Military Diaries go online at Ancestry

Ancestry has just released the first section of their new collection of World War II War Diaries.

This initial collection covers the period covering The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942).  Further collection will be released in the future.

Remember Campaspe Library offers access to Ancestry Library Edition free in any of our library branches via our public computers or on your own device via our public wifi.

Ancestry's website offers the following information about this collection :

General collection information

This collection includes military diaries kept during the Second World War. The diaries were produced for units of the British Army, the Indian Army, dominion forces under British command from Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and India, and allied and colonial troops under British command.

Diaries were kept by units at all levels, from battalions to entire military branches. The format of the diaries vary, but generally include regular entries that provide information about the activities of a unit. Some diaries offer more narrative detail than others. Notes about new instructions and troop movements, assessments of troop strength, and requests for reinforcements are common diary entry topics.

Using this collection

Records in this collection may include the following information:

Commanding officer's name and rank

Regiment or unit

Division

Diary entry date

Diary entry location

This collection can be used to learn about the activities of the military unit your ancestor served in during the Second World War.

Collection in context

The diaries were created by unit commanders and military staff. The original diaries are housed at the National Archives.

Millions of men and women from across the British Empire served in the armed forces during World War II. Almost 384,000 soldiers from the United Kingdom were killed in battle, while combat deaths for Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa totaled 196,000.

Really Useful Podcasts Season 2

The Family History Federation has now launched Season 2, Episode 1 of its new series of Really Useful Podcasts. 

 

This episode focuses on Beginning your Family History.  The website describes it :

"Every family historian has a story about how they got into family history. We share our experiences of starting out with this great hobby and share tips for others who are just beginning.

Joe is joined by Mish Holman, professional genealogist who is particularly interested in theatre ancestors and census enumerators https://www.familyhistorygifts.co.uk/, Kelly Cornwell, professional family historian, blogger and speaker https://whoamifamilytreeresearch.co.uk, Jane Hough, amateur genealogist and blogger https://www.allthosebefore.org.uk/ and Andrew Martin, family historian, author, digital archivist and host of The Family Histories Podcast https://li.sten.to/familyhistoriespodcast https://www.familytreeuk.co.uk/

Family History Federation: www.familyhistoryfederation.com"

I greatly enjoyed last season and am very happy to discover a new series has begun.  While this episode is directed at beginners, there is always more to learn and even as an experienced researcher I find there is always more to learn and sometimes going back to the basics can be useful,

#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.

Who Do You Think You Are 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

• Photo colourisation The best apps for colourising black and white photos
• Reader story Jennie Long reunited two families a century after tragedy brought them together
• Irish census substitutes How to trace Irish ancestors
• Time for tea The social history of tea
• Marriage and money Alan Crosby recalls a time when love was a minor factor in upper-class engagements
  
• Plus: The best websites for researching criminal ancestors, using genealogical journals, write your family history using Biisco and more

#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.