Week 5 (Jan. 29-Feb. 4) A Breakthrough Moment

A breakthrough moment in my research was the mystery of my great-aunt Alice May Pummeroy.  According to the Victorian Birth Index, Alice May Pummeroy was born in Carlton in 1897 to Alfred Henry Pummeroy and Eliza (Beseler).  Alice was only 3 years old when her father died of pneumonia, leaving his widow destitute with 4 young children -  Edith Margaret (who was deaf and mute) 4, Alice May 3, Alfred Edward 2 and William Henry 2 months.  Eliza took in washing to support her family, and the local ladies benevolent society gave her 3 shillings a week in assistance.  All the other siblings can be traced through electoral rolls and other records, but Alice disappears, and for several years I searched for her in vain.

Eventually perseverance paid off.  My breakthrough moment came when I found a record in New Zealand for a May Alice Pummeroy marrying David James Moorhead in 1918.  Looking in New Zealand for May Moorhead, I located several electoral roll listings before she disappeared again, reappearing in Victoria as May Alice Moorhead in electoral rolls from 1950 to 1980.  David James Moorhead is recorded as dying in Victoria in 1951, age 77.  His death certificate lists him as being born in Christchurch, New Zealand. 

There is no death notice for Alice May (or May Alice) Moorhead in the Ryerson Index or in the Victorian Death Index, nor was there a will with the PROV.  A fellow genealogist sent me another piece to the puzzle, with a death notice and cemetery record which shows May Alice Moorhead died 1st September 1989, age 92, in Salisbury North, South Australia.  She was cremated at Enfield Memorial Park, SA.  Her death certificate confirms she is my great aunt.

Why she chose to move from Melbourne, Victoria to South Australia I don't know - possibly she had children or friends who settled there and she moved to be closer to them.  All her siblings lived and died in Victoria - she was the one who travelled away.  This just goes to show that people can change their names, move to places you don't expect, and you just need to keep looking and broaden your search if you don't find them where you expect them.  Your breakthrough moment will come.

Website Wednesday - Accredited Genealogists Ireland

Accredited Genealogists Ireland (AGI) is the accrediting and representative body for professional genealogists on the island of Ireland (Ireland and Northern Ireland). The Association was established in 1986 to set a high standard of work among its members and to protect the interests of its members and their clients.  To qualify for membership, a genealogist’s work is reviewed by an Independent Board of Assessors.

In addition to working as professional genealogists undertaking commissioned research, many members also share their expertise through lectures and courses on genealogy, both in Ireland and internationally. They contribute to the field by publishing books on genealogy and history, and their knowledge is often sought after for appearances on TV and radio programmes. 

Since its foundation, AGI has maintained its position at the forefront of Irish genealogy advocating for the preservation of and maintaining access to records for genealogists and family historians in the future.

Late last year, Accredited Genealogists Ireland (AGI) released two additional free publications in its Irish census records series: “1911 Census of Ireland: a guide for family history researchers” and “Beyond Form A: unlocking the hidden depths of the Irish census“. 

Who Do You Think You Are Magazine Feb 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 : 

• Illegitimate names
• Historians trace Birmingham almshouse residents
• Ancestry adds UCL records
• University to compile first ancient Celtic languages dictionary of Britain
• Cambridgeshire Archives acquires 18th-century land ownership document
• Become a Pro with Ancestry - is it worth the cost of upgrading?
• Case study : tracing an RAF crew 
• Solving DNA dilemmas 
• ‘My Grandfathers fought on opposite sides in WW2’
• Irish Teaching Records 
• Free British resources 
• Go Further - More free sites worth their weight in gold
• And more...

 

Week 4 (Jan. 22-28) A Theory in Progress

Theories about our ancestors' lives are all well and good, until they lead us astray.  Following a theory too closely, however, can mean we don't look for records in the right places. 

One such example was the family of my great grandfather, James Nicholas Clark.  From information in marriage and death records, James was born around 1856, and his family came from Bristol, England and settled in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia.

