Snow

It is only a sprinkling but there is white out there finally and at last. Hopefully more to come over the next couple of days. We could use the snow cover as it is going to be very cold. Even the trees need the snow cover to protect their roots. 

Yesterday I read through the first 27 pages and found a couple of things here and there, I actually am looking for most of them so good news in that regard and I am 16% of the way through the book. It may well be the middle of December before I release it but I am going to go through it carefully and then perhaps read it one more time just for the flow. I also am still working on the Preface and Acknowledgements. I have written them but want to make sure they are saying what I want them to say. 

I needed some downtime that didn't involve screen time or heavy exercise so I bought a thick book of Sudoku which I love to do. Microsoft has that on their Solitare page as I call it but there is something very comforting about sitting there with pencil and eraser and just quietly working away at a Sudoku puzzle. I do love numbers and find them soothing as I run them through my mind counting out my steps or activity during workouts or just sitting there quietly as the numbers 1 to 9 in each block get arranged carefully into their order to complete the puzzle. It is good for the mind I think; settles it. 

Well I am once again in agreement with the Prime Minister who had the good sense (and I think the Premier of Manitoba said it best we need to let the President-Elect know what we are doing to protect the border; he has asked) to go visit the President-Elect of the United States and to take our  Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc with him to discuss Canada and its border control. It was the absolutely right thing to do; it also gives Canada a chance to congratulate President-Elect Trump on his win in the election face to face. The United States of America is our wonderful neighbour and I am glad that this has occurred. I still need to see far more efficiency in our government; too much money is being wasted that could go to the military. Perhaps the military should manage CRA! 

Today, more work on the Companion Charting book and I shall try hard to keep my mind from wandering towards the Pincombe and Blake books. I am anxious to get back to them although it will probably be the first of January before I return to them. Of course the interest in them is fairly personal although I will blog items that are interesting especially when I start to transcribe some of these old documents plus I still have about a thousand wills for Blake to transcribe that I have collected through the years. I will continue doing that as well as writing the books because I find comments about the Blake family at Andover within wills that end up surprising me and gave me that connection between the Oxfordshire Blake family and the Hampshire Blake family way back in the 1500s. I need to learn more about that as well. 

I also want to have time to work on my yearly (although it is now nearly four years) re-phasing of my grandparents and great grandparents DNA. Knowing where they are buried, it does occasionally cross my mind that perhaps I could actually do DNA on them although I expect the cost would be rather high and my family would think I had perhaps lost it. So maybe not. After all it is amazing what you can come up with when you have five sets of sibling results. 

More snow hopefully this weekend and into next week and I look forward to that. 

Tea being drank and soon breakfast time and then Latin once again. I am surprised at how quickly I can read these sentences now in Latin without having to go back to my file and check. I do want to get back to my French as well but need to finish the Siderfin book first. 

Indexing and first read through completed

 A good working day and I reached the end and added in the index. It is complete but now needs a good proofreading. The editing was done along with the indexing. 

A few pictures of my line coming down from Elizabeth (Siderfin) Rew. A picture of her daughter and her husband John Pincombe and then a picture of their son William Robert Pincombe and his first wife Grace Gray and finally a picture of their son John Routledge Pincombe and Ellen Rosina (Buller) Pincombe my maternal grandparents and my parents. All in all I am pleased with the overall look but I can not say that it was my invention as one of my Rawlings cousins did his family tree about fifteen years ago and sent it to me as he felt I was interested in the family and he didn't want to do a writeup just the tree and it was in chart form the same as I had completed for the Siderfin book. I could have done far more research but I generally stuck to the principle of a one-name study and dropped the female lines after they married although generally mentioned their children which is fairly common to take it down one generation. However for my line I have taken it down considerably further as my 3x great grandmother was Elizabeth (Siderfin) Rew! 

I also went out grocery shopping and drove this time as I wanted to get an entire order and this was my first time out with the car since the 28th of October. I have walked to the store every week since then and brought back fresh vegetables and fruit was very nice. Other times I brought back fresh milk and bread. It worked out very well and was good exercise plus I do not buy very much at any one time. 

Today I will begin the proofreading and hope to complete this task in one week; I shall give myself that long as that would be just under 25 pages a day. 

Up late today and sadly no snow. However, snow is now promised on Sunday. We will see. That will be the first day of December. I am sure I can scarcely remember a time here when we did not have snow fall that at least touched the ground by the end of November.  Hopefully we soon get sufficient snow cover as last year was very hard on the plants and grasses with the minus 20 weather in December and no snow cover. 

Teatime and then breakfast (perhaps reversed today since I am late) and then latin and the day begins in earnest. I have been trying to think of one more of Edward's charities that I could support and I think I will do the Food Bank as he used to give them almost half of our garden produce as we did not eat it nor did I can or freeze anything much after I went back to work outside the home plus he always gave them a donation. I will do that in memory of him on Christmas Day. I do not usually give at the stores or on the street although I guess it would add up over time if everybody did. I will think about that but you do not get receipts for $1.00 gifts of charity at the store and they do add up over time.

COVID shot yesterday

 All up to date on my vaccinations. I do tend to take care of that as I am a great believer in vaccinations. I do know that people are afraid but in fact vaccinations have brought the human race to these huge numbers which is a blessing and does create problems of over usage of the earth because there are too many people but mother nature does look upon that and one realizes that the birth rates are declining around the world and the old people are the huge numbers in many countries but the countries where they are not do not have places to go as the world isn't open for migrants these days. You need to prove your worth to go to where the  money is. If you don't do it then you are just an illegal and have no real place. Think about it; stay where you are and make your own country great by booting out the dictators who spoil it for you. Lebanon and Gaza would be so much better off without Hezbollah and Hamas and the same with Yemen without the Houthis. The best thing is to stop hating the United States. The worst thing that can happen to the world is for the United States to become isolationist - Russia would love that and they would try to go on a conquering spree because their satanic leaders through this past century do not understand the rights of the individual (their own people are just cannon fodder) and these satanic leaders are just so greedy (Mikhail Gorbachev was bringing Russia into a much better place but greed took over and the Satanic Putin rose to power). Mind you Europe is not going to go down without a fight this time; Hitler is still in the minds of many as he was the Evil Satan of the last century. We cannot let Ukraine be absorbed/destroyed by Russia. The scenario builds that brings us once again to World War and Armageddon. Russia must be corralled until the Great Satan Putin and his adherents are put down.

I did work on the Companion Charting book yesterday but have not yet completed it. Still about half a dozen pages to go. This is heavy indexing time with so many people in each chart; the end though is definitely in sight. I will then proofread and publish it on my website. Feel free to tell me if you disagree with anything. I am comfortable with most of it but other people may have seen or read documents that I have not so more than interested in doing the best job that can be done from afar; I am thousands of miles from the record offices. Although I have copied many many items at the Archives at Kew over our five visits to England, I simply can not get inspired to travel overseas to Europe/British Isles as I saw pretty much everything that I wanted to see. Probably if I had been born there I would feel differently but I was born here and traveling to Europe showed me just how Canadian I really am. We are a different kind of people; great at compromising for sure. We listen to both sides and draw our own conclusions and have been lucky with our education system as not too many biased people until recently with these Palestinian camp-ins; definitely these people need to be re-educated or sent back if they are not permanent residents/citizens. For the most part our complaints are purely about items we do not like that the government is doing at the moment. I can think of a number of them but mostly it is their tendency to throw money at it hoping it sticks and they win the next election. But we need a counter balance; we need efficiency and we need more money for the military; the military manages our country in war and in peace and we need to fund it far better than we are.

Today more work on the Companion Charting book  and hopefully completed with the index added. It is getting to be a very long index - 15 pages in total but maybe 16 by the end - a lot of names being added in these last generations.

Tea all drank and time for breakfast. Then Latin and work on the book.

A few pages done

The cleaning all accomplished but only three pages done in the Charting Book. Today I will begin again to work  away through the day and see how much I can accomplish. I am coming to the end sort of like a ship coming in to harbor and hoping for enough wind to bring them ashore!

A quiet day otherwise with most of it spent cleaning. But I did have some thoughts on the Answer Document which had Robert, Ursula and John Siderfin as defendants and which helped to prove that the line from which I descend is indeed this Robert through his son John Siderfin. But it did give me pause to wonder why the youngest son in this case? It was 1653 and Robert, the eldest son who was mentioned in the document but just once, was 39 years of age at this time (was he still living I do wonder about that) and John, the younger son who was part of the document and mentioned a number of times, was 34 years of age. Likely it was John who baptized a son Robert in 1658 at Selworthy since Robert, the son, lived at Minehead at least on the Protestation Return. It just does make sense and I decided that given the resultant living places of the descendants it simply made more sense that John married Thomasine who left her will as a widow in 1709. More study of the documents could likely support or correct that premise. The main point though is that this is a descendant of Robert 4 (son of Robert 3, William 2, John 1). There is no sign of Robert 5 (Robert 4, Robert 3, William 2, John 1) marrying in Minehead or elsewhere. But Robert, the father, in the document has perhaps chosen to have John or because John had visited Robert Franke he was included. Interesting really given how families worked in those days where it was a top-down organization with the father, so long as he lived, being the head of the household and the determinant of how the children/grandchildren were regarded or managed. 

