Week 13 (Mar. 26-Apr. 1) Home Sweet Home

Throughout my family history, there have been a number of places that were 'Home Sweet Home' to my ancestors, and finding out about them is a big part of my research. 

My father's family had strong ties to Fordham Hall (also called Manor Farm) in Essex, being tennants at the Hall for several generations.  Although they were not the owners, they were major local landholders and were the gentry of their small community.

Fordham Hall, Essex

Fordham Hall eventually became part of the Woodland Trust, but for years it was 'home sweet home' to my father's family.

For my father, the second youngest of 10 children born in Australia after my grandparents emigrated, 'home sweet home' was a full house indeed.  Often the family lived in small farmhouses, with only a few rooms.  They moved several times during my father's childhood, but none of the homes the family occupied would be called spacious.

The Green family home in Mildura, Victoria

'Home sweet home' for my father was the sheep station called 'Para' on which I was born.  My father worked there as a stockman for approximately 20 years, and my mother became station cook after their marriage.  I have a number of family stories of Dad's time at the station, and it was his favourite of all the places he called home.

Para Homestead

My sister and I were both born during our parents last years at the station.  Just before we reached school age, our family moved to the small town of Moama, where we lived for the rest of my childhood.  I have blogged a few times about cleaning out this home after my parents died, before the home was sold and I moved to my current Home Sweet Home.

Week 12 (Mar. 19-25) Historic Event

Over the past few years we have lived through several historic events, and I have had several discussions with fellow Family Historians about how we should record our memories and reactions for the future, so that generations yet to come can see how their ancestors lived through several years of crisis.

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.

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.

So please, get writing your memories. Become your own storyteller of the historic times you have just lived through.

Week 11 (Mar. 12-18) Brick Wall

We all have those gaps in our research, when we have progressed as far as we can and are searching for those elusive facts that will allow us to progress further.   We have hit a brick wall.

A notable brick wall in my tree starts with my great great grandparents David Mulholland and Eliza (McCrae), the first of my Irish ancestors to arrive in Australia.

David Mulholland died in Eurobin, Victoria, Australia on 10 April 1902 at the age of approximately 70.  He left behind wife Eliza Jane (McCrae) - although I have never found a marriage record for the couple - and 7 surviving children.  Death notices describe David as being 71 years of age and a colonist of 42 years, putting his birth at around 1831 and his arrival in Australia around 1860.  David's death certificate states his parents names as David Mulholland and Margaret (McGee)

Eliza - or Elizabeth, survived her husband for 23 years, dying 28 October 1925 in Eurobin.  Her obituary, published in the Albury Banner and Wodonga Express on 6 November 1925, describes Eliza as having "reached the advanced age of 85 years, 63 years of which were spent at Eurobin" and states that she was born in County Belfast, Ireland.  This puts her birth at around 1840 and her arrival in Australia around 1862.  Eliza's death certificate - under the name Eliza Mulholland - gives her parents names as James McCrae and Mary.

I have, thus far, found no records for either family in Ireland.  Neither have I found a marriage record for David and Eliza in Australia or Ireland.  I will keep looking, however, in the hopes of breaking through the brick wall and continuing further back along my Irish ancestry.

Week 10 (Mar. 5-11) Siblings

I have blogged several times before about my father and his siblings. Dad was one of 10 children born between 1908 and 1928.  As the second youngest of the Green children, Dad's oldest brothers and sisters left home while he was still quite young - his oldest sisters Isobel and Phyllis both married in 1934 when Dad was just 8 years old.

To the best of my knowledge the photo below is the only photo of all 10 siblings together, which makes the scanned image I have even more precious.  And yes, one of the brothers does have a beer bottle balanced on his head!  That would be Ernest, known to all as Squib, the second eldest of the Green siblings.  If there are any relatives out there who have another photo of all 10 siblings together, I would love to hear from you and am happy to share copies!

Given the spread of ages amongst the siblings, added to the fact that Dad was 44 years old when I was born, the spread of ages amongst the cousins is quite large - my oldest cousin on Dad's side is 35 years my senior!