For years I searched the Victorian immigration records for the family's arrival.  For years I searched for James's birth or baptism in and around Bristol.  My theory in progress was that the family travelled from Bristol to Victoria sometime around 1870, when they first appeared in St Kilda records.  That was my theory in progress.  Of course I was wrong!

After discovering that the German branch of my family had emigrated from Hamburg, Germany to Hahndorf, South Australia before travelling overland into Victoria to settle, it struck me that perhaps my Clark family had also arrived in a different colony in Australia before moving to Victoria, and I began looking further afield.  A new theory in progress!

There I found them, arriving in Launceston, Tasmania in 1855, where the family lived for at least 12 years before they crossed Bass Strait and settled in Victoria.  An unnamed male child, almost certainly my great grandfather James Nicholas, was registered in Launceston in 1856, and James’s younger sister Annie Amelia Clark was born 31 March 1857 in Port Sorrell, Tasmania.  Annie was followed by several other children also born in Port Sorrell.

This prompted me to revisit several other theories about my family and explore possibilities I had not previously considered.  It pays to check your theories and think outside the box. 

Website Wednesday - The Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland

The Huguenots were members of the French Protestant Church, many of whom, in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, left their homes in France to escape persecution. More than 50,000 of these refugees came to the British Isles and, in 1718, a French Hospital was founded in London. In 1885, the directors of the Hospital created a Society to promote the publication and interchange of knowledge about Huguenot history.

The original ‘Huguenot Society of London’ has since been renamed 'The Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland', and an Irish Section with its own website has been established. Both sections of the Society aim to form a bond of fellowship among those who respect and admire the Huguenots and seek to perpetuate their memory, and membership is open to anyone wishing to join.

The Huguenot Society provides a variety of resources that can help those searching for their ancestors: its own publications, substantial collections of family history material in the Huguenot Library and leaflets providing guidance. Further support and information is available for the Society’s members. 

FamilySearch

Last year FamilySearch announced that Full-Text Search is now part of its standard search tools. Since its initial release in FamilySearch Labs during RootsTech 2024, the feature has undergone numerous enhancements to improve its power and usability. 

The number of record collections available on this free database is enormous.  As of 16 January 2026, FamilySearch includes the following :

6,652 searchable and full-text transcribed image collections. There are over 2.403 BILLION "results" in these collections.  

24,568 browsable (some indexed, none transcribed) image collections. There are over 5.894 BILLION images in these collections.  There are 2,101 collections from the United States and 6,968 from Europe.  

3,429 Historical Record Collections (many indexed, browsable).

You do need to sign up to use FamilySearch, but you can authenticate using Google, Facebook or Apple or create your own sign in by providing your name, date of birth and email, and choosing a username and password.

So if you haven't visited the FamilySearch website for a while, take a look and see if they have new information for you to help in your family history research. 

Week 3 (Jan. 15-21) What This Story Means to Me

There are many family stories I have uncovered over the years which have made clear how fortunate I am to live in a time when, in most countries, there are safety nets to help those who fall on hard times.  For some ancestors, finding help during times of trouble was difficult, and few social services existed.  

One such family I have followed through the census is my Hines branch of the family tree.  In the 1841 census (below) parents James and Susan are alive and children John, Samuel, Albert and Hannah are listed with them.  Eldest daughter Susannah is not home on census night and so not listed here.

 

By the time of the next census in 1851, circumstances have changed for the family.  Both parents have died, and the five siblings have been split up.  The two eldest children, Susannah and John, now aged 18 and 16, are living with their maternal grandparents and are listed below as house servant and farm servant respectively.

Middle child Samuel, age 14, has been found a home with relatives, and is listed as a lodger in the house of James Prentice.  His maternal grandmother Susannah's maiden name was Prentice (she is the Susannah Woollard listed above, who took in the two eldest children), and James Prentice is her nephew.

The two youngest children, Albert, now age 12 and Hannah, age 10, have been less fortunate.  Apparently there were no relatives willing and able to take these youngest children, and they are listed in the census as paupers in the Cosford Union Workhouse.

So not only have these children lost their parents, they have also been split up, the ones old enough taken by relatives and put to work.  The two youngest, not yet old enough to perform sufficient useful labour, are sent to the workhouse.

#52Ancestors 

Website Wednesday - PROV Divorce Files

The Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV) has a number of digitised collections available free online for family history researchers.  One such trache or records are the Divorce Files and Cause Books.

The records are divided onto 3 sets : Melbourne divorce records (1861-1942) ; Melbourne divorce records (1943-1950) ; and Regional divorce records (1890-1950).  If your ancestors divorces in Victoria during these periods, there may be a wealth of information available to you through these records.

The case file will contain a number of documents that might include:

• the petition stating the grievance
• affidavits (or supporting statements) by the petitioner
• a formal answer by the respondent and any co-respondents (in cases of adultery, both parties to the adultery were summoned)
• further affidavits in support of that answer
• orders by the court directing who is to pay for the costs of the case
• a praecipe, which is an order to the clerks of the Court to produce a writ containing the formal decree made by the justice.  The praecipe will often have a summary of the decision.

Note that not all cases were heard.  Sometimes they were withdrawn before the hearing or otherwise settled.

One such divorce was that of my great grandfather James Nicholas Clark from his first wife Eliza (nee Hawley) in 1897.  The file is 55 pages long and includes names, addresses, details of work and living arrangements, where and when the marriage took place, children, and the circumstances of the marriage breakdown. 

 

Family Tree UK Magazine

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 : 

• RAF Museum London awarded for autism-friendly service
• Will £800+K 17th century explorer journal be saved for the nation?
• Test your knowledge with the Findmypast app
• New display: exploring Jane Austen’s brothers & their naval connections
• Rare chance to see Jane Austen’s will in The National Archives’ Love Letters exhibition
• DNA Club news 
• NextGEN call for presentations
• Poverty, illegitimacy and lies 
• Reclaiming my German roots
• Transcription Corner
• Revisiting research
• Queen Catherine Court, Ratcliff an East London slum
• Approach to the research
• The Romanovs : reform and revolution 
• And more... 

Week 2 (Jan. 8-14) A Record That Adds Color

While not a formal record exactly, this colored print of my father was taken from a photograph from when he enlisted in the Air Force, during World War 2.  

It is hand colored on cardboard - and had spent who-knows-how-long lying behind a wardrobe in my parents bedroom.  Neither my sister or I can recall ever seeing it, although we are both familiar with the photo from which it is taken (below), and how or when it was created I have no idea.

It is one of a very few images I have of my father as a young man that are in colour - and it especially showcases his bright red hair.  It certainly adds colour to my family history.  My next project is to investigate restoring the colored image and having it framed.  I even have the spot for it picked out in my study!

Family Tree US Magazine Jan/Feb 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 :  

• Web Highlight : Find a Grave Fact or Fiction
• 2026 Genealogy Conference Preview
• New website for FREEBMD
• Out soon : the 1926 Census of Ireland
• Capturing Family Stories
• AI’s IQ - Does AI’s might match its hype? 
• Star Search - Hit the big time with these blockbusting record search strategies.
• Byte by byte - Take these five simple steps to digitize your genealogy.
• Find Your U.S. Ancestors
• This is your land - homesteading, bounty-land warrants, and more.
• Find your immigrant ancestor’s hometown through three research success stories.
• How Interviewing Relatives Saved My Research
• A Century of Immigration: U.S. Arrivals, 1820–1920
• Researching History and the Point of Departure
• Voter Records
• DNA and Adoptees
• Tracing Borders with the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries
• Antique Linens
• 17 Genealogy Habits for the New Year
• Tips for Studying Black Ancestors and History
• Finding the enslaved in US Censuses

Week 1 (Jan. 1-7) An Ancestor I Admire

This year I have once again decided to participate in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks blogging challenge run by Amy Johnson Crow. The challenge prompts often have me looking at my family history in new ways and exploring records I haven't revisited for a while.

Week 1 id "an ancestor I admire" and I have chosen my great grandmother Eliza 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'.

