Genealogy, it is only history.

I am undertaking research into my family tree. This is not a new venture rather something I and my daughter have been steadily and methodically plodding away at for a couple of years now. I think I remember reading somewhere that the research of genealogy is the single largest interest group on the internet.

I have often been questioned why are we doing this to which my stock and often glib answer is why not, but the real reason I think is that it is a combination of two parts, firstly to find out who our family ancestors were, where they lived what employments did they have and secondly to record whilst recent events are still fresh in our minds who we are, where we live and what we did, for generations of our family yet to come. It is perhaps no more that an exercise in research and historical record gathering and recording events up to date for future generations.

We have during our spasmodic research so far been able to trace our maternal / maternal and the maternal / paternal line back to the mid 1700’s. In addition there have been interesting diversions and offshoots with my son in law whose family is traced back to the mid 1700’s and my daughter in law who so far has recorded her family back to the mid 1800’s. Yes it is certainly true to say that what started as ‘our family tree’ has happily extended side branches and is now forming a truly extended and in the case of my daughter in law who extends into Eastern Europe, a truly international tree.

It is human nature I expect for anyone engaged in this type of project to hope to find a direct link to a noble or regal family line, if not a close second would be to find some notorious criminal or murderer, I have to report so far we have found neither. However that is not to say that we have found nothing of interest that raised an eyebrow. There is, for example, on my maternal / paternal side, Thomas James Edwards [born 14 March 1815 died 29 January 1875] who married twice, firstly Elizabeth Banks [born 1815] of whom little is known and secondly Fanny Jefferies [born 1835 died 1898]. Thomas was by trade and profession what was called a Modeller and Plasterer; he designed, made and crafted ornate plaster ceiling and wall mouldings. Of the various obituaries to him the Southampton Times dated 6 February 1875 mentions that his talent and the purity of his taste and the excellence of all his ornamentations was much in demand. He was called to produce his work at Buckingham Palace, Osborne House, the summer residence of Queen Victoria, and some other principle residences particularly those of Lord Portman, Earl Rivers and the Earl of Portsmouth.

This genealogical adventure has also made it possible for us to reacquaint ourselves with distant relations, not the sort that you had forgotten about or those you did not know even existed but the type that you send a Christmas card to each year with the vague promise that ‘we should meet up again soon’. Next week my second cousin Heather, her Grandmother and my Grandmother are sisters, my Mother and her Mother were cousins and we share a common Great Grand Father Arthur J French, is coming to visit. We will catch up on old times we have planned a meal we will compare photograph albums and we will try and remember the last time we met more than fifty years ago.

Another Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday; I am now officially one year older and have taken yet another faltering step toward my bus pass, retirement, pension and ultimately death.

I am never sure if we should feel any different when it is our birthday, should by being a year older than you were yesterday, or in my case the day before, make us feel older, and if so how exactly do we do that ? Feeling older surely is a gradual process and not at all the same as getting older. The fact that I am no longer able to run as fast as I once could when I was a teenager, for example, is perhaps a mote point when I now find it difficult to run at all and perhaps now see no good reason to do so, why run my mind questions, there is no sense in it. But does this mean that this now enforced inability to run with any sense of purpose is a case of getting older or feeling older, perhaps it may be both.

When I stand now in front of the mirror I see staring wistfully back at me a slightly overweight slightly haggard looking man well past his prime with a slightly bulging stomach and hair growing out of his nose and ears. What I feel inside when I stare into that mirror is that I am transported back more than forty five years to a fifteen year old schoolboy with more than a twinkle of mischief in his eyes, a thirst for adventure and a hunger for life. A boy who grew up in what now seems to be those black and white days of the fifties and sixties, a boy who witnessed before him the change of an established society, a boy who became part of that change and embraced it wholeheartedly. There is a proclamation that states, that if you remember the sixties then you were not there, well I do remember the sixties and I was most definitely there and what fun it was.

