Have A Wicked Xmas!

Somewhere... in an alternative Universe!

....and?

It's No Excuse!

Well, I've been at this family tree lark for over 15 years now, and the family tree as it stands, with both my side of the family and the wife's side combined, has around 12,000 individuals. I never intended to create anything so huge, it simply snowballed as soon as I first put the tree on to a few Internet sites. Suddenly I had all these descendants of Scottish emigrants from various parts of the globe, contacting me, saying they were related.

Well, that's all well and good, but I still haven't come across anyone particularly well known. The nearest I've come so far is a Northern Ireland International rugby player and TV broadcaster / sports commentator, who unfortunately died in a hotel fire just as his career was really taking off. I don't doubt some famous (but distant) relatives will turn up. The odds of not finding at least one must be very slim. It would also be nice to make some noble connections working back the way, and although there are suggestions of royal descent, finding evidence is difficult, especially as records in various places were badly kept or non-existent. My Irish forebears from Drogheda and Ardee might as well not have existed, such is the dearth of information about them. Even 100 years ago, there's virtually nothing.

I have noticed though, that thise families which departed the shores of this sceptred isle, tended to do very well for themselves, through luck, endeavour or accomplishment. I suppose starting again somewhere new will always supply the motivation to succeed. It seems to me that very few of those who started new lives far from home, ever met with failure or disappointment. That's something I may well bear in mind when faced with a similar choice myself. That day may not not be too far distant!