Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2023

I am responding once again to the wonderful Jill Ball with her annual challenge.  I'm looking forward to reading all the responses from my fellow Genealogists out there.

1.  An elusive ancestor I found was – Thomas Farmer, Master Mariner (see post below)

2.  A precious family photo I found was – nothing new this year, but I have managed to put some time into making sure all my old photos are digitized and backed up.

3.  An ancestor's grave I found was – several online, including the previously mentioned Thomas Farmer.

4.  An important record I found was – Every record I find is important!  A significant find was the marriage certificate of my 4xGreat Grandfather John Pummeroy to Sarah Morgan.  Every other document I have gives her maiden name as Morgan, so I had always looked for their marriage under that name.  Subsequent research established that Morgan or Moreman was Sarah’s mother’s maiden name, her father was William Lindsey and she married as Sarah Lindsey, to John Pomroy in her home village of Woodbury in Devon.   One brick wall demolished!

5.  A newly found family member shared - notes on common ancestors.  I keep basic trees on several sites - Ancestry, FamilySearch, My Heritage, etc mainly as 'cousin bait' to make contact with others researching in the same tree so we can share information - and every now and then I strike it lucky.

6.  A geneasurprise I received was - so many genealogical websites, archives and companies who made special efforts to run meetings and conferences online to keep going during the pandemic continue to do so.  I find this so convenient as I can attend events from home that I would otherwise have no hope of accessing.

7.  A new piece of software or website I mastered was – Ancestry’s latest DNA update.

8. A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was – Zoom, Skype and all the platforms that allow me to attend meetings, classes, conferences etc online. 

9. A genealogy conference/seminar/webinar from which I learnt something new was - RootsTech.  Another conference which continues to be held online and free.

10. I am proud of the presentation I gave at/to – all the branches of Campaspe Library.  It was wonderful to start running classes again after two years of the pandemic then having to cancel again in 2022 because of the worst floods on record.

11. I taught a friend how to - use Trove to access historic Australian newspapers and gazettes.

12. A great repository/archive/library I visited was - the National Archives UK - online.  Once again I've downloaded a number of wills and other digital records this year.

13. A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was – Henry VIII : the Heart and the Crown by historian Alison Weir, following up her series ‘Six Tudor Queens, which focused on each of King Henry VIII's wives, this book tells events from the King’s perspective.

14. An achievement during the year was – keeping my files (fairly) up to date.  I have always struggled to make sure I keep my files in good order, and after spending so much time during the lockdowns getting them organised and up-to-date I am determined not to relapse!

15. Another positive I would like to share is ... The wonderful genealogical community out there.  So many people willing to help each other, suggest solutions to research problems, share their knowledge and expertise, and give back to others.

Accentuate the Positive

I am responding once again to the wonderful Jill Ball with her annual challenge.  I'm looking forward to reading all the responses from my fellow Genealogists out there.

1. I was happy to go back to visiting archives and running genealogy classes at my local library after a Covid absence

2. In 2022 I was particularly proud of writing regular blog posts throughout the year, especially the #52 Ancestors challenge.

3. A new software package or web application I embraced was the newly revamped Campaspe Library website which will go love in the New Year

4.  My sledge hammer did great work on this brick wall - finding new details of my great grandfather's visit to America in the 1870s

5. A new genealogy/history book that sparked my interest was the wonderful fiction series by Alison Weir on the wives of Henry VIII

6. A geneasurprise I received was a Christmas gift subscription to the British Newspapers Online

7.  In 2022 I finally met- no one new but did finally get to catch up with geneamates I hadn't seen since preCovid

8.  Locating new newspaper articles on family members gave me great joy

9.  I am pleased the Covid situation caused me to change the number of conferences and meetings I could attend during the year, with so many being offered online

10. I progressed my DNA research by loading my test results onto more websites

11.  An informative journal or newspaper article I found was an obituary of my great great grandfather

12. I was pleased I could contribute tothe monthly Kyabram Genealogy Chat

13.  Trove taught me how to better search their website

14. I got a thrill from opening someone's eyes to the joy of genealogy when people come into the library asking what resources we can offer

15. The best value I got for my genealogy dollars was online meetings and conferences saving me a lot of travelling costs

16. A DNA discovery I made was more relatives to share information with

17. I enjoyed my first post Covid face to face event because I finally could!
 

18. Another positive I would like to share is2023 is another great opportunity for more research!

Vale Queen Elizabeth II

Tributes are flowing in after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest reigning British monarch.  For most people throughout the Commonwealth, she is the only Monarch we have ever known.  Her passing is the end of an era and she will be deeply missed by many.  Vale Elizabeth II.

