October flew by

Hard to believe it is actually the 31st of October. Not a great deal accomplished today. I felt like a day off. We did start up the snow blower and the generator and all is well with those two handy appliances.

My Sunday Service arrived yesterday and will attend Church via you-tube once again. I feel that this is something that I prefer doing and probably will do this for as long as I am provided with the access. 

My husband had a pretty good day; we were out for a walk but by evening he was pretty tired. 

Perhaps tomorrow I will get some genealogy done.

Email from a match

Had a couple of interesting emails from a match that I had noted as likely being from my Welch line. Ann Welch married Henry Christopher Buller in 1837 at Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. She was just 17 and he was a widower and 32 years of age. I certainly do have some exciting ancestors. Ann's parents William Welch and Sarah (Cheatle) Welch were married at Longdon by Lichfield, Staffordshire in 1818. William's parents John Welch and Margaret (Brockhouse) Welch were married 1783 at Rugeley, Staffordshire and they had eleven children. Because this individual has a match in the same area as a descendant of the twin sister of Ann I am highly suspicious that this match is in the Welch-Cheatle line going back. He could be a 4th cousin by the size of the match so sharing 3x great grandparents but I suspect he is likely a fifth cousin so likely back into the Welch-Brockhouse or Cheatle lines. Interesting though that he has lines back into Birmingham in the mid 1800s and earlier. 

Worked a bit on the tree to see if it was an easy path back but probably not.

Today is another cleanup day and then hopefully finished the outside work except for winter stuff but we do have someone to clear the laneway which will make a huge difference. 

My husband

My husband tries so hard to live his life the way he used to and it wears him out. Gradually he is changing to a more relaxed approach to life. He needs to do that to survive I think. When your aim is to live to be 90 then I think you need to modify your life if you have a chronic illness. At 77 he has certainly had a difficult year. But with a lockdown there is the advantage you can not really go anywhere and the pace of life can be quite slow and relaxed. Walking around the house gives me thousands of steps and I just have to encourage him to do the same. He just has to fit into the mold now. 

I remember when I injured my back and it is a while ago now it was extremely frustrating for me to spend all my time standing or lying down. I could also kneel at my computer desk and did do that as well. But gradually I was able to work back into my calisthenics exercises and that helped my back a lot. During the summer though I can not get in all those exercises - there just isn't time! But now that fall is here and I have more time I am back to doing my calisthenics and my back is much better. Really I should do therapy on my back but when I tried to get that done the doctor I had at the time was not helpful. So we moved on from that doctor. It was interesting that after a few weeks of trying to get a referral the office called to set up an appointment for flu shots. We had already gone to the drug store but I reminded the secretary once again that my back was still giving me a great amount of pain and basically she did not care. I am not sure she passed my messages on actually. 

When I injured my knee I was sent off to physio right away which was quite reasonable but I have never again asked about my back. Perhaps I am afraid that there is really something wrong with it that needs an operation and that is just not practical with my husband and my calisthenics keeps it in check for the moment.

But back to my husband, he is busy working on his genealogy and that is really good for him. Plus he has so much material and it would be a pity to lose all of his research. Only he can really organize it so that it can be given to other researchers.

A Dusting of Snow

This morning I was greeted with a dusting of snow over everything. The ethereal beauty of the first snows are breath taking. I love living in a country that has real winter. 

COVID-19 continues to loom over us with increasing numbers. We mustn't let our caution down as we are entering into the most dangerous time of the year for us here in Canada. It is cold here and most things happen indoors where the greatest danger of transmission occurs. 

This year has passed so quickly although I have not accomplished too much. The year began with my recovering from my knee injury and then my husband's condition deteriorated. He remains on the side of life; he would like to live to be 90 and I will try to help him with that; we have been a team like that throughout our 54 year marriage. I tend to be the helper that is for sure but I do not regret taking that on at 20 years of age. Having four brothers and being a middle child perhaps tends to make me be more of a helper than a leader. I spent my young years following my older brothers about much to their dislike on occasion - I can remember being sent home! 

Ed has good days and bad days but he is content to work away on his Kipp and Link family genealogies trying to gather it all up so that it can be passed on to others with his same interest. We spent the first eight years of our marriage collecting information that he knew about whilst his mother was still alive to help with her side of the family. His father died when he was two but his uncle was most helpful with family history. 

I am enjoying the view from my work window. The trees have a lovely covering of white fluffy snow.

Pound Cake

Found an excellent recipe for Pound Cake with a bare minimum of salt (8 mg per slice) so made that today for Ed. He loves cakes, pies and all things dessert wise. We are now making absolutely everything from scratch for him and he is really enjoying his meals again. He misses the salt for sure. 

Ed is busy working on his Kipp collection. I think he should ask Library and Archives Canada if they would like it. The Kipp family were early settlers in Oxford County but also early settlers in British Columbia. He has a lot of pictures that were given to him for the Kipp family book that he wrote 45 years ago. I think he had around 100 printed and they have been gone for a long time. Now the book is in electronic form and much much longer but it contains all of those early pictures of the Kipp family. 

Myself I am working away on phasing my grandparents DNA (actually already phased and I just keep refining it with new matches). The occasional change but for the most part the set of results that I have are pretty settled. I want to move on to my great grandparents. With nearly 1000 matches and about 250 known matches working on great grandparents is doable. 

We are down to the last items to do outside before winter. The air conditioner is now covered for winter. The swing will go in towards the end of the week and the snow fence goes up probably just before the first big snowfall. One last run through the leaves and we will have seven bags for collection. We mulched them this time so they are quite compacted. 

Now we just have to check out the generator and make sure we are ready with that and also the snowblower although we are going to have a company clear the laneway but there are still the two patios to clear.

