Cyber Seance 1

[Moonwatcher]

Cyber Seance. 9 Jan 2005

Hullawrerr! Aw jine hauns an get ready furr oor furst seance. If yer oan yir ain, just fold yer erms.

As I sit here reviewing last year's researching and contemplating another year's rellie hunting, I began to consider how I organise my research compared to others. More than once I've heard Davie (Big Wullie) refer to his working in his Study. I cant help but picture the big mahoganay desk, oak pannelled room, shelves of genealogy books and publications. I can see the ornaments and display cabinets, proudly exhibiting artifacts from his family's history and mementos of trips abroad. His cat patters across his desk, purring and sniffing at the mounds of neatly organised papers and correspondence before trotting across his keyboard, typing 'axdevrbymilp' on his computer screen. Idyllic or whit!

And then there's Andrew, our resident map expert. How impressive his walls must be, bedecked with his antique maps and ancient town plans. Map drawers full of brown stained maps with the inscription 'Here be dragons' scribbled on their borders. His collection of compasses, protractors, sextants and... navigational twiddly things. Must be something to behold.

And Dweezild, our computer specialist. I'd imagine his Study looks like the control room at Jodrell Bank. Blinking lights, humming processors, screens displaying scrolling 'Matrix' style lists of unintelligible jargon, empty coke cans, and half eaten junk food.

So what of me? My Study? Well basically, I'm sitting on it. This armchair, laptop on lap and a battered pilot's document case that's never been off the ground, provide me with my 'base of operation'. I would've have had a Study – a room became vacant in 2003 when number three son decided it was time to spread his wings and vacate the nest. Unfortunately the air above his wings lacked the necessary lift and he returned with a fresh appreciation of the benefits of remaining in the nest for as long as possible – we feed him worms! Reference books and other bits and pieces are scattered around the house – The Broons and Oor Wullie annuals, Burrowes's Ireland is somewhere, History of the Forth Bridge is supporting a table leg at the moment, Rev IM Jolly's wee red book is by my bedside, Kathleen Cory's tome on scottish genealogy is excellent for showing off , Munro's Patter is kicking about somewhere, a brick, an artillery projectile, the usual kind of stuff! But no Study. I do have the cat though. A tempremental moggy, a milkaholic requiring professional help, usually placid and cuddly, but just as likely to rip your throat out if in need of a fix and denied the white stuff.

And so it's down to my laptop and the pilot's case. Inside the case, assorted documentation, letters and;

The Book of Names
The Book of Faces
Working Notebook.

The Book of Names is a large leather bound, ring binder, containing the BDM certificates (original, copies and downloaded) and Census forms of the main lines of my family. It's my equivalent of the Dome at Registry House. In this book are the documents of my forefathers. Some, very old, are fragile and in tatters, protected by plastic sleeves. A couple of years ago these were crumpled up, in grubby stained envelopes, lying forgotten at the bottom of musty drawers.

The Book of Faces is a traditional style photo album of old sepia and black and white photographs. They have been rescued from old biscuit tins, shoe boxes and, in the case of my Dad's precious army photos, from his wallet in which they lived virtually unseen for 56 years! Each photo is held in place by old fashioned cardboard corner brackets, ensuring no damage to these irreplacable family treasures. The pages and tissue inserts that protect them are non acidic. One of the first lessons I learned when I first examined these photos was the need to write details on the back of photographs once taken. Too many unknown faces stare out at me.

The Notebook is just that, an A4 'Black n Red' notebook that contains everything from detailed handwritten notes and pasted in bits n' pieces, to unintelligable scribbles and age/date calculations, some obviously scrawled in the wee small hours and under the influence of too many drams, illustrated by one half page of notes scored out and the letters C2H5OH scrawled over the top! Stuck on the inside cover of this book is the piece of paper that started it all. A yellow 'post it' sticker with the details of my grandfather'death. It was the first piece of information I gleaned from the Scotland's People site. It was the dark, bleak morning after my father's funeral, SP was just day's old. The sticker was soon replaced by an A4 sheet which soon evolved into a bundle and, within days, by the Notebook.

My laptop is my main source of information and houses the database of my family tree and family information. Soon after I started down the family history road I realised the need for some form of electronic storage and retrieval. I chose the software package 'Generations 8' not realising at the time that like Beta-Max, Sinclair C5s and Kodak 'polaroid' type camers, it was doomed to extinction – virtually as I was handing over my cash at the checkout! However, I have stuck with it and am loath to change to any other software, despite the fact that it is no longer available (so I cant be accused of advertising) and there is no update or customer help facility. It has proven versatile and reliable. On it I have scanned images of BDMS, census reports, photographs, war diaries, personal documentation etc. I like the layout and haven't found anything I like better. I'll stick with it until I've no option but to change. I hope that wont be for a long time.

So that's me. Pretty basic stuff really, not your professional genealogist by a long chalk, just an amateur family historian. Family history, I've found (and let this serve as a warning to all you newstarts out there), is all consuming. It's seldom far from my thoughts these days. For example, one of the prezzies I got for Christmas this year was Michael Palin's book 'Himalaya'. I opened it the other night and studied the two page map at the front showing the route of his journey through northern India and across the Himalayas. My attention was drawn to the area north of Dehli, in the Himalyan foothills. My thoughts were diverted to my father who was stationed as a gunner in this area during the period of partition. Apart from the old black and white photos I spoke of earlier, I know nothing of his time in that little corner of the world. I was soon back to seeking information on his regiment and the environment in which he would have found himself in during the time of India's independance. Mr Palin's journey will just have to wait.

So how dae you organise yer research? If ah learn yiv aw goat Studies, then nummer three son's gonae to get the heave ho. He kin go fine eez ain bliddy worms!

Bob.

[AndrewP]

(message to make the Cyber Seance posts appear in sequence)