  A mystery to solve.
So please, if you have a spare moment consider having a browse through your family photos and see how many are labelled and what information you can add, for yourself and for whoever will be custodian of them in the future.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 30 - Postcards

Week 30 of Shauna Hick's 52 Weeks of Genealogy challenge and she has chosen Postcards as her topic.  Shauna tells us that "when we think of postcards these days, we tend to think of exotic places and a few scribbled words from a friend or family member saying they are having a fantastic time. Although these are probably fast being replaced by Facebook snaps and emails!"

I have very few old family postcards, but I do have the images of several old postcards from locations where I know my ancestors lived, and they do help show me what those places look like back in my ancestor's time.  My father's family came from Great Holland in Essex, and I have several postcards - or images of postcards which kind people have sent me - of the village in my Grandfather's and Great-Grandfather's time.  It really helps bring the past to life to see these images, especially when I can see just what the same view looks like today.

One significant postcard I do have, and I have shown it before, is of my father's brother Ernest (called Squib by just about all who knew him) sent to their sister Nancy while Squib was in Egypt during WW2.  The inscription on the back reads simply "To Nan.  Wishing you all the best.  Your brother Squib."  I do love the image of Squib imposed above the pyramids - I didn't realise they had the technology to do such things back then!

So treasure your family postcards, and make sure you scan backup copies and store them carefully!  Thanks again Shauna.  As usual, to read Shauna's full blog post on this topic, clikc here.

Prisoners of the First World War

A new website has launched called Prisoners of the First World War from the ICRC Archives. During WWI, some 10 million people were captured and sent to detention camps, including both servicemen and civilians. This website contains such things as cards on prisoners of war and reports of deaths and injuries at detention camps. The records cover several armies, including British (and the Commonwealth), French, Belgian, German, Romanian, Serbian, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Greek, American, Austro-Hungarian, Bulgarian and Turkish. The website will be interesting for anyone who had an ancestor who was a prisoner of war in WWI, and it will be particularly useful if your ancestor came from a country that generally lacks genealogy records, such as Serbia or Bulgaria. The records can be searched by name.
The objective is to put some 5 million records online, and the website has already reached 90% of its target. A YouTube video below gives a good overview of the website. Access is free.

Genealogy Cruising again

That's it!!  I've booked my next Unlock the Past Genealogy Cruise.  Anyone who has glanced at this blog probably realises I had a great time on the 4th Unlock the Past cruise last year, and now I am booked for the 11th Unlock the Past cruise – New Zealand to Australia.  While details are still being posted, the list of speakers and topics looks great, it is another beautiful ship (see below) with lots to do and see, and you will probably hear a lot more about it between now and next year when the cruise finally sails.  If you haven't tried genealogy cruising, have a look at the Unlock the Past website and see what is coming up.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 29 - Military Records

This week Shauna has chosen military records and tells us that "there are lots of records that could fall under this broad heading but I will focus on the dossiers which contains lots of different information. To start there is all the biographical information contained on the enlistment form as well as a photograph in some instances (depending on the war). Then there is information on where they are sent, if they are wounded or ill, and when they come home. Sometimes there are letters from family at home seeking information on their loved one and perhaps letters from the person after their service has ended. Some of the dossiers I have are quite big while others only have a few pages."

I have the military records for several of my ancestors, including my father and two of his brothers, my mother's eldest brother and several great-uncles.  They cover both world wars and my family was extremely lucky, with all the immediate family returning from the wars alive and relatively unharmed.  We did have a second cousin killed in WW1, but everyone else made it home (it seems not even wars kill off my family).  The only exception was my mother's middle brother who was killed after WW2 ended, and he actually wasn't a soldier - he was in the Merchant Navy and drowned in an accident in Argentina in 1947.  He was buried there in a full Catholic funeral - a bit of an error as my mother's family is very much Anglican - and my grandmother was sent a number of photographs of the service and the burial by the kindly priest who officiated.

Having heard many family stories over the years about the various war experiences of these men, and the home experiences of the women in the family (none of my female ancestors were nurses, etc), it surprises me how many of them, including my father, saw the war as a chance to travel, see a bit of the world, give the 'enemy' a black eye and all be home by Christmas.  My father was always rather disappointed he never actually made it out of Australia during his time in the Air Force.  His brother Ernest (known as Squib) sent the postcard below to their sister Nancy from Egypt.

Through the National Archives of Australia I have downloaded several family WW1 records and ordered those from WW2 -  the NAA has indexed and digitised Boer War and World War 1 dossiers, which you can search and view online for free. World War II dossiers have been indexed but will only be digitised if a family member has requested it.  Other websites include Discovering Anzacs Whichallows you to add your stories and images, and the Australian War Memorial, which has databases like the WW1 Embarkation Rolls and WW1 Red Cross files.
Thanks again Shauna for another great topic.  You can read Shauna's full blog post here.