Grief and aging

Thinking about grief these days and how I have changed through my life. The loss of my grandfather when I was eight was extremely sad for me. I was too young to truly understand but old enough to know that he had died and I was there when he was buried. I saw his open coffin and said goodbye to him but inside I still wanted him to be alive. I grieved him for awhile; perhaps until the next summer when I discovered that if I still did the things that we had done together he still felt close to me because it was the summer when we spent a lot of time together. My grief at his loss was replaced by an awareness of the spirit of my grandfather.

I was twenty one when my grandmother died and married about eight months at the time. I had gone to see her every night at the hospital after her stroke and the night that she died I had been sitting with her and talking to her and her fingers moved and touched mine. I still wonder if I moved mine but I think it was her actually even yet. I was nervous to touch her but then I held her hand for a very long time. She died at 4:00 a.m. that night and it was an eerie thing that I had woken up right at 4:00 because I thought I could hear someone calling my name. She said Elizabeth  with a Birmingham (Brum) accent and I had awoken from a deep sleep. The grief was great but the happening was greater as I just felt as if she was with me now all the time. I learned to live my life with the thought of her being near me but gradually it was only when I was alone that I felt her close. 

I was 53 when my father and oldest brother died and perhaps it was not knowing that my oldest brother was ill until just before he died even though my mother wrote to me often she just never told me until the end was near. My father was 94 and had had a bout of influenza and was not recovering so I did realize that he might not live much longer. We had driven back in early December so that I could visit with my eldest brother and then just on a hunch we went back once again the weekend before my father died in late December. Then my brother died in early January. It was crushing for me at that time to lose them both and yet I was never as close to them as I had been to my two grandparents. Looking back I learned a lot about grief; it is a strange process. The more you grieve at the time of the happening the sooner that you can reach that plateau where they are just there in your mind as you want to remember them. The priest that gave his Eulogy did such a wonderful job; for reasons I do not share with my blog I was overwhelmed to hear someone say so many wonderful things about my Dad. It was a wonderful experience although the grief took a firm hold for a while until I was able to move on from it.

I was 57 when my mother died. I had been to see her in the hospital two weeks earlier and she was so frail (she was almost 85 and a half years old). We chatted for hours although she fell asleep a number of times and was surprised to still see me there when she awoke. As a child I was always rather frightened of her and we never really became close until after my children were born. By then we lived 8 hours away and I did not see her all that often. However, I had a chance to see how she had changed from the mother I knew as a child (she was very well organized and hard working as one might expect with seven children!). With her first grandchild (my older sister's daughter) she was thrilled to be a grandmother but as each new grandchild arrived she became more grandmotherish and my daughters quite adored her. I saw her through their eyes and became closer to her as well. It was sad to have her pass but she was so frail that I wondered how she would ever manage to do the things that she likes to do. My uncle almost immediately took over and called me; wrote to me and asked me to come and so he filled that grief time with memories of how much I had enjoyed having him as an uncle. He passed just a year later and I grieved him too but I was learning to grieve now and I had his wonderful letters and the time that we had spent talking that just seemed to carry me through all of that.

Now I am 75 when my second oldest brother has just passed. He was unwell and the last time I talked to him he was struggling to keep the conversation going. It was too much for him really so I talked about our mutual interest in DNA for a few minutes and then we said goodbye. Hard to believe it was just a few weeks earlier but I was not surprised when my sister called to let me know that he was not doing well and then he passed that evening. I grieve him but he is in a better place; he is with our parents whom he loved deeply. 

But as I have aged beyond 60 I have changed. It is really our duty to do the best that we can with our lives; live the fullest life that we can and to carry the memories of our siblings, parents and grandparents with us. I am so glad that I have written the stories of my parents and grandparents where I knew them (two of my grandparents died before I was born). 

I am about to embark on another course that is offered to Patient Partners. I shall do this in memory of Doug as he certainly suffered a lot of medical difficulties since he had his first heart attack at 39 years of age. Although we grieve in old age we understand the ability of the body to survive or not survive as time passes.

Snow in the forecast

Snow was mentioned last night and by seven am when snow was showing up on Alexa I checked and there it was; just a little white trimming here and there. Snow is the best sign of winter. I await winter with great enthusiasm. 

The new week begins

Sunday again. I have always loved Sundays perhaps for the peace that comes with Sunday; not sure why I just always have. It is minus 2 celsius at 7:49 and soon we return to Standard Time from Daylight Savings Time although there has been an effort this year to retain Daylight Savings. Not sure that is going to happen though. It is nice to come back to standard time when it is dark early in the evening and still dark in the morning. The darkness is comforting in the wintertime. 

Leaves are all gathered up. We will not likely do much more outside work except for our snow fence at the front. Worry Free is going to clear our snow away which will be a nice treat. I am getting too old to clear the ice from the end of the laneway when that happens.

My Church Service is in my Inbox and my week begins once again.

The Black Walnut Leaves have dropped

That really does seem to sound the bell for the winter season coming. The leaves of the Black Walnut tree are pretty much on the ground now. Yesterday we collected the leaves on the ground so today will repeat that effort and then we are pretty much done with that task and winter is welcomed to come any time. There is snow in the forecast for the end of next week just before Hallowe'en. Since we are not celebrating Hallowe'en this year then the snow might as well come. 

COVID-19 is raging to the south of us in the United States. They had over 84,000 cases on Friday; quite frightening actually. Now there is us here in Canada and the cases have been rising but hopefully we can bring them down having returned to a modified second stage. It needs compliance though and that does seem to be lacking somewhat at least in our area and the Toronto area. 

I am hoping that it will come under control and we can have Christmas at least a modified version of Christmas. That would be really nice. 

However, I shall now get into my genealogy once again. We do not go out shopping other than groceries and we could pick them up. We have been going for a walk every day but we may soon just concentrate on doing that very locally. 

