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lhree Urmes eat-grandfather rev.eaIs skeleton in my closet 11113rate tree dating back to 1665. Allan, a former police officer and university lecturer in computer and business studies, denies that he's an expert genealogist, but 1 believe other. 1 have seen him in action. Thanks to Ms sjVk - ail from the keys on his laptop - my trecurrenty features 507 rela- tives and 78 ph&ý and documents. FamlIy tree réOch has been popular for decades, but'M~ftrend seems to have really taken off with the arrivai of the Internet. No doubt most people tracing their British roots hope they wilI ultimateiy find royalty in their blood, but no such iuck for me so far. 1 have come to appreciate, however, how my English ancestors were struggiing to make ends meet, so in the eariy 1 900s they decided to seek a better lif. in Canada. That paved the way for the good standard of iving that théir descendants, like myself, en- joy today. 1 have to admit though, that a finding on my tree has revealed a skeleton in my closet. One of my three times great-grandfathers was shipped off to Australia for stealing. Allan lo- cated several newspaper articles citing this ancestor's shenanigans. But 1 prefer Ailans recent finding of a family line in Wakefieldl that links my tree to his. Yes, we are family. What are the odds? Progress on my tree continues. lt's fast and ef- ficient when Mlan goes to worlç agonizingiy 'slow when i take a crack at it. But Allan has convinced me that the road- biocks 1 have come across are common, and with experience, 1 wiil find my way around themn. There's stili much work to be done - many family uines that haven't yet been explored .. a lot to iearn. It's endiess really. 1 have an introduction on my tree website that includes an acknowledgement of ail the work Ailan has done. It reads: A special thank you to Allôn Green for his research expertise and extensive con tribu- tions in the development of this tree. Without his leadership and assistance, this project wouldn't bepossible. I could repeat this as many times as the number of ancestors on my tree and it still wouldn't be enough. Karen Miceli can be reached at kmiceli@milton- canadianchampion.com, or on Twitter @Cham- lpionEditor. ' W agiagvidt WagJag.com &*OmpUi dàý0 mmaoav 115__ 1=7