End of 2008 "State of the Nation" address

So here we are at the end of another year, and I just wanted to highlight how far this Fitz(-)henry one name study has come over the past 12 months.

At the end of 2007, this blog was just me prattling on, on a fairly irregular basis to an unknown audience.

Then some brilliant things happened.
Ann contacted me for the first time, and Lesley rekindled an old friendship.
Over the next few months they started providing me with such good stuff that they became co-authors of the blog - and I couldn't have done it without them!

And I also discovered Feedburner which meant we could offer people with an interest in the Fitz(-)henry name the chance to keep up with our findings by subscription, and gave us the information about how many people potentially were out there reading our blog. As of today, there's 13 of you, so you're still a small select band but growing!

This year we also kicked off the Fitz(-)henry DNA study. It only has two participants so far, so if you are wondering what to give the Fitzhenry man who has everything for Christmas this year, why not consider his very own DNA profile - linked to our study of course!

In April, the Guild of One-Name Studies (GOONS) gave us accredited One-Name study status and we are now the official registrants of the Fitz(-)henry name at the Guild.

And we've made contacts with Fitz(-)henrys from all over the world this year.
I'd like to name check all the people who emailed us or left comments on the blog - big thanks to you all all.
Keep reading the blog and sending us more stuff.
Tell your Fitz(-)henry relatives and friends about us!
Bev Kronk (Australia) - prolific supplier of facts. Thanks again, Bev.
Rodrigo Palacios Fitz-Henry (Chile) - thanks for your information about our only known South American branch, and will you please email me again through the blog, as I don't think my emails are getting through to you. I would really love to publish the info you've sent me and just need your permission.
Canon Patrick Comerford (Ireland)
Garry and Laurie Fitz-Henry and their family, Brian Dulcombe Fitz-Henry and Annabella Fitz-Henry (all from Canada and descendants of William Fitz-Henry and Martha Eagles).
Tom Fitzhenry (Dublin, Ireland)
Mrs Betty Volante and Mr Michael Volante (England)
Terri Tiffany (USA)
Sarah Murphy (England) a descendant of John Fitzhenry of Oswestry (died in WW1)
Kerry Robinson nee Fitzhenry and Christine Fitzhenry (Australia) who are both descended from Peter Fitzhenry of the AIF (died in WW1)
Sandra Fuller (Australia)
Norma Temperton (England)
Glen Porteous and Lynda Moseley (USA) for their research about William Fortune
Darren Fitzhenry (USA)
Shilo Fitzhenry (USA)
Kim Tregellas (USA)
Geraldine Cheyne and Paul Davies (Australia) researching the (Fitz)Henry connection in the Vitzdamm family.

There.... I think that's all of you - apologies to any I may have missed!

And what's in store for next year?
We hope to get more people interested in the DNA study - pop over here to take a look at the website.
The DNA website will be expanded to hold more in the way of reference material for our One-Name study - the family trees we've put together and suchlike.
And we hope that you all keep healthy and happy in the year ahead.

Merry Christmas.
Jo Fitz-Henry


And as always .... Why not subscribe to this blog and get the updates sent to your inbox? Or send us an email about your Fitz(-)henry family links.