Worldwide there are 42,214,376 (increase of 422,610 over yesterday), 1,144,319 deaths (increase of 5,648 over yesterday) and 28,555,103 recovered (increase of 170,214 over yesterday). These are incredible numbers considering where we were in the spring.

The Gospel Reading Matthew 6: 22-34

Verse 34 caught my eye today in the Bible Reading - the one I receive from the Canadian Bible Society is from the Contemporary English Version and reads "Don't worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today." From my Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition we read "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day." It is interesting reading all the different versions of the Bible although my preference remains for the Revised Standard Version. The language in it reminds me of my own grandparents as English has changed even in my lifetime.

In these days of COVID-19 is there perhaps a message for us in those words. It really is necessary for us to concentrate on today; on everyone wearing a mask and washing their hands and keeping a two metre distance. We need to defeat COVID-19 as much as we can as we wait for a vaccine to defeat it.

Another Day has flown by

My Blog just didn't seem to want to be written this morning. The Bible Reading gave me a thought but then I decided not to write that particular one. 

We spent a few hours outside cleaning up the rest of the plants that needed to be cut back, starting to set up the snow fence along one side of the property and getting the garbage ready for tomorrow's pickup. 

Other than that the day went by very quickly and there are just nine days left in October and 16 days remaining of the lockdown so we are almost half-way but the cases continue to climb although not at a rapid rate remaining more or less at the same level - too high. Hopefully two more weeks will have an impact. 

Flu Shots

Yesterday my husband and I got our flu shots. We are ready now for the next onslaught of illness hopefully. Still in modified lockdown until at least the 7th of November. The numbers though are not going down yet but it does take several weeks for the impact of even a partial lockdown to show up plus it needs the compliance of the 20 to 40 year olds who have created this second wave of COVID-19. Discipline. Discipline. Discipline. A large enough fine so that the partying will stop is perhaps the way. Money does talk.

Will of Robert Pincombe, Bishops Nympton, Devon, Probated 27 Oct 1827

The will of Robert Pincombe was dated 19 Apr 1827. Robert was my 3x great grandfather and I did grow up hearing a few stories about him. Not a great deal as he died whilst his children were all still young - only his eldest son Robert was 21 years of age when he died. My ancestor was John (some people have asked me why he was disinherited as he received only 5 shillings) but I think that John inherited from his eldest Uncle (John Pincombe at Molland) so that he did not receive anything else from his father other than the token five shillings which said you are my son and I am remembering you in the will. John was 19 when his father died. My husband and did find his gravestone at Bishops Nympton attached to the Church Wall (exterior) and somewhat hidden behind a Yew Tree. That was a lucky find. My husband was walking along and noticed the stone and moved the tree a little to read it and  noted it said Robert Pincombe died 1827. It immediately caught my attention as I knew that my Robert had died in 1827.

Robert was 52 when he died. That seems very young but at a time when the average age at death was in the late 40s early 50s his age at death was not uncommon. His brothers outlived him by ten to twenty years. His wife had died four years earlier of unknown causes and one of his sons William died two years after his mother. 

The wills for the Exeter Court were all destroyed in WWII so that the original of this will did not survive the bombing but a copy had been placed with Inland Revenue and so this particular copy has survived and I have transcribed it below with the Probate. It is modern English for the most part.

The will of Robert Pincombe:

Recorded: 19 Oct 2011
Source: Inland Revenue Wills - p 885
Place: Bishops Nympton, Devon, England
Type of Record: Will
Dated: 19 Apr 1827 (probated 27 Oct 1827)
Condition: photocopy, bold, modern English writing
Type: three pages - Original will (2 pages) and Probate (1 page)

