52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 2 - Internal Migration

Shauna has chosen Internal Migration as her topic for Week 2 and tells us "technically internal migration is not a category of records but it is such an important part of our family history research as our ancestors moved around a lot more than we think. Many did not just come to Australia and stay in the one place."
My maternal great-grandfather's surname was Clark (always a challenge to research) and for several years the family's immigration and early years in Australia eluded me.  My Great-grandfather James Nicholas Clark (pictured left at his wedding to Pricilla Mulholland) was born in Bristol and emigrated to Australia with his parents and older brother as a young child.  My mistake was assuming (never assume - how many times are we told that??  NEVER assume) that as the family settled in Victoria, that was where they started their lives in Australia. 
Wrong.  Assume makes an ASS of U and ME.
It was mostly by chance that I discovered one of James Nicholas's siblings was born in Port Sorrell, Tasmania.  A little further research and I found the family lived in Port Sorrell for several years and six children were born there before the entire family crossed to Victoria.  By not looking in the right place I had missed all that information.
My fathers parents married in England before coming to Australia in 1909, starting their Australian lives in Collingwood before moving all over Victoria, including stops in Narre Warren, Bambill, Mildura and Clyde.  While they did stay in Victoria their travels covered a large protion of the state and tracking them through the electoral rolls and other records has been quite an exercise.
Like Shauna, I have found making a map and  timeline to follow my ancestors has helped enormously, as they were a much more mobile lot than I had previously realised.
Shauna tells us "this blog challenge is to stimulate my own genealogy blogging efforts in 2014 by focusing on a different kind of genealogical record each week. I wanted a challenge that reflected my own archival background as well as my own genealogy interests and there are probably lots of other records that I could have included. The challenge has an Australian focus but most of these records will be found just about anywhere in the genealogy world."  Visit her blog here.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 1 - Military Medals

I'm finally going back and trying to complete the first few weeks of Shauna's challenge, and her topic for Week 1 was Military Medals.  I have several ancestors who fought in World War 1 and 2, but I have little idea of the medals they were awarded.  I do know my family was extremely fortunate to have so few losses during the wars - I have a total of 5 uncles and 11 great-uncles who fought, plus my father, and the only casualty we have was my Uncle James who was in the Merchant Navy and drowned in an accident in Argentina.  3 Rats of Tobruk, a bomber pilot based in New Guinea, others stationed all over the world and most made it home very little the worse for wear.  We were indeed very fortunate.
My father tried to enlist in WW2 underage and was sent home, back to the farm to work with his father and third brother Les.  His two older brothers Frank and Ernest (Squib) had both enlisted and were overseas - Dad saw it as his chance to travel and do his bit and went back when he turned 18, despite working on the land and therefore being essential services.  He worked in Stores in the Air Force and spent time in Townsville and Darwin before the war ended - he never made it out of Australia.  I have my father's military record but he never claimed his medal, saying that as he never actually fought he felt he had not earned it. 
Shauna tells us "this blog challenge is to stimulate my own genealogy blogging efforts in 2014 by focusing on a different kind of genealogical record each week. I wanted a challenge that reflected my own archival background as well as my own genealogy interests and there are probably lots of other records that I could have included. The challenge has an Australian focus but most of these records will be found just about anywhere in the genealogy world."  Visit her blog here.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website has undergone a major revamp. Features include a brand new Discover 14-18 subsite to help researchers plan visits to CWGC cemeteries, as well as the addition of 300,000 casualty records from the First World War. Although the organisation states that the updates may cause some initial disruption, all of the new features appear to be up and running as of 10 July 2014.

CWGC new digital services include:-

• The launch of the Discover 14-18 website - to help people visit the site and understand their history;
• The launch of our First World War casualty archive documents online;
• and enhancements to  Search Our Records.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 21 - Obituaries

Shauna has chosen Obituaries as the topic for Week 21.  She tells us that "obituaries may have information that is not found in official documents so it is definitely worth spending some time to see if something appeared in the local newspaper after a person’s death."  Certainly the ongoing work done by Trove makes finding obituaries of our Australian ancestors much easier, and the various overseas newspaper digitisation projects make searching overseas ancestors possible.

I have had the good luck to obtain several obituaries for various ancestors, including my great grandmother Isabella Mary Green (nee Argent) shown here on the right.  Not only does the article include family details for Isabella but also lists the chief mourners at her funeral and all those who sent floral tributes.  It also provides me with her cause of death, which was something I had not known until I found this article.  Even the name of the rector is included.  As a long-time resident and the wife of a major landholder in a small Essex community Isabella was a well known member of the village and several articles appeared in the local paper regarding her death.  While the quality of the digitisation is not the best (as all too often they are not) the obituary is still quite readable and is wonderful to have.