Prahran Telegraph, Sat 9 March 1901, p3.

The Argus, Sat 9 March 1901, p15.

The Herald, Fri 8 March 1901, p5.

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.  I admire her greatly.

Who Do You Think You Are Magazine Jan 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 : 

• Family historians invited to take part in 2031 census consultation
• Ancestry adds legal examination records
• St Helens Archive Service relocated
• TNA introduces £42.25 fee for WW2 service records
• 50 websites to watch 2026 
• Declaration 250 - Celebrate the anniversary of the USA’s gaining independence
• Hospital Records - how to trace patient records and other sources from general hospitals
• Theatres and Performers 
• Irish Military Pension Applications 
• How do I find children missing from the census?
• What uniform are these women... 
• And more .... 

Week 52 (Dec. 24-31) Memorable

"Memorable' is the final prompt for 2025, and it has me looking back over the year and my memories of 2025.  What does this year leave with me?  What memorable Family History finds did I make?

The discoveries I have made throughout the year include : 

• my father's Air Force enlistment photograph from the National Archives of Australia
• my great uncle's listing on the Rats of Tobruk website
• newspaper articles too numerous to mention individually
• photographs of the Newbridge Mill owned by my Argent ancestor's thanks to The Mills Archive
• new records available online including digitized Suffolk baptisms, marriages and burials on Ancestry
• new DNA matches with distant relatives
• reconnecting with a cousin I hadn't spoken to in years and sharing family stories

All these finds have been highlights of my years and feed my enthusiasm to continue my researching. 

Who knows what memorable finds await in 2026. 

Merry Christmas

To all those who have read this blog throughout the year, and to all those our there in the wider Genealogical community, I wish you a happy, healthy and safe Christmas and New Year.

Family Tree UK Magazine

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 : 

• Uncovering Australia's past traces
• New British Library catalogue
• Ness of Brodgar Time Team dig confirmed for Summer 2026
• Storied cards - 12 simple questions to get friends and family reminiscing
• Scottish Indexes: free online conference
• Vilnius University creates first open-access AI Yiddish transcription tool
• Essex Regiment Museum closing January 2026
• DNA Club news 
• Go beyond just names, places and dates and really discover your family story
• ‘Diana otherwise Jessie’ Tracing one of Britain’s ‘Brown Babies’
• Old, Out of the Ordinary Occupations
• The Edwardian History Society discovering the past of a rare surname
• Getting started with medals
• The family tree AI bookcamp
• Tracing the shadows in the Beck-Bailey mystery
• DNA glossary helpful terms and phrases for DNA testing
• Medieval Wills & Feet of Fines
• And more... 

Week 51 (Dec. 17-23) Musical

The prompt for Week 24 was 'Artistic', and as to the best of my knowledge there have been no artists in my ancestry I chose to focus on music, which is the focus for Week 51.   So as I have already blogged about my mother's musical talent, I searched my records for other musical talent amongst my ancestors.

Included in my newspaper records, I found several articles relating to musical events and concerts in which various ancestors performed, especially my Argent branch of my family tree.

 The article above is from the Essex Standard published Friday 7 January 1876 and has several members of my Argent family preforming.  My Great Great Grandfather John Thompson Argent was Chair or the event and his sister Ada Emily Argent was the pianist.

These musical evenings were apparently a regular winter highlight, and reports of similar concerts appeared in several newspapers.

The final concert for the winter of 1875/76 was reported above in the Essex Standard on Friday 11 February 1876, with the following season's first concert reported below on Friday 1 December 1876.

 Clearly music was a large part of my ancestors' lives and musical performances formed a large part of the social network in their community.

Australian Air Force Photographs

The National Archives of Australia (NAA) have added a number of Australian Air Force photographs to their online database.

Through the NAA's RecordSearch, Air Force Personnel Records can be searched by name or by service number.

Searching the database for my father, Peter Jeffrey Green, returns two results.

The first result is his digitised personnel file, some 43 pages in length.  The second file is his enlistment photograph.

