RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: Rishile on Wednesday 23 March 11 07:49 GMT (UK)
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You spend the evening with some friends and all you can think about is where to find the death date of Gtx4 Uncle George.
Rishile
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When you get up in the morning and the first thing you log in to is Rootschat ;D ;D
Rosie
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You quiz everyone you meet who has one of 'your names' as to where their ancestors came from - just in case!
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You read a fiction book and the character lived in a village where your ancestors lived - and you check Google maps to see how close they were
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It's the last thing you think of at night and the first thing you think about in the morning and pretty much all you think about all day. I need help. ;D
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When you get up in the morning and the first thing you log in to is Rootschat ;D ;D
Rosie
You n me both Rosie ;D ;D ;D
Carol
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Not quite the first thing I do every morning, but very nearly!!
Switch on computer to allow virus scans etc to go through whilst I'm making a cup of coffee. Check e-mails, check Yorkshire Indexers and then Rootschat. ;D ;D
Sad, really, isn't it?
BumbleB
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First switch on computer,put kettle on ,let cat out.
Check emails,then log on to rootschat,check Pembrokeshire Board & Sussex Board.
A member of the sad club ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
omega
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I don't check emails first because it takes my ISP ages to load them so I look at rootschat while I am waiting. Well that is my excuse.
I am guilty of doing what the other posters do as well though. Still it keeps my brain active ;D ;D
Rosie
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Come in from a long day at college, meant to be doing college work now but turn on the computer and log into rootschat :)
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You don't care if you feed the family and if you do it's the fire alarm that lets you know it's ready.
Jacq
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1. You log onto Rootschat at the end of a hard day at work, before doing
much else.
2. At the village church annual booksale you make a bee-line for the
history section, followed by a rummage through the "religious section"
where you find a bible, named and dated 1915, and you buy it, hoping
that your research will find the owner's family.
3. You actively search out old photos, books, memorabilia at boot fairs in
order to satisfy the same need as No.2.
4. You buy a Mother's Day card a little in advance of the day, in which the
words read: "sharing special times, sharing magical moments...sharing
family memories.." because that's exactly what you've been spending a
lot of time with your Mum on recently. :D :D :D
Mrs. T.
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You don't care if you feed the family and if you do it's the fire alarm that lets you know it's ready.
That almost never happens.... ::)
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...when asked what you'd like for a really special anniversary present, you reply romantically
"a death certificate"
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...when asked what you'd like for a really special anniversary present, you reply romantically
"a death certificate"
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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You buy frozen dinners that you can quickly whip out of the freezer when the real dinner (and pans) are burnt while doing a 'quick search" for your great uncle George.
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When you turn on your computer to check your e-mails and log into Rootschat to have a "quick" look at your relevant boards and you're still there 5 hours later and its midnight. No housework done or dishes washed. Again! :o
frostyknight
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And you have to have a final look at Roots before you go to bed. It's 32 minutes past midnight now. ::)
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When you click on your 'Favourites' list of web-pages on your computer and find that not only is it twice as long as your weekly shopping receipt from the supermarket but also that probably 90% of the links relate to FH!
And .... you have so many FH links on that Favourites list that it's quicker to just tap the name of the website into Google rather than trawl through your Favourites list looking for it! :o Now that IS sad! ;D
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It's the last thing you think of at night and the first thing you think about in the morning and pretty much all you think about all day. I need help.
and then when you get to sleep its all you dream about............. ;D ;D very sad ???
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and your husband keeps sneeking looks over your shoulder to see if you're chatting up some bloke you've met on the net. "whose John Kirwan?" he says
"my g.g.grand father" I say,
"oh yeah" he says, "that's what you say"!
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You are asked where you want to go for your birthday weekend and you reply - the war memorial.
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When you wake in the middle of the night from a nice peaceful sleep and realise you are thinking about the ancestor that has been giving you trouble finding things out about them.
Bev
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You are asked where you want to go for your birthday weekend and you reply - the war memorial.
Haha........or even booking a summer holiday to France specifically with the intention of visiting the WW1 war grave site where your great uncle is buried.
Carol
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... and offered a 'nice weekend away' and you chose the hotel that is 'comfortable, good food, good price, friendly' but don't mention it's bang in the middle of 'their villages' then spend the entire weekend taking 'random' photos of houses, farms, churches etc. Then when you get home OH says - 'it was so good to get you away from that family history stuff'. ;D ;D ;D
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....you look through a list like this and realise you do all of them too, but thought it was normal...
