Hold the line please

The plans o’ mice and men gang aft agley – meaning I had planned all kinds of things to put on this blog by today, and I’ve allowed other things to distract me.  Principal among these was the arrival, from the National Archives, of my great-grandfather’s military service record.  This is a document that I’ve been looking forward to for years and finally it’s here.  I’m ridiculously excited by it.  Hidden among all that army terminology and scrappy nineteenth century writing are the answers to many things about this family, who have been my most elusive.  As I carry their name, and they lived not that long ago, I’ve always felt very frustrated by this.  However, true to form, its arrival has sent me into a spin and I’m wildly writing notes and finding new sources without any real focus.

Anyway, I’ll write more about this later, once I’ve calmed down and deciphered this document.

I’m planning a whole series of stories about the people in my history to form the core of this blog.  First, I need to pull a lot of research together for the sake of coherence and interest.  But to whet appetites, here’s my list of rough titles.  I was amazed that I could immediately find a dozen topics – but then, I do have a lot of folk.

• Betsy’s Story
• Linlithgow Burgesses
• Storiones & Reds under the Bed
• The Indian Connection
• What’s in a name?
• Mining tragedies & the women left behind
• Red herrings – everyone’s favourite fish
• Ontario – why was John left behind?
• Childhood seaside hols & the warmth of family
• What a Scottish shilling would buy you
• Have your ID ready, please
• The Somervilles of Pettinain