Family Histories Podcast Series 4

 Series 4 of the Family Histories Podcast is now up to episode 4, featuring Canadian professional genealogist and author, Janice Nickerson. 

Find out how she got started in genealogy, as well as her love for researching Upper Canada, the value of court records, challenges with researching her First Nations ancestors, and her ideas on how to get non-genealogists, including children, interested in your research.

For her 'Life Story' Janice has chosen her Great Grandmother, Emma Bell Chant (née Aylesworth), who was born in Newburgh, Ontario in 1873.  Whilst Janice had heard that Emma was quite a formidable and stern woman, when an aunt loaned Janice a box of consecutive letters from Emma to one of her sons spanning the period of 1918 to 1924, she discovered a whole new side to her – one of warmth, humour, and motherly advice.

For her 'Brick Wall' Janice focuses on her Grandfather, John George Carter was born in 1900 in Canada, and he is said to have become a semi-professional hockey player. After being injured during a match in the USA, John went missing for a few weeks, turning up a long way away (perhaps Florida) with some sort of amnesia or concussion – not knowing where he had been. His hockey career ended after this, with an ultimatum of ‘it’s hockey or me’ from his girlfriend, who subsequently became his wife and Janice’s Grandmother.

#52Ancestors - Week 47 - Wrong Side of the Law

Every family has them.  The black sheep.  The troublemakers.  The ones who found themselves on the wrong side of the law.  

Not all the crimes committed by our ancestors were major.  Many who were convicted of crimes were guilty of minor offences and acts of desperation.  Finding an ancestor who ended up on the wrong side of the law is something we will all face sooner or later in our research - there are no perfect families.

Often when an ancestor was found to have committed an offence, newspapers are our first source of information.  Court sessions were frequently reported in local newspapers, sometimes providing a simple summary of the cases heard and sometimes reporting in great detail.

The above article, from 22 September 1863, reports William Mothersole and James Cocksedge (who were both direct ancestors of mine) being fined for being drunk and disorderly, and reports in detail their actions and the fine they received.

On 18 July 1838, my ancestor Deborah Wordley was sentenced to 14 days goal for theft.  As far as I can discover this was her only offence and she does not appear in the newspapers again.

Court reports and newspaper articles may also name an ancestor who was the victim of a crime or who gave evidence in a court case.  While these people are not on the wrong side of the law, it is still a fascinating insight into the lives of our ancestors, seeing the impact of the wrongdoing of others has upon them.

My ancestor Daniel Green on 1 November 1777 offered a reward of two guineas for the return of the horse, with five guineas if the horse was stolen and the thief apprehended.

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 

• Scotland's 1921 census Myko Clelland reveals everything we can look forward to in the imminent release of the 1921 Scottish census
• Heirloom hunters Jo Thompson explains how genealogists like her reunite lost items with descendants of the original owners
• WW2 Christmas How our ancestors celebrated the festive season during the Blitz
• Reader story Bobbie Adams' relative was a real-life Peaky Blinder
• Plus: The best websites for researching clergy, finding burial records, creating a family photo book on Canva and more

 

#52Ancestors - Week 46 - Tombstones

Tombstones and memorial plaques can be a hugely exciting find for any genealogist, and many cemeteries today have websites where researchers can locate burial details, headstone and memorial transcriptions and even photographs of the headstones and memorials themselves.

Finding the grave of an ancestor and obtaining a photo of the tombstone can provide an extremely varied amount of information.  Some tombstones are a virtual essay of information, like the memorial plaque below for the Pike family of Gedding Mill.  It not only gives names and dates of both parents but also details of all their children, including a son killed in action in WW1.

 

Other headstones are less helpful, with scant details and weathered, unreadable script.  The grave below has no headstone as such, with the surname 'Pummeroy' simply inscribed on the border of the grave.

 

 

Sometimes one tombstone contains details of several burials, either covering a family plot or multiple burials in a single grave.  The tombstone below details several burials in a family plot, including David and Jane Mulholland and three of their children who died as children : Henry aged 4 years 8 months, Margaret aged 6 years 4 months and Thomas aged 1 year 2 months.

 

Amongst my family photos I have a number of tombstones and memorial plaques, many of which I have obtained online from cemetery sites in areas I have not been able to visit in person.  These are a huge boon for a genealogist who is mostly researching overseas with limited opportunities to travel, and it is always exciting to find another cemetery record available.

 

Family Tree UK Magazine

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 :  

• Ancestry publish 1 million Scottish records
• FindMyPast announce unlimited access to 1921 Census of England and Wales with a new subscription
• Women’s Land Army index cards go online
• Explore Your Archive Week is back from 28 November to 6 December
• Registration now open for RootsTech 2023
• The Family History Show, London took place at its new venue of Kempton Park Racecourse
• Awaiting the 1921 SCOTTISH CENSUS
• Paul Chiddicks rounds up this year’s Dear Paul column
• PhotoGenealogy step 5 : Your photo legacy
  
• Two records are better than one
  
• My Grandfather's WW2 years explained
  
• Interests and popular culture between the wars

#52Ancestors - Week 45 - Ghost Story

The prompt for Week 45 is ghost story, and strangely enough, amongst all the family stories I have collected over the years, I don't have a good ghost story.  It is something I had never realized until I started on this post and went looking through my notebooks and found nothing.

Many families have a good ghost story.  Tales of hauntings, of seeing a relative miles away at the time of their death, of items being moved around, of sounds and sightings that cannot be explained.  No, none.

Maybe I never asked the right questions.  Maybe those with ghost stories were not willing to share them with me.  Maybe in my extremely practical and earthy family ghost stories were simply not a topic of conversation.  Even as a child a cannot remember sitting around of an evening telling ghost stories.  Being Australian, Halloween has never been the major event it is in many other countries and during my childhood there was no Halloween decorating or trick-or-treating much in this country.

For whatever reason, I am lacking in a good ghost story in my family.  For any relatives reading this, if you have a good ghost story please forward it to me.  Living relatives only need apply.

Remembrance Day 2022

Remembrance Day, once known as Armistice Day, is one of our most important commemorative dates. On 11 November 1918, the guns on the Western Front fell silent, and the armistice with Germany to end the fighting on land, in the air and at sea was signed.

Each year on 11 November we pause as a nation at 11am for one minute of silence to honour all those who have suffered and lost their lives during wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.

A wonderful resource for hosts of a Remembrance Day service, or those commemorating at home, is available from the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Through their ANZAC Portal, they have a free Remembrance Day Kitbag.  It includes the order of service, music, making a speech, the Ode of Remembrance, a brief history, suggestions for a personal commemoration, guidelines to making a paper poppy, and more.

This year, after two years in a row of Remembrance Day being impacted by Covid, my home town is still being impacted by a major flood which saw a number of army personnel deployed to the area to assist with sandbagging, evacuations and now with cleanup.  Their help through this natural disaster has been invaluable to the entire community.

So wherever you are at 11am this morning, take a minute to pause and remember those who have served to protect our freedoms.

Lest We Forget.