A long overdue update finally, the personal adventures seem to be down to dull roar for the moment allowing me some time to get stuck back in to some genealogy stuff at last.
First and foremost, I've decided that I won't construct a newsletter after all, a few reasons why. This update is in a sense a newsletter of sorts anyway. I'll expand it a bit with some other
relevant news and it'll be somewhere in between a full blown newsletter and a simple site update perhaps. Probably more efficient in the long run and will be certainly easier for me, we are after just the facts anyway not the fluff. Another reason is I never did get any submissions from anybody which gave me pause for thought.
So, to business. While was missing in action we gained 10 more official members.
202. Grant Boniface Internet UK
203. Caroline Ruth Tazzyman Internet UK
204. June Harvey Internet CAN
205. Kris Owen Internet AUS
206. Terri Hollman Internet UK
207. Christopher Harrison Internet UK
208. Steve & Doreen Vine Internet AUS
209. Gordon Cameron Internet NZ
210. Helen Brown nee Boniface Internet NZ
211. Karen Nicola Boniface Internet UK
Not all their details have been added yet, I'm waiting for some emails back.
This makes a grand total of 215 members and 128 on the mailing list at time of writing.
While perusing the members gallery I noticed that some of you earlier members need to actually provide some details and I'm sure some of the main lines are longer now too. Can all of you check your entries for this and any errors I may have made too? I have been known to move members from where they live to another country for instance faster than Dr Who.
MOST IMPORTANT! If I have missed someone that should be in the above list please email me and let me know. Also if you have emailed me and didn't get a response try again, it was pretty messy this last few months.
Queries:
Can anyone help?
"I am Heather Goodwin and I am trying to trace my family Tree. A female Boniface married a James (Jim Fewell approx 1885 Sutton Surrey, England. They had 2 sons Jim and John, think they ended up in Vancouver, Canada - Jim became a Group Captain in the RCAF. Would love to fill in any gaps in my tree. My G.Grandmother was James Fewell's sister etc etc".
(I don't post email addresses here but I can pass any info on to Heather).
Coming Events:
Roll Call
I've reset the countdown for the next mailing list roll call and I've added a note to that area. It says, 'Even if you missed this years June 5th roll call you can still post it on the mailing list, the roll call is in effect never really over until the last person posts'.
2005 Michigan Reunion
It's still a go on July 31st but location has yet to be confirmed. Either Michelle or I will post on the mailing list and blog the latest.
2005 Great Britain Reunion
Last thing I heard was that Chris Bareford was planning to have one but it would be in the fall. Haven't heard anything since, perhaps someone could bring me up to speed so I can update the website with the most current news?
Boniface Bits:
Small extracts sent to me, I'll add them to this section for the time being and later make a web page for them as I get more.
(Feel free to send me any entries you come across during your research however small).
Found in the Epsom burials
Elizabeth BONNIFACE, lived Reigate burial Apr 20, 1846 Epsom, age 17 months.
Provided by Paul Eggleton
Members Document List Additions:
Remember the point of this section is advertise what certificates members have, might save some money for someone else
doing the same research. Good place to check first before ordering.
Member 206. Terri Hollman has provided a list of 18 certificates.
Ancestor Gallery:
Lyn Brooke has provided us with another picture of the Bexhill Banquet Dinner 1902 - Mr E. B. Boniface
We had this before but got mislaid somewhere along the way.
Obituaries:
I did manage to add the obituary that Alan Alan Nicholson while I was down south.
...have more to add, Hadrian has sent me quite a bit of stuff for starters. I have to go to a cookout barby and spend some time with some live rellies otherwise I'll get heck.
17 Mar 2005
I think I have 'Our BIG blog' back up and running, will transfer the old entries from the other one later and get the BIGAlerts back on track.
We welcome two new members 200. P. Huckstep and 201. Michelle Attwood, both of the UK, Michelle connects to my Dunkerton line.
04 Mar 2005
Only did part of the update I had originally planned, work rears it's head again to tear me away and internet connection went south for awhile.
We welcome (officially) four new members:
196. Paul Boniface, 197. Paul Marley, 198. Tony Boniface, 199. Peter Boniface, all of which are from the UK. A bonus for me as 196. Paul Boniface connects to my own line. This also means that we have gone over the 200 member mark.
Carl Boniface alerts us that he has relocated from Brazil to the UK, his members entry has been updated accordingly.
Sue Boniface wishes to alert the group that 192.com is now free.
We also have some questions from Hadrian and he writes:
"I counted 38 families in the 1861 census. If anyone has any money, could they get buy some units so we could share these images? I have browsed their website, and I can't work out what a unit is. Does anyone know the answer to this question so as I can calculate the amount of money needed?
Haven't changed the password yet and have moved it to the back burner for the moment.
I'm testing a more robust version of the blog so look for that to come back on the air later.
I plan on a short trip down south at the end of the month but plan to publish the newsletter before I go. Deadline for any contributions is a couple of weeks away now.
