Here's Annable, wee Tommy, me and my grandfather (Thomas Patton, wee Tommy's great grandfather, just turned 89) with my grandmother Dorothy. Also picture is my dad, my Auntie Ruth and Uncle Tom.

Tommy was named after my grandfather, whose father was also called (guess what?) Thomas.

In other photos you can see the famous Patton's Place, Ballyhalbert!

This is the oldest family photo i have. The little baby in the arms of the lady on the left is my Mum's dad so the lady is my great grandmother Elizabeth Mansfield. My mum's maiden name is Mansfield and they lived just outside Dublin I believe. My understanding (through family) is that after the 1916 uprising they were forced off their land and made new lives in and around Belfast in what became Northern Ireland.

I'll put some names for posterity against each person in the photo that we know about when we finally get moved as i've just packed the framed photo which has all the names written on the back.

The old lady 3rd from top on the right is important as she is the link i believe back through to the De Courcy (my middle name) lineage, which goes back to John De Courcy, earl of Ulster in the 12th century http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_de_Courcy. He was in charge of Carrickfergus castle and pretty much founded Downpatrick.

However, in 1199, because of his separatist tendencies, King John authorized Hugh de Lacy, younger son of the Lord of Meath to wage war on John de Courcy. This passage helps explain why John had a reputation as a strong, God-fearing warrior:

"Sir Hugh de Lacy was commanded to do what he might to apprehend and take Sir John de Courcy, and so devised and conferred with certain of Sir John's own men, how this might be done; and they said it were not possible to take him, since he lived ever in his armour, unless it were a Good Friday and they told that his custom was that on that day he would wear no shield, harness nor weapon, but would be in the church, kneeling at his prayers, after he had gone about the church five times bare-footed. And so they came at him upon the sudden, and he had no shift to make but with the cross pole, and defended him until it was broken and slew thirteen of them before he was taken."

In May 1205, King John made Hugh Earl of Ulster, granting him all the land of the province 'as John de Courcy held it on the day when Hugh defeated him'. John de Courcy returned, sailing across the Irish sea from the Isle of Man in July 1205 with Norse soldiers and a hundred boats supplied by his brother-in-law, Ragnold, King of Man. John and his army landed at Strangford and laid siege to Dundrum Castle in vain, because the defenses he himself had made were too strong!

King John then had John de Courcy imprisoned. The De Courcy dude is also a decendant of King Charlemagne of France, which makes me really important of course:)

I just had to blog about a really great website i just found for building family trees called www.geni.com. It really is one of the most easy to use websites i've ever seen, have a try. It also doubles as a handy birthday reminder tool and you can store family photos etc.

Now, before i begin, i have to admit a fondness for conspriacy theories. However, i was stunned to learn the following...

(Source: Burke's Peerage, Britain’s leading chroniclers of royal ancestors since 1826)

When it comes to picking the winner in the American presidential race, Burke's Peerage have never been wrong — not once in almost 200 years.

“The presidential candidate with the most royal genes and chromosomes has, up to now, always won the White House,” say the researchers at Burke’s Peerage.

Wow, now, i find this pretty astonishing that not once in 43 open, free elections has the candidate with "lesser" genetic ties to royal European bloodlines won an election.

Co-incidence or design, you decide. So, once the next two candidates are announced, you know which ones to put your money on;)

I've started my family tree research! I'm using the Family Historian software package (www.family-historian.co.uk) which is great and allows me to export to the genealogy standard file format (ged).

This means i can post this file online and have my family tree accessible by the world. In progress now...