Below are the sessions we are offering at our library branches across the Shire.
Thursday, July 5, 2018
National Family History Month
August is National Family History Month and once again Campaspe
Regional Library will be offering a number of talks throughout the
month. Bookings are now open on our homepage, or the check out all the wonderful offerings around the country check out the National Family History Month website.
Below are the sessions we are offering at our library branches across the Shire.
Below are the sessions we are offering at our library branches across the Shire.
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
WDYTYA Magazine
The
latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are magazine is now available to
download and read electronically free via RB Digital for our Campaspe
Library members.
Inside this month's issue
Inside this month's issue- FamilySearch
Sharon Hintze reveals how you can discover your ancestors for free on the world's biggest family history website - Series 15 preview
Jonathan Wright gets an exclusive behind-the-scenes glimpse of the must-see latest series of Who Do You Think You Are? - Uncover your Irish family
Nicola Morris, Irish expert on Who Do You Think You Are?, shows how to trace your forebears in Ireland - Pleasure boating
Caroline Roope explains why our Victorian ancestors loved to spend their summers on the water - Beach photographs
Jayne Shrimpton gives her top tips for dating your family's holiday snaps - Plus...
The best websites for tracing Boer War soldiers; using DNA Painter; the lives of ancestors who worked as paper-makers, and much more...
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Week 24 - Father's Day - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 24 is Father's Day, and like Mother's Day in Week 19, it was a special day in the family calendar.
Father's Day was probably less stressful for Dad than Mother's Day was for my mother, as it didn't involve children invading his domain and creating a mess. Like Mother's Day, Father's Day involved a special breakfast followed by handmade cards and handmade gifts, after which Dad usually disappeared into his shed and his garden. As my sister and I grew older the gifts generally improved, although Dad always insisted that he didn't want a fuss, didn't want presents, didn't need anything and we weren't to waste our money. We always made a fuss, however, and I think Dad looked forward to his special day each year.
Even after we left home, we always acknowledged Father's Day and tried to make it home whenever we could. Father's Day when we couldn't make it back was somewhat problematic, as Dad was profoundly deaf and virtually never used the telephone, so it was generally up to Mum to relay messages and pass on our thanks and good wishes.
Gifts for Dad were often practical - knitted gloves and beanies, books and magazines, plants and goodies for his garden. Usually a cake was made at home (with Mum's help until we grew older) and iced and decorated with much more enthusiasm than skill. It was still a chance to say thanks to Dad, for whom family was the most important thing in his life, and acknowledge how much he did for us.
Father's Day was probably less stressful for Dad than Mother's Day was for my mother, as it didn't involve children invading his domain and creating a mess. Like Mother's Day, Father's Day involved a special breakfast followed by handmade cards and handmade gifts, after which Dad usually disappeared into his shed and his garden. As my sister and I grew older the gifts generally improved, although Dad always insisted that he didn't want a fuss, didn't want presents, didn't need anything and we weren't to waste our money. We always made a fuss, however, and I think Dad looked forward to his special day each year.
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| The Green family c1974 |
Gifts for Dad were often practical - knitted gloves and beanies, books and magazines, plants and goodies for his garden. Usually a cake was made at home (with Mum's help until we grew older) and iced and decorated with much more enthusiasm than skill. It was still a chance to say thanks to Dad, for whom family was the most important thing in his life, and acknowledge how much he did for us.
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Week 23 - Going to the Chapel - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 23 - Going to the Chapel - immediately brings to mind the church my father's family regularly attended in Fordham, Essex.
Fordham All Saints church was build in approximately 1340 and restored in 1861. In 1965 it was designated a Grade 1 listed building. It was my father's family church for many generations and their home was only a few minute's walk away.
As in many small villages, the Church was at the centre of village life. Many of the records I have for my family centre around the church - baptisms, weddings, funerals, Sunday School, fundraising and poor relief - and several such events were not only to be found in the church records but also reported in local newspapers, such as the funeral above.
It is wonderful that the old church still stands and is used today by new generations, and I hope one day to make the journey back to England and visit it myself.
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| Old postcard featuring Fordham Church |
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| Chelmsford Chronicle, Friday 1 Jan 1904 |
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| Fordham Church - several of the old headstones belong to my Green family |
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Week 22 - So Far Away - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
The prompt for Week 22 is "So Far Away", and it makes me think of how brave some of my ancestors were to leave their homes and move to the other side of the world to Australia. The were so far away from everything familiar - family and friends, the locale and society they were used to. Everything would be strange to them - the weather, the landscape, the plants and animals, in some cases even the language would be different. Who would find it most difficult - those how came alone, or those who came with a family group? Each would face different challenges. Those who came out to Australia alone faced extra loneliness and isolation, while those who came with family had the additional responsibility of dependents to look after. How brave - or how desperate - must parents have been to pack up their children and head off into the unknown?
I have had several ancestors make the decision to emigrate to Australia. Several came from England, the most recent being my father's parents who arrived in Victoria in 1907 on the ship 'Essex'. Ancestors on my mother's side arrived in Australia earlier, and came from England, Ireland and Germany.
One ancestor, Alexander Davis, emigrated from England with his wife Margaret and their 5 children. Alexander and Margaret (nee Farmer) had married in 1843 and ten years later they chose to make the journey to the colony. Tragically, Margaret died at sea during the voyage giving birth to twins. Neither twin survived, and Alexander found himself in the colony of Victoria, sole parent to five children, all under 10 years old. Home and family must have seemed very far away indeed, but Alexander and his children built new lives for themselves and thrived in Victoria.
