I've become an amateur sleuth in researching my family history - one side is convicts from England/Scotland/ireland to Australia, Another side free settlers. A few minor disinherited aristocrats and many who just struggled to survive and prosper in varying degrees in a new country. A lot of military service. Ships captains, air force pilot, merchant navy men,army WW1 and ww2 in some horrible places. A few criminals and every one of them seems to have had an impact on me when I've learned their stories. My husband is of Dutch descent with family lineage there going back about a thousand years so his geneaology is fascinating and a history lesson all by itself. This research becomes a social study down through the ages.

I've become an amateur sleuth in researching my family history - one side is convicts from England/Scotland/ireland to Australia, Another side free settlers. A few minor disinherited aristocrats and many who just struggled to survive and prosper in varying degrees in a new country. A lot of military service. Ships captains, air force pilot, merchant navy men,army WW1 and ww2 in some horrible places. A few criminals and every one of them seems to have had an impact on me when I've learned their stories. My husband is of Dutch descent with family lineage there going back about a thousand years so his geneaology is fascinating and a history lesson all by itself. This research becomes a social study down through the ages.