Another good day on the matching

 A couple of new matches on Ancestry are quite interesting and I will still continue putting them all into order and creating the "grandparent" sheets for each of the four since 90% of the Ancestry matches can be placed into one of the four of them. I find it handy as I working on the phasing plus my 2x great grandparents on the Blake side had 54 grandchildren back in the mid 1800s and the number of descendants of those 54 is huge and all around the world. Many of them have tested on the different databases giving me quite a well rounded look at the DNA chromosomes in this line. With the five siblings I have two that shared a lot of Blake in the DNA passage from my father since the choice there was Blake and Knight and the other three shared a lot of Knight so a good picture of that family coming down and Farmer (John Blake and Ann Farmer were my 2x great grandparents) is coming much clearer these days which is amazing really but there were so many descendants. 

Today continuing on this work and extracting from FT DNA, Living DNA and GedMatch in between when I want a break. Very busy these days with thinking about gardening at least. The trees have burst into leaf pretty much overnight although the Black Walnut is always the slowest but also the messiest. We have six packages of sunflower seeds to plant and that will fill the middle garden. It will be pretty and the birds will enjoy it as well as the squirrels who do come and climb those stems and chew off the flower heads when they have gone to seed and then run away with them to their storage place. It is interesting to watch. 

The picture in the living room continues to amaze me as more and more tiny minute details are revealed to me. Hard to remember now what it looked like before. Not being that sort of person that looks at things it is just sort of amusing in my old age to now see so clearly without glasses. These glasses are a bit strong I think and I will get that fixed when I go for my checkup. They are not bothering me but I just do not need them this strong I do not think. Plus I need my letter from the Optometrist that I no longer need glasses to correct my eyes for driving as my test for 80 years is coming up. 

Cooler temperatures are coming back for a bit and it is raining again today. Back to work. Solitaire puzzles are complete and this is a special anniversary year for Microsoft Solitaire. I have not gotten into a lot of that; just too busy. So much to do that the days pass very quickly. Even without internet my days would be very very busy as I have so much information offline that I still need to pull for this book writing. But I do have internet and it works very well amazingly but that is the modern world in a big city.

Good progress on ancestry

 I did extract the new matches on Ancestry and just 18 new ones (I have changed my cutoff to 23 cM as just too many at 20 to 22 that I can not place. I glance at them to see if I can at a quick look but they are not really worth the time to put them into the database. 

I will continue with that today and get that entered and I also want to look at splitting this database into four on a regular basis which would take it back to a particular grandparent - it will then be easier to use when I am phasing. I will also continue pulling matches from FT DNA, Living DNA and GedMatch. 

A busy day ahead and probably I should attempt some gardening. We will see; I do not feel any real draw to do that but do need to actually as the front bed is looking all up now and I can see all the plants up so can pull any weeds. I need to straighten the fence up and must buy some tent pegs to hold it more firmly in place. 

I watched the entire cabinet being sworn in yesterday and I found the background of many to be quite interesting and we will see if the progress needed can move ahead quickly. We have a lot to do in this country to recreate our industries lost to Free Trade and time is moving along quickly. Free Trade, in essence in 1988 sounded interesting but quickly turned out to be a problem with our industries being bought up and closed and people out of work as I vaguely recall. The net result though in the long run was prosperity on both sides of the border until the American businesses went off shore and had goods more cheaply made in other areas of the world - greed for some people is the only way to live (and unions have in fact served people well but coming from a small business family they can also be a pain in the neck!). People need to realize that a 40 hour week is just that; lunch and breaks is nice to have but shouldn't begin early and end late. And especially when you are working that isn't the time to chat about the weekend. My gripes from working days but I am a workaholic I will agree with that. 

We need to restore our industrial base that existed prior to Free Trade as well as all of the new additions to the Market Place. We need to be part of all of that especially Artificial Intelligence and we do have an individual on the cabinet whose field of sphere will be that very thing. AI has a long way to go; I occasionally dip in and look at that when I am doing a search. But one needs to, like a child, keep it focused; keep checking to see if it has lost its way, check to see if it actually did understand the query etc etc. But taming Artificial Intelligence will be a step forward so long as we always realize that we need to be the ones in control. 

On to the day; lots to do. The time is too short some days; others, I am very tired by the end of the day but then 80 does approach for sure.

All accomplished

Tuesday and back to the work week (all work really but some is my strong interest). A glance at the will of Edward Blake (administration with just an inventory) yesterday did not reveal anything particularly new but will spend more time today on that. Sorting out these descendants of Nicholas and his brother Robert is the aim of this particular phase of the work. Others have assigned them particularly in the Blake Family Chart held by the Blake Museum in Bridgwater, Somerset and the Pedigree Chart created by the College of Arms but the object of the Blake Family chart was to prove the descent of the Somerset Blake family to the Blake family at Calne not particularly to do anything with the Blake family in Andover. Adding it in was perhaps an afterthought having discovered perhaps the Pedigree of the Blake Family created by the College of Arms in 1690 with additions into the 1700s. For the sake of this particular charting on the Somerset Blake family the William added to the family of Roger Blake and Mary (Baynard) Blake did not work well and so he added a line much earlier. The problem was dealing with Nicholas in the long run. Amazing really as the wills of this family were quite clear on their familial relationships with siblings being mentioned. Charlou Dolan did an excellent job of tracing down her Blake line which was from Robert brother to Nicholas although I do disagree with her on a couple of points as the wills and the timing do not work for Richard youngest son of William Blake (son of Nicholas Blake) whom she attributed to the Robert line. But I have dealt with that fairly thoroughly in the past. Lots of wills to look at in Hampshire. We do have the Blake family of Calne gradually moving south from Calne into Dorset and into Gloucestershire to the west. After Charles I had the manor house at Pinhills destroyed (home of the Calne Blake family at that time) their movement out was fairly rapid and smart of them for their own existence for sure. But that is the Calne Blake family and my primary interest is in the Andover Blake family. I do work on the Calne Blake family but only to the initial lines at Calne during the 1300s/1400s basically looking at the more likely link between these two families as being in this frame namely the early 1300s and not much later and not in the male line. 

