Week 21 (May 21-27) An Unexpected Strength - #52Ancestors

Many of our ancestors showed unexpected strength when dealing with the adversity in their lives.  Without the medical, financial and social support we benefit from today, they had to call on inner strength and find a way to move forward.

One such ancestor of mine was Eliza Beseler.  I have written about her previously.

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 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, including the article below.

The Argus, Sat 9 March 1901, p15.

How much courage and desperation Eliza must have felt to take the step of appealing to the courts for aid.  Standing before three magistrates to plead her case, knowing they had the power to take her children away, while still mourning the death of her husband.  An unexpected strength in the face of such desperate circumstances. 

Website Wednesday - Railway Work, Life & Death

The Railway Work, Life & Death Project is a joint initiative between the University of Portsmouth, the National Railway Museum (NRM) and the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick (MRC). The project also works with other institutions including The National Archives of the UK (TNA) and the RMT Union.

The project makes it easier to find out about workers and work on Britain and Ireland’s railways from 1855 to 1939. They provide data about what staff were doing on the railways, what happened to them and why, all revealed through the accidents they had. Working on the railways 100 or more years ago was incredibly dangerous, with hundreds killed and tens of thousands injured each year.

The Railway Work, Life & Death project has been able to make publicly available the work produced by the NRM, MRC and TNA volunteers. Between them, they’ve produced a database of over 115,000 individuals and incidents. The volunteers have extracted the details found in the records of accidents produced between 1855 and 1939 – things like names, ages, roles, companies and details of the accident or support provided – and entered them into the free database.

Week 20 (May 14-20) At the Cemetery - #52Ancestors

The information to be found on tombstones and in cemeteries cannot be discounted.  From visiting cemeteries in person to finding online cemetery records to uncovering photos of headstones, I have had some wonderful finds.  The information found on headstones can be remarkably varied in content, with anything from a simple name to the details of parents, spouse, children and dates and places of birth and death.  Sometimes finding one relative in a cemetery leads to the discovery of several more, with whole generations of family all buried in the same location. 

The photograph above is the Mulholland family plot in Eurobin, Victoria.  The plot includes two main headstones and several plaques.

The main headstone is for my great great grandfather David Mulholland who died 10 April 1902, age 71 and his wife Eliza Jane who died 30 October 1925, age 95.  Also included on the headstone are three infant children - Samuel Thomas, died 28 April 1879, age 3 months ; Margaret died 5 September 1885 age 10 years, and an unnamed infant son who died 26 January 1887 age 10 days.

The second, smaller headstone is 'erected to the memory of the beloved children of David and Jane Mulholland who died at Boggy Creek.'

Sadly, the three children named on the headstone all died as infants within a few weeks of each other - Henry Mulholland, died 29 January 1872 aged 4 years 8 months, Margaret Jane Mulholland who died 2 February 1872 aged 6 years 4 months and Thomas Mulholland who died 14 February 1872 aged 1 year 2 months.  A stark reminder of the perils of childhood and how disease could carry off several family members in rapid succession - all three died of diphtheria.

Family Tree US May/June 2026

The latest issue of Family Tree US magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines. 

Inside this month's issue : 

• Remembering What Matters Most 
• RootsTech 2026 Roundup
• Scribe AI : transcribing and translating records
• New partners for FamilySearch 
• Digitizing memories with Ancestry 
• Family Tree DNA: Enhanced Tests
• Getting Smart with AI
• Soul Searching
• The Course of Human Events 
• Four Score and 170 Years Ago
• Find Your U.S. Ancestors
• Loyal Royal subjects
• At Your Service - the lives of indentured servants
• 75 Best Websites for US genealogy research.
• Hair Apparent • A woman and her hair-filled brooch present a 19th-century dilemma
• Confirming Relationships
• Searching Newspaper Databases at Elephind
• And more... 