I also have the obituary for Miss Emma Noble Argent, who was Isabella's sister. 
There were 5 Argent children in this particular family - John Thompson Argent was born in January 1848 and died in November 1907 (59 years old), Emma was born in September 1849 and died in March 1935 age 85, Ada was born in 1851 and died December 1929 at 78, Constance was born July 1857 and died December 1929 age 72 and Isabella was born June 1858 and died March 1936, age 77.  Neither Emma nor her sister Ada married, but spent their lives living 'on indepentant means' and doing local church work.  Her obituary is also very interesting to read, again providing family details, the chief mourners and a list of those who sent flowers.

Re-reading through these obituaries this week has reminded me of the lives these women lived and the roles they played in village life.  If you are fortunate enough to find obituaries for your ancestors they can be another source of information for detail about their lives.

As more and more newspapers are being digitised, searching for obituaries for your ancestors becomes ever easier, so don't forget this valuable resource.

National Library of Wales

The National Library of Wales has digitized an additional 100,000 historic newspaper pages in the month of June for their website Welsh Newspapers Online. The website now consists of some 725,000 pages and 7.6 million articles from over 100 newspapers.  Newspaper dates range from 1804 to 1919. The website can be searched by keyword and category (such as family notices, advertisements, news or detailed lists). Alternatively, the historic newspapers can be browsed by title and date. Access is free. [Welsh Newspapers Online]

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 20 - Mining Records

Shauna has chosen Mining Records for her topic in Week 20 of her 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records.  This is a topic about which I know little as none of my ancestors seem to have caught the mining bug and followed the gold - they were mostly farmers with a scatter of trades such as carpenters, plasterers and millers.  My father's family didn't arrive in Australia until a few years before the First World War, so they missed the major gold rushes in Australia completely.
Reflecting upon her own mining ancestors, Shauna tells us that "although miners can be difficult to trace because they moved around, with persistence you can trace them through certificates, children’s school records, newspapers, hospital records and so on. If you cannot find anything on a miner direct, try other family members including their wife, children and don’t forget siblings. Follow up all clues and hopefully you will learn more about your mining ancestors."
Thanks Shauna, I look forward to next weeks topic.

Discovering ANZACs

The National Archives of Australia and Archives New Zealand are working together to build a new website, Discovering Anzacs. This website will have a unique profile of every Anzac who enlisted in World War I, linked to their service record. You can help tell the story of Australia and New Zealand during the war by building on profiles and adding your own family stories, photos or details of their service. The Discovering Anzacs website will be launched mid-July.
The site is asking for help to build a very personal history of World War I and at the same time, discover what happened in Australia and New Zealand during the war. Subscribe to Their mailing list to keep up-to-date on the development of the Discovering Anzacs website.

Links on the webpage allow you to transcribe records to make them more searchable, help identify soldiers, and add your tribute to those who served in World War I.  You can find your relative, tell your family story, and upload personal photographs and letters.

Keep your eyes on the site as it develops and contribute details about your WW1 soldiers to help build this fantastic resource which is another of the wonderful projects commemorating 100 years since the start of World War 1.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 19 - Family Bibles

Shauna has chosen family bibles for this week's topic.  She tells us that "family bibles can be useful resources for family history and they can connect us through the generations. If you are lucky enough to have one in the family records, why not think about why and how it has come to be in the family and are there plans in place to ensure that it continues to be handed down the generations still to come."
For all my family I have only ever seen information copied from one bible, which was given to me by a relative on my father's side of my family.  She photocopied the pages for me several years ago, and they were a great resource to have.  Her grandmother had spent some time carefully noting on its blank pages not just family births, marriages and deaths but also significant family events such as major travels, accidents and illnesses, and children leaving home to find work elsewhere.  Sadly she has since passed away and I have no idea what became of the old bible - I hope someone is cherishing it.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 18 - Almanacs

Shauna has chosen Almanacs as her topic for Week 18.  Shauna loves almanacs "as they are similar to directories and newspapers with lots of different information, lists of names and interesting advertisements. Once upon a time we might have used print copies if they were not too fragile or more likely it would have been microfiche or microfilm. This made them less easy to use (in my opinion) but now we have many almanacs digitised by Archive Digital Books Australasia for sale or in libraries, some are available through findmypast.com.au and some are even online for free."

Personally I have had mixed success searching almanacs for information on my family history, but have occasionally come across a reference to a family member or an advertisement for a business.  These are always exciting to find but almanacs can also be another way to find out about local and national events that influenced an ancestors life.  Almanacs are a resource not to be dismissed and, as Shauna pointed out, now that many are digitised and available through various sources they are even easier to use than ever.  Living in the country I find anything available online is a big boost to me as getting into the city to access the records offices and repositories is a challenge.

