Yesterday, Earth Day 2023, was a usual April day in Canada except a little warmer perhaps than one remembers from 40+ years ago. Being transplanted from southwestern Ontario to the Eastern Ontario part of Canada I do not have a long history in how the land and the weather goes in this area but then I didn't have a long history in how the weather and land went in southwestern Ontario when I was 30 years of age at the time of being transplanted (although my mother did talk a lot about her family but it always ended with the Routledges first coming in 1818 to southwestern Ontario because they had tired of the Border Wars in Cumberland). I think they came because they had a huge family and the property which they lived on and had lived on for quite a while would not provide for all those sons. But they could also have just wanted to blend in (they were part of the Oakshaw Routledge family); who knows? It is a mystery perhaps. My Routledge cousin (probably 7th cousin) who still lives there has done a great job on the history of the Routledge family. I gave him my 2000 lines+ excel file of Routledge data that I had collected back in 2008 or so but he had already done a lot of work anyway. I did transcribe for him for awhile but the eyes are getting old and need to preserve them for the work that I am doing on my parent's surname studies. But I digress from Mother Earth Day.
But the First Nations people have a better feel for the long history of this land and I honestly believe that we need to continue bringing their thoughts to the forefront. Having a Governor General with a long history in the land handed to her by her mother is a very important part of her being in this position. She is doing a wonderful job although would like to hear more about her traveling about in Canada but she is not a young woman either and I would not enjoy spending all my days traveling. But it is important that she is our Governor General - it is a move forward in reconciliation with the First Peoples of this land. I myself with just that small line going back from myself to my mother to her father and his mother represent my only set of Canadian born people - all the rest were born in England itself as far back as I can trace thus far unless I go with the Routledge having been from the Highlands of Scotland but that was back in the 1400s and then there is my mitochondrial DNA which takes me back to Ayrshire and Argyllshire Scotland but for the most part I am as English as you can get perhaps with generation after generation of my ancestors born in five different areas of England itself.
But I veer away from Earth Day. This celebration could be about Mother Earth and all she has done for us through the centuries and even millions of years. We would not be here without her. Protection of Mother Earth should be prominent in every decision that is made from hence forward particularly where Russia is concerned. Russia thinks that their natural borders include all the lands that were part of the Soviet Union. Fortunately for all of those people enslaved by the Russian army as they raced towards Berlin as the end of the Second World War was becoming apparent; none of us in the so-called Western world agree with this enslavement of people. Russia did nothing for them except greedily steal from them just like they are doing in Ukraine.
From an historical viewpoint these countries have their own long history even if a Chinese envoy says otherwise. Where is China on all of this? Will they turn their back on the rest of the world and let Russia do whatever they want or will they stem the tide and tell Russia to get back inside of their borders as established at the Fall of the Soviet Union which Russia caused by going bankrupt after they invaded Afghanistan. But please China do not insult the peoples of the world who gained their freedom from tyranny when the Soviet Union failed. Protect Mother Earth China; your country too has a long history of protecting and celebrating Mother Earth. Russia is just a psychopathic nazi nation looking to steal whatever they can from where-ever unless they prove differently. As always the so-called West waits to see how it all comes down. We are a very forgiving people in actual fact. But letting Russia get away with such atrocities as they have committed in Ukraine would be a sad happening in the world. Peace wonderful peace and can we be there next Earth Day 2024?
Yesterday great accomplishment as S and T sections of the Siderfin hits on Find My Past were completed except for the baptism of a Francis Joseph Temple Siderfin. That one belongs to the Derbyshire Siderfin family likely but placing him has proven to be difficult - the mother is not named in the GRO UK Indexes. Today I hope to complete the entire task from U to Z (there are only entries for V and W). Then do a descendant chart out of Legacy and go back and complete the 5th generation and move on. But I still have other items to include - Free BMD needs to be checked as well to make sure I do have all the entries. Again I stopped collecting when I gave the one-name study to my cousin. There are 258 births and deaths. There are 108 marriages. But I can also go to Ancestry and do the BMDs from the 1980s on so will do that. I did find a few items that were most helpful in the 1600s which I expected. Mostly I had all the data because I did the census but I found a few Siderfin that were missing from their families which is always handy.
Sunday again and Church on You-Tube. I do love Sunday. Up a little early today and will soon make breakfast but tend to like to eat around 8:00 a.m. and it is just after 7.
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