Week 17 (Apr. 22-28): War

Russell Nicholas Clark, WW2

The prompt for Week 17 is War, and as the world watches the devastation of war in Ukraine and in Israel ans Palestine, the tragic reality of war is right in front of our eyes.  Living in Australia, so relatively isolated and seeing so little major conflict strike our shores, it truly hits home how fortunate we have been.

 

My family was extremely lucky, in both world wars and other conflicts, to have most of those who served not only come home, but come home fairly unscathed.  One second cousin was killed in France in World War 1 ; one uncle died in the Merchant Navy in World War 2.  All the other relatives who served – my father, uncles and great-uncles and more recently several cousins - returned safely to their loved ones.  While they all had to live with the memories of the conflicts, they were mostly uninjured by their experiences and able to rebuild their civilian lives. 

Leonard Clark, WW2

 

So many others were not so fortunate.  Numerous Australian families endured the loss of loved ones on foreign soil, or the return of family members forever scarred by their service.  So many who returned faced a lifetime of ruined health or years of recovery and rehabilitation.  My family has been lucky indeed.

 

ANZAC has very much become a part of our national vocabulary.  Many of the people who lived though that campaign were ordinary volunteers, just as Australia’s current veterans were ordinary volunteers.  They put their daily lives on hold to serve and protect us all, most with very little clear idea of just what they were volunteering for.  Even as a young child I was taught the significance of ANZAC Day, attended services, and spent my pocket money on ANZAC Day badges, many of which I still have in a container at home, which I still add to annually.

Ernest Green, WW2 postcard from Egypt

Through the National Archives of Australia I have downloaded several family WW1 records and ordered those from WW2 -  the NAA has indexed and digitised Boer War and World War 1 dossiers, which you can search and view online for free. World War II dossiers have been indexed but will only be digitised if a family member has requested it.  Other websites include Discovering Anzacs Whichallows you to add your stories and images, and the Australian War Memorial, which has databases like the WW1 Embarkation Rolls and WW1 Red Cross files.  Researching  newspaper reports in Trove has also been a gold mine, with news of enlistments, farewells, news from the front, even a few letters home were published in local papers.

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’s it going, genealogy-wise?!
• RootsTech roundup 2024
• Mapping the Development of a Place Through Time
• How Should We Deal With Our family secrets?
• Family History of the AI Era
• Bogus Coats of Arms
• Pull -out & keep bow-tie chart
• DNA TEST comparison guide
• The Ulster Historical Foundation
• Stranger than Fiction : you can’t believe everything you read in the papers
• Photo corner
• Your Questions Answered
• Diary Dates
• Your letters 
• And more...

 

Week 16 (Apr. 15-21): Step

The prompt for Week 16 is Step, and it brings to mind the complexity of step families.

Family relationships are not always straightforward.  Especially in small communities, people could be connected in multiple ways, with several intermarriages within the local families.  In my own more recent  tree, I have an aunt and a great aunt who married brothers.  This made the two women not only aunt and niece, but also sisters-in-law.

While years ago divorce and subsequent remarriage was not as common as it is today, often the loss of a spouse resulted in the remarriage of the surviving partner, often for economic necessity.  A widowed woman, especially one with young children, needed the income of a husband as there were few opportunities for women to earn an independent living.  Similarly, a man whose wife has died, perhaps in childbirth, would often remarry quickly in order for his children to have a mother to care for them while he worked.  Given the higher mortality rates of women in childbirth, I have several men who married multiple times, having children with 2 or more different wives.  While this happened with women also, in my own tree at least it is not so common.

Probably the most complex Step relationship I have is that of Thomas May, my 3xGreat Grandfather.  Thomas married a total of 4 times, losing his first three wives in childbirth.  Each time, he remarried within a year of his spouse's death.  It is his 4th wife, Susannah Balls (nee Hart), where the relationships become truly convoluted.  Susannah's daughter (also Susannah) was married to Thomas's second son William.  So Thomas became not only father-in-law but also step-father to Susannah Jr, and his new wife Susannah became mother-in-law and step-mother to William.

Complex Step-families indeed!

