Friday, August 16, 2019

Virtual Genealogical Conference

The Virtual Genealogical Association has just announced its upcoming 2019 virtual conference - one that can be enjoyed from the comfort of home by those of us who find it difficult - or impossible - to attend the wonderful genealogy conferences being held around the world.

https://virtualgenealogy.org/2019-vga-conference/

While the VGA itself is based in America and the conference times for live sessions are largely in the middle of the night for us Aussies, all sessions will be available for viewing for 6 months after the conference, so we won't miss out (and can re-watch sessions if we want to pick up things we missed the first time!).  They will even be adding closed captioning of sessions within 7 days of the live broadcast.

The conference covers a wide range of topics, so there is something for everyone.  Australian research, British research, German and European research, DNA, preserving and archiving, oral histories - the list of topics goes on!

The conference is very reasonable priced too - $59US for VGA members and $79US for non-members.  Since membership for a full year is only $20US, you might want to consider taking out membership and seeing what else the VGA has to offer.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Victorian BMDs Discounted

The Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria has a special offer available for Family History Month.  For August only, you can order their downloadable uncertified historical certificates for just $20.

This includes :

  • Births 1853 to 100 years before today's date
  • Marriages 1853 to 60 years before today's date
  • Deaths 1853 to 30 years before today's date
  • Church baptisms, marriages and burials 1836-1853
Uncertified historical certificates are not valid for official purposes but are a scanned copy of the official record that can be downloaded to your computer.  So if you have Victorian ancestors whose certificates you haven't ordered, this month might be a good time to get your copies of them.

Monday, August 12, 2019

Irish Catholic Parish Registers Online

Nearly 400,000 Irish Catholic parish records have been made publicly accessible via the National Library of Ireland.  People researching their Irish family tree from all corners of the globe will be able to search the records - which date from the 1740s to the 1880s – for free.

Typically the parish registers include information such as the dates of baptisms and marriages and the names of the key people involved, including godparents or witnesses.  From July researchers are able to search for the relevant record by parish location, where they will find black and white images of all the microfilms held in the original registers.  

It should be noted that there will not be transcripts or indexes for the images,  so you will need to know which parish your Irish Catholic ancestors lived in prior to searching.  There are, however, links on the website to help you identify parish boundaries.  Also noteworthy is that there are some 56 parishes for which the NLI holds no registers. The parish may have come into existence after 1880 which was the cut-off date for microfilming, or the register may not have been microfilmed by the NLI. Each parish page displays links to other websites which may hold indexes for registers which were not microfilmed. The vast majority of original registers are still held within individual parishes, so it may be worthwhile contacting the particular parish of interest.

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

The Family Recipe Book

I have commented a few times on cleaning out my family home after my parents passed.  I have also commented on preserving family memories in various ways, such as not only photographing family heirlooms but also recording the story of each item, and why it is special.

This brings me to 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 (and August IS Family History Month), maybe a family recipe book is something to consider.

Monday, August 5, 2019

What's New on Trove

In the last few months, the wonderful free website Trove has added almost 2 million more newspaper scans to their collection, taking the current total to a whopping 224,759,059 scanned pages online.  Did I mention it is all FREE!

WHAT’S NEW
NEW SOUTH WALES
Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW: 1938-1943)
North Coast Times (Bellingen and Coffs Harbour, NSW: 1888-1889)
Nota (Hawks Nest and Tea Gardens, NSW: 1970-1983)
The Bananacoast Opinion (Coffs Harbour, NSW : 1973 – 1978)

QUEENSLAND
Torres News (Thursday Island, Qld.: 1957-2015)

VICTORIA
Chiltern Leader (Vic.: 1896-1898)
The Express, Melton (Vic.: 1943-1954)
Mountain District Free Press (Vic. : 1947-1954)

WESTERN AUSTRALIA
The Albany Observer (WA: 1890-1891)
Bonnie Rock-Lake Brown-Mukinbudin Leader (WA: 1934-1939)
Corrigin Broadcaster and Peoples Weekly (WA: 1930-1933)
Dampier Despatch (Broome, WA: 1904-1905)
Esperance Times (WA: 1896-1898)
Fremantle Advocate (WA : 1926-1942)
Gnowangerup Star (WA: 1941-1954)
Greenbushes Advocate and Donnybrook and Bridgetown Advertiser (WA: 1899-1902)
Nelson Advocate (WA: 1926-1938)
Northern Times (Carnarvon, WA: 1952-1954)
The Perenjori Pioneer (WA: 1930-1933)

INTERNATIONAL
A Voz de Timor (Dili, East Timor: 1973-1975)


COMING SOON
NEW SOUTH WALES
Albury Banner (1881-1896) [Albury & District Historical Society; NSW State Government Regional Cultural Fund]
Border Morning Mail (1938-1942) [Albury & District Historical Society; NSW State Government Regional Cultural Fund]
NOTA (1970-1983) [Tea Gardens Hawks Nest Family Research Group]