Interesting really and that was probably mostly what I thought about all day. I am retreating from the news for the most part these days waiting and watching to see how life flows. In my little place in the world, I have no influence on how affairs resolve or carry on; just opinions on occasion. 

Breakfast completed. Teatime is next as I ate early since I awoke early and was hungry. Latin follows.

Another Good Day

 Up to page 135 and I  have added a couple because of footnoting so 20 left to go and there are 22 pages of indexing. The end is in sight. I just need to proofread it from start to finish and then release and done. It does feel good to be nearly finished. I could hang in there and footnote here and there but someone else one of these days will pick it up and run with it as I did. It has been an interesting couple of years as I started it simply to correct the errors in James Sanders book but ended up finding that I could prove my line all the way back readily and so it seemed like I should do that and I did. 

I am a bit impatient to get at the Blake and Pincombe books that is for sure but it will probably take me a month for each to read them and contemplate them and then move forward. It is always a slow process I think. But an interesting one as both families did pass down items that were interesting and helpful. My grandfather especially in the last years of his life liked to talk about Upper Clatford and the Blake family. Perhaps it was the two World Wars with the losses in his family that make it ever more poignant to think about his family and passing on information. I am sure when he died in 1953 he never would have thought having three grandsons (my youngest brother was not yet born) and no Blake name great grandsons. It would have shocked him I think but then he could look at his own family and there was my father and one male cousin with the Blake surname (grandchildren of his father Edward Blake) whose airplane was downed in France near Marseilles in the Second World War on a Reconnaissance Mission (that was my father's cousin Edward not his grandfather!). But fortunately Edward (the grandfather) had a number of brothers who did keep the name going well into this generation that follows me - lots of male Blake name holders. 

From a DNA perspective, the Blake y-DNA ends with my generation of brothers for my grandfather's line, ends with my daughter's generation for the mt-DNA for my mother's mother's line but one of  maternal gradmother's younger sisters had several daughters so would have continued with them as far as I can tell. They live in the United States and I am not in communication with them. My mother's father's line ended with her brother who did not have any children. That is the way of it all really, in the long run there are many holders of the various y-DNA lines and mt-DNA lines but they may not have the same surnames having passed the particular haplogroup down through the centuries but they may not share the same alleles and so the y-DNA does get lost over time but the mtDNA does go on and on and it has few changes in thousands of years. Interesting really, DNA is going to be more and more important as science and medicine come together to have a better understanding of health and disease. It is all in the genes after all and life style. 

Today is the main cleaning day and most of the time is taken up with that but I will get some work done on the charting book and hopefully complete this run through tomorrow and begin reading.

Up early with lots to do today and it is a rain/snow event possibly 8 centimetres. Amazing how I do love the snow. 

 

Very Interesting Sermon

 I did find the sermon at yesterday's service (along with many of my favourite hymns) to be very thought provoking. I am not sure anyone has ever presented Pilate in that way to me in a sermon nor have I read anything similar. It was very very interesting to look at him as the conquering Roman leader rather than a unassuming distant appointee simply trying to keep the peace but having all sorts of difficulties. An interesting way to look at this period of our history in the world. That is what conquering peoples are like as I see it particularly in this century, haughty and ignorant. They have reached backwards into the barbaric times of the human existence and tried to take away the modern image of the world. Does it work? Only time will answer that question. My father used to say, when I was a child, that tribalism was one of the prime problems in the world. You can be of one country but trying to force that on another sovereign country is always going to be wrong. Whether you are a tiny nation in the middle of the Pacific or a country on a large continent borders are borders and should be respected. Just because you dream of something that existed because of war doesn't mean it has to come back just because you want to be a dictator and own everything and put your opinion out there as right. Using the threat of nuclear weapons is just ignorant and sloppy. If your cause is not right then you are wrong and should retreat and give people back their space that you have stolen. One thing though has been proven beyond a doubt; NATO is a defensive organization not an aggressive one and has given millions of people in Europe space and freedom (the European Union has a huge population).

We may get snow finally and of course one should always be careful not to be too enthusiastic as we could get loaded down as usual here in the Ottawa Valley. But it would be nice to have some. Laneway all ready for the snowplow and that is taken care of so not a problem for this old person. I do love the snow; the pristine whiteness as you look out the window on the dreary landscape now that the leaves are gone and everything has turned yellow (or brightly coloured but that is gone now). Winter is settling in as it is minus 3 celsius today and the cold without the snow cover kills the plants so a danger there for future growth. 

Yesterday I reached page 117 where I will begin today whilst continuing with my cleaning as this is the small cleaning day so should get maybe ten pages or better today. I am slowly reaching 152 pages. It will be nice to be finished and to put the book up on my website for the Siderfin families of the world. 

My mind is starting to move to Blake and Pincombe for sure and I am quite happy to be heading back there again. Why I did Siderfin? I just felt that James Sanders would have wanted that; someone to pick up what he did and run with it. So I did and it has been a long run for sure. When I worked, at some of my jobs, through my life I was involved with writing books, editing and proofreading so it just seemed like a natural thing to take it on after George DeKay convinced me to do the Pincombe Profile for the Westminster Township book. Then once into it something my mother had said rang a bell and it sent me back to my mother's letters of twenty five years to find it. There I realized her strong interest in family history (although I think I knew that but it was twenty eight years since we had moved here and our visits back were mostly spent talking about the grandchildren with a little history of family mixed in). Rereading the letters made me realize that she was very very interested in her Pincombe family history and I did find the comment she had made which led me to a slightly different source looking for details for the Profile. And I did find it and she was right; she often was for sure. But then mothers are like that many times. 

So breakfast next, start the robot as it is time to do the basement and then my latin with a cup of honey lemon tea whilst I wait for the vacuum to do its chore.

Companion Charting book continuing

Good pace yesterday with the charting book and I am at Page  111 which means there are 41 pages left to do. That does have a good ring to it for sure. I am into familiar territory now as this is the main line coming down and I worked on my particular line - Elizabeth (Siderfin) Rew and her children. She was my 3x great grandmother born in 1759 so a long time ago but not forgotten. The picture of her daughter Elizabeth (Rew) Pincombe is a forever reminder of this line. Elizabeth was born in 1800 and died in 1876. Born in Somerset, married in Devon and emigrated to Canada when she was fifty years of age. The five children of John and Elizabeth Pincombe were 16, 14, 12, 9 and 6 years of age when they arrived in the Port of New York on the 7th of January 1851 having been on the ocean from the 20th of November. Their ship went into the silent area just off the coast of Europe and were six weeks without wind in the sails according to her diary. In New York they went up the Albany River to Genesee, New York where John's older brother Robert had emigrated in 1835. From there they crossed into Upper Canada and bought a farm in Westminster Township in March of 1851. I have a teacup that traveled with her and she gave one of these teacups to each of her grandchildren apparently (that would have been my grandfather John Routledge Pincombe) in memory of that trip across the ocean. William Robert (her son) and my great grandfather did go back to Devon and bring Devon Reds back to Canada at least once. So a neat family story around a small teacup! I have a picture; teacups do not last forever for sure. 

That was about all that I did yesterday along with my exercises. The day passed quickly. Good news when I read my email Church is online today and this is Christ the King Sunday (the last Sunday of the Church Year) and we begin next Sunday with Advent 1 the beginning of the Church Year. God bless the world and keep it safe. The New Year is fast approaching and it will be 2025. I am amazed many times that I have survived this long and in relatively good health now but it has to be maintained by good exercise for sure. 2025 will see me reach towards my 80th birthday. I remember my grandparents so well in this time period of their life although my grandfather passed away when he was in his 79th year and my grandmother in her 81st year for both of them that was a long life with many of their compatriots having passed in their mid to late 60s the usual age in those days. I used to visit at a nursing home (Parkwood Hospital) in my teen years and I remember this one man who was 66 and had pretty much gone into the hospital when he retired at 65 years of age from the Canadian National Railway. It was my surname Blake that caught his attention as he had known my grandfather. We had some interesting conversations and I was sad when a year or so later he passed away in his sleep. Worn out by long hours and hard work he was a happy man though but his children were all far away and he had no one to visit him. I was fifteen then and death was pretty much what we grew up with in those days; many many of my mother's relatives passed away in the 50s and funerals were very often. I remember she was sad many times as she said goodby to her aunts, uncles and cousins. Plus there were the reminders of all those lost youth in the Second World War. Many plaques in the Churches and the Schools to remember those young men and women who lost their lives in the Second World War but mostly men and so young. Remembrance Day Parades were the most important parade every year for sure. This year's parade in Ottawa was simply beautiful and so many people attended.

Another beautiful Sunday and it is 1 degree celsius but we have not yet had even one snow fall but perhaps this week will see the first one. Teatime, solitaire games and then breakfast. I will work on the Charting Book again today but will space it out to give my eyes a good rest in between.

Thank you to Conrad Black for summing it all up in his latest editorial at the National Post. Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and the other Jihadist groups need to be gone from our world. They are trouble for everyone not just the ones they threaten right now; the others will be in the firing line when the Jews and the Christians, other religions and the non-believers are gone. The biggest thing to remember for all of the Muslims that live in the world; you are just collateral damage to these terrorists Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and the other Jihadist groups all sycophants of Iran (Satanists every one of them including Iran); they do not care about anyone but their goal. They do not believe we have a right to exist if we are not one of them or at least subservient to them. Gaza is an example of what the terrorists plan for all the world in order to conquer it. Sounds somewhat far-fetched perhaps but it is what they threaten in our world. In God's world there is no place for terrorists - the Bible Readings tell us that.

