The best thing about 2017 was its path into 2018 – or so it seemed on initial reflection. That doesn’t mean the short-term memories of the last days in 2017 were bad. Not at all. I spent my time in 2017 where I almost always spend it – in the preparation before undertaking the actual research.
I took a journey this year but first I read the biography of my Uncle Charles and the personnel file of Granddad Daly.
Yes, I did take a cruise in order to gain some context of where Uncle Charlie and where Granddad Daly were and how they fitted into the overall conduct of the Pacific War. And yes, I still have the same question: where was Granddad Daly when he counted out the planes such as Charlie’s and counted them home again. I don’t think he can have done so for Charlie’s squadron.
More planning and research to do in 2018 about Granddad Daly’s war – mainly in war diaries not yet available in digital form.
I took a journey back in time to St James around Anzac Day. It was just as I remembered – the morning sun filtering through the windows and dappling the font in colour. Just the minister, a parishioner and me. I hadn’t been there for a baptism 65 years ago (as I had remembered) but to the dedication of the windows to my Uncle John and Uncle Charlie. The memorial gates were still not back from being restored so I shall be back again this April – and to the Learmonth Burial Ground just up the road.
Squire Turner, my third great grandfather, remains as elusive as ever. Not too rich to attract attention of the papers nor too poor to draw attention of the parish. How can there be so little evidence of a man whose death in 1830 warranted inclusion in the Bath Personal Notices as published in a London paper? In 2017 I found his signature and occasional mention of Squire Turner in the Bathford parish chest material.
My question in 2018 is – where was Squire Turner when he wasn’t in Bathford?
The real joy of 2017 was my DNA research.
It took a while for some of us to get our family trees in order but finally we managed to create a DNA Circle. Now DNA circles for my second great grandparents Francis Baulch and Ann Bowles have expanded to over 20 members each. Furthermore, DNA circles have now been created for Francis Baulch’s parents and for his maternal grandparents Joseph Biddlecombe and Miriam Locke. I certainly wasn’t expecting this success given the difficulties we had getting the first ones created.
Can we expand Francis Baulch’s DNA circle to 50 by year’s end and can we create DNA circles for other ancestors?
More planning and reviewing of family trees and DNA matches in 2018.
Finally, I have really, really enjoyed the past six months engrossed in Visual Phasing (mapping DNA of three siblings or more to their grandparents). It has been a fascinating journey. The learning curve is steep. The learning process is continuous and iterative. Visual Phasing is totally addictive. It has got me around one of my most enduring road blocks. What more can I say? Oh yes! My success with Visual Phasing wouldn’t have been possible had not my sister who wanted an all in one Baulch family tree some years back. Nor would we have had sufficient DNA tests for Visual Phasing without that discussion with my brother and his view of what a good base for DNA testing looked like. Nor would it have been possible without using a workbook for my Visual Phasing in the fashion my daughter used a lab book. My workbook is not only a source of WHAT I have found and WHERE but, more importantly, HOW I have found it and WHAT is still to be found.
In 2018 I shall review what I have done to date, incorporate tips that are still being shared generously by others and, hopefully, glean a family story or two.
Some further reading:
Charles Page, Wings of Destiny (Sydney: Rosenberg Sydney, 2008)
https://the geneticgenealogist.com/2016/11/21/visual-phasing-an-example-part-1-of-5/ (and the following parts follow)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/visualphasing/ (closed group)