#52Ancestors - Week 51 - Perseverance

For genealogists around the world, perseverance is a quality we all need to develop.  It keeps us searching for elusive records, checking through near-illegible handwritten records, following elusive trails through name changes, fudged birth dates and outright lies and deception.  Perseverance is a must.

A long running mystery for me that required perseverance to overcome, 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 a deaf-mute) 4, Alice May 3, Alfred Edward 2 and William Henry 4 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.  In New Zealand, I found a record for an 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 Australia 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.

It took further perseverance to continue the search.  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.

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.

Perseverance indeed.

#52Ancestors - Week 50 - Traditions

Every family has their traditions, and as we approach Christmas it is time for me to observe a few of my own family's festive traditions.

While my family has always had the traditional Christmas tree, wreath and turkey for Christmas lunch, some of our particular traditions were more unique to us - like watching "The Muppet's Christmas Carol" on Christmas Eve.  It is a tradition that we have had since I was a child and we watched it one Christmas on TV.  Much searching from my mother produced a video of the film and even as teenagers the tradition of watching "The Muppet's Christmas Carol" on Christmas Eve prevailed.  It continued as we became adults and spent Christmas with our parents, was tolerated by baffled partners and friends, and after our parents passed was continued by my sister and I.  Eventually while on a cruise I located a DVD copy (in April!) and after explaining the significance to several bemused holiday aquaintances, that night seven adults sat in front of a television and watched the brilliant Michael Caine, so shiningly evil as Scrooge before he finds the spirit of Christmas, as he seamlessly interacted with his Muppet costars.

Some of my Christmas traditions have also changed over time.  After the year of my tinsel-obsessed cat caused in a rather expensive Christmas day visit to the family vet,  tinsel no longer features in my festive decorations.  The same cat has also implemented the rule that my Christmas Tree is put up undecorated for a week until he has finished treating it as his own personal climbing gym!

Below are some unusual Christmas traditions from around the world.

Giant Lantern Festival, Philippines

The Giant Lantern Festival (Ligligan Parul Sampernandu) is held each year on the Saturday before Christmas Eve in the city of San Fernando.  Eleven barangays (villages) take part in the festival and competition is fierce as everyone pitches in trying to build the most elaborate lantern.

Originally, the lanterns were simple creations around half a metre in diameter, made from Japanese origami paper and lit by candle. Today, the lanterns are made from a variety of materials and have grown to around six metres in size, illuminated by electric bulbs in a kaleidoscope of patterns.

Gävle Goat, Sweden

Since 1966, a 13-metre-tall Yule Goat has been built in the centre of Gävle’s Castle Square for the Advent, but this Swedish Christmas tradition has unwittingly led to another “tradition” of sorts – people trying to burn it down. Since 1966 the Goat has been successfully burned down 29 times – the most recent destruction was in 2016.

Krampus, Austria

In Austrian tradition, St. Nicholas rewards nice little boys and girls, while Krampus is said to capture the naughtiest children and whisk them away in his sack. In the first week of December, young men dress up as the Krampus (especially on the eve of St. Nicholas Day) frightening children with clattering chains and bells.

Kentucky Fried Christmas Dinner, Japan

Christmas has never been a big deal in Japan. Aside from a few small, secular traditions such as gift-giving and light displays, Christmas remains largely a novelty in the country. However, a new, quirky “tradition” has emerged in recent years – a Christmas Day feast of the Colonel’s very own Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Not sure this will catch on elsewhere!

The Yule Lads, Iceland

In the 13 days leading up to Christmas, 13 tricksy troll-like characters come out to play in Iceland.

The Yule Lads (jólasveinarnir or jólasveinar in Icelandic) visit the children across the country over the 13 nights leading up to Christmas. For each night of Yuletide, children place their best shoes by the window and a different Yule Lad visits leaving gifts for nice girls and boys and rotting potatoes for the naughty ones.

Saint Nicholas’ Day, Germany

Not to be confused with Weihnachtsmann (Father Christmas), Nikolaus travels by donkey in the middle of the night on December 6 (Nikolaus Tag) and leaves little treats like coins, chocolate, oranges and toys in the shoes of good children all over Germany, and particularly in the Bavarian region. St. Nicholas also visits children in schools or at home and in exchange for sweets or a small present each child must recite a poem, sing a song or draw a picture.

