UKBMD Launches Third Site for Military Links

While this isn't the sort of thing I usually post, being a big fan and a regular user of the UKBMD site I really wanted to pass this along to anyone with interest in UK records.

Today I received an email explaining that UKBMD has launched yet another site - the UKMFH or UK Military Family History. This is the third site they've created that's dedicated to links to online data for genealogy/family history research. For anyone who's got connections to the UK, these sites are worth a visit - there's too much to see!

UKBMD contains more than 1400 links to sites with UK birth, marriage, death and census information.

UKGDL site contains links to web sites with other online data such as trade directories and electoral rolls etc.

UKMFH contains over 1000 links to sites pertinent to UK military history.

My Project

Okay, so I'm not a scrapbooker... not in the cutsie die-cut adding scrapbooking way. But, I really wanted to make a book for my Mom about her family so I sat down with everything I knew that was interesting and pulled out all the documents I had, photos, stories and such and I got to work.

I was not planning on making a book of everything I knew about her whole family, but rather her Father and his immediate family, so I started with his parents.

The first page was an introduction and their marriage certificate, that's where the story began. I then gave information about their travel to the US, how the family was seperated for a few years and how one of her uncles was left in England.

After a page for each of her grandparents, I then created as many pages as needed for each of their sons, obviously her father I had a lot of information for and he ended up with 6 pages.

I created the book for my Mom back in 2008 and have just completed one for her brother (shhh, don't tell - it's a surprise) and will send it to him soon. I just wanted to share a few of the pages here.

Wordless Wednesday

Dorothy Leeming Bellew on her wedding day

with three family members

do you think they did it on purpose?

Tombstone Tuesday

My 2nd Great Grand Uncle Ernest Augustus Kidwell and his wife Katie Hart Kidwell; buried at the Flint Hill Cemetery in Fairfax County Virginia.

Baby Steps.... gotta get back into the swing!

Two months ago today, I lost my beloved Daddy. Since that time I've been spending evenings with my Mom, scrapbooking and scanning my Dad's family photos. My own, two month long Scanfest if you will. My research bug left me it seems and I couldn't even come up with anything to write about for my blogs. I was beginning to wonder if I will ever open my family file again, or find the same thrill for the hunt.

A couple days ago a friend of ours was on line and we were chatting about his family history and what areas his family was from.... baby steps in research began to overtake me and I began riddling him with questions about his family; who, where, when? military? married to who? maiden names please... any children? It felt as if my interest in his family was therapeutic in a way, suddenly I was printing out charts to complete and looking for gaps in the information to fill in for him.

Over the last few days I have also been finding that I wasn't interested in the other stuff that I'd been busying myself with since my Dad's passing. Specifically the games I've discovered on facebook, which are simply time eaters, very addicting and certainly keep me occupied, but not in a good way. These things were a simple distraction, keeping me from thinking about the sad fact that my Mom was now without her partner - and my Dad was gone - we couldn't ask him about the photos any longer and any questions that come up in the future would possibly go unanswered. Soon Mom would be going home to a house that was filled with memories of her time spent there with my Dad, and in the not to distant future, I myself will make that trip and I'm still not sure how it will impact me. Being here keeps it from being totally "real" if that makes any sense.

My Mom left my house morning, with all her things that mean so much to her in this world and her dog packed in her vehicle for the 4 hour trip home, but I'm still here at my home... removed from it in a way, yet aware that its been a difficult day for both of us and it's going to take time before we feel any relief of that.

In the meantime, in the genea-blogging world I see that there Winter Games going on, Carnivals coming up and everyone is still actively posting and I'm glad for that. I am loving keeping up with what all my blogger friends are doing, yet I still feel very removed from it all.. more baby steps to begin.

Wordless Wednesday - Posing at the water pump?

Cousin - Sally Watkins

Grandmother - Edna R. Keener

Both of these photos were taken at my Grandmother's home on Shady Grove Road in Gaithersburg, Maryland; sometime in 1953 or 54

UNCLE!

I know this isn't genealogy related... but "UNCLE!" with the snow!