On my mother's side of the family, my grandmother Gladys Pummeroy (nee Clark) was one of 12 siblings, plus 2 half siblings from her father's first marriage.  Among my treasured photos are a pair dating from 1947 of the Clark siblings.

Divided into the male and female sides, my mother is 5 years old and standing at the front of the group, with my grandmother Gladys on her right and Great-Grandmother Pricilla on her left.

The male group, again featuring matriarch Pricilla, has my grandfather William standing directly behind.  For many of my aunts and uncles, these are the only images I have of them, so they are precious to me indeed.

Having only a single sibling myself, I find the idea of such large families quite different, although as I travel back up my family tree there are many such groups of siblings.

Week 9 (Feb. 26-Mar. 4) Family Secret

Every family has its family secrets.  Some are simply never spoken about, others are handed down in family stories that often change and evolve over time.

One such family story which always fascinated me was the tale of a scandal involving my paternal great grandparents, Walter Proctor Green and Isabella Mary (nee Argent).  The story revolved around an affair allegedly conducted by Isabella with a neighbor while her husband Walter was overseas in America.

While searching old newspapers online, I uncovered a whole saga that played out in the press.

Walter took newspaper editor Ernest Brown to court and sued him for libel after he published innuendo that suggested Walter's wife Isabella had been having an affair.  The case excited considerable local interest and was reported in several local newspapers.

From the Chelmsford Chronicle, Friday 5 October 1888

The entire court case was reported in the papers, and finally came to a close later in the year.  After hearing all the evidence the jury retired to consider their verdict, and after only 23 minutes found editor Ernest Brown guilty on all counts.  He was sentenced to prison for three calendar months without hard labour.

The final paragraph in a lengthy report on the case

A final article appeared about the case at the end of the year, when it was reported that a committee had been formed to start a subscription to recompense Walter Green for the cost of the prosecution, which clearly showed where public sympathy lay.

From the Essex Standard, Saturday 22 December 1888

Clearly this family secret was not so secret after all!

Week 8 (Feb. 19-25) Migration

The prompt for this week is 'Migration', which tends to make me think of the origins of my family in Australia, and why my ancestors made the momentous decision to leave their homelands and families and make the journey to Australia.

Migration is an area in which I have always had difficulty finding information, and several branches of my family seem to have swum their way to Australia.  Why can shipping records be so problematic?  Over the years, I have found a number of issues with shipping and immigration records.

Firstly, I need to consider alternate spelling of the passenger’s name.  These were times when literacy levels were low, and often our ancestors were not the ones who actually recorded their name.  It was the officials – the secretary, clerk, shipping or immigration official, etc who filled in the records, and they frequently wouldn’t stop to ask about spelling, or even check they had heard a name correctly.  Some people also used as alias for a variety of reasons, making their records difficult – or impossible – to find.

If the person travelled in steerage/was an unassisted immigrant/was a crew member who jumped ship, the details recorded about them may be scant or non-existent.  Females, children, servants and steerage passengers were frequently left off the passenger lists altogether.  It is also worth noting that prior to 1852, ship's masters were not required to record the names of unassisted passengers travelling from Britain to the Australian colonies.

For my own research, it was important to consider if my ancestors 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.

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. 

I would like 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.

Week 7 (Feb. 12-18) Letters & Diaries

Did you know that the Australian War Memorial contains and preserves a number of Unit and Commander's War Diaries?  These can be fascinating reading when researching a family member's war service and provide detail into the nature of their service.

While on active service army headquarters, formations, and units are required to keep war diaries recording their daily activities. The purpose of the diaries is twofold: to provide data on which future improvements in training, equipment, organisation, and administration can be based; and to provide future historians with a record of activities of units and formations in operational periods. 

The war diaries generally consist of war diary or intelligence summary sheets located at the beginning of each diary. The sheets record the date of each entry, the unit’s location, a summary of events, and any remarks or references to appendices. The appendices, which make up the larger part of each diary, may include:

• Strength and casualty returns
• Routine orders and administrative instructions
• Operation orders and instructions
• Reports
• Messages
• Location statements
• Intelligence summaries
• Photographs, sketches, maps, and traces

The war diaries vary greatly in the amount and level of detailed information they contain. Their quality generally reflects the skill, dedication, and enthusiasm of the officers in charge of compiling them. They are a historical record of a unit’s administration, operations, and activities, and rarely record information about individual personnel.

