Edition 31 of Australian history and genealogy magazine Traces is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.
We all have them - the elusive ancestors who have simply disappeared.
Sometimes we are lucky enough to find them again in unexpected places. Sometimes they reappear after an absence of years - or decades. Sometimes they remain elusive and are never found again.
People disappear for all manner of reasons. They move around the country or the world in search of a better life. They disappear into prisons, asylums or other institutions. Their names are spelled so badly the connection is difficult to make. Perhaps they chose to change their name completely as part of a new start.
Migration can be one of those times when our ancestors simply disappear. Shipping and immigration records can be sketchy at best, and those recording our ancestors were often not terribly concerned with accurate spelling of names.
For my own research, it was important to consider if my ancestors might have migrated in stages. Not everyone went straight from A to B – some visited other points along the way, sometimes taking years to arrive at their final destination.
One such example was the family of my great grandfather, James Nicholas Clark, who was born in Bristol, England or possibly Launceston, Tasmania around 1856, just as the family emigrated to Australia. James’s younger sister Annie Amelia Clark was born 31 March 1857 in Port Sorrell, Tasmania, where the family lived for at least 12 years before they crossed Bass Strait and settled in Victoria. I searched in vain for their immigration records for years before I discovered they began their lives in Australia in the state of Tasmania. I had been searching for their immigration records in the wrong state. The family 'disappeared'.
As we progress further back with our research, chances increase that we will come across a document written in Latin. Latin is the language of the Romans. Through the continuing influence of Roman civilization and the use of Latin by the Catholic Church many genealogical resources are written in Latin.
Nearly all Roman Catholic church records used Latin to some extent. Latin was used in the records of most European countries and in the Roman Catholic records of the United States and Canada. Because Latin was used in so many countries, local usage varied. Certain terms were commonly used in some countries but not in others. In addition, the Latin used in British records has more abbreviations than the Latin used in European records.
Some common genealogical terms include the following :
| English | Latin |
| birth | nati, natus, genitus, natales, ortus, oriundus |
| burial | sepulti, sepultus, humatus, humatio |
| christening | baptismi, baptizatus, renatus, plutus, lautus, purgatus, ablutus, lustratio |
| child | infans, filius/filia, puer, proles |
| death | mortuus, defunctus, obitus, denatus, decessus, peritus, mors, mortis, obiit, decessit |
| father | pater |
| godparent | patrini, levantes, susceptores |
| godfather | patrinus, compater |
| godmother | matrina, patrina, commater |
| husband | maritus, sponsus, conjux, vir |
| marriage | matrimonium, copulatio, copulati, conjuncti, intronizati, nupti, sponsati, ligati, mariti |
| marriage banns | banni, proclamationes, denuntiationes |
| mother | mater |
| given name | nomen |
| surname | cognomen |
| parents | parentes, genitores |
| wife | uxor, marita, conjux, sponsa, mulier, femina, consors |
There are a number of sites online that can help you with translating genealogical records written in Latin. One such website is the Latin Genealogical Word List. The website itself also includes links to other sites you may find helpful.
The latest issue of Family Tree UK magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.
Inside this month's issue :
Animals have always been a big part of my family and throughout my childhood a succession of cats, dogs and other animals filled our home. We loved them all, and my father was particularly close to our cat Lucy, the last pet in our household before his death.
Lucy was 18.5 years old when she died, and in the last years of her life was frequently referred to as the geriatric attack cat. When our dog Kiera had died aged 15 a few years previously, Lucy took over her guard dog duties, a task she clearly took very seriously. Many was the time I looked out our back windows to see Dad walking around his garden, his faithful hound … err cat … at his heels. As if she understood his failing eyesight, she was always about a metre behind, never in front, never under his feet. And woe betide any stranger who came near Dad while Lucy was on guard.
