Time to share my success that I had this year.
Earlier this year I got a lead from a distant relative sharing a common ancestor (of course
)It started with a simple lead on Philips/Philip in my mothers line. Just a simple thing like the wife of a mysterious Robert Philip(s) he married a Marrion Balks, and I was given her parents. After doing a bit of researching myself, mainly using BVRI, I found a line back to Balks/Banks/Flucker/Nielson. At first I was a bit unsure if I had it right as I had done it all on my own up to that point. Was I a happy little vegemite when I started to get matches on Genes, and after quite a few contacts I found that I had the right lot, not only that but I was spot on. Thanks to these contacts I got back even further than I had (1640's) all living in Midlothian around Duddingston. And I got a bonus of a 6th cousin too, no X removed, as we share 5 identical sets of ggrandparents. What a bonus this simple link gave me. The only downside if you can call it that, is that the Balks/Flucker/Nielson lot tended to keep it in the family
so even now no one is quite sure who married whom As there is a lot of marriages within the same families. 
No talk of wains with two heids from you lot 