The ICC warrants

Why are there no warrants for arrest for Iran's leaders? They did after all attack Israel with missiles and some of them struck where they could have killed children and women; they support Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis and still no warrants. Why no warrants for them? Very peculiar. I really think that the ICC should, like the rest of us, stand back and wait for an end to this horrible scenario. Like the UN they do not belong in war zones. Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis are pledged to destroy the Jews. In defending oneself, there will be casualties as always. War is like that. Getting involved in a war that has not ended is perhaps problematic. Supporting the efforts of a country, even if they are able to defend themselves, would be more meaningful than trying to arrest their leader for attempting to defend all the people who live in Israel.  Think carefully back to the Second World War and the value of getting involved in declaring people who have been attacked as criminals. You were established because of the Second World War and must be mindful of what is knowledge and what is not and how you pursue people. My opinion for what its worth from a 79 year old who grew up in the shadow of that dreadful war. The newsreels at the theatre brought the war to me on the screen as a young child and forever those scenes are emblazoned on my brain and the desire never to see people treated like that again but yet here we have Russia invading Ukraine and Hamas representing Gaza invading Israel and the horrendous war crimes committed by these two Satanistic attackers. I always like that image of stoning Satan in Mecca; there is something real and tangible about that yearly happening.

Yesterday was a busy day as I walked up and came back with groceries. This is working very well actually and I am getting some fresh air which is always good for people. It takes a little over an hour especially wearing boots as one doesn't walk quite as fast in boots. But your feet are dry. 

Worked on the book and accomplished another 11 pages. It will be slow going as I am adding so many new names into the Index. The proofreading also goes somewhat slowly as sometimes I need to make checks as this book is not footnoted like the main book but using it one can have both open on the screen and the reference pages are listed on each chart letting one flip through from generation to generation. 

Salmon for dinner which was lovely along with sweet potato and peas. There will be salmon for tonight and then chicken stew tomorrow for three or four days. My meals probably sound boring but they are delicious and the timing makes cleaning much easier as no meal to prepare at the end of the day when I am tired except to boil up the stew ready for my dinner. 

My correspondent in Devon has sent me another interesting document about a fascinating member of the Pyncombe family. Gertrude Pyncomb is descendant of the South Molton Branch of the Pencombe family; her ancestor was John the eldest son of likely John Pencombe who came to North Molton in 1486 with Lord de la Zouch. Why he came with him has now become something I think about. Initially I thought perhaps he came because he was a supporter of Richard III as was John, Lord Zouch. But on the other hand John, Lord Zouch "was sent" by King Henry VII to North Molton and presumably was accompanied by people that the King arranged perhaps. That might account for land being given to the Pencombe family; just a thought that is slowly congealing in my mind. It wasn't a lot of land although the value for the South Molton branch was large and I wonder if there was a marriage that created some of that larger property. Anyway interesting and I continue to learn - every day is a learning day as it should be that is why we have a brain. 

For today continuing with the Charting book so that I complete sooner rather than later. Hard to believe an entire year has passed now since my cataract surgery became this overwhelming issue affecting my day to day life. All done and in the past. My biggest charge on the medical system was perhaps my two week stay on the psychiatric ward at Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario it would appear. Other than that most of my time spent in a hospital was working there I am happy to say. My two deliveries were about normal in time spent given the year in which they occurred. I was never in a hospital as a child except to be born there or until I had my first child (although I did work in the summer and fall in the hospital in my teen years in the laboratory). Hospitals are good insurance in case you need one for sure. 

I am impatient to begin looking at the Latin documents I have at hand for Blake and Pincombe but just a little longer and Siderfin will be complete. 

Tea time finished, solitaire games to play and then breakfast. 

Time to start thinking about donations in memory of Edward

I always make the donation to the Ottawa Branch Library, Ontario Ancestors, in September on the date of our wedding anniversary but the rest I make on Christmas Day in memory of Edward. This year once again it will be The Ottawa Hospital, Shepherds of Good Hope, Orleans United Church and Hopital Montfort. Not huge amounts I am just a little person but Edward would have liked it that I continued with some of his donations in his name. It is nice when wealthy people match the donations of people for places like The Ottawa Hospital in December. It does make it so valuable to this wonderful Hospital where I spent so many happy years working away. This time of year I always think about people like Dr Carl Nimrod - a wonderful person for whom I worked when I first worked at The General which soon became the General Campus of The Ottawa Hospital. It was a remarkable time and I was wholly in support of the idea of bringing together all of these hospitals to create The Ottawa Hospital so much so that when he asked me to be secretary of the merging group for Obstetrics/Gynecology I said yes but I would volunteer my time just as the physicians were to manage this merge. It took hours of time in the evenings but the result - fantastic. One of my own good deeds; I have a few. I tend to like my anonymity and can mostly manage to keep it that way. 

I was glad to see that the government was picky with the handouts as one just ends up having it taxed back often enough. NO one likes to see people go hungry, children go without at least one present at Christmas. But the military still needs more money and we need to find it. Get the military enough money to fund the pensions properly so that people want do take this on as a profession in their younger years. 

Yesterday good accomplishment on the book and I am now at page 85 but it is slow with the indexing and first proofing of the text. But I am up to my descendant line having completed Robert 8 Siderfin who married Grace Kent and this line is the ancestor of most of the present day Siderfin name holders. Augustine 7 Siderfin was his father and the most interesting thing that I discovered about Augustine was his being a witness to the will of his 1st cousin twice removed (his grandfather John 5 Siderfin was first cousin since John's father Robert 4 and Robert's father Thomas 4 were brothers and sons of Robert 3). At this point in time the number of males in the Siderfin family carrying the Siderfin surname was small. Robert 3 had three sons - William, eldest, Robert and then Thomas who survived to adulthood. By 1715 when the will was written/dated, William had one male descendant Robert who died young but was alive in 1715 but not asked to sign, Thomas had no male grandchildren and Robert grandson of Robert had a number of sons and perhaps it was he who selected his grandson Augustine to go and witness the will. I see it as a sort of passing the torch of the family name to the line that was going to proliferate most likely into the future. 

Perhaps I am a romantic with that idea in mind but it seems to suit the style of life that people lived right up into the 20th century to be honest. Where the eldest male/female in a family were considered to be more important than their younger siblings (they did tend to inherit or have the better marriage with the best dower retained for them but not always). The younger siblings were basically spares! But Robert has likely chosen his third son to go and witness the will of his first cousin. Interesting anyway and the link between the two Siderfin families is enough, at least for me, to prove close kinship. It is also interesting that the mother of this Robert (with son Augustine) was Thomasine who mentioned in her will that her cousin (by marriage assumed but not stated) was Robert Siderfin of East Lynch probably because one assumed as the grandson of William he was from the eldest line in that family and that was in 1709 but by 1715 that line did not have a male heir other than the Robert mentioned who died young for whatever reason. 

Serendipity plays a huge role in genealogy I think mostly because a lot of my thoughts on the Blake family at Andover are based on the things that I learned from my grandfather and father (and later my cousin Ivan) concerning Nicholas Blake who left his will in 1547 and was still being discussed (or perhaps it was newly aroused) in the latter part of the 1800s. The reason was likely the notes of Horatio Gates Somerby fabricating information concerning the ancestors of Nicholas Blake and the descent of his family. Since this was occurring towards the end of the 1800s Americans looking to find their Blake ancestor had probably started to arrive in the Andover area trying to locate more information. That is something once again that I surmise but it would lead to research on this small landowner in Andover at Knights Enham becoming a household discussion when I was a child and obviously when my grandfather was in his teens as he was born in 1875. 

Breakfast time and then Latin. The day proceeds. Well actually I went and picked up some groceries. Raining but I dressed for it and it was a lovely walk with just a light bag of groceries to bring home. That is the second time this week and it is working out very well. But my large grocery order will be next week and I will drive the car.

 

 

Page 68 to start the day

Yesterday went very well and I completed to the end of Page 67. The process is slow because I am working on a number of items as I work my way through.  Nine days left in November and about 85 pages left to work through. Time will tell whether I complete this review by the end of November and it will be into December before I publish this one. 

Likely I will wait until January to start into the Blake and Pincombe books although will reread once I have completed this book. It has been interesting for sure but I will be happy to complete the Companion Charting Siderfin book and have it on its way. 

Yesterday another lovely walk outside to the store where I bought milk, chicken broth and small potatoes. This is how people used to do their grocery shopping but I shall do my big grocery shopping soon and then the little trips in between. They are becoming a welcomed addition to the day. The fresh air is certainly attractive. 

Still no snow and it is nearly the end of November. Waiting patiently for the white stuff which really does gladden up the landscape with its pure whiteness. 

The Russian war against Ukraine continues but the support of the west can continue forever. Perhaps when Putin has caused the death of all of his youth and that of North Korea or has no more money to fight then the Russian people will finally eliminate him (why should we have to; we can just keep him corralled (interesting Belarus is now seeing it that way as well; they do not want to be a vassal part of Russia either although they still penalize people who support Ukraine in Belarus)). One prays for that day. The same goes for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis sycophants of Iran in that they will fight to the last Palestinian and then carry it on to the last Lebanese unless the Palestinians and the Lebanese kick them out - why don't they instead of complaining to us that they are being killed by bombs - they bombed/attacked Israel first. Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis sycophants of Iran are useless people with their intention to destroy all the Jews. 