I also need to get out there and do some weeding and will try to do some of that today whilst I can still recognize the plants. Fortunately plants do tend to come up first and the weeds are smaller but that will change - Mother Nature is powerful in her re-acquisition of what is hers.  I do like to let the dandelions bloom through the month of May but my daughter has returned to do her research term and will probably want to cut it down a little earlier than that as it is more difficult to get through the long thick grass with the lawn mower. We are going to plant the entire central garden with sunflowers - her suggestion and it will be lovely. The bunnies are back and we do not feed them but it is enjoyable to watch them enjoying all the fresh clover and other plants. The recycling bin at the back has not been emptied in years and we may try to do that and then take it down as it is difficult for me to manage it through the winter. 

Soon time to go kayaking once the waters recede somewhat at Petrie Island. It is still flooded at last look. This is a wonderful water area actually and so close to home. Ideally I would like to just walk out the back door and be at the water but that also means rats and mice and all sorts of little mammals in your yard for sure. I am not sure I actually mind them being in the yard but it is a health hazard for children so probably not a good idea. Perhaps better to have a small drive to get there! There are still a lot of children in the area as it is high density housing on my street. 

A whole day of research; how exciting. 

Teatime complete; solitaire games played perhaps a little work before breakfast.

 

Last Cleaning Day for the week

 Today the top floor and then my cleaning binge is complete. It is 6 degrees celsius and will be another sunny day. The plants are literally jumping out of the ground and the primrose has entered into its most beautiful state likely all summer as it is being crowded out by Starry Solomon's Seal. I need to transplant some of that somewhere else but just haven't done it. Gardening, at my best, is not really my thing but I am trying to maintain at least the front garden and let the back be mostly grass. The dogs will like that when they come. 

Yesterday I did get in a little time on Edward Blake's administration. He must have died suddenly as he did not leave a will which leaves one to suspect he may have been younger rather than older. I did not learn anything else new except his mother owed him 300 pounds which he hoped to get back. With his mother still alive she is either very old or he was fairly young as this is 1644. But some people lived a long time back then surprisingly. But the hazards were fewer if you did not travel for sure. Especially in England as this is now just under 600 years since the Norman Invasion and life has evolved in England in that time frame. The French have probably forgotten that they invaded England, conquered England and replaced the local British monarchy with Norman Kings who have now disappeared and been replaced by at this time the Commonwealth but Charles II and James II will return and they are descendant of the Scots just as Queen Elizabeth II was (her mother was a Scot). Charles III is really a King of the Isles as he carries a lot of English/Scot blood for sure and his son William will carry even more as Diana was very much a child of English descent. Which brings me back to the Blake family. Diana was descendant of the Blake family of Calne through a female line coming down and I have recited that before (although I suspect this is a Norman family). But there is also another Blake line which was at Finckley not far from Andover and Thomas Blake there was descendant of the Blake family of Andover (which I suspect descend from Western Hunter Gatherer so very much a son of the Isles) and Thomas was at least an 11x great grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales. What I set out to show was that this Blake family at Andover acquired their surname likely by marriage to a Blake female (why else would you pick the surname Blake I am thinking?; even by 1300 it was a very well known surname in England). Would have loved to have had my grandfather's opinion on that actually but there was no thought of Diana becoming the consort of the Prince of Wales way back in the early 1950s when my grandfather was still living. The Prince of Wales was technically Charles son of Queen Elizabeth but not yet officially created. That happened in his teens at Caernarfon Castle in Wales. Is that my main reason for doing Blake? No, I am doing it because I want to ensure that Nicholas is in the correct lineage and not in the lineage that was created by Horatio Gates Somerby an American Genealogist. The other part is purely accidental and results from the Blake Pedigree Chart which Daniel Blake of London (descendant of the Andover Blake line) asked the Royal College to create using information that does not fit the actual records (namely concerns William son of Nicholas!). Interesting that really the first incidence of the errors were spotted by a Blake researcher in Somerset (another Edward) who likely produced another Blake Family Chart found in the Blake Museum in Bridgwater (it is anonymous). These two charts (and a couple of others that are helpful) provide much of the "arguing" information that I have used in my blogs (plus my own family lore). Is there anyone else looking at this? Lately there has been at least one journal article by a couple of genealogists on the problems of using Nicholas (and William) incorrectly in these charts. So no big thunderous thoughts on this but rather carrying on the thoughts of my grandfather (and father although he was less interested in pursuing the idea of correcting it) into this century all the way from the late 18th century when the thoughts of Horatio Gates Somerby were picked up by many many Blake descendants in the United States. Blake as an extant surname in my lines disappears with my brothers (not one of the four had a son). However there are many many male Blake descendants of Thomas Blake and Sarah (Coleman) Blake who married in 1792 in Upper Clatford! So not a problem really. And what else do I have to do with my time at the age of nearly 80? Well there is also the Pincombe book which I am working away at as well although it has been Blake concentrating in my blogs at the moment. 

Politics and the wars. I will try to stay away from them and pray for an appropriate solution so that the deaths stop and commerce can once again flow around the world in a somewhat orderly fashion. The Israeli children will get to sleep at night and go to school without feeling threatened which in the long run is the desire of many many peoples in the world. I would also like to see the Palestinians work their land and create industries and make Gaza work instead of harbouring generation after generation a hatred for Israel. I feel the same way about Ukraine - they should have peace and their land. Hopefully India and Pakistan can get along or at least not fight.  We will be rescued here in Canada from our slow but sure loss of industry and restored to our industrial base as it existed before Free Trade. But yet Free Trade can also be a good thing; one just has to protect one's local industries. But I still see trade as a luxury item; our first need is to tear the provincial barriers down and get trade flowing east to west and back again (including the pipeline). Refine our own oil and not pay to have that done and returned to us. The money in our coffers once again and we will re-arm and be the militaristic country that we were at the end of the Second World War - it was a good thing. The most powerful way to find peace is to be able to defend oneself against the Nazis of the world that keep emerging time after time.

