I first started working on my family history in 1967, when I was a young wife and mother. It was a fascinating experience that I enjoyed very much, but my time was limited and my work was done more in fits and spurts in those days. Now I am retired, my time is unencumbered and interruptions are few. With the death of my mother on May 18, 2010 came the stark realization that time is growing short and I have a great deal left to do. We never know the time we have left or what our health may permit.

As children, we were raised with lots of books. I tried to raise my children with a love of books. Today we have computers and hand held ‘readers’ that can hold a library’s worth of books and you can carry them in your pocket. In thinking about publishing my work a book is the logical choice, but in considering the options available to us these days, it seems a better idea to publish a web site and make the information available to a wider audience in a faster way than a book would allow.

Another advantage of publishing on a web site is that I can change the content and add new information as I go along or as new research develops.  With a book, once it’s printed, it can’t be changed and the only way to make additions or corrections is to publish another, revised, edition. Family history research is one of those things that is never done. There is always another family to track down, data to verify, and another generation to pursue, so the fluidity of a web site lends itself nicely to this type of work.

If you have been working on any of these families for very long you will have found considerable work done by previous researchers. Some have done a fair job with the evidence they had at the time. Some have made mistakes; others have made a complete mess of it. I prefer to go to original documents whenever possible so you will find very little, if any, reference to the work of other researchers here. The purpose of my work is not to critique the work of others but rather to present my conclusions from my own research.

I hope that the work I have done will be helpful to other researchers. I would enjoy hearing from you if you have questions or comments but remember, I do not live in England and I cannot help you with your own family research.

Audrey M. Ruddick