From the Archives - Clearing out the Family Home

A few years ago I posted about my experience of my sister and I cleaning out the family home after the deaths of our parents - our father in 2013 and mother in 2015 - and the importance of knowing the stories behind the many treasures tucked away in cupboards and drawers, or out in the shed.

Cleaning out the house, we came across treasures in every corner.  A hand tinted photo of my mother as a child, a box of slides and negatives from early in our parents' marriage, a small garnet brooch that belonged to my great grandmother, a bronze alligator nutcracker made by my grandfather, and so much more. 

Having already sorted the contents of the house, if was time to face the shed.  And not just any shed, but a SHED!  3 car garage with a workshop the same size behind, with another smaller shed at the rear, our shed is bigger than many a house. 

Full to the brim with the accumulation of over 40 years in the same house, packed even further when I moved home to care for our aging parents, it was a substantial undertaking.  Amidst all the junk - unfinished knitting and sewing projects, chipped crockery, non-working electrical appliances, old light fittings, etc - we found yet more treasures!  Baby cards received when each of us were born, old photos we had never seen, travel journals kept by our mother on long-ago trips, letters written by our father just before our parents' marriage, so many things!  An emotional journey, several times we found ourselves wishing so much that our parents were still with us so we could ask all the questions the items we found created for us.  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.

What items do you have tucked away in odd corners, rarely taken out and dusted off??  When was the last time you had a sort-through of that cupboard, closet or shed where you put all those things you never use but cannot part with??  Do your children or grandchildren know the stories behind those treasures you have stored away??  If they don't, chances are they will dismiss those items as junk and they will be lost.  If your children don't know the story behind Great Aunt Mary's tea set - or even that the tea set in the shed was Great Aunt Mary's and not something you picked up on a whim at a jumble sale - then they will have no reason to keep it, value it, and ultimately pass it - and its story - on to another generation.

WDYTYA Magazine

The latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.

Inside this month's issue

• Find London ancestors The best websites for tracing your family tree in the capital

• Old postcards Helen Baggott reveals how she traces the stories behind her collection of old postcards

• Sex in the 1940s Jad Adams spills the beans on a little-known survey that reveals what our ancestors got up to between the sheets

• Reader story Michael Wrigglesworth reveals the tragic tale of his forgotten great uncle

• Best websites Where to start with nonconformist family history

• Plus: Tracing teachers, brickmakers and canal boat families

 

Family Tree Uk Magazine Nov 2021

The latest issue of Family Tree UK magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.

Inside this month's issue 

• CWGC to care for British Normandy Memorial
• See Britain through the eyes of your Ancestors
  
• New appointments at AGRA
• New study sees a surge of Brits return to handwriting
• The future of Family History Societies
  
• WYAS create onine medicine exhibition
  
• 1.6M Poor Law records for Middlesex, England, added to FamilySearch
• Add contect and colour to your Census finds
  
• MyHeritage reach 15 billion milestone with two new collections
• New records available for the ‘queen of the suburbs’
• Alcohol insanity
  
• Irish land records
  
• Starting out on your family tree
  
• Riboldi Riddles
  
• Soldiers discharged as 'lunatics'
  
• Seeking that incontrovertible link…

Trove Treasures - Death and Funerals

Over the years I have found a number of fascinating articles and notices on Trove, the Australian newspaper archive created in collaboration between the National Library of Australia and hundreds of partner organisations around Australia.

Death notices, funeral notices and obituaries are among the many useful offerings in the newspaper archive, and whenever I am lucky enough to find such notices they prove a wonderful addition to my records.  Of course not everyone who died had such notices in the papers.  Families had to pay for them, and for many it was beyond their means.  It is always worth checking, however, to see what might be available.

When my great grandfather James Nicholas Clark passed away in 1924 there were two death notices inserted in the newspaper - one from his family and one from the Masonic Lodge of which he was a member.  Had it not been for this Masonic notice, I would never have known that James was a FreeMason.  It is also worth noting the spelling error - the heading of the Masonic notice has CLARG, not CLARK.  The family notice also gives me his occupation - Overseer at Brighton City Council, and both notices give his address and the cemetery in which his grave is located

The 1889 death notice of my ancestor William Pummeroy also gives some valuable information about his life.  The first of the Pummeroy family to migrate to Australia, his death notice not only names the surviving children but notes how long he has resided in the Colony.  Note the daughters are only listed by their married names - only the unmarried daughter Jessie has her first name listed.

My Great-Uncle Alfred Edward Beseler, who died in 1954, had an obituary written in his local newspaper, adding some lovely detail to his life as a local photographer.  Knowing he had an office for his photography sends me looking for building records and rate notices, and knowing his profession in the area had me scouring local newspapers for events he attended and advertising for his business.

So have a look on Trove for what the historic newspapers have for you, and see what details they can provide.  You won't always be lucky, but there may well be unexpected gems of information you can glean.

New and Updated Records on Ancestry

It is always worthwhile checking to see what new records have been added to the database at Ancestry, as well as which record categories have been updated to include new information.  This may mean there is new data waiting for me to find, so I like to check back every few months at least.  Below are some of the recent additions for the United Kingdom and Australia.

New records for the United Kingdom include :

New records for Australia include :

Really Useful Podcast

The Family History Federation has just launched 'The Really Useful Podcast', a new series of Family History podcasts set to cover a range of topics and feature expert guests. 

Episode 1 is now live and focuses on Occupations.  The website  describes it -
"In this episode of the Really Useful Podcast, Joe Saunders is joined by Mish Holman, professional genealogist who is particularly interested in theatre ancestors and census enumerators, Mike Esbester, academic historian and co-lead on the Railway Work Life and Death Project and Judith Batchelor, professional genealogist, writer and tutor at IHGS.

Work affected our ancestors and shaped their fortunes. Occupational records can be used to research your family history and give a fuller picture of their lives. Among other things our speakers touch upon the need to think about women’s work, what drew people to certain occupations and offer some top tips for researching."

FamilySearch Completes Microfilm Digitization

Today FamilySearch International announced the completion of a massive project to digitize its collection of millions of rolls of microfilm containing billions of family history records from around the world. The archive containing information on more than 11.5 billion individuals is now freely available to the public on FamilySearch.org.

"We hope that all those who contributed to this milestone in the last 80 years feel a sense of humble accomplishment today,” said Steve Rockwood, the CEO of FamilySearch International. “And we hope the millions of individuals who will discover, gather, and connect generation upon generation of their family members for years to come because of these efforts will have a deep sense of gratitude for the many unheralded contributors who made those discoveries possible."

“It's a game-changer for everybody in the world. So, instead of having to come to the library, people can start accessing these records from home,” said Becky Adamson, a research consultant at the FamilySearch Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Over 200 countries and principalities and more than 100 languages are represented in the digitized documents. Completion of the project makes it much easier for individuals to make more personal and family discoveries.

To explore FamilySearch’s free collections of indexed records and images, go to FamilySearch.org and search both “Records” and “Images”. The Images feature enables users to peruse digitized images from the microfilm collection and more. A free FamilySearch account will be required to access the service.

So take a look at the new information available on this wonderful free database and see what it can add to your family history research.