Time to do my solitaire and drink my tea and then complete my cleaning. 

 

Another busy day with accomplishment

 As I was walking to the store yesterday two young girls/teenagers said Hello to me and I responded with a quick "hello" for politeness as I was thinking isn't that lovely of these two girls to speak to every old woman walking down the street. However, I shall stick to my walking during school time and work time as the sidewalks were very crowded and no point in my adding to all that occupying the sidewalks on a weekend day. There has been a lot of mention of older people being alone these days and loneliness being a problem. For me, not a problem. I have a vast amount of work to do. But it certainly was very sweet of these girls to take the time to say hello to every old person they passed I assume. 

Basement all cleaned and the main floor today. But also there are two Church services that I will attend online but all can be fitted into my day. I will not get any of my book writing worked on though likely but soon. The next will is interesting; it is primarily an inventory of Edward Blake of Knights Enham dated 1644. I know who this is and it was an administration. That particular part of the document is about all that I will do but learned already that his wife was Elizabeth and his mother Mary. I am fairly sure who he is but his date of death was not known to be before. No children mentioned at a quick read but will transcribe it next and see if there is mention. Surprisingly Richard Blake who left his will in 1622 had a large family but the number of grandchildren carrying the Blake surname not very large. He was the youngest son of William Blake (son of Nicholas Blake of Enham). 

I am surprised that the first two wills are both Blake members known to me but I am in the Andover block so perhaps not surprising. As far as I have been able to determine all the Blake records and individuals up to the latter part of the 1800s at Andover were descendant of Nicholas Blake and his wife Margaret (Blake) Blake who as a widow married Richard Munday so the records show her as Margaret Munday and Nicholas' brother Robert Blake and his wife Agnes (this is not the Agnes whose will was probated in 1617 as this Robert died in 1543) who had six sons. I do not anticipate that it will be this straightforward once I get into the bulk of the wills but I want to review all of them to make sure I have not missed any Andover Blakes moving to other parts of Hampshire. There are a couple who went to the American Colonies. 

Conrad Black's Editorial was most interesting today. I too want to see Prime Minister Carney proceed quickly towards the many projects provincially that will support the ability of Canada to take its proper place in the G7 and support our growing population. It is good to see the First Nations so deeply involved in the forward process of all of this. I do not have an opinion on Prime Minister Carney other than he was a very effective Governor of the Bank of Canada; I did not follow nor do I follow his time in the British Isles but I think he has great contacts in the British Isles and Europe and they will stand him in good stead. I think that Prime Minister Carney and the presumptive Leader of the Opposition Pierre Poilievre working together can do great things in the next year.  Eighty five percent of Canadians voted for these two parties with a similar platform to get things done. The other Fifteen percent represented in Parliament just have to ensure that they do not get in the way of what needs to be done to bring down unemployment and support the re-emergence of our lost industries (lost to Free Trade because a country as small as ours competing against a country as large as our neighbour does not work well I personally feel). The rule of democracy must flow for sure and for a few years here without being dominated by minority causes. Free Trade can work well but we must be able to protect our industries central to our existence. We all want the environment to survive but our approach has to be more measured. Reducing taxes is a mistake especially the GST (it supports the federal government; that was its intention and we should keep it). Ontario with its Health Tax and graduated Provincial Income Tax sends more money per person to the federal coffers every tax season than any other province per person; other provinces need to keep up with that or stop whining about federal transfers. You can not transfer from the feds to the provinces unless they get money from the provinces (it is a simple fact of life). Ontario has never had a problem helping to support the other provinces when needed.

Teatime and solitaire. Sunday and two services online - a perfect day. Plus I am going to do the main floor cleaning today just to keep ahead on all of that - unusual for me to work on a Sunday. Flowers outside are blooming; spring is really here (no more snow one thinks). It is three degrees celsius and the sun is breaking through. 

 

Will of Agnes Blake, Charleton, Hampshire, England - 4 Apr 1617 and probated 5 May 1617

 This will was quite interesting. There is an inventory which I decided not to transcribe as it would not add anything to my research. But the Probatum revealed that her husband’s name was Robert and he was of Andover. So well worth the time and effort.

I should be able to place her and her relationship to the Thurman family would be anticipated with Robert Blake of Andover being her husband. Her maiden name is now known (Garle) as she identified John Garle of Chute as her brother. Sometimes a will can be a surprise as I did not expect to find anything helpful for the Andover Blake family with an Agnes Blake of Charlton widow’s will.

I may have to rethink these wills for the Diocesan Court - they will provide useful information for sure but the idea of publishing them with a Creative Commons License may disappear since the first one I am already not doing the Inventory as it does not provide any useful material and will take me a bit of time to transcribe it. I will add them to the Blake material held by the Guild of One Name Studies for sure as an electronic book. 

So a good beginning on this work and I shall try to do a few a week. It is awhile since I transcribed any wills. I need to put my efforts to the grindstone and just work away at this and not get distracted. A lovely walk up to the store today but the sidewalks are really very busy; much easier to go when I usually go when school is in and people are working. 

