Getting into today's work

As I move into today's work I need to record a few thoughts as I go along. I am nearly finished the ninth generation and working through the data which has been shared with me by another family member. I am realizing this is going to slow me down as I need to decide what to include and I use all the databases so can look for one to another to see what they have recorded. Already found one interesting one the surname Siderfin spelling as Sinnifin by the enumerator in one database and Simper by another (by my eye it is Sinnifin). However this individual is still living at the same address where his name was spelled correctly (1841 and 1851 Census) so an obvious enumerator error. Plus he is 83 years of age now with his grandson, with whom he is living, working so has probably given this information himself perhaps and 83 is a good age back in 1861 so perhaps not as readily understood by the enumerator. But I feel I should have a look so will slow me down. I have no idea what lies ahead as I have only just glanced at the material thus far. Since it has been so well done I prefer to utilize as much as is practical. Knowing my 2x great grandmother (daughter of this man's sister) I am sure her schoolteacher tendencies would have been to make it complete as possible. 

So that having been hashed about in my brain I am moving forward and should soon have the ninth generation completed as he is the last individual in this grouping. I will likely add to this as I move along. 

When I finished my running I generally have my lunch and today I was in time for the ceremony on the Hill for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Very well attended it looks like. There is another sadness and this one is the result of enforcement of Residential Schools in  Canada by the Government of the day; the children who died at the Residential Schools or from running away from the abuse there; and the children who were abused at the Residential Schools. It is our sorrow for sure although in truth I do not have many Canadian ancestors - just my mother, her father and his mother but yet even they were here when the Residential Schools were created. I remember when the students from the Delaware Nation used to come to my High School way back in the late 50s and early 60s. I was much older before I heard about Residential Schools. The Delaware Nation belong to the Lenape people. I went to Tecumseh Public School which was  named after the Shawnee leader and he was killed in battle at Moraviantown near Delaware during the War of 1812 defending Canada from an American invasion. So today I will especially think about those children who suffered and their suffering as adults. 

I am so withdrawn into my writing that I do not know the days as they pass other than the date and that they are. But I need to work on the book and so I must go back to it.

Slowly getting there - just a couple of pages left in the ninth generation

Another day working on the Siderfin book and it did move along nicely. I have to merge in the Thomas Siderfin line that moved to Derbyshire which I have from another researcher. The task of working the census into the footnotes is also time consuming but necessary I think. But I am reaching into the 1800s now and so the end is in sight as I will not go beyond the 1920s. 

I avoided watching television most of the day as I do not want to get bogged down with issues. The Freedom of Parliament is perhaps at stake but I will say that the Prime Minister has firmly defined and defended the principle. Having done that it does rather put Pierre Poilievere's claims out to lunch as the seating in the gallery is basically the property of each party and of course the speaker rules supreme in that regard. I do not think we should change it (but we should do a background check on people that intend to be in the galleries when there is a special event). But that is the responsibility of the Speaker certainly for anyone that he invites. The last word is with this individual but we are a democracy and if he/she errs then they must resign as has just happened. The neat part is that the Speaker must have the support of Parliament in order to continue and can not overrule that. The education value of all of this is enormous. As a child I knew that Nazism was evil; sitting through newsreels at the show left me with an absolute horror of the Concentration Camps at a young age. I will never forget those images as long as I live and I was only a young child under ten (having an eidetic memory can be a bit of a curse sometimes).  We must respect the pain of the Jewish people at such a happening. Nazism is Satanic and beneath the dignity of man. Even seeing the symbol of Nazism now is revolting. What they did is unforgiveable and yet God calls on us to forgive but we mustn't forget what all of these people suffered (mostly Jewish people but also POWs, Christian leaders who opposed Hitler and many many others and the  memories are forever there for those who survived in a much deeper context than even those that I have from being an observer of the newsreels in the theatre as a young child.

But the Freedom of Parliament is important; but with freedom there is a responsibility and that freedom and responsibility lies with each member of parliament along with the speaker who is a power on to himself/herself. Listening to Power and Politics  last night though I was appalled to have the conservative speaker find it amusing that the Prime Minister is thought to be responsible for the seating in the galleries of the House and that the conservative party would gain from that in an election. That is one of the most ignorant statements I have heard on that program. Where are the Brian Mulroney clones when we need them. What has happened to the Conservative party that they bait people and waste our time with senseless discussion when there are real issues. They avoid the real issues because they will  not do what needs to be done; they will not increase the GST back up to 7% or even 10% (that is the way to tax the rich as they spend more money on expensive luxury items). I say that because rich people do not care; they just pay the tax. The present Conservatives do not have Brian Mulroney's vision or stamina. If the GST was at 10% then we could offer to cut it in half for the builders rather than giving up all of it. Increasing the GST would also slow down inflation.

However, my day is going to be spent on the Siderfin book and I leave it to the Canadian people not to be fooled by lies and false statements made with regard to how Parliament is run. The freedom enjoyed by each and every member is actually quite amazing. But then that is freedom.

Lovely dinner last night, scallops and a hot lemon orzo salad with chopped up tomatoes, chopped spinach and grated carrot. Tonight hard boiled egg with toast and frozen peas cooked of course! I do like fairly plain meals. Then tomorrow a lovely chicken stew. I generally plan my meals with a two to three week meal plan. But I do make changes based on what I would like to actually eat so I can just shift it around. 

Another day in God's world. Just twelve degrees celsius on this last day of September at 5:30 a.m. The furnace has still not come on as there is sufficient sun or warmth in the day to keep the house (of course my house is attached and not huge which also makes a difference) at 20 degrees celsius my preferred temperature. One of these days though the heat will drop to 19.5 degrees celsius and on the furnace will come. The world is slowly changing to the brilliant colours that Canada is famous for - our maple tree is rapidly turning crimson and the foliage is slowly yellowing. New growth is slowing as fall takes over. 

Teatime and first jumping jacks. My day has already had twenty minutes of exercise with my stretching and toe touching. Osteoarthritis does better if one is more active rather than less active. Running is particularly good and that is why I run fourty minutes a day along with just loving to run in God's world. There is something wondrous about feeling the wind blowing around you as you pass quickly along the walk - God is in that wind I do believe. I think humans were meant to run. My favourite show of all time "Chariots of Fire" was about Eric Liddell who refused to take part in the Olympic 100 meter event in 1924 because he would not run on the Sabbath. Instead he ran in the 400 metre and won that instead (and he had not really trained for that). And of course there were two athletes celebrated in the Chariots of Fire movie Harold Abrahams (Jewish) and Eric Liddell (Christian). A wonderful memory and I do have the VHS tape of the movie. Must play it today. Harold Abrahams saved the day by winning the 100 metre and the Gold Medal for Britain. Harold Abrahams went on to become the elder statesman of British Athletics. Eric Liddell was a missionary-teacher and died in China during the Second World War.

On to the day. Hopefully no more scam calls. This past week has seen my phone ring a lot actually when normally it doesn't ring at all - my preferred state. Email is the way; talking on the phone is just too time consuming.

The Ninth Generation of the Siderfin book continues

I did work on the Ninth Generation of the Siderfin family continuing into the Robert-Line. I needed to add in abstracts of the wills and did complete that. I tried once again to find the Inland Revenue Wills for the two John Siderfins in 1814 and 1830. I also wrote to the Somerset Record Office to see if they could help me with ordering them. It would be good to see the entire will if I could. I am assuming that James Sanders abstracting of these two wills covered anything interesting but perhaps I shouldn't make that assumption and so I will try to purchase those two items. 

The footnoting is going well and I do see that I will likely only complete the Ninth Generation by the end of the month if I do actually complete that in these two days. There isn't actually that much and I can complete without the wills but will have them as backup when I do the final read through. 

Good exercise breaks yesterday and will keep that up today. Finished off the Frittata for dinner which I made the night before. It was lovely - fresh avocado, fresh spinach and fresh pepper along with the eggs and cheese of course and I use the liquid off of the yoghurt as the cream to stir into the eggs. Makes for an elegant dinner for sure along with a broccoli salad (raisins and cranberries). 

Today more work on the Ninth Generation. I also need to get back to my Latin as yesterday was not a successful day. Perhaps today will go a little more smoothly. The vocabulary increase was larger than usual and I think I need to perhaps make up a card of the new words to look at them through the day. Although I have reached a point where I wonder whether I should just move on to the Latin on the UK website as I do not want to carry on conversations but rather I want to transcribe old documents. The training has been really good though. I am perhaps at a crossroads and will have to think out my direction going forward. I have been doing Latin for four months nearly. It is amazing  how much I have learned. 

My new project doing obituaries for my High School is picking up as well - two done and another needing to be done today. I like to have at least a day or two to think about the obituary before I prepare the one for the website. So far I have not known any of the people. 

Friday again and I may rake the leaves out front later today. Time will tell.

Jumping Jacks and Teatime next.  

