Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Grateful For These 2017 Genealogy Gems

Some fabulous genealogical gems came my way at the beginning of this new year!

White roses left at Durnbach Cemetery, Germany

In January 2017, while I was a away in Mexico, I was contacted (through this blog) by Alec Briggs, son of Wireless Operator James Henry Briggs, who flew on HR810 LQ-X 405 Sqdn with my Second Cousin LJM Broderick.on that fateful night in 1943

In 2009 Alec and his partner Caroline went to visit Durnbach Cemetery to visit the final resting place of  the three young men killed in the crash that night Leo, Alexander Cunningham Brunton and George Agate and Alec left a "white Rose" from his father, their pal James Henry Briggs from Yorkshire. James suffered serious injuries in the crash and was taken as a prisoner of war (see details here).


Don Holloway's Great Grandfather James Annal (1869 - 27 Apr 1948)

In February 2017, I received an email from fellow "Annal" genealogist Don Hollaway with a copy of an article that had published in the Orkney Family History Society newsletter (No. 80 Dec 2016).

I learned from this article about the Orkney Image Library that has 11,888 photos including the photo above of another  James Henry Allen Annal (1869-1948) that I couldn't help notice had a strong resemblance to my GGG James Henry Allen Annal (1849-1930)


What a great start to this new year! I want to express my most sincere gratitude for the consideration and kindness extended to me by Alec Briggs and Don Holloway. I am so grateful that they have shared their stories with me so that I can then share it with other descendants in our family tree.

In my next post I intend to write about my "2017 Work Plan"  that will include traveling to Essex and Kent counties in southwestern Ontario and visiting the final resting place of Jerry and Aldeen Moynahan and many other Kent and Essex County Moynahans!