Meet the Team: Leona Thomas

This week's guest post is by Genealogists for Families team member Leona Thomas from Scotland.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I was born in, and live in Edinburgh, Scotland - but I'm not Scottish, having an Irish Mum and an English Dad! I was Primary teacher for 20 years and am now an EAL (English as an Additional Language) teacher. I adore animals and have an elderly lady cat (Smokie) at the moment. I am also an enthusiastic amateur genealogist. I have taken on some commissions lately to do research for friends (who insisted on paying me) and word is spreading so hope to have a few more projects on the go soon! It all started when I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of 9 people whose family tree would be researched for the TV programme 'Extraordinary Ancestors' made by Channel 4 in 2000. I was taken to Germany where we filmed for 5 days to put together my Prussian family history roots - back to 1620! Perhaps the most rewarding thing lately has been making links to living cousins and being able to tell them their family history - and even meeting up - which we have done a few times in the last couple of years.

How did you hear about the Genealogists for Families project?

Through the newsletter from LostCousins by Peter Calver. He runs a super website and I've found a few of MY lost cousins this way!

What do lending and participating in this project mean to you?

So often you put money in a collecting tin or donate to some good cause or other - but you never really feel in touch with who you are helping - and maybe even wonder if it DOES get to the people who need it. This seemed to address those concerns.

Did you choose particular borrowers because their occupations or situations have some significance in your family history or your own life?

I worked with a little girl from Africa today who has such potential, and having heard of what her life had been, I thought I would look for an African cause to support.

Is there a borrower whose success story inspired you?

I chose the Sikulu group in Kenya. Solomon is a father of three children. He joined One Acre Fund in order to access fertilizer and hybrid seeds and ensure food security for his family. With income from maize sales, Solomon wants to educate his children. I looked for a specific child-centred or education project but there wasn't one at this time and this seemed a good alternative.

Do you have a strategy for raising funds or saving for your $25 loans?

I decided to take this amount from the money paid to me to do family research. I felt that I might have spent that amount on something trivial without thinking much about it - but the same amount of money could do so much more used this way.

Your Web sites?

I am co-administrator of the Kannenberg Surname Group and administrator of the Thomas Family Tree group - both on Facebook.

What are your main family history interests?

Kannenberg (from Prussia), McCarthy (Co. Down, N.Ireland), Thomas (Portsmouth and St Germans / Landrake, Cornwall), Chissel / Chiswell (Cornwall), Campbell (Co. Down, N.Ireland), Butler (Buckinghamshire), Besant (Portsmouth), Ruse (St Germans, Cornwall).
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Meet the Team: Kirsty Wilkinson

This week's guest post is by Genealogists for Families team member Kirsty Wilkinson from the UK.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I live in Edinburgh, Scotland but am originally from Worcestershire, England. I'm a professional genealogist and run the 'My Ain Folk' family history research service. Genealogy fills most of my time but I also enjoy going to the cinema and occasionally playing video games (I'm a big Professor Layton fan).

How did you hear about the Genealogists for Families project?

I'd seen a few of my Facebook friends posting about Kiva and thought it seemed like a great scheme but never actually got around to joining. When I heard about the Genealogists for Families project on Twitter I thought it was time I got involved.

What do lending and participating in this project mean to you?

As someone who is self-employed I'm aware of some of the challenges of running a small business and would like to give a hand to others in a similar situation. I don't regularly give to charity but with Kiva I feel that my money (even if only a small sum) is really helping others to build a better future for themselves and their families.

Did you choose particular borrowers because their occupations or situations have some significance in your family history or your own life?

The loans I have made have been to assist people to expand their businesses and increase their income as I feel this has the best chance of improving their situation in the long term. I haven't chosen borrowers with particular occupations but, in the spirit of the Genealogists for Families project, I have selected people who are working to support families. For example, I chose a borrower who is supporting both his father and his young daughter through his business.

Do you have a strategy for raising funds or saving for your $25 loans?

My plan is to make one loan a month, which is a realistic goal for me financially. In terms of genealogy, I think of it as the equivalent of spending an extra day at the ScotlandsPeople Centre each month. Once my loans are repaid I plan to use the money to fund further loans.

What is your Web site?

My genealogy business website is My Ain Folk (www.myainfolk.com).

What are your family history research interests?

Professionally, I specialise in researching at the main Scottish archives and libraries including the ScotlandsPeople Centre, the National Records (formerly National Archives) of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland. My own ancestry is a mix of English, Scottish and Irish and these days is rather neglected!
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Meet the Team: Chris Paton

This week's guest post is by Genealogists for Families team member Chris Paton from Largs, North Ayrshire, United Kingdom.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Although Northern Irish, I have been working as a family historian professionally in Ayrshire, Scotland, for six years, having previously spent 12 years in television documentary production for the BBC and others. As well as genealogical research, I also write regularly for several British family history publications, and have a few books published in the UK and Australia.

How did you hear about the Genealogists for Families project?

My first exposure to Genealogies for Families was through an announcement on Twitter by a fellow Scottish based genealogist, Kirsty Wilkinson, who announced that she had made a loan. I bookmarked it to have a look at in due course, but when contacted by Judy, one of the project's co-ordinators and its originator, I thought I'd better get my act together and actually have a proper look! I did so, and was really impressed by the concept.

What do lending and participating in this project mean to you?

As family historians, it's our job to uncover and preserve a family story for the generations to come. But you can only do that if there is a story to preserve, and there's something even more exciting about helping people to create such a story in the first place. In due course, perhaps some future family historian can recall such stories, long after we are all gone – but whether that happens or not, in the here and now, one loan can help to change a person's life, and that's got to be reason enough.

Did you choose particular borrowers because their occupations or situations have some significance in your family history or your own life?

I chose a 26 year old grocery store owner in Iraq, whose identity remains anonymous because of the political situation in his country. In 1991, when I went to university in Bristol, England, I was given a small bursary from a trust fund set up in the name of an MP called Ian Gow, who was murdered during the Northern Irish Troubles. For various reasons the first year of my course had to be fully funded by myself, and that small bursary made one hell of a difference - it paid my rent in Bristol for a few weeks, which allowed me space to find a part time job to finance the rest of the year. A small loan now to someone else in a troubled area is a privilege to make. If it works for the recipient, the money will be repaid and I can re-invest; if not, it was as much a gamble to try and help someone from a troubled area as was once shown to me.

Is there a borrower whose success story inspired you?

Afraid not, this is a new territory for me! But I do like the concept of Judy's father's 'Do good money'. It seems a sound philosophy. So I will try to invest periodically, perhaps once a month.

What is your Web site / blog?

My research website is Scotland's Greatest Story (www.scotlandsgreateststory.co.uk), whilst I also run two genealogy news blogs, Scottish GENES (Genealogy News and EventS) (http://scottishancestry.blogspot.com/) and British GENES (Genealogy News and EventS) (http://BritishGENES.blogspot.com/).

What are your main family history research interests?

I'm very much interested in Scottish land and church records, and Irish records of all sorts. Not so interested in long lists of names in trees as the stories that can be found out about each of them - an ancestor's name means nothing to me without one.
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