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 6 May 2025
Source: Hampshire Record Office 62475_3730550019_4556-00000
Testator: Agnes Blake
Place: Charlton, Hampshire, England
Type of Record: Will
Date of document: 4 Apr 1617, probated

[Wrapper]:

1    Memorand[um] that about the fowerth daie of Aprill
2    in the yere of our Lord God one thousand six hundred and
3    seventeene Agnes Blake of Charllton in the parish of Andever
4    in the countie of South[ampton] widowe beinge of p[er]fect memorie thanks
5    be to God did declare her last Will and Testament nuncupative
6    in manner and forme as followeth First shee bequeathed her
7    soule in the hands of the almightie and her bodie to Christian
8    buriall Item shee gave unto her brother John Garle of
9    Chute five shillings I[e]tm shee gave unto William Sweataple
10    her godsonne a brasse pan a candlestick and a chest I[e]tm
11    shee gave unto Murqerie Thurman her
12    little brasse pann It[e]m shee gave unto Agnes Drue her
13    god daughter the bed w[hi]ch shee laye upon w[i]th the furniture
14    upon yt Item shee gave unto five poore weomen viz[a vi]t
15    Margaret Framich widowe Sibill Carick Mary Rutt widowes
16    Johane Sam and Agnes Thurman widowe for their paines
17    vj d a peece Item more unto shee gave more unto Johane Sam her Russet
18    gowne It[e]m more unto Marie Rutt her old peticote It[e]m shee
18    gave unto Margaret Swetaple her best kercheife her
19    best partlett and her hollan aperon It[e]m shee gave unto
20    Marie Foster a hollan partlett and a lokrom aperon It[e]m
21    shee gave unto Johane Drue a hollan p[ar]tlett and her best gowne
22    and her best hatt It[e]m shee gave unto Johane Foster a
23    p[ar]tlett w[i]th cutt worck strippes It[e]m shee gave unto Jane
24    Foster a greene lace aperon It[e]m shee gave unto Gillian
25    Drue her best petticote and a lynsey wolsey wascote The
26    rest of all her goods she gave unto Robert Drue to have
27    all and paie all
28    Declared and pronounced
29    In the p[re]sence of
30    William X (his mark) Sweataple  Aliced Foster (signed mark)
31    Johanne Foster (signed mark)
32    Margaret Framich (signed mark)
33    Sibill  X (her mark) Carrick
34    Probatum fuit h[uius]modi test[ament]um noncupative in cor[am] forma prob[atum]
35    Rasphum Barlow Archim Archinatus Winton 5 die
36    Maij Anno d[omi]n[o] 1617 Commissa [etc] fuit admi[nistraci]o bonor[um] omniu[m] e[tc]
37    dic[ti] de fuit Robto Drue iurat etc sonal__ saluoau_d
38    _______________
39    Roberto Drue Supradict[us] ________
40    _______ Rob[er]tus de Andever husband:
41    de Petrus Payne de ____ ____
43    Yeoman
44    Wrapper
45    1617
46    Agnes Blake viz [a vi]t
47    de Andever
48    de Charleton
49    5 die Maij 1617
50    An Inventorie of the goods and chattels of
51    Agnes Blake of Charleton widowe deceased taken by us
52    Edward Thurman of Charleton aforesaid gent, Willm Sweatyaple
53    of the same yeoman and Richard Twyne of the same yeoman
54    the second day of may in the xv th yeare of the raigne of
55    ye Sov[er]aigne Lord James by the grace of god King of England
56    France and Ireland defende[r] of ye fayth etc and of
57    Scotland the fiftieth
58    In the chamb[er]
59    etc (the inventory is in good shape but I will not transcribe it)

Biggest accomplishment of the day - bought groceries!

 I did return to the will and I am still working on it. The Probatum is unusual so requiring a little more time to sort it through and then I will blog it. My Latin though lets me read it almost instantly just the missing characters that make it a bit obscure and I like it to be as complete as I can make it. Ever the perfectionist. I am pleased that I decided to take up Latin two years ago and I want to start using the readers that I have as the language is a bit more in line with what I am looking at on a regular basis. 

I do think my glasses are too strong so I have three purposes when I go for my eye checkup prior to renewing my drivers license which will require testing of some sort as I am turning 80 years of age. I want to get just reading glasses but will need to pay for them myself as they will not be covered by my insurance but I can claim them on my income tax. I can go without glasses (usually do except when driving as my license is restricted to having prescription lenses) so I need a letter stating that from the optometrist. I am still somewhat concerned about my eyes being bluer than they used to be - that blue eye ring seems somewhat more dominant but I could not really differentiate things like that readily before cataract surgery; really since childhood so I can not say if they look the same as in my childhood. I can remember saying to my mother that I thought I had a blue eye ring (but that was really my grandmother speaking because she said that I did). She said not really it was much too small and the definition of eye colour is either blue or brown. I would need a letter if the optometrist thinks my eyes are somewhat blue. We will see. I had two grey-eyed grandparents so anything is possible especially with our new knowledge of DNA and that eye colour is not a simple one gene item. Much more complicated. I just want to have that letter if I am ever crossing the border back into my own country. I doubt I will travel very often outside of Canada after 80. It just isn't something that I think that I will do. I would like to spend time with my daughter though so we will see. It is beautiful along Lake Michigan. As a child we spent time at Lake Huron and we used to visit my parent's cottage on Lake Huron with the girls when they were young. Time though took us elsewhere so it has been a long time since I was at Lake Huron. The Ottawa River is nice but it is not a Great Lake! and the same goes for the St Lawrence River. Very nice but it just doesn't have that feel of water as you can see land on the other side. 

One thing I have noticed about my vision is covering the strong eye (used to be and probably still a bit stronger) I can now actually see out of the weaker eye without shadows or a blurred area coming and going. I can actually see letters that aren't huge. I vaguely recall the ophthalmologist saying there was a problem with that cornea - so no ideas on that I am a long way from those records for sure and probably they do not exist anymore. I just have to go with the verbal explanation that I recall from childhood. But the lens was replaced not the cornea so I am perhaps remembering what was said way back when in bits and pieces because I was young then maybe eight or nine and I really didn't talk to the ophthalmologist after that time as he had students and they just checked my eyes for changes - they never really changed as I could still see using my infant glasses right up to before my eye surgery. I actually haven't tried; must look at that! The last time I was in his office I think he had retired so I just went for my usual checkup. I could see and never really thought about it.

So today cleaning the basement; a bit early this week but I have a plan in mind to have greater accomplishment for a spring cleaning. I will spread it out over three days. The benefit of cleaning every week without fail is not having big cleanings to do but occasionally one needs to really shake everything out and move everything around just to capture the dust that sits behind and under. The robot is already doing its task and I have about half of an hour left to work away. 

