New Titles on Trove

The titles below have recently been digitised and made available in Trove. Note that the year range listed for each title is an indication of what's currently available in Trove, and not always the full year range the item was published.

New Victorian Titles

• Benalla Standard (1932-1940) 
• Essendon and Flemington Chronicle (1882-1894)
• Essendon Gazette and Keilor, Bulla and Broadmeadows Reporter (1888-1900) 
• Essendon Gazette (1900-1905) 
• Essendon Gazette and Keilor, Bulla and Broadmeadows Reporter (1905-1913) 
• Gippsland Farmers' and Glengarry, Toongabbie and Cowwarr Journal (1923)  
• Hampden Guardian and Western Province Advertiser (1871-1872; 1874-1877) 
• Healesville Guardian and Yarra Glen Guardian (1900) 
• Journal: Glengarry, Toongabbie and Cowwarr journal (1923-1929)
• Lawloit Times (1910-1929)
• Ouyen Mail and Central Mallee Advertiser (1911-1913)
• Ouyen Mail (1919-1930)
• The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, Vic. : 1922 - 1954; 1956)
• Sunraysia Daily (1937-1942) 
• Western Press and Camperdown, Colac, Mortlake and Terang Representative (1866-1867; 1870)
• Yarrawonga Mercury and Lake Rowan, Tungamah and Mulwala News (1882) 
• Yarrawonga Mercury and Mulwala News (1882-1892, 1894-1897) 
• Yarrawonga Mercury and Southern Riverina Advertiser (1897-1905, 1920-1927)

Week 13 (Mar. 25-31): Worship

Religion has played a major role in the lives of our ancestors, and how they chose to worship had the potential to impact their lives in many different ways.  The church, faith and religion were central to the lives of so many, and had the potential to impact where people lived, how they earned a living, who they married, even whether they could own land or work in certain professions.

My 3xGreat grandparents Carl Friedrich (Frederick) and Susetta Beseler made the momentous decision to leave their homeland and emigrate to Australia.  Large numbers of Germans emigrated to Australia and the United States, mainly for economic and religious reasons. Many emigrants were of the Lutheran faith.

The Lutheran Church in Australia had begun in 1838 with the arrival of about 500 migrants from Prussia, led by their Pastor, August Kavel. They were sponsored personally by George Fife Angas of the South Australian Company, who had taken pity on their religious plight and the persecution they were facing in Prussia and other areas of the Germanic Federation.

In Essex, England, the Fordham All Saints church was originally built 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 short 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.

#52Ancestors 

Week 12 (Mar. 18-24): Technology

How wonderful is technology, and how fortunate are we to have so much knowledge and so many resources for family history at our fingertips?

As I am writing this post I am taking a break from watching presentations from the wonderful RootsTech conference.  While I was not able to attend in person, technology has made it possible for me to attend virtually, both on the days of the conference itself and then allowed me to continue to enjoy more sessions online in the days and weeks that followed.

Technology has also seen more and more data and records digitised and made available online, a boon to researchers worldwide.  While not everything is available this way, for people researching family from the other side of the world online records are a huge help in our research.

Covid-19 changed all our lives in so many ways.  Genealogically speaking, the biggest impact for me was the loss of face-to-face meetings.  I missed chatting face-to-face with Genea-mates and the networking and idea sharing that goes hand in hand with meetings and conferences.  Online meetings were just not the same.

Despite the down side of online meetings, however, the rise of virtual conferences has allowed me to attend inter-state and overseas meetings that I would never have been able to attend in reality.  The genealogical community has pulled together, made use of the internet like never before, and was huge part of providing so many of us isolated at home with interest, stimulation and contact.  Technology made it all possible.

#52Ancestors

The Family Histories Podcasts

The wonderful series of The Family Histories Podcast recently released an announcement that it has begun recording its seventh series, to be released later in the year.  The identities of the guests for this series have not yet been released, so we are still waiting to hear that areas will be discussed and which ancestor each guest will be exploring.

The release is below :

'The seventh series of The Family Histories Podcast has now entered production, with microphones having been switched on this week to record.

Host Andrew Martin returns for another seven episodes, with seven guests (we’ll reveal who, later), telling fascinating life stories, and pitching their annoying brick walls for us to solve.

He’s joined again by John Spike as missing Hungarian poet, revolutionary, and (shh: secret time machine) assistant, Sándor Petofi.

Series Seven is expected to arrive on all the usual podcast platforms during May 2024."

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 : 

• How to make the most of your genealogy time!
• Discovering DNA in landmark anniversary year
• A spring challenge for Chris Paton
• Create a biography of your ancestor in just a few clicks
• Halton, Runcorn and Widnes records now available on Deceased Online
• FindMyPast names new managing director
• Find your postal ancestors for free
• New appointments at Society of Genealogists
• Strathclyde Institute for Genealogical Studies is 1!
• Research Logs
• Bill Everley's war
• Educating a nation
• Researching 19th Century Merchant Seamen
• Preserving your family history photos after scanning
• The Tichborne Case
• Original Wills & the Ministry of Justice's Consultation
• Tracing Female Ancestors with Ancestry

Week 11 (Mar. 11-17): Achievement

The prompt ‘Achievement’ has started me thinking about all the various immigrant branches of my family have achieved in their new lives in Australia.

For whatever their reasons, my original Australian immigrant ancestors made a huge leap of faith to leave their homelands and travel to a distant country, most with little chance of returning if their new lives proved less than they hoped.

Some travelled singly, more in family groups, but for all it was a monumental decision.  In the colonial years of Australia, travel from Europe could take months, and for most visiting relatives ‘back home’ was out of the question.  They travelled in the knowledge they would likely never see those they left behind again. 

Communication was challenging as well.  My maternal ancestors all emigrated to Australia well before the telephone, so letters were the main form of communication, and it would take months for post to make its way across the globe.  Low literacy levels would also have complicated – or prevented – much communication.

My great grandfather, James Nicholas Clark, was born in 1856, just as the family emigrated to Australia.  The family first arrived in Port Sorrell, Tasmania, where the family lived for at least 12 years before they crossed Bass Strait and settled in Victoria.

I also have Irish ancestors who travelled singly to Australia in the 1840s, settling as farmers at Eurobin in northern Victoria.  They came out well before the potato famine to make new lives in the colony.

Then there is my German branch of the family tree.  Carl Friedrich Beseler, known in Australia as Frederick, was born around 1810 in Hanover, Germany.  He was a shoemaker in Germany and a farmer in Australia, arriving in Adelaide on 1 April 1848 with his wife and 5 children on the ship Pauline from Bremen, Germany.   The family lived in South Australia for 7 years before travelling overland to Victoria, where they settled near Ercildown.  Several members of the family are buried in Learmonth Cemetery. 

How brave were these people to make the leap into the unknown to travel to the other side of the world in search of better lives?  Establishing themselves and their families in their new homeland and building successful lives was an achievement indeed.

#52Ancestors

Family Tree US Magazine

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

Inside this month's issue :

• Ancestry.com Pro Tools
• Original UK Wills in Danger
• New Features at MyHeritage
• Re-Discovering Memories
• Sister, Sister
• Where should you “plant” your family tree?
• The Next Steps - DNA
• Kissing Cousins - history of cousin marriage
• Find Your U.S. Ancestors
• May the Road Rise to Meet You - Irish Genealogy Research.
• Where in the World?
• Estate Records
• Building a Family Tree at Geni
• Saving Hair Keepsakes
• Help Resources at the Big Genealogy Websites
• Y-DNA and Surnames
• Online FamilyTreeTracker
• ANCESTRYDNA