I happened to be home the day an electricity meter reader came to the house. Dad was asleep on his couch on the front verandah, his cat at his side. Inside the house I heard a strange voice yell and hurried out, to find the meter man retreated off the veranda, Lucy with tail like a bottle brush squarely between him and HER DADDY, and Dad still blissfully asleep.
Standing on the stones in our driveway, blood trickling down his arm, the man told me what had happened. As he entered the gate and approached the verandah, Lucy woke, sat up and hissed. When he kept coming she jumped off the couch, fluffed herself up and started to growl. When he stepped onto the veranda, she flew him, biting and clawing. The man quickly retreated, and that's when I came out. There Lucy stayed, firmly between this stranger and Dad, determined he was not getting any nearer.
In the end I had to hold her while the man edged past, quickly read the meter, and retreated again. "I’m wary of the dogs," he told me, "but I’ve never been attacked by a cat before!" Fortunately he saw the funny side, as she had drawn blood and I had visions of her being taken away in kitty sized handcuffs!
Over the next few weeks I relayed the story of the geriatric attack cat several times, and was quite taken aback by the number of other visitors who responded that Lucy had warned them off as well. Friends, our gardener, delivery people, the lady from the chemist delivering Dad's medicines - everyone commented to me that Dad often never woke up as they went about their business, but that cat watched every move they made! Lucy passed away the day Dad went into hospital, her work done.
A remarkable animal indeed.
Ancestry has again been adding new record sets to their database. New records sets recently added include :
Australia
United Kingdom
Ancestry is one of the largest genealogy websites worldwide, and for those on a tight budget Ancestry Library Edition may be available from your local public library.
Ancestry Library Edition provides access to all records included in a paid world subscription. Census, BMD, Military, Immigration, Pictures, Stories, Maps, Trees, etc. It does not allow you to create your own online tree and link records to it.
The database can only be accessed in-house, not from home, but will generally be available on your library's public PCs and via their public wi-fi using your own laptop or tablet. Records can generally be downloaded to a USB or to your device, and printing may also be available.
Do you have Irish ancestry? Would you like to know more about researching your Irish ancestry and what resources are available, especially what's new? Then Irish Heritage News can help.
Irish Heritage News is an independent source for Ireland’s heritage stories, delivering a mix of featured articles, breaking news, guides, explainers, exclusives and other original content. Headquartered in West Cork, the team undertakes novel historical and archaeological research into a broad range of subjects spanning the earliest times to the present day.
Irish Heritage News also publishes a free online newsletter.
Over the years of my genealogical research I have made many
fascinating discoveries, and many have come
from searching old newspapers, and these are certainly my favourite
resource.
One of the saddest stories I have found in my family history is that of Eliza Pummeroy (nee Beseler). Eliza was born in 1871 in Learmonth, Victoria to Edward Beseler and Emma (nee Flower). Eliza married Alfred Pummeroy in1895 in St Kilda, where Alfred worked as a plasterer. They had four children before Alfred suddenly became ill with pneumonia and died on 6 Feb 1901, leaving Eliza with 4 young children and in a desperate situation.
The family lived in rented housing and had little by way of savings. With four children to look after, the eldest 4 years old and deaf and mute, the youngest (my grandfather William) only 2 months old, Eliza was unable to do much by way of paid work. She took in washing to make a little money, and was given 3 shillings a week by the local Ladies Benevolent Society. It wasn't enough.
After struggling for a month after her husband's sudden death, Eliza took the step of applying to the local court for help, risking having her children removed from her custody and placed in an orphanage, something she was adamant she did not want. The judges hearing the case awarded her 10 shillings from the poor box and committed the children to the department, with the recommendation they be handed back to their mother.
This appeal was reported in several newspapers. Two reported the case with a fair amount of detail, including the fact that the children all appeared clean and well cared for, while a third much briefer article gave a somewhat different impression, especially with the heading 'Neglected Children'.