So today continue on the will and complete it and blog it. I see I have two wills that I completed back before my life changed quite a bit in terms of available time; spending time with Edward watching cooking shows and the like just seemed like the right thing to do. We chatted whilst we watched as well. He enjoyed watching the cooking shows and then experimenting cooking. The exercise doing that was certainly good for him as he could not be persuaded to take up exercise. In retrospect I think it was too big an effort and I didn't carry on about it. He was happy. 

Ceasefire in the India/Pakistan dispute is good to see. I was happy to see the Americans still involved in that thought process as they have been a power in the world for 80 years plus and the world has benefited from having their superiority for such a long period. But then it was peaceful for them too as the attack at Pearl Harbour was a wake up call for them back in 1941. One can be neutral but it doesn't protect you from Nazi type aggression. One must be ready and it is music to my ears to hear new purchases/money for our military. We also need to be ready. Am I afraid, no not really. But being ready is much better. 

Back to the will. Breakfast complete. Two sets of exercises done and soon the work of dusting and scrubbing the basement floor and everything there. Then tomorrow the main floor and it is Sunday so Church is online at my Church and also Sheffield which is close enough to my Holme on the Wolds in the East Riding of Yorkshire. We went through Sheffield on our way north one of those times. I counted it as being close to the East Riding of Yorkshire. Although it is fascinating to go back to the exact place I find that it isn't something that I am going to do unless it is fairly easy for me to do so. It seemed more apt to go to Upper Clatford directly because my grandfather talked about it so much. 

On to the day.

Welcome to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV

The choice of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV greatly welcomed by all the peoples in St Peter's Square and around the world. A Pope born in Chicago, United States of America and of the Western Hemisphere. The enthusiasm and spirit of the Western Hemisphere has been brought once again to the Vatican. Mind you there has also been plenty of enthusiasm and spirit from the Eastern Hemisphere to the Catholic Church through the millennia. 

Finished up the first batch of matches and starting to extract the matches from FT DNA and Living DNA (will also check GedMatch for Ancestry matches). I need to check Ancestry once again as more than a month has passed since I last extracted matches from there. 

The day ran away on me somewhat but I did get all the branches broken up and out to the street for pickup today. I watched some more of the latest documentary on the Blitz in England - the original reels added in here and there are quite amazing actually. One wonders how they ever survived all of that and yet London was beautiful when we were there. The stains of war were still there though when we visited the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Bermondsey but renovations were happening and already painted over and replaced but still more in the process. My Beard family was at St Mary Magdalene and my Buller family had been at the Church of St Olave but that burial yard had been moved to Bunhills in London when the extensions to London Bridge were added. There are plaques under the extensions showing the look of the area before the extensions including Tooley Street where Christopher Buller had his sail/slop shop. All in all, London was a marvelous experience. We walked 18,000 steps and more most days from the hotel near Waterloo Station into London as far as St Paul's Cathedral and then into Bermondsey and down Long Lane where the Buller family lived back to Waterloo Station and we did that several times with several different paths in mind. I had plotted that all out before we went on the maps. It was an amazing five days that we spent there that particular time in 2010 before we went on to a tour of part of Western Europe (France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France). Edward and I both liked to walk. 

I must finish off the will though first thing today and perhaps start another one. I would like to complete that task. I have a lot of different tasks on my plate now but it is good to always be busy at something that interests you. 

Monday we learn about the Cabinet I think although did hear on the Power and Politics series last night that it was the week of the 12th rather than the 12th itself so it may be later in the week. However Parliament opens on the 27th with the Throne Speech that date is set in stone now. I am glad that it is televised as I do not see myself going downtown. I much prefer to watch it on the television and have for quite a few years although I still love to walk and run for that matter and do do that but primarily at home. 

Kettle on and soon teatime.  

Good working day

 Yesterday was a good working day and I have just 10 matches left to sort. However I still have to extract matches from FT DNA and Living DNA (and I will look at GedMatch but only a few people in Ancestry transfer results) so this is a rather long process. I do need to pull the matches from Ancestry once again though as it is over a month since I last did that. 

Monday is the release of the Cabinet names of the Prime Minister and then in two weeks the Opening of Parliament and the reading of the Speech from the Throne by King Charles III. I actually think it is appropriate and the right thing to do to have the actual Head of State do that at least once in his time as King. The Queen in her long reign actually only did that twice. I like the Westminster Model of governance and it has served us well. Basically, the risks of bringing down the government when it is a minority are severe as the Canadian public always punishes the party that brings them down and gives a majority to the government in place. We do not like to go to the polls without a good reason plus it is expensive. But I believe that the Liberals and Conservatives will work together very well on this issue of trade (both external and internal) and that is really the most important item at the moment. Their platforms were remarkably alike going into the election and continue in that vein. I think once Pierre Poilievre has returned to Parliament and the Prime Minister with his world wide knowledge and Pierre Poilievre with the support of the youth in this country and the two combined will be formidable and bring Canada's industries back that were lost during Free Trade with the United States and Mexico. I really wonder why at this point in time we would even permit a non-Canadian company to purchase any of our utilities particularly oil. We need to protect our Canadian energy industries for quite a while and then we can return to our usual friendly approach to business. But we are under siege so to speak in the marketplace and must do everything possible to increase our internal spending between the provinces and find more markets around the world for the products that we export which are needed in many places. We are gifted as a country with so many natural resources. The First Nations are very intertwined into the government now and all of us working together will make Canada a strong and powerful nation trade wise and our increase in spending on the military helps to support all of that. Natural disasters often require the assistance of our military and for that alone spending the increased dollars is an absolute necessity. We are a huge country. 

Today I will clean up the will I transcribed and blog it and start on the next one. Probably I will do perhaps four to five per week thus giving myself editing time without overdoing it. I think my glasses might be too strong so will soon be in for the checkup and perhaps a redo of the glasses. I have spent the year strengthening my eyes as much as I can and it seems that they may be much stronger than in my entire life which is amazing in itself. These I will have to pay for myself since my plan only covers glasses every two years. But that is fine I can claim that on my Income Tax. 