 

Famiy Record Sheets My Way

Over the years I have used several Family Record Sheets that I have downloaded to use when I am researching - these are what I use to scribble notes and record new data, and take with me when I am researching.  These sheets, however, never quite did just what I wanted, so a few years ago I decided to try creating my own.

After some trial and error, I finally created a Family Group Sheet I liked.  It was done using Microsoft Word, and I quickly realised that this meant I could easily type new data onto the sheets, save and print them, and this was MUCH easier than trying to read my own scribbled handwriting, especially after several corrections and additions.

My original sheets had the standard information - for both parents there was space for name, occupation, birth, marriage and death, their parents names and any other spouse(s).  Below there was space to record up to 10 children - birth, death, marriage and spouse's name - but unusually I included space to record birth and death for each spouse.  

Family Group Sheet example

 
The reverse side of each sheet was for notes - details of certificates and printouts held such as BMD certificates and extracts, census records, military files, wills, baptism or burial information, newspaper articles, stories and so on - all those little details that flesh out the names and dates.

I also discovered that using Word meant I could add a little color to my notes - printing male names in blue and female names in red, dates and places in purple and leaving all my headings black.  Later I added space to include baptism and burial information for both parents on the main page.  The resulting document can be downloaded here, and I am happy for anyone out there to save a master copy and use it if they wish.

The Year in Review

 

A rather challenging and different year is almost over, and as I usually do at this time, I'm looking back at the genealogical highlights.  Feel free to make your own responses to each question.

1.  An elusive ancestor I found was - Not much as far as new ancestors go, this year I have concentrated on fleshing out people I already know about.

2.  A precious family photo I found was - my aunt Phyllis's 100th birthday several years ago.  I have finally printed out the photos I took and added them to my family album.

3.  An ancestor's grave I found was - My great great grandfather John Clark, buried in the same cemetery as his wife Ann, son James Nicholas and several other relatives.  The graves are not together, but cemetery records show they are there.  Now I just need to visit the cemetery in person to see his grave myself.

4.  An important record I found was - the death notices for my great grandfather James Nicholas Clark.  Not only was there a notice for him by his family, but also one from the Masonic Lodge of which he was a member.  I had no idea James was a Mason until I saw the notice in Trove.  Now I need to investigate further...

5.  A newly found family member shared - notes on common ancestors.  I keep basic trees on several sites - Ancestry, FamilySearch, My Heritage, etc mainly as 'cousin bait' to make contact with others researching in the same tree so we can share information - and every now and then I strike it lucky.

6.  A geneasurprise I received was - so many genealogical websites, archives and companies who made special effort to keep going during the pandemic.  From the National Archives UK making all their digital records free while in lockdown to Ancestry allowing libraries who subscribed to Ancestry Library Edition to let their patrons access the database from home, so many went out of their way to keep us all researching.

7.  A new piece of software or website I mastered was - the updated Trove website.  While I am still not convinced I like it better than the old version, spending time getting to know the ins and outs of the new site has been useful.

8. A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was - Zoom.  Online meetings and get togethers have been the order of the year, with so many planned activities, conferences and meetings having to be cancelled by the pandemic.

9. A genealogy conference/seminar/webinar from which I learnt something new was - Family History Down Under.  Another conference which was held online, I have spent time during various lockdowns catching up on all the wonderful presentations, taking notes and using new knowledge and inspiration in my family history research.

10. I am proud of the presentation I gave at/to - sadly, nothing this year.

11. I taught a friend how to - use Ancestry from Home via my library's website.  Al huge thank you to Ancestry for making this possible.

