December 2007

The Charie Family – 2007 Newsletter

I am sending this Xmas Newsletter from Adelaide, Australia where we are spending December and January with my daughter Emma and her family . There are few, if any, connected Charie family members known to be in Australia, other than my own daughter, Emma, (who is a McArthur now), so if any more are known, please let me know.

2007 was the year in which the Charie family site really started to “earn its keep”, as Charies and contacts, new and existing, found the site in increasing numbers. Emails to the site came, “out of the blue”, from South Africa , Canada , Australia , the USA, as well as the UK. For example, Rachel Clarke from Birmingham , researching her family, traced back to a William Heeley who she discovered married Sarah Ann Charie, F44 , in 1877. This was new information as we had no record of Sarah Ann's marriage and this is now on Tree 6 .

One contact from the USA , Alison Charie, with the Charie name but no known link, recalled vague childhood memories of her Charie family; maybe they will jog a memory somewhere:
“ I knew little about Aunt Pearl, except that she was my great aunt on my fathers side, and she had brothers and sisters named Manuel, Ethel, Esther, plus some others who died early and were never talked about. They were born in the late 1800's. My father was born in 1918, his name was Marshall and he grew up as an orphan. I don't know where he was born, but he lived in Pittsburgh , Harrisburg , and Philadelphia , Pennsylvania .
  I remember a story about someone with some criminal background taking a train across Russia , then across Europe and having some stops along the way, with some attendant stories. I can't recall the particulars of it, as I was very little when I heard it and can't even vouch for its veracity or this person's route or name. I'm pretty sure it was a man though.”

Every year the world shrinks with new opportunities for contact and communication coming on the scene; emails seem “old hat” now. It has only been a couple of years since vehicles like “ Skype ” came along, with more and more Charies available on line. Now, the latest, “ Facebook ”, is throwing up dozens of Charie contacts and there is even a “ Charies of the world united ” group organised by Alan Charie ( H25 ) - at the moment these are mainly younger Charies, as you would expect, and, looking at their interests on line, family history does not appear to be a high priority! Nevertheless, there must be great opportunities for the family to use these new vehicles - their use will spread as emails did before them.

Also, don't forget, I have collected a list of email addresses, but these are not published to protect privacy – if you wish to contact someone, then email me, or the site, and if I have an address, I will pass it on.

With the linked “Charie Network” becoming more global I took the opportunity to secure the domain “ charie.net ” which became available – it links to the existing site “ charie.co.uk ” automatically. Please visit the site if you can and share it with any other family members with whom you are in contact.

There have been no births, marriages or deaths recorded or reported since the 2006 newsletter and I would value any information from you if I have missed anyone. Now the site is built, it is easy to maintain, provided that I have the information and this depends largely upon input from family members.

Wishing you and your families a Merry Christmas and a happy 2008.

Kind regards

Keith Charie
December 2007