Family Tree UK June 2026

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 : 

• 1 million entries in Scotland’s Criminal Database
• Is this really my ancestor?
• Preserving your family story for future generations.
• Walking a fine line Ethical dilemmas in genealogy
• Parish Treasures
• The case of the missing ancestor 
• A Genealogist’s Statistical Guide to the Irish 1926 Census
• Jessie Blackshaw - Beginnings in a Working County
• Booth’s Poverty Maps and the Stepney Union Casebooks 
• Spotlight on Devon Family History Society
• Dear Paul 
• Using shared DNA matches
• And more... 

Week 19 (May 7-13) A Question the Records Can't Answer - #52Ancestors

While the records we find are vital to our family history research, there are many questions that the records cannot answer.

The records cannot tell us why our ancestors make many of the choices they made.  Why did they choose a particular profession?  Why did they marry their partners?  How did they choose the names of their children?  Why did they move, divorce, change their name, enlist in the armed forces.
Several of my ancestors made to momentous decision to emigrate to Australia.  While the records can tell us when they emigrated, and history might provide some hints as to why, the records cannot fill in the whole picture.

My great grandfather, James Nicholas Clark, 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.  Why did they leave England and move to the other side of the world?

Then there is my German branch of the family tree.  Carl Friedrich Beseler, known in Australia as Frederick, was born around 1810 in Hanover, Germany.  He was a shoemaker in Germany and a farmer in Australia, arriving in Adelaide on 1 April 1848 on the ship Pauline from Bremen, Germany.  Passengers listed were Frederick Beseler, Shoemaker, Mrs Beseler and 5 children.  The family lived in South Australia for 7 years before travelling overland to Victoria, where they settled near Ercildown.  Several members of the family are buried in Learmonth Cemetery.  Why did they leave Germany for a country where they didn't even speak the language?

I would love to know what prompted these families, with young children in tow, to pack up and move halfway around the world, settle in one state of Australia, then pack up and move again several years later. For whatever their reasons, my original Australian immigrant ancestors made a huge leap of faith to leave their homelands and travel to a distant country, most with little chance of returning to their homeland if their new lives proved less than they hoped.  And the records can't answer why.

Who Do You Think You Are May 2026

The latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.

Inside this month's issue : 

• Who Do You Think You Are? 2026 celebrities announced
• Ancestry adds Shropshire electoral records
• TheGenealogist adds 77,000 Worcestershire parish records
• UK and Ireland in €5m archives boost
• New collection of 12 million soldiers’ records goes online
• A fun-loving Puritan 
• Make the most of the 1926 census of Ireland
• Understanding the value of historic wages 
• Labour economics during the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral 
• ‘Dad spent years in a TB Hospital 
• Apprenticeship Records 
• Thomas Coram 1668-1751 
• Parish Indenture, 1713
• Go Further - Nine more websites you can't afford to miss
• WW2 Royal Navy Casualty Logs 
• And more... 

Irish Lives Remembered Magazine

The latest issue of the free online magazine Irish Lives Remembered is now available.

Articles in this issue include : 

Declan Byrne – Remembering William Deans and the History of the Dublin Docks

Fiona Fitzsimons – Taylor-Made: The Swift Family‘s Irish Immigrant Love Story

Brigit McCone – Lover: Letters from the Scandalous 19th-century Irish Diaspora

David Caron – Dublin’s Stained Glass: Highlights by Harry Clarke

Katharine Simms – Saints and Scholars: the Magrath Clan and other Erenagh Hereditary Church Families

Eamonn P. Kelly – Domhnach Mám Éan, the Connemara Harvest Festival

Donna Rutherford – Genealog-AI: How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Family History

 

Week 18 (Apr. 30-May 6) Tradition - #52Ancestors

Many families have any number of cultural traditions they follow faithfully.  No matter where your family comes from, there will be traditions you will follow.  Some are specific to a particular area or nationality, some are religious, others are created within families and handed down.

Traditions govern much of our daily existence whether we’re aware of them or not. For example, we begin our mornings with some sort of ritual that gets us ready for the day, usually ending with (or involving) breakfast. Millions of people worldwide perform the sacred ritual of preparing coffee, without which, for me, life simply cannot exist. And many holidays are secretly devoted to surviving beloved family traditions so as not to disappoint 'the Family'.

I have previously blogged about Christmas, when my family always observed a traditional gathering.  For me today, Christmas means putting the tree up and decorating the house, cooking turkey and roasting veggies, mince pies and Christmas cake laid on.  Brightly wrapped presents are tucked under the Christmas tree to be opened (one by one with everyone present watching, to prolong the Christmas morning fun).  Some of my Christmas traditions have changed over time.  Tinsel does not feature in my decorations any more after the year my tinsel-obsessed cat caused a rather expensive Christmas day visit to the family vet.  The same cat has also resulted in the rule that my Christmas Tree is put up undecorated for a week until he has lost interest in it.

Halloween in Australia is a rapidly growing tradition, with a growing number of houses in my area decorating and being visited by neighborhood children.  Back when I was younger it was much less popular, and I never went 'trick or treating' as a child back then.

With no young children in my close family, the traditional Easter Egg Hunt no longer features in my life - although I will admit the odd chocolate egg still finds its way into my shopping trolley each year.  Watching the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal remains a feature of my Easter holiday.

Why do we continue to observe these traditions?  Why do I still cook a hot Christmas dinner in the often 40 degree heat of an Australian summer?  But that’s the beauty of tradition. It doesn’t need to be logical or make sense. It just needs to be done. In an increasingly unpredictable world, tradition offers a sense of stability. Tradition.

New on Ancestry - Prerogative and Exchequer Court of York Wills, 1389-1858

This collection contains images of wills filed in Yorkshire, England, between 1389 and 1858.  It includes 2,462,539 records.

Records in this collection may include the following information:

Name

Place of residence

Relationship to head of household

Will date

Probate date

The indexed information may help you confirm important dates regarding your ancestor’s death and estate processing. You may find additional information by looking at your ancestor’s record image. Your ancestor’s will may include names of family members that you can add to your family tree, and they can help to sort out how your ancestors were related. A will may also include an inventory of an estate’s assets, which may provide some insights into your ancestor’s financial status and lifestyle.

The majority of the wills in this collection are written in Latin.  Probate records were processed by church courts until 1858. The local courts typically handled the records of farmers, tradesmen, and the lower gentry, while the wealthy and aristocratic class had their probate records processed in the Prerogative Court of York. However, if a person owned property in the northern and southern provinces, their probate records were processed in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.

ANZAC Day

 
It is April 25^th again, and once more I find myself reflecting on the meaning of ANZAC Day.  While I stand and say the Ode today, I will be remembering not only my father and several uncles who served in WWII, and those of my family who went before them, but all of those men and women who have served, as well as those who serve today.  I will remember especially those who did not come home and all of those who came home forever changed, as well as those who did not see fighting, but served in different ways both at home and abroad.  

ANZAC has very much become a part of our national vocabulary.  The people who lived though that campaign were ordinary volunteers, just as Australia’s current veterans were ordinary volunteers.  They put their daily lives on hold to serve and protect us all, most with very little clear idea of just what they were volunteering for.

There are many resources available for those researching their family military history.  The Australian War Memorial has several databases available, including the Roll of Honour, Commemorative Roll, WW1 Embarkation Rolls and Nominal Roll, the Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Files, WW2 POWs and Missing Persons, and more.  The National Archives of Australia have the military records of many Australian military personnel from World War 1 and 2, and earlier digitised online.  The Commonwealth War Graves site commemorates the men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First and Second World Wars, ensuring they will never be forgotten.  There are many other websites and resources available as well.

Around the world many towns and suburbs have plaques, cenotaphs and memorials commemorating local men and women who have served and paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country.  How often do we stop as we walk past them in our daily lives and spare a moment to remember these people?