Thanks Shauna, it will be interesting to see what you have chosen for us next time.

What's in a Name?

At least for purposes of research, just about every genealogist rues the ancestor whose last name is common, and therefore hard to trace, and rejoices in their ancestors with more unusual names. While an unusual surname undeniably can make genealogical research easier, it doesn’t corner the market on interesting and informative origins.  In Western Europe, surnames first came about in Medieval times as civilizations grew larger and it became necessary to distinguish between people.
Sometimes, names were based on occupation: a blacksmith may have been “John le Smith” (John the Smith) which became, over the generations, “Smith,” and a person named Appleby lived by or tended the apple orchard. Celebrity Robin Leach’s ancestor was probably a physician (because in medieval times, physicians used leeches to bleed people). Actor Christopher Reeve’s ancestor, the one to first take the surname, was most likely a sheriff, and Sarah Jessica Parker’s early medieval ancestor probably tended a park.Other surnames were based on location: an Acker, which comes from “acre,” lived near a field, and a Hall lived in or worked in a hall of a Medieval nobleman’s house. And it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what a forebear named Young or Strong or Gray looked like.Higher social status surnames are more rare today — how many Rothschilds (from the German “red shield”) did you go to school with? — and lower status ones fairly common. Lower social status people were also sometimes given unfortunate names by others, such as “Tew” (Welsh for “fat”) or “Dullard,” which means a hard or conceited man.And in many parts of the world surnames derived from men’s names. A person named Robertson is descended from someone who was the “son of Robert,” and a MacDonald is from a Scottish “son of Donald.” Armenian names of this sort generally end in “-ian,” Polish ones in “-ski,” and Irish ones are put together a little differently, starting with the prefix “Fitz-.”In Spanish-speaking parts of the world, people often take both their mother and father’s surnames. And some families still use family or “house” names that are not surnames at all, like the royal Windsors or Plantagenets.Asian surnames have different stories. Most of the approximately 100,000 Japanese surnames in use today only date from 1868 and the Meiji Restoration, when surnames were mandated for the first time. There are just a few hundred common Chinese surnames, and 20 of them (which reflect an entire clan or were adopted by nobles) are shared by half the population. There are about 250 Korean surnames, three of them comprising almost half the Korean population, and just about 100 Vietnamese ones, with three making up 60 percent of all names in that country.More than 2,600 members at the UK-based Guild of One-Name Studies devote their genealogical research to about 8,400 “one-name studies,” meaning they study everything known about a particular surname, whether the people they research are related biologically or linked to other family trees they are studying. Focusing in on a family surname can be a useful way to break through a genealogical brick wall, and most guild members are easy to reach and willing to share information (generally they ask, in return, for you to share your data on a name).
My own ancestry is a mix of very common surnames (Green, Clark), slightly less common (Argent, Pike, Hart, Mulholland) and some more unusual ones (Pummeroy, Beseler, Farckens, McGoverin).  Each presents their own challenges.
Thanks to Ancestry for their blog entry on surnames.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 17 - Court Records

Shauna has chosen Court Records for her topic for week 17.  She tells us that there are all kinds of courts from higher courts such as the Supreme and District Courts to the local courts of petty sessions plus there are licensing courts, mining warden’s courts, traffic courts, police courts. The terminology and court names vary over time and within the various Australian colonies/states and territories.
Court records in general are not indexed although there may be individual indexes within each register. The easiest way to find out if an ancestor did make a court appearance is finding a reference in newspapers via Trove. This will give a date and place which can then be followed up at the State Archives which is where court records end up for research purposes.
Using Trove, I have come across several court reports in newspapers which have mentioned my ancestors, all of which provide a fascinating insight into their lives.  The article on the left relates to a workers compensation application made by an employee of my ancestor Henry Mulholland after the poor man lost a hand in a farming accident. The amount of compensation for the loss of his hand was disputed, so the case went to court where eventually a sum was agreed upon.


Not all court records necessarily relate to criminal matters.  My Great Grandmother Eliza Pummeroy found herself widowed with 4 children under 5 years old when her husband died of pneumonia.  A month after the death of her husband she made an application for relief to the St Kilda court.  She was receiving 3 shillings a week from the local Ladies Benevolent Society and the court gave her 10 shillings from the poor-box.  Her children were committed to the Department with the recommendation they be handed back to their mother, and she struggled on.  I had already known that both her younger children, boys Alfred and William, were placed in an orphanage for several years and retrieved when she remarried, while she managed to keep the two girls, Alice and Edith (who was deaf and mute) with her.  Finding this article helped show just how desperate she must have been.  The article is dated Saturday 9th March 1901, and youngest son William (my grandfather) was born on the 6th January, so he was only a month old when his father died.

