Friday, 3 March 2023

Scaysbrook in Epub

 I have been playing with the idea of an Epub book, or electronic book, and thought that the Scaysbrook web site and all that's in it, might be a suitable trial. So I have started to copy off of the site into an Apple Pages document ready to export to an Epub document.

The benefits are that I can read the book on my iPhone without having to link to a web page, great for travelling.

Also I want to start adding new items, on the very early days of out name, the Sacrsbrtooks, Sacrisbroooks and Sacribricks. Plus the link to the USA is well worth a bit of research, I already have links conformed to my mother.

Next comes the tree itself, Its huge and I want to make it easier to read, so I am experimenting with splitting it into continents, the European, Australasia and finally the USA.

So the Epub book will be free, and available to download via the Website and from the Scaysbrook site on Facebook.


Tuesday, 17 May 2022

A new contact for the Michael Line

It's strange, I get no links for the Scaysbrook Tree, then out of the blue, I get contact via email, from someone who thinks they are related to Michael Scaysbrook the Australian Convict.

Now, this often happens, and there is no link, but in this case, there is a link and a strong one at that. So now comes the hard bit of piecing all the information together and pulling it into Ancestry.co.uk.

As of yet, I have not found a better platform than Ancestry.co.uk, it works and I can get most of the uk information I want, but they charge for overseas. I want to start looking into the USA, I know there is a link to a number who went not long after the Mayflower. This following paragraph is from the website Scaysbrook.com

"The name Scasbrook as Scaysbrook was originally written, has surfaced time and time again, during the War of independence. a John Scasbrook a colonel in the Loyal army to King George, was promant in Virginia, Warwick County area, where he came from is open to speculation but his family went on to secure the line in the new USA. A good site outlining a lot of the family from the Wills family tree can be seen on the Will web site. Another variant, a William Scarsbrook was listed on the passenger list of the ship Paul which sales for St Christopher in 1635 the ships list can be seen at USA"

So the chase is on.



Sunday, 1 May 2022

Ancestry.co.uk

 I have tried all the different genealogy programs, mostly on the Mac, I did try a Chromebook version but it was terrible.  So which one is best, well to be honest, I lost interest in the Mac based programs when I started using Ancestry.co.uk to record my family tree. The simple reason is it is safe in the cloud, and I can access it from different machines, 

Geni was the first program I tried, and I was hooked, I put all I knew into it, and had the presence to backup all the Data. A change of Mac and a failed disk meant I needed a better system, I choose Ancestry, for no other reason than I worked well enough, plus I could get my DNA tested and see just where I came from.

So all is now safe, and as I start to get back into the Scaysbrook line, I have started at the current date and added my grandchildren, updated photos of my mom and dad and I am now looking at my grand parents on both side, this gets interesting and my mothers side is Irish and that opens up a whole load of different problems. My dads side is mostly sorted and thanks to Ian Scaysbrook work goes back to 1545 and offers a glimpse of beyond.

So my gran Scaysbrook is the point of my research, May Taylor Theodore, although her birth Cert says just May Taylor, did she change her name, if so why, her marriage certificate show her Taylor Theodore title. I need to dig more, and solve the mystery.

I have chosen to publish this post on the 1st May, she always said it was her birthday, not so, her birth cert says 2nd. May, the plot thickens.

she was born in a small village Atchem,  Shropshire, 

Saturday, 30 April 2022

www.scaysbrook.com


 I have since about 2000, tried to record my Scaysbrook Genealogy on a series of websites, this latest version is hosted, not in the usual way of html code on the scaysbrook.com web site but in Google sites. It means no matter what happens to the site I will not loose the data I have so carefully put together, from so many different sources. The google system also means I can update the site so easily 

I also now store a lot of my research on the Zotero Bibliography program, it lists books, and website, plus academic papers I used. Fortunately so much Genealogy is stored online, but this also gives a problem is that some sites I used 10 or moreyears ago no longer exist, I wish I have made a copy. 

I still have a large blue binder bull of notes and scribbles I have made in the 25 year long on and off passion. Started I might add with a link I made to Craig Scaysbrook via the very early days of the internet, and a visit Vera Kwong, nee Scaysbrook made to Craig on a visit to Canada. I wrote to Vera and she sent all here records via post from Australia. I still have them and often refer back to her notes.