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you have so many FH links on that Favourites list that it's quicker to just tap the name of the website into Google rather than trawl through your Favourites list looking for it!
when you have a special folder in your favourites called Genealogy
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eadaoin
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You get excited when you receive new burial information and can't wait to visit the cemetery ;D
C
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when you have a special folder in your favourites called Genealogy
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eadaoin
You too? Oh dear, we need help!! ;D ;D
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Oh, sh*t! Absolutely ::) ::) Poor demented souls!
BumbleB
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Much to my shame, whilst taking 'Im Indoors to a hospital appointment, I heard myself saying 'Uncle Jack lived there - oo, that's where greatgrandad was married - oo, our Bill lived there before he ran away...'
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... and the only TV programmes you watch these days are WDYTYA, Heir Hunters and Masterchef (for a bit of variety).
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and Masterchef (for a bit of variety)
You mean you have time to cook??
Linda
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and Masterchef (for a bit of variety)
You mean you have time to cook??
Linda
Nothing wrong with watching Masterchef while eating chips from the newspaper!
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Nothing wrong with watching Masterchef while eating chips from the newspaper!
Thats more like it!
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Cook??? COOK????? Who said anything about cook???
I just like to watch how it's done.
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::) I woke up one morning and thought I was my greatgrandmother who was a miner's wife, and mother to 3 miner sons!! Truly, it was 6am and I was thinking I had overslept and had yet to light the fire and had all those "pieces" to get ready! ;D ;D
Jeanne
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Now that really is sad! :)
...unless you believe in reincarnation of course?
Linda
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;D Was a bit - when I realised I was ME, and getting up in the dark - I sat on the end of my bed and laughed and laughed! Totally nuts!
I'm really really interested in how my ancestors lived. This great grandmother, a miners wife - with 7 living children, 3 boys, 4 girls (lost 3), living in a 2 roomed row cottage in a mining village in Ayrshire, myGGF a coal miner, away to work in the dark, working all day underground, home in the dark - Monday -Saturday! How did they do it!
Another Great grandmother, from Yorkshire, married a Gentleman from London. They lived in what is now Notting Hill. He was later an Accountant with CPR. They had 3 children (1 died) then travelled to USA, had another 6, & then to Montreal , Canada, where they had their last child. Census entries show they had servants. After she was widowed at around 39, she travelled frequently between Montreal and England.
What a contrast there must have been in the lives of two of my great grandmothers! One great grandfather signs "X - his mark" on Certificates and the other "Esq. Gentleman".
I dream about them - probably that's why I woke up thinking I was a miner's wife! ::)
And yes, if I'm not sleeping and my mind is wrestling with a question of research - I'll get up and go online to see what I can find! So I guess I qualify as obsessive !! ;)
Jeanne
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And yes, if I'm not sleeping and my mind is wrestling with a question of research - I'll get up and go online to see what I can find! So I guess I qualify as obsessive !!
Well maybe just a tiny bit :) :)
Linda
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I'm really really interested in how my ancestors lived. This great grandmother, a miners wife - with 7 living children, 3 boys, 4 girls (lost 3), living in a 2 roomed row cottage in a mining village in Ayrshire, myGGF a coal miner, away to work in the dark, working all day underground, home in the dark - Monday -Saturday! How did they do it!
Jeanne, if you have access to iplayer, there was a programme on Beeb1 yesterday morning 'A hundred years of us' - in it one of the presenters has a go at being a coal miner. Just a little part of the programme but very interesting!
Love all the earlier comments. I'm glad it isn't just me!!
;D ;D ;D
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Oh dear,
I for one had a shock as well as a chuckle reading the above, and have to confess to all of them, but even worse - I drool like Pavlov's dogs everytime I see F&F's probate index on Heir Hunters - LOL
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Genealogist's Christmas Eve
'Twas the night before Christmas
When all through the house
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even my spouse.
The dining room table with clutter was spread
With pedigree charts and with letters which said...
"Too bad about the data for which you wrote;
Sank in a storm on an ill-fated boat."
Stacks of old copies of wills and such
Were proof that my work had become too much.