1 In the name of God, Amen.  I Robert Pincombe of Bishopsnympton
2 in the County of Devon, Yeoman, being infirm in Body but of Sound and disposing
3 Mind Memory and Understanding praised be God for the same do make and ordain
4 this my last Will and Testament in manner and form following, that is to say, First
5 I give and Bequeath unto my Son Robert Pincombe the Sum four pound a year to be
6 paid to him within one year after my Decease, Also I give unto my Daughter Betsy
7 Pincombe the sum of Four pound a year, Also I give unto my son John Pincombe
8 the [sum] of five shillings, Also I give unto my Son Thomas Pincombe the sum of four Pounds a
9 year after he arrive to the Age of Twenty one, Also my Son George Pincombe the sum of four
10 Pounds a Year after he arrive to the Age of twenty one, Also I give unto my Son Richard
11 Pincombe the sum of four Pounds a year after he arrive to the Age of twenty one, Also I
12 give unto my Son Philip Pincombe the sum of four Pounds A year after he arrive to
13 to the age of twenty one my will is that if either of my Children should happen to
14 die under the Age of twenty one Years and unmarried then the Legacy or Legacies of him
15 or her so dying shall be equally Divided between them Survivors And also if my Son
16 Robert Pincombe should die and have a Widow and During her Widowhood to have her
17 husband share out of my Estate or Estates Also I give Devise and Bequeath unto my
 Brother John Pincombe of Molland and William Pincombe of Bishopsnympton and Phillip
18 Routtcliffe of Mary Ansley in this County, Yeomen. All that my said Moiety and Half
19 fendle of West Wood and my Tenement called East Wood also my Leasehold Estate called
20 Park with their and every of their Appurtenances thereto belonging And also my Goods
21 chattels Personal and Testamentary Estate Whatsoever and Wheresoever
22 Robert Pincombe [signed]
 [Page 2]
23 To hold the same unto the said John Pincombe William Pincombe and Phillip Routcliffe
24 their Executors Administrators and Assignes Subject and Charged and chargeable to and with the
25 Payment of all Just Debts and Legacies herebefore given, Also I authorize and Impower my
26 Trust or Trustees to Mortgage or Assigne over my Estate or Estates if required for the
27 better payment of my Debts Also my Will is that after my Debt is all paid that my Children
28 herein before named, that is to say, my son Robert Pincombe Betsy Pincombe Thomas
29 Pincombe George Pincombe Richard Pincombe and Philip Pincombe to have their equal share alike
30 out of my Estate or Estates And lastly I do hereby Nominate Constitute and appoint the said John
31 Pincombe W[illia] Pincombe and Philip Routcliffe Executors in Trust of this my last Will and Testament
32 and Jointly Guardians of my said Children And I do Declare this to be my last Will and
33 Testament In Wittness whereof I have to the first sheet of this my last Will and Testament I have
34 subscribed my name and At this last sheet I have sett my hand and Seal this nineteenth day of
35 April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty seven
36 Robert Pincombe [signed and sealed]
37 Signed Sealed Published and Declared by the above named
38 Robert Pincombe the Testator as and for his last will and testament
39 in the presence of us who at his request and in his presence have
40 subscribed our Names as witnesses thereto
41 John Pincombe [signed]
42 The Mark of Jane X Arnell
43 The Mark of Ann X Arnell
44 W[itnesse]s sig[ned] as A true Copy
45 William Gray [signed and sealed]
 [Page 3]
46 For EXECUTORS
47 John Pincombe of Molland in
48 the County of Devon, Yeoman
49 and Philip Rowcliffe of
50 Mariansleigh in the same
51 County Yeoman
52 Executors in Trust named in the last Will and Testament of
53 Robert Pincombe late of Bishopsnympton
54 in the County of Devon Yeoman deceased
55 who died on the 23rd Day of April 1827
56 make Oath to say that they have made diligent search and
57 due enquiry after, and in respect of the Personal Estate and Effects of the
58 said Deceased, in order to ascertain the full Amount and Value thereof; and
59 that to the best of their knowledge, information, and belief, the whole of
60 the Goods, Chattles, and Credits, of which the said Deceased died, possessed
61 within the Peculiar Jurisdiction of the
62 Bishop of Exeter
63 (exclusive of what the Deceased may have been possessed of, or intitled to
64 as a Trustee for any other Person or Persons, and not beneficially, but
65 including the Leasehold Estates for Years of the Deceased, whether abso-
66 lute or determinable on Lives, and without deducting any thing on account
67 of the Debts due and owing from the Deceased,) are under the Value of
68 One thousand and five hundred pounds
69 John Pincombe [signed]
70 Philip Rowcliffe [signed]
71 Sworn on the Twelfth
72 Day of October 1827 before me
73 Edward Chave Tunsgate

Leaves are falling

I can almost feel the end of the season these days. The leaves are falling. I can hardly wait for them to be all down on the ground. We have too many to just leave there as it would be a soggy mess in the spring. Over the next couple of weeks we will put out about a dozen or so bags of leaves. It keeps people working and hopefully someone buys it for mulch from the city. 

Soon I will be back to genealogy and I must begin to think about what I want to work on. Certainly I need to get the H11 Newsletter written as it is due in another twelve days. It will be short though as I only do a complete listing of all the subhaplogroup subclades once a year. There are a number of new members and by and large most of them still live in Europe and spread across Europe from Ireland to Russia and as far south as the Mediterranean. But the bulk of them are in Central and Western Europe, Scandinavia and Russia/Ukraine/Baltic States. That is still a lot but gradually a picture is emerging as subclades become more and more subdivided and for some lucky people like myself I can tell that my ancient ancestress lived in Ayrshire/Argyllshire Scotland about eight to twelve thousand years ago. Doesn't help me much with the present but it is rather fascinating that my maternal grandmother was born in Birmingham which as the crow flies is not that far from Ayrshire/Argyllshire Scotland.

October has twelve more days

Time does march relentlessly onward carrying us with it. For the first time in my life we have to obey the march of nature. Everytime we veer away from the path that she has designed we pay for it. Our ingenuity  as homo sapiens is being tested to the limit these days. Appealing to Herd Immunity isn't going to save us just as it did not save all those people who died from Smallpox in the centuries before this time. We have to conform to a set of rules that will guide our society forward towards a vaccine and eventual riddance of this coronavirus COVID-19. Dr Fauci will likely be one of the greats of this millenium. Even at the age of 80 he stands tall and strong leading Americans as he has for more than fourty years but will they listen; will the world listen? Time always tells the tale. 

You have to be old like me; over 70 at least to remember the scourge of Smallpox and how it was defeated and remains defeated with a vaccine that gives us Herd Immunity. 

Hallowe'en not happening - continuing with the return to modified Stage 2

Hallowe'en is not happening in our city but it was a good decision. Unfortunately for the children of course but the two main needs are really people working and children going to school. Everything else can be on hold for a bit. We still can shop but in a careful way. The four week shutdown is already half way through and hopefully in two more weeks we will see a good decrease in cases but that isn't showing up yet. 

We were shopping the other day and watched as one store worker was distributing items around the store. He was wearing a mask but his nose was not covered so if he did have COVID-19 he was spreading virus all over the store as he delivered items here and there. Plus his mask had been used a lot of times. People have to be attentive and protect both themselves and the people who are coming into that store. If it had been momentary I would not have even mentioned it but we were in that store and in that general location for at least ten minutes. If he needs a break from mask wearing then he should ask for that but not continue to spread germs if he actually did have COVID-19 which I admit he probably does not have but none the less the 28 day shutdown was to slow down the virus and we all need to adhere to the rules. 

I feel the biggest losers in all of this are the children even though the death rate is highest for the elderly. They do not have a say in how the world goes; they just have to live in the world that adults create. What memories they will have of this time and they may not be that complimentary towards the adults who think they can party in large numbers endangering them and everyone else. It could be that events such as these will be shunned by the next generation because of their actions. 