Canberra Congress

Are you booked to attend the AFFHO Congress 2015 in Canberra this March?  Congress is only held every three years and it attracts some of the best speakers in Australasia and overseas and lots of trade exhibitors - it is a huge event. See the program here and have a look at the speakers and the variety of topics they will cover.
Finding out more about the many speakers is easy, as not only is there information included in the program, bloggers Shauna Hicks and Jill Ball have been busy interviewing speakers over the last few months.  So have a look to find out more about the speakers you will be listening to - or what you will be missing out on if you don't make it to Canberra for the Congress.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 28 - Tombstones

In her 52 Weeks of Genealogy challenge Shauna has chosen Tombstones for her topic for Week 28.  She is so right when she says we all get excited if we discover a tombstone sitting over an ancestor’s grave - I know I certainly do. But she is also right when she warns us that "like all genealogical records we should check the information against other documents. There can be errors in dates, spelling of names and just because someone is on the tombstone, does this mean they are buried there?  Burial records, funeral directors records and death certificates can all confirm what is engraved on a tombstone. We should get into the habit of checking all of these resources for deaths as there may be new or slightly different information on each."

I have been lucky enough to acquire photographs of the headstones of several family members, some during personal visits and others sent by relatives or located online through sites like BillionGraves.  The quality and amount of information on them varies a lot, as does the legibility and the state of preservation of the headstone.  As you can see, the tombstone of Susette Beseler (right) has weathered over the years and now some of the text is quite hard to read.


Other tombstones I have found contain the details of several people, such as the one on the left which is primarily for the Morgan family but also includes one of my Beseler clan, as well as 2 more people with the surname Foran. Given the condition of the tombstone photographed, I would also like to know exactly when it was erected, and by whom.  Certainly the date range covers quite a time period, and the stone probably dates from the time of death of the last person included - was there an older tombstone in place at some time that has now been replaced, or is this a more 'general' tombstone that commemorates several family members buried in the area over time??  Who erected this stone, and where did they obtain the information they have included on it?  I need to delve into the cemetery records for this particular tombstone to find out more - another little project for 2015 to add to my list.

It is worth noting that not all tombstones will actually date from the time the gravesite was actually used - the stones themselves could be installed at a much later date by relatives, or be replcements for older stones which have been damaged or destroyed.

My final tombstone that I will include here it that of my maternal grandmother, Gladys Pummeroy (nee Clark).  When she passed away in 1995 she was buried in Brighton Cemetery in the same plot as her father, James Nicholas Clark, who died in 1924.  Before this the grave had no tombstone at all - for over 70 years James lay in an unmarked grave - and while I am confident the information my family has included is correct (birth and death certificates, burial records etc all agree) this may not always be the case.

Thanks Shauna for another great topic - click here to read Shauna's full post on Tombstones.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 27 - Census

Shauna has chosen Census Records for Week 27, and I must confess I do love England's wealth of census records, and have often railed against their loss in Australia.
In her blog Shauna says "I am sure all of us have benefited from being able to search the digitised copies of the UK census for ourselves. We can simply look up the indexed records in Ancestry or Findmypast and go straight to the correct image. But and there is always a but, not everything is straightforward or we don’t have instant access to subscription databases."  She adds that "Poor handwriting and indexing errors are an issue although we can search on given names and perhaps discover the surname that way."

I have spent quite a bit of time searching various branches of my family, and it is always fascinating to follow a family or individual through several censuses - children are born, grow up and leave home, a spouse might die and the survivor remarry, the family might move, and so on.  I also have a few gaps in the census records for my family - where were they on census night??  Hiding?  Abroad?  Or is the handwriting so illegible or the name so misspelt that thus far I simply can't track them down?

One family I have followed through the census is my Hines branch of the family tree.  In the 1841 census (right) parents James and Susan are alive and children John, Samuel, Albert and Hannah are listed with them.  Eldest daughter Susannah is not home on census night and so not listed here.

By the time of the next census in 1851, circumstances have changed for the family.  Both parents have died, and the five siblings have been split up.  The two eldest children, Susannah and John, now aged 18 and 16, are living with their maternal grandparents and are listed below as house servant and farm servant respectively.

Middle child Samuel, age 14, has been found a home with relatives, and is listed as a lodger in the house of James Prentice.  His maternal grandmother Susannah's maiden name was Prentice (she is the Susannah Woollard listed above, who took in the two eldest children), and James Prentice is her nephew.

The two youngest children, Albert, now age 12 and Hannah, age 10, have been less fortunate.  Apparently there were no relatives willing and able to take these youngest children, and they are listed in the census as paupers in the Cosford Union Workhouse.

Once again, thanks to Shauna for her 52 week challenge - she really makes me go back to my research and have a think.  The read Shauna's full blog on Census Records, please click here.

