Meet our Members: Alison Breton

Question

Hi everyone!

It's time to get to know another one of our wonderful WikiTreers. This week's member is Alison Breton. 

Alison became a Wiki Genealogist in July 2014. She is the Team Leader for Gloucestershire and Bristol in the England Project.

When and how did you get interested in genealogy?

My father got me interested when he tried to find out how the Winkler family got to the UK and started our UK line. I continued the research and found it very addictive. 

What are some of your interests outside of genealogy? 

I am a trustee of our local Heritage Centre but I was an entrepreneur throughout my working life, running a mailing house and golf club amongst a number of other businesses. 

What is your genealogical research focus?

I started researching my family, who are mainly in the East of England and Huntingdonshire but when I moved to the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire we renovated an old pub and I looked into the history of the building and then the local people. On WikiTree I started researching mainly the Forest of Dean and then the rest of Gloucestershire. Still today I like to make sure the Forest of Dean profiles are the best they can be and if an unconnected branch has a Forest of Dean location I'd start there. 

Are you are interested in certain surnames? 

Cutbush (my great grandmother's surname) is my favourite surname, I'd always try and improve English Cutbushes if I found them. 

Do you have a favorite ancestor?

I have a few favourite ancestors but I think one I admire most is my great-great grandmother Mary Ann Cutbush (1848-1914) because, as stated in the 1911 census she had 21 children - the first one at 15 and the last one at 44. We have a merry band of Cutbush researchers looking at her descendants. Mary Ann was Irish and you can tell our descendants as they're often involved with the theatre or music. 

My great grandfather John Birmingham (1858-1930) was also pretty impressive. His family lived in abject poverty and had 'settlement orders' stating which parish should provide them with parish relief. He joined the Army at the age of 14, achieved a 1st class education and got educated at Kneller Hall (the Army Music School). He became an Army bandmaster and worked abroad for a lot of his career. His determination and hard work changed the course of our family. 

What is your toughest brick wall currently? 

We cannot find any details on the original Winkler, Frederick Reinhold Winkler (abt.1851-1928), who came to the UK around 1881 but all of my Cutbush contacts would love to find the Cavanagh family in Ireland. My Birmingham family also came from ireland and I can't find them either. Researching Birminghams can be quite tricky. 

(interview continues in comments)

Comments

What got you involved with WikiTree?

I have been on WikiTree since 2014. I was a big Ancestry user but my family tree was on a spreadsheet. I built my tree on WikiTree and was a bit daunted initially (I marked all my sources 'Ancestry') but did the England Project Orphan Trail and got hooked. Someone suggested I have two browser windows open side-by-side and have the profile on one side and source websites on the other and that was a game changer! 

What do you spend the most time doing on WikiTree?

I like a variety so I'll click the unsourced Gloucestershire profiles and complete a whole section, then try to connect some lines or choose a small area and run the biocheck app which throws up lots of different issues. If I come across profiles with no locations I'd always divert to those. 

Which project are you most involved in?

I was recently asked to be Team Leader for Gloucestershire and Bristol in the England Project and was very proud to accept. 

How can others help the England Project? 

All the counties need more help, sourcing a few records or connecting a few lines or looking after a geographic area is all so helpful. The better sourced the records are in an area, the easier it is for people to trace more family members and connect them to the main tree. 

Do you consider your work here to be part of your legacy? 

I do feel my work with WikiTree is part of my legacy and I really hope future families find my work useful. People already contact me and I do help them with their profiles. I really spend so much time improving the tree because I find it extremely relaxing, never boring and feel I'm helping future generations. Time passes quickly when improving the tree!

What is your favorite feature or function on WikiTree?

There are many WikiTree functions I would find hard to live without but WikiTree+ tops the list and the recently introduced gedcom improver is brilliant. It saves hours rewriting gedcom profiles. 

What feature or function would you most like to see added or improved?

There is an issue (which I had recently) where someone found one source with different surname spelling and then changed a large bit of family, including adopting orphans and changing their surname. I sent an email and it was a genuine error but if I hadn't noticed, those people would no longer be found. Perhaps if a surname is marked as certain then at least two different sources need to be added to change it - or some other way to make people think twice before they change it. 

How have people helped you on WikiTree?

I put a question on the Gloucestershire team page about a family I was connecting and a WikiTree Sourcerer contacted me and spent time helping me learn and improve my connection skills. I love connecting now and am extremely grateful to her. 

How do you help others?

People have contacted me on WikiTree and sent documents for me to share and upload. Some members of the WikiTree community find it hard to navigate their way around the program to (for instance) add photos so I'm pleased to help them. We should remember some people, especially some older people, find navigating their way around quite hard. 

Do you have any tips for someone who wants to get more involved?

Just do things you enjoy and ask others for help. If you work on a computer use a split screen!

What could we do to inspire more people to participate?

I see WikiTree as a piece of worldwide family history research, hence the reason for proper sources.

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Congratulations Alison..

Oliver (on the Breton side)

Answer 1

Well done Alison. Fame at last!

Comments

Haha

Thanks Derek.

Answer 2

Alison, I liked that WikiTree is "a piece of worldwide family history research, hence the reason for proper sources."  That was almost poetic!

Nice interview - good to get to know you!

Answer 3

Great interview Alison!  I especially enjoyed reading about poor Mary Ann Cutbush and her impressive brood.

Congrats on your Leadership promotion and keep up all that you do on WT.

BTW we are 21* through the Vercoes in Cornwall.

Comments

Incidentally, I'm another descendant of the 'impressive brood' as, I should think, is half of England!