I was thinking about this recently as I have spent the better part of the past twenty years putting together our family history so that my children will know where and who they came from and so that they too can pass the information on to their own children and grandchildren. When the grandchildren start arriving it will be something I will be talking to them about, and maybe – touch wood – the great-grandchildren, and they will have their own memories of me when I am well out of this world. But their own great-grandchildren and THEIR great-grandchildren will only have photos of me and their dad to go by – if they are at all interested – and this is what got me considering the idea of sending a letter of some kind to descendants of mine who will not be born until well into the next century.

We were thinking about filming a ‘chat’ to our future descendants where we would talk about us, our family and the things we like to do. In it we would show the family car that we are driving now – seeing as cars will surely be different in the next century – we’d also show around the home, our local area and where we take our children – their ancestors – to play. Also we will talk about what is happening in world events, what we are watching on television, what things cost today and today’s technology…the X-Box, the laptops, mobile phones…heaven knows what kids will be playing with in 2115! of course we would record this all on a disc and naturally technology will have moved on in leaps and bounds by then, but updating and transferring this precious family documentary so that it adapts to future technology over the years will be a task that not only will be something for us and our children to undertake but for our future family members who will be around long after we are all gone. This will become our own family time-capsule and hopefully a family tradition for future generations to carry on.

Already we have made some fantastic breakthroughs of our own since the 1901 information has gone live, my own personal wish is that the Scottish records will be made available free of charge sometime in the near future, but I am not holding my breath…

Relatively simple as long as you can count…so here is a quick way to help you sort out all those relations.

Cousin…

Your first cousins are the people in your family who have two of the same grandparents as you. In other words, they are the children of your aunts and uncles.

Second cousins…

Your second cousins are the people in your family who have the same great-grandparents as you, but not the same grandparents.

Third, forth and fifth and so on…

Your third cousins have the same great-great-grandparents, fourth cousins have the same great-great-great-grandparents, and so on.

‘Removed’…

When the word removed is used to describe a relationship, it indicates that the two people are from different generations. You and your first cousins are in the same generation (two generations younger than your grandparents), so the word “removed” is not used to describe your relationship.

The words once removed mean that there is a difference of one generation. For example, your mother’s first cousin is your first cousin, once removed. This is because your mother’s first cousin is one generation younger than your grandparents and you are two generations younger than your grandparents. This one-generation difference equals “once removed.”

Twice removed means that there is a two-generation difference. You are two generations younger than a first cousin of your grandmother, so you and your grandmother’s first cousin are first cousins, twice removed.

Hope that makes things a bit easier!

Just to catch up; I have received a wonderful collection of information, files and photographs for the Hennessy research from some very nice people in Australia and I wish to acknowledge and thank them both for their help and interest.

Thanks to Marty B from Oakhust in NSW – Marty, it turns out, is a cousin through our Hennessey side and very kindly mailed me several files of Hennessey data. He has done a lot of leg work of his own, a true family historian always does, and has been fantastic in sharing his information. Thanks Marty!

Margaret Bevan – has generously assisted Marty by providing him with valuable family information, which he was able to send to me, and putting him in touch with other family leads. We all need people like this…thanks Margaret!

Bronwyn Grannall from McKay in Queensland – another wonderful person willing to assist others and make the job that much more fun and uncomplicated. Thanks for helping Marty out Bronwyn because it all helps others as well…thanks Bronwyn!

Now that I have this site up and running again I will be working at transferring as much of the detailed data that these great people sent to me. This is wonderful as not too long ago I had barely a trickle of info on the Hennessey’s – now we have a goldmine!

Over the past few years I have been in contact with many fellow genealogists and the one thing we all have in common is that elusive ‘missing link’ that exists in just about every family. It pays to spend some idle time just browsing around at what others have written; I certainly do. Step outside of that comfort-zone of the family names you are researching too because there are always things to discover.

Another thing; share your information and be generous. Yes, I know that gathering data can be time consuming and, often expensive, but one thing that really works in this genealogy thing is linking-up. Don’t be the type of person who thinks…”I paid to do this so you go find your own info”. I have encountered this and I do not understand it. Also, if you have old family photos and mementoes…share them with the family, let others have a look and record them. I have a distant relation who is possession of a precious and priceless item in the form of a handwritten diary that my GGG Grandmother wrote in her teens way back in the 1830′s/40′s. Among other items. When I enquired with her about 15 years ago if I could visit her and see these ‘relics’ she refused. She offered to send photos of them but I was not allowed to actually visit and view them. Silly, and so selfish. And pointless. Yet quite a common attitude from what I have been told by others who have experienced the same thing. Some people just do not like to share what they have.

That diary will be the subject of a special post in the not too distant future…

I have shared whatever info I have with various researchers over the years and have found it pays rewards. Take a look at the site of Antony Maitland and you will find a very well detailed stash of info. He contacted me a while back asking for some info and I gave it to him. The result is he was able to extend his work and record it for everyone else researching the same areas as he is. We can all help each other out and it pays dividends.

If you are looking for info regarding Australia then Genealogy in New South Wales will provide a great source of research including convicts, electoral rolls and immigration.

There are many huge and excellent sites around right now such as Genforum and RootsWeb but please consider those smaller sites that are put together by people like you and me. You will find that people are always willing to help out and you never know what you will find!

I have been visiting the UK and Irish state registry websites this past week trying to get some info on my partners great grandparents and I was struck by the way these places charge a fee before you can have access to the most basic information. Information that actually belongs to the public. I find this an absolute rip off; fair enough, I expect to pay for the issuing of certificates but I am strongly opposed to members of the public not being able to do a quick and basic online search for a relative who lived a hundred years back or further, for free.

If the NSW indexes can be made available online, for no charge at all, then why not the English, Scottish, Irish and Northern Ireland indexes as well?. To name but a few. Back in he old pre-internet days I could understand a cost being incurred; staff had to search and locate for you and this all took time. But with the internet now more than well established this information should be online and free to access. Right across the board.

Of course, money is behind the reasoning for this. They want you to pay, they want the revenue.