No more calls from Carleton University; probably a mis-dial although strange at the end of the day really. But then I tend to ignore most telephone calls unless I recognize the number or my phone tells me that it is a particular number. I made a donation to Carleton University years ago from some work I did for the United Empire Loyalists. It was something I did to help set up this youth program which allowed for the sale of something or other; way back when so I said just to donate it to Carleton University. Occasionally years ago they did call to ask for a donation again so likely just a mis-dial makes more sense as it is years since they called asking for a donation. Another one of those things my husband volunteered me to do. It gave me a tax deduction for that year (I think I was still working at home then; vague memory).

Tea is ready and the day commences; soon yoga and then breakfast followed by Latin and back to work.

Good accomplishment on Siderfin Charting Book

 Up to Page 53 now so just over 1/3 of the book. It is slow going but hopefully no errors missed. I of course am always happy to hear if anyone disagrees. This isn't for me this is for the future researcher finding James Sanders book and then my book and then produce his/her own book. Family research is a continuing process as one finds more and more documents that provide an insight into the life of our ancestors. We are at a lucky stage with companies such as My Heritage, Ancestry, Find My Past providing huge databases of information along with the repositories of the National Archives of the various countries that I am interested in (primarily The United Kingdom and Canada) as my ancestors mostly lived in England with my little Canadian line which does stretch back into the early 1800s well around 1818 my Routledge family arrived in London Township. They left lots of records and George DeKay did a great job of pulling together that material in his book which I would also like to update and we had talked about it. But that is a future endeavour although I continue to collect information as it comes my way. I have a 7th cousin who has done extensive work on the Routledge family and a great job he has done taking us back into our Highland home in Scotland. 

Today work on the Siderfin Book and I actually have this telephone call about a study on brain health which should be interesting. A last call for testers came in yesterday and I thought well maybe I should send in my name and my background as it doesn't take too much time. I had dropped out of the other projects because my reason for being there was to learn more about the drugs my husband was taking to control his sarcoidosis/liver disease. I just sort of landed into it and then continued with it as I was involved in other projects but as they wound down I stepped away although all of the projects were fascinating and the last one resulted in a paper so that was interesting. Coincidentally not long after I sent back details for a phone call my phone actually rang and it said Carleton University which was a surprise and I opened the connection but nothing so hung it up. I rarely answer the phone unless I am expecting a call. I rebooted phone in case it was a spy ware. Must get a new phone with all the bells and whistles. Probably a mis-dial and my voice not recognized. Works for me. Using the phone is not my favourite thing; takes up too much time. Email is better.

Sunrise and it looks gorgeous out there. It is the fall scene which is so stunningly beautiful with the leaves all gone from the trees and one can see the skyline so clearly. A treat after the heavy foliage of the summer blocking the view. Perhaps snow in the next couple of weeks. I do so love the white world when it comes. 

Must get my tea; forgot and then breakfast.

Cleaning the basement today

The good news was the chair arrived and it opened just exactly the way it was supposed to.

The cleaning just needs the basement done today and I can get back to the Companion Charting book. I would really like to finish it in November and maybe it will work and I will do so. Then on to the Blake and Pincombe books which I am keen to get back to once again. The Siderfin sort of merges with the Pincombe because it is Elizabeth Rew who married John Pincombe and Elizabeth's mother was Elizabeth (Siderfin) Rew. But updating an earlier book is a big chore actually. You have all that literature to go through that was in the original book and then chart it all since there was just the one pedigree chart and James Sanders did not make definitive decisions always on where the placement was within the chart. 

Still no snow but perhaps by the end of the month. It is strange not to have snow by now although has perhaps happened before. I do not keep a chart of such things. 

Tea time and then breakfast. Start the robot and do my Latin. Day all organized and that works well for me. 

Going to an interesting discussion today: Demystifying and understanding the intricacies of mistreatment of older adults. A lot of discussion on institutional care and I had not really thought about that before. So very interesting to listen to.

I just noticed that 200 children have been killed in Lebanon; why don't they bring the children here to protect them. Surely there are many many Lebanese here in North America that could take in children like we did the British children during the War. So sad.

Sunday Service

The Sunday Service was quite remarkable and memorable. It reminded me of the Morning Prayers of my youth although the language is from the Common Worship Prayer Book which I purchased when we were in England but have never really read it thoroughly.  It was interesting to have that service yesterday as the world is deep in contemplation of the changes to come. The Bible Reading today from Daniel 7:1-14 was rather an eye opener as one read through it thinking about our current situation.

For myself yesterday I managed to finish another couple of sections of the Charting Book. Generally I do not work on Sunday on the books but rather have a day of rest but Saturday was sort of that so I did do some work yesterday. I also had a lovely walk around the block (about 2.2 km block). When we first moved here in April of 1978 I walked around the large block (which is probably about the same but at some point after the more local block was created I switched) which was still somewhat unfinished and no sidewalk along Orleans Boulevard but it was a nice walk and mostly I did that every day with my toddler. Good exercise for children and I could always carry her on my back when she got tired. But she too loved the walk. We did not know anyone on that path although did have friends in the area. I mostly reveled in the anonymity that was mine here in the Ottawa area. I did not have any family other than my own and it was just really something that I had been looking for personally in my life. I needed downtime for a while. I did think for a few months that I had found it. But life flows and change comes and we just adapt in whatever way we need to.

So today is cleaning day and it is the large cleaning which I shall set to very soon. FitBit has a new Readiness level on the app which is rather interesting. After I had my flu shot my readiness dropped way down and yet I did not really feel any different perhaps a bit tired. But a week later it is back to normal so that was an interesting experience. I still did my exercises and slept about the same. Interesting though; the FitBit has proven to be a fascinating addition to my life anyway. I rejected the initial one I had and stopped using for maybe six months as I thought it was having too much control over how I lived my life. I had to look at it differently and make it function to suit me which I did and now I quite like it. One thing it did show me was that I was not getting as much protein as I thought I was so remedied that by changing up the sources.  When one is old one does require more protein which is expensive so you have to be cautious and selective to make sure you are getting a sufficient amount without overdoing it or breaking the budget. I am definitely a budget person; I love to make it work efficiently.

Project for today though is continuing on the Charting Book. I am looking forward to the end of that book for sure. I will take a peak at the Latin document; ran out of time yesterday. I will do my Latin studies as always after breakfast. I am a bit late today as I had some thoughts that I woke up with and went with them. Getting up at 6:00 a.m. is a habit and I enjoy that habit. Then there is the cleaning and I just have to fold the clothes that I washed and hung on the racks in the front room where the plants can benefit from the moisture and I save the electricity from not running my dryer. I can run it if I need something urgently which is rare. I do not have urgent situations anymore; I pretty much never go anywhere except to walk which I do love to do. Sang Happy Birthday yesterday once again to my grandson who has completely forgotten the unfortunate incident; children are so flexible. When the chair arrives and works he will just be happy and now he knows one is coming. He so wanted one; he has autism and was non-verbal but has come along so beautifully. I can see a lot of me in him in his learning ability and how he goes about learning so time will tell. For me it was a lesson not to always be so trusting of science; open it up and check it out! An expensive error for sure but one learns and that is the way life goes. The first one worked so beautifully back in the spring.

Onto the day. My correspondent in England is off to the Registry Office again today so we will see if he sends any more interesting items my way. I am always excited to see Pincombe documents that I do not yet have. I photographed a huge number (perhaps as many as eight hundred when we were at the National Archives) and I have worked my way through a number of them but the Latin I set aside for my need to learn Latin so that I can transcribe them. I have moved along and I think I am ready to make that plunge but have saved it waiting for the end of the Charting Book. The documents in latin that I would have needed for Siderfin had already been translated by James Sanders. That is a gift that he made to the descendants of this family and respect always for his careful and attentive book that holds these documents for our use over one hundred and 12 years later. Thank you to James Sanders my cousin (distant not close) although we descend from the same 5x great grandparents so he is a 3rd cousin twice removed. Our four times great grandparents were siblings and of course we are out of synch as he is a 3rd cousin to my grandfather John Routledge Pincombe. Who would have thought I would find family studies so fascinating. No one actually I think as I managed to stay away from it for most of my life until I was 58 years of age - funny really. My mother had an interest though and this work is all done in memory of her and her desire to learn more about the Pincombe family from which she descended. That was also the case for my uncle. I shall always remember when I went to help him with the funeral service for his wife (my Aunt Norma). He had a huge stack of material that he wanted to go over with Edward to explain what was in the packages. From my mother he had the notion that Edward would write up the Pincombe family at some point and he wanted to let him know what was there. He pretty much ignored me but I listened carefully because it meant so much to him and I did love him dearly and he returned the love for sure. But he did not think I would ever be interested as I never really did display that much interest in the people more in the history that he told me about. So in his memory as well I am doing this Pincombe book. 

