Trove Tuesday

Every month newly digitised items are made available in Trove thanks to hundreds of Trove Partners and the National Library of Australia.  Take a look at what has recently been digitised and made available in Trove below.

Diaries, letters and archives

Nineteenth Century handwritten diaries

A collection of diaries and papers written by migrants to Australia. These records provide insight into the voyage from the United Kingdom to Australia and life in the early years of the Australian colonies. They include:

• The journal of Emily Braine
• The journal of Claudius Beresford Cairnes
• The papers of Henry Whittingham
• The diary of Thomas Davies
• The papers of Mary Braidwood Mowle
  

Newspapers and gazettes

Note that the year range listed is an indication of what's currently available in Trove, and not always the full year range the newspaper was published.

NSW

• Maitland Mercury (1940-1955)
• Coolamon-Ganmain Farmers' Review (1919-1937)

VIC

• Sunraysia Daily (1942-1950)
• The Warrnambool Standard (1872-1879)
• The Footscray Advertiser (1884-1887)
• The Advertiser (1887-1913)

Magazines and Newsletters

• Buninyong & Mt. Helen community news (1977-1986)
• Buninyong and district community news (1986-2012)

Curious to see what's in the pipeline? You can also take a look at Trove's coming soon page. 

Really Useful Podcast Series 4

Series 4 of the Really Useful Podcast is now complete, with all 6 episodes now available online.  

This series of family history podcasts covers a range of topics and expert guests and is introduced by Joe Saunders.  Series 4 comprises 6 episodes :

• Episode 1 - Researching women 

• Episode 2 - Introduction to Archives 

• Episode 3 - Yorkshire ancestors 

• Episode 4 - Talks 

• Episode 5 - Sporting ancestors 

• Episode 6 - Beyond the 19th Century

The podcasts are part of the Explore Your Genealogy website, an educational website developed by the Family History Federation that relates to every aspect of tracing your family history from the very first steps to more complex research.

Its main objective is to promote the study and interest in family history (and associated disciplines including local and social history) in a free-to-access, easy-to-navigate website.

Week 47 (Nov. 18-Nov. 24): Random Number

I was a bit baffled about this week's prompt of 'Random Number' before it was suggested picking a random number between 1 and 100 and blogging about the corresponding person in my family tree.  So I asked a friend to pick a number for me, and it led me to John Thompson Argent, my paternal great great grandfather.

 

John Thompson Argent was born on 3 November 1819 in West Bergholt, Essex, England and baptised 10 December 1819 at St Mary's Church.  His father was also named John Thompson Argent, and his mother was Amy, nee Watts.

John became a corn miller like his father, and he married Emma Noble 29 October 1846 in the nearby city of Colchester.  Emma was born 6 July 1824 in Brightlingsea, some 11 miles from West Bergholt.  The couple lived at Newbridge Mill (pictured below) in West Bergholt (1851-1891 censuses) where their 5 children were all born.

 

The couple's five children - John Thompson Argent (1848 - 1907), Emma Noble Argent (1849 - 1935), Ada Emily Argent (1851 - 1929), Constance Minna Argent (1857 - 1929) and Isabella Mary Argent (1858 - 1936).

John Thompson Argent died 22 January 1894 at his home in West Bergholt and was buried at St Mary's Church, the same church as his baptism, alongside his wife Emma who had died in 1880.

John's youngest daughter Isabella married Walter Proctor Green of Manor Farm, Fordham in 1879.  Their only son, my grandfather Frank, would emigrate to Australia in 1907.

Scottish Indexes Conference XXVI - Saturday 23 November 2024

Interested in tracing your Scottish genealogy? The Scottish Indexes Conference is an opportunity to learn new research skills, discover diverse records and see how others have put these into practice, and is on this weekend. If you want to trace your Scottish family tree, this is an event for you.

Don’t live in the UK? No problem. The conference is live from 7 am to 11 pm UK time to make the conference time-zone friendly. Each presentation is shown twice, once between 7 am and 3 pm UK time, then again between 3 pm and 11 pm. You can come and go throughout the day.