Digitised copies of selected original war diaries recording the daily activities of Australian Army units are available for the following conflicts and Peacekeeping missions:

• First World War
  Australian Imperial Force unit war diaries, 1914-18 War
• Second World War
  2nd AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and CMF (Citizen Military Forces) unit war diaries, 1939-45 War
• Korean War
  Australian Army unit war diaries, Korea
• Korean War Unit diaries
  Korean War Unit Diaries - British Infantry Brigades and Commonwealth Division Headquarters
• South East Asian Conflicts
  Australian Army commanders' diaries
• Australian Contingent ASC - United Nations Transitional Authority Cambodia
  Australian Army commander's diaries 1991-1993

Not all war diaries and commander's diaries held by the Memorial are available online. The Memorial has selectively digitised war diaries from its various collections based on preservation needs and high usage. The remaining diaries may be viewed at the Memorial in the Reading Room.

All the original records presented here are at least 30 years old, many are much older. Some are recorded on thin paper, some have been written in pencil, some are the result of old-fashioned duplication techniques, many are extremely fragile. Consequently, a number of images may be hard to read. The Memorial has attempted to capture the archival integrity of the documents at the point in time at which they were digitised. They have not been altered or enhanced in any way.

Week 6 (Feb. 5-11) Surprise

Finding a genealogical surprise, be it good or bad, I always find an exciting experience.  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 surprising discoveries have come through the newspapers.  Reports of family tragedies, court appearances, advertisements, activities and family notices, all provided surprises.

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 and illiterate, and described as suffering from delusions.

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 procedings, including the article shown here 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 surprising lives.

Week 5 (Jan. 29-Feb. 4) Challenge

The prompt for Week 5 is "Challenge", which pretty much describes most aspects of family history research at times.  How to pick just one area upon which to focus?

One aspect of research I find truly a challenge is the amount of misinformation and inaccurate research I find out there.  Incorrectly transcribed records, inaccurate original records, outright lies, and poor research skills can cause all sorts of problems for the unwary.

Online trees on any website I find can be full of errors, many of which are perpetuated by other researchers simply copying the incorrect information without  trying to verify it - even without noticing that the information is impossible!

Some of the impossibilities to keep in mind :

• Children cannot be born before their parents. 
• Children cannot be born to a mother who is 6 years old.  Or 94 years old. 
• Children are highly unlikely to be born to a father who is 89 years old.  While this MAY be biologically possible, it is unlikely and deserves a bit of fact checking.
• A child cannot be christened 4 months before they are born. 
• A woman cannot marry 3 years after she has died.
• A man cannot enlist in the army 5 years after he has died.
• Full siblings cannot be born 4 months apart.
• Travel takes time, especially before the age of the airplane.  In 1883 a child could not be born in England and christened in Australia 5 days later.
  

I have seen all of these, and more, in online family trees.  And trying to contact the tree owner to get their errors corrected?  Challenging indeed! 

A few years ago I discovered a transcribed record in an online database that illustrated the mistakes that can occur.  The record for the baptism of Hannah May below leapt out at me when I first located it.  Why??  Check the birth and baptism dates again.  According to this record Hannah was born 17 August 1796 but baptised 6 weeks earlier on 9 July 1796.

Something has been transcribed incorrectly in this record.  Possibly the dates are transposed and Hannah was born in July and baptised in August.  Possibly one of the months was transcribed incorrectly.  With no original image to check, I will need to dig further to find out.  It is clear, however, that a mistake has been made somewhere which makes my research that much more of a challenge.

Week 4 (Jan. 22-28): Overlooked

How easy it is to overlook vital information, useful websites, and other resources in our family history research.

I blogged earlier this week (see this week's Trove Tuesday post) on getting the maximum information from the death notice of my great grandfather William Pummeroy - which included his address, children's names, number of grandchildren, age at death and length of time in the colony.  Other resources can provide similar information if you pay close attention.