But it isn’t always fun and games. St. Nick often brings along Knecht Ruprecht (Farmhand Rupert). A devil-like character dressed in dark clothes covered with bells and a dirty beard, Knecht Ruprecht carries a stick or a small whip in hand to punish any children who misbehave.

Norway

Perhaps one of the most unorthodox Christmas Eve traditions can be found in Norway, where people hide their brooms. It’s a tradition that dates back centuries to when people believed that witches and evil spirits came out on Christmas Eve looking for brooms to ride on. To this day, many people still hide their brooms in the safest place in the house to stop them from being stolen. 

Venezuela

Love Christmas, but think it could be improved by a spot of roller-blading? If the answer is yes, visit Caracas, Venezuela this year. Every Christmas Eve, the city’s residents head to church in the early morning – so far, so normal – but, for reasons known only to them, they do so on roller skates.

This unique tradition is so popular that roads across the city are closed to cars so that people can skate to church in safety, before heading home for the less-than-traditional Christmas dinner of ‘tamales’ (a wrap made out of cornmeal dough and stuffed with meat, then steamed).

Day of the Little Candles, Colombia

Little Candles’ Day (Día de las Velitas) marks the start of the Christmas season across Colombia. In honour of the Virgin Mary and the Immaculate Conception, people place candles and paper lanterns in their windows, balconies and front yards.

The tradition of candles has grown, and now entire towns and cities across the country are lit up with elaborate displays. Some of the best are found in Quimbaya, where neighborhoods compete to see who can create the most impressive arrangement.

Cavalcade of Lights, Toronto

In wintry, wonderful Toronto the annual Cavalcade of Lights marks the official start to the holiday season. The first Cavalcade took place in 1967 to show off Toronto’s newly constructed City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square.

The Square and Christmas tree are illuminated by more than 300,000 energy-efficient LED lights that shine from dusk until 11 pm until the New Year. On top of that, you’ll get to witness spectacular fireworks shows and engage in some outdoor ice skating.

#52Ancestors - Week 49 - New Horizons

New Horizons is the theme for this week, and I immediately think of those brave ancestors of mine who sailed off to new horizons as they emigrated to Australia.  For many is meant leaving their homelands and extended families forever for a strange place with strange customs, strange landscapes and strange animals.  For a few it even meant learning a new language.

What prompted these people to take such a step?  For my father's family, his parents left England within weeks of their marriage in 1907 to sail to Australia to start their married life.  Frank and Rosa (Pike) Green married 10 October 1907 and arrived in Australia 1 December 1907.  They enjoyed a much faster and safer journey than other ancestors who emigrated in earlier years.  The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 had given ships from Europe an alternative route to Australia and by the early 1900s, steamships had become the established method of transport. No longer dependent on the strong winds encountered on the 'Great Circle' route, many shipping lines by this time travelled via the Suez Canal, reducing the length of the journey to Australia to 35 or 40 days. My father's parents were lucky indeed.

For my mother's side of the family, most branches travelled to Australia in the 1840s and 1850's, a much longer and riskier voyage.  A diverse group, they came from many different places.  The Pummeroy family travelled from London to Melbourne around 1849.  The Davis family came from Kent, also to Melbourne, making the voyage in 1853 with wife Margaret tragically dying at sea giving birth to twins, neither of whom survived.  The Beseler family came from Hanover in Germany, emigrating from the port of Bremen to Adelaide in 1847 before moving overland to Ercildown, where they settled to farm.  The Flowers came from Glamorgan in Wales to Melbourne in 1863.  The Clark family came from Bristol around 1855 to settle in Port Sorrel, Tasmania for over 15 years before moving on to Melbourne, and the Mulhollands and McCraes came from Ireland in the 1850s to settle on farmland near Bright.

For all of these families, their new horizons in Australia  were permanent, with no return to their homelands so far away.  They built new lives, raised their families and spread out across their new homeland.

#52Ancestors - Week 48 - Overlooked

A danger for any genealogist is overlooking something - an obscure resource, a hidden set of records within a bigger database, a spelling variation or change of name.  Overlooking any of these things can mean we miss vital records that could help progress our research.

Another danger for the family history researcher is overlooking facts that just don't fit.  In earlier posts I have listed some of the overlooked but quite obvious errors that I have seen all in online trees : 

• 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 2 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.
  

