Families....

 

So tired yesterday all I posted was this picture, then fell asleep!

Today I managed to reply to emails, quite quickly for me.  Including one from a woman on ancestry who is researching the family line.  Quite how she fits I fail to see however, family lines spread out and who knows how close a relative she might be?  I hope she is rich?  

There was a ship, the 'Lyon,' which sailed in 1640 to New England.  On board were a hundred or so seeking a new life, possibly for religious reasons, possibly for adventure.  One visitor from the USA informed me that from those who arrived all those years ago there were now 3 million descendants.   

This is worrying, as my fathers line tended to have several children each, they probably went off breeding happily around the world, and here may be 3 or more million of us lot being miserable old goats in all parts of the world!  

I was wondering if those long gone family were like us?  Did they have the same inherited attitudes?  Did they use the same terms we use today, or had their experiences, running or working on farms, created the attitudes and outlook that came down to us?  Grandfather was a drunk, my father went the opposite way because of this, but what were they like previous to that?  Great Grandfather took a pub in a period of agricultural downturn, though he kept 40 acres nearby.  You cannot run a pub and be a drunk, even if your daughters do most of the work.  Women have a nasty tendency to say what they think...

If we met our forefathers and mothers would we recognise ourselves in them by the way they spoke, the mannerisms, their looks?  I have mentioned previously the football team of 16 years old from 1896, I recognised three of them as young men following the Heart of Midlothian in the 60s.  Clearly they were the grandchildren, would we recognise out grandfathers in similar fashion, if indeed we had photographs of them?  

I am just imagining several generations of my family on my fathers side in one room, all complaining about something, all moaning and all being 'right!'  Maybe it would be good, maybe it would be tiring!

I give thanks that the massive Microsoft outage has missed this house, though I know not why.  The NHS, airports, airlines, and big business are grounded, while many individuals have the 'Blue screen of death!'  It is many years since I saw that, it was once common, and I am glad to have avoided this.

How can Microsoft have such an outage?  How can so many suffer this way at one time?  Surely there was some system to limit exposure to outages?  We all know their wonderful machines work well until they don't, and while accepting the complexity of the inner workings it remains clear that some 14 year old was not doing his job today.

I have said for a long time there is no need to fear bombs.  Putin makes a big mistake dropping bombs, all he has to do is close down the electricity power stations, block all the Microsoft workings and victory is assured.  Without electric nothing happens, without computers nothing happens.  And on top of that there is no backup on card to overcome this.  Rail travel systems are down, carboard tickets would still work mind.  I laugh when they say 'Buy tickets online,' but not if the system is down, not if the individuals laptop is dead, and not if the bank cannot pass the cash!  

More of this to come.

Research

 

 

I foolishly agreed to search for a friend on Ancestry.  So, cheerfully I began the search, cheefrully I continued, until less cheerfully I could not find Joshua.  After much searching I gave up.  Yesterday I tried again, this time looking for the man's actual name!  I had asumed the name 'Josey' was short for 'Joshua' or some such but I was wrong.  They already had a 'Joshua' so called him Josey.  I suppose when you have 9 kids you lose interest in names?  

Anyway, I have been trapped here behind a laptop, finding info and screaming quietly as things went wrong, the laptop hit the wrong button, and things disappeared again.  Just like old times!

This morning I finally found a wife.  That is, she was not on the 1881 census, but as several kids were I knew she had to exist somewhere.  It appears she passed on between 1872 and 1881.  Possibly with the last child, but this I canny confirm.

Just think, 9 children all living plus 3 either miscarraige or still birth.

However, I had enough by this time, he can have what I have found and wait until next week for the rest.

I hope he realises his folks never married...

 

The Harbour Window, 1910 Stanhope Forbes

 

Laptop Death

I have decided to write a book!  It will be called 'Your Laptop is Trying to Kill You!'  It ought to be a best seller.