04 Feb 2005
We welcome two new members, 194. Anji Boniface UK and 195. David King FRA. This by the way takes the number of members to 199! This number does include the honorary member and the three members of the group who passed away before a numbering system was used, but still who would've thought.
Paul Boniface has provided us with a temporary replacement for the corrupt MEGA file that Hadrian had loaded on his portion of the website. The file is from just before Christmas so it's a fairly up to date replacement. I've created a temporary home for it linked from the main menu of the members area rather than replace the one that Hadrian has. Hadrian by the way is in the Congo at the moment experiencing a cranky internet connection in case anyone is trying to contact him and doesn't get a reply, we'll have to be patient I guess. Thanks again Paul.
As I said I plan to restart the newsletter this year. I've decided that I will keep it in the members area that way I can put any contact info, links or pictures in it without the unscrupulous getting a hold of it. Way back we did have a small group that were not on the computer, how many of them are still out there is unknown, it's been years since anyone actually wrote to me via snail mail. For starters I plan to contact Hugh to see if anyone still contacts him that he knows doesn't have access to a computer and see if I can't recapture the attention of any mail only potential members. One of the ideas floating around way back was to have members in the countries or area of a mail member print off the newsletter, mail it to them from there saving me from sending out a whole bunch from one country. I'm sure we're not talking about large group of people here either, back then it was only ten or so and some of them are members via computer now. Anyway, if anyone is interested in helping out in that regard drop me a line to volunteer. So...I mulled over at great length the name of this 'new' newsletter and decided on 'The BIG Beat', somewhat campy I suppose but it seems to be only used in the music industry when I Google it. I plan to publish quarterly again, first one will be the end of March. This is also a call for submissions for it too, you can write about anything you wish that you think maybe interesting to the rest of the group. Some of the interesting things that were written about before were trips to Salt Lake, this would be a good subject to update anything different these days from such an expedition. You can not only write about this but your trips to any record depository, anywhere in the world. Some of you wrote really interesting articles about your ancestors or about a particular brick wall you have, perfect opportunity to spread the word amongst the group, the more that know about it the better chance for a solution. Some of you provided full blown extracts or pieces of interesting items you ran across. You can provide a puzzle, crossword or jokes of a genealogical nature too. A newsletter is many things, everything that's happening is brought together, not everyone is on the mailing list remember. Most importantly the newsletter is yours and as I've said before I can fill up the pages probably but it's much better if there a contributions from the group.
Louise Genge provided more pictures that I've placed on the Great Britain's Reunion page, you can find them by scrolling down to the bottom to find her link then I've listed them below the two pictures she provided previously.
Put a note on the Great Britain Reunion page about the plan to have one for 2005 and to contact Chris Bareford for details.
Added family tree files, in Excel format, provided by Member No. 32 Bruce Michael Boniface.
Paul Boniface has provided us with more Pope info that was listed as 'details to be obtained' in Terry Wall's Treatise. Link below Terry's on main page of the website.
In our Document Gallery I posted one of the interesting finds among my Father's papers, my Grandfather's drivers licence.
When I discovered this document I, at first, thought it was my Grandfathers drivers licence for a car. A second closer look at the details though makes it obvious that this was a licence to drive a public vehicle of some sort. The date seems to be 1943, which makes it during the blitz in London? My Mother says he did drive the red double-decker buses in London but doesn't remember when and he also was a fireman during the blitz too she says. The badge number on the document alludes to a bus driving licence perhaps and there's no family story to support driving a fire engine. The address listed on there provides further tantalizing clues for continued research too.
I've saved the results of the last poll and asked some new questions in an attempt to get some more feedback.
To cast your vote in the new one go here
22 Jan 2005
Officially added the following eleven new members. 183. Nissa Armstrong - Poll, 184. Julian Boniface, 185. Wayne Boniface, 186. Michael J. Meacham, 187. Melissa Gajewski, 188. Sandie Mustchin, 189. Lindsey Cooper nee Boniface, 190. Michelle Boniface, 191. Gary Boniface, 192. Alan Roy Boniface and 193. Paul Boniface.
Decided against changing the passwords for the members area just yet because of all the new members, will probably wait a couple of weeks until say first week of February.
Added the obituary for Dennis J. Boniface that was posted on the message board. I'm still looking for a picture of Dennis to add to his remembrance page of the website by the way.
Added the certificates that are in Michael J. Meacham possession to the Members Document List.
Added a link in the United States part of the extracts section to the USA WW I Draft Registration Cards that are in the document section. I'll be linking more as I come across opportunities to do this.
Cleaned up the main navigation page of the members area, redundant links removed.
Started adding notes to members gallery entries, more info than main line may be helpful I think. By this I mean pertinent info garnered from your emails that point to brothers and sisters of listed main line ancestors and their children which may provide more opportunities to make connections among you. You can add family pictures if you want too or anything else you would like to share with the group. This may also be a good time to mention that your currently listed info may be out of date as your research has progressed, feel free to send me any updated info. If you want this or anything extra added to your page let me know.
Still much more to do yet of course, there always is but run out of time as usual.