Week 15 (Apr. 8-14): School Days

Education for their children was always a priority for my parents.  Neither of them were able to pursue their own educational opportunities, so both were determined their daughters would have the best education possible and establish good careers.

Reading to each other was always something we simply just did in our household.  Stories on a lazy Sunday morning, a book under our pillows at night to read quietly if we woke up early, regular visits to the local library, all were treasured parts of my childhood.

School was taken seriously and my parents regularly attended parent/teacher nights, attended school events and helped out where they could.  Time and space was devoted to homework and study.  The school community was a big part of our lives.

Both my parents left school for economic reasons.  My mother finished her education a few weeks short of her Year 9 Matriculation when her father’s health deteriorated and she had to find work to help keep the family afloat.  My father similarly had his school days cut short in order to start earning a living and help out the family.  Storied of their school days were few.

Cleaning out the family home after my parents passed away gave me new insights into their school days.  Tucked away on an old shoebox in the linen cupboard, I found a box of photos and papers which included all my mother’s school grade photos.  Dated 1935, I found an old school certificate of my father’s for coming second in a relay race.  A photo of my father and some of his siblings in the pony trap driving themselves to school was also in the box.  Precious memories of my parents’ distant school days.

#52Ancestors

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: 

• Parish registers online Discover where to find parish registers for every region of the UK
• Agricultural shows How agricultural show records can help you find your ancestors
• Reader story My ancestors survived a massacre by Border Reivers
• Victorian crime and punishment What happened to criminal ancestors in the 19th century?
• Surnames Trace the history of your family name online
• Devonshire ancestry How to trace your family history in the county
• And more...
  

 

Week 14 (Apr. 1-7): Favorite Recipe

I have commented before on the family recipe book, primarily created by my sister.  One of the more fun jobs while we were cleaning out the family home was emptying out Mum's recipe drawer.  While the drawer contained a few proper cooking books, and some complete magazines, it was primarily a combination of loose snippets torn or photocopied from old magazines and books, and hand-written recipes from who-knows-where.  Many had notes written on them - things like substitutions of ingredients and notes on who particularly liked the dish.  There were also a number of recipes written out by others and given to Mum - by several different friends and relatives, judging by the assorted handwriting.  She even had a little A5 folder with hand-written favourites stored inside.

Included in that recipe drawer were the details of so many dishes we remembered from our childhoods - some with fondness and some with a shudder!  My sister and I spent an entire afternoon sorting through these scraps of paper, reading them out to each other and sharing our memories.  Yes, there really WAS a recipe for Dixon Street Chicken!  Do you remember Mum's spaghetti and mince casserole?  We also covered a few memorable kitchen disasters, like the time I set fire to the kitchen cooking toast - the pop-up toaster didn't pop and I had stuck my nose in a book, and didn't notice the flames climbing up the kitchen wall.  I have since been forbidden to touch printed material while cooking.  Then there was the time Dad put some eggs on to boil and got distracted by an unfinished project in the garden.  By the time he came inside the pot had long boiled dry and almost burned through the bottom - who knew exploding eggs could travel so far?

Food, cooking and mealtimes are such an important part of our families, and so often discounted.  What was your favourite home-cooked meal as a child?  Do you have the recipe, and do you ever cook it for yourself as an adult??  Do you remember any cooking disasters - either your own or that of another family member?  Having them written down with all our memories and stories attached to each recipe is something I treasure, and such a simple thing to create.  If you a looking for a Family History project, maybe a family recipe book is something to consider.

 

#52Ancestors  

Really Useful Podcast Series 3, Episode 3

Episode 3 of the new series of the Really Useful Podcast is out now! The episode discusses the historical migration of people within Britain, including the kind of movements you might find in your family tree, and how we can research migrating ancestors.

 
The episode is described on the web page :

"People in the past moved about a lot more than we might think. In this episode our guests discuss the historical migration of people within Britain, including the kind of movements you might find in your family tree, what this can tell us and how we can research migrating ancestors.

Joe is joined by Janet Few, historical researcher, writer, speaker and President of the Family History Federation;  Jane Hough, amateur genealogist and blogger and Gill Thomas, professional family historian specialising in Welsh records and chair of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives."