Just like that, Western District Families has reached its teenage years. Thirteen years ago today I pressed “Publish” on my first post.
April 2011 was a sad time. My interest in the past came from my Nana, her love of old photos, and stories of her early years. This is Nana, Linda Hadden, as a teenager, with her nephew Les.
She inspired me to start Western District Families, but before I pressed “Publish” thirteen years ago, Nana died on 6 April 2011, aged 91. She never got to see the finished product, nor did I get to share with her the wonderful stories I’ve unearthed along the way. But she’s still with me in spirit and this photo of her as a toddler watches over me as I research.
My posts to the site are not as frequent as they were, but Western District Families is not going anywhere. I still have many stories I want to share. The WDF Facebook page continues to go from strength to strength, now with over 14,000 followers, proving there is still a lot of interest in the history of the Western District.
Ideally, I would like to post here once a month. I don’t think I’ll achieve that over the next year, but I’ll try. And even if new posts are few, and far between, there are still over 450 posts from the past thirteen years, the Pioneers’ Obituary Index, and over 160 Hamilton’s WW1 biographies to discover.
Western District Families 
congratulations on the anniversary and many thanks for sharing the wonderful stories and photographs
LikeLike
Thank you, Anne for you ongoing support.
LikeLike
Congrats Meron,
It made me look at my own WordPress site and realised that my first post on my Ferguson & Urie stained glasshttps://fergusonandurie.wordpress.com/ was in Feb 2012, even though I had been collecting the research since 2008.
I’ve followed your WDF for some years now and have come across many clues to direct my research of Ferguson & Urie and other stained glass window research.
All the best,
Regards,
Ray
Ray Brown
rayjbrown@live.comrayjbrown@live.com
http://fergusonandurie.comhttp://fergusonandurie.com/
http://stainedglassaustralia.wordpress.comhttp://stainedglassaustralia.wordpress.com/
LikeLike
Thank you, Ray and congratulations on your terrific site.
LikeLike
just discovered your blog when undergoing my family history research.
I read you have made over 450 posts and wondering if there’s a way to find the list of posts?
Such a great blog & so much work!
LikeLike
Thank you so much, Hayley. In the right hand side column of the home page, you will see catagories, and that’s probably the best way to see all the posts.
LikeLike
Hi Merran. Am interested to see the family name “Haddon”, The Bromell family , in the 1950’s, used to collect a ‘miss Haddon”, just south of Cavendish and take her with us to the Presbyterian church. I wonder if she is related?
Best Wishes, Hugh Bromell.
LikeLike
Hi Hugh. A Presbyterain Hadden from near Cavendish would be one of my Hadden family. However, I’m not sure who she was. Agnes Hadden was a “Miss” who sang at the Cavendish Presybyterian Church but she died in 1949. Regards Merron
LikeLike