AncestryDNA Results

 My wonderful wife was not a fan of DNA tests, so I never took one while she was living.

But I have helped others with their DNA results, and after Judy's passing I decided to take the plunge. Ancestry had a Christmas Sale, and I ordered a kit. 

When it arrived I unpacked it, read the instructions and sent my saliva sample off to Ireland with the postage pre-paid by Ancestry, who were pre-paid by me.

Then the 3 month wait.

But this week I received my results.

I was hoping to find if I had a biological match with Kevin Welsh in Australia. I did! And the predicted relationship was pretty much as we expected, but we still do not know the surname of Robert Welsh's mother Jane. Robert's father was my GGF Richard Welsh, which was expected.

I was hoping for clues on my Reading family line, but had no success there.

The matches were interesting. I recognized various relatives names, and enjoyed viewing their family trees to see exactly how we are related.

But a real puzzle was a name that kept appearing in my closest matches on my paternal side. A first cousin once removed or equivalent. I ended up sending a message, suggesting that if they were adopted, my uncle Jack might be their birth father. The reply said that it was their mother who was adopted and gave a few details. 

I described my experience in 2008 of a phone call from a woman seeking help in finding her birth father. "Do you know of a William Buchanan who was a blacksmith at Millet, Alberta?"
"Yes, he was my grandfather."
"Do you know Jack Buchanan?"
"Yes, he was my uncle."
"He was my birth father." 
"Wow!"

She went on to explain that she was able to have her sealed adoption record opened and it clearly identified her biological parents. But no Buchanans lived in the Millet district, so she undertook the process of phoning all the Buchanans in Alberta, looking for the right family. To say she was glad to find me is a huge understatement. We exchanged information and she sent me a photocopy of her adoption papers. Clearly my uncle Jack was her biological father. Jack had been dead for over 30 years. 

I suggested that my new cousin try to get her mother's adoption record opened.

I was also able to send a message to a cousin, asking if he could send me copies of black and white photos that his sister sent me and I had lost in the intervening years. 

And who knows what else I may find?

I found a digital copy of the Evans Family Book

Back in 1985 I created a history of a few generations my mother's ancestral families. I called it the Ing Family Book. I sent a copy to Mom's first cousin in England, Jessie Louise Evans Anderson. Jessie and Mom were "pen-pals" who communicated by mail until Jessie's death in 1990. In 1967 I stayed with Jessie and her husband Wilfred for a few days, and I had a chance to meet many of the family.

In 1986 Jessie created the Evans Family Book, which included the life stories of her father's relatives.

Today I sent a digital copy to family members, using email addresses that may be 10 years out of date. I included this message.

"A few days ago I came across a digital copy I had made of the Evans Family book created by Jessie Louise Evans Anderson in 1986. I have enjoyed re-reading the stories and I thought you might enjoy them too.

"My wonderful wife of 57 years returned to her Heavenly Father on December 5, 2025. I have been in the process of sorting through boxes of family memorabilia. In the process I found my copy of Jessie's book, and then while searching for something else on my back-up hard drive I found a digital copy. 

"I hope you are all doing well, and that 2026 will be filled with times you can feel Christ's love.

"Bill 

"My blog: http://billbuchanan.blogspot.com
FamilySearch blog https://billsfamilyhistorycenter.blogspot.com"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You may remember that about 3 years ago I was contacted by a stranger from Scotland, who basically said:

"I see that you have a tree on Ancestry.com that includes Jessie Evans and Wilfred Anderson. After Jessie's death, Wilfred married my widowed mother, and I have now inherited my mother's photo collection. Imagine my surprise at finding large envelopes of Jessie's old family photos. Would you like them?"

My reply was an enthusiastic "Yes, please. They are my family." She refused to let me pay for the shipping and even gave me a link to scanned copies of the photos, so that if the postal systems lost her package, I would still have digital copies of the photos. 

Bless you Sarah!!! The world needs more generous souls like you!

Journals, diaries and personal histories

I am not aware of a technical difference between a journal and a diary, so I will just call them "journals". They are an on-going account of personal experiences.

Why bother to keep a journal?
Perhaps the best answer I have heard was by a teenage boy.
"I keep a journal to remind myself that every day I should try to do something worth recording."

My wife Judy kept "Gratitude Journals", where each day she tried to record something she was grateful for, and why she was grateful for it. I am sure her days were brighter and happier because she looked for things that were positive. In her words, these were "Tender mercies from the Lord."

