Author: Patsy

  • Citing Ancestry DNA tests

    IntroductionAt the last VicGUM meeting a few of us had a chat about citing our Ancestry DNA test results. I came away feeling that we hadn’t quite nailed it. There wasn’t that elegance of simplicity that happens when a solution to an issue really hits the mark. I didn’t want to make a bad decision. This…

  • Research my family history – No 2

    Research my family history – No 2

    Today I walked by the place where the Duke of Monmouth was proclaimed King in 1685. There is only one Balch recorded as being a Monmouth Rebel – Thomas Balch of Staple Fizpaine (just south of Taunton). Thomas Balch was recorded as being “out in the rebellion”. It was indeed fortunate that he was as…

  • Researching my family history – No 1

    Researching my family history – No 1

    Right up front. Thank you Ruby and Raymond of Digital Pacific for getting my website up and running again from half way around the world. Let me say that you each helped reduce my stress levels quite markedly and I am very grateful. The formal part of my researching and travelling finished yesterday. And what…

  • A little progress

    A little progress

    A little progress or none at all? I was taken by this little motivator from my gym earlier in the week: A little progress each day adds up to big results. The second week here in Salt Lake City is drawing to a close and it feels that I have worked into the night and…

  • Y DNA: Is it worth the expense?

    Y DNA: Is it worth the expense?

    Submitting samples for DNA testing can be expensive. Especially when testing for Y-DNA. If paternity isn’t an immediate issue does Y DNA testing assist in confirming our family tree based on paper evidence? Especially beyond census returns and parish register sources. Maybe so. Maybe not. Four years on from when I first opened the gate…

  • Lieutenant John Learmonth of the 2/3 Australian Field Regiment

    Lieutenant John Learmonth of the 2/3 Australian Field Regiment

    At the end on Crete he took to the hills, and said he’d fight it out with only a revolver. He was a great soldier … “I wonder,” mused my brother a few years ago now, “whether things would have been different if we had had uncles.” I stopped short. I treasured my two aunts.…

  • Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2017

    Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2017

    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.…