Have I taken on too much in my old age. I don't think so; time would be heavy on my hands without all this work. My time before Edward passed away was spent partly helping him when he asked which was fairly frequent. I just had to fit in my stuff when he wasn't wanting me to read something or write something that he needed for his Ottawa Branch Journal. Then we always went shopping which I never was into very much. I am a list person; go and find it; buy it and go home again. Walking around stores admiring all of the goods that are produced was never really my thing (he was definitely good for the economy; I do buy things but probably not as good for the economy as he was). I find it hard to give up clothes that I really like and will wear them far past their due date. Astronomy out in the black night sky yes always happy to be there. But I was happy to be with Edward as he wandered about so it worked well. 

Busy Saturday

A busy fun day on Saturday was much enjoyed by me. Except for this chair I bought my grandson that did not open properly in terms of becoming a much larger chair sort of an explosion on a small scale and very quiet. Unfortunately I bought it two months ago as it said there was only two of that colour in stock and the closing date for return to Amazon has now passed. Sad of course but we ordered another one in a different colour as my grandson really loved that chair. I had already bought one in June for another grandchild and it worked perfectly so a bit of a disappointment for sure but he rallied and we went out for dinner.  The new chair will arrive later next week and we will open it immediately. A lesson learned I guess. Chemically speaking it must have had some sort of a leak (or was not adequately primed before sealing) that minimized the explosive power of the package as it did "grow" a little. But the other chair I bought is so lovely so a bit of a sad time on a birthday.

A very fast paced and delightful walk to the park with the dogs and all of us was equally enjoyed. I do love the fresh air; I keep forgetting that I do as I work away on the books. I must schedule a walk at least every few days not on a fixed schedule but rather eye strain should trigger the schedule of a walk instead of watching the television every time. I shall try to keep away from politics for the next while including war. I am old and have my opinion but probably no one listens. As far as funding for the military goes though that is essential and should come before anything else really; our military is our strength both at home and abroad where needed. Just like locks are made to keep us all good neighbours so does a strong military keep people honest and defeat the satanism that dominates our world in these wars at the moment - Russia, North Korea, Iran and their sycophants Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis and various "Jihadist" groups. 

God bless the world and help it to prosper. 

Breakfast finished, tea to drink and latin begins. My fingers are itching to get at this fresh crisp picture of the document on the Pyncombe family. Perhaps today I will find a few minutes to work on it but primarily it is Sunday and will attend Church soon on You-Tube. This is the second Sunday before Advent begins but the location was not revealed easily on the website. Will attend soon. 

One more cosmetic error

 Found one more cosmetic error and corrected that and uploaded the corrected file to my website. As I work my way through the Companion Book I will find any inconsistencies in the text but I am moving beyond what I considered the large area of correction in James Sanders book - his misalignment of John named as the father of Robert and Walter Siderfin as a son of Robert (second eldest son of Robert (son of William, son of John the known patriarch)). Using numbers made it easier but a slipup could occur and did back before cataract surgery. I really did not realize that my sight was poor to be honest. I could still see and reasonably well actually I thought; I could still drive but I was very cautious as I always am because my sight has always been my weak side. Reading through the text it is quickly obvious that I made a slipup but I missed that reading through it back last January. Absolutely the hardest thing is proofreading your own work; you really do have to be careful. I was a bit stressed as I wanted to get the surgery done in a way that worked best for me. That was of course my problem not the medical system. Although I did feel I was saving the system money in the long run as my insurance would have had to look after me and I really didn't want to do that. I see it as a backup my insurance not my way of life. 

Anyway continued with the Companion Charting Book yesterday but I also raked and cleared away the stems of that dreadful walnut tree. It is actually a beautiful tree in shape but it is just about a foot (30 centimetres) from the fence and it will take that fence out one of these days. Trees needs to be at least 2 metres from a fence as a minimum. I am constantly pulling out new trees from the fence line. There could be dozens out there if I did not. Plus the mess from a walnut tree; huge actually and it poisons the land under it for growing. But I actually do not really like gardening so it doesn't really bother me that way. But it is even hard on the grass. 

Today is a busy day taken up with other items so probably not too much on the Charting book although time will tell. A lovely leftover salmon dinner last night was greatly enjoyed. I turned it into a salmon salad with pickle - one of my favourites and had it on toast with leftover sweet potato and fresh peas (frozen actually but tasted fresh). Occasionally the foodie comes out in me but mostly when I eat salmon. Chicken stew tomorrow and another of my favourites made with the thigh of the chicken so is very flavourful along with small whole potatoes in their skin, carrots, onions, and brussel sprouts that I found in the grocery store that look very nice. I will also add frozen peas and corn at the end. Sometimes I soak beans and put them in as well after cooking them partially. The addition of chicken broth completes this delicious meal and it lasts me through the two cleaning days which is great. 

Tea completed and is a great way to start the day. Nearly time for breakfast and then Latin and then getting ready for the day. One of my correspondents sent an interesting latin document my way which I shall have a look at out of curiosity. It is particularly clear and crisp. Good practice. Plus it has an interesting set of individuals John Pyncombe jun and then repeated John Pyncombe jun (sic) which I always thought meant as already stated or as a spelling abberation but perhaps not. I always have lots to learn with terms used by archivists. My background being primarily in science and mathematics. Although a great reader of history for sure; one of my favourite pastimes. I loved reading Winston Churchill's books but lots of others as well. The John Pyncombe junior referred to in the first instance is the son of John Pyncombe son of likely John Pencombe married to Alice with sons John Pencombe/Pyncombe, William Pencombe and Thomas Pencombe. So we are looking at the grandson of the likely John Pencombe who came to North Molton with or as an officer of the King when Lord de la Zouch went to North Molton in 1486 not sure which. He would have been John Pyncombe junior the son of John Pencombe but then he died in 1571 and his son who had been referred to as John Pyncombe jun became the senior but I have not yet looked into his date of death  and he also had a son John Pincombe Junior with the known son William Pincombe baptized at South Molton 16 Mar 1605. So likely we can see the father of this William and the grandfather being the men referred to in the document. Interesting so must have a look at it in my spare time I will sneak a few looks before getting back in to Pincombe and Blake books. I am actually at this sort of level in Pincombe as I am starting to examine the records for any missed items on my part in the past during my forays into the Pincombe family of Devon. Mostly I have been collecting documents so this one much appreciated. I do not plan on publishing the Pincombe and Blake books widely; will likely announce the availability and let people write to me rather than put it up online for any and all. It will be primarily a family book that can be added to through the years; revised as new documents come to light or corrected since I will be proofreading them once again. As I venture towards 80 I keep in mind that I am not that youthful person who proofread for hours straight but then it wasn't my work and my mind was left to question and query what I was reading without bias.

Moving ahead with the indexing and checking

 I am up to Page 27 now (152 pages in total) which is still slow going but this is text heavy and it will take time. But to complete it by the end of the month I only need to do eight pages a day and I am usually doing 12  so working well. 

Checking out the DNA matches as I want to do my usual yearly (and it is has been three years apparently) review of the phasing of my grandparents and great grandparents. I have about 150 new matches to introduce into my database. A couple of them are quite good and I have been meaning to work on them so will do that once this book is complete. 

Eyes are standing up well which is good news. Starting to think about some of the other projects that are ongoing  but will likely stick pretty much to this book until it is off my plate and published. 

Must do a little raking today and cleaning up. Gardening is rarely my thing to be honest. I will be really happy when the grass goes in in the spring and has eliminated that huge garden in my back yard. The raspberry bushes are fine; they are a sort of windbreak in the yard and taste good!

Today more work on the Charting book and perhaps a little attention to the other projects - creating powerpoint files to convert to *.pdf of the photo books. I think now in my mind that Edward had this vision of the entire life of his family from beginning of the marriage in pictures. It is rather amazing really that it has taken me all this time to really understand that but not surprising. I did enjoy looking at the binders with him but did not think very deeply about it at the time. Life was too busy for this individual who craves quiet times. I simply did not have the interest in being so involved with people as Edward did. 

My politeness also did end up being misunderstood many times I think as I would really have just preferred always to just remain in the background working away on my projects and raising my children. I have found a way around that politeness; just do not answer the door unless you requested someone to come!

Tea time eventually; will do my solitaire games first. 

Then after that breakfast and work time. The day moves onward and God watches us as always wondering what we will do next perhaps. When He left us to just live our lives without intervention until He sent Jesus to help us along the path, He did literally do that I believe. We shape the world we live in by our actions so we need to be cautious in how we manage.

Back to the Companion Charting Book

Yesterday was work on the Companion Charting Book. I went back to the beginning and filled in the Preface and the Acknowledgements adding some pictures of my line coming down from Elizabeth (Siderfin) Rew with her daughter Elizabeth (Rew) Pincombe and John Pincombe, her son William Robert Pincombe and Grace (Gray) Pincombe, his son John Routledge Pincombe and Ellen Rosina (Buller) Pincombe and my mother, their daughter, Helen Louise (Pincombe) Blake. 

I then started back at the beginning and will now do the indexing and reading of everything there once again. I will then at the end go back and proofread it once again before I publish it. I decided one set of charts was just too small so redid them. That will part of this as I got much stricter with myself as the book moved on so some at the beginning may need to be redone. Not finding many changes which is good but will be cautious. I want to finish this and have it off my plate so that I can get back to the Blake and Pincombe books. 