Overlooking opportunities to further our research can be another huge mistake.  The opportunity to question older relatives should not be overlooked when the chance arises - it may not happen again.  The chance to visit a cemetery or library or other place for research when travelling should also not be overlooked.  Revisiting our own research to see if we can spot overlooked errors or areas that need further investigation is another common error.

So don't overlook the value of revisiting your research and see what you may have overlooked.

#52Ancestors - Week 47 - Wrong Side of the Law

Every family has them.  The black sheep.  The troublemakers.  The ones who found themselves on the wrong side of the law.  

Not all the crimes committed by our ancestors were major.  Many who were convicted of crimes were guilty of minor offences and acts of desperation.  Finding an ancestor who ended up on the wrong side of the law is something we will all face sooner or later in our research - there are no perfect families.

Often when an ancestor was found to have committed an offence, newspapers are our first source of information.  Court sessions were frequently reported in local newspapers, sometimes providing a simple summary of the cases heard and sometimes reporting in great detail.

The above article, from 22 September 1863, reports William Mothersole and James Cocksedge (who were both direct ancestors of mine) being fined for being drunk and disorderly, and reports in detail their actions and the fine they received.

On 18 July 1838, my ancestor Deborah Wordley was sentenced to 14 days goal for theft.  As far as I can discover this was her only offence and she does not appear in the newspapers again.

Court reports and newspaper articles may also name an ancestor who was the victim of a crime or who gave evidence in a court case.  While these people are not on the wrong side of the law, it is still a fascinating insight into the lives of our ancestors, seeing the impact of the wrongdoing of others has upon them.

My ancestor Daniel Green on 1 November 1777 offered a reward of two guineas for the return of the horse, with five guineas if the horse was stolen and the thief apprehended.

#52Ancestors - Week 46 - Tombstones

Tombstones and memorial plaques can be a hugely exciting find for any genealogist, and many cemeteries today have websites where researchers can locate burial details, headstone and memorial transcriptions and even photographs of the headstones and memorials themselves.

Finding the grave of an ancestor and obtaining a photo of the tombstone can provide an extremely varied amount of information.  Some tombstones are a virtual essay of information, like the memorial plaque below for the Pike family of Gedding Mill.  It not only gives names and dates of both parents but also details of all their children, including a son killed in action in WW1.

 

Other headstones are less helpful, with scant details and weathered, unreadable script.  The grave below has no headstone as such, with the surname 'Pummeroy' simply inscribed on the border of the grave.

 

 

Sometimes one tombstone contains details of several burials, either covering a family plot or multiple burials in a single grave.  The tombstone below details several burials in a family plot, including David and Jane Mulholland and three of their children who died as children : Henry aged 4 years 8 months, Margaret aged 6 years 4 months and Thomas aged 1 year 2 months.

 

Amongst my family photos I have a number of tombstones and memorial plaques, many of which I have obtained online from cemetery sites in areas I have not been able to visit in person.  These are a huge boon for a genealogist who is mostly researching overseas with limited opportunities to travel, and it is always exciting to find another cemetery record available.

 

#52Ancestors - Week 45 - Ghost Story

The prompt for Week 45 is ghost story, and strangely enough, amongst all the family stories I have collected over the years, I don't have a good ghost story.  It is something I had never realized until I started on this post and went looking through my notebooks and found nothing.

Many families have a good ghost story.  Tales of hauntings, of seeing a relative miles away at the time of their death, of items being moved around, of sounds and sightings that cannot be explained.  No, none.

Maybe I never asked the right questions.  Maybe those with ghost stories were not willing to share them with me.  Maybe in my extremely practical and earthy family ghost stories were simply not a topic of conversation.  Even as a child a cannot remember sitting around of an evening telling ghost stories.  Being Australian, Halloween has never been the major event it is in many other countries and during my childhood there was no Halloween decorating or trick-or-treating much in this country.

For whatever reason, I am lacking in a good ghost story in my family.  For any relatives reading this, if you have a good ghost story please forward it to me.  Living relatives only need apply.

#52Ancestors - Week 44 - Shadows

The prompt for Week 44, 'Shadows', made me pause and think about the shadows that could loom over a family.  The shadows of war, poverty, prejudice, illness, disasters and more were - and still are - shadows that impact us all.  With water all around as we emerge from a major flood in my home town which saw many friends impacted, businesses closed and roads cut, the shadow of a natural disaster is certainly on my mind.