Inside History Magazine

Issue 26 Jan-Feb 2015 edition of Inside History magazine is now available. Articles include:

• How the hundreds of thousands of Wills now online can help find your family
• The overshadowed Gallipoli campaign of Australia’s submarine AE2
• Thomas Keneally’s top tips for writing history
• Ludwig Becker, Australia’s unsung explorer, artist and scientist who aided Burke and Wills on their fateful expedition
• How genetics and genealogy form our shared past
• Discovering 1840s Tasmania through the recollections of a convict diarist
• Plotting our climate’s history using the logbooks of early 20th-century voyages
• The go-getting businesswoman whose prominent Melbourne photography studios flourished through the Depression and two world wars – and captured some famous faces
• An exciting World War II oral history project underway in Perth
• The oldest clipper ship in the world, soon to open for public tours

Inside History magazine is available through most newsagents, or can be downloaded FREE by members of Campaspe Regional Library through Zinio, our e-Magazines platform.  Ask our staff for more information.

 

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 26 - School Records

Shauna has chosen School Records for Week 26 of her 52 Weeks of Genealogy, which I have been following during the past year and will continue to follow in 2015.  A huge thank you goes to Shauna for creating this blog challenge - she had certainly prompted me to look more closely at some of the categories of records available and how I might use them better.
In her blog, Shauna tells us that "you can look for school admission or pupil registers and find out when ancestors went to school and where. If you have teachers in the family you can find out lots of biographical and career information on them. Finally when a new school was being established, the Education Department often did a survey of families to see which children might attend the school if it was established."
I have a few school records for my ancestors, including all my mother's school photos.  I have to admit this is not an area I have explored as thoroughly as I should - although I know a fair bit about my parents' schooling I haven't traced back further generations to find where they went to school. 
The photo below is of my father Peter Green, with older brother Les and younger sister Marjory on their way home from Bambill North Primary School, taken about 1935 or 36.  Dad would have been 9 years old, Les 11 and Marjory 7.

The children drove themselves to school from the farm where they lived and had to arrive early enough each day to care for their horse before the school day began.  For them and many other farm children, this was their only alternative to a long walk to and from school each day.
Click here to read Shauna's full blog post on School Records.

Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2014

 Jill Ball at Geniaus invited all we bloggers to look back on the year that was and reflect on the high points of our genealogy researching endeavours.  Anyone can take part in this activity by responding to the following statements/questions in a blog post. Jill asks us to write as much or as little as we want or just answer a few questions.
Once you have done so please share your post’s link in a comment on Jill’s original post or via email to Jillballau@gmail.com. Jill will then do a compilation of responses so that we can all share in and celebrate each other’s successes.  So here I go :

1.  An elusive ancestor I found was - Great Uncle Percy Pike.  I have been looking everywhere for him in England (his family all lived in Suffolk).  Why could I find no trace of him??  Because he emigrated to Canada!

2.  A precious family photo I found was - copies of some old postcards from the village in Essex where my father's father was born.

3.  An ancestor's grave I found was - Percy Pike's (see point 1).

4.  An important vital record I found was - I actually did quite well here, with a gift subscription to Essex Ancestors netting me a huge amount of Baptism, Marriage and Burial records (and exceeding my download limit TWICE in a month!).

5.  A newly found family member shared - didn't do so well here.  Second cousins twice removed - where are you all??

6.  A geneasurprise I received was - all the new information coming online.  I am constantly amazed by just how much is being transcribed, digitised, and put online.

7.   My 2014 blog post that I was particularly proud of was - all of them!!  Just keeping going was an achievement in itself.  A big thank you to those who read my blog - and who come into Echuca library to chat to me about it.

8.   My 2014 blog post that received a large number of hits or comments was - the timetable for my talks for Family History Month in August - and a huge thank you to all those who attended.  We all had a lot of fun and everyone's feedback was so positive.

9.  A new piece of software I mastered was - Windows 8.1 and all the associated changes to my computer.

10. A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was - Blogger!!  But of course.....

11. A genealogy conference/seminar/webinar from which I learnt something new was - the Unlock the Past February 2014 cruise.  I am cruising again - what a great combination of genealogy conference and holiday.

12. I am proud of the presentation I gave at/to - The group at Echuca Library in Family History Month (see point 8).

13. A journal/magazine article I had published was - Not yet!

14. I taught a friend how to - attach an image to her Ancestry family tree.

15. A genealogy book that taught me something new was - Tracing your Family History on the internet by Chris Paton.

16. A great repository/archive/library I visited was - State Library of Victoria.  I don't get there as often as I'd like, so when I do I come armed with a LIST!

17. A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was - my online subscription to Who Do You Think You Are magazine - no more waiting for it to ship from England - I receive it electronically the SAME DAY it is published over there.

18. It was exciting to finally meet - Jill Ball on the February Genealogy cruise - and everyone else I chatted to / shared a meal with / sat next to / shared stories with etc.

19. A geneadventure I enjoyed was - that cruise (really enjoyed it, you know).

20. Another positive I would like to share is - I was given a subscription to the British Newspaper Archive for Christmas (thanks Mum).  Fortunately the library is closed between Christmas and New Year.  Unfortunately I've exceeded my monthly internet download limit again...