Selling my house still uppermost in my brain as it would be a lovely place for a young family with the huge yard and all the schools nearby. With housing so limited it is a pity to waste any houses leaving them virtually empty especially when they are so close to schools. However so long as I am undisturbed in my working place it is unlikely that I will move any too soon. There are still five units in my set that are full of people!

Still waiting on Hamas to do the right thing and release the hostages and get out of Gaza so that the Palestinians can start to have a life. Their stranglehold on the Palestinian people is a crime in itself. The death of all of those children entirely the fault of Hamas. 

Russia withdrawing back into its proper border of 1990 is really a must. They are disturbing the peace and really no one should be permitted to disturb the peace as they have. Their ignorant threat of nuclear war continues to hang in the air - too bad that we, in our generosity, had to help them after the Nazis attacked them (after all they split Poland with the Nazis and took over the Baltic States). If one had a crystal ball that could have told how Russia would attack its neighbour in 2022 then we could have just left them without help since that is what they want for Ukraine so they can gobble it up and continue their genocide against the Ukrainian people. Truly disgusting what Russia is doing to Ukraine. I am surprised to see some countries in Europe support them (they must have Stockholm Syndrome after all Russia was in their countries for over 40 years with their military  treating them like slaves).

So today is a work day and it will include the publishing of this first will of the next set. Finishing up the matches. Extracting from FT DNA and Living DNA and pulling the matches from Ancestry. Another busy day ahead of exercise as well. I should do some gardening and will at least break up the branches. 

Teatime and solitaire.

Back online

 The system was still down so decided to write my blog offline. I did try to install Blogger on my other phone but it was just too much trouble to change things around. System down since yesterday about this time or perhaps just a little later.

Had a busy day already working on my phasing reviewing the existing Known matches. I did find a few that appeared to be outside of my original phasing so will see how that works out when I actually get to setting up the boundaries again. Sometimes it was a bit cloudy in that regard although generally everything looks great.

I also got started on the first will in the list  for Agnes Blake 1617 at Charlton. She is a widow but my purpose in doing the Blake wills is to do them all so that I do not need to go back to the will continuously wondering what is in it. It was an interesting one full of clothing details. Clothes were still handed on when I was a child. I had a lovely coat from my Great Aunt Ada (my grandmother's sister) that I truly enjoyed for a couple of years until I was too tall for it (she was rather short about six inches shorter than me).

I also did some online searching (on the phone which is really rather limited in its scope for sure) for H11 as I need to get that newsletter written. I think I am gradually becoming less stressed and it does not appear that I am stressed about the lack of internet as I am getting things done that I continue to set aside for whatever reason. Less interesting I guess than what I am currently into working on.

Interesting how relaxed the atmosphere is in Canada with the new parliament coming up even with a minority government. We have the two main parties Liberals and Conservatives with around 85% and the people have spoken. We want what they were saying during the campaign and for the most part they differed in their ideas of how to progress forward. The big difference was experience versus youth. Mind you Pierre Poilievre has been in parliament for twenty years so he can certainly help very much with this process of getting items organized, approved and on the ground working. Mark Carney has the experience and knowledge of interconnected inter governmental affairs that will really help to get us moving. Although, apparently, our trade not to the United States is now exceeding our trade to the United States. That works for us and the President has said that it is working for them I assume from the meeting in the Oval Office yesterday. The President and the Prime Minister got along very well which was good to see - I streamed it on the phone for a bit. The President was chatty as he talked most of the time but the Prime Minister had some things to comment on and he said them and we are proud of him as our representative in this present difficult situation involving tariffs. The President wants us to be friends and assuredly we have always been friends with the United States these past two hundred years plus.

It will be nice that the King is coming on the 26th/27th to Open Parliament and read the Liberal Message to us. It is also nice that the Queen is coming. I shall watch it all on the television. My daughter will be busy doing her research to take out so much time but will likely watch it with me on the television.

Other than that I will carry on with my exercise routines (time to row) and my work offline and I am making great strides in that regard as I just kept putting some of it off. I found sorting the matches into my various databases and other storage areas just so relaxing that I didn't want to set it aside. But now I am back into doing what I also need to do.

Moving along with the work

 Another good day of accomplishment although I never made it outside the door. Must do that; although it is raining today so maybe not today. Cleaning of the top floor completely accomplished and will do the main floor and basement today. 

I also am now down to 24 matches left to place in my filing system. This has gone very well and a few very good new ones. I was looking through my known file and of the 23 chromosomes only a couple do not have four of the great grandparent pairs represented by the results (although it is sometimes  2x greatgrandparents that the individual shares with me or rarely 3x or even 4x. I am still thinking about the H11 and Kipp Newsletters. They will only be about news for the H11 and yDNA for the Kip family of New Amsterdam/New York so pretty limited in scope. 

Listening to the comments of the Premier of Alberta on Equalization Payments from the Federal government to the provinces. Alberta has just a flat rate 10% Provincial Income Tax paid by its citizens. Given the times and the needs of our "Socialist" benefits I would think that they need to increase their  provincial income tax personally. Ontario has a graduated rate like the Federal system plus we have a Health Tax which pays around 5 Billion or more into the health system here (but our equalization payments do not come anywhere near how much tax is collected from us here in Ontario). If you want to provide for your people in your province then somebody has to pay for it (like the Health Tax here). Personally I think people should put aside money for teeth, drugs and the like themselves before traveling or buying luxuries but when it was decided that we would have "socialized" medicine I moved from the camp that said no to the one that said yes all because of a little boy with a foot that needed a simple operation that the family could not afford. He was a sweet little guy and quite won my heart and I moved from that space where I really did not believe in subsidized medical care to 100% medical care provided; just appear with your card. Children should not have to go through life with disabilities that can be fixed with just a little help. Taking Alberta out of Canada is unfair first and foremost to the First Nations. Haven't they suffered enough? They should be able to call all of present day Canada home; that was the guarantee. Alberta didn't even exist until 1905 and it is part of the original Rupert's Land which the Canadian people paid to purchase from the Hudsons Bay Company in order to bring that parcel of land into Confederation (Alberta and Saskatchewan were created from that land purchase plus extensions to the other existing provinces). Personally I think it should have just all been Manitoba from Ontario to the Rocky Mountains since Manitoba already existed. Then there would be less quibbling over the amount of transfer payments and representation. That purchase included all the guarantees signed by the Crown and the First Nations through the years. But instead Alberta has been a province that has seen good times and bad (the Great Depression was pretty awful there and the Federal Government was very helpful to them). I look to the south of us and see the states recovering from natural disasters get no aid from their federal government these days.