I really meant not to get distracted but eliminating $1B from the military budget is not a good plan. We need to support our military; would love to see the budget as it currently stands. Although that is of course restricted information but if the cutting is for essential items that we need to manage our three oceans and the sky above it I really do feel that cuts must be made somewhere else. Increase the GST to 7% or 10% (that is basically a tax on the wealthy) and dedicate the money to the military. Increase the deductions for CPP and dedicate that to the CPP. I do love fiscal conservatism. I am not opposed to Pierre Poiliviere winning the election (I just do not feel at this point in time he would make a good Prime Minister; he does not control his questioning in parliament adequately - he makes it too personal to the extreme; he could shape that up quite quickly) although for the most part I do believe the Liberals have done a great job particularly during COVID; inflation is not their fault (these personal attacks need to stop; stick with the issues); I will send emails constantly if I do not like what he is doing which I did do during the tenure of Stephen Harper. Hopefully enough excellent fiscal conservatives get elected to get us back on track with expenditures. I do consider Parliament responsible for the recent issue (all party leaders should have put in the time to learn who would be sitting in the balconies so that they could object). This was an important event. Too much time is put in by one particular person to denounce the Prime Minister on issues that have nothing to do with Parliament. Most of us do not care what the Prime Minister does in his personal time. He at least knows how to be Prime Minister and he is good at it.

My day of research and writing

 I did manage to spend some time on the Siderfin Book. Not as much as I would have liked but overall it is moving forward but still in the Ninth Generation. The last birth in the William-Line was attributed to Robert son of Walter but the timing is somewhat strange but will leave it as this is really the only known individual who would have been the parent of Joanna baptized in 1731. Time may sort that one out but I do not see anything else at the moment that would change this particular assignment. It does see the end of the William-Line though in the male line Siderfin family. I have not followed the Siderfin-Worth line although it may well extend down into the present time just as my Siderfin-Rew line does. No ideas on that and this is  meant to be a surname study book so have not done the research much past the first generation of Siderfin-Worth. 

So today is dedicated to footnoting and perhaps a little day dreaming about the Pincombe book to come. I like to keep all my projects on the back burner somewhat just in case I have thoughts on items which I might like to obtain and this is a good time to start that process as finding an item, ordering that item is about a six week project and six weeks does bring me into mid-November and I could  start the Pincombe book in early December. 

That is somewhat dependent on my cataract surgery but I have not heard anything on that. So will plan tentatively to begin the Pincombe book but it is flexible and I can just move it on into 2024 if my surgery actually does get booked. It is the first priority but I do not have any information at this moment in time. I must set up my optometrist appointment but I wonder if I should wait a little longer as I would not need that in January if I have the cataract surgery. Likely it would be in March I guess. I can see now why seniors get frustrated with their appointments. Last year I was waiting for my appointment for my colonoscopy although I did know it would be in May which was helpful as I just waited until they called me. I do know that surgeries/procedures are backed up. Perhaps a call to the eye doctor's office if I do not hear anything by the 1st of November. That way I can plan any other appointments if I learn the likely time frame. I wonder if deciding not to have the more expensive lens affects anything (probably not I think there is a waiting list and people are triaged). I had two eye tests that presumably measure the cataract and perhaps determines the best time for surgery. I could have the more expensive lens but I really prefer to wear glasses so do not want to get involved with something that already adjusts my eyes (and I am not actually sure that I believe it will work as they are always changing my glasses). I do realize lens are more refined now than when I was a child and I replace these plastic lens every two years as I have ever since I started wearing plastic instead of glass; amazing that I can actually read with those tiny little glasses that I had when I was one year old though (but Dr Dyson did say my eyes were just like my Dads so that probably helped in prescribing them). My eyes are not exactly a typical eye dysfunction. I think going with the plain lens is the better option for my strabismus/astigmatism eyes. Since both eyes are affected by strabismus and astigmatism  I definitely feel better having the plain lens having now given it even more consideration (time is certainly a gift at any place in your life). Perhaps in the future they can correct eyes like mine but Dr Dyson did tell me that laser surgery would not work on my eyes and he, after all, was one of the pioneers in eye surgery. Besides my parents did well with their plain lens and that was fourty years ago now. My eyes are just like my dad's eyes were. So I just feel more relaxed going with what he had basically although I suspect in fourty years even the simple lens have moved along!

I suppose I would not actually be thinking about this yet but when I spoke to the secretary letting her know to tell the doctor that I would go with the OHIP lens option later that day after my appointment where we talked about the advanced lens (the doctor was going to do special measurements and I wanted to save her that time) I had the impression that it was going to be December for the surgery. 

I wanted to do some reading on replacement lens to understand what was happening after the appointment. I would advise anyone going for a cataract appointment to read up on it before you go so that you can ask the right questions. I had no idea it had changed so much but it was fourty years since my parent's got their lens replacement and I really did not talk to my sister very much who had hers done about ten years ago I think. But she doesn't have strabismus and astigmatism so it wouldn't have helped me anyway. I told the secretary that I would call back in early November to see if I was going to have the surgery in December and she said she would be calling long before then. Yes, I think a call early in November as I originally thought would be a good idea and then I would be able to book an optometrist appointment as he said I should come every year and I would need to book that in order to get a spot about the right time. All settled and back to working on my book. Too many distractions.

It takes me a very long time to get used to people. The doctor who did my colonoscopy earlier in the year was a lovely person; really liked him and he took his time to explain the results of my test which I greatly appreciated (which was just minutes to be sure but they are really busy people). I only ever met him the one time and we conversed just the one time on the phone planning for the actual test. But he is a specialist and one doesn't really get to know specialists; they just do the job that needs doing. I barely know my family doctor although she too is a lovely person. I just do not have any issues and doctor's offices are the last place I want to spend time in to be honest. In and out quick is my motto and that works for me. The doctors I had mostly as a child I knew all of my life right up until we moved here when I was 30. The doctor that I first had when we moved here was a lovely person; I was sorry to leave him but we were moving across the city. Mind you I did barely see him but lots of doctors just have a great way with patients to be sure. He was interested in my background in chemistry and encouraged me to do my masters when I was stronger. But I reminisce and there is work to do; breakfast to be made. Jumping jacks all done, tea is drank and on to breakfast.

Listening to Question Period

I definitely learned something new today listening to Question Period. I do think that every visitor to the House during the time of a special event should be vetted which I say again. The Prime Minister did offer that to the parties and the speaker that they put forward lists of names of people to be vetted. It was a good solution actually.  The responsibility thus lies with the individuals who have invited people to the house to get the names to the Prime Minister's office so that the individuals can be vetted. It does mean that spontaneity disappears which is a bit sad likely but life has changed. 

The Leader of the Opposition is mistaken to try to put all of the blame on one individual. The Prime Minister represents the party in power and the entire house and country but he is not personally responsible for every event down to the last detail. In a democracy "the buck doesn't land" on any one person, although often enough we hear that expression but it is not correct. In the long run, an individual made a request that he should have known was wrong. We do not honour Nazis in this country (they are a Satanic Cult) but they have paid and are paying a price for their wrong doings if they are still alive. We are fast approaching a time when the last Nazi from the Second World War will have left this world. I would say their treatment in Canada has been kind; they were not wanted in their own countries and they got to come here and have a new life and raise their families but there is a limit to what they can have and it is limited by their background for which there is no forgetting. It is time perhaps that that limitation is expressed by ensuring that there is never a monument to commemorate any Nazi in Canada that bears the word Nazi or any other words attributed to the Third Reich.

I found the leader of the Parti Quebecois did get to the greatest difficulties that have emerged following this event. In particular he wanted to ensure that President Zelenskyy and  the Jewish Community had received full apologies for this happening. And I believe that he could see the difficulty that has now been brought forward; the government interfering in the liberty of Parliament. Being an outsider, a citizen who has only ever sat in the Visitor's area of Parliament once in my entire life, I did not have as complete an understanding of Parliamentary privilege which each party enjoys until the Prime Minister discussed it.

Life is evolving very quickly in our world and the Prime Minister is preferring to try and keep the Status Quo with respect to Parliamentary Privilege as enjoyed by each political party and he is very right to do that. It does, however, leave us open to events that we may not particularly like. Simply because one can not always be cognizant of the intent by individuals making requests of the different offices in Parliament. We either have a completely controlled state which is not that desirable. Or we can have happenings that are not to our liking which we have to clean up afterwards. Perhaps in the long run we can not protect or solve all of these problems if we want to have the kind of freedom that we have enjoyed.

It is this freedom that most frightens the Russian leadership. They have iron clad control and although they will attempt to make a big deal about this happening it will fall very flat for them because only in a democracy can one oppose. That is freedom and in Canada there is a great deal of it particularly in Parliament itself. 

The solution is basically to offer the ability to submit lists of people from the particular groups in Parliament to the appropriate people so that they can be vetted. 

The standing ovation has been rescinded as it should have been; that may not be quite the same as obliterated  but does speak the mind of Parliament and Canada with regard to this event. The freedom that is so enjoyed by the Political Parties and the Speaker can continue to happen in the Parliamentary Chambers. 

I do note again though that CSIS did give a warning that Russian agents may try to interfere in the upcoming visit of President Zelenskyy. We must listen to CSIS when they offer such advice and think carefully on the events around us.  

Yesterday was a prolific blog day

I was pretty wordy yesterday, three blogs, but today on to research and footnoting the Siderfin Book. Working on the Ninth Generation and perhaps I will complete it today. 

