Looking Back on 2025
The Stories That Stayed With Me
Looking back at 2025, it's been a year of storytelling. From the beginning of the year, I've published 40 posts on Jenny's Scrapbook of Family History Stories, each one tells a different aspect of my family history, personal memories, and the ever-evolving craft of genealogy. These stories have taken readers from 1960s Geraldton to World War I battlefields, from Victorian England to colonial Western Australia, and from dusty archives to cutting-edge AI technology.
Many readers engaged with the stories and found connections. The family lines explored were: Cripps, Lymburner, Herbert, Caddy, Campbell, Delisser and Carson.
The geographic reach went from the shores of Western Australia to England, Scotland, Ireland, Jamaica, Canada and New Zealand.
The posts that resonated most with readers reveal what draws us to family history:
From Family History to Children's Story
Showing how AI helped transform ancestor stories into something accessible for the next generation.
Note: My grandson received his book for Christmas. Do you think he’ll read it?
Twenty Years of Silence
This one probably sums up my year best.
It’s about sitting with an unanswered question for a very long time and learning what patience actually looks like in family history. There’s no big reveal, no tidy ending. Just that moment when something finally clicks after sitting quietly in the background for years.
If you’ve carried a stubborn research problem, you’ll get this one straight away.
Through the Lens of a Box Brownie
It all started with an old camera and soon turned into something bigger.
Writing this made me think about photographs differently—not just as images, but as decisions. Someone stood there, chose that moment and pressed the button. That matters. It changes how we read old photos and what weight we give them. It also reminds us to slow down and think about the picture you’re about to take.
Often we only had that one chance to take a photo and then the wait for them to be developed. Now we have so many photos, we don’t know what to do with them. There’s something about those old box brownie photos that makes them so precious.
How Full Text Search Broke Through my 30-Year Brick Wall
After three decades of searching for my 3x great-grandfather Alexander Delisser's origins, FamilySearch's new Full Text AI search function finally cracked the case wide open.
The breakthrough came through two unexpected documents the AI search uncovered. Sometimes the answers aren't where we first look, and sometimes the tools we need to find them haven't even been built yet when we start searching.
But technology wasn't just about AI.
Connecting Generations
introduced QR codes as digital time capsules, ensuring family memorabilia carries its stories forward.
Why Your Spit Might Be the Key to Solving Family Mysteries
explored DNA testing beyond just finding Viking ancestry.
The Memory Keepers
Several posts honoured the people who keep family stories alive:
The Family Memory Keeper Who Called Himself Royal Ray
my uncle who introduced me to genealogy and dubbed himself “Royal Ray” after discovering our royal connection.
Maggie, A Tribute
remembering those who shaped our family narrative.
From Overwhelm to Clarity
acknowledging that not everything gets told, but some stories must be shared, especially our own stories. Afterall, we are tomorrow’s history.
Looking Ahead to 2026
As 2025 draws to a close, the work continues. There are still brick walls to break through (I’m looking at you, Neil Campbell), more cousins to connect with, and countless stories waiting to be told.
The QR codes I’ve created will continue bridging past and future. The AI tools will keep evolving, opening new ways to understand our ancestors. And the connections with readers and distant relatives will keep reminding me why this work matters.
Forty posts. Countless hours of research. Hundreds of ancestors remembered. Thousands of readers engaged.
But the real measure isn’t in numbers - it’s in knowing that somewhere, a cousin I’ve never met might read about Adam Lymburner or Charles Cripps or Royal Ray and think, “That’s my family too.” It’s in ensuring my grandchildren will scan a QR code on an old pocket watch and hear their ancestor’s story, or maybe they’ll find my YouTube channel and hear my voice speaking out through their speakers. It’s in transforming genealogical facts into emotional truths that help us understand not just what happened, but how those experiences shaped the people who came before us.
Every ancestor was once a real person facing the same hopes, fears, and challenges we face today. This year, I gave forty of them their moment to be remembered. This post makes forty-one.
Here’s to 2026 and the stories still waiting to be discovered.
My Substack articles can be read here - Jenny’s Scrapbook of Family Stories
A family history archive full of stories, artefacts, documents and images can also be found at Jenealogy Scrapbook
I loved reading about your year Jenny. You have had some great achievements. I think it's important to look back before going forward.
You have certainly achieved a lot this year. I hope your grandson appreciates the love and care that went into making his special book ... If not fully now then in future years I am sure he will.