Presenters :

'On the Boll: agricutural and landholding terminolgy in Scottish records' by Robert Urquhart

'Housing the Miners' by Kay Williams

'Town and Gown – St Andrews University Archive' by Sarah Rodriguez

‘Historic Scotland in the archives: Using Historic Environment Scotland Archives to explore historic sites around Scotland’ by Joseph Waterfield

'Using the internet & PRONI for Northern Irish research' by Chris Paton

'Beyond ScotlandsPeople: Breaking Down Brick Walls in Scottish Research' by Alison Spring

Scottish Genealogy Q&A hosted by Graham and Emma Maxwell

Schedules & Handouts

Conference schedules are posted in a variety of timezones. Following the conference, any handouts provided by the speakers will be available on the website. Scottish Indexes also offer handouts from previous conferences via their Past Conferences page.

Trove Tuesday

Years ago, divorce was much less common that it is today and the grant of a divorce would often be reported in the newspapers along with other court news.

Divorce Act 1889 in Australia, which was assented to on 13 May 1890 put forward the following grounds for divorce:

1.Wilful desertion for 3 years,

2.Habitual drunkenness for 3 years and either left wife without means of support, or habitual cruelty, or being petitioner’s wife, having been a habitual drunkard for like period and habitually neglected her domestic duties or rendered herself unfit to discharge them,

3.Respondent imprisoned for 3 years and still in prison under commuted sentence for capital charge, or under sentence for 7 years, or being a husband, had undergone frequent convictions and sentences to aggregate 3 years and left wife habitually without means of support,

4.Convicted of attempting to murder petitioner or assaulting her with intent to commit grievous bodily harm or that respondent repeatedly during that period assaulted and inflicted cruel beatings on petitioner,

5.Respondent husband guilty of adultery in conjugal residence or with aggravation, or of repeated adultery.

One of the few pre mid 20th century divorces in my family is that of James Nicholas Clark and Eliza (nee Hawley).  The couple, who married in 1886, had two children before their marriage broke down and they separated in 1891, Eliza leaving the children with their father.

Divorce then was a lengthy process, and was not finally granted to James until 1897, six years after the couple separated.  While James alleged his wife had committed adultery as well as abandoning him and their children, he was unable to provide the court with proof of this, despite naming two men who Eliza had lived with since their separation.  As a result, the divorce was granted on the grounds of desertion only.

There is no mention in the report below of Eliza attending the court or responding in any way to the allegations made against her.  

The article included here is from the Oakleigh Leader, Saturday 14 August 1897, p2.  The Brighton Southern Cross and the Caulfield and Elsternwick Leader also printed identical articles on the divorce.

James remarried a year after the divorce was granted, to Pricilla Veronica Mulholland, and the couple would have 12 children together, including my Grandmother Gladys.

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 :

• Blenheim Palace WW1 hospital album
• Dr Simon Wills RIP
• Balchin Family Society reaches 30 year milestone
• 1841 Census now on Map Explorer at TheGenealogist
• Celebrating 10 years of the Green Room
• Napoleonic War teenage prisoner of war uniform: unique survivor
• Are we related? Modelling Ancestry and Kinship
• Discover free online family history books
• How to keep your DNA findings organised!
• Making the most of the Court of Chancery Records
• Family Tree Plus Frequently asked questions
• November Webinars
• The life and lies of Ernest William Taylor

Ancestry Free Account

Ancestry.com is one of the largest subscription genealogy databases in the world.  Did you know, however, that you can create a free account that allows you to build online family trees, preserve and share photos and stories, connect with other researchers, and read how-to help?

Ancestry also has more than 2,000 collections that are free to search even without a paid subscription. Many of these were created or indexed in partnership with other organizations, such as FamilySearch, and Ancestry.com has agreed to keep access to them free.  They also offer free access to certain records at various times throughout the year - such as free access to military records around Remembrance Day.

To see a list of free collections, click on the Search tab and drop down to the Card Catalog.  Then type 'Free' into the search the keyword search box. You can also combine this with other words, such as Victoria or war, to see what’s free in your area of research, or you can use the filters to search a particular type of records (Census, Military, etc), a location (United Kingdom, Australia, etc) or date.

If you have done an Ancestry DNA test, you can also link it to your free account.

Want to access Ancestry records that are not on the free list?  Don't forget that Ancestry Library Edition is free to search at many public libraries, including at any branch of Campaspe Library - giving you free access at all Ancestry records.