I am forever grateful to all of those who have served and sacrificed on our behalf. It is a solemn undertaking to be ready to put your life on the line for your Country. One that is deserving of our gratitude.

Lest we forget.

Week 17 (Apr. 23-29) Working for a Living - #52Ancestors

Discovering an ancestor's occupation can give enormous insight into their life.  Did they work on the land, have a profession, learn a trade?  Were they educated for their job, or serve an apprenticeship?  Or were they less educated and learned their role as they worked?

Census records can tell you about your ancestor's profession, as can trade directories, apprenticeship records, newspaper reports and more.

For several of my ancestors, the newspapers have given me much information about their work. 

Due to my previous research I already knew Christopher Prentice worked as a Water Bailiff.  I hadn't known this was an elected position until I found the article above, which was placed in the Ipswich Journal on Saturday 12 September 1778 thanking those who had elected him to the position for their trust.

6 years later Christopher was standing for election to the Water Bailiff position again and took out another notice in the Ipswich Journal applying for re-election.

Family Tree UK May 2026

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 : 

• New funding for community archiving
• AI insights, data extraction and transcriptions with ScribeAI
• Better long-term preservation of adoption & children-in-care records
• Clues to a million wills
• New look website from photo expert Jayne Shrimpton
• Preparation for 2031 Census underway
• What’s for tea, Nan?
• One year on: new family histories from MyStories
• DNA Club news 
• Explore the world’s largest Y-DNA haplotree 
• The originals are the best 
• Life in Ireland in the era of the 1926 Census
• Staffordshire bound
• The Hidden Legacy of Titanic’s Crew
• Is it true, or are you barking up the wrong tree?
• And more 

Week 16 (Apr. 16-22) A Quiet Life - #52Ancestors

While it is ever so entertaining to discover amazing things our ancestors did that impacted their communities, made the news and created fascinating records, many of our ancestors lived a quiet life.

They were born, grew up, found jobs, raised their own families, and died peacefully.  They rarely, if ever, saw their names in the newspapers. They left few records behind them.  Their lives were unexceptional,

These ancestors can be challenging to trace.  Moving beyond the basic records - civil registration, censuses, church records - there can be little to find.

Context can be important.  Even if they left few records behind themselves, what events did they live through that would have impacted their lives?  Large events like wars, epidemics, major discoveries, economic and social changes.  Were they alive through industrialization, famines, women getting the right to vote?  What smaller local events would they have witnessed and possibly taken part in - agricultural fairs, church activities, local sports and committees.

Even a quiet life would have seen many events and changes - and researching them will help fill out your ancestor's life.

1926 Irish Census Release

The 1926 Census of Ireland will be released online for free by the National Archives of Ireland on April 18, 2026, marking 100 years since it was taken. This release will provide fully searchable, detailed records of over 700,000 households in the Irish Free State, filling a major gap in genealogical records between 1911 and modern times. 

• Access: The records will be free and fully searchable, featuring names, addresses, occupations, and Irish language proficiency.
• Scope: Covers the 26 counties of the Irish Free State; unfortunately, Northern Ireland records from 1926 did not survive.
• Significance: It is the first major census release since 1911, offering a detailed snapshot of Irish society shortly after independence.
• Context: The release is accompanied by a public program including a documentary, exhibitions, and a book examining the 1926 revealing a diverse population.

Week 15 (Apr. 9-15) Unexpected - #52Ancestors

Finding a genealogical surprise, be it good or bad, I always find an exciting experience.  If I have learned anything in my research, it is to expect the unexpected.  Over the years of my research I have found many surprises in my research - unexpected records and breakthroughs, family stories proven (or disproved), surprising events, etc.

Many of my most unexpected discoveries have come through the newspapers.  Reports of family tragedies, court appearances, advertisements, activities and family notices, all provided unexpected family discoveries.