A major shadow that could impact an entire family was the impact of mental illness, especially in times when many illnesses were misunderstood and prejudice against those with a mental illness was extreme.  Even what was a genuine mental illness was misunderstood, with many people with a variety of conditions hidden away in lunatic asylums.  Children born with illnesses or birth defects could be abandoned to orphanages and sent to asylums, and men (and women) impacted by war with what we now know as PTSD seen as malingerers and worse.

Over the years of my research I have discovered several ancestors who spent time in institutions such as workhouses, orphanages and lunatic asylums.  Two of my Great Great grandfathers died in lunatic asylums, both from what we understand today to be dementia.

For many families, caring for an elderly relative, especially one who had developed dementia, was simply not possible, and before the rise of affordable nursing homes and old age care there were few places where the elderly could be cared for.  In times when dementia was little understood and any kind of mental illness carried a weight of social stigma for the family as well as the sufferer, hiding the person away in an institution was a frequent solution.  Others, unable to care for themselves because of their deteriorating mental state, were arrested for various reasons and ended up before the courts.  Many ended up in lunatic asylums, spending their declining years in conditions that today we would consider inhumane and totally unacceptable.  For my ancestor Edward Beseler, this was to be his fate.

Edward Beseler was born in 1836 in Neubukow, Germany and emigrated to Australia as a child with his family, father Carl Friedrich Beseler, mother Susetta Eva (Lisette) nee Farckens and 4 siblings.  The family lived in Adelaide for several years before travelling to Victoria, settling on a farm in Ercildown.  Edward was naturalised as an Australian citizen in 1863, and married Emma Flower in 1865.  Together the couple had 10 children.

By 1900, Edward was in his 60s and showing signs of dementia.  Matters came to a head in 1909 when he appeared in court (see report below) 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.  While there are only a few doctor's notes in his file, by 1917 Edward's health was deteriorating and he died in the asylum on 7 December 1918, only a few months short of 10 years after his admission.

#52Ancestors - Week 43 - Organised

Keeping our records, papers and other family history treasures organised is an ongoing challenge for even the most dedicated researchers, and I am no exception.  I admit I struggle to keep my files and papers properly filed and up to date.  Every now and then I find I have to step back, stop actual researching and catch up on the less glamorous task of filing, cross-referencing and getting myself properly organised. 

I expect we are all guilty of occasionally letting filing and updating get a little behind.  Many of my printed family sheets, that I use when researching, are covered in scribbled notes and references to new documents I have found and need to be typed up properly and new clean copies printed out.  My 'new' folder of documents that I need to check are properly referenced on my family group sheets and filed in their appropriate folders is starting to bulge.  My backup files could do with updating too. 

While visiting my sister recently I spent a happy day digitising family photos, so I now also have a folder of digital photos that need to be labelled and filed properly.  I really have a fair bit of work to do.

Organising our research is one of those ongoing tasks that can easily get away from us if we are not vigilant.  Over the next few weekends I plan to spent time getting my files up to date and properly organised.  Then for a few days I can bask in the glow of accomplishment, looking at the results of my work, before I start researching again, make some finds, and before I know it I will once again have a folder of papers waiting to be organised properly.....

#52Ancestors - Week 42 - Lost

It is interesting that the theme this week is 'Lost' as I sit writing this post as the flood waters rise throughout my community in Victoria.  While my home is on slightly higher ground and should remain safe, the same cannot be said for many friends, colleagues and neighbours, and many people around the state are certainly feeling lost as they try to save homes and businesses as the flood water approaches or begin the sad, slow process of cleaning up and assessing what they have lost.

Which brings me to focus on 'lost' ancestors.  Virtually every family tree has them - the family members who for whatever reason just vanish.  They disappear from census records, can't be found in church and cemetery records, somehow manage to leave no traces at all - there suddenly seems to be no paper trail to follow them anywhere. 

A single missing person can leave a large gap in the family narrative, not only because you're missing a potentially tantalizing bit of history but also because there could be a number of documents from the person's later life that you're missing out on because you don't know where to look.  Dealing with these spectral ancestors can be a tricky proposition, especially when you have little information to go on. 

