Writing vs genealogy

 

                                  The double rainbow I saw going home from SIWC one year seemed like a good omen

It's easy to get lost for hours scrolling through email. I have the unfortunate habit of saving things to "look at later". As if "later" ever comes! Part of my problem is that I'm involved with so many things that generate virtual messaging. As any genealogist knows, there are lots of people trying to get our attention about webinars, meetings and new tech advances which will change the way we research. On top of that are messages about the latest records available on the big databases like Ancestry and Find My Past.

Sorry, I got pulled away for a minute because an email about writing family history caught my eye. That's because another of my interests is writing. Big Surprise there, but what you may not know is that, while I write this blog about genealogy and history, I'm also interested in other kinds of writing. I'm in the beginning stages of producing a work of fiction and have ideas about writing memoir. Believe me, the subject of writing also generates a lot of emails. Writers are not shy about putting down their words in electronic form!

Sometimes it feels like my interests in genealogy and writing are pulling me in two different directions, each demanding my attention and time. Not only to do family research or get down the words, but to learn more about the latest research techniques or to find better ways to convey my thoughts or show the actions of my characters. Both genealogy and writing each have their own online and in-person events to teach me more.

Last week I put genealogy aside to attend the Surrey International Writers Conference (SIWC). It's an event where writers, agents and other members of the publishing world come together to celebrate and learn. This year, for the first time in a couple of years, it was held partly in-person. There was also an online component, a holdover from the pivot done to allow the event to continue when getting together was problematic.

I enjoy attending SIWC, mingling with other writers, learning more about my craft. Being there is a big part of the experience but the learning doesn't stop there. A lot of the sessions are recorded and available for subscribers to view for 30 days after the event. That's both good and bad. I now have a playlist to get through in the next while. That reminds me of all those RootsTech videos that I really should get back to. With these two time consuming interests, it's no wonder I'm so far behind reading my emails! 

Giving records a closer look

                                                                  A pile of military records

I write for the BC Genealogy Society's newsletter. I've been a member of the BCGS for years and have gained a lot from the association. In the past, I volunteered at their library. Since they started the online newsletter, I volunteer by contributing written articles.

As the next newsletter was due to be published in November, the piece of writing I sent in this time was about my father's experiences in World War II. As part of my research, I pulled out his military records. I remember ordering them from the Royal Air Force, RAF Disclosures Division. That was back in 2013 or 2014. (There's a postmark on the envelope.) They took ages to come in. I recall looking at the paperwork and trying to make heads or tails out of it. Back then, understanding them seemed pretty hopeless but I did email an expert in interpreting RAF records, only what he sent back didn't make much sense. That was probably because I only scanned part of the document to send to him. After his confusing response, I put the records aside to look at later.

Now, unlike in many other cases, that later time was actually here. As I looked through the documents to find information, I was surprised by how many pieces of paper there were. I only remembered looking at the two buff coloured ones on stiff paper which detailed such things as his description, home address and cryptic notes about his various assignments. Now I found photocopies of more records. There were three more pages and, interestingly, a new family address much further away from dockland. I hadn't known that the family absented themselves from the area or, at least, spent their nights in what might have been deemed a safer area of London, Harringay, which was in North London.

I wonder what other surprises I will find as I explore the war records further. I also have an account my father wrote about his wartime experiences and this will be the first time that I look at the official record and his account together. It's time to give this information a much closer look.   

Closed for 100 years

 

Recent genealogy news came out that Land Army records were now online. It was well known in my family that my mother's war time experience included time in the Land Army. Seeking further information, I found the update from the National Archives about the new release amongst my later unread emails. It's one of the many genealogy news sources I subscribe to and can be found at news@enews.nationalarchives.gov.uk I had to click on the button to find out more.

In one of my past visits to Kew, I remember finding my mum's index card for the Land Army. I recall that it was on one of my first visits to the National Archives. But it's always worth checking to see if I had missed anything, especially as I was fairly new to on the ground research at that time. According to the National Archives' article, the new digitized version would be searchable on Ancestry. So, I searched for my mother's name on the database. It wasn't there. I found that strange since I have a copy of one page of her land army record in my collection. Puzzled, I took the extra step of checking Ancestry's general information for the collection. There at the bottom of the page about the collection it stated that information for individuals less than 100 years old was excluded.

