Where do I start? What jumps into my mind is the 1969 song, “Where Do You Go to My Lovely” by Peter Sarstedt, especially the last two lines of the chorus:
“Tell me the thoughts that surround you,
I want to look inside your head, yes I do.”
Dreams.
Little did I realise back at that time, I would dream of travels that would begin a journey that would open up the world to me, not just in travel but in finding where and who I came from. My travels began in 1976. The travel bug got me. My next trip was to England in 1978. Back in 1977 I began a task, little did I realise that joining all the dots would create an everlasting exploration into my family’s history. Check out “How & Why I Started” posts. https://ancestorfamily.com/2023/01/31/how-why-i-started-part-one/.
My interest in family history had hooked me. Now 48 years later, my head is full of so much knowledge that at times, it hurts.
Celebration.
Our stories criss-cross with others in this life. This is my 100th post. It is a celebration of reflection of my journey. I started this journey as a family historian. My stories are about my ancestors who have left this world. What we as humans forget: We are all born and we all die. It’s the in-between bits that are different.
Old Ways.
When I create my ancestors’ stories, I add context. This brings them alive. I don’t just collect names, dates and places. In the early days of research, it wasn’t instant gratification. Back in the mid-1980s, I would search through large books of indexed records to locate a birth, marriage or death, to obtain a certificate. Place an order and wait for the post to arrive. Planning is very important. Doing the research prior to a visit was always helpful. However, since computers arrived, you can research anywhere at any time. It seems too easy. Remember, not everything is online.
Travels.
I have visited most of the areas in England and Scotland where my ancestors once lived, worked and died. You cannot beat being on location. Sometimes, you may need to go out and explore – libraries and archives come to mind. Be aware of instant gratification, especially those hints/suggestions made by organisations. Please verify every hint or suggestion before adding them to your tree. If you don’t, your tree may bear bad fruit. It only takes “one bad apple”.
Blog Journey.
My first blog was posted on 26 January 2023. It has taken a lot of time and effort to get to this 100th post. I start out with pen and paper to handwrite the content. I will not bore you with the process up to publishing. It takes awhile. I write how I speak. I am not perfect and do not pretend to be an expert.
Title List.
I created a list of every post. The titles used, come from the heart. When scanning through this list, I never realised the titles form part of a road-map into the adventure contained within the content. At times, you may see a music theme. It fits the content most of the time.
2023.
The writings in the first half are around establishing the groundwork. The “How & Why”, errors and a mix of discoveries as research occurred with all the twists and turns.
In the second part, I covered my own discoveries and some appear as a series: my grandparents, my ancestors’ voyages to Queensland, Australia and my 7 great-grandparents. The odd one out, is titled “State Pension: UK”, you may wonder why? Check out this link. https://ancestorfamily.com/2023/12/15/state-pension-uk/. These are examples of how to write your ancestors stories.
2024.
The first 5 months, I wrote about family history societies and the importance of being a member, local Australian resources and how they can assist with your research. YouTube is a place where you can get lost. Check out my link. https://ancestorfamily.com/2024/03/01/step-back-in-time/. When heading online, the vast number of websites can get you lost too.
In June, I covered learning, questioning and how things get in the way. Up to this point, I was publishing weekly. I took a three-month break returning in October with posting every two weeks. The posts were my observations and checking out Artificial Intelligence (AI). Please note, I will never use AI to write my content. However, I do use AI as an assistant to give me ideas. I spent a week chatting with my assistant to come up with possible content for this 100th blog. Some of the ideas were, shall we say “stupid” with a lot of assumptions made.
2025.
Starting out with reflection, then a series, an adventure back to my hometown and hanging out in cemeteries. This led to writing family stories. A weather event played its part with a pending natural disaster with a family history twist. Check out this link. https://ancestorfamily.com/2025/04/04/alfred/. My laptop died which led to writing about backups. It takes no time at all. How long would it take to recover everything if you don’t do backups? Then, I was off on a rollercoaster ride with time, the effects of researching and what happens if…
All these writings provide ideas to write your stories. The latest adventure series relates to using local resource materials. I repeat, not everything is online.
Ramblings.
Wow, what a journey. These are my ramblings of my storytelling. AI tells me I am a storyteller first and a family historian second. What do you think? Have you enjoyed the journey? Has it encouraged you to put pen to paper – oops that’s old school – fingers to the keyboard, as it is today. Remember, I go looking for dead people. Many of my friends tell me, “You should have been a detective”.
Thank You.
For those of you who have been on this journey from the start, I’m grateful. For those just finding me now, welcome on board. There is more to come…
Next time: Beyond 101… Published 24 Oct 2025.
Acknowledgements:
“Where Do You Go To My Lovely” Peter Sarstedt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqgCnjJVfSg
Photographs: All created via ComfyUI except “Title List”, “2023” & “Thank You”.
Title List – own photo
2023 – Original drawing by JM with “2023” added via Corel Photoshop (own software)
Thank You – created in Canva. https://www.canva.com
Ancestor Family 