Continuing with cleaning

 Today somewhat cloudy and rain is promised. Continuing with cleaning. Not much done in the Siderfin book yesterday; cleaning does take precedence. But gradually working my way through the 12th generation. The number of pages still do is 60 which will dwindle quite a bit in the formatting since I am eliminating any records after 1920. The 1920 was sort of an arbitrary decision because it was a decade marker.

The summer has been most efficient. We created a list of twelve projects and other than the two ongoing - scanning project and shredding project - we did accomplish or will in the next couple of weeks accomplish the other ten projects. Already we have a list for next summer of nine items but there will be some preparatory work to do before then so that we can complete them in the summer. This will continue for a few years to come as I continue to downsize and ensure that Edward's research into his family lines remains available to researchers. It has been a lot of work and I find myself looking at my large box of papers and will endeavour through this next winter to whittle that one down as well. I can see what a strain it leaves on your loved ones to manage your material when you are no longer there. 

The emptier the house becomes the less work there is to cleaning it which is a great plus. My children do not need all of these objects collected through the years on our travels here and there to many many historical sites. With just four bookcases now and we had nearly 60 bookcases in our house, I can still see where I could trim that as well. I continue with my one room concept in my mind for that day, if I should live so long, when I am in just one room working away on my computer and completing the projects which in many ways are the product of my grandparents and parents who told me so many things about their families which I stored away in my brain not actually intentionally but by repetition they have become part of my story now and I will write them all up. My parent's photo albums scanned by my younger sister are a window into that past as well plus the collections of my grandparent's photos which also found their way into my hands over time. Interesting that I resisted doing family studies for so many many years. Perhaps it was the efforts that Edward had to put into finding each one of his lines traveling to the New England states and New York area pursuing the latest leads. It just seemed so fragile and tenuous linking these people through the generations. But DNA certainly came to the rescue and Edward got to enjoy the fruits of his labour as his many lines showed up in his matches particularly at Ancestry and the proof was in the pudding so to speak. He had the thrill of seeing all of that work proven again and again which he quite enjoyed. Even his link back to the Kip family of New Amsterdam/New York was given to him through his yDNA another major excitement time for him. I also find DNA very useful in my research as it has continued to direct my approach in some lines which are totally unknown to me other than the continuous lines back in the Parish Registers. 

Today I received the document from the National Archives of the United Kingdom. The condition is excellent and the scanning equally so. Having been at Kew a number of times and looked at very very old documents I can see that they do a much much better job than I of photographing them and will likely re-order some of the ones that I photographed for the Pincombe and Blake families in the future. The reading will be much easier. It is a large sheepskin which will take me many hours to transcribe and a quick glance does not reveal very much actually other than the names that I expected to see. I am keen to begin but will take it very easy transcribing. I am glad that I did find it in my searches and it will help to clarify this family at Timberscombe and East Lynch. 

On to cleaning the day is fast moving towards 10:00 a.m. and I am about one hour behind. Breakfast completed and two sets of jumping jacks but probably not too much more as the exercise is in the cleaning for this day as well although a walk on the beach later might be nice.