Some people keep a "Journal of Spiritual Experiences". When life becomes difficult it is good to have a life-line to remind us of how God has touched our lives in personal and positive ways. 

What about personal histories? And haw are they different from journals?
They can certainly overlap, but I think of a personal history as an outline of the course of a person's life. The journal is there for the details.

A personal history by topics?
This actually breaks both molds but in some ways is the easiest to do  and the most interesting to read.
My daily life is highly repetitive, so my journal is very boring if someone wanted to read it.
But a personal history by topics, instead of being a time-line it lists topics that I find interesting and why I enjoy them. So each page or two has a different story. When I have a few minutes, I choose a topic (or create one) and write my thoughts about it than save the document, and go about my other activities.
See http://www.familyhistoryquickstart.com/writing-your-personal-history/

Some Possible Topics

Places you’ve lived 

Influential individuals from your childhood 

Favorite vacations 

Jobs you’ve had 

Thoughts on politics 

Religious views 

Favorite movies 

Civic and community service rendered 

Things you like to collect 

Write about your spouse 

Children

Your hopes and dreams and how they have changed over the years 

The automobiles you’ve had or transportation you’ve used. 

Places that you’ve visited and when visited. 

Your favorite hobbies 

What do you like to shop for 

Your impressions of the times, wars, developments, etc. 

Collections of writings or poems that you’ve created 

Listing of certificates and accomplishments 

Favorite restaurants 

Favorite music 

Operations you’ve had (not the most fun, but interesting) 

The top 3 most difficult things you’ve ever done or had to go through 

Memberships in clubs or churches 

Write about your siblings and other relatives, (their children may not be as lucky as yours. They may not have written memories of their parents’ youth) 

Gardens you’ve grown 

Favorite foods 

Games you like to play and why they’re fun 

Favorite recipes (some families like to hand down recipes). Wouldn’t it be fun if your descendants knew which ones were your favorite and you left the recipes for them? 

Your favorite time of year 

How Clothing Has Changed

Sports that you’ve played throughout your life 

Pets you’ve had 

Weather phenomenon you’ve seen or experienced. 

Technological advances you’ve seen in your day 

Spiritual experiences you’ve had 

Favorite toys you’ve had 

Thoughts on raising children 

Education achieved 

Activities you’ve participated in 

Favorite books

Happy Valentine's Day 2012

I am continuing to sort through our old photos and papers.

Today I found this hand-written Valentine card from Judy, that touched my heart deeply.

I wanted to share it with you.

Be my Valentine for time and eternity.
I love you Bill.

14 Feb 2012

Dear Bill,
I love you!
You lived a clean, pure, virtuous life.
You served an honorable mission.
You have served others.
You have used your priesthood to bless me and the children.
You have been a good provider and built us a nice home.
You have managed our money well.
You took the family on some memorable camping trips.
You took the children to all of the youth activities and church dances - which were many.
You supported me in all my callings.
You have been a help to our adult children.
You take me to all my doctor appointments.
You fixed the house.  The things that needed doing got done.
You give me a rose every Mother's Day.
You help me with my garden.
You help me with the big meals and special occasions.
I love you most of all for sticking with me through it all.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Judy

[I am glad that she thought that I was that good. I will love her forever! - Bill]

My wife Judy passed away on December 5th

My wife, Judy passed away on Friday December 5th. It is hard to lose someone who has been your sweetheart and best friend for 57 years. But I feel that my loving Father in Heaven has been preparing me for this time.

On April 21, Judy suffered a stroke and could no longer live at home. I have been able to ask for her suggestions to prepare meals, do cleaning, laundry, dishes, and so forth.

Every day I have tried to visit her for an hour or two. The amazing thing is that we have drawn closer during these visits than spending the whole day living in the same apartment doing our separate activities. Our marriage for time and eternity has become increasingly precious to us.

In recent weeks her health has declined, and on Monday December 1, she was transferred from continuing care to the Misericordia Hospital.

When I visited her on Wednesday December 3, she said "Let's go over my funeral program." So I took notes as she told me what hymns she wanted, and who should offer the talks and prayers. 

As I was driving home from visiting her on Friday December 5, I had a phone call from the hospital saying that Judy might not survive, and to notify the family.

I did this, and Laurel and Chris invited me to ride to the hospital with them.

