West/Rycroft Family History

Over the past year or so, I've been gathering together all the family information I can find:  Old photos, old documents like birth and marriage certificates, and old memories.

Spurred on by Holly's fine example, I had hoped to produce some kind of family history.  However I've not quite managed to do that yet, so instead I've produced this little web site, as a place to bring together all the information I have, and make it available to anyone who is interested.

I'll be updating and improving this by and by, so if you've got any questions, corrections or suggestions, please feel free to email me at family@mickwest.com

ANCESTORS:

It's difficult to present a family tree.  I have two parents, four grandparent, eight Great-Grandparents, then going back through the generations 16, 32, 64, 128, 256.  The way I've been dividing up the family information is via my great-grandparents, since there are only eight of them:

• Walter Whiteman West   (tree)   (birth)
• Florence Lydia Knight   (tree)
• James Harrower Crocket   (tree)    (birth)
• Helen Grant Edmondstone   (tree)    (birth)
• John Edward Rycroft   (tree)    (birth)    (marriage)    (death)
• Annie Davison   (tree)  (marriage)
• William Weeks   (tree)     (birth)    (marriage)    (death)
• Lena Mary Healey   (tree)    (birth)    (marriage)    (death)

         (The "(tree)" links are pdf files that  require Adobe Acrobat Reader - if they don't work, click here)

My Grandparents

• Walter Irving West   (tree)    (birth)   (death)
• Janet Grant Crocket   (tree)   (birth)
• Philip Douglas Rycroft   (tree)    (birth)    (marriage)    (death)
• Muriel Joan Weeks   (tree)  (marriage) 

My Parents

• Donald West   (tree)    (birth)
• Ann Patricia Rycroft   (tree)   (birth)   (Cartoon History)

And here's me, so you can see the whole family tree

• Michael West   (tree)

I've also tried to make the entire database of ancestors (and other relatives) accessible on the web using a bit of html magic.  This is a work in progress.  But have a look.  It's the place to go if you want to look up the information on any individual.

• Index to the West/Rycroft family database

Search the Internet Search Mickwest.com

Photos:

Photos are off-site on PicasaWeb.  These are mostly high resolution scans.  You can order prints from Picasa.  You can also download the high-resolution scan by clicking on "View Full Image" after clicking on a thumbnail.

• West Photos 1910s-1960s
• West Photos 1980s
• Misc Rycroft
• Rycroft Portraits

Audio

Few things bring the past to life like hearing people speak.  These 16 segments are from a tape made in about 1969, by Peggy, and record the observations and memories of her mother Helen Grant Edmondstone.  Also there are some long descriptions from Irving on his workmates, and some cute appearances by Paula and Michael, aged 2 and 3. 

• Crockett/West Audio Recording  (.mp3)

Documents:

I have a lot of documents that I've scanned from the originals, or sometimes from bad photocopies, and sometime downloaded off the internet.  These linked below are not always in the highest quality, so if you want a better copy of any of them, then let me know.   I apologize for lumping the images in a huge web gallery (although they are in mostly chronological order), and I'll try to find a better way of indexing them eventually.

• Documents - Birth, Marriage and Death certificates, Letters (.JPGs)
• Other Documents in .DOC and .TXT format

One document amongst the above  I'd like to draw you attention to is the William Week's notebook from his time as a trainee NCO in WWI.  It's a fascinating look at the mechanics of warfare.  How to kill people, as told by your great-grandfather:

• William Weeks World War One Notebook

GEDCOM Database:

Family trees can be stored as "Gedcom" files.  If you know what this is, and would like to browse the family tree with your own software, then here's the file, right click on it to save it.

• Michael_West.GED  (110K)