 Canada is still in the midst of the second wave. Our land border remains closed and there is a compulsory two week quarantine if you come into Canada from anywhere. 

Church today and I shall pray for the people of the world that we may see an end to COVID-19. But it is not in God's hands; it is in our hands to end this pandemic.

What can one do at 75?

To be honest, if I could work setting my own hours and days, it would be possible for me to continue working but I knew that when I retired I needed to do so. I needed to retire as I had injured my shoulder and definitely it needed a good six months of minimal use but still doing recuperative physiotherapy. The physiotherapy exercises I did faithfully for five years four times a day. I can do anything with that shoulder now pretty much although it can get tired but then so does the rest of me!

When I see comments about a 77 year old being able to run a country when he has vast experience doing so I am on his side with that regard (although the same goes for a 74 year old not picking sides). He is physically active biking (something I no longer do outside but still on a stationary bike) and running. His mind not quite as sharp as it once was perhaps although I thought he did really well in the debate which I watched for the first hour. I am most inclined to believe in following the rules of debating that I learned as a student. You do let the other person speak and then you rebut what he/she says calmly and efficiently. I loved debating in my high school years. 

So I think you can do a lot of things at 75? Not really ready for a nursing home for sure although some people are. They have lived their life too quickly perhaps or just unlucky with the genes. 

Which brings me back to today's work. I need to continue cutting down the plants so that I do not have that mush to deal with in the spring. I need to pull up the zinnias as they have had their last look of glory and really need to be pulled up. Then there will be the leaves. That is a task that involves at least a dozen to a dozen and a half large paper garden bags and will be almost the last task of fall cleanup. Looking forward to closing the doors and only going outside for pleasure walking. Gardening is not really my thing although I will say it is excellent exercise. 

My Church Service is in my inbox and isn't it hard to believe that another entire week has passed.

Smallpox and how it was defeated - it too was a killer

I have given a lot of thought to our present predicament namely the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19). It is such a long time since the world has been in the midst of a life-threatening disease. Thinking back to the 50s and the long lines of students waiting to receive their booster for smallpox reminds me that my generation is now in their 70s and I can remember that millions of people still died of smallpox when we were young. Vaccination was really the only way to defeat smallpox and it is still true. Vaccination is likely the only way to eliminate this Coronavirus. The scars caused  by COVID-19 appear to be more common rather than less common and so the best way to handle the eradication of COVID-19 remains vaccination because those people thus scarred would have less of a chance to survive a second encounter. 

Anyone under 45 years of age in Canada now was not even vaccinated for smallpox because it just didn't occur in Canada once vaccination was given and so the knowledge of the scourge of this disease passed from our historical memory and here we are in 2020 with people actually debating whether they would be vaccinated. When smallpox was not eradicated people just got their smallpox shots; you couldn't get into Canada without proof of vaccination at that time.

 Smallpox as a disease was first noted prior to 1 AD in Egyptian mummies. All that is really know is that it occurred in regular outbreaks throughout the first two millenia and estimates give total death counts in the area of 400,000 in the 18th century alone in Europe. As many as 300 million worldwide may have died in the 20th century. We definitely need to look at COVID-19 from that viewpoint. It isn't going to go away; the death rate trying to acquire Herd Immunity would be horrendous and that did not work with smallpox. Inoculation is also likely the only means of defeating COVID-19.

New mtDNA match at FT DNA

 Although the email that both Doug and I had a new mtDNA at FT DNA does not usually prove to be a very close one, it was a very pleasant memory to receive that notice today. Doug is often in my thoughts and he will forever be part of my life because we shared this interest in DNA. He had his own reasons for wanting to learn more about our ancient Blake ancestor. I was always sorry that I couldn't find definitive proof on our Blake line prior to the mid 1400s. I did share with him that a Richard Blake had come from Ireland to Salisbury in 1425 according to the Patent Rolls. Interesting that our furtherest back ancestor was likely Robert Blake of Knights Enham, Hampshire and one of his sons was Richard Blake. Robert was likely born in the 1430s to 1440s and the coincidence is amazing really. 

We traveled (Edward and I) the roads from Salisbury to Andover area and the distance is 37 kilometres. That is a short distance by car for sure but a long distance unless you happen to be riding a horse. Walking would take a few hours but certainly doable. Was the Richard Blake who arrived in Salisbury in 1425 from Ireland the father of Robert Blake of Knights Enham? Still looking for that detail!

But I must admit it was a warm fuzzy feeling to find myself thinking once again about Doug and our discussions on the Blake family. He is with our parents now and our grandparents; he will be happy there. Life was becoming a struggle for him and sickness overcame him. I shall miss him but I have been so rewarded by having had him tested at all these companies. He will always be with me.

Downsizing continues

Another big downsizing day and we continue moving forward with the idea of downsizing. The task would be made easier if we could still have pickups from the various groups that collect material that can be reused. Putting things out to the curb works to a certain extent but someone has to want your treasured object that you really do not want to throw out. 

The Black Walnut turned yellow overnight. This tree drops its leaves spontaneously. One moment they are there and the next the tree is empty of its leaves. Not sure when that will happen but probably soon. The maple tree is still in stages of colour stage but the Black Walnut does a turnaround in just one day. We will have a lot of those leaves on our backyard this year! The tree is so much bigger after this summer's growth. We are constantly watering our garden and it collects a lot of moisture from that which is why we water a lot! 

Another day of gardening if the rain holds off - primarily cleanup and getting ready for winter.

Downsizing Day

Another day of downsizing with 8 boxes and three large briefcases going to a new home. Five of the boxes are for a book sale and include two boxes of children's books which tend to sell well. But that is in the distant future likely but kind of them to take the boxes. The other six items are the work of my husband and his friend George Armstrong and will find a home in Loyalist Ontario which I am happy to see as well. He has spent quite a bit of time labeling and preparing all of this material. 

