Tuesday, July 4, 2023

Happy Fourth of July to my American Cousins and Neighbours

Happy 4th of July to our American Neighbours; may their day be lovely. I do have second cousins in the United States and also fourth cousins in the same line - Buller. My maternal grandmother's youngest sister Sarah went to the United States with her half-sister's family (they went to Chicago) and she met and married her husband there. Just one granddaughter in that family living now and her family living in Connecticut. My fourth cousin's family is much larger and they live in Texas. I do have many cousins there looking at the DNA but they tend to be more distant although good DNA matches (more like 5th and 6th cousins).

Foggy out there today, getting even heavier as the sun rises, and air quality at 63 but no rain in the forecast after all so will likely water. Gardening is never my favourite thing for sure. I pulled out a huge bundle of wild daisies yesterday that were trying to crowd out the Hosta. Today I shall have to put a little time into weeding. I have actually spent more time on research this summer than for nearly ten years - my daughter has helped with the weeding. All of this gardening is in general for her as I can not get inspired to garden beyond keeping the weeds down around the plants. The Black Walnut provides too much shade in the yard now along with our maple tree at the back that the growing ability is somewhat limited in the garden anyway. Hosta does well but not much else. But that being said the Sunflowers are doing really well and the flower heads are starting to form as the leaf network grows rapidly upward. 

The Blake Newsletter was published yesterday, Volume 12 Issue 3 for this year. The Guest Article is such a treat and there is still Part III to come. I only write about my own line for the most part although do do research on the other Blake lines. Since my Pincombe line comes together with the Siderfin-Question marriage - Nicholas Blake married Jone Question (and they are my 7th great uncle and aunt) so not in my direct line but it is the Somerset Blake family so have done a little work on them. The next newsletter is the Kipp Newsletter and should also be H11 but I have already produced the single issue I am going to do for the moment (not published, waiting for Russia to get out of Ukraine) and the next issue will be 1st of February 2024. This Kipp issue will talk about the Y-700 test that was done on Edward's DNA and the fascinating results. Ancient Norwegian ancestry (so Viking) and that was often the thought in this family - the only change that Edward found was that the family was actually Hendricksen when they came to New Holland/New Amsterdam in the late 1630s/ early 1640s and the Kip surname was an added name to distinguish the family from other Hendricksen families in New Amsterdam. So that information will be published. Will start to think about that later in the month.  

Yesterday was cleaning day and all accomplished with just the basement to do today. It was interesting running the vacuum with the air purifiers going as it barely registered that I was cleaning but I do have a good vacuum with a HEPA filter plus another filter inside where the bag fills which keeps the dust from going back into the room. As well you can close a plastic ring on the rod which increases the suction and prevents backfeed from the rod as well. It was an interesting experience actually in just how well these air purifiers work. We have not had any smell of smoke inside at all. The doors and windows are kept closed and we do not go out a lot when the air quality shows above 75 except to feed the birds and do any other chores outside. 

Must order the document from the National Archives - put them into my notes as I forgot yesterday. It will be interesting since it is 1653 and Robert and Ursula Siderfin along with John Siderfin. I had mulled around the thought that the Robert buried in 1636 might be the son but finally thought it was more likely the father but that now appears to be unlikely as the document mentions Robert and Ursula Siderfin like a unit. 

Must work on my solitaire games; I decided to blog first. 


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