17 Jan 2005
This is the first entry of the new (old) method of relating website changes, additions and events affecting BIG (Boniface Internet Group). Some will recognize this as the way we used to do it of course. I did a face plant unfortunately on the blog idea because I was unable to stop the comment spamming in it, which is too bad really because it's potential as a communication tool was enormous.
So, we personally had a rocky end to a rocky year, with the Mother-in-laws illness during the year, and with my Father's passing just before Christmas. Thank you all who sent me condolences by the way, it was really appreciated. I do intend to reply individually to each one of you but it will be a few minutes as I did get rather a lot of emails. I have to admit I was somewhat surprised at the amount but perhaps I shouldn't have been as BIG is a wonderfully special group of people. Usually I have a New Years message that basically goes over the previous year and some ideas for the coming year, it fell by the wayside this time but in a way this is it I suppose. In case any of you don't know Hadrian Coulton has been carrying BIG this last year, probably for a couple of years in reality, with his tenacious research on our behalf. so it's a really BIG tip of the hat to him for being there, and also for sharing what he does via his portion of the website. He is always in need of volunteers and helpers though so if you can spare some time drop him a line.
As of today our membership stands at 193 with 125 on the mailing list. Included in that total are the three members of the group that have passed away because they were with us at the beginnings of the group and shouldn't be forgotten, but it was before we had membership numbers. I also created an in between category for those that wish access to the members area for research purposes or don't wish to be full members for some other reason. I provide this kind of access on an individual basis depending on the circumstances. The idea of the members area is not to keep real researchers out just get our stuff off the front lawn for various reasons not least of which is security for the email contact info. I have about 7 new members to add yet to the members area gallery but that will have to wait until later. I do however add them to the plain list on the main site fairly quickly mostly so that I can assign them a members number which should eliminate someone falling through the cracks. I did it once before and I had to adjust the numbers to correct it. When we had a smaller group it was fairly easy to keep track of things but now it's probably really easy for me to make a mistake or worse yet not reply to an email. So, if you spot something that needs correcting or I don't seem to be replying feel free to email corrections or reminders.
One highlight of the coming year is the 2nd Great Britain Boniface Reunion. It's in the planning stages at the moment to see when would be the best time to have it. Judging by the tremendous response to the first one held in 2003 participation is certainly not a problem. Contact for this event is Chris Bareford, who is on the mailing list. Another highlight of the year is the 16th Americas East Coast Michigan Reunion, this long running event has been successfully run by Michele T. Boniface Tsuji, who's also on the mailing list.
Thoughts on the coming year? Well, that 3GP (Three Generation Project) idea, while a good one in theory, is probably impossible for me to pull off, especially now. I'll have to wait until my ship comes in before I can even think of reviving that idea. However, it is interesting that people are finding us via the website, seems like we get new members every week, younger participants too which is really heartening for the future of BIG. In a way the 3GP is running by itself slowly perhaps as new info comes to us.
One of the problems that's rearing it's head slowly is that Hadrian's Excel databases are so big now that they take forever to open, this is not going to change using that method to store data unfortunately. The solution to this (I think) is to use PHP and MySQL for a database instead. I haven't had time to learn it all properly but I intend too eventually. If anyone has any alternative ideas feel free to run them by me. I have done everything so far on a bit of a wing and a prayer, learning and tripping up as I go. I'm pretty sure there's some good techy's amongst the group though who may be watching me fumble here and there with some amusement perhaps. I'm certainly open to being steered and retrained if you will, if any of you want give some knowledgeable input on anything or to give me the heads up on something I'm not doing right or could be doing better let me know.
One of the things I was trying to do is to centralize everything as you know, that failed blog idea was part of that. I have however managed to get the guestbook entries to be fired off to the mailing list now. This is helpful because I was the only one who would get a message that someone visited. Now, the entry will go to the mailing list too, so if I'm away or working you'll know right away if someone dropped by. This part is really IMPORTANT though, if you wish to reply to someone who's posted in this manner you have to go to that tool to do it, you can't do it by just replying to the mailing list message, they won't get the reply. This is how the message board works too by the way. .
Another idea I'm thinking about is to slowly expand this BIGAlert Update Log method of communication into a real newsletter of sorts. I did enjoy making the original newsletters way back, but how to do it is another matter but I'll be thinking about it. Some potential problems are putting email addresses in here for instance. I would have liked to put the contact emails for the upcoming reunions here but of course that would have generated spam for them. Maybe I should just have a link from the update/newsletter/log into the members area instead?
Other things I'm thinking about, well, that Boniface Members Lines Database is still on the go and do plan to get it done eventually. The reason for that database is to bring everyones lines into central place so that it might be easier to spot those that may connect. I am still thinking about a possible get together for the Americas West Coast. It may be more along the lines of get together than an official reunion type thing perhaps.
Almost forgot, I will be changing the username and password for the members area soon but you will see a message to that effect when try to enter.
That's enough and long winded for one day I think, days off towards the end of the week should provide time to do a long overdue site update of the new members, files and pictures that are patiently waiting in my overflowing inbox.