Some highlights include :

A 1909 report of my great grandfather Edward Beseler when he appeared in court on the charge of having insufficient means of support, was found to be insane and an order of commitment was made.

From the Ballarat Star, 4 February 1909

Edward was admitted to the Ararat Mental Asylum, where he was assessed, found to be suffering from senility, and committed to the wards.  In his asylum record he is described at the time of his admission as being in fair bodily health for his age, clean and tidy but difficult to communicate with as he was quite deaf, illiterate and described as suffering from delusions.

Then there was the divorce of another great grandfather James Nicholas Clark from his first wife Eliza (Hawley)

The marriage was clearly an unhappy one, and in 1891 Eliza had abandoned James and their two young children.  In the divorce proceedings it had been claimed that Eliza had been a habitual drunkard and had been living with two men after she abandoned her marriage, although the judge saw no direct evidence of adultery and granted the divorce on the grounds of desertion only.  The divorce was reported in the local newspapers amongst general reports of local court proceedings, including the article shown above from the 'Caulfield and Elsternwick Leader'.

When James Nicholas passed away in 1924 there were two death notices inserted in the newspaper - one from his family and one from the Masonic Lodge of which he was a member. 

Had it not been for this Masonic notice, I would never have known that James was a Mason.  It is also worth noting the spelling error - the heading of the Masonic notice has CLARG, not CLARK.  The family notice also gives me his occupation - Overseer at Brighton City Council, and both notices give his address and the cemetery in which his grave is located.

Estate and probate notices were common, either advertising to resolve claims and demands on the estate or giving details of the sale of assets.  Here Susannah, the widow of Mr John Noble, advertises in the Essex Standard on Friday 4 October 1850 to resolve her husband's estate.

 

These and many other newspaper surprises have helped 'flesh out' my family history research and fill in details of my ancestors unexpected lives.

Week 14 (Apr. 2-8) A Brick Wall Revisited - #52Ancestors

It is important to remember with our brick walls exactly what 'I couldn't find anything' actually means.  It doesn't mean 'there is nothing to find'.  What it really means is 'I didn't find the information I was looking for in the place I was looking for it, using the search parameters I was using'.  It is an important distinction to make.

Consider the source you’re using.  Was it a database or an index? Not finding someone in an index is different than not finding it in the records themselves.  Look at the source – is it complete, or are there gaps, missing years that could cover the time you are looking for?  Some records haven’t survived in complete form.  Is it transcribed?  Could there be spelling errors in the transcription – or in the original records themselves?  For those times when the record you’re looking for doesn’t exist — either your ancestor isn’t in the record or the record was destroyed — think about other records that could give you the same - or similar - information.

If you’re in an online database, will it search variations in spelling or do you need to do multiple searches to find both “Smith” and “Smythe”? What about Mc and Mac?  Play with your search terms – sometimes less is more.  You could also consider not searching - start browsing. You never know what you might find hidden by a spelling error or some other small difference.

New records are being released, digitised or transcribed all the time, and we are (hopefully) learning new search techniques and becoming more skilled researchers as well.  That's why it is important to revisit our brick walls.  There might be new information sources available.  There might be new search methods we have learned over time.  We may have new information on the individual or family that makes breaking down our brick wall possible.

Not finding anything isn’t necessarily the end.  Think about other sources, other search strategies, and other ways of using those records. Don’t let not finding something add a brick to that brick wall.

Who Do You Think You Are April 2026

The latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.

Inside this month's issue :  

• Countdown begins to 1926 Irish census release
• Irish GRO provides update on missing death records
• Refugee architects database now live
• Scots emigrants website goes online
• Medieval child marriage
• A footballer went to war 
• Three essential websites
• A Post Office under pressure
• Websites for WW1 research
• Illegitimacy Records from the 19th Century
• Edwin Chadwick 1800–1890 
• Unmissable websites
• Old maps online
• Irish Land Commission Records
• And more...