Locating this photo was quite a surprise - I had never seen it before and, along with a posed photo of him in Air Force uniform taken some weeks later, it is among the few photos I have of my father as a young man.

Week 50 (Dec. 10-16) Family Heirloom

Family Heirlooms come in many forms - from the more traditional jewellery and china to more unusual items.  A few years ago I posted about my experience of my sister and I cleaning out the family home after the deaths of our parents - our father in 2013 and mother in 2015 - and the importance of knowing the stories behind the many treasures tucked away in cupboards and drawers, or out in the shed.

Cleaning out the house, we came across treasures in every corner.  A hand tinted photo of my mother as a child, a box of slides and negatives from early in our parents' marriage, a small garnet brooch that belonged to my great grandmother, a bronze alligator nutcracker made by my grandfather, and so much more. 

Then there is my heirloom garden gnome.  Most heirlooms are small, portable and easy to take with you when you move.  Some, like my gnome, are not.  He is about 50 cm tall, and my family purchased two of them for my father's 50th birthday, back in January 1976.  When we sold the family home my sister and I decided we wanted to keep one gnome each.  At the time we first brought them, there was a rash of gnome-napping happening where we lived, with gnomes disappearing from gardens, never to be seen again.  So my father filled the concrete shells with more concrete, then installed them on concrete plinths about 30 cm in diameter and 10 cm thick, out in our front yard.  They weigh a ton, and needless to say, they have never been successfully 'gnome-napped'.

Then, there is the heirloom hare's foot fern.  The original hares-foot belonged to my grandmother.  Before she passed away, my mother took a cutting from her plant, brought it home and potted it.  It thrived in our greenhouse and by the time my parents passed away it had overgrown its pot and was firmly attached to the wooden shelf below.  Clearly it was not moving with me to my new home.  So much as my mother had done, I took a few cuttings, potted them and hoped for the best.

These two little cuttings have thrived.  They quickly outgrew the little pots I had started them in, and have since been transplanted to bigger pots.  They sit, one in my study and one on a stand in my dining room, and I think of my mother and grandmother whenever I see them.  I later took a new cutting from one of these plants and potted it for a friend.  And so the heirloom hares-foot fern continues the be 'handed down', hopefully for many years to come.

Week 49 (Dec. 3-9) Written

OK, it's soapbox time again!

I have blogged several times over the past few years about the importance of family historians recording their own significant events for inclusion in their family history, to be handed down to future generations.

In 2020 the world experienced a historic global pandemic, with many of us moving in and out of lockdowns and various restrictions on our daily lives as the world struggled to limit the spread and impact of Covid-19.  Like many I was stood down from my job, saw businesses close and contacts restricted, and in the small community where I live, unforgettably saw armed police restricting travel across the state border.  I spent my 50th birthday in lockdown, isolated at home.

While many of my memories of the pandemic restrictions, which flowed on into 2021, are stressful, there were also many positives.  So many people came together to keep each other going.  Online shopping boomed and the concept of 'click and collect' became (and remains) common.  In the genealogical community meetings and conferences went online and access to many digitised records were relaxed to make research from home easier.  The idea of working from home became much more common in many industries.  During this time I did my best to record my experiences and feelings, both positive and negative.

Hard on the heels of 2 years of Covid lockdowns, 2022 saw my home area suffer the worst floods in living memory.  While my home itself was not impacted, many friends saw their homes flood, roads and highways were cut, access to services cut, shops closed and like many I came under an evacuation order.  

We watched the Murray River flood parkland, the water creeping closer and closer, flooding homes and breeching levies like the one behind the library where I work - see the photo below.  As the water rose the community came together to frantically sandbag homes and businesses, another wonderful show of community spirit in the face of a crisis.

These are memories that need to be recorded as part of our family history.  We have all lived through a global pandemic and lived through or witnessed a number of historic events in recent years.  Recording our memories of such major events should be a part of our family history records, for the generations that come after us.

Then there are the smaller events of family significance.  A birthday, anniversary, funeral, graduation, family reunion and so on.  These need to be recorded and added to your family story.

So please, become your own storyteller and record your memories.  Get it written.