Without the assistance and encouragement of the following friends and relations this site along with all the data contained within it would not have been possible:

• Graham Johnson and Keith Rhead, work colleagues and friends whose initial enthusiasm and interest sparked my fascination in family history and genealogy.
• Anne Bathias, my father's second cousin from Derby now living in sunny France. Anne has knocked so many proverbial "brick walls" down I have now stopped counting. She has been the main supply of all Fleming and Gascoigne information, found numerous grandparents and lost relatives from Durham to Australia. I have yet to set a challenge which Anne has been unable to conquer. Her Miss Marple detection work never ceases to amaze me! Many thanks Anne, you're one in a million!
• Frank Elliott, work colleague and friend who has been an precious source of information on the British Armed Forces of both WWI and II. Franks attention to detail when analysing military photographs/badges/uniforms/etc. is amazing – now which way round are those “puttees” wound?… he must have been in the Cavalry riding a motor-bike!
• Dr. Sidnee Day Spencer, 5^th cousin from Utah, USA, who has been a valuable source of advice and assistance on all things “genealogical”. Sidnee should also be credited for providing the comprehensive COTTERILL lineage.
• 4^th cousin Andrew Wainwright from Leicester, England, who has been a veritable well of information on the CRAXFORD ancestors of Northamptonshire and Rutland. Andy’s work has been painstaking and thorough, credit should be given for assistance with the MATKIN/CRAXFORD relationships.
• Harry and Barbra Liston of Ottawa, Canada, 3^rd cousins, who have provided  an intriguing insight into the 19^th century LISTON’s some of whom chose to leave their ancestral home in Midlothian, Scotland for a new life in Canada. Harry had provided many interesting photographs the finest being one of 2^nd Great, Grand Uncle Henry Murray LISTON, brother of my Great, Great Grandfather George LISTON.
• Deborah Day, Archivist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, USA has provided a wealth of information on the maritime career of Joseph Matkin (1853-1927) who sailed on a “voyage of scientific discovery” on HMS Challenger (1872-1876). Deborah is the source two of my most treasured photographs of Joseph, his wife Mary and 4 children along with a beautiful portrait of Joseph stood with his mother Sarah (CRAXFORD, 1824-1923) and his Grandmother Harriet CRAXFORD (nee COTTERILL, 1803-1894). Sarah is my Great, Great Grandmother and Harriet my Great, Great, Great Grandmother! Deborah has put me in contact with some of Joseph’s descendants who are now living in the USA and Canada.
• Friend and 2^nd cousin Patricia Jean Cooper nee Bex living in sunny Sydney, Australia a fellow enthusiastic family historian is the Granddaughter of Mary “Polly” MATKIN one of the 10 siblings of Grandpa Phil. I treasure and enjoy and sharing our new and captivating genealogical discoveries. Pat confirms the adage “the world is a small place”. I answered a call for information on the Rutland Matkins which turned out had been posted by Pat. We quickly discovered that we were indeed related and shared a common lineage – my mother provided me with a host of stories regarding Pat’s father John Kenneth BEX (1916-1968) who she used to play with/visit when she was a small girl living in Hunstanton, Norfolk, England. John worked for the Royal Household in Windsor and Sandringham and immigrated to Australia with his young family in the 1950’s.
• To June Maureen Nixon nee Edwards my only 1^st cousin on my father’s side who has provided some lovely photographs of her mother (Aunt “Babs”). June has provided much information on the Liston-Smith heritage which has been invaluable.
• Jan Rhodes mother-in-law of my second cousin Rosemary Spite, (now living in the Middle East) for her research on the MATKIN’s of Rutland and the SPITE’s of Lincolnshire. Through Jan I have found another second cousin, there must be many more as Grandpa was one of 10 siblings!
• Jeff and Dorothy Bradbury of “Ancestorseeker” (info@ancestorseeker.com) deserve a mention and recognition of their fine work delving deep in the dusty Yorkshire and Lincolnshire archives researching early 18^th Century LOTHERINGTON and MATKIN lineage. Jeff and Dorothy have helped overcoming seemingly impossible challenges and “dead-ends”. The melancholy tale of my Great, Great, Great Grandmother Elizabeth Spence to name one. Elizabeth had an illegitimate daughter Ada Mary Jennings SPENCE (my Great, Great Grandmother) in 1869. There are family stories relating to the fate of Elizabeth none of which I have been able to substantiate, one thing is for sure she gave her daughter to the care of her biological fathers sister Ann MARSHALL nee JENNINGS. Elizabeth was never heard from again, she never married Ada’s father as married the same year (and incidentally named his first daughter Ada too!) – I doubt Ada never saw her mother or perhaps her real father.
• John Stevenson, from Trinity Research Services, Edinburgh, Scotland is one in a million, what he doesn’t know about 19^th century Scottish shipping or where to find information on it isn’t worth noting! Instead of enjoying a peaceful and relaxing retirement, John and his wife Rhoda spend hours and hours in research establishments in Glasgow and Edinburgh, trawling through miles and miles of archives. John has provided me with a detailed and intriguing account of the maritime career of my Great, Great, Great Grandfather Laurence SMITH (1807-1856) who tragically perished at sea captaining the SS Roslin on its maiden voyage. John and Rhoda take their research seriously and leave no stone unturned, the two of them once spent several hours wondering a cold and dank cemetery in Edinburgh hunting for the grave of Captain SMITH.
• TNG and Darrin Lythgoe for providing these wonderful scripts that power this web site. The customer care that Darrin has offered has reached dizzy heights I’ve never experienced before! He has always answered my queries promptly and provided much expertise in design of this web site.
• Penultimatly but probably most importantly to my mother Lauraceae Annette Liston-Smith nee Matkin who has tolerated many hours of detailed questioning into her and my fathers past. Unwittingly she has been the custodian of some incredible artifacts which have added to the rich and colourful tapestry of the Liston-Smith family history. Mum has an incredible memory and has by far been the most important key to unlocking the secrets of our families past. Mum and her father too have fortunately been collectors of family memorabilia from photos to newspaper clippings, birth certificates to obituary’s. The greatest find being the detail required to make the connection between the MATKIN’s and Lady Ann AUSTEN, companion and literary mentor to the English 19^th Century writer of poetry and prose William Cowper of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.
• A final word of acknowledgment to my sadly missed father, Peter Watson Fleming LISTON-SMITH who died on my mothers’ birthday in 2002. Sorrowfully no one sat down with dad and documented anything of his past. All the information on the his immediate family has come from my mother, the rest has been the result of painstaking archival research all of which would have been negated if anyone had just sat down with dad and asked a few questions. I’m quite sure father would have loved to have known why he was “Peter Watson”, did he know his namesake fought in the Indian Mutiny of 1857? That he was a schoolmaster and astronomer? - I doubt it. Nor was he probably aware of the fact that the SMITH’s were from the Shetland’s. These foke are very proud of their ancestry and would prefer to be called “Shetlanders” rather than “Scottish” and if really pushed would be rather affiliated with the Scandinavians rather than the Scots!

It’s to my father that I’d like to dedicate this site to – hopefully those that are interested will now be able visualise something of our ancestors and understand that, at least a small part of their being, is due to the huge gene pool we’ve been drawn from.

Enjoy looking around the site it’s a labour of love and continually been updated…

Philip Charles LISTON-SMITH

January 2005.