So the www.scaysbrook.com is up and live reached by this link and living on sites.google.com. Please visit and if you're a Scaysbrook, or any derivative of our spelling, please make contact.

Todays photo is my mom as we had lunch together in Birmingham.

Saturday, 23 April 2022

The Convict Ships

 When I started to research the Scaysbrook name, Michael Scaysbrook came to bear, but I wanted to know a little of the background to his transportation, and I was lucky enough to find a book that described life as a transported fellow from the UK. The new books I have added to the Biblio help understand the top and life on board.

On average the trip to Sydney lasted from about 141days through to about 170 days, ships often sailed via the coast of Africa, round the Horn and sail the Southern ocean, taking roughly 160 days on average, by comparison the clippers could do it in 74 days.

Life on board would be tough, bad food, and any misdemeanour or wrong doing however trivial would result in many lashes from the Captain. Death was common and not all the convicts were expected to survive the trip.

women were transported separately from men, the subject of Sian Rees's excellent book the Floating Brothel

Most if not all the voyages are well recorded, the excellent book "The Convict Ship" by Charles Bateson gives a graphic encounter of many of the passages and how captains and ships surgeons often flouted the law. Batesons book not only tells the story but also loses the boats and crew for each voyage.






Thursday, 21 April 2022

The Australian Scaysbrook Facebook website page

Facebook page Scasysbrook in Australia
 I have recently signed back up to Facebook, I cancelled my subscription a few years back, simply because of the antics of Facebook, trying to manipulate the way the world sees things. But, there is always a but, I lost contact with Australia, and the Scaysbrooks down there. So I signed back in and linked back to the family.

The Scaysbrook page is very specific, in the people and history for Australia, that means Michael Scaysbrook and the vast list of decedents, located in and around Sydney. I shall be, I hope travelling down to Sydney in 2023, so another reason to make contact.

On this website, I have listed a lot of the news I found on the trial and transportation of Michael, his marriage and family, his son also called Michael, married and had 17 children, hence to explosion of Scaysbrooks, all I might add did reasonably well from a convict.

There is a reasonably large number of what is commonly called the £10 poms, those recent migrants who saw a better life down under. 

But back to the Scaysbrook Facebook page, I strongly suggest if your a Scaysbrook living out there, or are a UK scaysbrook, with family out there take the plunge and sign up, and follow the chat.

The site here has been stagnant for a few years, so this addition of the Scaysbrook blog is the first of many new additions I am planning.

I recently made a change to Google sites, it mades operating the site so easy, so changes will come.

Till then have fun, its spring here in the UK, Autumn in Australia. so have fun where ever you are.



Saturday, 16 April 2022

Retirement and a return to the Scaysbrook Genealogy

 Well, its been seven years since I last posted on this site, I have not done a lot of geneology since then, but have kept things in place for a return.

So no apologies, other than lecturing at Birmingham City University, a little travelling and a lot of marking kept me away.

All my electronic records are within Acesestery.com I have added recent additions to my own family line, in my four grandchildren, My paper record, are in a single binder and in a bit of a mess, so first job is to convert and import them into my Mac. I use Obsidian, a knowledge base program, I use for all my research, more on that later.

Against my better judgement, I have returned to Facebook, for no other reason than the Australian arm of the Scaysbrook line tends to gather there. so if you want to talk, that's one place I will hang out in at least once a week. 

The Scaysbrook.com web site has been revamped and rewritten on Google sites for no other reason than its free, and very easy to use. please visit and see what's there, I shall be adding new information as soon as I can.

This blog will remain as the more frequent source of information, again its so easy to use and free. There is a link system and I will try and bring each blog into the site for ease of reading.

There we are, retirement and a renewed interest in the Scaysbrook and variants blood line.

As always, if you are a Scaysbrook, send a link, lets chat, if your name looks like scaysbrook, ie Scasbrick or similar, chances are we are in the same line, so again drop a line here and chat. I am, thinking of opening up a new Scaysbrook page on Facebook to mirror the Australian site. If and when it happens I'll post a link here.

My next blog will be of my Grandfathers, my mothers Stepfather, the only Grandfather I knew, my blood line grandfathers I never met, or they died before  can remember any memories.

Todays picture, is some of their death or birth Certificates.

Till then be safe in these interesting Covid times.

Scays