Sometimes people completely changed their names when they disappeared.  Perhaps they emigrated to another county and changed their name to better fit into their new community.  Perhaps they had a past they wanted to leave behind and a change of name allowed them to build a new life.  Perhaps they had a criminal or scandalous past they wanted to leave behind.  Maybe they were evading responsibilities or simply wanted to start again.  For whatever reason, they simply didn't want to be found - and perhaps their family didn't want to find them either.  People disappeared for a number of reasons.  

Their disappearance may not have been deliberate.  Not all records have survived the passage of time and some have been deliberately destroyed because they were not deemed to be worth preserving.  Some records have not been kept to a standard we would expect today.  Some names have been so badly recorded - our ancestors were considerably less focused on things like consistent spelling than we are today - that connecting the dots becomes almost impossible.

Finding elusive, lost ancestors is a task all genealogists face at various points in their research, and the triumph of successfully breaking down the brick wall of an elusive ancestor is something that hopefully we all experience as well.

#52Ancestors - Week 41 - Passed Down

If we are lucky we have at least a few special items that have been passed down from earlier generations, heirlooms that we will in time pass on to a younger generation in turn.  These items are not always valuable in a monetary sense - their value it often in their stories and history and links to our past.  Just as important as keeping those physical items, however, is keeping the stories and history that they represent and passing those details on with them.

I've written before about cleaning out the family home after the deaths of my parents, and how my sister and I simply did not keep things we didn't know the story of.  So many items we looked at with no idea of whether they were family heirlooms or trinkets our mother had purchased from the local opp shop. Why had this china cup been kept?  Whose was it and how long had it been in the family?  There were so many bits and pieces put away that we had no idea of the history of, and so generally didn't keep.  If my sister and I didn't know, there was no one left to ask.  Other items at least one of us knew the stories of and we divided them up and carefully stored them away.

During the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, I decided to take a look at the various family treasures I have at home, gave the camera a workout and photographed all the family items I have in my possession.  Things like a few items of jewellery, the figurines that belonged to my grandparents, the painting my father was given when he retired, and the little shell turtles I gave my grandmother after my first solo holiday when I was 16.  Treasures that I cannot copy like I have photographs and documents, but should disaster strike I would at least have photos of the items to keep.  Once this was done, I decided to write down the stories of each item.  Hopefully in the future the significance of these treasures will be remembered and they will be passed down and treasured as part of our family history.

Another item to treasure and pass down is the family recipe book, primarily created by my sister.  One of the more fun jobs while we were cleaning out the family home was emptying out Mum's recipe drawer.  While the drawer contained a few proper cooking books, and some complete magazines, it was primarily a combination of loose snippets torn or photocopied from old magazines and books, and hand-written recipes from who-knows-where.  Many had notes written on them - things like substitutions of ingredients and notes on who particularly liked the dish.  There were also a number of recipes written out by others and given to Mum - by several different friends and relatives, judging by the assorted handwriting.  She even had a little A5 folder with hand-written favourites stored inside.  When creating the book my sister and I kept all these notes and added our own - our memories of these dishes and when/how they were served.  We both occasionally dip into these recipes and recreate one.

These are all things I hope will be passed down through future generations and treasured as I have treasured them, but the important thing is to keep the stories with each item so their significance will not be lost in the future.

#52Ancestors - Week 40 - Preservation

This week's theme is Preservation, and it prompts me to think about all the records that have been preserved for family history researchers to find later.  For many of the records we have available today, preservation for future use was not a major consideration, and little thought was made for preservation at the time the records were created.  Some, indeed, have not survived at all due to a number of circumstances.  

Sometimes it has been the policy of those bodies which created records in the first place to destroy them after a certain period of time when they were no longer deemed necessary.  Several Irish Censuses were deliberately destroyed, with the original census returns for 1861 and 1871 destroyed shortly after the censuses were taken and those for 1881 and 1891 pulped during the First World War, possibly because of the paper shortage.  Deliberate destruction has also been the fate of the Australian census records, with the Australian Government making the decision that census records would be destroyed after statistical analysis was complete.  It is only in the most recent Australian censuses that individuals could choose to have their census forms retained for future use.

Some records have not survived for other reasons.  Wars have destroyed many records over the years, as have natural disasters such as fires and floods.  In September 1940, as the result of a fire caused by an incendiary bomb at the War Office Record Store in Arnside Street, London, approximately two thirds of the 6.5 million soldiers' documents for the First World War were destroyed.  World War 2 also saw the destruction of other records throughout Europe as buildings were bombed, burned and damaged.

