Friday, October 24, 2025

Another day of Research

 I enjoy the last part of the week especially as that is free research time. Although I did not complete the 10th chromosome I did spend quite a bit of time looking at the matches. This particular chromosome has a large empty (no known matches) area through the middle. One sibling in particular matches Buller but which line and that was sort of the direction I was pointed in for part of the day. The matches are commonest on Living DNA so possibly people still living in the British Isles. Both Anne Welch and Sarah Welch (twins) had large families with Sarah's descendants being likely 3 to 4 times larger than my line coming down from Anne. Anne's husband Henry Christopher Buller died 28 Jun 1862 in a hospital in St Margaret Westminster, London and was buried in London when the youngest child was just 1 year of age; my great grandfather would have been 12 and happened to be on the 1861 census with his grandmother Sarah (Cheatle) Welch and younger sister Ellen (8 years of age). An interesting family for sure and did rather occupy my mind yesterday somewhat as I sorted through a pile of Buller matches. 

A good exercise day as I did a Walk/Jog CD in the morning and then Yoga on the WII in the afternoon along with taking a break every hour to walk for about 5 to 10 minutes. I am varying up my running a little as my arthritis generally kicks in as Fall deepens and then lets us somewhat in the winter if I keep very active. The change of seasons seem to be a flare up time for arthritis for me. 

Staying away from the news again but I am supportive of the government as it moves ahead with new ideas on expanding trade. I think that youth in a lot of generations has had a struggle as they enter the work force. Certainly as the draft dodgers flooded into Canada at the end of the 1960s and into the early 1970s jobs completely disappeared for new graduates and in my husband's case that included his entire year graduating with their PhD in Chemistry (all of the tenure-track university positions went to Americans fleeing the draft) and his classmates, many of them, taught High School. Their work was still valuable of course; we need to have our best teaching future graduates at whatever level - mediocre is not good enough. My husband did a Post-Doc in Chemical Engineering and completed yet another degree this time his Masters in Library Science and that got him a job here in Ottawa at the National Research Council in the Library. Mind you he had been offered a job at the Library of Congress in the United States (I was most willing to go actually) and amazingly he did much much later wonder if he had made the wrong choice (given his growing interest in  his family research now that he had more time to pursue that plus money of course (students do not have a lot of money), one can thank Gordon Riddle (a member I guess) because it was he who invited Edward to go with him to the initial meetings that he attended at the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society back in the early 1980s (we did not get involved in that when we lived in London, I had absolutely no interest and we were busy working/studying and spent our spare time in Astronomy (RASC) which I preferred over anything other than Chemistry which was my favourite subject). 

Edward's work at NRC involved being part of setting up the entire retrieval system for articles (selling these articles made money by the way for the Canadian tax payer) at the Library (CISTI) which ended up being sold by Prime Minister Harper to the United States (such things should not be permitted and he lost my vote when he did that - money coming in regularly is so much better than a lump sum to balance the budget (absolutely disgraceful)). By then Edward had been retired for I think five years or more but his colleagues whom he still met with on occasion felt very sidelined by that action. Then our daughter applying for tenure track positions in her generation at all of the Canadian Universities was not hired and those positions she applied for primarily went to Americans. When she was offered a tenure-track position in the United States she accepted all those years ago now. Strange to think that it continues generation after generation.  All of the graduated American PhD students with whom she has worked have tenure track positions in the United States which is wonderful; her graduated Masters students are working all over the United States; I am glad that she was able to follow her career and make a difference where she is helping our friends and neighbours in the United States (and cousins in  our case; my daughters have far more American relatives than I do and they are like their father related to over a dozen United States Presidents as Gary Boyd Roberts and Edward determined in a couple of working sessions at NEHGS in Boston along with so many other Americans of all walks of life). But like my husband who chose to stay in Canada because he felt he should; Canada educated him and my daughter too wanted to teach in Canada, her home, and did try every university which advertised but with Americans coming  north to take the  jobs she was applying for it just sort of seemed natural to go south and take the job she was offered working in her field. She did work initially in New York State just to give her some experience (should help getting jobs, right?) whilst she wrote up her thesis completed while she was there working in New York. At 80, I do miss her but she will retire in the near future one thinks and she is my far away caretaker so to speak although does her research in the months available to her here and it has been very productive for her with many publications with her former students around the world but mostly in the United States now well employed with their own tenure-track positions or in industry or in libraries. My other daughter, of course, is busy with many patients, her family and 60 kilometres away from me. But we talk every day  my daughters and I just for a bit (they are making sure that I am still living; they know I am a tough old codger wanting to work on these books). 

Youth having to struggle at the beginning is not really a bad thing I can say honestly (the old depend on the youth very much to show us how well they can do in spite of it all although being parents/grandparents we do wish it was easier for sure); that struggle brings out ingenuity and willingness to go the extra length to make things work better and stronger in spite of roadblocks thrown at you along the way (and there will be for whatever reason). Do not under estimate the youth. They are the most powerful resource in any country. Their years are all ahead of them and their minds young and fresh as they face the continuing hard grind to get ahead.  The old expression they have "fire in their belly" still rings true again and again. They can do anything like my husband moving from Scientist to Engineering Scientist to Librarian (over a two year period) - it was a totally unexpected movement (and our first child arrived).  In the end a great job whilst he was still working but retired in 2004 (the enterprise was sold off much too cheaply and I would say to Prime Minister Carney (although being a working economist/banker he probably already knows) do not balance the budget because you think you must to look good just let it flow in over time to support the economy). It was something that Prime Minister Mulroney knew very well as he instituted the GST at 7% where it should be at least; during hard times 10% works well too. Although the reaction at that time was very negative (the Conservatives won only 2 seats!) but time proved that the GST could carry us through  hard times and reducing to 5% was absolutely wrong and should never have happened. Trying to look good to win elections does not work well for the Canadian people. 

There was great happiness in his retirement as Edward pursued full time those relatives of his past (I will one day count up all those trips to the United States looking for graves, records and just enjoying seeing the country where those relative were born, grew up, played in the fields and married and  had their families). I suspect even I will be amazed how many times and how many days we spent in the United States over the course of a 54.5 year marriage. That also included visiting our daughter as well and many many family reunions (the American relatives hold great family reunions). Mind you we put in thousands and thousands of kilometres in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes whilst Edward searched out ancestors.  

 Well another day on the research wheel as I will complete Chromosome 10 and maybe not get quite so distracted. I have proven perhaps half of the cross over points and there were again a couple of changes (anticipated just because of matches coming in but none the less good to see that proven and available to re-phase the grandparents). I continue moving ahead with my thinking on the Photo Books in between times and must settle myself in perhaps tomorrow for a few hours and complete the index for the first book and then move on to the second book which will be primarily the birth of our first child and her early years as an only child for eight years of her life. 

Drinking tea, eating my banana bread (lightly buttered) and must do my solitaire puzzles. Yesterday's tripeaks was interesting and took a bit to complete (I enjoy a good brain workout for sure).  

 

 

 

 

 


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