Today, I attempted to download family history info that had been lost some time ago.  I had most of the info in place and was sure of finding what I required once again.  After some faffing about I began to download info onto paper for printing.  Because of the setup I had to first copy and past the info, then paste it onto what they call 'Sticky Notes' as this removes any little boxes and frames the info has been put into.  From there I then paste it onto a 'WORD' or in my case a similar page.  Simple.

Not so.

For a start, right clicking on this machine either does not work, or if it does it then switches off as you use it to cover info or paste info.  This is a constant habit.  As it sometimes requires several attempts before it works things can go wrong.  While copying one piece about 'Margaret' it failed several times, by the time I had copied the details and printed it off I realised I now had two 'Isabell's!' The blasted smug machine had switched back to the previous woman!  

Add to this my confusion caused by one of my beautiful nieces.  She has also been looking into this and managed to place one wife as the daughter of a previous parent.  It took some time before I worked this out.  The unfortunate habit of using similar names in each generation may be romantic to some but it does the head in of those of us today scrawling through hundreds of Margaret's of Isabell's.  As my dad was called Robert, and so were almost all the fathers before him, and others of the same name also used Robert for generations it is quite easy to come to the conclusion those Mad Axe men found in the daily press are not so mad after all.

Of course add to the fun the router.

This is a machine that sits on the desk quietly doing its work.  

Except when it begins to flash!

Green, Orange, still orange, flashing orange with a 'b' and possibly a wi-fi sign, then more orange before Blue appears, before it begins the whole routine once again!   

Mine takes a delight it playing nice until the football begins, then it goes off on one.

When it all works, the swear box is filling up nicely, and the printer is working well, that is when you realise the ink is about to run out.  There is of course plenty of black ink in the cupboard, but no coloured one.  The coloured one runs out.  You glance at the clock, the wee stationer is shut, supermarkets crowded, but if you go there is no suitable ink, and if there is, it is not the one you need.

You pick up the mobile, switch it on, or at least attempt to switch the brute on.  Nothing happens.  You press again and again, yet nothing happens.  You fling the brute down and it switches on.  

You then attempt to count to ten but that is not helping...

Tomorrow I will visit Tesco, I may have to use the self-service machine.

This could mean trouble...

Laptop View

My eyes! My eyes!
This has been my view all day, this laptop and screens of missing men!  Five from the first war and two from the second have been dealt with but it appears to be unending.  Scrolling down long lists of names, census returns, deaths, military, births, on and on and on.....
Stopping only to eat, I had to eat as I forgot to eat on Saturday and have been a bit off ever since, this ruined Sunday I can tell you, I nourished myself with thick lentil soup and struggled on.  I eventually drew back the curtains at lunchtime and discovered the grayness outside.  It remained there and I did not invite it inside.

Elsewhere the Aussies spent today, well yesterday, celebrating Australia Day! This I am assured has nothing to do with inventing cheap lager or stuffing English poms at cricket, indeed it is a moment of great pride when Aussies celebrate being themselves.  Good on them.
Famous for being discovered by Captain Cook sometimes in the seventeen hundreds, ignoring the Dutch who got there first, large rodents called Kangaroos, a large desert region and the majority of the population being descended from English and Irish criminals!  The Scots of course are neither criminal nor willing to go to Australia, Scots went to New Zealand and farmed sheep instead.  The glaciers there reminded them if home more than any desert might. 
The Australian is a great individual, at least I have met many when in London and all were the best type. Hard working, humorous, and the women all good looking.  Let them celebrate, they deserve themselves!

p.s. don't confuse them with Austrians, they are different.

BBC

Much excitement in politics as the Greeks stand up and rebel against austerity, an austerity much worse than that found in the UK.  It is implied by this victory by what is called the 'left wing government' the European economy will collapse when the Greeks refuse to pay their debts, and the debts are huge! Fear stalks the world and the papers are excited, especially the German ones who are paying for all this. Mind you the Greek holiday spots may be cheaper this year. Our best loved tourist guide may well be considering a return this year.