I did think on Sunday that the Speaker of the House, Anthony Rota, should have resigned when the news broke dealing with the introduction that the speaker made in Parliament - an ex-Nazi soldier. There really was no excuse for him not ensuring that he was vetted by the appropriate people before hand. Stepping down immediately would have been the appropriate way; it should not have been necessary for the party leaders, house leaders to have to explain that to him and nudge him towards the appropriate response. But it is done and so we move forward restoring our reputation around the world. I am still suspicious about the trail that created the blunder to be honest. The news has recorded that the son of the individual had asked to have a place for his father in the chamber of Parliament. Why would he think that his father deserved such an honour; he must have known his father's past. Nazism is a Satanic Cult; his father is free of that one would assume but out of respect for the people of Canada who sent their young to fight against Nazism in Europe in the Second World War he should not have asked. I think that has been very clear through our history since the end of the war when the children of Canadian citizens who went to fight with the Nazis (and died) were refused a place on any of the memorials from the Second World War. They were traitors to Canada. There should not be any memorials to the Nazis in Canada - we paid much too dear a price in the loss of our youth and in the injuries endured by our youth for that to happen. Canada gave a home to many of the Nazi combatants in the years that followed because as a human population that was our duty since they were not wanted in their own countries. They could begin again and build a life for their children and give back to the country that they wronged. Personally I believe that the children should have a clean slate; they were not part of all of that.

But the day is young and Ian White's Psalms are playing. Another day in God's World. Would that we were free of the wrongs being committed against Ukraine by the psychopathic Nazis Putin and his enablers. Climate Change is the pressing problem for the world and we must work on that as well. 

Four degrees celsius this morning at 6:00 a.m. and now 6 degrees with dawn breaking in the eastern sky. Another clear day; no rain in the forecast although I noticed perhaps rain a little later in the week. Time will tell. The land is very dry. 

Working on the Siderfin book is now fairly straightforward. I have decided to put the census in the footnotes and just keep the text for each individual fairly short. I must think some more about the autosomal DNA and what I could add to the text already written. I do not want it to be longer than three pages. I will collect up the DNA results today into a table for each of the testing sites. Other than that it is full speed ahead with the footnoting. A lot of the footnoting in the early generations comes from the fiche that I purchased from the Somerset Record Office but as I get well into the 1700s Ancestry and Find My Past do have the records online so will refer to them and the day of access. But they are also on the fiche which can be purchased if people become very interested in looking at the original information. 

Wednesday is always a somewhat quiet day for me as two days of cleaning is a lot for this 78 year old. Although I do not find it is too much; I do take it somewhat easy on Wednesdays. I will likely watch Question Period in the House today as well for a bit. The Prime Minister will perhaps be there although I could understand his waiting until tomorrow when the Speaker is officially resigned from the House (he simply should not have returned to the House at all but resigned on Sunday). I am sure that the Prime Minister was rather disappointed in this happening under his watch. But no one person can manage everything; he must rely on those around him to do the appropriate checking. Amazing how much time some opposition leaders put into denouncing every act of the Prime Minister that has nothing to do with Parliament but actually do nothing to check on who is coming to Parliament as guests!

Glory to Ukraine.

Time for jumping jacks and tea.

 

I continue to be embarassed by the Conservative Party

Listening to the Leader of the Opposition speaking in the House. He has not apologized for being part of the standing ovation, did he know in advance that this individual was coming - he should have known. I would think that every party leader knows if anyone is going to be introduced at such an event. The speaker apparently is a law onto himself/herself with regard to such invitations and having them vetted. That should change; no one should be introduced in our parliament that has not been vetted by CSIS/RCMP/Provincial Police/Local police that isn't well known. Spontaneous, last of the minute, introductions are a mistake. The job of the current Prime Minister at this time is to introduce legislation to make sure there is never a repeat. I expect he is receiving calls from all over the world all day long and having to explain on behalf of all Canadians why such an event occurred. Plus our representative to the United Nations is speaking today and the Prime Minster would need to be close by in case some contact is needed there.

The Leader of the Opposition is not yet ready to be Prime Minister; he does not understand the job. It is a sad state for me as I prefer a fiscal Conservative government although I will give the Prime Minster credit. He has done a great job through COVID  and even before our recovery from a devastating term of government where the former Prime Minster, a conservative, attempted to save money by destroying our institutions. I will never vote for an economist again; should have known better. I took Economics 20 and that lecturer did not understand how to get the slope of a line (rise over the run). Mind you he was facing a room full of second and third year science and engineering students so will give him a little break. I wait for a good candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada.  

In the meantime, the economy under inflation is more a result of world conditions than anything in Canada particularly. Our GDP is huge compared to when he came into office. Would I vote for him again? I would really like a fiscal conservative to tidy up the spending but that does appear to be happening. I can not agree with his Liberal policies in general but the specific ones that concern me he is doing not too badly. So hard to believe, I will likely vote Liberal once again. 

Where are the Brian Mulroney clones when we need them. The GST was the best initiative ever presented in our parliament in terms of funding the government and making it more efficient. I still think it should go back up to 7% or even 10%. Plus the government taking it off of new rental building construction has resulted in the builders creating new building projects in Canada - another bargaining chip that works very well for us.

DNA matches

Edward, when he first tested his DNA (yDNA, mtDNA and atDNA) did not have any close matches although gradually as more and more Americans tested his match list became quite enormous because a number of his ancestors came to Ontario after 1820 (land was free) and the fertile valley between the Great Lakes (Huron and Erie) particularly great for growing crops and few people there so the enticement was strong and a number of his family arrived in that time frame (2x great grandparents mostly). His Kipp line (Isaac Kipp and Hannah Mead) arrived in October 1800 and applied for land as settlers. They were accepted immediately and lived in Oxford County. Isaac Kipp was born in 1764 and just a child really when the American Revolution was fought so not part of his past and by then settlers were just desperately needed in Ontario at least the government saw it that way. They had a large family, came with four of their five sons with the other being left with his grandfather Jonathan Mead (the Cooper III) of Northeast town in Dutchess County (this grandson was named Jonathan and did come to Ontario after the death of his grandfather Jonathan Mead the Cooper III) and another three sons (Benjamin, Edward's great grandfather was the second youngest of the children, born in 1811, so long generations in that family as his grandfather William Henry was born in 1864) and three daughters were born in Ontario. Many of the descendants of these lines have tested but they are third cousins as they share his 2x great grandparents Isaac and Hannah. So finally as a surprise I persuaded my eldest daughter to test her atDNA and for Christmas that was his gift that year and he loved that. She of course matched him at 3563 centimorgans and her matches could then be looked at with his helping to exclude any outliers and it was just nice for him to have someone match so close (by then I had four siblings tested and I think he missed not having that closeness). Eventually she also tested at Ancestry which was very helpful as again it helped to understand some large matches that he could not locate. She can only inherit what he passed to her and so it is helpful to always have two matches that are close. It was a gift that just kept on giving for him and those last ten years he spent a lot of time on his DNA matches. His first stop for a new match was to check his daughter's match list. 

I really must do something about his matches (and my own) as I have been busy writing these last two years and I do nip in every once in a while and sort them but I have not been paying them the attention I once did plus I have not updated my phasing of my grandparents since February 2020 and we are approaching February 2024 so a lot to do there. I will be looking at the Siderfin autosomal matches as I have 13 at Ancestry but my siblings all have closer to 35 each. I really haven't looked at the other databases (i.e. 23 and Me, FT DNA, My Heritage, and especially Living DNA as they now have a chromosome browser and most of my Siderfin correspondents still live in England). So that chapter is partially written and it will not be particularly long as I am a great believer in privacy but will point out possible areas to check for large common passages of DNA from one to another. 

Tired after cleaning yesterday and I could barely touch my toes at first this morning when I got up but did make it to ten although hands not quite flat on the floor (close though, haven't lost it yet!). Today is not quite so much of a strain as just the basement and it is 3/4rds washed now and about half dusted. Will finish that after a nice rest and then lunch. Breakfast was about 9:15 this morning instead of the usual 7:45 to 8:00 so not hungry yet. 

Wanted to put these few thoughts on paper before I return to cleaning. I generally take a 30 minute break between one to one and a half hour bouts of cleaning. So still a few minutes to go so will work on the lovely new set of Solitaire cups that can be won (bronze, silver, gold and diamond) on a weekly basis. I have completed silver and in the midst of gold. Great way to train the brain. I have been playing it from the beginning (about 1.5 years now). Along with the daily challenges I play a lot of solitaire it would appear. I think it is also good for my eyes. It is restful but lots of eye motion. Still nothing on my cataract surgery so probably not until spring now since the surgery lists are probably set up at least I used to have them set up a couple of months in advance when I was booking for the physician that I was working for. I think it is even more centralized now although no ideas on that. It is nearly twenty years since I worked in the hospital. I miss the research parts for sure but I am old now and this surname research is tantalizing plus I am learning Latin and that is a lovely new skill to obtain. 

A few games of solitaire and then back to cleaning.

Shredding

 I have been shredding Edward's correspondence over the 54.5 years of our marriage. We were barely married when he got a name from his uncle I think and they started corresponding back and forth through the years. That fellow died a long time ago now but he was the first of hundreds of people that Edward wrote to on paper first and then email. Edward scanned all of that correspondence through the years  but he did like to hold on to everything he ever owned for sure. After checking to make sure material was scanned I started into shredding last summer but there is so very much of it. It will take me about six months to get it all shredded but I do need to give it that second look over before I shred it. 

I discovered during the shredding process that Edward's cousin Gordon Riddle had also given him a name to write to (and he did) and I have all of that correspondence now shredded. They were discussing their mutual cousinship - the individual both were writing to would write one and enclose a letter for the other one so a bit of back and forth with that. All scanned and now all shredded. I had forgotten how they were related actually through the years. I am not sure that Gordon, after he took Edward to a meeting of the Ottawa Genealogical Society (Edward's first actually he never could persuade me to go to the OGS in London when we lived there) went to all that many after the couple that they went to together. That was the early 1980s.

