Dixon Street Chicken

Food and recipes form such a major part of our family and its traditions - the food we all shared and ate and were taught to make by our elders.  Many family memories centre around food and cooking and mealtimes - so many family events involve gatherings to eat.

Dixon Street Chicken was a favourite creation of my mother's during my childhood - various incarnations of this recipe appeared regularly on our plates at least every week or two.  My sister and I used to refer to it as 'Chicken a la Cupboard and Freezer' as the contents of the dish depended on what was left in the fridge, freezer and cupboard at the end of the week.  The recipe was never the same twice.

After our mother's death last year, my sister and I undertook some major cleaning up, sorting out, throwing away and sharing of the contents of our family home.  One particular part of this adventure involved sorting through a drawer in which our mother kept all her favourite recipes - several favourite cookery books along with many pages torn from magazines and handwritten recipes copied from who knows where.  Many had notes written on them - things like substitutions of ingredients and notes on who particularly liked the dish.  In amongst these, torn from a magazine, we found the original recipe for Dixon Street Chicken.

We were amazed!  We didn't know there actually was an original recipe for Dixon Street Chicken at all.  Mum always made it up as she went along - we never saw her refer to a recipe - and we just assumed the name was used to give an answer to the regular "What's for dinner" question.

Below is the recipe in full

The original Dixon Street chicken

3-4 chicken thigh fillets, skin off, chopped
1 packet chicken noodle soup mix
1 tbs oil
1 onion, diced
1-2 cups chopped vegetables (eg carrots, broccoli, zucchini)
1 tsp cornflour with 2 tbs water, if needed
1 tbs soy sauce
1tbs sugar (optional, to taste)
Boiled noodles or rice, to serve

Simmer chicken pieces in chicken noodle soup mix and water to cover until cooked (10-15 minutes). Drain and reserve juices.

Heat oil in large pan, add onion and vegetables and stir fry until almost cooked. Add chicken juices and thicken with cornflour and water if needed. Add soy sauce and sugar to taste. Add chicken pieces. Serve with boiled noodles or rice. Serves 3-4.

Free Access to US Military Records

Do you have family members who fought in the United States military in World War 2?
The Ancestry website Fold3 (which specializes in US military records) is offering free access to their 113 million World War II records for the entire month of December 2016.
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• Holocaust Collection
• Hesse Crown Jewels Court-Martial
• Japanese Air Target Analyses
• WWII Allied Military Conferences
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PRONI Historical Maps viewer

From the PRONI website comes the following announcement :

PRONI and Land and Property Services (Ordnance Survey and Spatial NI) have worked together to digitise and make available a range of historical Ordnance Survey maps.

The historical maps available on this application are from the 6 inch County Series mapping; and latterly the Irish Grid. Maps available cover the six counties of present-day Northern Ireland: counties Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone.

Historical Ordnance Survey Maps

The historical maps available on this application are from the 6 inch County Series mapping; and latterly the Irish Grid. Maps available cover the six counties of present-day Northern Ireland: counties Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone. The following map editions are available on the application:

Edition 1 (1832 – 1846)
Edition 2 (1846 – 1862)
Edition 3 (1900 - 1907)
Edition 4 (1905 - 1957)
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Family History Secrets

Have you discovered family secrets during your family history research?  I would suspect there are few of us who haven't - secrets, lies, black sheep, dark events - every family has them.

Volunteers are being asked to take part in a new survey to help with research at the University of Melbourne.  Below is the statement from the survey's homepage.  If you have a spare half hour, consider participating. 

Family Secrets, National Silences

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Have you discovered secrets kept by past generations in your family history research?

A researcher from the University of Melbourne, sociologist Dr Ashley Barnwell, is seeking volunteers for an online survey. The project aims to better understand the social role of family secrets and the impact of social mores and policies on families over time. The survey consists of 7 questions and will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. All identifying information will be carefully anonymised to protect your privacy.

General Register Office for England and Wales Online Trial

The General Register Office for England and Wales (GRO) is trialling a new online system that enables researchers to access digital copies of civil registration records for the first time.
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This process is estimated to take around five working days and the trial will end on Wednesday 30 November, or when 45,000 PDFs have been ordered - so get in quickly and order those records you want and have put off because of the expense.

Recording Names - some hints

When recording your family history, here are a few tips you might find useful to keep things clear.
1. Enter Names Consistently
Whether you record names in your family tree as you would read them: first name, middle name, surname (last name); or surname first, then first name, middle name - be consistent. Pick one and stick to it, or you will end up confusing yourself - and anyone else who looks at your research.
2. Record Surnames in Uppercase
I always record last names using uppercase letters. It allows me, and other researchers to find certain surnames more easily. It can also aid researchers in deciphering exactly what they’re looking at: a surname, as opposed to a first name or middle name. For example Peter GREEN; Rosa May PIKE.
3. Remember to Input Maiden Names for Female Ancestors
You may well discover that some of your ancestors were recorded using married names, names of prior husbands, AND maiden names.  Make sure you include her maiden name in your records - it can help you uncover who her parents were, too. How you do so is up to you - either by recording all female relatives by their maiden names ie Rosa May PIKE, or by including their maiden name in parentheses, and then the surname of her husband ie Rosa May (Pike) GREEN.  Again, it is vital to be consistent.
4. Don’t Forget Nicknames
If your ancestor went by a nickname, always include it in your documentation. Don’t replace a given name with a nickname, however, even if your ancestor went by this name more commonly than their actual first name. Instead, include nicknames in quotes. For example,  Richard “Dick” Pike.  Remember you may have to search under both given name and nickname - just in case.
5. Add Alternate Names
Sometimes you will find family members who have totally alternate names, rather than nicknames. This commonly occurs if someone was adopted or changed their name on their own accord (maybe to escape a shady past). Again you could include the alternate name in parentheses,  adding “a.k.a” (also known as) to make things clear. For example: Edward FORREST (a.k.a. Frederick BEST).
6. Variant Spellings
You are also bound to stumble upon alternate names due to variant spellings (they can sometimes change over time due to phonetic spellings or from immigration). My mother's maiden name was PUMMEROY - and our family in Australia are the only ones who spell it this way.  Others use POMMEROY, POMEROY, POMROY - at one stage it even morphs into PUMFREY.  This is not just relevant to surnames either - you also get anglicised first names as well - Friedrich/Frederick BESELER.  One female ancestor of mine was born Suatus KRESST in Germany, married in England as Susetta KRESST and died in Australia as Susan (Kresst) BESELER - it took years to track her down!

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