For example. below is the 1851 census for Isaac Green.

Isaac Green is a farmer, age 58, living in Fordham, Essex.  This census record tells me that his household consistes of his wife Betsy 57, son William 17, and servants Maryann Blakeley 45, Harriet Clark 30 and Betsy Woodward 17.  Looking in the "Where Born' column, I learn Isaac's wife Betsy was born in West Mersea, 10.5 miles distant.  This helped me find the couple's marriage, Betsy's baptism and continue tracing her family.

Interestingly, if you look at the household directly beneath Isaac's in the census, you find Edmund Woodward 59, wife Rebecca Woodward 55 and mother (actually mother-in-law) Rebecca Fairclough 77.  Edmund is a labourer - and yes, he works for Isaac Green and Isaac's servant Betsy Woodward is Edmund's eldest daughter who has gone into service up in the big house.  Following through the census, Betsy Woodward stays on working for Isaac Green for decades, through the 1861, 1871 and 1881 censuses until Isaac's death in 1882.

It would be all too easy to overlook this information and simply concentrate on the main family, noting family members and occupations and overlooking all that lovely extra information.

Week 3 (Jan. 15-21): Nickname

Nicknames might be one of the most difficult snippets of information to discover about our ancestors, especially is there is no one left alive to tell us about them.

My father's second eldest brother Ernest was known to all as Squib.  Long before this nickname described someone born to wizard parents lacking magical abilities (Harry Potter), a squib was a type of firecracker, or a person who is scared to take a risk or backs out of a challenge.  I'm not sure how Ernest gained the nickname Squib - Dad would never tell me, and as he was 16 years younger may not actually have known himself - but I never heard any of the siblings refer to their brother by any other name, and only learned his actual name when I began my family history research.

Dad himself was nicknamed 'Bluey' by his siblings, because of his bright red hair as a child.  As dad was mostly bald and what hair he had was grey when I was a child, the knowledge that he had red hair came as quite a surprise when I overheard one of my aunts use the nickname.

While perhaps not quite a nickname, one of dad's sisters, Muriel Phyllis Argent Green was always known by her second name, Phyllis.  It was several years into my family history research that I learned her real first name was Muriel.

On my mother's side, several of my great aunts were known by nicknames, or truncated versions of their real names.  Priscilla was known as Illa, Elizabeth as Peggy and Thelma as Lalla.  Also on my maternal side, I noted in this week's Trove Tuesday post that my German ancestor, Carl Friedrich Beseler, was known in Australia as Frederick Beseler.

While most official records used their correct names, other sources did not, so knowing the name people were commonly known by can be essential to finding all the available information about them you can.

Week 2 (Jan. 8-14): Favorite Photo

Over the years I have blogged a few times about my favorite photos.

I have accumulated a number of old family photographs from a variety of sources.  Many are digital copies of photos held by other family members, while I also have a number of original photos that I have inherited.  All my originals have been scanned for future preservation and happily shared with fellow family members.  I have also detailed who, where and when in as much detail as I can for each one - my pet hate is the anonymous photo of nobody-knows-who included in an album of family members.

One of my favorite family photos is the one below of my father Peter with his siblings and their father, Frank Walter Green.  Dad was one of 10 children and to the best of my knowledge it is the only photo of all 10 siblings together, which makes the scanned image I have even more precious.  And yes, one of the brothers does have a beer bottle balanced on his head!  That would be Ernest, known to all as Squib, the second eldest of the Green siblings.  If there are any relatives out there who have another photo of all 10 siblings together, I would love to hear from you and am happy to share copies!

Another favorite is the wedding photo of my great great grandparents James Nicholas Clark and Pricilla Veronica Mulholland.  Dating back to 1898, it is one of the oldest photographs I have from my mother's side of the family, and I am lucky to hold the original of this photo too.

