Herleve of Falaise (1003-1050)

My 26th great aunt.  Her brother Walter de Falaise was my 26th great grandfather.  Herleve 1st married Robert Duke of Normandy.  They had a son named William Duke of Normandy or better known as William the Conqueror.  William would be my 1st cousin 27 times removed.

Converting old 8mm films

I inherited some old 8mm family movies from my mothers side of the family and want to save them for future generations.  In the past I had converted a two minute film from my dad's side of the family from 1958 using some software and a scanner.  This film had my great grandfather, grandparents, parents and aunt and uncle.  It turned out so well I decided to tackle it again.  This time I had six rolls of film.

Since there were more rolls this time I decided to build some additional components to help me out.  I first built a pair of reel holders out of wood with bolts for spindles.  Next I needed a way to advance the film a precise number of frames for each scan.  The one I built moves the film ahead 16 frames for each scan (1 second).  I also needed a gate to keep the film straight and in the same place for each scan.  The gate was built using a plastic ruler and an old plastic CD case which I cut to form a path for the film with a separate piece to hold the film against the glass of the scanner but not block the light or interfere with the image.

More Rogers family located

I was searching through some old Oil City newspapers online when I came across an obituary.  The obituary was for my great uncle Bert Harry Rogers.  To my surprise I discovered that even though he passed away at 24 years of age of TB he had been married and had two sons!  All these years I had thought he was single when he passed away.
The search was on, if he had two sons I wondered if any information about them could be found.  My first search turned up that Bert's first son Bert Jr had passed way in California.  Then I managed to locate his second son, Don.  After some additional digging I was able to locate Don's son.  I managed to find an email address for Don's son and sent an email with some family details.

Next thing I know I had a response and he knew of my great grandfather Frank Rogers!  I was told that his father Don wanted to talk to me so I phoned and we spent more than an hour and a half on the phone.  It was great!  I've since spoken with Bert Jr's son, and Don's children.  The family is alive and well and we have new 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th cousins!

The Honourable Ralph Goodale PC MP

The Hon. Ralph Goodale has been appointed the Canadian Minister of Public Safety and Preparedness. I wanted to know what the responsibilities were for this position and found the following information on Wikipedia.

“The Minister of Public Safety, formerly the Solicitor General and then the Minister of Public Safety

and Emergency Preparedness, is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government’s domestic security department, Public Safety Canada. The position was nominally created in 2003 and incorporated the responsibilities associated with the Solicitor General including responsibility for the federal Canadian prison system (Correctional Service of Canada), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Parole Board of Canada, and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, although the incumbent was formally sworn in as Solicitor General of Canada.

Sailing the high seas

When I was a kid I remember watching those old Errol Flynn movies on TV with the buccaneers, those massive ships, and all the guns firing on the enemy prior to boarding and capturing the ship.  It was exciting to watch.

Well I can now say that I have cousins who sailed aboard some of those massive ships.  I have managed to find three cousins on my fathers side of the family who served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815).

Peter McLagan Crawford

British Vickers machine gun crew during the Battle of Menin Road Ridge, World War I, Ypres Salient, West Flanders, Belgium.
Credit: 

Imperial War Museums/Wikipedia Commons

Peter was born in 1885, Perth, Perthshire, Scotland. His parents were Robert Crawford and Jessie McLagan. Peter joined the Q.O. Cameroon Highlanders at age 17 and died on the Isle of Wight 31 March 1965 at 80 years of age.

Military Service
Lt. (T./Capt.) Peter M. Crawford, R. Scots, and M.G.C. On 22nd June, 1919, at Fedotava, he was put in charge of all Russian machine guns previous to attack, and led them forward. He dealt successfully with an enemy counterattack, and continued to advance for three miles, capturing 24 prisoners -and one machine gun. His gallant leadership was of great service.

Sir William Eric Kinloch Anderson KT, FRSE

Sir Eric Kinloch Anderson KT., FRSE  The son of William James Kinloch Anderson and Margaret Gouinlock Harper born in Edinburgh May 27 1936. Married to Lady Anne Elizabeth (Mason) Anderson or better known as Poppy the daughter of William Mattock Mason and Mary (Walls) Mason. They have two children both born in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Sir Eric was Master at Feltes College and named after the family hero, Eric Milroy, the Scotland Rugby captain who was killed during WWI on the Somme while serving in the Black Watch.

Sir Eric Anderson, Mentor and life long friend of Prince Charles retired (2009) from his role as Provost of Eton college. For 15 years he had previously held the position of headmaster. During his time at Eton Sir Eric was also headmaster to former British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and David Cameron.  Prince Andrew and William along with their father Prince Charles were all former students.