Our children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugarplums danced in their heads.
And I at my table was ready to drop
From work on my album with photos to crop.
Christmas was here, and such was my lot
That presents and goodies and toys I'd forgot.
Had I not been busy with grandparents' wills,
I'd not have forgotten to shop for such thrills,
While others bought gifts to bring Christmas cheers,
I'd spent time researching those birth dates and years.
While I was thus musing about my sad plight,
A strange noise on the lawn gave me such a great fright.
Away to the window I flew in a flash,
Tore open the drapes and yanked up the sash.
When what with my wondering eyes should appear,
But an overstuffed sleigh and eight small reindeer.
Up to the house top the reindeer they flew,
With a sleigh full of toys and 'ole Santa Claus, too.
And then in a twinkle, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of thirty-two hoofs.
As I drew in my head, and bumped it on the sash,
Down the cold chimney fell Santa--KER-RASH!
"Dear" Santa had come from the roof in a wreck,
And tracked soot on the carpet, (I could wring his short neck!)
Spotting my face, good 'ole Santa could see
I had no Christmas spirit you'd have to agree.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work
And filled all the stockings, (I felt like a jerk).
Here was Santa, who'd brought us such gladness and joy:
When I'd been too busy for even one toy.
He spied my research on the table all spread
"A genealogist!" He cried! (My face was all red!)
"Tonight I've met many like you," Santa grinned,
As he pulled from his sack a large book he had penned.
I gazed with amusement--the cover it read
Genealogy Lines for Which You Have Plead.
"I know what it's like as a genealogy bug."
He said as he gave me a great Santa hug.
"While the elves make the sleighful of toys I now carry,
I do some research in the North Pole Library!
A special treat I am thus able to bring,
To genealogy folk who can't find a thing."
"Now off you go to your bed for a rest,
I'll clean up the house from this genealogy mess."
As I climbed up the stairs full of gladness and glee,
I looked back at Santa who'd brought much to me.
While settling in bed, I heard Santa's clear whistle,
To his team, which then rose like the down of a thistle.
And I heard him exclaim as he flew out of sight,
"Family history is Fun! Merry Christmas! Goodnight!"
--Author Unknown
Jeanne
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This has been going on for a few weeks now. I've been putting off retiring for ages, but now paid work has started to seem an irrelevant intrusion. I keep trying test leads to try later on my own difference engine....
By the way, if downside should read this: you are right, but it seems I cannot reply just yet.
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This has been going on for a few weeks now. I've been putting off retiring for ages, but now paid work has started to seem an irrelevant intrusion. I keep trying test leads to try later on my own difference engine....
By the way, if downside should read this: you are right, but it seems I cannot reply just yet.
Welcome to Rootchat Stephen1917. Good luck with your retirement decision. Don't put it off too long. RootsChatters await hearing you're totally addicted too. ;D
As a Type A workaholic who retired Oct 1 and was then able to get my genealogy interest into gear I can tell you retirement is FANTASTIC!! I thought it was "transitionary project" and I am now fully and completely hooked. ;D
BTW You can't send a personal message until you've posted on the site 3 times, so that may be why you haven't been able to respond to downside. ;)
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I knewI was an addict when I woke up thinking 'Today is Sam Westwood's 170th birthday'....
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you have so many FH links on that Favourites list that it's quicker to just tap the name of the website into Google rather than trawl through your Favourites list looking for it!
when you have a special folder in your favourites called Genealogy
- - and it's so big that you have to have some sub-folders as well!
eadaoin
And when your genealogy folder is bigger than the rest of your favouries!
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you have so many FH links on that Favourites list that it's quicker to just tap the name of the website into Google rather than trawl through your Favourites list looking for it!
when you have a special folder in your favourites called Genealogy
- - and it's so big that you have to have some sub-folders as well!
eadaoin
And when your genealogy folder is bigger than the rest of your favouries!
Gosh, not thought of that one. I've got 18 assorted Genealogy files in my Outlook mail box, filing mails from different parts of the family.......perhaps a bit extreme, now I come to think of it...... ::)
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Not at all Igor.
I do that and I have one for you too. :)
Rishile
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....................you catch a glimpse of the label on your herb pot plant on the kitchen windowsill that says "Living Coriander".............and for one teensy-weensy split-second you think you could be related :-[ ;D ;D
Oh dear.
