J is for Jubilation, Journeys, Juggling, Jargon & Jingles - A-Z Family History Challenge

Having just finished a quick sprint through one A-Z challenge from Ros at http://genwestuk.blogspot.com/, I could not resist participating in a further series from Aona at
http://www.gouldgenealogy.com/2012/05/take-the-family-history-through-the-alphabet-challenge/.




My focus here is on what we experience on our family history journey.

J is for:

Jubilation at making contact with distant cousins, as I have done through my blog.  I shall also be Jumping for Joy when I find that elusive  birth certificate of my grandmother.  

I have enjoyed many Journeys in pursuit of my family history. I admit none of the them were to exciting destinations or abroad,  but in  Lowland Scotland and the north of England.  But no matter where,  there is still something special in  travelling in the footsteps of my ancestors to find out where they lived, worshipped, went to school, went to work etc 

I am a great Juggler in my  history activities and have too many projects on the go  - trying to finish the major narrative of my own Danson family history, and that of my husband' s Donaldson family;  taking a renewed interest (prompted by my brother) into my father's Weston family - something that has taken rather a backseat to date;  plus record stories from my other family sidelines where there have been several developments lately.    I am also  trying to keep pace with particpation in various blogging series such as

• A-Z Family History Challenge at http://www.gouldgenealogy.com/2012/05/take-the-family-history-through-the-alphabet-challenge/.
• Beyond the Internet at Family History Across the Seas,
• Sharing Memories at  http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/p/sharing-memories.html 
• Life's a Journey at http://saveeverystep.wordpress.com/lifes-a-journey-series/

 Too many balls are in the air here, I suspect! 

"Don't Jump to Conclusions" is a  key lesson I have learnt from family history research.    Finding someone with the right name in the right place and around the right date  does not necessarily mean it is my ancestor, but it is a call for more corroboration.  

Like every pursuit, familY history has its own Jargon, and we do have to be aware of not bamboozling beginners with  constant talk of IGI, MIs and OPRs etc.   I get irritated by presenters on TV and radio news who assume we know what  all initials and acronyms stand for - particularly prevalent at the moment with all the financial news.  

I had to include here Jingles.   I came across this one  in a local history publication when researching the background of my great grandmother's Rawcliffe family from Hambleton, near Poulton-le-Fylde,  Lancashire.  It is an area of small villages, epitomised in:

Pilling for paters  (potatoes)

Presall for pluck

Hamelton for bonnie lasses

Stalmine for muck

I like to think my great grandmother Maria Rawcliffe (below)  was a "bonnie lass"
- and I am glad she did not hail from Stalmine!