Years later after I took on the Pincombe Profile (2003) for my cousin George Dekay (my third cousin) we did go to an OGS meeting in London (2010). I was actually a member all those years as I did discover at that time that Edward had acquired family membership at some point when he was attending OGS Ottawa (My Ancestors now I keep forgetting). However, we were asked, since we were visitors from Ottawa Branch, to tell them what names we were researching in London. So of course I said Pincombe, Gray and Routledge (my mother was a Pincombe, her father's mother was a Gray and her mother was a Routledge. No one remembered them which was somewhat of a surprise (George DeKay was related to the Gray family) although when I said that my great grandmother Grace (Gray) Pincombe was a first cousin to Sir John Carling everyone of course knew who Sir John was. But that was many years after my Pincombe uncle who was quite well known had moved to Toronto (in the early 80s) and then passed away in 2003. Amazing how quickly people are forgotten actually  and the Westminster and Delaware History books (I wrote the Pincombe Profile and contributed it along with my cousins as they attended a meeting to help to put it together) had been published in 2005. We went in 2010 so even the History Books had passed into time. However, I wasn't surprised as I barely knew anyone in London by then except for my siblings, their children and their grandchildren both of my parents by then also deceased. 

The shredding is a huge project but I still have many gigabytes of files which I have to resave every once in a while just to be sure that the backup copy does not get corrupted. One day one of Edward's cousins might want all that material (or it would be amazingly perhaps one of his descendants). 

I am going to publish everything that I have done. I will make at least one printed book for each one I write so that the work doesn't get lost. But in general all of my work will be published electronically under a Creative Commons License. 

Cleaning brought all that thinking on. I still have so much to go through and cleaning day I try to do a little. I have three upright three drawer cabinets (wooden) that are full of material from Edward's genealogy. This is more recent than what is in the boxes so have gone into the boxes first because I know he scanned all of that. Maybe I will be finished in five years working through everything. Not sure really but in the meantime I am very strict with my time and only work on his for a limited time period. For one thing it is dusty and I can only stand so much dust before I stop. The old letters are particularly dusty with a number of them over fifty years old. 

One item I am looking for is the gravestone pictures as I am going to put them up on his blog starting soon - when I find them! I know they are there just have to locate them. We went into so many grave yards way out in the bush in New England I just feel I need to publish them on his blog perhaps with a map if there is one with them. Edward did tend to be thorough but I was using a GPS to locate items so it could be he just left that with me and entered the GPS co-ordinates. Time will tell once I find them. 

I see Russia is trying to put fear into Ukrainians that everything is going to get so much worse for them; I wonder now if things are going to get much worse for Russia and they are afraid. Really they should just grow up and leave their childish Nazi ways behind and get out of Ukraine. The Nazis were like two year olds - I want I want and they bludgeoned their way across Europe into France and the Low Countries and then East through Poland (which they convinced Stalin (they even had a joint agreement in 1939) that they could divide and he agreed although claimed that he only did it so that he could be ready. But the psychopathic Nazi Putin has proven that maybe that was a lie after all. Just a short time later the Nazis were on the move into the half of Poland that Russia took, the Baltic States/Ukraine and Russia which was to be the Nazi prize but with the help of the West Russia threw back the Nazi armies - tons and tons of material were shipped into Russia to help them fight the Nazis. No gratitude there for sure; just threats of nuclear war. Does Homo sapiens have a chance with these psychopathic Nazis Putin and his enablers in this world; one wonders. There is so much else to do that they are definitely a roadblock on the way to defeating Climate Change.

It is true that many many Europeans who had been part of the Nazi movement in Europe came to Canada; they were not likely wanted in their own countries and needed  to go somewhere. It was our duty as a human population to take them in. Because of the actions of the upper echelon of the Nazi war machine did all of the people who were part of it have to be imprisoned or executed? No, that is not forgiveness. If they did not take part in the Concentration Camps or getting people to the Concentration Camps or commit other war crimes then the power of forgiveness takes over because that is what God commanded that we do and He sent Jesus to reinforce that forgiveness that we must take on. Remembering Canada in the 50s Nazis were hated when I was a child so the atmosphere was not friendly here. Some Canadians asked that the names of their loved ones who went from Canada to fight with the Nazis and died be on monuments - that was denied. It was denied again and again through my growing up years. They were traitors. I do not believe that there should be any monuments to Nazi soldiers in Canada - they killed our soldiers. We could forgive but we could not forget; they could not be on the monuments with our heroes. Should the individual (and I will not type his name) have been given a standing ovation in parliament - absolutely not. For his children and grandchildren the forgiveness is there but for him we simply tolerated him along with other Nazis (and some did change their names and pretend to be other than they were) and gave him a place to live unless he was involved in the Concentration Camps in which case he should be in jail if he wasn't incarcerated already and permitted freedom at the end of a sentence. If Canada found them to be other than they said they were they were sent back for their punishment in their country of origin. At 20 years of age this individual of current note made choices that were anti-civilization (Nazism is a Satanic Cult) and so his life was forever changed; his choices were wrong and he should have known that he was old enough. He has lived a long life and was only 20 at the end of the war; God will be the ultimate judge of anything that he did because for his unit. We did not find when they were admitted as a group in 1950 that they had been involved in war crimes apparently. Canadians are said to be naive and one wonders who pushed this idea of having this individual to the speaker of the house (that might be an interesting tracking trail); CSIS did warn us that there could be undercover Russian operatives creating havoc during the visit of President Zelenskyy. We needed to be cautious. These operatives could have been in our country for a long time waiting to strike when we would be most embarrassed.

Cleaning day on the two floors is always tiring but I slept in so invigorated for the cleaning of the basement and then my research week is back. Jumping Jacks and then teatime. On to the day.

As I drink my tea, an interesting paper "The last Neanderthal: transition end extinction between Middle and Upper Paleothic in the Iberian Peninsula." It is in Spanish so will be a slow read. Our dry spell is letting us look at so much ancient history. Fascinating stuff.

Generation 9 continuing for the Siderfin Book and a racoon in the night

Yesterday's service on YouTube was most interesting; the hymns some of my favourites and the sermon brought out thoughts I had not actually had. The  juxtaposition between the owner of the grape field and the child of Israel in their Exodus from Egypt was very interesting. I have been thinking about the Exodus these last few days of readings and the thoughts expressed by the Deacon Residentiary Reverend Dr Carty were most interesting. Envy being amongst one of the greatest sins although greed ranks up there as well. He neatly compared the emotions of the two sets of people. The service itself was a lovely time in my day. 

Early this morning a big crash from the yard. I moved the downspout and perhaps the racoon lost its way. It must be able to smell when the German Shepherd two doors down isn't out in the yard as that lovely dog could jump the fence I am sure if he suspected something. He and I do have good chats when I am outside. An early wake up call for sure. 

All of the descendancy lines are added to the Ninth Generation so footnoting was the next step. The married Siderfin females do not have their descendancy recorded except as themself in their appropriate descendancy from their fathers etc as their children carry their father's surnames. It shouldn't be seen as a slight but rather a logical way of putting people into a particular tree line (and of course my line of Siderfin becomes Rew in the 9th generation). The children would belong to another surname tree unless they were illegitimate in which case they would have their mother listed as their ancestor before her father and their children would carry the Siderfin name although not the Siderfin yDNA which actually doesn't appear to be known at least not by me! And it appears that in the time since I last checked there is now a yDNA result in the study. However I gave access to that study to my cousin. I would need to attempt to regain access but I think I will pass on that as I want to publish this book and it will basically be my swansong to the Siderfin Study other than making sure that the book is deposited at various places and available to anyone who wishes it free of charge. 

The tester belongs to R-M269. It is a long time since I actually looked at the study as this test is numbered less than 100,000. There isn't anything that stands out from the results and there are only twelve alleles listed. I would call it quite common results for an English family since Siderfin has been in England at least from 1200 on I think one would call it an English family!

Kit Number  not revealed
Paternal Ancestor Name
Country
Haplogroup    R-M269
DYS393           13
DYS390           24
DYS19             14
DYS391           11
DYS385           11,15
DYS426           12
DYS388           12
DYS439           11
DYS389i          14
DYS392           13
DYS389ii         31

Will have to continue looking at this with regard to the markers. Perhaps the person will put down their MRCA; time will tell. 

Tea time and solitaire games, jumping jacks already completed for the first set. On to the day and it is cleaning day. Vacuum on the top floor ready to work my way to the basement over the next two days. The routine continues day after day. Ian White's Psalms play and another day in God's World. No rain in the forecast; an unusual fall as that is generally coming into our rainy season that turns into snow. We do need that rain as the ground continues to be dry. Although we have more water than anyone else in the world even us without rain will see a drop in that total water amount. Mother Nature wants a better deal and generally Mother Nature always wins in the long run; our run is short; maybe 80 to 100+ years; her run is long in the millions of years. 

Another article on the genus Homo and just what were the people like who walked the face of the earth with the first Homo sapiens? An ancient wooden structure found eons before we believed that humans built structures. What other surprises lie in the ever drying out earth. We have much to learn in God's world. 

I am very annoyed that we would celebrate a soldier of  the Nazis in the Second World War in our Parliament. Nazism is a curse and I hope the Jewish people amongst us will forgive this mistake of our parliament. If he had anything to do with the Concentration Camps then to prison he should go though I have to say. Russia has now  taken on the Nazis lust for murder and defilement of people  for their land and riches and they are the Nazis now. Our aim is Ukrainian freedom from Russian Nazis. That is what Russia has become when they invaded a free sovereign country to steal their land and people with children being taken back to Russia that are Ukrainian. Take a look at yourselves Russia and see where the psychopathic Nazis Putin and his enablers have taken you. You are trying to destroy a free and independent country. Forgiveness is there though, the proof you can see, when the rights of people are properly respected. Withdraw from Ukrainian land Russia and let your people be respected again in the world.