Finally, there is the tinted studio photograph of my mother as a child.  Aged 5 years old, this photograph was taken to be sent to my mothers older brother James, or Jimmy, in 1947.  Jimmy was in the Merchant Navy at the time, and this photo chased him around the world before being delivered to his ship only days after he was killed in an accident in Argentina while they were picking up a load of horses to be taken to Poland.  Jimmy is buried in Argentina, and the photo was returned to his mother in an unopened letter included in his effects, making the photo even more precious.

Week 1 (Jan. 1-7): In the Beginning

We all begin our Family History research at various times in our lives and for various reasons.  For me, family history research began quite early, when I was just 16.  History was my favourite subject at school, and when I picked up a book on genealogy in my local library, I was hooked immediately and started asking my parents loads of questions, the bulk of which they couldn't answer.

I am still surprised by how little my parents knew about their families and even their parents, especially my father.  Both his parents had passed away, his mother before I was born and his father when I was very young.  What was his mother's maiden name?  No idea.  "Never came up", he said.  His grandparents names?  Dates and places?  He knew very little other that that his parents had married in England before moving to Australia, and his father came from Essex.  So Dad's elder siblings were my best source of information, and I wrote numerous letters over the next few years.  Looking back I realise how much easier it is today, with the internet, online records and email providing fast - sometimes immediate - answers.  Beginning my research back in the 1980's was a much slower process, especially as with Dad's side of the family I was researching overseas almost immediately.

My mother's side of the family was both harder and easier.  My maternal grandmother was still alive when I started my research and she was a wonderful source of information, although again her knowledge of details was rather hit and miss.  She came from another big family, one of a dozen children with a couple of half siblings as well.  Having that extra generation to question made starting my research much easier, as well as the fact that my maternal ancestors had been in Victoria, Australia for a few generations.  It was when I went back further that life got harder - my paternal ancestors are all English, but on the maternal side I have Irish, Scottish and German as well, and I quickly discovered these could be harder to trace.  My one year of high school German was not much help at all with deciphering old handwritten German records.

Looking back, I can also see the many mistakes and research errors I made during those early years.  I was still in High School, I had done no training in Genealogical research methods, and basically made it all up as I went along, recording details as I uncovered them haphazardly in a series of notebooks.  I accepted family stories and legends as completely correct, I didn't record where I found a number of documents, and a couple of times I incorrectly assumed a family relationship based on data that fit 'well enough' and spent months chasing a family that wasn't actually related.  Much of the work I did back then had to be redone years later when I started researching with a bit more methodology.

It wasn't all wasted effort, however, and I found myself with copies of photographs the originals of which have since disappeared, and with notebooks full of stories and memories of family members who have since passed away.  In several cases VERIFYING those stories exposed inaccuracies or added new details, but had I not made such an early beginning in family history I would have missed out on those stories completely.

Week 52 (Dec. 23-31): Resolution

'Resolution' is the final theme for this year's #52Ancestors, and I have been looking back at all the posts I have made this year, at the research I have done and the finds made, and perhaps it is time to make a few genealogical resolutions for the coming year.

Firstly, I have loved taking part in this years #52Ancestors challenge, and am resolved to take part again next year.  I have really enjoyed the way many of the themes have prompted me to re-look at my research and consider it in new ways.

Secondly, I have been posting regular 'Trove Tuesday' posts, and want to continue doing so next year.  Not every week, but at least every second week, alternating with some 'Web Wednesday' posts highlighting some of my favourite websites.

Thirdly, I need to go back and revisit some of my earlier research, checking for accuracy, research gaps and new data available.  It is all too easy to concentrate on newer areas of research and not revisit family branches that seem 'complete'.

Finally, I resolve to keep learning, to keep listening to podcasts, attending (physically or online) conferences and meetings, to keep chatting with geneamates and sharing finds and information.  The genealogical community is always so supportive and collaborative, and sometimes I forget to reach out and share my successes and brick walls with other researchers.

A good resolution to my genealogical year!

Week 51 (Dec. 16-22): Good Deeds

The penultimate 52 Ancestors prompt is 'Good Deeds', and has me thinking about how helpful the wider genealogical community can be.

Earlier this week I blogged about the 15th birthday of the Trove website.  Trove is a collaboration between the National Library of Australia and hundreds of partner organisations across Australia that contribute collections and digital content.