Mrs. T.
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;D ;D ;D ;D
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You want to rush away from the morning family breakfast to find out more on the death of 3xgreat grandad Joe Bloggs.
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When you see a name from your family tree in the local newspaper & wonder if you are related. If it's in the hatched, matched & dispatched, you wonder if you should cut it out & file it, just in case, especially if it's the death of a very old person.
When chatting to someone & they mention their surname you have to resist asking if they have done any family history, especially if it's a fairly unusual name.
I know a Hathaway, now who wouldn't like to get their hands on that name ;D
The worst one is knowing your credit/debit card number off by heart because you use it so much for certificate, subscriptions etc :o
Betty
<happily admitting to being an addict, & not looking for a cure ;D>
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Lay awake half the night wondering how you can convince OH that your next holiday really must be to Kenya (somewhere I've never wanted to go before) and the highlight would be a visit to the butterfly museum that was founded by my third cousin twice removed.
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Spend an entire week of glorious weather in the basement of the record office in Kendal . . .
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Better than getting frazzled by the heat.
Out shopping or at work and you get a new thought on tracing an elusive ancestor.
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when you go for a run on a sunday and you have to visit the cemeteries :'(
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When you get a precious couple of hours of 'me' time and you plan a soak in the bath, manicure, pedicure etc - but I'll just take a look at Rootschat first ::)
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But have you ever caught yourself reading the credits after a movie, just in case you see a match?
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Sifting through parish registers and the eye being caught by surnames which are the same as friends and work colleagues.
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Having a new link, I want to get to the Nat Archives to check out some recprds - keep thinking when can I make it
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Sifting through parish registers and the eye being caught by surnames which are the same as friends and work colleagues.
Speaking of same names, I have a William Coombs (b. c.1819 Beaminster) who settled in Crewkerne with his wife and family. Any connection?
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The three little words that have you quivering with excitement are:-
Search our Database
Rishile
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No hope for me then, we are on page 5 and I can relate to them all ::)
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1. Your friends dont come over anymore.
2. Your family wont speak to you
3 Your oldest Aunt hates the sight of you
4 Your oldest uncle pretends to have alzheimers
5 Your 2nd cousins auntie will never forgive you
6 your on a first name basis with the bloke at BDM's
7 Your bank manager questions all the payments made overseas
8 You cant remember all the login codes
9 Your cat trips you up so that it can be fed before you log on to rootschat
10 Your dog is now on speaking terms with the cat because you dont love him anymore :'(
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I thought the reasons for Nos 1 - 5 were another - er - personal problem I might have. At least I know now.
Rishile
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Today I went with my husband to put flowers on his father's grave which is in a cemetery some distance from where we live (35th anniversary of his death - OH has been many more times than me, obviously, and I only started FH research 4 years ago).
When Hubby went off to fill watering can to water grave, I found myself furtively and frantically scribbling down the births and death dates of father-in-law's two sets of parents on their graves, just to make absolutely sure I'd got the correct info.
I did spend a few minutes at them all in quiet contemplation and remembrance, but I still feel just a little ashamed. :-[ :-\
Mrs. T.
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No need to feel ashamed. I'm sure you're giving them a lot more thought than anyone else in the family! :)
Linda
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Thats right; respect is not only paid in quiet contemplation, but in recording their details, you are remembering their lives.
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I spent two hours looking through a graveyard for great grandparents I know are buried there - no idea if there is a headstone. Only been through about half of it so far with no luck so happily planning a return trip ;D. Did find Gt GdF's brother and another set of Gt GdPs unexpectedly so not total waste of morning.
Is it a bad sign if my mum says 'what have you found out now!' every time I phone for a chat??
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Linda & pineslave -
You've just made me feel a lot better about it, with very wise words. Thanks! :)
Mrs. T.
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So many of the above I can't quote them all!
also - when your 7 and 4 year old grandsons come to stay after a long absence, one of them is sleeping in the room you use as an office and you find yourself explaining to him who the people in the pictures on the bedroom wall are because you are under the impression that a 7 year old will really be interested in his great great grandmother!
As one of my sons would say "Yeah, right!"
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You did right of course, Mrs T.. I'm trying to locate my maternal grandmother's grave (hoping she has one). If successful, should I take a flower/flowers along? I never knew her; nor did my mother, though had she been kept I should surely never have existed in this particular body....