78 years old and Church on You-Tube today

 A great day yesterday and 78 officially now. I can remember each of my grandparents at 78 years of age. They were both still quite hale and hearty; both loved a good walk. In retrospect both loved a rich red meat diet and salt was definitely on the menu. Although both were relatively slender and muscular diet is a very important part of life for sure. Winters in Canada can be difficult for the elderly because getting out for a walk is risky with the ice on the walks. Exercising was not really something that people did back in the early 50s or even into the 60s as these two grandparents were 11 years separated in age and one from each of my family lines - my Blake Grandfather and my (Buller) Pincombe Grandmother. Reflecting on their lives is something I do more often than on my own parents because I lived with them on a more daily basis whereas I only saw my parents a few times a year because we did not live in their area and I returned to work outside the home in 1994 and that rather restricted travel time. Plus we used to go with Edward when he had to travel for work; it was great to do that in the spring and fall when he might have conferences to attend. We saw so much the three of us - my daughters and myself. It was a great education and gave one a freedom to travel the entire continent it almost seemed although most of the traveling was along the Atlantic Seaboard. That time is remembered fondly by all of us as time with Edward when he was not busy off doing his job and his volunteer activities. He was not home a lot for sure. 

Today Church on You-Tube and it is nice to be back. I do love the organ music and singing the hymns especially to music. I have to rely on memory when the organ isn't there playing the tune. Although as usual Ian White's Psalms is playing in the background at 6:17  a.m. this morning. 

An interesting article on the many species of Homo that have walked the face of the earth and DNA is doing all that tracking. In my own lines we have 3% Neanderthal and 5% Denisovan. Why so much Denisovan, I have no idea actually but do suspect it is my maternal grandmother's line going back in time. I know very little about her mother other than what my grandmother told me from the point of view of where she lived and the kind of person that she was. From the mtDNA though I have a great deal of information. H11 wintered at Ukraina during the Last Glacial Maximum better known as the Last Ice Age 15,000 to 20,000 years ago. Then this particular group of H11 from which we descend crossed from Ukraina perhaps through Doggerland or the Scandinavian Peninsula further north to end up in the Ayrshire/Argyllshire area of Scotland and thence to the northeastern part of Ireland. The first sign of Ellen (Taylor) Pincombe is Birmingham, England in the mid 1800s and it is the only timing firmly known to me about her because she was 37 years of age when she died of pneumonia one February morning in 1997 which my grandmother never forgot. She was eleven years of age.. But timing for these events prior to that time is totally unknown. As more and more research literature comes to the surface Haplogroup H11 continues to share some of that scientific perusal because it does have such a wide range for such a small grouping. I have ancient Russian/Ukrainian/Polish/Swedish/Finnish/Scot/Irish cousins from this line. But they are very ancient to me but none the less the fact that we do share common ancestry is amazing. One of the most fundamental items though is that we share ancient Ukrainian heritage, all of us, and that alone is amazing that we know that. 

On to the day, learning Latin, footnoting the Ninth Generation and moving towards the Tenth Generation. The last week of September may well see me into the Eleventh Generation and early October finished once again. Then back to the final work through and the setting up of the Creative Commons License to protect all of that work and keep it free for all family members to peruse and add to on their own computers and together we will keep the Siderfin family alive through the ages and perhaps one of us will uncover the link back to the 1200s in Early England and find out where they lived before that. One never knows what knowledge can be acquired with dogged determination and a desire to know. 

But first of all getting ready for Church. Even though I do not leave the house to go to Church there is still a lot of preparation to be ready for the service. Jumping Jacks and teatime is first and then my solitaire games; I have already read the Bible Reading for the day - poignant perhaps although not for myself; a rich man can not enter the kingdom of heaven and so must divest himself/herself of all that they own before they die. There is a richness in that Christian Heritage that nothing else can replace that shows up in the wills of our ancestors as they dutifully gave away all that they had as death approached them. That way they can control how what they have acquired is spent after they die. It is important to do that for your own good conscience I think. It is the gift of Jesus that just keeps on giving through the ages. God in His omnipotence loves what He has created but He did make the rules and in following them we have a more fulfilling life.

On to the day. 

Eighth Generation completed and on to the Ninth Generation

I did complete the Eighth Generation yesterday and moved on to the Ninth Generation. Not much done yet mostly just the usual cosmetic details of descendancy. Will do more today. 

I did listen to President Zelenskyy address the House of Commons here in Canada. God be with Ukraine. Glory to Ukraine. I also read the news story put out by President Erdogan that the Nazi Psychopath Putin would like peace. He would love Ukraine to stop fighting and keep what the Nazi Putin currently is occupying. It is a win for him and a loss for Ukraine. It is a loss for the world that this despicable Nazi Putin can force his way into another country and get to keep some of that stealing. The United Nations was founded to stop that behaviour; the most vile behaviour of Homo sapiens the murder of innocent civilians to take away what belongs to them, their property, their respect; their lives. Glory to Ukraine and may they thrust the invaders from their lands. Threatening the world with nuclear weapons is just ignorant.

A little more gardening yesterday as I cleared away particular areas that I need to have clear. Sometimes I look and I think you know it isn't all that bad. The weeds are annoying and perhaps next year I will do somewhat better at clearing them although I did clear them away at the beginning of the summer. I guess it was the smoke in June that kept me indoors a lot of the time and I did not weed as I might have done. We will see; next summer is a long time off. We have had a few thoughts on continuing with the restorative gardening because I do think the land has been worked for nearly fifty years now with a garden every year. It probably needs that type of care to make it more productive. 

The Blake Newsletter pretty much put together as well. Just need to do some formatting and send the copy off to the Guest Article writer to review. Ready in plenty of time to publish on the 1st of October. A little more work today and that should complete my part. I did do a writeup on the projected book I will write on the Blake Family of Andover. That is really the best way to preserve my research and put it out where it is available to be supported or revised; whatever happens. 

Today I am 78 years of age and quite amazed to have reached this age actually. I was at the dentist and wanted to change my cleaning appointment to every nine months because it was only changed to six to accommodate Edward who needed to go more often. It is simply inconvenient to have to depend on driving to the dentist so will investigate the dentist at the corner. The next appointment will be x-rays and everything so it would work very well to make the change for the next cleaning. I will check and see if they are still taking patients. I actually have gone to the current dental office ever since we moved here 45 years ago. We had a really great dentist where we lived before but when he heard we were moving he said you really should find a new dentist closer to you which was really kind of him to say actually. He was really great when our oldest daughter was quite small and had a fall which chipped a tooth. I wanted to have him look at it and never thought about his being a different race as my daughter had never been to him before. She was a bit nervous since she had not yet seen anyone with black skin and he quickly said I should go first so that she would see how to manage and that was perfect. She jumped right up into the chair to have her tooth checked. Really did miss that dentist when we moved. 

So on to the day, I am having one of my favourite foods for dinner today - macaroni and cheese with onions, peppers, peas, carrots and at the end spinach (and cheese too!). It is absolutely excellent and I do enjoy it. I bought a tray of lemon squares as well and will have one for desert. We always like to have our favourite foods for our birthdays. 

 

 

Busy day yesterday - gardening, dentist

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Had a busy day yesterday gardening and going to the dentist for a cleaning. The lawn needed cutting and the patio bricks have grown a few weeds so plucked them out. The trees are shedding dead branches so picked all of those up and broke them up and into a bag. Maybe half a bag of gardening recycling so far; might try and fill that more today so it is a full bag and it is Garbage Day. 

Not too much work on the Siderfin Book. I went through and put in the numerical descendant level for each individual in the eighth generation. This appears in the seventh because they are children of particular families but is a good check/balance system to be sure I have everyone in the right order. It is self explanatory and I use it in my blog as well where Robert 8 has descended from John 7, John 6, Robert 5, William 4, Robert 3, William 2, John 1 and I can quickly see that he is of the William-Line as that style started in the Fourth Generation with William 4 and John 7 is the individual that I postulate was an older brother and son of John 6 who married Mary Chapman and this John was the younger son of Robert 5 of Timberscombe and East Lynch. Works well for me and I do hope that it is readily understandable in the book by everyone. I use it from the beginning of the recitation of the generations. 

Ian White's Psalms playing at 6:30 a.m. as I write to my blog. Soon I will do my first set of jumping jacks and have my tea. As the winter progresses the first thing I will do in the morning is make my tea as I keep the house at 20 degrees celsius (now it is set to have the heat come on if it goes below 19 degrees celsius although  tempted to make that 18 as the sun heats the house in the day) and hot tea is good first thing in the morning. Another day is beginning in the east as the sky was lightening when at six very slightly and now one can see the lightening sky behind the trees. It has been another good summer of growth as there is less and less bare sky visible to the eyes. 

Today more work on the Siderfin book as I do the footnoting for baptisms/marriages/burials and any other detail that I think could use a footnote before proceeding onto Generation Nine. 

I will also start to look at the Blake Newsletter for the first of October. As this Fall has moved forward so have my thoughts on how to publish all of the research that I have done in particular the wills of the Blake families of England. I still have perhaps 500 to do but for many of the Counties I have already published the wills on my blog but it would be good to bring them together into an *.pdf and publish them under a Creative Commons License. That will happen coincidentally with my work on the Pincombe and Blake books. 