Other than that exercise although still feeling somewhat the effects of the flu shot (managed to get one at the Drug Store last Sunday) as it multiplies through my system. It was the 65+ shot that is stronger apparently for us ancients! I haven't had flu in many many years as I had the flu shot at the hospital all the time that I worked there and ever since actually. I tend to wear a face mask in the winter when I am shopping since COVID as why not it is easy to do. But I was never a cold prone person anyway. Watched a little television with all the excitement still ongoing from the election in our neighbour to the south. The House of Commons seems to be in a stalemate which I find annoying as they make a lot of money at our expense and should be governing the country in an efficient manner not always sucking up to one part of the populace or another by random benefits. The Conservative party needs to find its roots and they are in efficiency; I think people in politics have lost their way. They go in thinking they always have to be in power but sometimes the most effective place is in opposition to curb the wastefulness of left leaning parties. 

On to Latin and then the book.

The 45th President Donald Trump missed out on the biggest win in his life

One item that I think is obvious in all of this is that the 45th President Donald Trump running for re-election missed out on the biggest triumph of his life because of the Insurrection on the 6th of January 2021. For a lot of people who would have voted for him because of disappointment in the 46th President Joe Biden either didn't vote or voted for Kamala Harris. But this was going to be a big win for him for sure but it could have been so much bigger. He did win with a huge majority in the Electoral College though and won the Senate and may well win the House. Times will be different and I hope he remembers that a strong Canada is good for the United States. We have your back at all times and you are our best friend in many ways even if we still do have a King who loves us but he is a long way away and we do not see him often. Our Governor General Mary Simon is perfect and a descendant of the First Peoples. Many tributes to her for her perfect appearance on Remembrance Day representing Canada (and the King). It is Canada that the King represents after all here in Canada (just another word for Crown really). 

I would like to see the borders toughened between Canada and the United States; that never happens during a Democratic term in office. I get really tired of people freezing to death in the winter or drowning in the summer here especially small children who didn't ask to be carted around the world and brought into a country illegally. If you cannot get there legally stay home and fix the system where you are. 

Efficiency is a word that I love and would be very happy to see a more efficient government here. Trim the waste, support the military and lets get this country on track to the great successes that it can have.

  

Wars end when the aggressor nation agrees to stop threatening their neighbours

As always it is in the camp of the aggressor nation to halt their aggression/their threats of continuing aggression. When that happens, when they lay down their arms then the war ends. Perhaps one should note that Hitler at the end insisted that the children man the walls of Berlin. What a hideous thing to do to the children of Germany. But that is what dictators do? when they do not win then they punish the people who did not win the battle for them. For ever, when one thinks of a monster Hitler will come to mind for sure. As a child growing up in the shadow of World War II, Hitler was that monster and he remained there forever in my mind as that sinful satanic person. But gradually over time Stalin too became that kind of a person as he did not release the peoples of Eastern Europe to return to their own governments/their own countries but held them fast in the Soviet Union and the Cold War descended upon us. I do not remember the time between my birth in 1945 until 1948 when my brothers were pretending to be airplanes flying around the room as we listened to the radio in a room that I lived in but have no real memory of being in that house as we moved not long after that. But my grandfather was there, my father and mother and my older sister and my two brothers and I forgot the baby although I do not think he was in the room. We were listening to the radio and that memory is forever in my mind. They were saving Berlin from certain imprisonment if the planes did not relieve the hunger in Berlin. The films made since then showed the harrowing flight that those planes had to make to land in western Berlin to unload their precious cargo and go back and do it all again. Thank God for those brave pilots and the men who flew with them to help manage the cargo. 

That uplifted plain of peace is always there but it slips away from us like the mirage in the desert as we try again and again to have peace in our world. Remembrance Day brings that home to us and it is the most powerful vision of our dedication to the men and women who fought against unbelievable odds to retake Fortress Europe and defeat the Nazis. Russia must be corralled and not allowed to break out and attack other countries. The Russian people may well handle this themselves but it is a hard call for sure; death sits in front of them at all times if they do not agree; if they resist. When enough young men are sacrificed then the bell will tool for Putin and his enablers just as it is tolling for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis and perhaps even the Nazi Satanic leaders of Iran. Freedom for the Iranian people too in all of this perhaps. A place where a young woman will not be beaten to death for refusing to wear a hijab. When I was young we always wore a kerchief outside it is true. Not sure why I was still young when we stopped and the wind blew through our hair as we ran; it was a wonderful feeling to have the winds of God and Mother Nature blow through our hair for sure. 

Cleaning all accomplished. Today will be a work day and yesterday I did put up, in the blog, the URL for the Siderfin book that has the errata corrected in it. I work today on the Companion Charting Book and hopefully it too will be available by the end of November but time will tell I shall take my time with it and the New Year will see me return to the Blake and Pincombe books if not sooner. Whenever the one is done the others will start. 

Drinking my green tea and writing my blog at 6:11 a.m. and a new day is with us. A new day in God's world where one prays for peace in our time just as we have for as long as I can remember. It seemed like peace when the Berlin Wall came down but Nazism slipped in once again as the psychopathic Nazin Putin and his enablers have once again loosed the dogs of war. Hamas copied Putin invading Israel and we have two war zones. The dogs of war must be put down. 

 

Remembering our military

 Remembrance Day Service at the Cenotaph in Ottawa was as always perfect in every detail; even the rain came down as tears from God/Mother Nature for our soldiers lost to us but never forgotten. I remember our first time attending here in Ottawa when our oldest was 18 months old. The canon frightened her but gradually she got used to it. Perhaps that is the way no ideas on that. But it was wondrous to be there in our capital city on Remembrance Day and we never missed year in and year out until I was working on Remembrance Day at the Hospital but retirement saw us back at the Cenotaph year after year. 

When we toured France in 2014 perhaps as much as one third of the tour took us to the Normandy Beaches so well known in the Second World War and then through the west side of France to Ile de Ré and back across and then up to the trenches of the First World War near Verdun. The perfectly maintained graveyards are a tribute to France's appreciation for her liberation. A country where democracy was born by fire and maintained through the centuries every time a dictator threatened that freedom. France rose to defeat that and carry on their democracy. Paris is perhaps the most beautiful city I have ever seen; a walk down the Champs-Elysées a never to be missed opportunity. We were there for a special ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe  back in 2014 in June having walked from the Hotel St James. Everything was in easy reach of that Hotel as we went on our own to Notre Dame and took a ride back in a bicycle taxi. That was a beautiful experience all in itself. L'Eglise Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in Paris also reached easily from the hotel - a stunning piece of architecture which fits so beautifully into the Paris landscape. Touring le Jardin des Tuileries just across from our Hotel; there was so much to see beyond the tour itself. 

Must get back to my French on duolingo soon. I will also work on my German although I do not think I have any recent German ancestry but I still have this thought on my Buller line and time will tell. Not necessarily the Buller itself but marriages into the Buller line in the early 1700s. The French/German DNA does mystify me although it isn't huge it is still enough to have an ancestor from the 1700s in my line. It shows up in all of us a little; in some of us more and with five tested one can really look at these things. I have become most interested in the autosomal DNA now although retain my interest in yDNA and mtDNA. I do know I have 10x great grandparents who were Huguenot thus accounting for the possibility of French DNA although it would be small for sure but sometimes you have these sticky pieces of DNA that just get passed on and on.

I always say when my children ask that I have traveled enough for an entire lifetime and will do no more. I want to write now and get everything recorded in case in the future one of my parent's descendants becomes curious about their ancestors (they have eleven great grandchildren). For myself, I did not have that curiosity really but I loved to listen to my grandparents and they told me so much and I must pass that on; that is my duty in my life that I have left to live as I see it. Mind you I do want to see more of Canada I have only been as far as Winnipeg to the west, to James Bay to the North and I have spent a lot of time in the Maritimes as Edward had a number of Reunions there that he wanted to attend. I have even been to Labrador where the whales put on a show for us that one day and at the end they seemed to be saying goodbye. It was amazing actually. I will always remember that. 

We have been to every State in the Eastern part of the United States and some of the central almost all the way to New Orleans and then to Utah. I have been further west in the United States than in Canada so must remedy that one of these days and get to the west coast. I have especially spent a lot of time in the New England States and New York State as Edward visited every grave yard to find his many colonial ancestors. We have been back in the bush many times finding old graveyards still preserved and maintained by a caring people. 

Basement cleaned yesterday and today the main floor and the top floor and another week of cleaning accomplished. Routine is a wonderful thing actually as it maintains a sense of normalcy in your life as you adjust to changes. 

I did put the corrected Siderfin book up online and go to my website: 

http://www.kipp-blake-families.ca/elizabethmain.htm#SIDERFIN 

and you will find the book at the bottom of the Siderfin section. The changes are in reality small but I found them to be enormous in my mind but perfectionists are like that. 

The Companion Charting book continues to be prepared to go online and I have no idea when that will happen but hopefully soon. I want to get back to my Blake and Pincombe books so will not dally with it. 

Tea all drank and solitaire games to play and then Breakfast, start the cleaning and then Latin in my rest period. The day passes much too quickly sometimes and I am at the end of the day with not quite everything accomplished that I wanted to do but there is tomorrow. But I do not see an end to the things that I need to accomplish as there is still a great deal of Edward's material to work through. Hard to believe as so much of his library is now at the Archives but I will persevere and complete this task in a hopefully timely fashion. But I do have a tendency to meander through life and was perhaps one of the things Edward liked about me; I was never in a rush to do anything and didn't try to rush him!

