Making progress

The February update to the website is checked and ready to go.

All the records for my "personal" individuals (as opposed to my Wing records) have been standardized into page protectors and filed away alphabetically by surname into their new ringbinders. Before it was a different system depending on which grandparent's line I was looking at, none of them alphabetical oddly enough! I've also made a start scanning all the official birth, marriage and death certificates to the computer as before I only had a few in electronic format.

So I'm feeling very virtuous today, at least on the genealogical front.

Name index for the directories

The consolidated name index for the directories will be getting a makeover. There's simply no room for any more directories within it as it's currently formatted, so I've worked out a new format....and the good news is it will be much easier to update when further directories are added so I won't be nearly as cross-eyed and cross-tempered! Watch for the new version in February.

It's raining directories!

I've been trying to have a holiday from the computer this month - within reason of course, checking email twice a day and spending no more than half an hour on the computer each time is my idea of cutting right back. Unfortunately now the holiday is officially over and I'm back at work, and I don't think my bosses or clients would appreciate the minimalist approach!

So it's with some trepidation that I've been eyeing the 1931 Kelly's directory that Alison kindly provided to me, trying to psych myself up into converting it to HTML ready for the website. It's not actually converting that page that's the problem, it's incorporating the names into the master name index for the directories that's the time-consuming, eye-crossing and crazy-producing part.

And now I have another three new directories as well as that one to do!

Myrtle's monthly checklists

Many of you will be aware of DearMyrtle who has a blog, website, podcasts and more about genealogy. She is posting monthly checklists to encourage us all to get organized in 2009.

I do have a somewhat organised system, but it's definitely time to take a fresh look at how I have things filed away, and work out a better way of handling the genealogical-to-do pile (tower might be more appropriate than pile!). Myrtle's story about how difficult it can be to share your progress with others, and how much more approachable and engaging it could be if you took that into account in your organisation system, also gave me food for thought. So over the weekend I trotted off to get some fresh ringbinders and what-not from the local stationers and will be rejigging things over the next few months. Perhaps you would like to join me?

Her January 2009 checklist can be found here:
http://blog.dearmyrtle.com

I'm interested to see exactly how her system works. I'm not convinced I want to split my female ancestors' lives across their original surname and their husband's surname (or husbands' surnames, I can think of at least one ancestor on my tree who had three husbands) - but I'll withhold judgement until Myrtle explains it all!

WW2 - the Home Front

I recently received an email from a gentleman who worked at the depot at Wing during WW2, and his wife was a Land Girl billeted at "Harcourt" at Linslade. We'd love to hear from anyone else who was living in Wing or its surrounding villages during the war, working for the war effort in any capacity, especially if you moved to the area as part of that role.

1911 census available

The 1911 census website is officially live!
www.1911census.co.uk

This DOES include Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire, so you will be able to locate and download the household pages for your Wing families. If you are searching for a common name, it's a good idea to use their advanced search as you can put down another name that should be in the same household - and hopefully there will be at least one forename in the family which is unusual enough that you can be sure you are paying for the correct entry. I wouldn't have been able to locate my Hughes, Hall and White entries in London without that feature! For your reference, the Residential Place is Wing, the District is Leighton Buzzard and the County is Bedfordshire - you won't find your Wing residents if you include Buckinghamshire in your search parameters.

I won't be transcribing the Wing entries for the One Place Study website any time soon. There's two main reasons for this. Firstly the financial cost of downloading each individual household at £3.60 each is completely prohibitive (especially once that's converted into NZ dollar purchasing power). Secondly, the infirmity information is not going to be available until 1 January 2012, so I'd have to go back and redownload and repay to get that final piece of information.

Try not to crash their server, and please do let me know what you find out about your Wing families!

Stay warm!

I hope everyone in the UK (and Europe) has their heating working fine and are able to stay safely cuddled up at home. While it's very picturesque from a distance, I imagine it's gone a bit beyond a joke now if you're actually putting up with the cold snap day after day.

For those in the Southern Hemisphere, may a cool breeze waft your way and a frosty drink magically appear in your hand - I know I'm loving the summer, at least on the days I can lie around and do nothing! My strawberry plants, on the other hand, look a little worse for wear after another hot dry day.

January update

Happy New Year everyone! This month there's a new section devoted to the gravestones of Wing. These are grouped by surname, with a photo plus transcription of the inscription on the stone. If your family interests aren't up yet and you have photos of their gravestones, please consider emailing them through to me so they can be shared with other website visitors.