I am now committed to helping with the obituary page for my High School which is online. It will be a small part that I play but I am pleased to be able to pay back to my school for all of the really great teaching that I had there. I did have some friends but mostly I kept to myself and the people that I did know are no longer known to me but that is more me I think than anything. I am more of a family person than an outgoing person. I have projects that I like to do and although friendship is probably good for people it does take up quite a bit of time and at this time in my life time is being allocated to my projects. Perhaps if I reach a very old age I will once again sit at tea with people in a nursing home somewhere or not. Who knows how life will flow really? Only God knows that and I leave everything pretty much up to God as regards the flow of my time. 

I agree with Ukraine that Russia should be temporarily stripped of their veto power in the Security Council; they have broken the rule - invaded a free country for their own greedy gain. When they actually show themselves to be the enemies of Nazism that they claimed to be in 1945 then they can have the veto power back but at the moment they are showing that same vengeance that they showed to the countries that they overran on their way to Germany in 1945 - suffocating any freedom for anyone and it lasted through the Cold War. When the Soviet Union collapsed it was meant to be they were cruel to the people of these countries and their freedom was wondrous and we should do all that we can to help Ukraine force out the Russians from their sovereign territory. Glory to Ukraine. 

I am saddened to see the Russian men so abused by their government; Rise up O Russia and cast off these psychopathic Nazis namely Putin and his enablers. You did it once; do it again. 

On to the day. 

The Eighth Generation continuing

Nice to be into the Eighth Generation of the Siderfin Family. Working my way through slowly as I insert comments as this is the Generation most affected by the addition of John 8 ( John 7, John 6, Robert 5, William 4, Robert 3, William 2, John 1) and includes the two children baptized by John and Joan Siderfin marked by the priest as John junior. Perhaps by the weekend I will have completed the Eighth Generation and working on the ninth where I have the help of another researcher on her Thomas line. I need to add in/revise my material based on her accumulated data. Thomas simply disappeared from the Somerset area but over time many did actually. My own line with Elizabeth (Siderfin) Rew's children went to the Bishops Nympton area in Devon. But not all of them, a number stayed on in Somerset and getting all of that right is important. 

Off grocery shopping yesterday and it was about as usual; what I bought will last me a couple of weeks plus a few days likely and the overall cost remains around $75.00 per week for one person and I am a simple eater so groceries have gone up but then so has everything else. Salmon for dinner cooked with fresh dill from the garden which was very pleasant along with frozen peas. I quite enjoyed my dinner which is saying something for a person who is not a foodie! My husband used to ask me if I enjoyed my dinner, actually we asked each other, and I would generally respond absolutely especially as he had generally cooked it! I am just not a foodie but Edward would point out what he didn't like and since he prepared it generally in the years when I worked and he was retired I just listened! He loved to play with food actually coming up with all sorts of recipes - the Chemist in him being utilized in his 6th and 7th generations for sure. 

Today, I must turn off the other tap, it went down to 6 degrees celsius last night. I meant to do it yesterday but didn't get to it. The sun though bakes that area for about half of the day so not too worried I already turned off the tap that doesn't get much sun. Washed up the last of the hoses yesterday and will tip that to make sure it is absolutely empty before storing it with the others. That is the usual process; wash the hoses and then shut off the taps but I did quite forget yesterday. Getting old I guess. 

The day is planned pretty much with the Eighth Generation to work on. I volunteered to work on the Obituaries page for my High School but I am not sure I will get a lot done as I will just be searching online. I can barely remember the names of all my classmates and do not know what any of them did in their lives (well summaries were prepared about ten years ago now which I can read but moving away one loses touch). My grade 13 class was small, 13A, most of us were in all the Maths and Sciences plus English and French to get us into University. The Algebra class was particularly small I remember - maybe ten students. I loved Maths and the Sciences but then I did go into Science at University. I was a Nerd for sure probably still am; love to have my head deep into a project of some kind although a lot of time was spent raising the girls eight years apart. I did miscarry one child when the oldest was two so they wouldn't have been if the little one had made it past four months gestation. My little one is with God though and I am content; life just wasn't meant to be and so glory with God instead. 

Lawn to cut and may think about that today. I am considering leaving the cutting down of the garden until spring as my daughter suggested. That does rather feed into my lack of gardening interest as well but all that mush in the spring is somewhat repulsive. We will see; I might still just leave the stubble like the farmers and cut off the leaves which can be particularly mushy in the spring.!

Up early today and first set of jumping jacks completed. Time for a second set and then breakfast. Hungry today but then I generally am in the morning as I eat a light dinner usually.

The latest tactic by the Psychopathic Nazi Putin against the Ukrainian people

The Psychopathic Nazi Putin and his enablers can not win their own battles so have claimed to have stolen the children of Ukraine and turned them into soldiers to stop the Ukrainians from fighting. Their psychotic behaviour has no limits apparently. They tried to murder the Ukrainians by starving them to death in the 1930s. We are all Homo sapiens; some of us are taller, some of us are smarter but none of us is superior. There is no perfect race and in particular Russians appear to be dreadfully flawed; they are unable to advance in their minds past their barbarian past.  Stealing children is a loathsome crime and Putin has admitted to it apparently. Any country that harbours him is insulting the world; he is disgusting. 

Where are the Russians who demanded that their life be better when they deposed the Tsar. Is there life better? They have allowed Robber Barons to take over their industries and reduce their ability to have a decent life. They have permitted psychopaths like Putin to take over their civil liberties and their aspirations for a fairer life (we call it self-determination or democracy). Now they send them into battle against a free country. Time for a new Russian Revolution and throw out these leeches that suck the life blood out of a great people destroying the achievements that Russia  has made and replacing them with a gluttonous psychopathic Nazi leadership. Anyone who surrenders their freedom to a demagogue like the psychopathic Nazi Putin loses their freedom; loses everything that they had because these people attack other countries and spill the blood of the serfs because that is what the psychopathic Nazi Putin is doing to the Russian people - he is turning them back into serfs. Arise O Russia and throw off this decadent leadership that lives in the lap of luxury; destroying the environment and killing your children in foreign battles that they started. 

A little work on the Eighth Generation yesterday but mostly resting my eyes as I cleaned my house. Amazing how the tasks that need to be done help us to protect our health - exercise is what the body of a homo sapiens craves a hangover from their hunter-gatherer past for sure where they trod the ground looking for food to feed themselves; clothe themselves and achieve what they could in the time that was available to them when they were not simply surviving. Today the Eighth Generation continues and we are now down to the William-Line and the Robert-Line only with the William-Line disappearing on the male Siderfin side in the 10th generation. It would appear that all of the Siderfin surnamed people descend from one couple - Robert Siderfin and his wife Elizabeth Question. Robert was an only child as far as one can tell and when one looks at probability one would have expected the William-Line to survive as the number of males in each generation early on was much greater but time and chance found an only child whose gene pool survived and begat an entire generation of descendants who continue to live on today. Mind you my surname has not been Siderfin since far into the past. I became intrigued by the surname when I finally found the maiden name of Elizabeth (Rew) Pincombe's mother way back in 2005. The stories that went along with that find of James Sanders book were intriguing but I gave all of that research away to a cousin with the surname hoping I think that he would carry it forward. 

But time does not always become available to people as I well understand having worked a regular workweek (after the birth of our first child) since my early to mid 30s first at home and then thinking once again that I might go back into research working for a scientist at the Medical School. He offered to let me do my masters and I did think about it but I knew myself that at 51 I was unlikely to offer much new in research so decided to work at the hospital and help other researchers. No regrets on my part; my life has been quite fascinating a bit more than I would have desired given my husband's many activities that he did manage to get me involved in by volunteering me. But none the less I have traveled a great deal more than I ever would have especially into the north eastern United States as he followed that trail of his ancestors. If anyone was ever bitten by a genealogy bug in a big way that was my husband. He loved every tiny little graveyard that we found way out in the bush. We hiked through woods to find some of them but each one was so lovingly preserved. Americans love their forebearers. Some of the stones were just roughly hewn rocks in reality but yet there it was the names of 7th and 8th great grandparents that he had sought and found. Amazing really; I think it was one of my traits that he most liked that willingness to pursue his desires to find what he wanted to find no matter where we had to travel. Except for so many restaurant meals I enjoyed the fresh air; the lovely walks in the woods and all of the birdlife that we saw on our treks. I did finally manage to persuade him to just buy food and prepare it in the hotel. A few meals out now and then was more fun than constantly eating in restaurants! 

The day though progresses and I must have breakfast. First set of jumping jacks completed and tea drank. On to the next set of jumping jacks and then breakfast. My Latin on duolingo. I was quite surprised at how well I could read that Marriage Contract that was in Latin - I am progressing. There are still more than 10 sets of lessons to go and I shall keep it up. Once I have completed what I want to do with my lines then I will return to my son in law's French Canadian ancestry and I shall do French on duolingo to once again make myself partially bilingual since I did use to answer the phone in French at the hospital all those years ago now. Amazing what one can do at the age of 78 years actually. 

The day commences.

