Edition 31 of Australian history and genealogy magazine Traces is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.
We all have them - the elusive ancestors who have simply disappeared.
Sometimes we are lucky enough to find them again in unexpected places. Sometimes they reappear after an absence of years - or decades. Sometimes they remain elusive and are never found again.
People disappear for all manner of reasons. They move around the country or the world in search of a better life. They disappear into prisons, asylums or other institutions. Their names are spelled so badly the connection is difficult to make. Perhaps they chose to change their name completely as part of a new start.
Migration can be one of those times when our ancestors simply disappear. Shipping and immigration records can be sketchy at best, and those recording our ancestors were often not terribly concerned with accurate spelling of names.
For my own research, it was important to consider if my ancestors might have migrated in stages. Not everyone went straight from A to B – some visited other points along the way, sometimes taking years to arrive at their final destination.
One such example was the family of my great grandfather, James Nicholas Clark, who was born in Bristol, England or possibly Launceston, Tasmania around 1856, just as the family emigrated to Australia. James’s younger sister Annie Amelia Clark was born 31 March 1857 in Port Sorrell, Tasmania, where the family lived for at least 12 years before they crossed Bass Strait and settled in Victoria. I searched in vain for their immigration records for years before I discovered they began their lives in Australia in the state of Tasmania. I had been searching for their immigration records in the wrong state. The family 'disappeared'.
As we progress further back with our research, chances increase that we will come across a document written in Latin. Latin is the language of the Romans. Through the continuing influence of Roman civilization and the use of Latin by the Catholic Church many genealogical resources are written in Latin.
Nearly all Roman Catholic church records used Latin to some extent. Latin was used in the records of most European countries and in the Roman Catholic records of the United States and Canada. Because Latin was used in so many countries, local usage varied. Certain terms were commonly used in some countries but not in others. In addition, the Latin used in British records has more abbreviations than the Latin used in European records.
Some common genealogical terms include the following :
| English | Latin |
| birth | nati, natus, genitus, natales, ortus, oriundus |
| burial | sepulti, sepultus, humatus, humatio |
| christening | baptismi, baptizatus, renatus, plutus, lautus, purgatus, ablutus, lustratio |
| child | infans, filius/filia, puer, proles |
| death | mortuus, defunctus, obitus, denatus, decessus, peritus, mors, mortis, obiit, decessit |
| father | pater |
| godparent | patrini, levantes, susceptores |
| godfather | patrinus, compater |
| godmother | matrina, patrina, commater |
| husband | maritus, sponsus, conjux, vir |
| marriage | matrimonium, copulatio, copulati, conjuncti, intronizati, nupti, sponsati, ligati, mariti |
| marriage banns | banni, proclamationes, denuntiationes |
| mother | mater |
| given name | nomen |
| surname | cognomen |
| parents | parentes, genitores |
| wife | uxor, marita, conjux, sponsa, mulier, femina, consors |
There are a number of sites online that can help you with translating genealogical records written in Latin. One such website is the Latin Genealogical Word List. The website itself also includes links to other sites you may find helpful.
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 :
Animals have always been a big part of my family and throughout my childhood a succession of cats, dogs and other animals filled our home. We loved them all, and my father was particularly close to our cat Lucy, the last pet in our household before his death.
Lucy was 18.5 years old when she died, and in the last years of her life was frequently referred to as the geriatric attack cat. When our dog Kiera had died aged 15 a few years previously, Lucy took over her guard dog duties, a task she clearly took very seriously. Many was the time I looked out our back windows to see Dad walking around his garden, his faithful hound … err cat … at his heels. As if she understood his failing eyesight, she was always about a metre behind, never in front, never under his feet. And woe betide any stranger who came near Dad while Lucy was on guard.
I happened to be home the day an electricity meter reader came to the house. Dad was asleep on his couch on the front verandah, his cat at his side. Inside the house I heard a strange voice yell and hurried out, to find the meter man retreated off the veranda, Lucy with tail like a bottle brush squarely between him and HER DADDY, and Dad still blissfully asleep.
Standing on the stones in our driveway, blood trickling down his arm, the man told me what had happened. As he entered the gate and approached the verandah, Lucy woke, sat up and hissed. When he kept coming she jumped off the couch, fluffed herself up and started to growl. When he stepped onto the veranda, she flew him, biting and clawing. The man quickly retreated, and that's when I came out. There Lucy stayed, firmly between this stranger and Dad, determined he was not getting any nearer.
In the end I had to hold her while the man edged past, quickly read the meter, and retreated again. "I’m wary of the dogs," he told me, "but I’ve never been attacked by a cat before!" Fortunately he saw the funny side, as she had drawn blood and I had visions of her being taken away in kitty sized handcuffs!
Over the next few weeks I relayed the story of the geriatric attack cat several times, and was quite taken aback by the number of other visitors who responded that Lucy had warned them off as well. Friends, our gardener, delivery people, the lady from the chemist delivering Dad's medicines - everyone commented to me that Dad often never woke up as they went about their business, but that cat watched every move they made! Lucy passed away the day Dad went into hospital, her work done.
A remarkable animal indeed.
Ancestry has again been adding new record sets to their database. New records sets recently added include :
Australia
United Kingdom
Ancestry is one of the largest genealogy websites worldwide, and for those on a tight budget Ancestry Library Edition may be available from your local public library.
Ancestry Library Edition provides access to all records included in a paid world subscription. Census, BMD, Military, Immigration, Pictures, Stories, Maps, Trees, etc. It does not allow you to create your own online tree and link records to it.
The database can only be accessed in-house, not from home, but will generally be available on your library's public PCs and via their public wi-fi using your own laptop or tablet. Records can generally be downloaded to a USB or to your device, and printing may also be available.