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Stephen, that's an impossible question to answer, but, do you know, as you have THOUGHT of taking flowers, it may well be that that is the right thing for you to do.
I think most people on this board find that their ancestors affect them greatly even though we have never had the opportunity of meeting them.
I had a look for my greatx2 grandmother's grave, and didn't find it. I hadn't taken flowers (I was on a country walk, so couldn't really carry a bouquet :)), but I think I might have picked some wild flowers for her if I'd tracked down where she was in the country graveyard.
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Thanks Igor. If I had a manservant, I should insist on his being named so! Moreover, I never tire of Sacre du Printemps.
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Me neither. I still think of it as my masterwork. Especially in the Fantasia version ;)
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Sifting through parish registers and the eye being caught by surnames which are the same as friends and work colleagues.
Speaking of same names, I have a William Coombs (b. c.1819 Beaminster) who settled in Crewkerne with his wife and family. Any connection?
Hi. Do you know who the parents of this William was?
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... on the "third date" you take a lady friend to a cemetery to photograph headstones ::) ... it also happened on the 4th, 6th, 9th, 12th dates after which I lost count ... ;D ;D ;D
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Having subsequent dates after being taken round a cemetery must be the definition of true love... ;D
Betty
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... on the "third date" you take a lady friend to a cemetery to photograph headstones ::) ... it also happened on the 4th, 6th, 9th, 12th dates after which I lost count ... ;D ;D ;D
and lost the lady friend? :o
I think you and she must have confused the term "dates" - in your case the interest was obviously 'birth' and death'!
Mrs. T.
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.........I forego yet another hairdressing appointment so I can spend the money on a couple of extra Certificates ::)
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When I was a kid, waiting for the bus to go home from school I used to entertain myself by reading all the gravestones in an old cemetary by the bus stop - that had to be a warning sign...
you know you're obsessed with FH when.... you get upset with family members who aren't interested, and can't see WHY they aren't interested!!
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When someone mentions they are interested in their family history,and you then dominate the conversation for at least half am hour with you latest research/interesting anecdotes/details of your brickwalls
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When you toss & turn all night seeing census returns, bmd's and then suddenly wake up thinking about one of the people you have been researching and can not get back to sleep for hours.
Or does that only happen to me.
Sharon
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Nope, that happens to me too! And if thinking about them doesn't keep me awake I just dream about them! :-[
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When someone mentions they are interested in their family history,and you then dominate the conversation for at least half am hour with you latest research/interesting anecdotes/details of your brickwalls
Oh dear, that sounds horribly familiar... I'm trying not to turn into a FH bore but I don't think I'm very successful
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Finding a lovely theory on an ancestor is blown apart by brutal facts and you wake up that night feeling sick in the stomach and ruminating over it, gutted. Over someone who died 150+ years ago.
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Upon hearing your aunt has died, the first thing you do is update her record in the database
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Upon hearing your aunt has died, the first thing you do is update her record in the database
Is it awful that I did just that when my uncle died last year?
In fairness I hadn't seen him since c1993 and very rarely before that.
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I must admit to being guilty of that as well. M-i-L died during the night & I was more interested in which side of midnight so I could enter the correct date!! (We didn't get on, so that's my excuse)
However, OH's niece was left a young widow with two small children when her husband was killed in a road accident, & it was many months before I could bring myself to enter his death in the family tree.
Betty
Upon hearing your aunt has died, the first thing you do is update her record in the database
Is it awful that I did just that when my uncle died last year?
In fairness I hadn't seen him since c1993 and very rarely before that.
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Yes, I agree with these sentiments.
My parents died 14 and 17 years ago and I still can't put their death dates on my tree. I know what they are so I don't need to record them.
Rishile
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Yes, I agree with these sentiments.
My parents died 14 and 17 years ago and I still can't put their death dates on my tree. I know what they are so I don't need to record them.
Rishile
I don't know the date my dad died. I know the month and year, and when it was within two days, but I've deliberately blocked the exact date, so I won't ever enter it on my database.
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It is good to know this obsession does have some limits.
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When you stay up until 1 in the morning trying to confirm a baptism is that of an ancestor.
When you are called away for dinner and think "But I have ancestors to research".