Seventh Generation completed

 One more item proving the line of John Siderfin Junior married to Mary Chapman was their Marriage Contract witnessed by John Siderfin Junior of Wootton Courtney, Robert Siderfin of Timberscombe and George Chapman of Wootton Courtney. With that there is sufficient proof that he was the son of John 6 Siderfin (Robert 5, William 4, Robert 3, William 2, John 1). One more small hiccup was the children of Robert Siderfin and Elizabeth (Question) Siderfin. James Sanders had a Joan Siderfin as one of their daughters but she is not mentioned in either will abstract. Not sure whom she actually is but she married John Passmore at Minehead which was a little unusual for this family which generally married in Selworthy or Wootton Courtney. That being resolved the addition of the new John Siderfin Junior married to Joan (unknown) and being a likely older son of John Siderfin Junior married to Mary Chapman worked out very well without a lot of reworking. The two children that they baptized at Wootton Courtney were neatly moved to this John and a slight renumbering but no difficulty. What seemed like a major task quickly disappeared with the removal of Joan from James Sanders' Pedigree Chart as a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Question) Siderfin. Moving forward onto the Eighth Generation but will not do much today as yesterday was a heavy day on the fiche reader. These eyes are not getting any younger. 

No news yet on my eye tests perhaps another month or so although my daughter did mention that there is a long waiting list for the cataract replacement which was why I decided to follow through from the Optometrist recommendation and go ahead getting that started last January. It was a funny sort of thing as he said that he would recommend me next January but then said he had  not recommended me two years earlier because Edward was going to go for cataract surgery although my eyes also needed that. I usually go every year but it just didn't happen and ended up being two years. Like my colonoscopy last year I had let the office know I would go ahead in November last year and got the call with a date in late April so six months sounds like the waiting period for that particular procedure. Since I have had eye strain before when I spend too much time on the fiche reader I am not alarmed just need to rest my eyes today and it is the big cleaning day so that works very well. My sister said that the eyes get stronger before they start weakening. I can tell that my sight is not quite as good as it was and given my not really great sight without glasses I do pay attention. I used to be able to distinguish song birds readily that were half way down the back garden which is about 30 metres but now it is likely only 15 to 20 metres with my glasses on of course. Without glasses I would not be able to distinguish that. However, unlike when I was a child and could not read anything without glasses I can read large letters but it was probably more that I was only three or four years old and did not have a history of knowledge of letters to fall back on!

On to the day, jumping jacks, tea and then solitaire games if my eyes want to do that. Then jumping jacks once again and breakfast and cleaning. Sounds like a busy day. Still receiving about 100 emails a day some of which get put into a must do folder. I do answer all of them eventually; sometimes interesting tidbits come my way but mostly it is requests for information with probably 70% of them being either spam or close to it or groups that I belong to or political from the Conservatives or the Liberals. Interesting to read but I have my opinion of the kind of leaders that we need and fiscal conservatism comes high on that list. 

Brownies and Guides

These youth groups really serve a useful purpose when families are small I think (myself I really did not enjoy either although preferred brownies to guides). Having led Brownies for two sets of three years when my daughters were in Brownies the most positive thing that I think moving the group forward was the children wearing slacks and a t-shirt instead of the dresses. The dresses were impractical and it was cold sitting on the gymm floors where we held Brownies. Badges were my concentration as I think children love to earn things and the badges did not require that much work for these young children and they were so proud of their badge scarves again a new addition between children as earlier the badges were sewn on the sleeves of the long sleeved dress (same as in my day as a Brownie). All in all I think with small families these groups do bring children together in a home-like atmosphere where friendships are made and children have a good time (but I do think it is better if parents of the children in the group are leaders). The children learn some discipline which is always good for children especially now with Russia invading Ukraine. One never knows the future and the more rigorous disciplined training that children have the better off we are as a people. 

I haven't thought about Brownies or Guides for many many years; once I left as a leader I was gone; not my thing for sure. As one of seven children the idea of spending my free time (even as an adult) with children (except of course my own) was not my thing although I did volunteer at school and particularly helping with computers since I was early into that field (1965). I preferred my books and now in my old age I am writing books on the ancestors of my families. I have so much material that needs to be published already (a thousand wills broken down into Counties in England) but yet I pursue these three books - Siderfin first and it is a revision and update of an earlier book, Pincombe and no one has put together the older family, and Blake which has a lot written about it but a lot of it is incorrect with quite incorrect relationships particularly to the Blake family of Calne, Wiltshire.

 Just started watching a new series on Netflix "The Chosen" and still working my way through the first of the series. I always think I know the New Testament very well but always there are surprises for me although will reread the gospels as we go through the series. It is a thought provoking series thus far; the Roman Centurions are particularly interestingly played and one does not necessarily get the sense that it is realistic and yet these were young boys away from Rome and likely missing home and family. They come across as trying to keep the peace between the hierarchy of the Jewish Faith and the people who are looking for their Messiah as they find the leadership of their upper echelon of power to be rather overbearing and they are remembering Isaiah's promise of the Messiah. Will continue to watch. Interesting how life is portrayed; very basic and yet I think people lived in clean houses and airier than is illustrated but perhaps I am mistaken.  Will give the series a chance for sure. The message of the Messiah to come is always welcomed and various interpretations help to cement in our minds why Jesus came to live amongst us. 

Now I really must get to cleaning, the rugs have all been cleaned by the robot now so is my turn to get in there and wash the remaining floor and dust. The day continues. Still Duolingo to do for my Latin studies as well.

Generation seven continuing

One item I realized I overlooked in my thinking about John 7 Siderfin (John 6, Robert 5, William 4, Robert 3, William 2, John 1) as being an older son for John 6 Siderfin and his wife Mary (Chapman) Siderfin was the baptisms of the two daughters names the father as John junior. Working that into Generation seven and nearly complete so will finish Generation seven today hopefully although it is cleaning day. Just a short amount left now, the children of Robert Siderfin and Elizabeth (Question) Siderfin. Then a short write up on the Darch children mostly from James Sanders original book. Moving on to Generation eight is a luxury given that it is only the 18th of September although I do need to allot time for the Blake Newsletter. But it does look like with a bit of luck I will make it through Generation Eight and perhaps even Nine and Ten. That means Eleven and Twelve left for early October and then back to the beginning and a good proofreading, adding the figures not yet in and captioning them and making decisions on what to put in with regard to the autosomal DNA testing. I do not have a Y result for the Siderfin family. Never really thought about it after my cousin took over the study back in 2010. DNA was still very new then. 

Not too many pictures for this book although have now put in the picture of my 2x great grandmother Elizabeth (Rew) Pincombe whose mother was Elizabeth (Siderfin) Rew. Close as I can get to the family in my line. I wonder if there are pictures of the Siderfin family. It would be an interesting hunt for sure to find that out but I will leave it to someone much closer to the British Isles then I am!

Church on You-Tube was lovely yesterday. The organ music was  greatly missed by me all summer. "Let us go to the House of the Lord" ran through my brain this morning as I awoke to Ian White's Psalms. A perfect Monday morning for sure. My mind rolled back to our early days where we still live. One of the first things that we did was to take a walk around the large block which in those days did not have sidewalks all the way nor was the road through across the creek. We used to do that walk every day after we moved here (26th of April 1978) long before we knew anyone other than a young couple (the two men worked at NRC together) with a young child about our daughter's age who had invited us to a party at their house (same style as the one we bought later but a couple of blocks away) a couple of months earlier when we first saw where we now live. It was just one length of new carriage homes on the north side of the road that were newly up for sale although a couple of them were already sold. Less than a month later we had bought one ourselves. It would be another four years before our youngest was born as I looked for jobs that I could do at home and found one marking papers for a professor as I was getting organized to go back to school and do my masters once my daughter was settled in school. However, that didn't happen as my youngest made her appearance and I couldn't do everything; just didn't have the physical stamina. So back to the earlier routine of walking around the block in one of the breaks that I took from proofreading/copyediting. It was like a rite of passage for my youngest to be able to do the entire walk without the carriage (2 km) around the huge block. It was one of our exercise periods whilst I was marking papers first, realized that I would not at that time go back and do my masters and then later proofreading and copyediting. It was a busy life as I used to proofread and copyedit eight or more hours per day breaking that up so that a small child still had fun times through the day and before the children woke up and after the children were in bed I could do another couple of hours each time to make up for the breaks in the day. Then there was brownies where I was Brown Owl for my older daughter, I volunteered amazingly and it was a fascinating time working with all those children whilst my own was there (I am not really a volunteering type of person) and then the volunteer secretary at Edward's Church which fortunately ended when it did as life was just too busy.  Edward was busy with his activities plus French class two nights a week. But I digress, the service yesterday had lovely music which I must say I really enjoyed; I could listen to the organ play all day long for sure. 

Today the basement to clean and work on the seventh generation. First jumping jacks and my tea then on to breakfast. I realize it is a while since I have actually been anywhere; grocery shopping one of these days but I still have two days of chicken stew and a couple of other days worth of meals. I make a menu for the month and then a shopping list and mostly I never run out as I have powdered milk, cans of fish and other items to keep me going until I want to go shopping. Shopping comes low on my list of things to do for sure.

The most unforgiveable action

Although all of the acts performed against the Ukrainian people since Russia invaded their sacred land are criminal the one that is actually a crime against the world is the destruction of food. No country has the right to destroy food that would feed the millions. For that they should be condemned in the highest levels; the United Nations should condemn them for that action in particular. Let us now in this time of plenty condemn what could be the tipping point of our very existence in the future - the wanton destruction of food done out of jealousy and greed; the very imperatives of the Nazi Putin and his enablers. Very rapidly Putin is stripping from the history of the Russian people some of their great acts which they performed in the Second World War. Their Nazi invasion of Ukraine is unforgiveable as it continues; forgiveness can only come when the sacred land of Ukraine is free once again.

