Trove Tuesday

Death notices, funeral notices and obituaries are among the many useful offerings in the newspaper archive, and whenever I am lucky enough to find such notices they prove a wonderful addition to my records.  Of course not everyone who died had such notices in the papers.  Families had to pay for them, and for many it was beyond their means.  It is always worth checking, however, to see what might be available.

When my great grandfather James Nicholas Clark passed away in 1924 there were two death notices inserted in the newspaper - one from his family and one from the Masonic Lodge of which he was a member. 

Had it not been for this Masonic notice, I would never have known that James was a Mason.  It is also worth noting the spelling error - the heading of the Masonic notice has CLARG, not CLARK.  The family notice also gives me his occupation - Overseer at Brighton City Council, and both notices give his address and the cemetery in which his grave is located.

Populations Past

Populations Past allows users to create and view maps of different demographic measures and related socio-economic indicators every 10 years between 1851 and 1911. These include fertility, childhood mortality, marriage, migration status, household compositions, age-structure, occupational status and population density. Brief explanations of each measure are included, indicating how they are calculated and explaining how they relate to other measures. 

Users can zoom in to a particular area on the map to compare side by side maps of different times or measures. When large areas are viewed the data for England and Wales are displayed in Registration Districts (RDs), but the display changes to Registration Sub-Districts (RSDs) when the users zoom in. Scottish data are only available at RD level, although the team have created smaller subdivisions for the larger cities. The data for the smallest geographical units underlying the maps can be downloaded using an 'export' button.

The website covers England, Wales and Scotland.

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Week 39 (Sept. 23-29): Homestead

To me, 'Homestead' conjures up the few memories I have of the sheep station called 'Para' on which I was born.  My father worked there as a stockman for approximately 20 years, and my mother became station cook after their marriage.

Para Homestead

My sister and I were both born during our parents last years at the station.  Just before we reached school age, our family moved to the small town of Moama, where we lived for the rest of my childhood.

Woolshed, clean and ready for shearing

I have only a few clear memories of our time at the station.  I remember the homestead beside the Darling River, the creaking verandahs and gum trees all around. Trailing my father into the old woolshed, the smell of sheep and wool overpowering.

1971 flood, from the back doors of the homestead

My family was resident at the station during the 1971 flood, an event my mother has described to me, during which the road from the homestead to the highway was cut by floodwater for several weeks, isolating us all.

Both my parents were fond of telling stories about their time on the station, which both looked back on with fondness and nostalgia.

Trove Tuesday

A recent Trove discovery was the article below, listing the details of the estate of Great Great grandfather William Pummeroy.

The report gave many details about the land and buildings he owned in St Kilda.  While I have several estate notices and probate applications, this is the most detailed newspaper report I have in my collection.

A Trove treasure indeed.

Table Talk, Friday 29 November 1889, page 6