Remembrance Day

 Remembrance Day around the world as the world holds it breath once again whilst Satan rages and we must put Satan down once again sad to say. Russia/North Korea and Iran remain the problem countries in the world. Putin the Nazi in Russia with his adherents and Iran (how much of the country actually supports the present government) with their sycophants Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis (and perhaps the others as well called Jihadists of different stripes). Where does China stand? I think perhaps for progress but at the expense of whom? Why do they hate democracy; because they can not get people to grovel in a democracy; they are always going to stand up and fight for what they believe in. What do they believe in? A world that can be at peace where all prosper perhaps not as affluently as the next door neighbour or the people who live in the expensive subdivisions but they can strive which is something they cannot do in a country run by dictators. Dictators are always going to support only the people who accept their dominance. Sad really that Satan is running amuck once more. I like the symbol that is used at Mecca of stoning Satan to rid him from our lives. I do not share this desire for great wealth; I prefer to live my quiet anonymous life writing my surname books and thanking God for the world that He has given to us. His instructions were clear from the beginning really in the Ten Commandments and later the modified Two commandments that Jesus brought to the world dying for us to cement that Covenant. Today reminds us that we shed that blood of our ancestors/cousins to keep that promise of the covenant and forever we must uphold the lost lives and carry the torch they passed to us from their dying hands. 

Growing up in the shadow of World War II; I was born not long after VJ day so belong to the so called  "Silent Generation." That smallish group that followed the children born during the war and before the Baby Boomers. We just did what we were told as children had during the war without any fuss or bother that was why they called us the Silent Generation. Our numbers are small but we watched that huge group come behind us in school and then in jobs and now in retirement. We grew up with nuclear war held over our heads for a generation and then it quieted but then it returned all because Russia could not stay within the borders that resulted from their own foolish attempt to subdue Afghanistan and take it for themselves. Why did they do that? I have no idea really; they were just trying to let the west know they were still there and they wanted something and what they wanted they could take. But the people of Afghanistan did what they always do; they force those who break into their country out. The Soviet Union was bankrupt and suddenly the peoples of Eastern and Central Europe were free after the Cold War. WWII did not end for them in 1945 it ended in 1990 when their countries started to form once again and they had democracy which they wanted. They pushed against their captors and rejected them; joining NATO and feeling much safer in this world. Who could blame them? Who wants to be vassal states anyway? No one actually. 

God bless our military and keep them safe. Make people realize that the military gets the first cut of the monies to keep us strong not teeth not the old when so much of the money will be taxed back anyway. The military needs funding and the best equipment that we can make or buy. Satan tries to come back time and again and we must always be ready.

I must resolve to make a list of all my cousins that I have found who died in WWI - because most of my relatives live still in England although attending the Remembrance Day Service yesterday online at Christ Church Cathedral once again I hear the names of my grandfather John Routledge Pincombe's cousins who died in WWI (John Carling and Gordon Carling). When one searches the Commonwealth database there are 37 with the surname Carling. The loss of our youth will be forever remembered and fill us with vengeance that drives us to resist again and again when our freedom is threatened. That is what NATO is about. We do not seek out war but we will resist it as we catch that flaming torch from those we lost.

Revised book has been reread and new copy produced

 Perhaps today I will upload the new copy of the revised book but it will likely be tomorrow. Anyone is welcomed to write and question or correct errors. My drawback in writing the book is that I do not live in the area; actually I live across the ocean. Going to the Atlantic Ocean whilst visiting England back in 2008 was an awesome experience. Looking out from Westward Ho Beach towards the west, I experienced this sort of overwhelming thought that out there thousands of miles away was my home country. Looking straight out is below Ireland so all that is between me and my country was water. I have no idea if any of my family members on my mother's side had spent time in that area as they lived at Bishops Nympton. All of that is lost because my mother was only eight when her father died and his memories were of a childhood in Canada with his father emigrating to Canada in 1850/51 when he was fourteen years of age. We, my husband and I, had gone to England in 2008 and we went about six days earlier than our tour so that we could spend time with my Blake cousin Ivan Kent. I had booked us into a house nearby which let rooms and one was able to use the living area of the house if needed. It was a lovely bed and breakfast place and we stayed there for several days. We had arrived at Heathrow early in the morning and took the underground to the train that took us to Dorchester, Dorset where Ivan met us. It was the first time I ever met Ivan although we had corresponded for twenty years at that point in time. 

My mother had asked Edward, my husband, to create a 50th Anniversary Memory book for their Wedding Anniversary back in 1988 (when I first wrote to Ivan to see what sort of pictures he might share with me). As it turned out, Edward did agree but insisted that I do the work of ferreting out all of that information from the Parish Registers at the Family History Library. I had done some of this work for Edward when he had a project and just needed a spare set of eyes to go through the available data. Well, as it turned out, I was probably a good choice as I had listened to my grandparents in childhood talking about their families and my mother and father as well. Memory banks are amazing tools that should never be overlooked and should always be tested and filled in as a child actually I think. It is good training for the future as you store away things that need to be remembered and at the tip of your tongue. So there I was picking through the Parish Registers to create a genealogical tree of my family as Edward did interesting things like collect each of the different types of currency for one of the pages and maps of England which was all very interesting for sure. In the meantime I did run into that problem of who was my paternal grandmother. I had all the stories in my mind but they didn't fit. Eventually I was down to three possibilities (none of which was right) at that time and simply put nothing except what was known which was her life parents who raised her. She was just sort of an enigma for whom there were lots of pictures, stories of siblings, pictures of siblings but no record of her birth but records of her siblings births, a marriage record for her parents. Stories of how wonderful her father was and how much she loved him. For all the others I had parents and grandparents in many cases but that was it. Perhaps there was an inkling of curiosity then for what I did not know but life was busy; I proofread eight to ten hours a day and mostly every day although did take off part of Sunday in the day working in the evening (following the Jewish tradition that the day ends at dusk). The book was created; reproduced making one copy for each sibling and one for my parents and we kept the original which I shall turn into a powerpoint presentation (I think I will correct the genealogy though just to have it current). My parents were pleased (perhaps my father a little less so as so little on his mother whom he had adored and over the next short period (as he finally succumbed somewhat to dementia) I did learn just a little more to set my mind thinking although it would be another twenty years before I really looked at my grandmother Blake (he talked about an ancestor that had been at Waterloo amongst other tidbits that came up in the conversations that we had over the eight hour period that I spent with him each time I visited the nursing home where he lived for the last six years of his life). Then I spent about 100 pounds and bought all the certificates that were needed to lead me to the correct birth registration for my grandmother. It was a surprise and a sort of gift that she was loved so much by her families that no one wanted to remember and that her mother was unmarried when she was born. The actual name of the father still up in the air but mostly because I am a stickler for having actual proof. The priest had recorded in the baptismal lines that her name was Ada Bessie Cotterill Rawlings. There was only one Cotterill family in that tiny little village of Kimpton with a son around the age of Elizabeth Rawlin[g]s. Was George the father is still a question in my mind? Does it matter? When I discovered he died of cancer I thought well maybe it would be good to know. But really haven't still at this point in time pursued it (I haven't seen a picture of George yet). I have matches that lead that way. Her mother Elizabeth Lywood (from a relatively well settled family) had a run away marriage and they baptized their first child born the 20 Aug 1849 in Dec 1849 with their marriage on the 22nd Sep 1849 and away from their home village. As it turns out this is my only line with an illegitimacy. The mother of Elizabeth Lywood, Martha Peck, was the daughter of Elizabeth Peck and I suspect her daughter Martha was the result of a too hasty event before a soldier left for a posting (back in 1791). George and a cousin joined in the early 1800s (a runaway I think taking the King's shilling along with a cousin to see the world perhaps but they were not the first; young men were eager to join up in that time period and earlier and he was just fifteen or so when I figure it out). He did come to Canada actually and was stationed at Halifax until 1808 when his unit returned to Portugal and the Peninsular Wars (all written up in a lovely book I bought in Wales from the Royal Welsh Fusiliers). It makes for an exciting story in a family actually. Not knowing this story as a child meant I didn't know that George Lywood who fought at Waterloo was my 3x great grandfather and finding that was amazing. I had I think around twenty such long conversations with my father after he moved into the nursing home. He loved talking about his family and suddenly he didn't care what I knew! He had  it all right for sure so perhaps he was just starting into dementia but he lived to be in his 95th year. I hope my memory is as good if I should live so long.  Everyone thought he had dementia but as I went back in time about ten years after that; everything I found proved what he said. I am so very  happy that I elected to spend my eight hours with him on one of the days that we were back visiting. He  just never talked a lot when we were children; he was busy working for sure. So you never know where genealogy will lead you and for me that path was a very very long one before I finally succumbed to name collecting although I call it surname studies as a member of the Guild of one name studies. I study BLAKE (my father's surname) and PINCOMBE (my mother's surname). SIDERFIN was just this happening that has occupied my life now for nearly three years. 

Breakfast completed. This is Sunday and Remembrance Day and it is on YouTube which is exciting. I look forward to it. I didn't know you could tap now and buy poppies so did that this year and have a lovely one with a plastic centre that you can attach firmly to your coat plus a couple of others. The tap is for $10, $5 or $2 but $10 is such a small amount so I just tapped $10 and have all these poppies just for me. I will not get to put one of them on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Remembrance Day but at nearly 80 that is probably wise on my part but I will keep it for one of these days I am downtown. Although putting it later might not work so I will just think about it.