Next big collection is Kipp pictures and getting them all assembled. I think he should check with Library and Archives Canada as they might be willing to have such a large collection of Kipp material. If not perhaps somewhere in the United States as this is a very large family and the collection that Ed has on his website was recognized by one of the archival libraries and I have forgotten which at this time. 

Fifty four years of memories are wrapped up in all of this material but it is so nice to share it with repositories that can make use of it. I collected up all of my Blake material, labeled it and gave it to my younger sister to have since family members are more likely to go to her to find pictures and information. 

Still under lockdown here in Ottawa being careful where we go and always wearing a mask and washing hands. Soon we get our flu shots and we will be prepared for the combined Flu/COVID-19 season. 

Even with all of the downsizing we still have thousands of books!

28 days in modified Stage 2

We return to Stage 2 somewhat modified. We started this new regimen the 11th of October and will be finished (if we bring our numbers down) on the 7th of November. We are not supposed to go out except for daily exercise, grocery shopping or other essential travel. That shouldn't be too hard for us as that is how we are actually living at the moment. 

Lots of gardening accomplished yesterday and will put in another day like that today if the weather permits. I would like to just have the leaves after today and a few plants to trim back that are still green at the moment so deserve a little more time to conserve energy for the winter. All that is left in the garden are carrots (not many) and dill. Both will be completed today. The grass looks great; fresh and green still. 

We have someone coming for six boxes of books for a book sale (in the future I suspect) and all of the Loyalist material that we collected plus all of Ed's talks, pictures, booklets that he and George Anderson produced for the Loyalist Trips. Another large bundle including four boxes and other material. Sad to see the books go but also happy to have them find a new home. We still have a lot of books. But anything of value in a broader way that we collected; especially older items will be gone by the end of the year. 

We did have a huge VHS tape collection most of which we gave to Doug and he enjoyed watching the many historical tapes that we picked up on our travels. They too have found another home thankfully as I did not want them back. 

COVID-19 is rapidly moving into countries now and the death rate is rising. The largest proportion of the population is about to enter into fall and winter with all of the flu germs that come our way. It will not be a very pleasant time unless COVID-19 can be tamed.

Thanksgiving Day Service at Church

 Sunday was such a beautiful day. The weather was a perfect Fall day. The Church Service was well planned and I brought my Hymn Book to this online service and so sang "We Plough the Fields and Scatter" which is one of my favourites. Church was one of the many items that my brother Doug and I had in common although he was much more involved in the last few years than I have been in terms of tangible presence. Church was a big part of his life but it always was for our family when we were children. Even when I stayed with my grandmother we went to Church except my aunt, uncle and grandmother went to the United Church and my grandmother knitted for the Salvation Army. She made so many beautiful baby outfits that were sent to the far reaches of Canada. 

All the memories of my life as a child tend to flood back into my mind during the Church Service. It is a very pleasant time for me remembering us all as children. 

In the afternoon we cleared away more of the garden preparing for winter. Not really my choice to work on Sundays in that way but the work needs to be done and it suits the rest to put in a few hours every day at the task and I tend to be a good group worker. It is good to see that we are nearly ready. The biggest leaf fall is to come once the maple tree in our yard and the black walnut tree in the yard next door drop their leaves. We are looking at ten bags likely of packed in leaves to the curb in the next couple of weeks. Then we are ready for winter. This year we have a snow clearing company to do our laneway. Looking forward to that. Digging out the end of the laneway after the plow has been through is a task that I would rather leave to someone else these days!

All in all a beautiful Thanksgiving Day although technically that is today but we ended up enjoying Thanksgiving all weekend by cooking our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday. We ended up not watching too many shows on the television. Still too much to do for that but winter is coming and then we will have more time.

Are all middle children loners?

With the loss of two older brothers I am no longer that middle child I always was; I have only my older sister and then a younger sister and two younger brothers. But I will always be a loner for the most part. Ed and I have worked together these past 54 years as a married couple. Mostly we have had the same interests and ambitions. We have traveled a lot over these 54 years and accomplished more than I would have imagined in terms of family history which became for Ed a driving force after his retirement. He has solved a lot of his ancestry brickwalls and is now in the process of writing it all up including his story and the story of his parents. He is the only one left from his immediate family except for his nieces and their family. 

We celebrated Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and it turned out very well. Almost exactly as usual with the roasted chicken, cranberry sauce, baked squash, baked potatoes, peas and gravy. Then pumpkin pie for dessert. We will have a movie marathon for the next two days (well maybe just one a day!) and eat leftovers. 

I am already for Church on youtube once again. I could do this forever actually. There is no desire to return to the Church building. I love my Church but the brick and mortar isn't what I love about the Church of Jesus Christ. It is the life that he followed and encouraged us to follow that I like.

Matches continue to come in and Doug

Worked on the Ancestry matches this morning for a half hour or so. Compared to my husband over the same time period we get about 10% of the matches that he gets. With his early American Colonial Ancestry, he has by far more matches than we do. I must start looking at Living DNA matches. It always takes me a while to get into a new database and they are at their beginning stages anyway. I see there are quite a few matches there though but the ones that are going to most interest me will be people living in England since my father was born there and three of my four grandparents.

Doug remains in my thoughts still. I expect I will be thinking about him the rest of my days as each day I check our DNA accounts. It was a good idea that he had actually although once implanted in my brain I did run with it possibly far beyond his initial thoughts. He was just curious about our yDNA line and whether we were related to the Irish Blake family. Indeed I still can not answer that question as the Blake haplogroup line that we descend from is most commonly found in that Galway area of Ireland but it is likely that our ancient ancestors traveled across Europe and ancient Doggerland into the British Isles and our ancestor chose to stay in the Andover, Hampshire area whilst others of this haplogroup moved on to other areas of the British Isles. 