Another ancestor Friedrich Beseler was born in Germany in 1810, and married Susetta Farkins on July 17th 1838. They and their 5 children emigrated to South Australia in 1848 on the ship Pauline, spending a few years near Adelaide before traveling overland to Ercildown in Victoria. Friedrich, known as Frederick in Australia, was a shoemaker by profession, but the family settled on the land and farmed. Friedrich died December 11th 1862, just 2 years after his wife Susetta, who died September 29th 1860. Their eldest son Edward (born 1837 in Germany) married Emma Flower in Victoria in 1865, and they raised 9 children before Edward died December 7th 1918 in Ararat. For this family the decision to settle in Australia would not only mean traveling to the other side of the world but also learning a new language as well as a new way of life.
'So far away' indeed.
I have had several ancestors make the decision to emigrate to Australia. Several came from England, the most recent being my father's parents who arrived in Victoria in 1907 on the ship 'Essex'. Ancestors on my mother's side arrived in Australia earlier, and came from England, Ireland and Germany.
One ancestor, Alexander Davis, emigrated from England with his wife Margaret and their 5 children. Alexander and Margaret (nee Farmer) had married in 1843 and ten years later they chose to make the journey to the colony. Tragically, Margaret died at sea during the voyage giving birth to twins. Neither twin survived, and Alexander found himself in the colony of Victoria, sole parent to five children, all under 10 years old. Home and family must have seemed very far away indeed, but Alexander and his children built new lives for themselves and thrived in Victoria.
Another ancestor Friedrich Beseler was born in Germany in 1810, and married Susetta Farkins on July 17th 1838. They and their 5 children emigrated to South Australia in 1848 on the ship Pauline, spending a few years near Adelaide before traveling overland to Ercildown in Victoria. Friedrich, known as Frederick in Australia, was a shoemaker by profession, but the family settled on the land and farmed. Friedrich died December 11th 1862, just 2 years after his wife Susetta, who died September 29th 1860. Their eldest son Edward (born 1837 in Germany) married Emma Flower in Victoria in 1865, and they raised 9 children before Edward died December 7th 1918 in Ararat. For this family the decision to settle in Australia would not only mean traveling to the other side of the world but also learning a new language as well as a new way of life.
'So far away' indeed.
Friday, June 15, 2018
Week 21 - Military - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 21 has the theme of Military, and I have a number of military records from my family. My father, several uncles, great uncles, cousins once and twice removed, and other various family members served in the two World Wars, and we were incredibly lucky to have the majority of them return. In fact, with the exception a second cousin once removed, all those who fought in the war, on both my mother's and father's sides of the family, returned home. Our only immediate loss was my mother's middle brother, James Pummeroy, who died in 1947 in Argentina, while serving in the Merchant Navy. Clearly in our family, you were safer on the front lines!
James Pummeroy was born 6th July 1927 and was killed in Argentina 5th October 1947, technically after the war was over, when he fell between his ship and the wharf and was drowned. The ship was in Argentina to pick up a load of horses to transport to Poland as part of the rebuilding of Europe.
While my grandmother would very rarely talk about his loss, my mother, who was only 5 years old when her brother died, could remember the arrival of the telegram informing the family of his death. Although the family had very little money, my grandparents spent several years sending money overseas to pay for the grave plot where he was buried, although I do not know if the grave still survives. Although all the family were Anglican, James was buried in a Catholic cemetery, and the Argentinian priest who officiated sent the family a set of black and white photographs of the funeral, complete with black hearse drawn by four black horses with large feathered plumes.
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| James Pummeroy, last photo taken before his death. |
James Pummeroy was born 6th July 1927 and was killed in Argentina 5th October 1947, technically after the war was over, when he fell between his ship and the wharf and was drowned. The ship was in Argentina to pick up a load of horses to transport to Poland as part of the rebuilding of Europe.
While my grandmother would very rarely talk about his loss, my mother, who was only 5 years old when her brother died, could remember the arrival of the telegram informing the family of his death. Although the family had very little money, my grandparents spent several years sending money overseas to pay for the grave plot where he was buried, although I do not know if the grave still survives. Although all the family were Anglican, James was buried in a Catholic cemetery, and the Argentinian priest who officiated sent the family a set of black and white photographs of the funeral, complete with black hearse drawn by four black horses with large feathered plumes.
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
WDYTYA Magazine
The latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are magazine is now available to download and read electronically free via RB Digital for our Campaspe Library members.
Inside this month's issue :
Inside this month's issue :
- Parish registers
Jonathan Scott reveals how to track down digitised parish registers across the British Isles - Ruled by the Reich
Duncan Barrett shares Channel Islanders' remarkable memories of five years under German occupation - Future of UK archives
Rosemary Collins investigates the unprecedented challenges facing local archives, from spending cuts to new technology - Reader story
Jan Saunders celebrates her gran's work as a Red Cross nurse in WW1 - Suffrage ancestors
Nell Darby reveals her top tips for tracing your suffragette and suffragist ancestors, like Michelle Keegan - Plus...
The best websites for tracing American ancestors; the history of school exams; the lives of ancestors who worked as lady's maids, and much more...
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