12. A great repository/archive/library I visited was - the National Archives UK - online.  I've downloaded a number of wills and other digital records this year while the website so generously made them free.

13. A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was - Six Tudor Queens - a series of six fiction books by historian Alison Weir, focusing on each of King Henry VIII's wives.

14. An achievement during lockdown was - a major cleanout and re-organisation of my family history files.  Something I have been meaning to do for a while now, I used time at home to sort all my printed and digital documents, make sure they were recorded and noted in my family history file and on my PC.  I've been pretty good at keeping things straight, but have occasionally missed printing a digital record or digitising a paper record.  A big job to get up to date.

15. Another positive I would like to share is ... The way the genealogical community has come together during the pandemic to keep going, change how we operate, go online.  So many meetings, classes and conferences were held online, meetings went virtual too, and so many resources were made temporarily available online when archives and offices closed. 

Memories of September 11

I find it hard to believe that we have just passed the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the United States.  How can it be 20 years since that dreadful day?

I doubt anyone will ever forget the events of that morning, where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news:

• At 8:46 a.m., AA 11 slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
• At 9:03 a.m., UA175 slammed into the South Tower.
• At 9:37 a.m., AA77 crashed into the Pentagon’s west side.
• At 9:59 a.m., the South Tower imploded and fell, raining debris and ash on the city.
• At 10:03 a.m., UA93 crashed into a field in the Pennsylvania countryside.
• And at 10:29 a.m., the North Tower collapsed from the top down. A cloud of ash turned day to night in the narrow streets of lower Manhattan.

In those terrible moments between 8:46 a.m. and 10:29 a.m., nearly 3,000 men, women and children lost their lives.  The youngest was two. The oldest was 85. 

Where I live in Australia, the clock is 14 hours ahead of New York.  So at the time of the first attack, it was 10:46pm my time.  I was already asleep.  Like much of the rest of Australia, I woke up to the news of the attacks on the morning of September 12. 

My family heard the news on the radio at 7:00am - there had been a terrorist attack in the US and the World Trade Centre in New York had been hit by a hijacked plane.  We rushed to turn on our TV.  As the picture came on, the first thing we saw was a replay of the second plane hitting the south tower.  For several minutes we weren't sure if this was live, or had happened several hours ago.

I was late for work that day.

In the library where I work, we dug out an old TV from our storeroom and set it up out in the public area of the building, keeping the news on all day.  People spoke in more hushed voices than usual.  Everyone was shocked.

While cleaning out the family home after my parents passed away, I found an thick notepad filled with writing.  It belonged to my mother, and in it she had recorded the entire first Gulf War, starting with the September 11 attacks.  It is her record of those events and another important document in my family history.  

It reminds me that we are all living through history, and how important it is to record the major events we have lived through, and pass our memories on to those who come after.  Because come events should always be remembered.

The Hidden Branch

The Hidden Branch is a new generation of Genealogists who are growing up during the digital age.  They have just launched their website https://thehiddenbranch.com/ and are active on social media.  

On their website they state : "We advocate for Gen Z researchers (born from 1995 to 2010) in the field of genealogy.  We publish articles, podcasts, and videos on research skills, topics, and more in order to give a bigger voice to the Gen Z genealogists in the field, as well as help others further their education in genealogy."

For younger genealogists this is a wonderful resource that can put them in contact with people their own age who have also developed an interest in their family history young - something I wish had been around when I started my own research at 16 and was constantly met with astonishment that I was interested in such a topic.

I will be watching this group with interest and wish them success in sharing their interest with other Gen Zs.

Unlike Your Ancestors

Unlike your ancestors, you will probably never have to:

1. Make all of your own clothes
Although craft and fabric stores still offer a wide variety of cloth, patterns, and thread for the purpose of creating clothing, and homemade is making a bit of a resurgence, for most people sewing is just a hobby to supplement a store-bought wardrobe.  In the past, though, every garment had to be hand-sewn, at least until the sewing machine and some mass-produced clothing was introduced in the mid-1800s. In fact, many families would have sewn all of their own clothes well into the 20th century. Of course, those with money often employed others to do the work for them – but the task of ordering fabrics, choosing designs and undertaking measurements would have still been much more time-consuming.