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| Prahran Telegraph, Sat 9 March 1901, p3. |
 |
| The Argus, Sat 9 March 1901, p15. |
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| The Herald, Fri 8 March 1901, p5. |
I doubt anyone will ever forget the events of the September 11 attacks, where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news:
• At 8:46 a.m., AA 11 slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
• At 9:03 a.m., UA175 slammed into the South Tower.
• At 9:37 a.m., AA77 crashed into the Pentagon’s west side.
• At 9:59 a.m., the South Tower imploded and fell, raining debris and ash on the city.
• At 10:03 a.m., UA93 crashed into a field in the Pennsylvania countryside.
• And at 10:29 a.m., the North Tower collapsed from the top down. A
cloud of ash turned day to night in the narrow streets of lower
Manhattan.
In those terrible moments between 8:46 a.m. and 10:29 a.m., nearly 3,000 men, women and children lost their lives. The youngest was two. The oldest was 85.
Where I live in Australia, the clock is 14 hours ahead of New York. So at the time of the first attack, it was 10:46pm my time. I was already asleep. Like much of the rest of Australia, I woke up to the news of the attacks.
My family heard the news on the radio at 7:00am - there had been a terrorist attack in the US and the World Trade Centre in New York had been hit by a hijacked plane. We rushed to turn on our TV. As the picture came on, the first thing we saw was a replay of the second plane hitting the south tower. For several minutes we weren't sure if this was live, or had happened several hours ago.
I was late for work that day.
In the library where I work, we dug out an old TV from our storeroom and set it up out in the public area of the building, keeping the news on all day. People spoke in more hushed voices than usual. Everyone was shocked.
While cleaning out the family home after my parents passed away, I found an thick notepad filled with writing. It belonged to my mother, and in it she had recorded the entire first Gulf War, starting with the September 11 attacks. It is her record of those events and another important document in my family history.
It reminds me that we are all living through history, and how important it is to record the major events we have lived through, and pass our memories on to those who come after. Because some events should always be remembered.
Inside this month's issue :
Get ready to sign up for RootsTech 2026. Registration opens on September 24! Whether you’re newly curious about family history or an expert genealogist, this global conference is for you. Don’t miss out—mark your calendars now!
So save the date and get ready for another spectacular event.
The topic for this week is 'Off to School', and education has played
such a huge part in my life. I was one of those kids who loved school,
loved learning, loved books - it is no surprise I have ended up working
in a library. Neither of my parents had the opportunity to continue in
school that my sister and I had, but both Mum and Dad loved to read and
saw the value of education for their daughters. They supported our
education and were the parents who always attended parent/teacher
nights, helped out at school working bees, canteen and library, and
always attended school plays and other activities. Both could not have
been happier when their daughters headed off to university, and proudly
attended our graduations.
 |
| Me ready for school c1977 |
For my parents there were fewer educational opportunities. Both left school early to go out to work to help support their families, but learning was still lifelong and libraries and books played a big part in their lives. Any topic they wanted to know more about was only a visit to the library away, and reading non-fiction because you happened to be interested in the topic was how we were brought up. My father even had the opportunity to go back to school later in life, doing a correspondence course from Sydney University in farm management and sheep breeding as part of his job on a sheep station. Not bad for a man who had left school at Grade 6 to go out to work.
It’s almost time for Legacy Family Tree Webinars’ annual online conference Webtember 2025 to begin.
On each Wednesday in September, there will be four or five webinars focused on a specific theme.
Wednesday, September 3: German Genealogy
Dive deep into your German roots with these classes:
Wednesday, September 10: Writing
Learn how to tell your family’s story with these writing-focused classes:
Wednesday, September 17: MyHeritage
Uncover new possibilities with MyHeritage through these webinars:
Wednesday, September 24: US Historical Records
Explore the rich records of the United States with these classes:
Webtember 2025 is free to attend live, and recordings will be available for a limited time after each session.
Register here to attend the live classes and see the schedule.