Blaine was the first to visit Judy; followed by Andrew's family; then our granddaughter and her children; then James; Laurel, Chris and me; then Evelyn and her children; and Rob and his daughter.

James asked Judy if she was in pain and she said "No. I am at peace." I asked if she would like a priesthood blessing and she said "Yes" I asked who she would like to anoint and she said "James", I asked who should seal the anointing, and she said "You." In the blessing I asked Heavenly Father to help her in her transition to the spirit world, whether now or at a later time.

Her eyes flickered open occasionally but, usually she seemed to be asleep.

We visited among ourselves for a while and then left.

Before we reached home, I had a phone call from the hospital saying that Judy had passed away peacefully about 8 pm.

Each of us will die sooner or later, I am glad that in Judy's case it happened peacefully in her sleep. And in her final minutes here, she was surrounded by her family expressing their love for her. And I am grateful for the tender mercies of God that I have personally experienced over my lifetime.

Through the grace of Jesus Christ, I look forward to spending eternity with this amazing woman who has been my friend and companion through most of my life.

Her funeral will be in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Spruce Grove, at 9:30 am on Friday December 19. For those unable to join in person, a Zoom link is provided below:

https://zoom.us/j/95984688475

Greetings and memories

 As I have tried to do daily visits to my wife in her nursing home in Edmonton, I have not given much attention to my blogs. I apologize.

But I recently received an email from a long-time friend, who is planning to serve in FamilySearch Support. This brought back a flood of memories. 

This is what I wrote to him. I will share it with you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Bob,

I loved my service in FamilySearch Support.

But after 10 years total, I knew it was time to accept my release.

That was 5 years ago. 

It was a perfect mission for me.

I am grateful that an old friend, Peter Darby suggested it. Judy and I had planned to serve a full time mission together when James finished his mission. But Judy developed serious health problems.

So when Peter phoned me and asked me if I had considered serving a mission from home in FamilySearch Support, I asked him "Is that possible?"

"It sure is! I am doing it. Would you like me to give you some information?"

"Yes, I certainly would!"

Soon I was helping to introduce "The New FamilySearch" to the world. That would be about 19 years ago now,

Best wishes for a joyous Christmas for you and your family.

Bill 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And may each of you also feel a special measure of love and peace in this season.
Christ lives and so shall we and our loved ones.
God bless you. 

Bill

Finding Records in England for people living elsewhere

Supposing that you find an ancestor in the 1916 Canada Census who was born in England.
How do you find them in records of England or Wales? For example:

 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6QLS-ZN4?

You want to know the maiden name of Annie, who is married to George W Potter and  is the mother of the family in this census record. We are looking for one specific person and we do not know where she was from, only "England".

We notice that she had two children born in England, Charles A, born about 1895 and George W, born about 1897.

I would start by looking for the births of both sons in the same specific place in England. (Yes, there is no certainly that two children born to the same mother, two years apart were born in the same place, but the chances of this happening are excellent.)

A good starting point is the FreeBMD site, which lists Births, Marriages and Deaths recorded in England and Wales since 1 July 1837, https://www.freebmd.org.uk/

First let's look for all children named Charles A Potter born in 1895. We will list his given name as Charles A*, so that it will find all middle names starting with an A. We will search 1894-1896.

Then we do the same thing for George W* Potter born in 1897, searching  1896-1898.

Then we compare the two lists for matching places. Dover looks like a good prospect.

We can search the matching people for a mother's maiden surname that also matches. We can do this with a free account at the UK government site: 
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/Login.asp

If you have an account at Findmypast.com this is easier than the General Registry Office site.
https://www.findmypast.com/

Now to confirm that Annie Craig was married to George W Potter, let's try to find their marriage using FreeBMD.  We will guess that they married during 1890-1895. Voila.

When we click the link to the page number we see:

"Surname First name(s) District Vol Page 
Marriages Sep 1895
Craig Annie Dover 2a 1707   
Martin Alice Ann Dover 2a 1707   
Munday William Henry Dover 2a 1707   
Potter George William Dover 2a 1707"   

The names are listed alphabetically rather than as couples. Two marriages are listed on that page of the register book, and we see the names of Annie Craig and George William Potter, whose marriage in Dover was recorded during the September quarter (July-August-September) of 1895. Their marriage may be prior to the September quarter, but that is when it was registered with the government. 

This information should help you find them and their ancestral families in additional British records.