God Bless the members of our military and keep them safe. God Bless Canada. Definitely I will vote for the party that promises 2% GDP for the military sooner rather than later (2032 is very late) and especially if they promise to reach towards 4%. We need our military to help take care of Canada. I have taken to cleaning my teeth three times a day these last five years and paying to have them cleaned every 4.5 months to keep those costs down on my insurance and maybe everyone could do that and we could direct that money towards the military instead of funding people's teeth cleaning. I do believe in looking after people but we need to do as much as we can ourselves. The military needs to be better funded and have better pension so that it is an appealing job. I always thought my husband would have loved the military as he did so like traveling about plus he hunted when I first knew him. Living in a small town though he never thought about it until much later.

Proofreading continuing

I completed to the end of the 9th generation in the revised book yesterday. That did seem like a good use of my time and and hopefully I will get through the entire book (except the Appendices which I will not reread) perhaps by early next week. That will let me return to the Companion Charting book which I will feel more comfortable about flipping back and forth to the newer *.pdf which I will create and upload so that it can be downloaded from my website. I will not put it on the blog heading this time. Once I have uploaded it I will put the URL on the blog for that day and perhaps days to follow. Still I am not finding significant changes other than those already mentioned. For which I am grateful actually, I do know my eyes were not doing as well as normal at the time but somewhat of a relief that I caught most of them. The biggest error being a John 7 listed in the descendancy string rather than Augustine 7. Weird really that I did that but it was incredibly consistent which is like me. 

I am looking forward to completing and publishing this Companion Charting book for the revised edition of James Sanders' book. Putting the book together and publishing it in 1912 was a gift to the family really and I think we should be forever grateful to him for his collection of material given that so much was lost in the bombing of the Exeter Record Office during World War II. The wills can never really be replaced but fortunately a number of them were abstracted earlier in time at least giving a small glimpse into the contents of what were likely long wills with so much family information. 

My mind is starting to turn back to the Blake and Pincombe books in my free time away from the Siderfin project. I am looking forward to getting back into that work once again but will take it at an even slower pace than I had imagined. The next thing about surname studies is you can lay it down at any time placing it in a secure place and at some point in the future someone will likely be happy to have found all your notes and material and take up the mantle of that surname research once again. 

I am toying with whether or not I will preserve my DNA sample at My Heritage. I have all the results one could possibly imagine or want as far as DNA is concerned and I do not particularly see anyone in the wings looking to work on these lines I have spent the last twenty one years looking at so wonder at the value since I have recorded and will burn to a long lasting DVD the material thus far acquired. Is there a value to the research in having a full genome done of my DNA is really the contemplation of which I am in the midst. I may still decide in favour but I still have about six weeks to do that. 

I am listening to the thoughts of our political leaders as they head into this next year of working with our neighbours to the south. We have not yet heard from the Conservative Party in that regard and I personally think that the deputy leader has put forward some very very excellent comments in the house over this past year as I watch Question Period often enough. Being in control is really the best feature of a leader; not being a follower there are plenty of those already. Election year 2025 in Canada will be a very interesting one for sure. 

Breakfast time and then latin. I am coming to the end of the actual lessons but will stay with the project doing the reviews as more lessons come on board hopefully. But also I want to get back into French again as I want to work on my son in law's genealogy which I started back in 2008 but have not really had a lot of time to work on it although I do have an extensive tree now as I added it to my tree which was always in the 6000 people range but that quickly sent it up over 30,000 with all his French Canadian ancestors going back to the early days of New France and by good fortune with marriages takes at least one of his lines back into early Turtle Island history as it turns out. Interesting name for this continent actually it is starting to grow on me. As a transplant from the British Isles with mostly English ancestry, I admire the ancestry of these earliest peoples and the stories that they must have of life thousands of years ago just as my grandfather told me stories handed down likely to him by his parents, grandparents and even great grandparents whom he knew as a child. They emerge in my brain occasionally these days as I reach towards 80. Amazed though none the less to have Sir John Carling as my great grandmother's first cousin. My maternal grandmother (wife to her son) used to tell me stories about this great grandmother whom she never knew except through her husband's eyes. My small Canadian line - myself, my mother, my maternal grandfather, and his mother are my only Canadian born ancestors. All the rest were born in England in the near past and for the Routledge/Routledge lines which we share with the Carling family back into the Highlands of Scotland. There are Irish lines but are they Planters from Scotland or are they Irish; that still remains a question to be solved perhaps not necessarily by me but in the future - we carry that knowledge in our genes.

The proofreading continues

 Mostly proofreading yesterday through the original book. I was reading the two in tandem but realized rather quickly that going through the original book was probably a better plan at this stage and then return to the charting book with my corrected manuscript rather than working off of the published manuscript. I found nothing really in the first seventy pages except for one word I left out but noticed that already. So perhaps I can read more today once I get started at that. I did do some work on the charting book rereading from the beginning but will concentrate on the published book for the moment. 

I looked out at all the leaves and I am still of the same mind that I will just leave it to rot where it stands. If we are not going to get heavy snow cover then there will be a lot of rotting through this winter as it is our rainy time. I do not go out in the backyard anyway so doesn't matter to me. The forests leave the leaves to rot so should work well. Most of the leaves are down now off the trees. One can see the sky again. That is very  nice although the branches are getting thicker and thicker. 

Lots of exercise yesterday as I managed my weightlifting, running and yoga. Most days I do but some days I miss out on the afternoon yoga. The day runs away on me and dinner time arrives and I haven't accomplished that. 

Breakfast completed and Latin to do and then on to proofreading.

A Strong Canada Helps the United States

I think probably one of the most important things is for there to be a strong Canada with well cared for borders. It is an enormous benefit to our great neighbour to the south if we are strong. Hence my constant referral to the need to increase our military spending at least to 2% GDP and preferably to 4%. We need to upgrade NORAD absolutely and sooner rather than later. We share a water border with one of the most dangerous countries in the world with no respect for us. But to have a strong military we need to have a strong economy that isn't butchered with tariffs. President Reagan and Prime Minister Mulroney created NAFTA to benefit North America especially its defense and it was a great idea and has had enormous benefits for both of our countries. Upgrading it was also a good thing and having reviews keeps it modern. But overall a strong Canada both financially and militarily benefits our great neighbour to the south. Canada has a huge land mass to manage and that is an expensive proposition. 

The day flew by but I did manage to work on proofreading the Companion Charting book for the Siderfin Family. I am not doing all of that heavy footnoting that I did in the revision because it is already there but am putting in lots of page numbers to go to for the information. Am I happy with the product? It is coming along but I feel that I am not missing any spelling errors this time or slipups. Being a bit of a perfectionist normally, I am still shocked at how many errors I have in the revised book. Well lots of pages are fine but I am a perfectionist. That is my other project to find them and correct them and save it again as an *.pdf and put it up online. I have enjoyed working on the Siderfin book actually. I had done a lot of work earlier before I gave it to my cousin but it was mostly collection of data. I noticed some of the documents that I collected would aid me in figuring out the line coming down from John and his wife Christian (circa 1500) and labelled them in order to keep the idea fresh in my mind whenever I looked at that file. Putting it together was amazing really to see that it was possible to bring the line down to the modern day with lots of proof. That so many lines died out is probably not surprising; at least it didn't surprise me.

Probably because my Blake line was huge in the 1500s and 1600s but in the 1700s it dwindled with a Thomas Blake son of John Blake having just one son Thomas. Thomas married and had two sons, one died in infancy, and it was this one son Joseph from that huge set of lines that remained in the Andover area and moved to Upper Clatford and married Joanna King in 1757 (the priest noting on the marriage lines that Joseph was from Andover). So amazing really what you can find when you transcribe all the documents. But that is a story for the Blake family book in progress but it will be a couple of years before I complete that one along with the Pincombe book. I am thinking I will say three to four years rather than two years and give my mind lots of time to work on these and not rush myself. More exercise obviously to maintain my fitness level.

President-elect Trump is up and running. The last few days of his campaign were very impressive on his part for a 78 year old being 79 myself. He was there; he was active; he was engaged with the crowd. I would think that his legacy will be uppermost in his mind although he is always a business man for sure. But he has many grandchildren and he wants the best for them. So good luck to the 45th President and on to the 47th Presidency. Looking back over these four years has been a grinding process for every country of the world partly because Russia was unable to stay inside their borders and attacked their much smaller neighbour ruthlessly and ignorantly. History will not be kind. But also because we were recovering from the cruel devastation namely COVID-19. It damaged every economy and no one escaped in the world. The other great disaster in our world was Hamas (as the government of Gaza) attacking Israel in a cruel barbaric manner that aimed primarily at old people, women and children - even babies were killed or kidnapped and taken hostage back to Gaza where over a hundred still live in the underground. Hamas needs to go along with Hezbollah and the Houthis and even Iran. Their lifestyle is ignorant and barbaric and doesn't belong in our century or any really. Get out of Gaza and Lebanon Iran and your sycophants and peoples of the world get rid of your anti-semitism.

That being said, this new president (President-elect Trump) will not permit anything to happen to Israel of which I am very glad. Go for it. 

Today more work on the Siderfin books and reaching to that day when I can say; they are ready to publish and off my plate. 

Breakfast completed, morning exercise completed and Latin is next.