The 1922 fire in the Dublin Public Records Office destroyed a number of Irish records.  The PRO housed many genealogical treasures including the remaining Irish census returns, originals wills dating to the 16th century, and more than 1,000 Church of Ireland parish registers filled with baptism, marriage and burial records.

Incorrect storage has seen records deteriorate to the point of being unusable around the world.  Many old record books have deteriorated over time, especially when they have not been stored in good conditions.  Deteriorating records have been found with damp and moulding pages, fading inks, brittle spines and damage from insects and animals.  While today we are much more aware of how to keep records from deteriorating, in the past this was not the case and many old records have paid the price.

For those records which have survived, the future often looks brighter today as a number of preservation and digitization projects around the world taking place very day.  This will hopefully benefit those who come after us in their own research.

#52Ancestors - Week 39 - Road Trip

Planning a Family History Road Trip can be a highlight in our research calendar but they can be much more successful and less stressful if you do your homework and plan ahead.  Here are my hints for making your Road Trip successful.

Phone Ahead

When you plan visiting any record repository, library or archive, after you visit their website and check hours of operation and record availability, make a phone call before you go. There is nothing worse than arriving at a facility to find that it is closed for renovation or that records have been moved offsite and are unavailable. Remember to check catalogs where available and plan your research wish list ahead of time - this can help maximize your research time onsite, as well. 

Check the Rules

Check requirements beforehand.  Can you take your bag, phone or tablet with you or do you have to leave them in a locker outside?  Are there rules about copying?  Many libraries have computers attached to their microfilm or microfiche machines, so you can save record images to a USB flash drive. If they have a scanner, can you scan documents to the drive as well?  What costs are involved and how do you pay?  Some smaller places may require cash so make sure you have some change with you.

Map Out Places you Plan to Visit

If you're traveling to a city or town that you're not familiar with, try mapping out your research visits so that you're not wasting valuable time on the road. Plan your visits to churches, cemeteries, libraries, and archives on a route that makes sense. Check parking availability nearby too - and any costs for parking too.  Find out what places of worship and cemeteries were around when your ancestors lived in the area (historical city or county directories can be helpful for his).  Also, check with local genealogical and historical societies. They are the experts on research in that area and will know what resources are available and where the records are kept.

Take Your Tree with You

Family history research trips used to be much more cumbersome, with copies of documents, family trees and other pertinent information being carried with you on family visits and to libraries and archives. Today most of us have an online tree, with your data as close as your smart phone or tablet.  When planning your road trip check your access to your online data and make sure everything you will need is available and that your access to it is reliable.  Figure on tech failures. When planning a trip to a remote cemetery, for example, don’t assume your cell phone will have a signal. If you need a list of names bring a printout or make sure the list is stored on your phone, not in the cloud.

Have a Kit

Create a kit or a “genealogy to-go” bag that’s ready to walk out the door with you. Stock it with note books, pens and pencils, batteries, business cards, address labels, a digital voice recorder, a magnifier, sticky-notes, a small power strip, USB, etc.  Anything you might need while researching.  Don’t forget your forms - take your notebook for general notes as well as a pre-prepared sheet to record data and important source info - what you found where and when. It keeps you from forgetting anything if you have a form to fill out.  A little coin purse with change for photocopying and parking is also handy.

#52Ancestors - Week 38 - New to You

There is always something new to explore in our Family History research.  New data made available.  New websites to explore.  New books to read.  New relatives discovered.  New results to incorporate into our trees.  New knowledge to add.

Recently, Ancestry updated their DNA Ethnicity Estimates, so I have again been studying the new, updated results.  I have commented before that with every ethnicity estimate, my results seem to move further from my family tree as I know it.  This time was no exception.

The table below shows how my ethnicity estimates have changes over the past few years.  According to my researched Family Tree, my father's family is 100% English back to the early 1700s and further, and is primarily from the Essex/Suffolk area. My father's parents married in England before they came out to Australia.  My mother's family is at mostly English with some Irish (a Great-Grandmother), German (Great-Great-Grandfather) and Scottish (Great-Great-Grandmother) mixed in.  Most of her lines arrived in Australia in the 1840s and 1850s, and the various nationalities intermarried out here.  This is not reflected in my ethnicity estimate.  It is worth noting that in 2018 and 2019 the Irish ethnicity actually represented Ireland and Scotland combined.

