So, here we are again, at the end of what has been a pretty crap year for most people around the world. Still, at least (hopefully) we made it through to try and assume some semblance of normality in 2021. I doubt we’ll ever get […]
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2019
So, here we go again … another year older, fatter and definitely no wiser. We would like to wish all our family, relatives, friends, visitors and especially our Contributors a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Please also raise a glass to our […]
DNA Testing for Genealogy
It’s been pointed out to me by one of our Contributors, Martin McDowell, that the Close’s are a tardy lot when it comes to using DNA technology for their genealogy research. Martin is an Administrator for the FamilyTreeDNA site and is a keen advocate of […]
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2018
So, here we go again … another year older, fatter and not necessarily any wiser. We would like to wish all our family, relatives, friends, visitors and especially our Contributors a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Please also raise a glass to […]
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2016
So, here we go again … another year older, fatter and not necessarily any wiser. We would like to wish all our family, relatives, friends, visitors and especially our Contributors a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous New Year. Please also raise a […]
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2015
We would like to wish all our family, relatives, friends, visitors and especially our Contributors a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous New Year. Please also raise a glass to our ancestors, without whom none of us would be here today. We broke […]
The World of Whim: The Awakening
OK, so the original lonely book now has a sibling. Due to popular demand, the second volume of the Whim series has finally come into the world. A big thanks to everyone who has helped me get there, particularly my family for all their proofing […]
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2014
We would like to wish all our family, relatives, friends, visitors and especially our Contributors a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous New Year. Please also raise a glass to our ancestors, without whom none of us would be here today. This year […]
Hello and Welcome to Close Ancestry
Welcome to www.CloseAncestry.com Tracing the history, ancestry and descendants of the Close surname from Grinton in Swaledale, Yorkshire into Durham, Lancashire and Westmorland. From there families spread to America, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Thousands of census, map and Close family images. Oh yeah, and […]
Craven’s Part in the Great War – June 2013
A website respectfully and humbly dedicated to the memories of the men and women from the Craven district who gave their lives for king and country in the First World War, 1914-1919. The aim of the project, briefly, is to take Craven’s Part in the […]
Closes on the Moon
Courtesy of my sister, we now have an acre of land on the Moon! Even though the Close strain are renowned for opening up new frontiers, as far as we know we are the only Closes so far to have moved off-planet. It’s going to […]
Where it all began
All the family we’ve traced so far seem to have originated in Grinton, Swaledale, Yorkshire. The earliest consistent records are from the registers of the Church of St Andrew. However, these only start in 1640 and are patchy at best at that time. We also […]
Site Update – 03 February 2008
Margaret Southgate (nee Close), one of our contributors, has taken up the mantle of a “One-Namer” of the Close surname. She would like anybody who is researching Close ancestors to provide whatever they can towards her endeavour. Given that we’re a prolific bunch of breeders […]