2. Travel by ocean liner, steamboat, or horse-and-buggy
If you get frustrated with the length of your daily commute, imagine how your great-great grandmother felt when it came time to travel from her farm into town in a horse-drawn wagon or by foot, or spend days or weeks on dangerous roads and boats to visit family, or move to a new place.  Before the spread of airliners in the 1950s the only way across the ocean was spending weeks on a ship, and travel was costly as well as time consuming.

3. Correspond with those you love entirely by mail
Years ago the only way to connect with loved ones was through a hand written letter that could easily take weeks - or months if travelling overseas - to arrive at its destination. That was the reality for your ancestors.

4. Read about your postal tardiness in the newspaper
Home mail delivery has had a relatively short life. Years ago, mail was sent from post office to post office, and only delivered elsewhere for an extra fee. That’s why you’ll sometimes see notices in 1800s-era newspapers warning a list of local folks to pick up their mail soon or risk it being sent to a “dead letters” department.

5. Sit for a formal portrait
Genealogists cherish the brittle old tintypes and cabinet cards of our ancestors, with their rigidly posed and unsmiling subjects. It won’t be long, though, before our descendants equally cherish our own (often-awkward) family portraits, because sitting for a formal family photo has largely become a thing of the past. Why herd the entire crew to a stuffy studio when you can just use a selfie stick to capture a digital image? Unless you’re printing and framing (or at least digitally preserving) these treasures for future generations, the classic family portrait may cease to exist.

6. Wear a corset
Remember that scene in Gone With the Wind when Scarlett holds on for dear life to her bedpost as Mammy forcefully tugs the strings of her corset until Scarlett achieves her famous 17-inch waist? Corsets were a common component of women’s fashion for more than 500 years–until the early 1900s, when medical professionals finally put an end to the painful practice by announcing the health risks of shifting internal organs and restricting breathing.

7. Use an Icebox
Before we had the fridge ice was harvested from colder areas and shipped for storage in specially constructed ice houses. Homeowners could pick up or request delivery of ice blocks to their homes, where the blocks were kept in wooden or metal boxes lined with straw or sawdust. In fact, ice boxes were common into the 1930s and beyond. It was the only way to keep food cold and prevent it spoiling.

8. Let blood
Bloodletting (thankfully) went out of fashion in the 1800s, but prior to that, a bad headache or practically any other ailment may have led to your physician cutting into a vein and letting a few pints of blood drain out to cure your ills. Today’s researchers believe that excessive bloodletting led to the deaths of King Charles II in 1685 and U.S. President George Washington in 1799.

9. Die from TB, smallpox, measles, yellow fever or cholera
Thanks to improved sanitation and health care many diseases that shortened the life spans of our ancestors have been eradicated. Today the average worldwide life expectancy stands at a robust 72 years, compared to the 30- to 40-year expectation of our 18th and 19th century predecessors.

10. Wait days or weeks to hear the latest news
These days, instant notifications and “breaking news” banners on our various screens alert us to what’s happening in the next town or across the globe within minutes. But before radios and televisions, news traveled through word-of-mouth, mail, and newspapers–at a significant delay for those in rural communities. Imagine not knowing about the death of a family member, the election of a president, or a declaration of war for weeks. 

11. Use an outhouse at home
Portable public toilets may come close, but they’re not constructed of splintery wood, filled with spiders and situated in our backyards. And while we often associate outhouses with fun camping trips and iconic homesteads, the reality of sewage disposal before modern plumbing was anything but pleasant. Chamber pots  are also thankfully no longer a necessity.

12. Manage a funeral and burial
As if the grief of losing a loved one wasn’t enough, our ancestors were once tasked with preparing bodies for viewing (usually in a home’s living area or parlour) and digging and closing the grave in the family or town cemetery.

