Happy Thanksgiving!

So, please let me offer a "Happy Thanksgiving!" to our American Cousins! (I have first cousins in Maine, first cousins once removed in Texas, and first cousins three times removed in California).

Canada, in 2005, celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Canadian Society of Mayflower Descendants, and is still going strong <www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canms/canada.html>.

There are four "colonies" in the country (in Toronto, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Alberta), with the Canadian society being the first formed outside of the United States.

They published a book for their 25th anniversary detailing their history, and it has many pictures which cover the events and meeting of their four colonies.

The site, which has had over 20,000 visitors since the website first started eight years ago, has an index on Mayflower Research Articles, Mayflower Families Corrections and Additions, and Upcoming Events & Society Meetings.

There is a List of Mayflower Passengers Who Left Descendants, Society Dues & Fees, and Application Procedure & Documentation Requirements.

They have also put online Reports of our Past Guest Speakers, Mayflower Research Articles (Index), and Mayflower DNA Projects.

For a change of pace, please read this interesting article entitled, "Were Cats and Dogs on the Mayflower?", at <http://www.petplace.com/cats/were-cats-and-dogs-on-the-mayflower/page1.aspx?utm_source=catcrazynews001et&utm_medium=email&utm_content=petplace_article&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter>.

And finally, for a bit of fun, knowing that watching football is paramount in any household this weekend (we watch it, too!), visit our Canadian Thanksgiving page at <http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2008/10/happy-thanksgiving.html> and check the graphic at the bottom.

Yesterday was my birthday!

I have survived another year!

This seemed like it has been a long year, with many twists and turns, numerous genealogical conferences, much travel, and much work - I have had 24 articles published this year, and started this blog.

I renewed old friendships from all over, and made new ones. And I value each one.

It is my dream to write many more articles, and to get the blog rolling out every day, and to go to as many conferences as possible. Mighty big order - let's see if I'm up to it.

I had one big genealogy find this year, and that was of my great-great-great-uncle Andrew BARCLAY.

My cousin Charles BARCLAY and I have searched high and low for him, and he always seemed to slip through our fingers - until just by happenstance I "Googled" one of his daughters this past spring while I was waiting for a drive one day, and there it was - she had written a diary!

And one part of it was on the Town of Argyle (Archives) website. I rushed a note off to them and in no time flat I had the entire diary that had been donated to them by her family (HALEY from Alemeda County, California), and I found the story about her father and his death.

How he died of yellow fever in San Domingo after going there from Shelburne, Nova Scotia on ship to trade the town's fish for rum and sugar.

And then this summer in August, a query I put on the Internet six years ago bore fruit because I was sent a picture of who else? Andrew Barclay!

So the research is complete, and I am happy! Now I will see if I can get the book completed (on Andrew BARCLAY, Loyalist), and published.

See my posting on him in this blog, under "Let Cousins Find You" at <http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2008/08/let-cousins-find-you.html>.

So I have had a wonderful year as far as the business of genealogy is concerned.

I try to remember that it's not the idea that we are given another day to live, but it is what do we do with that day that counts.

May you have your own Happpy Birthday!