52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 26 - School Records

Shauna has chosen School Records for Week 26 of her 52 Weeks of Genealogy, which I have been following during the past year and will continue to follow in 2015.  A huge thank you goes to Shauna for creating this blog challenge - she had certainly prompted me to look more closely at some of the categories of records available and how I might use them better.
In her blog, Shauna tells us that "you can look for school admission or pupil registers and find out when ancestors went to school and where. If you have teachers in the family you can find out lots of biographical and career information on them. Finally when a new school was being established, the Education Department often did a survey of families to see which children might attend the school if it was established."
I have a few school records for my ancestors, including all my mother's school photos.  I have to admit this is not an area I have explored as thoroughly as I should - although I know a fair bit about my parents' schooling I haven't traced back further generations to find where they went to school. 
The photo below is of my father Peter Green, with older brother Les and younger sister Marjory on their way home from Bambill North Primary School, taken about 1935 or 36.  Dad would have been 9 years old, Les 11 and Marjory 7.

The children drove themselves to school from the farm where they lived and had to arrive early enough each day to care for their horse before the school day began.  For them and many other farm children, this was their only alternative to a long walk to and from school each day.
Click here to read Shauna's full blog post on School Records.

Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2014

 Jill Ball at Geniaus invited all we bloggers to look back on the year that was and reflect on the high points of our genealogy researching endeavours.  Anyone can take part in this activity by responding to the following statements/questions in a blog post. Jill asks us to write as much or as little as we want or just answer a few questions.
Once you have done so please share your post’s link in a comment on Jill’s original post or via email to Jillballau@gmail.com. Jill will then do a compilation of responses so that we can all share in and celebrate each other’s successes.  So here I go :

1.  An elusive ancestor I found was - Great Uncle Percy Pike.  I have been looking everywhere for him in England (his family all lived in Suffolk).  Why could I find no trace of him??  Because he emigrated to Canada!

2.  A precious family photo I found was - copies of some old postcards from the village in Essex where my father's father was born.

3.  An ancestor's grave I found was - Percy Pike's (see point 1).

4.  An important vital record I found was - I actually did quite well here, with a gift subscription to Essex Ancestors netting me a huge amount of Baptism, Marriage and Burial records (and exceeding my download limit TWICE in a month!).

5.  A newly found family member shared - didn't do so well here.  Second cousins twice removed - where are you all??

6.  A geneasurprise I received was - all the new information coming online.  I am constantly amazed by just how much is being transcribed, digitised, and put online.

7.   My 2014 blog post that I was particularly proud of was - all of them!!  Just keeping going was an achievement in itself.  A big thank you to those who read my blog - and who come into Echuca library to chat to me about it.

8.   My 2014 blog post that received a large number of hits or comments was - the timetable for my talks for Family History Month in August - and a huge thank you to all those who attended.  We all had a lot of fun and everyone's feedback was so positive.

9.  A new piece of software I mastered was - Windows 8.1 and all the associated changes to my computer.

10. A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was - Blogger!!  But of course.....

11. A genealogy conference/seminar/webinar from which I learnt something new was - the Unlock the Past February 2014 cruise.  I am cruising again - what a great combination of genealogy conference and holiday.

12. I am proud of the presentation I gave at/to - The group at Echuca Library in Family History Month (see point 8).

13. A journal/magazine article I had published was - Not yet!

14. I taught a friend how to - attach an image to her Ancestry family tree.

15. A genealogy book that taught me something new was - Tracing your Family History on the internet by Chris Paton.

16. A great repository/archive/library I visited was - State Library of Victoria.  I don't get there as often as I'd like, so when I do I come armed with a LIST!

17. A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was - my online subscription to Who Do You Think You Are magazine - no more waiting for it to ship from England - I receive it electronically the SAME DAY it is published over there.

18. It was exciting to finally meet - Jill Ball on the February Genealogy cruise - and everyone else I chatted to / shared a meal with / sat next to / shared stories with etc.

19. A geneadventure I enjoyed was - that cruise (really enjoyed it, you know).

20. Another positive I would like to share is - I was given a subscription to the British Newspaper Archive for Christmas (thanks Mum).  Fortunately the library is closed between Christmas and New Year.  Unfortunately I've exceeded my monthly internet download limit again...

Merry Christmas

A Merry Christmas and a happy, safe and ancestor-rich New Year to everyone out there in internet land.  2014 has been another big year in my genealogical life, and I hope it has been a productive year for you all as well.  May your 2015 be full of new records and brick wall breakthroughs.  Thank you to everyone who has been reading and commenting on this blog, your feedback online and in person helps keep me motivated and enthused.

Zepplin Raids, Gothas and "Giants"

The aim of the "Zepplin Raids, Gothas and Giants" website is to provide information on all of the air raids, on each of the 103 dates, when German airships or aeroplanes bombed Britain during World War One. Many of these raids bombed small villages rather than major cities as aerial navigation at this time was in its infancy. 
 

This website will continue to develop over the next couple of years until it eventually tells the complete story of Britain's First Blitz.  Were any of your ancestors near where bombs fell in World War One?  Check the website to find out.  A huge thanks to site creator Ian Castle for all his work.

 

New post-1858 wills service launches online

Family historians have a new route for accessing copies of their ancestors’ wills following the creation of a new web system.
The Probate Service has launched an online wills index for England and Wales, enabling people to search for any will dating from 1858-1996 and order a digital copy via their computer.  Searchable by name within specific years, the index links to a digitised version of the National Probate Calendar, showing all matching entries from the appropriate volume.  Once the correct person has been found – indicated by details such as address and court where the will was proved – researchers can then ‘click through’ and order a digital copy at a cost of £10 each. The document will then be made available as a download, generally within 10 working days.
Launched on Thursday 11 December, the new system is to act as a replacement for the Principal Probate Registry search room at the Royal Courts of Justice, which will permanently close on Friday 19 December.
While researchers can apply for wills by post or at district probate registries, the London facility has been the only place the complete National Probate Calendar can be accessed by the public. Although scans of Calendar volumes are available through Ancestry.co.uk – used by many when filling out a postal order form – this set only covers 1858-1966.
Thanks to Who Do You Think You Are Magazine for higlighting this new resource.

Irish Records coming online

The National Library of Ireland has announced that it will give free online access to its archive of Catholic Church records, the earliest of which dates back to the 1700s and spans the 1740s to the 1880s. The records are considered the single most important source of information on Irish family history prior to the 1901 Census. They cover 1,091 parishes throughout Ireland, and consist primarily of baptismal and marriage records.

Currently, the National Library provides free access to its microfiche records at its research rooms in Kildare Street, in Dublin. However access has been hampered in recent years by high demand and increased pressure on resources.
This is great news for those of us with Irish heritage, especially if you are like me and trying to trace ancestors from the other side of the world.

Forces War Records

Forces War Records has reached a new milestone in its latest transcription project. Launching with 30,000 records in November, the website has confirmed it has since uploaded a further 20,000 records to its Military Hospitals Admissions and Discharge Registers collection. The record set offers details of soldiers who received medical treatment on the front line during the First World War.
Each entry for a patient treated by the field ambulance includes:

• Name
• Rank
• Regiment and sub unit
• Age and completed years of service
• Completed months with field force
• Date of admission
• Date of discharge
• Injury / Illness
• Any additional observations by medical practioners
• Plus details of movement back to the front or to another hospital, or in some cases the soldier's death