13. Employ child labor
As children, our ancestors were often awoken at daybreak to work on the family farm, help with daily chores, and perhaps even report for duty at a factory or a mine. Many families relied on the extra income a child might be able to earn or the extra labor they could provide to a cottage industry or farm.  Older children might also be expected to stay at home to look after younger siblings while their mother went out to work.

14. Have dental work without pain relief
Imagine having a tooth extracted with no pain relief. Modern dental care was unknown to our ancestors, and the only remedy for badly decayed teeth was extraction, often with little provision for numbing the pain.

15. Travel away from family and friends forever
While many of us today will travel far from home to make a new life, we have the ability, in most cases, of visiting home and family again quite easily. But for many of our ancestors, a big move meant saying goodbye to family forever. It was a steep price to pay for a chance at a better future, but many did it. 

AncestryHour

Have you discovered AncestryHour yet?  AncestryHour is a Twitter base for everyone and anyone, professionals and amateurs alike, with an interest in Genealogy, Family & Local History.   With AncestryHour you can meet online, exchange tips, promote your services, ask questions and engage with an international following within the ancestral community.

The group currently gets together on Twitter every Tuesday evening from 7.00 - 8.00 pm GMT.  The chat is led by a team of eight well known and well respected genealogists and historians, each with their own specialism but united in their passion for the past. 

If you are not able to participate in the weekly chat, you can still participate at any time and follow the conversations on Twitter or Facebook.  For those isolated at home, it is yet another avenue for communicating with fellow genealogists, to keep learning and researching, and keep up your interest.

The Year in Review

A rather challenging and different year is almost over, and as I usually do at this time, I'm looking back at the genealogical highlights.  Feel free to make your own responses to each question.

1.  An elusive ancestor I found was - Thomas Farmer, Master Mariner.  Born 1781, Thomas was also a Mason, made a member of the Dundee Arms lodge 8 March 1810. He is one ancestor I have managed to discover quite a bit about during the year.

2.  A precious family photo I found was - my fathers WW2 Air Force enlistment photo.

3.  An ancestor's grave I found was - Thomas Farmer, 1781-1850 (see question 1).

4.  An important record I found was - Thomas Farmers Master Mariner's certificate.  Downloading a digital copy of his original certificate was definitely a highlight!

5.  A newly found family member shared - notes on common ancestors.  I keep basic trees on several sites - Ancestry, FamilySearch, My Heritage, etc mainly as 'cousin bait' to make contact with others researching in the same tree so we can share information - and every now and then I strike it lucky.

6.  A geneasurprise I received was - so many genealogical websites, archives and companies who made special effort to keep going during the pandemic.  From the National Archives UK making all their digital records free while in lockdown to Ancestry allowing libraries who subscribed to Ancestry Library Edition to let their patrons access the database from home, so many went out of their way to keep us all researching.

7.  A new piece of software or website I mastered was - the updated Trove website.  While I am still not convinced I like it better than the old version, spending time getting to know the ins and outs of the new site has been useful.

8. A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was - Zoom.  Online meetings and get togethers have been the order of the year, with so many planned activities, conferences and meetings having to be cancelled by the pandemic.

9. A genealogy conference/seminar/webinar from which I learnt something new was - The Virtual Genealogical Society's Annual Conference.  Like so many of the talks, presentations and meeting I attended this year, everything was online and attended from the safety of my study.

10. I am proud of the presentation I gave at/to - Library patrons via Facebook on using Ancestry Library Edition from home during lockdown.

11. I taught a friend how to - download her family tree from Ancestry.

12. A great repository/archive/library I visited was - the National Archives UK - online.  I've downloaded a number of wills and other digital records this year while the website so generously made them free.

13. A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was - Tudor History: A Captivating Guide to the Tudors, the Wars of the Roses, the Six Wives of Henry VIII and the Life of Elizabeth I.  A great ebook read.

14. An achievement during lockdown was - a major cleanout and reorganisation of my house.  While stood down from my job for several weeks, I built shelving, cleaned out my garage, sorted through my wardrobe, reorganised the lined cupboard, cleaned out the pantry, and turned my 3rd bedroom / junk room / study into a usable work space.  All those jobs that I'd never found time for got done, along with 2 trips to the local recycling centre.  The glow of accomplishment was wonderful!

