• Reading time:3 mins read

Hola, and eyes down for another mega-update which has been brewing now for the best part of 2 years.

It finishes off the Goodman John Close tree with the descendents of Thomas Close (1637) and his family in Greenwich, Connecticut and winds its way into the rest of America in the 1940’s. Unsurprisingly, after a 300 year meander, there are a few memorable facts and figures, including:

  • 2,638 new people, bringing the total now to well over 15,000
  • 3,000 new images, also bringing the total to well over 15,000
  • 46 new American Civil War soldiers
  • 129 new World War I soldiers
  • 132 World War II soldiers
  • Another New York Guard
  • A whole load of bits and pieces that I’ve lost track of

We also have a bunch of Closes who should really be calling themselves Taylor, and some Endersons and Evans who should really be calling themselves Close. I’ve also unearthed a large branch of Pensylvanian Closes … who aren’t. I’m saving this for a rainy day, since they’re completely unrelated … unless of course they marry in at some point.

All these are now online through the Close Ancestry Trees, with the recruits also available in the Close Hall of Fame on the main site.

Unfortunately, due to a lot of faffing around and forced migration to a new hosting provider, parts of the Close trees are a bit bent at the moment. The trees themselves are all up-to-date, but some of the surrounding commentary isn’t responding to my edits. No doubt I’ll get it fixed in the fullness of time, but at the moment it’s a just a pain in the aesthetics. Bear with me.

So, I hope you enjoy this and thanks to everyone who has sent me mail over the past couple of years. It’s always great to hear from you all and I try to respond to whatever comes down the Close Ancestry pipe. Everything you send me is stashed away for a time when I can do it justice. So, bear with me, I will get around to it eventually, but in the meantime please keep the mail coming.

And … you knew it was coming … my annual plea for a few quid towards the site upkeep. Given that we’ve now exceeded 250,000 page views, which sort of implies that it’s adding some value somewhere and that people are liking it, how about sending me a fiver towards the site costs? If you try to buy a BMD certificate, you’ll be looking at £20, just for one … we have thousands of images online that you can access for free! … just as an aside, if you’re looking for a BMD certificate then drop me a line before you buy it online because I can almost guarantee I can beat Mr Bandido’s price!

So, anyway, anything you can spare will be gratefully received and put to a good cause. I don’t do this to make a profit. Just go to www.CloseAncestry.com and hit the donate button at the top of every page.

AndyUpdate


And now for a bit of housekeeping

See the wood and the trees

We publish everything we have in our fabulous trees, so basically if you can’t find it, we don’t have it. With over 20,000 people, 5,000 families, 12,000 sources, and 69,000 image references currently sat in our database, you’ll appreciate the amount of work that has gone into this over the years.

You can see more in the Close Ancestry Trees.


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