	Sep-18	Sep-19	Sep-21	Apr-22	Sep-22
England	65	78	54	45	33
Ireland	22	10	2	2	1
Scotland	0	0	33	32	38
Germanic Europe	8	3	0	0	4
Ivory Coast / Ghana	2	1	1	2	2
Sweden / Denmark	2	5	0	2	19
Norway	1	2	9	14	0
Mali	0	1	1	0	0
Wales	0	0	0	3	3

Ultimately, we need to remember that these numbers are estimates only, and can still be quite inaccurate.  More important to most who are actively researching are their cousin matches, people whom the DNA tests show are being related. I have cousin matches on all the major branches of my tree intersecting at various grandparents, great grandparents and further back - so for several generations back I am reasonably confident my tree is accurate - or as accurate as it can be.

#52 Ancestors - Week 37 - High and Low

Researching your family history can indeed be a series of highs and lows - the joys of discovery and the disappointments of finding a negative.  We all experience them each time we undertake our research.

We are all familiar with the lows.  A family story is debunked by the evidence we find.  A record we are searching for proves elusive or destroyed or on closed access.  A mistake in our research invalidates an entire branch of our family tree.  We uncover stories of hardship, heartache and misfortune that make our research difficult.

The highs of family history are many.  Finding new information that furthers our family tree.  Uncovering facts that corroborate a favourite family story.  Stumbling across a record you have somehow missed in previous research.  Finding new records have become available or a new website has come online that is relevant to our family history.  Making contact with a new relative who has information to share.  An unexpected find that comes out of the blue.

One of the biggest unexpected highs I have had came while moving house a few years ago.  After months of clearing out the family home, it was moving day.  As the removalists took an old wardrobe from my parent's room to their van, several pieces of paper and cardboard were found to have fallen behind it.  A few old Christmas cards from years ago, an old poster, a calendar from 1982, several scraps of paper.  As I was gathering it all to throw in the bin, amongst the debris I discovered an old image of my father.  It dates from his time in the Air Force in WW2, is roughly A4 size and hand tinted on cardboard.  I had never seen it before.  

Considering it had been hidden behind an old wardrobe for at least 40 years, it was in surprisingly good condition.  It was dusty and dirty, had a few creases and part of the top was almost broken off, but it was nevertheless a hugely exciting find.  Had I not grabbed the papers as the wardrobe was hauled away I would never have known it existed and it would have been lost forever.

I have the original photograph that this image is taken from.  The framed black and white photo had sat on my mother's dressing table my entire life and I can recall looking at it often during my childhood.

It is only a small photo, just 10x15cm, in a white frame.  After my mother passed away I digitized this image, then placed it back in the original frame which I had carefully cleaned.  It now sits in my study along with several other family photos.

Where the colored image comes from I have no idea, and there is no one left whom I can ask.  It is currently carefully stored in an archival case and one day I hope to have it professionally cleaned and restored.  It is all the more special to me for being completely unexpected.

A family history high indeed.

#52Ancestors - Week 36 - Exploration

While home isolating during a recent bout of Covid, I decided to spend a few days exploring my files, checking documents and revisiting old research.  Exploring my old research is something I need to do more, fact checking and making sure all documents are properly referenced in my family group sheets, re-reading family stories and the records and details that corroborate (or explode) them.  

I always enjoy exploring my files, revisiting old documents and reliving discoveries.  As I have been researching for a number of years, the amount of paper I have accumulated is impressive, and I may not revisit certain families for quite some time.  Delving deep into my accumulation of records is an exploration indeed.

I also spent time online exploring 'new' data available since I last researched certain branches of my family and making sure I had all the information available.  

Another exploration over the past few weeks has been my online family tree, and the hundreds of 'hints' available.  While the majority I quickly dismiss and delete, there are always a few treasures to explore and add to my research, details that either I have missed during earlier research or coming from newly available records which have only just been added.  

Family History is in itself an exploration - of our past, of the history of our ancestors and the wider history that impacted and changed their lives.  Happy exploring!

#52Ancestors - Week 35 - Free Space

I think we can all agree that there is very little in life that is free.  But there is a free space available to all, at our local public library.  It is a resource every genealogist needs to take advantage of.

