Ellie Evans-Thyme

History: British History. (2013). BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history

History of England. Historic UK. (n. d.). http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngl...

Official Website of the British Monarchy. (2013). http://www.royal.gov.uk/

Scotland's history. (n. d.). http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/scotlandshisto...

Please list any additional Websites that you think should appear on a list of ten or less Websites. The Library doesn't have any subscription databases that patrons can use Online.

I am in the process of preparing a list of free Online sources for a small town public library in Texas that doesn't allow its patrons subscription database access to sites like Heritage Quest and Ancestry.com. The community has a large Hispanic and African-American population, so I want to include these populations when coming up with a genealogy bibliography.

For example, this morning on the History Channel, a program on the Masons identified a painting depicting George and Martha Washington and Washington's children; however, President Washington was childless, and the children were his stepchildren. Later today, while waiting for a haircut, I read in the November issue of Glamour an article that featured young women who were the descendants of U. S. Presidents. The interviewer identified one young woman as a descendant of Andrew Jackson. Jackson and his wife had no children; however, they did adopt one of the twins of Rachel's brother, Severn Donelson, whom they named Andrew Jackson, Jr. Am I being too picky, or should audiences demand accuracy from historically-based programs and articles?

Explain the descent of Lady Diana Spencer from Lucy by way of Mary Crofts and her daughter, Charlotte Sarsfield (1676-1732).

This spring while I was completing an internship in library science, a very knowledgeable reference librarian for a public library genealogical research center confided in me that the most common mistakes made by family historians were 1) not documenting research, 2) assuming that Internet sources can yield all the answers, and 3) failing to talk to family members. What are your thoughts on this, and what are the most often looked genealogical sources?

Case in point: because of my interest in genealogy, I belong to a clan organization that currently holds the status of an "armigerous clan" since it does not have a chief recognized by Lord Lyon. However, descendants of the last chief have been located, but the eldest brother is not interested in becoming laird while a younger brother, who happens to be a priest, is interested in doing so.

Yes, I know this doesn't have anything to do with royalty, but I don't think that genealogy is an entirely appropriate category either.

This 75-year-old, who treasures her privacy, welding her handbag to stop a gang of six motorcycle riding thugs who were attempting to commit a "smash-and-grab" robbery in Northampton, England, on Monday. Undoubtedly, this woman symbolizes the best of Britain.

Canadian born Autumn Kelly, the wife of Peter Phillips, gave birth to a daughter today (http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/30/its-a-girl-qu... ).

Would have Edward VIII dissuaded the United Kingdom from entering World War II? Would he have continued to have been seen as a modernizing influence? Would Princess Elizabeth of York still have succeeded him on his death in 1972?

Along the way, explain the difference between a constitutional monarchy and a federal republic, emphasize how much longer distances are in the US than the UK, and stress that the America that most Brits see on TV is not the America that most average Americans live in between the two coasts...

During the 1960s and 1970s, almost all Americans held the United Kingdom as symbolized by the Royal Family in high esteem, and the great and the good held up her cultural standards as the "gold" standard that Americans should emulate. About twenty years ago, however, cultrual arbitrators begin to consider Anglo culture as politically incorrect. What did I as an a middle-aged, middle-class, provincial American miss along the way? BTW, stay tuned for a similar question about American culture and what the British need to know about it.

Protesters kicked the tires and broke one of the car's windows. Is violent protest ever justified, or should protesters--however just they feel their cause--adhere to rules for non-violent protest advocated by Gandhi and Martin Luther King? Will this incidence cause a backlash against the protesters?

As an American graduate student going back to get my Masters of Library Science degree on a government loan at a state university, I really want to know. Believe me when I tell you that while the proposed jump in tuition is rather steep, it's not that different from what US students pay at public universities once fees have been added into the mix. For example, the tuition rate at the University of California, Berkeley, per semester is $10,781 as opposed to $14,500 in the UK. I'm not preaching from across the Pond. US students do pay more to obtain a university education than their British counterparts. Moreover, they spend years paying off their loans.

Some austerity measures are obviously needed in both the US and Europe, and some groups, no doubt, will feel short changed, but can a government declare bankruptcy, like a person? That's about the only other option. What else do you cut? Retirement age--that's probably going to be done in the US -- from 66 to 68 while a cut that better reflects life expectancy is 70. Defense--in the UK, that's being done; health care--In the US this might happen, but not anywhere in Europe.

American news sources are reporting that it's probable because the British media spotted Kate's parents as part of a shooting party at Balmoral last weekend Derschowitz, 2010, November 2, CBS), but what's the latest news from the United Kingdom? This inquiring American wants to know.

Given that a coalition government hasn't formed since 1945, what are your apprehensions about this sharing of power?

What are its advantages and disadvantages? An interested American wants to know because if the Republicans take back the House in our November elections a similar situation will exist in the US.*

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*I included this under the royalty heading since quite a few Brits seem to visit this classification.

Already most flights in and to Europe are canceled, and physicians have advised residents of Scotland and the Netherlands to stay indoors.

In 1816, after Mount Tambora erupted,

----Crops failed in Northern Europe, Canada, and the northern United States; this crop failure was most probably the primary motivation for the Western Expansion into the American Midwest from New England. In Ireland, 100,000 Irish died from famine, and the rice crop's failure in the Yunnan Province of China resulted in famine as well.

---1816,"The Year Without a Summer", kept Mary Shelley and George Gordon, Lord Byron, indoors whereupon Shelley wrote "Frankenstein" and Byron wrote the poem "Darkness".

---J. M. W. Turner's atmospheric paintings resulted from his faithfully reproducing the sky's color during this period.

---The lack of oats for horses inspired the invention of what was later to be the modern bicycle.

How will this occurrence effect Global Warming?

Joe B e-mailed me to ask me the trick of taking good notes in a college class, so I thought I would throw the question out to this erudite audience. Below, I've listed a couple of links that might help him, but you might like to add your own sources and thoughts:

http://collegeuniversity.suite101.com/article.cfm/...

http://is.berkeley.edu/dept/ravsci/notes.htm

I'd like to add that most instructors like to lecture using a traditional five major point outline that's similar in form to the college freshman English essay (introduction, three major points with three sub-points under each main point, and a conclusion that summarizes the lecture. Also, I can't emphasize enough two points: 1) Go over your notes after class, and if you have time retype them; 2) make sure you can understand all the material and are able to summarize it in your own words.

P. S. -- Yes, I know this doesn't have anything to do with royalty.

A lot of British bloggers on Yahoo! Royalty disparage Sarah Ferguson and Prince Harry's ginger-colored locks. As an American, I don't really understand why Brits don't like red heads. Is it because a lot of Scots and Irish have red hair? After all, Elizabeth I was a "ginger".

Apparently, Dean Kenneth Starr excelled as a fund raiser for Pepperdine's Law School and lured some noteworthy faculty members to Malibu, but the choice, given the leanings of most academics, is a controversial one. Starr served as the Whitewater Special Prosecutor during the Clinton Administration.

I can't find an estimate of the legitimate and illegitimate descendants of Robert I of Scotland, but there must be nearly as many of these as Edward III. I would estimate that most of middle-class Scotland descends from the Bruce as well as many Americans.

See: http://www.humphrysfamilytree.com/famous.descents....

Descendants include Presidents T. Roosevelt, Monroe, Bush 41 & 43, Buchanan, Polk; Diana Spencer, Churchill.