My mother would have been 100 by now if she had lived but just barely, as she was born in the early months of 1922. It looks like Ancestry applies the 100 year rule in yearly chunks. I checked Ancestry's collection of the 1939 England and Wales Register for my mum's listing. Sure enough, her name was not yet revealed. A check of Find My Past's collection of the 1939 Register revealed her name. It looks like Find My Past applies the 100 year rule differently, a fact for which I am grateful but it looks like I'll have a longer wait to see those Land Army records. 

Advances in technology

 

                                                     An earlier form of transportation, a train with a steam engine

When I got back from my Alaska cruise, I was happy to see the computer keyboard I had ordered waiting for me. Despite all those news reports about porch pirates, I was lucky. It was there waiting for me on my front porch. I had worried about the delivery date and fretted that it would come while I was away. Of course it did. Not that it is an expensive keyboard or anything but finding work arounds so that I could still use my desk top set up with its two screens was quickly getting old.

The two screens thing became popular a few years ago and definitely makes work easier but I'm reminded how computing has developed over the years. One of my screens is an old square shaped HP monitor from 2006, ancient in tech terms. But the length of time isn't that great especially when considering how long it took for other technological advances to change the world.

When I trace my own family's movements, advances in transportation come to the fore. My maternal grandfather worked for the London and Southwestern Railway before immigrating to Canada. Railways also played a part in his transportation to his new country. He first reached Canadian Shores on a CP Rail ship, the Empress of Ireland, before furthering his journey on a train to Saskatchewan. He made quicker progress than members of other family lines who had immigrated to Ontario and PEI much earlier.

My birth family's immigration to Canada was also influenced by changing times in the transportation industry. When WWII ended and my father left the RAF, he joined one of the airlines which were just getting off the ground. Marriage and children followed and, soon after, a transfer to Montreal. Needless to say our journey to North America was faster than my grandfather's but nowhere as quick as the flight today. Back then airplanes had propellers and there were frequent stops to refuel. Like a lot of other technology, there have been lots of advances in airliners since that time.

Although changes in transportation had a huge impact on our lives, other advances in technology had equal or larger parts to play. Things have changed exponentially in my lifetime. But that was also true for my father and grandfather. That's something to remember as I explore my family's history.

A genealogy cruise to Alaska

 

                                                                                    Creek Street, Ketchikan

It's inevitable, every time I go away, I forget something. This time it was my Ancestry password. Access to my account on Ancestry would have come in handy on my travels, a cruise this time. The trip had been set up by my genealogy society, the BCGS, to mark our 50th anniversary. Of course, the anniversary was last year but COVID put cruise plans on hold. This September we finally go to go.

Plans morphed under the delay. The ship changed, our cruise was scheduled for a slightly different time on a different ship. Then it changed back. (No wonder I had a hard time remembering the dates we were going.) People dropped out, some others booked at the last minute. Two speakers had been planned for our at sea days, only one made it. That one was Blaine Bettinger. As he's a DNA expert, there were talks about that as well as other family history topics. The good thing about cruising is there were also plenty of other things to do and see. There were also plenty of stops on our trip to Alaska so, I got to do one of my other favourite things, explore history. 

There was lots of history on display when our ship docked and we were let loose in the towns. Our first stop, Juneau, gave us a taste of the Alaska of yesterday as we walked the streets of the historic downtown. In Skagway we were more adventurous, taking a street car tour of the old parts of town. Our driver took us to the Gold Rush Cemetery where she regaled us with the story of Soapy Smith. That scallywag was brought to his end in a shootout, an event dramatically brought to life by our guide. Creek Street in Ketchikan was our next glimpse into Alaska history. There we toured Dolly's House Museum, the actual house in which Dolly, another colourful character, kept the men of the city entertained, if you know what I mean.

I don't know of any links to Alaska in my family's past but I enjoyed how the stops along the way used the stories about their cities to celebrate their past. It's inspiring to see history brought to life with such enthusiasm. The cruise genealogy talks also gave me food for thought and a desire to take my research further. 

But it's too bad I didn't have my password. It would have been good to look at my DNA info while what our speaker had talked about was fresh in my mind. Now I'll have to take a closer look and try and remember what he talked about. This time I swear I'll look at the syllabus and not just add it to my pile of genealogical information.