Is it always the case that many look back and tell everyone who might stay long enough to listen about how good it was back in the old days, do they really mean that, was it really so good back then, when ever then was of course. I find myself doing that, I often now sound like my father when I now tell my grown up children about how it was much better when I was a teenager than it is today for teenagers, I see my children rolling their eyes heavenwards just as I did so all those years ago. Of course it was not better then; modern society and modern technology make life today so much easier and so much more comfortable and much more exciting. But then I also remember that it is my generation [generally speaking] those like me who grew up in the fifties and sixties that have invented, devised adapted, updated and brought this modern technology we have today to the masses and think they have done so not out of necessity but out of learning.

I am of the group in my generation that grew up pre decimalisation, pre calculators, and computers, pre colour television and pre space travel but also of that group who were the first to miss National Service, my group of my generation grew up on the cusp of social reform and I am glad of that. The writer Alan Bennett mentions about his own growing up in Leeds during the forties and fifties [though he did not miss National Service] that his education was free, though perhaps not free but owing as it had been paid for by that generation before him that did not have it and they had in kind paid for it. Like Alan Bennett my education was free and I am glad of it though sadly and as I know to my own cost much of it is not free today.

Our children and grandchildren today do have things [though not as much as we think] that are free, it is their right, though free to them today but paid for by us yesterday.

And so here I am another year older, another birthday come and gone, and so statistically and legally I am one year older however I am inside still that fifteen year old kid I always think I am and when I close my eyes for a moment in my mind it is still 1964.

Baseball and the Cleveland Indians

Yet another win for the Cleveland Indians though as seems to be their habit of late they had to take the slightly difficult route to success.

Playing away to the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park Detroit the Tigers took the early lead with one run in the first innings. Cleveland replied with two runs one each in the 2nd and 3rd to take the lead 2-1. Detroit then scored again with one run in the 5th and again in the 7th at the Indians scored one in the 8th, the score was tied at 3-3.

Into overtime and the 9th innings produced no runs for either team. The Indians take the batting for the start of the 10th and after a pitching change by the Tigers from Fernando Rodney to Casey Fossum; Grady Sizemore comes into bat and is caught at short stop by Edgar Renteria. The Tigers change pitcher again and Gary Glover replaces Casey Fossum. Cleveland’s second bat for the 10th is Franklin Gutierrez who then promptly hits a home run to make the score 4-3. It then takes on an air of excitement to see if the Indians can improve and score again or if not hold off the Tigers.

Of the remaining Indian bats, Ben Francisco is caught at centre field by Curtis Granderson, Jhonny Peralta takes a single on a line drive to left field and then Shin-Soo Choo gets it all wrong again by grounding out and allowing second base to throw to first base and its three out. Luckily for Cleveland and thanks to some accurate fielding Detroit is unable to score and the final score is Cleveland Indians 4 Detroit Tigers 3, another close match and an exciting finish.

This win over Detroit now give the Cleveland Indians their 8th straight win in a row however due to their very poor overall performance during most of this season they still remain in fourth place behind Detroit and above Kansas City in the American League Central Division.

However a report on this game cannot pass without mention of the hero of the team Grady Sizemore. Grady hit two home runs during the game and in doing so became only the fourteenth man in the American League history to put together a 30-30 season, that is to say 30 Home Runs and 30 Stolen Bases in a season, the last to do it was Alfonso Soriano in 2005 playing for the Texas Rangers. In fact Sizemore hit his second home run during the 3rd innings to give him a total of 31 home runs and he had before starting the game already scored on 34 stolen bases. Grady is only the second Cleveland Indians player to reach this milestone the first being Joe Carter in 1987.

It seems a good idea

Most people that I am aquatinted with now appear to publish their thoughts, ideas or just the routine day to day ramblings of their lives in a Web Blog.

I had often wondered what they see in the need to bare their souls, if indeed they do, to the public gaze and perhaps comment.

So it is with some slight trepidation that I now step forward to experience life on the Web, what should I talk about? what should I discuss? who knows perhaps just life as I see it.

It just seemed like a good idea to me at the time.