Have you ever wondered why your grandmother and grandfather so treasured a faded photograph, a worn bible, or why the time spent with your mother's family is different than the time spent with your father's side? Remembering and preserving these memories, customs and traditions all establish a family heritage. Many families have already done the research necessary to preserve their family story. Many families have not. Many do not know how to begin because their family has been too geographically separated or because they believe it is too late to study their past.

Our unique family heritage is what genealogists call "clues to your past". Properly collected and pieced together, these clues can unlock the most interesting adventure we shall ever experience. These clues learned from other members of our families can teach us the story of our origins.

Unless we have been especially fortunate, many of our older relatives will have left us before we have gathered their knowledge of our family's past. And worse, they may have left us with few clues as to their origins.

Who were those people who gave us our family name? Why were some of us given baptismal and confirmation names? Where did our names come from? In what parts of the world did our namesakes settle? How long did they stay? Where did they go, those who left for other lands? What were they like? Why did they leave their homeland?

For most of us, the questions we have about our past never get beyond the level of idle curiosity. Not because we are not interested, what could be more fascinating than to trace one's origins? But where does one begin to look? What documents should one seek? Have spelling changes occurred in a name since its origin, brought on by time, by migration, by ignorance, or even by political expediency? Such tracing almost always involves considerable amounts of time, often a considerable amount of money, and some special skills.

Because few of us have the time or the money or the special skills we believe are needed to follow through with tracing our family trees, we put it off "until later", And so, our good intentions often fail; to bear fruit, fruit in this case, which would be of interest not only to us but to our own descendants. Information collected might also be of interest to many others of the same or related surname elsewhere in the world. Our effort might be the inspiration of their searches. But the longer we put it off, the more difficult the tracing becomes.

Remember your family history will never be finished every day is a new entry in your family history, but your compilation and collection is unique and not meant to be hidden away. Publish and present it anyway you can other members of your family will want to see it and help to contribute to it. They will find it of great interest to see what you have discovered, but no matter what else you do with it please deposit your information with the relevant Family History Society's, remember as you embarked on this fascinating journey into past times wishing someone had done just a little of the legwork then so others will want to see what work has been done and all your hard work and determination will help the future family historian and so build on what has gone before.

On this site you will find the results of many years research into the many families associated with the Glen's all under the family tree section. In the genealogy section there are articles on how to trace your family, descriptions of the towns and villages in Lancashire, Surnames and their meanings most of which are the families I have researched, entries from some of the parish registers that have been consulted, and notes about the regiments that are associated with my family.

I have included some photographs of various members of the families in the photo album. In the Links section you will find lots of links to genealogical sites, and in the Bits & Pieces section is where I will put all the other stuff.

I do hope that you will visit often and sign the guestbook.

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