As you will see from the attached photo, I have pretty regular assistance from Gregory, my Aquatic Armenian cat from Lake Van, whose pedigree is almost as long as the Newmans. My desk, is piled high with files, photos and books, all needed for navigating through the growing branches of the family tree. The word count currently stands at 61,000 words.

The idea that one has somehow reached an end point is just not tenable as most days bring something new. Yesterday’s post brought revealed the discovery of a previously unknown document referring to our remotest ancestor, Robert Newman the elder; whilst today’s post delivered three more BMD certificates, not to mention emails !