A-Z Challenge 2015 - Theme Revealed

"Family History -  
Sources & Stories" 

is my theme for the
2015 A-Z Challenge.

I am a family history enthusiast, based in Scotland,  sharing my interest on my blog  Family History Fun.  In previous years of the Challenge. I have taken as my themes " A Sense of Place" and "My Scotthish Borders".  This year I am reverting to what I know best - Family History. 

Family History is so much more than names and dates, but all about discovering stories.  So in this challenge, I shall be  exploring a range of records that can  help you find out  about the lives and times of your ancestors and  in turn enhance writing  your family history.  For it is the richness of the detail in our family stories that make them so fascinating  to ourselves and interesting to others.

Much of my focus will be  on Scottish records, but I shall also be looking at sources (both formal and informal) that  I have used to tell the story of my English ancestors, going well beyond the standard big three of  Certificates, Censuses and Church Records.

I hope you will find the suggestions useful, particularly if you are at an early stage of your ancestral trail. 

As an introduction 

A is for: Adventure - when I started toying with the idea of tracing my family history, how little did I know on what a journey of adventure it would be - finding my way through the resources; alighting on surprising coincidences such as my great grandmother Maria Rawcliffe  born the same day as my daughter 114 years later;  discovering I had American connection;  hitting obstacles with the birth of my grandmother and the name of her mother remaining  my major brick-wall;  being at times astonished, puzzled  and moved by what I discovered.  

Here is a taster-  
I shall be looking at Archives & Anecdotes, Bibles, Businesses & Black Sheep,  Epitaphs & Ephemera, Funerals & Farming,  through to Mortcloths & Militias,  Occupations & Obituaries,   Sasines & Statistical Accounts, Timelines & Taxation, Wills and War,  ending with Z for Zeppelina  - a Christian name I came across in a 1916 newspaper report.  

So do join me on this A-Z Journey  and share with me your comments.

 A photograph that started me on my ancestral trail.  My aunt Edith & my mother Kathleen Danson  are the two little girl  at the front of this parade in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, c.1912.  My mohter (on the right) does not look too happy, but is so cute in her little boots and big hat.  

Thank you for your interest