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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #88

Dear Reader,

This week, I discovered that my direct ancestors John Dean and Joan Fuller emigrated to America. They arrived in Massachusetts in the 1630s, following Joan’s uncles, Edward and Samuel Fuller, who arrived as Founding Fathers on the Mayflower. More about this in future posts.

The Moon doing its Saturn impersonation.

A great week for my Eve’s War Heroines of SOE Series, #1 in America, Australia, Britain and Canada. Many thanks to everyone who made this possible.

Merthyr Mawr this week.

For the man who has everything, Madame Dowding‘s Carlton corsets.

For Christmas, I received a DNA test kit to assist me with my family history research. The result arrived today.

I’m 52% Welsh
26% European, which includes Belgium, England, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland
19% Scottish, which in this case also includes Ireland and Brittany
3% Scandinavian, mainly Norway, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden 

Some of my ancestors emigrated and settled in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia and California.

The great thing about ancestry and DNA is that the DNA link enables you to identify ancestors who have escaped the written record, so I anticipate lots of new exciting discoveries 🙂

Breaking news: through DNA, I’ve discovered that my 9 x great grandfather, John ap Evan (John son of Evan) and his wife, Barbara Aubrey, established the Welsh Tract, pictured, in Pennsylvania. He arrived in America with his fellow Quakers in 1683.

A DNA map. My ancestors, 100 years after arriving in Pennsylvania. More about this in future posts.

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

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Ann's War Sam Smith Mystery Series Wales

Sam and Ann

This is John Street, Porthcawl, Wales in 1938. My heroine, Ann Morgan, walks down this street in 1944, just before she discovers a murder. A billboard on the right hand side of the picture advertises a crime movie, Penitentiary, starring Jean Parker, also pictured. Included is a poster promoting that movie.

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Sam is stargazing in A Parcel of Rogues, looking at Pegasus in the October sky. The picture shows Pegasus with the foal Equuleus, from a set of constellation cards published, c.1825. The horses appear upside-down in relation to the constellations around them.

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Some beautiful views and background on Sam’s homeland, Wales.

It was Mark Knopfler’s birthday this week. So…

It’s a mystery to me
The game commences
For the usual fee
Plus expenses
Confidential information
It’s in a diary
This is my investigation
It’s not a public inquiry

I go checking out the reports
Digging up the dirt
You get to meet all sorts
In this line of work
Treachery and treason
There’s always an excuse for it
And when I find the reason
I still can’t get used to it

And what have you got at the end of the day?
What have you got to take away?
A bottle of whisky and a new set of lies
Blinds on the window and a pain behind the eyes

Scarred for life
No compensation
Private investigations

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