We were one of the founding nations of NATO in order to protect ourselves from the vengeful Russians primarily. We all lost people in the Second World War; the Americans lost people; Europe lost people; the British Isles lost people; the Commonwealth lost people (although still the British Empire in those days) and it was a particularly expensive war in the British Isles and Europe - World War II. The rebuilding was hugely expensive. Russia is just greedy (they signed a deal with the Nazis to partition Poland in the Second World War) and it still shows as they try to gobble up Ukraine by murdering its citizens. I do not actually think they want any Ukrainians; they just want the land; the minerals and everything else that is in that huge country (like ours rich in natural resources). We have put a lot of money into our NATO missions and not enough into our own personal defense but that is changing and rapidly, finally. 

I am a Netflix user and I begin to wonder will I get a bill that has a 100% tariff on any movie watched not produced in the United States above and beyond what I pay? I actually do not watch Netflix enough to really justify having a subscription (and I only watch documentaries) to be honest but I like it to be there when I have company. There is a new movie on the Blitz of the 1940s which was most interesting listening to the dialogue. The threats against England of destroying their economy were rather illuminating as the bombs came down wiping out industrial areas. That kept up for eight months but they survived to live another day by burrowing underground and just waiting it out. They sent their children to safety in the north and to Canada. At the end of the war they rebuilt and prosper still. It is just a matter of recreating industries lost by whatever means and moving forward. One doesn't have to trade with one's neighbour or even at all (it is a luxury to trade externally and luxuries are interesting but not actually needed). We have formidable trade barriers between provinces coming down rapidly now. The hit to our GDP is smaller than I imagined actually but does decrease our spending needs on military although personally I would like to see us spending 5% of GDP. 

Tea is in the process of being drunk and must play my solitaire games. Cleaning in a bit.

A quiet day

Sunday was a very quiet day and greatly enjoyed. There were two really excellent sermons at the two online services that I attended one at Christ Church Winchester, England and one here at my Church. The music was lovely and I enjoyed every hymn. The young people are very involved in the Churches in England and their music has been quite interesting. The Choirs at the Cathedral are really quite spectacular. 

I also worked on the matches and I am now down to 34 - completing that this week does seem doable and will see how the week goes. I want to introduce one will a day as well to transcribe and blog. Although this may seem contradictory to my writing it does all indeed lead into the books as well. I am really back into my hermit life once again as I watch the world events happen and the political issues rise and fall. I can do nothing about any of this and will only be affected if we lose our hydro and I cannot work on my books. My lifestyle is so simple that the food in the stores, the goods in the stores have very little effect on my life. The only real important item in my life is access to hydro as it is getting warmer now and even having heat has become less of an issue. Turning 80 is interesting actually; I have lived nearly 80s years of a life and the time left considerably shorter. Items that seemed so pressing in my youth have now dwindled away. 

A beautiful sunny day at the moment but clouds are promised and it is twelve degrees celsius - a pretty normal May Day and the spring flowers are all blooming. The tulips will come one of these days but in the meantime I am not cutting grass until the dandelions have bloomed. The bees need our help and it is the least that I can do to make sure they have dandelions. 

Cleaning day and it is the top floor so just a half day of cleaning. I will have to work at getting my 16 thousand steps today as it is much more difficult surprisingly on cleaning day. I think it is because I spend time on my knees dusting and the FitBit doesn't count that but with the "workout" selection I can at least get credit for the effort. It will be a 500 or so cardio load day. My Fitbit thinks I have been slacking off although I always am in the In Target range. That is the problem with AI unless you constantly remind it that you are nearly 80 it thinks you are young I think. Like the dumb terminals, AI needs to be instructed in absolutely every element and then you need to establish the queries so that you constantly reinforce what needs to be done. Can it be educated? That is the question perhaps. I do not think that it can ever emulate human emotion or ability of recall spontaneously to solve problems. It can spit out solutions but the human brain will have to sort it through in the long run. 

But I do think AI is a great addition. I enjoy having Alexa set my timers and sound off when they are finished and spontaneously on the exact correct time tell me the reminders that I have fed into it. 

Teatime and solitaire games already accomplished.

Garden clearing and matches

 I continued with my matches and thinking about the two newsletters. Success on the matches as they are now down to 44 remaining. A couple of interesting ones that will contribute to the phasing project. One area never covered before and I know the grandparent line but not the family that is the ancestral line of the match. But the location makes sense. 

A really interesting lecture yesterday at the DNA group. A self made project looking at E-DNA from the prospective of what can one find in various ponds in a particular place (namely Carp just north east of Ottawa proper). I was curious if he had found subtle differences in the DNA within a species but decided not to ask questions but rather just listen. He has expanded his initial project to include some university students working on their advanced degrees as anything related to DNA is future fodder for growth for sure in terms of jobs. Probably my biggest interest way back in my university days was the emerging information on DNA and I did continue reading the literature as it slowly increased through the years and then burst upon the scene in the 1990s with the beginnings of personal testing of DNA in hominids and the result has blossomed into a financial empire that is heavily used by genealogy (and others) in the pursuit of knowledge. Certainly way back in my youth I did wonder what we could learn from our DNA from a medical standpoint and as we enter that phase of scientific research it is an open book waiting to be written for sure with a lot of literature already in the journals.