So what does the free space that is you local library have to offer a family history researcher?  Free access to books for a start.  Check out your library catalogue to see what family history books are available.  From genealogical reference books to published family histories, there may well be treasures lurking on the shelves waiting for you to find them.  Check out the Local History collection too, especially if your family has lived in the area.  Try contacting the library in places your family has lived to see what the Local History collection offers.  Don't forget Inter-Library Loan either.  Many public libraries can access titles not in their own collection through reciprocal lending agreements with other libraries.

Check out online databases the library may subscribe to.  Many libraries have free public access to online genealogical databases you would otherwise have to pay to access.  Depending on the licencing agreement, you may be able to access them from home using your library card, or they may be in-house use only, like Ancestry Library Edition or Find My Past.  If the database is in-house only, you will need to visit your library and use their public computers or free wifi.

Check out online eResources too.  Does your local library offer online magazines?  Who Do You Think You Are, Family History UK, Family History Us and more might be available for you to download and read on your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone, all free.

Ask about classes, talks and groups.  Does your library ever run family history classes, host family history society meetings or genealogy chats?  These can be a great way of expanding your researching knowledge and meeting other researchers to exchange research tips.

So take advantage of the free space that is your local library and see what they have to offer you.

#52Ancestors - Week 34 - Timeline

Timelines can be so important in our research, giving context to our ancestors lives.  Timelines of significant historical events help us to understand the times our ancestors lived in.  Did they live through conflicts or natural disasters - floods, famines, diseases?  Did they experience the crowning of a new monarch or a significant change in government?  What were the major social changes that happened during their lives?  Timelines of local events give us insight into our ancestors daily lives - holidays, popular passtimes, local culture and festivals.  

Personal timelines are also useful in highlighting potential errors in our research.  Look at your ancestors timelines to see how old they were at the birth of each child - especially the mother.  Is she too young or too old to reasonably be giving birth?  Look at the time between the birth of each child - you cannot have a child born only 6 months after a sibling.  How old were they when they married or died - and are these ages reasonable?

Sometimes your timeline will highlight an interesting fact that is not impossible but worth noting.  Did an ancestor enlist in the military underage - or overage?  How old were they when they left school, left home, or began working? 

Noting life events in a timeline gives context and helps flesh out our ancestors lives, deepening our understanding of the times in which they lived.

#52 Ancestors - Week 33 - Service

Many families have a history of service.  To me, service is not just serving in the military, but also serving the community in other ways.  Serving in the Police, SES, firefighting and in medicine and welfare.  The events of the past few years have highlighted the important roles filled by our doctors, nurses, paramedics and ambulance crews and other hospital personnel.  Volunteering for community groups and welfare services - undertaken quietly and without expectation of reward by so many.  

Several years ago I learned that my Great Uncle David James Clark received an Order of Australian medal for his service to the community.  By searching the website Its an Honour, which explains the Australian Honours system and allows people to search their database of Honours recipients, I was able to discover more.

The website his the following citation

While I have the military records of many family members who served in the First and Second World Wars, this is the first civilian honour I have found, and highlights another form of service for me, which I need to explore.

#52Ancestors - Week 32 - At the Library

It is always useful to know what your local (plus State and National) library has to offer you as a family history researcher.  So make sure you are a member of your local library and head on down to see just what they have to offer you.

My local library has a number of resources on offer.  Each library branch has a significant Local History collection available.  While many of these resources cannot be borrowed, they are available to use within the library building, and relevant pages can be photocopied.

They offer free access to Ancestry Library Edition, via the library's public computers or using you own device logged in to the free library wifi.  Ancestry Library Edition allows access to all the records available through a paid worldwide subscription.  The only major difference is it does not allow you to create and update your own online family tree, and it must be used onsite (you cannot access this database from home).

My local library also has access to free online magazines.  Amongst the hundreds of titles available are Who Do You Think You Are, Family Tree US, Family Tree UK, Traces, and a number of BBC History magazines.  All can be read online anywhere in the world by logging in with your library card number and PIN, and it is available free.

The library holds various Family History talks, and the class notes from all those talks are available on the library website.  There are also a number of useful links for Family History researchers and downloadable family record sheets.  There is also this blog.

Library staff are always available to assist with accessing these resources and help you get started using them.  And it is all free.