Many thanks to fullscott and Michelle Wilkes

[Pam Downes]

Those of us who are used to wading through parish registers and the like in search of our ancestors know how long the process takes before we even get to writing any information we find. And then we have to enter that information into our records. (For newbies, trust me, the process can take hours. :smile5: )

And if, while you're ploughing through looking for your own details, you also note records that can be useful for other people who wouldn't be looking in that particular 'book' (e.g. if your person was born in London you wouldn't be looking for their baptism in Norfolk) then at times it can seem never-ending (even if you do get a real sense of satisfaction when you finally post that information where other people can see it).

So stand up and take a bow, fullscott and Michelle for your untiring work re the WW1 Service Records and strays in parish registers respectively.

|bowdown| |bowdown| |bowdown|

Thank you

Pam

[christanel]

Pam
Thank you so much for posting this tribute to the great work being done by Michelle and fullscot. We at Brit-Gen are very aware of the time, effort and patience they expend on these projects which saves us a great deal of time and effort!

I endorse every word of your post.

Christanel

[Ladkyis]

I would like to add my thanks to this thread. Fullscot and Michelle I thank you for the gift of your time, something I can never give back. Your help to other members of BG has been inspirational in what has been a strange and changing year. I am so grateful for your work.

Thank you

And my thanks to Pam for starting this thread

[Sue Mackay]

Yes indeed. The Strays Forum (http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/448-Strays) here on BG has turned into a highly useful resource. It is well worth using the Search this Forum button. My thanks also to Jane (fullscott) and Michelle for their tireless work

[CanadianCousin]

Hear, hear!

[fullscott]

Oooh, it must be nearly Christmas - all this love and warmth being expressed.

It is very nice to know that my efforts are appreciated (can't speak for Michelle, but I bet she feels the same). Thank You.

I would like to add that I'm not trawling WO 363 for BritGen members ... my ambition is to find those WW1 boys who've been mis-filed (by carelessness & accident) and put them out in the open, so that one day their descendants can find them and be proud of their efforts.

So if you're fobbed off with the "60% was destroyed in WW2" excuse, just remember that paper doesn't burn that well when it's in large quantities. The Army wrote everything in triplicate. "60% of the paper" does not mean "60% of the names". I refuse to believe that there's not a trace of every single soldier - somewhere.

A Peaceful Christmas to You All

Jane

[Wilkes_ml]

I agree with Jane, thanks for all your appreciation.

I know how hard and frustrating it can be when you can not find an ancestor's marriage or death...I still have a few that will probably never be found. And with pre-civil registration being a minefield, I feel that it is my duty to current & future genealogists to at least give strays a place where they can be found easily. It only takes a few minutes to write a few lines. I know that many strays may become identifiable on free reg of OPCs some time in the future, but many people assume that 17th & 18th century folk didn't travel far, and hence do not think to search counties at the other end of the country!

I have also learnt a lot...my biggest one was how popular it was to travel miles to a distant church to get married, especially if you were widowed or marrying your dead spouse's brother or sister, the high rate of adult baptisms, and the fact that many registers did not survive, and those that did were actually copies of the original register, or day/week books.

I have taken a little break, but looking forward to solving more puzzles and sharing more strays.

[Zen Rabbit]

hear hear seconded