15. Another positive I would like to share is ... Treasures hidden away in dark corners.  As mentioned previously, a few years ago I faced the task of clearing out my family home after the deaths of my parents.  Treasures were found in every corner, and quite a few were glanced at briefly before being boxed up to transfer to my new home.  During lockdown, many were rediscovered, more closely examined, recorded for posterity and put on display around my home.

Campaspe Genealogy is back!

From Monday 1 June Campaspe Libraries reopened to the public in a limited capacity following Government guidelines and observing social distancing.  I hope everyone out there has stayed safe and well during the shut down and look forward to getting back to genealogy and a more 'normal' life over the next few weeks and months.

May has certainly been a very different month this year, and a challenging time for so many.  It is wonderful to be able to come back to work, see colleagues and people in the community, and start trying to rebuild after the shut down.

I hope the past weeks have not been too challenging for you all.  For myself, my garage is organised, several jobs around the house have finally been completed, and I have been able to spend a bit of extra time on genealogy during my time at home.

More to come!

Making History

Making History is a set of online resources designed by Museums Victoria to support students, individuals and community groups as they investigate and create a short digital history (up to 3 minutes). This site guides you through the process to research, produce and share a digital history about a person or event. 

Modules include :

1. Introduction to Digital History
2. Choose Your Theme
3. Research
4. Create a Storyboard
5. Edit Your Digital History
6. Share Your Digital History

There is also a Student Showcase where you can select from more than 70 videos from undergraduate students studying the Making Histories course at Monash University, Secondary-aged students across Victoria, and Primary-aged students across Victoria.

These modules are a great was to create a family story for a reunion or to focus on a particular family member or event, and it is all free online.  Check out what Making History has to offer.

The Return of the Heirloom Gnome

Although I am always quick to say that I am NOT a gardener, I have been spending quite a bit of time in my garden recently.  Just not working with plants.  No, I've been 'planting' a garden gnome.

He's not just any garden gnome.  When I moved house two years ago, I took with me a concrete garden gnome - and a huge thank you to the removalists who managed to bring him along.  It was not an easy task.

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.

There is a story behind our gnomes.  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.  Dad was determined that no one was going to 'nap' his gnomes.  So he 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.  Over the years people have tried to steal them numerous times.  No one has gotten them more than 2 or 3 metres.  Usually when someone tried to steal a gnome, we would get up in the morning to find him tilted on his side or lying prone, and Dad would enlist the help of a few neighbors to help get him upright again.  Everyone in town knew the house with the gnomes.

Occasionally Dad would repaint them, in bright red and blue for their jackets, leggings and hats, with silver for the fish each gnome held.  One of them had the tip of his hat broken off during a particularly enthusiastic gnome-nappng attempt.  Dad found the broken bit and glued it back on.  Those gnomes were a part of my childhood.

In my new home (I've been there two years this week!) my gnome now lives in the back yard.  On a little platform surrounded by small white stones and edged with a double row of creamy yellow bricks, he has pride of place and I see him every morning from my kitchen table as I have breakfast.  And every time I smile and think of my father, so determined that NO ONE was going to kidnap one of HIS gnomes.

Location, Location, Location

The importance of location is drilled into us from the beginning of our genealogy research. We need to know where our ancestors lived. Census records and electoral rolls are based on location. Land records are very much based on location. Sometimes, however, we need to forget which side of the county, shire or state line our ancestor lived on.

Consider two towns only a few miles from one another but in different counties of England. There’s flat land between them - no major rivers, no mountains, so it’s easy to get from one to the other.

One ancestor of mine who lived in Fordham, Essex, clearly had contact with nearby Bures, Suffolk.  It’s in another county, but is less than 4 miles distant. Maybe he sold his grain at Bures, or went to market there or attended meetings – somehow he got to know the people there.  It is where his wife was born.
 

We need to know where our ancestors lived. But we also need to take a look around and see if there are other places where he or she could have interacted with others — places where he or she could have created more records. Our ancestors didn’t necessarily stay within the lines for all of their activities.