I also spent about half of an hour picking up the smaller branches that have come down from the trees during the winter. That will be another bag out to the street this week once they are broken up - no axe this time, just fingers. 

Sunday, God's day, and it is meant to be cloudy today with a temperature of 6 degrees celsius at the moment; a pretty normal May Day here in this part of Canada. Church is online at my own Church here and at Winchester. I shall attend both of them. Christ Church at Winchester is a fairly modern Church built in 1859 - 61 according to their website. We visited the Cathedral Church at Winchester on one of our tours. Our tour bus parked some blocks away and we walked to the area. I knew what the Cathedral looked like but the roots of the Church are fairly old. The present building was constructed starting in 1079 and completed in 1532. It is very large and is dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity. The style is gothic although not overpowering partly because it sits in a small valley as I recall and as one walks towards it the size does continue to amaze you as it literally grows out of the ground it appears. The first Church in Winchester dates back to 164 CE. This is the Mother Church of the Diocese that includes Andover/Upper Clatford so I had heard stories about Saint Swithun and the Mother Church from childhood. There is a beautiful shrine there to Saint Swithun. But the service today is at Christ Church in Winchester and will be I am sure welcomed. The accent in Hampshire remains the same as my grandfather's - almost none really to a Canadian ear perhaps or I was just used to it as a child. My father did not have an accent other than what I heard around me every day. He said when he first came to Canada with his parents (mother actually father came first about six months earlier) he did have the slight accent that my grandfather had but it disappeared and he sounded like everybody else around him although they were primarily English as London, Ontario was pretty much English when I grew up there but it was changing - one of our neighbours was from Trois Rivières  and the children spoke French. It was the first time I was ever really learning the French Language as I babysat those children as a mother's helper. the children did not speak English at all and I think that she wanted them to but they were stubborn so I learned some French when I was doing that particular task. 

Thank you God for the beautiful day before us. Tea time completed, solitaire games played. 

Another good working day

 Down to just 55 matches in my file to be assigned or put into the unused folder. No work on the Newsletters yet but they are in the thought process. Probably should have started that earlier but the election was very distracting. We have two important Canadian dates though now - 12th for the Cabinet and 26th for the opening of this Parliament session to come (27th for the Speech from the Throne). I look forward to King Charles III opening parliament as well and reading the speech from the throne May 27th). Although our Governor General stands in for the King extremely well, it is a good time for the actual Head of State to be here only about 24 hours but will accomplish a huge amount on the world scene for us. Also Question Period once again is an interesting place to be (watching it on television of course). Likely Pierre Poilievre will be in Parliament soon enough as the Prime Minister has said he will speed up the By-election to bring him back. Giving up a seat in parliament was a wonderful gift by MP Damien Kurek to give up his seat so that Pierre can have a by-election to return to parliament. I have to say that Pierre running in the National Capital Region was very brave this time around since tightening up government was certainly in the cards if the Conservatives had won the election. Even though it was his seat for twenty years, it was chancy I think but he is a tough politician and not one to walk away when the cards are stacked against him simply because of current issues.

Today a meeting of the DNA group and I must remember to go (online); it sounds quite interesting. Then work on the newsletters and the matches will take up most of the rest of the day interwoven with exercise and perhaps even a little weeding if it doesn't rain. 

A couple of interesting matches yesterday - can not place them in a tree but their matches are so close and they triangulate with those matches. A lot of matches like that can solve stubborn problems on occasion. 

Had a request for Edward's tree which I did do as her uncle had also written a bit ago asking some questions which I can not answer as I do not know anything about the recent Kipp families other than what Edward may have said on occasion. If it isn't in his tree which is online at Ancestry I can not actually assist in any way especially if it is American research as I only trained to do English and Canadian research. I did help Edward when we went to American repositories but I just followed his instructions and gathered up the details that he wanted. I have a good memory of the repositories though and do pass that on if asked questions.  The Canadian research I really do not do much on as I only have three Canadian born ancestors (my mother, her father, his mother) and all the rest are from six different areas of England (all of which I did visit during our eight trips to the British Isles and Europe). Sometimes not the exact spot but close enough to get a feel for the areas that they grew up in before coming to Canada (some came as children with their parents).  My younger sister keeps up a very active tree in the present of all of our cousins, aunts, uncles etc etc and has a very large tree compared to mine. Mine jumped from a few thousand to over twenty thousand but that was the effect of my daughter marrying a French-Canadian and their research is really interesting and very straightforward as one can trace back a line all the way to the founding of Quebec in very short order. 

Teatime and solitaire and then must remember the DNA meeting. Probably I am going to row while I watch the meeting. This new tablet is very handy.

Good day of work yesterday

Although the number of matches completed into my databases was small; there were several quite good ones once again. I do feel the loss of 23 and Me's access to results. About 1/10th of these results are from earlier extractions in 23 and Me that I had not entered into my matching system. 

I also had a lovely walk up to the store for a few items that I wanted. I  have only driven the car four times this winter which included twice to get the tires turned over from winter to summer. It was filled with gas beginning of January and still has well over 7/8ths of a tank full. Good that it doesn't go bad. 

Good signs of co-operation emerging from the Conservative Party members in Parliament. I think that we are going to need a lot of co-operation to get all of these energy projects in play. But I will say that Prime Minister Harper at the time did stress that a lot of the fortune of Canada lay in this black gold. But each area of Canada has its specialty and needs to have the full support of the federal system at all times. It is good to see the First Nations firmly supporting Canada (or Turtle Island whatever is most meaningful to you I think). The Prime Minister is speaking at 11 am today.

Today on with working on the matches to see if I can  have a really good day as I plan to see the end of it soon enough. But also I need to give more thought to the two newsletters - H11 which will be a short one as I only do a yearly summary the first of February of each year and the Kipp Newsletter which will only be about the yDNA Study for the Kip family of New Amsterdam/New York. I am not sure there is a great deal of new information for either but I will also spend time on that today. 

The wills begin next week as I need to rework a few things to add that to my day. 

Tea time and solitaire.