When we were young Doug was the one who taught me how to tie my shoes as we wore brown oxfords all the time in those days. I was always tying them up backwards to the way that my mother showed me so Doug showed me a new way to tie my shoes so that they still looked correct but I could manage it. I was just four years old and off to Kindergarten. It was during that year that we had an enormous snowfall and they sent us home early. All of the Kindergarten children had to be escorted so my two older brothers each took one of my hands and literally pulled me home! My legs were not long enough to get through the deep snow. They also carried me some of the way as well (that would have been my oldest brother (five years older)) and when we arrived my glasses were frozen to my face. I can remember a lot of times together with my two older brothers and my older sister as we would play cards and board games since I made number four of that grouping.

Killer frost last night

 Last night was the first of the killer frosts to come. Pepper plants succumbed which was good as I wanted to get them out into the recycling. Tomato plants still producing so they will be covered a little longer. The dahlias survived and look great today. A little colour  for a few more days plus the trees are pretty much turned or turning. A beautiful Fall day that started with heavy fog but lifted fairly early.

Off for groceries first thing as we will do the Thanksgiving chicken on Saturday leaving us Sunday and Monday to enjoy leftovers. We will do Thanksgiving by skype on Monday perhaps. Ottawa is having even more cases so need to be cautious. 

I am looking forward to winter and all that isolation that it will bring. Sounds great actually. The only drawback to all of this is not being able to attend my brother's funeral although it might be virtual; do not know that yet. We were close as children then drifted apart during the teen years and after my husband and I moved here. He never came to visit us here so the girls did not get to know him that well although they do remember him fondly and were sad to hear of his death. He seemed so young as our parents survived to 95 (my father) and 85 (my mother). Our grandparents lived to be 81 (maternal grandmother), 79 (paternal grandfather), 64 (paternal grandmother) and 53 (maternal grandfather). But he had had a heart attack at 38 so perhaps 77 was a good age considering two quadruple bypasses. 

Probably no genealogy today; too much else going on. Thinking about the H11 Newsletter due on the 1st of November. This will be a short one once again as I do the yearly look at subclades in the first issue of the next volume due out on the 1st of February 2021.

And the wind rushed by

Somewhere in the back of my mind is a poem that talked about dying and death and the only words that come to me are "and the wind rushed by." My second oldest brother has gone home to our Lord. He will be so happy to be with our parents once again. He was 77 years 7 months and 24 days when he died.

The seven of us have become five (my oldest brother died 21 years ago). We span sixteen years in total from oldest to youngest. 

Perhaps this was my thought - The Autumn Wind: an Emblem of Death

Psalm 103:16

For the wind passes over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. 

When this brother first mentioned DNA to me back in 2005 I was still thinking about it. He wanted to be tested and I offered to do that a year later for both of us and my husband also tested. He found it very interesting but was disappointed that there was never a match for him in the database. However, he enjoyed learning about our ancient ancestor who likely arrived in the British Isles 8 to 12 thousand years ago; so that was pretty fascinating. I will have his DNA for ever and that is a very comforting thought.

What to accomplish today?

Unless it pours with rain, today will be another outside day. We need to clean up for winter. It is very cyclical this gardening business. I have resisted becoming too deeply entrenched in the process until my husband became ill. It was good exercise for him and I really preferred doing my exercises inside so it was a good fit for quite a few years although I would help him when he needed extra hands. Taking it all on myself has been more of a challenge as I am not a gardener by nature. I do like to see things grow that is for sure. But to get involved deeply in gardening has never been an interest of mine; just a helper in that regard.

I watched the webinar last night on Legacy and it was quite interesting. I have been convinced for a while that second cousin and greater matches are really handier because you are back to great grandparents for MRCA letting you phase results a little easier with the extra data that these more distant cousins provide. 

My Sleep Apnea is taking over my life again for a bit and hopefully that resolves sooner rather than later.  I do hope to finish cleaning the main floor today as well. I did do the front hall, main hall the other day just because of the leaves. Now that they are cleared away from the front of the house for the most part that mess will be somewhat lessened!

Yard Cleanup

 Today was a yard cleanup day as I raked the front lawn with its thick carpet of leaves and stems. Then we dismantled the cages around plants and temporary fences here and there for various plants. We also pulled up the fences around the gladiolus. Some rolling up of hoses and putting them away. Gradually we are getting ready for winter.

Back to genealogy one of these days. I do hope to watch the webinar this evening and must remember to log myself in early.

Out again for another round and the sunflower plants are all dug up and put away. The squirrels chopped off the flower heads and ate most of the seeds although some birds did come.

Cleaning today

This was a cleaning day and looking forward to the leaves being raked up and out of the way! They do double the housework this time of year. 

Out for a walk up and down the street (my husband and I) and it was a lovely day. Very quiet actually as the children are all back in school and adults back to work it would appear. 

I worked at home actually for twelve years when my children were young going into the office first thing in the morning a few days a week just to pick up my material for proofreading or copyediting for the day or couple of days. It was very pleasant actually to work at home. I always had that excuse whenever someone did come to the door or if anyone phoned to chat. I would just say this is my working time and call back later  if telephone. In person people I just didn't answer the door and they left their sales blurb or whatever in the box. Worked very well for me. 

 

Church today and the lost society

 Church today and a quick visit to the drug store today reminded me of just how lost some people are in our society. I was waiting in line for prescriptions for my husband and the person at the wicket was not wearing his mask and was yelling wanting his prescriptions that were not apparently ready until tomorrow. The second wicket became available as one of the attendants opened that but I refused to come forward (as did everyone else) because the person was not wearing their mask. When he finally left still not wearing his mask, I did go forward and the clerk said that the man had a special illness that precluded a mask. There isn't one that prevents wearing a plastic shield and he could do that as far as I am concerned. It was absolutely disrespectful to the rest of the customers and staff to be there shouting and not wearing a mask. 

