How has your family history been doing in 2023?

[ptdrifter]

Broke down a long-standing wall when some new records came online, and it lead to finding a gateway ancestor in the process. Still got a 20 year old wall that stubbornly reduces to crack, where are you GT GT grandfather Bush?

[DavidG02]

A lot of expanding trees. Hopefully its all correct 

Made contact with a 1st cousin Ive never met and we are now planning a family reunion in January to catch up with one branch of the family. Pen and paper at the ready

Still no luck on Louisa Westmacott or Henry Simpson and Ferdinand Schumann  but we remain hopeful

[wilcoxon]

I found my Gt Aunt was removed from a bus in 1922, apparently she caused a disturbance by exposing her knees.
It seems she was a bit tipsy at the time .
Newspaper resources.

[Milliepede]

Be thankful it was just her knees 

[Erato]

No major break-throughs but I found a number of excellent photographs and newspaper articles,

[coombs]

Newspaper articles are a godsend. It was those who made me discover an ancestor sent to Australia. before I made the discovery, as I said, I thought a travel of 40 odd miles in the 1700s was a trek but when I found an ancestor did a 12'000 mile trip it made me realise a 40 mile, or 100 mile trip in the 1700s was easy in comparison. I guess a trip from Norwich to London on a horse and cart took 2 or 3 days in 1791.

[bevj]

I hardly find anything new these days.  I keep looking, in the hope that more records will come online some day, but I'm fast arriving at the conclusion that I'm reaching the end of the line as far as going back in time is concerned.  And my slightly more recent brick walls remain intact.
It wouldn't be fun if it was all easy, would it!
Bev

[coombs]

I hardly find anything new these days.  I keep looking, in the hope that more records will come online some day, but I'm fast arriving at the conclusion that I'm reaching the end of the line as far as going back in time is concerned.  And my slightly more recent brick walls remain intact.
It wouldn't be fun if it was all easy, would it!
Bev

Never give up hope but I do agree in many cases, you wonder if you have reached the end of the road with some lines and exhausted all the available records. One example is my ancestor Elizabeth Newman who wed in London in 1774 to Samuel Auber. I would think that unless there is some miracle in the future, it is going to be impossible to trace her any further, her baptism and parentage. Too many candidates with such a common name, also the fact she may not have even been born in London. One 1753 baptism added by a distant cousin was discarded by me when I found an infant death giving the same parents and right address. One only real hope now for my Elizabeth is perhaps autosomal DNA testing may one day shed some light.

[ptdrifter]

One other mystery to be solved is I have a photo of two unknown ladies in the early 1920s. One of them is of African descent. DNA tests show I have a tiny amount of African ancestry, which I know is to be taken with a pinch of salt, but I have a lot of 4th cousin matches in the USA with people of African American descent. Hoping that 2024 brings me closer to solving that one.
Good luck and good wishes to all for next year.