Ongoing Projects

It seems like an ideal time to list the projects that I have set aside or am currently working on as summer approaches. This year I plan to try and work in some of my studies whilst also gardening. 

1. Siderfin Book

2. Newsletters - Blake, Pincombe and H11 (will do the back issues to eventually publish) plus Kipp with my daughter's help

3 County books for the Blake Wills. Some counties are complete for PCC wills and I could publish them on my website. 

4. County books for the Buller Wills. Some counties are complete for PCC wills and I could publish them on my website. 

5. Revision of George DeKay's book although I would find it difficult to do this one alone. I could strip out the parts that are my line perhaps. Will contemplate that. George is the reason that I do genealogy as I resisted doing it for many years except when Edward asked for my assistance. George wanted a Pincombe Profile for the Westminster and Delaware History Book of which he was editor. That along with the introduction of personal DNA motivated me and 42 courses at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies showed me the path. Here I am nearly 20 years later and I do little else.

6. Phasing of my great grandparents and adding in the new matches to the phasing of my grandparents (already 25 new matches since I did this work in November)

7. Gathering up the Allen material and finding a home for that with Edward's cousins. His maternal grandmother was an Allen. He never knew her as she died when his mother was only eight years of age

8. Gathering up the pictures of Edward's brother Allen's family to give to his nieces

9. Working on the Kipp material to see if the Archives would like to have this material (many original pictures of the Kipp family)

10. Returning to the transcription of the Blake wills (I still have at least 1500 to transcribe)

11. Potential Pincombe and Blake books. The Pincombe book would do the deep past and come up to the present. The Blake book would look only at the Andover Blake family as I believe that given my brother's yDNA as ancient to the British Isles (8,000 to 12,000 years ago) the Blake surname was acquired probably in the late 1200s early 1300s by this family (likely marriage to a female with the Blake surname, handy that just across the border in Oxford there was such a family likely from Normandy!) with a known daughter Ann la Blake (daughter of Richard le Blak likely of Rouen, Normandy). I first see the name John Blak[e] in the Manor Books of Andover in the early 1300s. 

12. If in some dream world I am still as active a person when all of this is done (I see maybe ten years of work above) I would like to work on the Rawlings and Buller families (my paternal and maternal grandmothers). I do do a little work on Buller as I have quite a large number of cousins who have tested their DNA and my 2x great grandmother Ann (Welch) Buller had a twin sister. Both of these families were huge (around a dozen children each) and the number of descendants matching me like 3rd cousins is quite large and they are all over the British Commonwealth and the United States of America. The Rawlings is also a fascinating family with so many interesting lines marrying into that already have one name studies like Lywood (my 3x great grandfather George Lywood was at Waterloo in 1815).

I shall have to contemplate what I may have left out. Dawn is breaking in the east and another cloudy day for us at minus 6 degrees celsius. Not too much melting today perhaps. Again the refrains of "This is the day the Lord hath made" swirl in my brain as I greet another day in God's Kingdom. As I have puzzled all my life, what is the duty that I must fulfill in this world. Life is always a mystery; one never knows what is around the corner. I am happy to see the First Nations taking a much more prominent role in our country. They know the land and can help to lead us forward to a better life for all the peoples of Canada. It is the land which created us and the land which sustains us and so we must protect that land with every ounce of our ability. 

Prayers for Ukraine as always. Glory to Ukraine.I listened to the address of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last evening. She too is a powerful speaker and a credit to Europe and a fierce supporter of Ukraine. Next stop for her is meeting with President Biden in America. China continues to carry responsibility for how this situation will flow. History is waiting and we can only sit on the sidelines and wait. Power isn't about owning it is about doing the best for the world and her people. We do not know what awaits us beyond our earth but we must be unified in our protection of the earth and all her peoples. No one can be an aggressor in this modern world post-COVID. We must all be caretakers of our world. That is the task that God assigned to us.

On to breakfast and the day.