But what does that have to do with Church? I think people were more respectful of the law when society was more religious. That was all part of it obeying the rules. 

Church today on You-Tube. I do not really like to go anywhere unless I have to do so at the moment. Disrespect for other people is what this non-mask wearing is all about. Only caring about oneself and not society as a whole. Really they should fine such people $10,000 every time they appear without a mask in the areas that are designated as mask wearing only.

COVID-19 second wave

Back to life in March as we wait out the second wave of COVID-19. It was a pretty pleasant time actually. We didn't go anywhere and I did get some work done. One was perhaps not mentally prepared for COVID-19 but it turned out to be pleasant to just stay home and not go shopping every day. My husband does love to shop. 

Worldwide COVID-19 there are 34,621,100 cases (an increase of 308,590 over yesterday), there are 1,028,649 deaths (an increase of 5,406 over yesterday) and 24,057,163 recovered (an increase of 184,063 over yesterday). In Canada we have 162,659 cases (an increase of 2,124 over yesterday), 9,409 deaths (an increase of 90 over yesterday) and 137,614 recovered (an increase of 1,264 over yesterday). 

Chromosome 1 completed working on Chromosome 2

Chromosome 1 completed with the addition of pertinent information to each match file. Working on Chromosome 2 today as the Blake Newsletter also completed and on time. 

Need to find out about flu shots and where/when we can obtain our flu shots. 

Back to phasing very shortly once Chromosome 2 is completed. The Theory of Family Relativity that My Heritage offers for their matching was very interesting and I am glad that I finally took the time to really look at the matches. 

Went for groceries at 7:05 am today and the grocery shop was not very busy. Out again in just 15 minutes with enough to last the weekend in terms of milk, butter, eggs and bread. I like to buy them fresh twice a week anyway so the early hours worked very well for me. 

Shocking news first thing though that President Trump has COVID-19 (as well as his wife). Prayers of course for their recovery. Watching the numbers of cases and deaths climb in the United States is such a sorrowful experience especially as a neighbour and friend. Throughout my entire life I have noted our neighbour's ability to manage outbreaks of so many infectious diseases through the years. Their CDC has been the best in the world.

My Heritage - Theories of Family Relativity

A post by John Reid on Anglo-Celtic Roots plus an email from My Heritage for a new Theory of Family Relativity  finally got me to look at the Theory of Family Relativity for longer than a few minutes. I had occasionally glanced but had not really looked at them. I have five sibling kits up on My Heritage and all of them have at least eight such theories and as many as 16 Theories or in between. I thought I would do a little study just to see how many of these are absolutely correct, possibly correct, interesting and how many of them are not correct as written.

I did have a couple of discoveries (4 individual matches appeared in four of the five kits so represent 16 of the 45 correct) where I did not know how we were related and added them to my known matches in terms of relating directly to the family trees.  Two of them were very interesting and helpful.

Kit 1 has 13 Theories with 8 correct, 1 an interesting possibility but it relates to my grandmother for whom her father is an unknown, and 4 that are incorrect

Kit 2 has 15 Theories with 10 correct, 1 is an interesting possibility but it relates to my grandmother for whom her father is an unknown, and 4 that are incorrect 

Kit 3 has  11 Theories with 9 correct, 1 that is a small error in a family tree but otherwise looks correct, and 1 that is incorrect

Kit 4 has 16 Theories with 10 correct, 1 an interesting possibility but it relates to my grandmother for whom her father is an unknown, 1 that is a small error in a family tree but otherwise looks correct, and 4 that are incorrect 

Kit 5 has 8 Theories with 8 correct

Looking at 5 Kits and a total of 63 Theories there are 45 correct, 3 are very interesting and would point to the same line as I hypothesized for my paternal grandmother, 2 appear to be just a small error in a family tree and are again likely correct,  and 13 that are incorrect. 

Looking at the 13 that are incorrect as they are written 3 of them appear on 2 of the kits reducing that number to 10 that do not relate as shown. The amount of DNA shared is at or greater than 20 cM  for 5 of the 10 kits and it is likely I could work through those family trees and find the error as they are related with a large enough amount of DNA shared to place them into the 4th to 6th cousin range. The other five share between 15.7 and 17.9 cM so are perhaps a little more distantly related but my new standard is 20 cM for an unknown match so will not likely pursue those five Theories unless the person I am matching makes a change in their tree (or I make a change in mine!). Percentage wise 58 of the 63 Theories are either correct, interesting possibilities, known errors in family trees or possible errors in family trees not yet explored or 92% of the Theories. Only 8% do not fit into a criteria where I would explore them further at this time. I find that to be most interesting and I will check out the 8% to see if they show up in the autoclusters with known matches.

Looking at the incorrect items in all cases they are in my father's line where someone has either attached to him as an uncle (he was an only child born in England and came to Canada with his parents at the age of 9; for any of the matches to be that closely related (half sibling) they would need to share a lot more DNA with all of us) or given a line to my grandmother that does not fit the known data for the possible father's family plus at various points in the trees there are incorrect individuals as my ancestors. I would have to agree that this is a very interesting feature on the My Heritage site. 

The kits that related to my paternal grandmother were very interesting and I continue to watch for a closer match to this line since individuals would be my half second cousins (possibly removed since my generations are very long). I will now check out all these new Theory of Family Relativity as they arrive in my Inbox!

Blake Newsletter Volume 9, Issue 4, 2020

 The Blake Newsletter is now published on the Blake y-DNA site on FT DNA. As with the other newsletters I will no longer publish them to my blog.