Everything you would find on a visit to a library or museum can be found in Trove. It brings together billions of pieces of information. Search for digital copies of newspapers, Government Gazettes, maps, magazines and newsletters. Or books, pictures, photographs, archived websites, music and interviews. Even information about famous Australians, including copies of letters, diaries and personal archives. And it is all available free.

Text correcting has been a part of Trove since its first days, and in Trove’s 15-year history, Voluntrove text correctors has corrected over 513 million lines of text – and this number increases every single day. 

There are a number of other websites out there that help genealogists research their family histories, not to mention the huge number of archives, societies and groups around the world.  There are transcribers and volunteers and researchers who give their time and expertise to help others.  

Countless good deeds.

 

Week 50 (Dec. 9-15): Chosen Family

The theme for Week 50 is "Chosen Family." Family isn't necessarily just those you are genetically related to. What about the special family friends who become "Aunt" and "Uncle"? Special friends who are as close (or closer) than siblings?  Who was chosen to be part of your family?

One such 'Chosen Family' member was William Knox, known to all as Uncle.  For many years Uncle lived next door to my maternal grandmother, a close family friend who attended many family gatherings and took an active interest in my grandmother's children and grandchildren.

Pictured here in 1954, by the time I was born he was quite elderly.  I don't recall Uncle having any family of his own, but every time I visited by grandmother as a young child, a visit to Uncle was a highlight.

My mother could recall visiting Uncle when her parents were busy or ill, childhood trips to the theatre or cinema, or walks to the local shop to buy sweets as a treat.

"Chosen Family" indeed.

Week 49 (Dec. 2-8): Handed Down

There is so much that can be 'Handed Down' by family.  Heirlooms, certainly, but we are also handed down so much more.  Stories are often handed down by generations, family legends that may or may not be 100% accurate.  Traditions are also 'handed down', some of which are common, some cultural and some unique to your family.  Family traits are handed down in our DNA.  Even names can be 'handed down' within the family, used generation after generation.  The list goes on.

I have blogged several times about my family's Christmas traditions, which started last Sunday when my Christmas tree went up and decorating began.  As usual, the tree will stand un-decorated for a week until my cat loses interest, and tinsel will not be used in my decorating as he sees tinsel as a food group (his stomach and vet both disagree).

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.  Some family treasures 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 solid 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, attached itself to the wooden shelf the pot sat upon, and was firmly attached to the shelf.  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 main bathroom and one in a stand in my dining room, and I think of my mother and grandmother whenever I see them.  I have recently taken 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.

What items do you have tucked away in odd corners that you hope to 'hand down' to the next generation??  Do your children or grandchildren know the stories behind those treasures you have stored away??  If they don't, chances are they will dismiss those items as junk and they will be lost.  If your children don't know the story behind Great Aunt Mary's tea set - or even that the tea set in the shed was Great Aunt Mary's and not something you picked up on a whim at a jumble sale - then they will have no reason to keep it, value it, and ultimately pass it - and its story - on to another generation.

Week 48 (Nov. 25-Dec. 1): Very Funny

Throughout my childhood, my parents were fond of telling stories about their lives and our early years on the sheep station 'Para'.  I loved hearing those stories, and in my late teens started writing them down and checking facts where I could - it is how I got started in family history.  So I thought immediately of several stories in response to the prompt 'Very Funny' this week.

Animals were always a big part of Dad’s life and throughout my childhood a succession of cats, dogs and other animals filled our home.  Dad loved them all, and was particularly close to our cat Lucy, the last pet in our household before Dad's death.  

Lucy was 18.5 years old when she died, and in the last yearss of her life was frequently referred to as the geriatric attack cat.  When my little 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 HER DADDY while Lucy was on guard.

I happened to be home the day, a few months before Lucy and then Dad passed away, when 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 shot 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 out 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, clawing and yowling.  The man quickly retreated, and that's when I came out.  There Lucy stayed, firmly between this stranger and HER DADDY, determined he was not getting any nearer.

In the end I held 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!  And fortunately everyone found it 'Very Funny'!