SOUTH AUSTRALIA
The Yellow Flag and Torrens Island Terror (1901) [Peter Collins]

VICTORIA
Arena Sun (1900-1904) [State Library Victoria]
Great Southern Advocate (1907-1913; 1919-1926) [Korumburra & District Historical Society]
The Moe Register and Narracan Shire Advocate (1888-1889) [Latrobe City Libraries]
Narracan Shire Advocate (1889-1891) [Latrobe City Libraries]
Richmond Guardian (1907-1909;1915-1916) [Rhett Bartlett]

WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Bullfinch Budget (1910-1911) [State Library of WA]
Bullfinch Miner and Yilgarn Advocate (1910) [State Library of WA]
Central Districts Advertiser and Agriculture and Mining Journal (1893-1895) [State Library of WA]
Central Districts Advocate (1922-1924) [State Library of WA]
Collie Times (1935) [State Library of WA]
Daily Advertiser (Geraldton, WA: 1890-1893) [State Library of WA]
Democrat (Perth, WA: 1904-1905) [State Library of WA]
Dumbleyung-Lake Grace-Newdegate Cultivator and Kukerin and Moulyinning Producer (1930) [State Library of WA]
The Fremantle Advocate (Aug 1926-Jan 1942) [Fremantle Library]
Kalgoorlie and Boulder Standard (1897-1898) [State Library of WA]
Kanowna Democrat and North East Coolgardie Advertiser (1896-1897) [State Library of WA]
Kanowna Herald (1898) [State Library of WA]
Kondinin Wheatlander and Kulin and Karlgarin Gazette (1926-1927) [State Library of WA]
Kookynie Advocate and Northern Goldfields News (1903-1904) [State Library of WA]
Koorda Record (1934-1939) [State Library of WA]
Laverton Mercury (1899-1921); [State Library of WA]
Morning Post (Geraldton, WA: 1895-1896) [State Library of WA]
Mullewa Magnet and Perenjori-Morawa Advertiser (1927-1928) [State Library of WA]
Murchison Magnet and Mullewa Mercury (1926-1927) [State Library of WA]
Northern Public Opinion and Mining and Pastoral News (1894-1902) [State Library of WA]
Pingelly Express (1905-1906) [State Library of WA]
Southern Cross Herald (1894-1896) [State Library of WA]
Southern Cross Miner (1899-1902) [State Library of WA]
Wheatbelt Wheatsheaf and Dampier Advocate (1930-1939) [State Library of WA]
York Gazette and Quairading and Dangin Herald (1930-1931) [State Library of WA]

Friday, August 2, 2019

The Hearth Tax Digital Website

Hearth Tax Digital is the work of the Centre for Hearth Tax Research at the University of Roehampton, in collaboration with the University of Graz in Austria. The long-term objective of the project is to make all the surviving records of the Hearth Tax freely available online, both as digital images and as a fully searchable database. Other partners in the project include The British Academy, the British Record Society and the University of the Third Age (U3A).
The Hearth Tax was first levied in England and Wales by King Charles II shortly after the restoration of the monarchy in 1662 and continued to be collected in one form or another up until 1689. The surviving records list the names of those who were liable to pay the tax (charged at the rate of one shilling per hearth, twice yearly) and many also include the names of those who were exempt – people who didn’t pay the poor rate or who had limited personal assets were not required to pay the tax.
Most of the original records are held by The National Archives, but many are also to be found in local county record offices, often among records of the quarter sessions. While it is important to note that only the names of heads of households will appear on the lists, occupations are occasionally found in the records as well as titles such as ‘Sir’ and ‘Esquire’, which give us an idea of social status. The number of hearths (and stoves or ovens) listed next to the names also provides an indication of relative wealth while the word ‘Pauper’ or the letter ‘P’ next to a name on the exempt lists gives us clues about those at the other end of the social scale.
The database allows you to search by name and/or place and you have the option of using wildcards. You can quickly move from the results list to a transcript of the returns themselves and there is also an option to select individual records and add them to your ‘databasket’ so that you can sort and compare your own sub-set of records.
The website was officially launched at the British Academy on 2 July and the Hearth Tax Digital website currently provides access to returns from parts of Yorkshire, Durham, Middlesex, Westminster and the City of London. Returns for Essex, Sussex and Westmorland are in the pipeline and the team is looking at introducing mapping features – so watch out for updates.

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

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 RB Digital eMagazines.

Inside this month's issue
  • Quick and easy tips
    Has Who Do You Think You Are? inspired you to research your own family history? Don't miss our guide to getting started
  • Donny Osmond
    EXCLUSIVE: The singer and entertainer shares his love of family history
  • Working together
    Why family and academic historians should help each other
  • Peterloo remembered
    200 years on, we look back at Britain's most notorious political massacre
  • Reader story
    How a family was broken up by child migration to Canada
  • Plus...
    The best websites for tracing musician ancestors; researching Wellington's army; the lives of commercial travellers; and much more...