Over the years there have been so many wonderful discoveries. We can I am sure, all identify with those moments when it seems that time has stood completely still as we see in front of us a document or record that details OUR ancestor. It is at that exact moment that the individual stops being a name and a few dates and becomes a "real" person. One that you wish you could ask questions of.I had planned to write of an occasion which I know I have mentioned before, then just at the weekend I received an email from someone with an attachment of a photograph. All the email said, was had I seen the attachment and was the family mine?
I almost deleted the email, thinking I might see a dubious picture or have something rather dodgy happen to my laptop then I spotted the typed link in the email. I then followed the thread and typed the link into my browser and I had one of those moments.
Everything stopped. Regular thinking, dinner planning and contemplations of domestic chores. All that mattered was the details on my laptop, my files and notebook. Dinner was for that evening a takeaway. Poor hubby spent the evening with me muttering oh my every time I spotted something. I was irritating him, I could tell as the volume on the television got a bit louder! It did not disturb me, a herd of buffalo or an explosion could have happened, my complete focus was on the documents I saw before me as I contemplated the archives that we perhaps under estimate in our research.
In many rural locations vicars and curates kept meticulous notes and information relating to their parishioners. Apart from showing an interest in their parishioners, it also passed the time away in 19th Century England. So, I sat in my 21st Century lounge using a laptop reading a photograph of a document that had been written in about 1870. Isn't that amazing.
I had known of the existence of the actual notes made by the vicar concerned. The originals are in Surrey and were in fact on my next to do list. The email that I had received alerted me to the hard work of the local history society who with the aid of volunteers transcribed and photographed the notes. Transcribing is tiring work and takes time before being checked and published. I was therefore most fortunate to see the document relating to my own family and spot a further connection between two branches of my ancestry that I had not established.
Isn't that a great discovery?
Taking part in the Carnival Of Genealogy, hosted by CreativeGene
That is a great discovery.
ReplyDeleteDon't you love it when things come together and the discoveries follow.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I've often thought of traipsing around local churches to find out more about my ancestors and didn't know that many of them were being transcribed.
ReplyDeleteAnn
Woo Hoo! That's a great discovery, Julie! Congratulations and thanks for sharing your find in the COG!
ReplyDeleteT'is a great discovery. And I can relate to the take-out dinners, the TV getting louder and louder that those wondrous moments herald.
ReplyDeleteI think this is brilliant, I sometimes think I should spend some more time on researching our family trees. I stopped years ago as it became rather expensive, but you are right Julie it can be so satisfying.
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