I was very pleased to see the Secretary General of NATO say what is the obvious - so long as Ukraine fights she is free; if Russia stopped fighting and left the sacred land of Ukraine then this war would be over. Glory to Ukraine and may she survive for ever. 

Yesterday I worked on the seventh generation of the Siderfin family. After a great deal of thought I have added an individual for whom there is no data other than a note in his step-grandmother's will that he had a daughter Joane. He has to be a new person because the parish registers of Wootton Courtney name the two children that were baptized by John and Joan Siderfin as Mary and Joane with Mary being buried before this will was written. I was trying to avoid doing that but of necessity and for a clean look I needed to add an individual whose name would be John because of two baptisms that do not belong to Robert Siderfin and Joanna (Kittener) Siderfin which is where James Sanders has placed the two baptisms. That lets me move forward through the Seventh Generation otherwise I am bogged down and that doesn't work when you are revising/editing/writing any book. John 6 Siderfin married twice with the first marriage in 1683 and the first known baptism from the marriage of John Siderfin and Mary (Chapman) Siderfin was Robert in 1688. Hard to believe there wasn't at least one child born before Robert and so it is a John to fit the available information (and to work timewise as the children were baptized in 1714 and 1716 (a John born between 1683 and 1688 would be 25 to 30 years old in 1713). I have no idea where the abstract for this will came from either although I suspect land records as the bulk of the step-Grandmother's estate went to Edmund Cording (no ideas of the relationship) and he was the executor. The property was primarily in Exton where she lived before marriage. 

Moving forward slowly but surely to the time when the Parish Registers were more complete and then the census with its incredible ability to give me a view into each household.  With the help of one of the descendants of the Robert-Thomas Line I hope to have as complete a listing as possible of the descendants of  the last male Siderfin with male children carrying on the Siderfin name - namely Robert Siderfin (born 1658) married to Elizabeth Question. For the most part the Siderfin family remained in Somerset into census time as far as I can tell and James Sanders had the same experience in his research as he could have had access to the census up to 1901. 

Chicken Stew last night and for the next three days as it makes so much. I do like chicken stew and went out and found a couple of dozen small carrots from the patch that we planted for the rabbits and added them as I had run out of carrots. The garden is definitely coming to an end although the sunflowers are still going strong but soon the seeds will be ready and the squirrels will harvest them. 

Another Sunday and Church on You-Tube. The Bible Readings have been mostly Old Testament that come into my mailbox each day. Perhaps I should start to read all of the daily readings instead of concentrating on the one sent to me by the Canadian Bible Society. Although I like to read the Old Testament it was written so long ago and the history surrounding much of those times is not as well known to me as the New Testament. Jumping Jacks and tea and a little computer time before breakfast.

Sixth Generation completed and into the Seventh Generation

The news of the world captures me each day as I contemplate what is happening. Traveling to Europe and the British Isles made me ever more aware of the world as one unit in which we all have a duty to provide the best care possible of all flora and fauna - that was our task to care for the world. Libya and Morocco are suffering from flooding and earthquake and their needs are great. The number of dead and missing is huge. Prayers that more people will be found alive but time is passing. 

Then there is the sadness of all the death on the battlefields in Ukraine. And for the Ukrainians it isn't just the actual battlefield - it is their homes, their shops, their stores; the Russians cruelly attack where people live. Would that the Russians would just pack up and go back to Russia and leave the Ukrainians alone; I pray for that. Glory to Ukraine. 

But my days are spent working on the Siderfin book revision and update and it is going well as I reach closer and closer to more complete parish registers and then the census. September is going very well for me as I work the newest documents into the scheme. I am pleased with the result. I created my line going back all the way to John Siderfin in the early 1500s - he was my 13x great grandfather. As I mention in the text, James Sanders did not commit to the parentage of Robert Siderfin married to Elizabeth Question and I have with the two new documents which I transcribed. The 1653 Answer document in particular assists in that regard. Giving a continuance to the descendants of Robert 4 (Robert 3, William 2, John 1) in the Knowle area near Tivington Somerset (part of the greater Selworthy area). 

Another 8 degree celsius morning and yesterday I turned the outside water off as that is getting closer and closer to freezing and do not want the taps to freeze up. Seems a bit early but perhaps not I have only done this for a couple of years so not a lot of experience to build on. One comment though on the weather to come was an early and cold winter. That would be nice actually and let me get all the winter preparations done early and leave me lots of time to work on the Siderfin book. 

As always God watches and waits for us to do the right thing. His words of wisdom have guided us through the ages and perhaps now in this new century we can achieve that peace for mankind. We can forge outward and onward into the stars and see what is out there and everyone looking back can be confident in an earth where peace reigns and our love of God can be felt all around the world as we follow His commandments - love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbour as ourself. Then we can truly be the best that we are able. 

The day has begun, a little early but I am definitely an early riser and love that moment when the sun breaks through on the horizon to another beautiful day on God's earth.

8 degrees celsius this morning

Definitely fall is in the air and winter to follow with 8 degrees celsius this morning and mostly clear. Today I must shut the water off in the outdoor taps and cut the lawn. Gradually the activities of the summer are diminishing. 

Not a great deal of accomplishment yesterday except for one new Appendix of the items belonging to the Exmoor which James Sanders had in his original book. They are attached to the bankruptcies of Thomas 5 Siderfin and Robert 5 Siderfin; the first settled by Robert and the second by the grandsons of Thomas members of the Darch family. It makes interesting reading but adds very little to the generations of the Siderfin family in that both of these sons daughtered out although I am still ambivalent that Elizabeth Siderfin named as the daughter of Robert 5 was actually Elizabeth Gould his step daughter. I will leave others to prove that though as one would need access to more records than I have here in Canada. 

Yesterday I had a lovely day of exercise and TV watching to give my eyes a rest. Today I shall return to the Generations and work on the Sixth Generation. I am moving along nicely and may yet make it to the end of the book by the end of September although only sixteen days left including today. I also need to do the Blake Newsletter but I will see a finish by early October and then back to the proofreading of the text and then publication. 

My fingers are itching to get into the Pincombe family book but it remains on the back burner of my brain for the moment or I would get distracted. The Blake book as well sits there on the back burner as I shall be extracting material whilst working on the Pincombe family book for the Blake records as well. I am allotting two years for each book and we will see how that goes. I have a lot of material already but I need to do a lot of transcription of documents I have in my cache of documents collected at Kew now ten years ago and more. I may need to order new copies - time will tell on that but I have rarely opened them so they remain in relatively pristine condition from an electronic point of view. They have been backed up in their early days on several other systems as well. 

My daughter was encouraging me once again to let the weeds rot through the winter rather than doing a lot of pulling up so will probably go with that. We will see what the spring brings!

Jumping jacks and then tea and a bit of work and then on to jumping jacks once again and breakfast. The day has commenced. Ian White's CD of Psalms playing and the world will soon start to wake up outside of my windows. It is still dark however so a little longer for that.

Fifth Generation of the Siderfin Family completed and on to the 6th Generation

Yesterday went very well and I completed the Fifth Generation. The Sixth Generation is vitally dependent on my premises made on the basis of the 1653 Answer document by Robert and Ursula Siderfin and the Will and other material for Robert Siderfin in 1688. Both of these sets of documents along with all of James Sanders material are going to let me now show that the line of Robert Siderfin married to Elizabeth Question was descendant of Robert 4 (Robert 3, William 2, John 1) which James Sanders did not do. He implied it but he did not commit to it. I will not likely produce a Pedigree chart but on the other hand I might do so but it will be large and I could put it up as a hypertext link to a server and will think about that and then it can be enlarged by the user. Legacy can produce such a chart.  However the entire chart is too large to export so would have to see what I can do with the various Lines - the Robert Line is the only one which comes down to the present.

Picked another pint of raspberries and my freezer is getting a lot of containers of raspberries. I can always put them in my breakfast instead of blueberries but I actually really like blueberries. Perhaps if I run out sometimes I could do that. 

So a day with a little less computer time as my eyes are a bit tired today and will pace myself accordingly but I am pleased at having the fifth generation completed for this first time through the final version. I will do some on the 6th generation but mostly making sure that all of the text that I want to be in there is and putting other text into an appendix. I will include a link to the Internet Archive copy of James Sanders original book on the front page of the revised and updated version. 

Twelve degrees celsius today and it is cloudy although  no rain mentioned in the forecast at 6:30 a.m. We are coming into Fall now but the summer did pass very quickly although now into nearly half way September the same is true of this month; it has passed very quickly. My snow clearing is all set up and just the clearing away of summer equipment to do. I have all the hoses put away except one and may do that today. I do like to have some sun though as I wash the hoses and want them to be dry to hang them for the winter. 

The sunflowers are quite lovely now and soon the squirrels will harvest them for the winter. My daughter wants me to not cut down all the plants once frost has come so that the organic material rots into the ground but that could be pretty messy in the spring. I will think about that. I could leave a larger stubble like the farmers in their fields! But leaving everything is just a wet mess in the spring. The lawn has suffered this year, I did not do that well at pulling weeds but then I think what is a weed; it is just a wild flower that I did not plant. I am not a gardener for sure! My grandmother would be horrified - her yard was perfect. 

First set of jumping jacks and tea. Ian White's CD is playing and a wonderful way to start the day. Breakfast in a bit and I shall have a mixture of blueberries and raspberries. One should eat those lovely berries when they are fresh for sure.