The Savill Index

The State Library of South Australia has recently published on their website the Savill Index of The Advertiser Funeral Notices covering 1971 -1990 and then from 1997 to 2013.
From January 2001 Mr Gerald Savill began extracting and indexing funeral notices that were published in Adelaide’s major daily newspaper The Advertiser. In total he spent more than 300 days at the State Library of South Australia searching newspaper microfilms. The results of his work are now available online on the Library website as the Savill Index of The Advertiser Funeral Notices.  The Index is arranged alphabetically by surname, given name and on occasion given maiden name or nicknames.

Britain From Above

Launched in June 2006, Britain from Above presents the unique Aerofilms collection of aerial photographs, providing access to scans of glass prints and negatives drawn from the collection from 1919-2006. You can register (registration is free) to zoom into these amazing pictures, identify unlocated images, and share memories.  The collection is varied and includes urban, suburban, rural, coastal and industrial scenes, providing important evidence for understanding and managing the built and natural environments.
Over 7,700 new aerial photographs have been made available to view in the past few months, including over 1,500 snaps of Welsh cities such as Cardiff and Swansea.This brings the collection up to over 69,000 images.

Letter to an Unknown Soldier

"On Platform One of Paddington Station in London, there is a statue of an unknown soldier; he’s reading a letter.  On the hundredth anniversary of the declaration of war – in this year crowded with official remembrance and ceremony – we’re inviting everyone to pause, take a moment or two, and write that letter.  All the letters the soldier receives will be published here, creating a new kind of war memorial – one made only of words."
New project 'Letter to an Unknown Soldier', created by Neil Bartlett and Kate Pullinger, is calling for family historians to compose a letter and add it to the website 1418NOW.org.uk/letter. The letter can be inspired by the stories they have researched about family members involved in the First World War. All letters will be published online, alongside those of writers Stephen Fry, Andrew Motion, Sheila Hancock and Malorie Blackman. Letters can be submitted now and will be published starting on 28 June – a hundred years to the day since the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand which marked the beginning of Europe’s descent into war. The website will remain open until the night of 4 August, the centenary of the outbreak of war. The entire collection will be archived online at The British Library and kept in perpetuity for generations to come.

New to Ancestry.com

Launched in April, The West Yorkshire Collection provides details of more than 9,000 boys who were sent to reformatory schools in the county, including the East Moore Community Home School, The Shadwell Children’s Centre and Calder Farm Reformatory.
Fully searchable, the digitised documents note down the boy’s name, age and birthplace, with many also containing photographs, physical descriptions and comments on their behaviour.
Dating from 1856 to 1914, the records hail from a period when the idea of reform was gaining widespread traction. Rather than spending time behind bars, it was felt that reform school was a more appropriate place to send young offenders.
The youth offender records are joined by nearly 400,000 records relating to adult prisoners spanning 1801 to 1914.  Details on each inmate’s age, name, occupation, offence, sentence and dates of admission and discharge are noted, with selected records also containing prisoners’ background information and physical descriptions. In addition to the adult and youth offender records, The West Yorkshire Collection contains more than 32,000 historic police records and 3,000 registers relating to local militia, all of which have been digitised from original documents held at branches of West Yorkshire Archive Service. Explore The West Yorkshire Collection at your local library using Ancestry Library Edition.

WW1 Unit War Diaries

The National Archives has released a third batch of 724 digitised First World War unit war diaries from France and Flanders available online via their First World War 100 portal.
The unit war diaries provide interesting accounts of battles and events, as well as insights into the daily routines of British troops on the Western Front.
What's included
This third release contains the diaries from the Kitchener Divisions and those of the Territorial Force (later The Territorial Army). This includes:

• the 36th (Ulster) Division, which had many casualties on 1 July 1916
• the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division, which was the last division to leave the UK for France in March 1917

Also included in the diaries are accounts of troops' sports activities (WO 95/2524) which helped keep them motivated and continue fighting until the end of the war.
William Spencer, author and principal military records specialist at The National Archives, said: 'Now that this latest batch of unit war diaries is online, people all around the world can read the official army accounts to discover more about the troops on the Western Front. The diaries note successful battles, such as 46th Division breaking the Hindenburg Line, as well as failures and casualties in key battles such as those on the Somme in 1916. They also provide rare insights into how the troops maintained the environment in the trenches as well as the sports days which helped to keep them motivated.'
Highlights from the files
Highlights from the third batch of unit war diaries include:

• a sports day programme dated 31 October 1917, which notes pillow fighting, wheelbarrow races and wrestling on mules
• sketch of a 'snapshot' view from the front (which notes 'dead animals' and even a 'dead Frenchman')
• two photos giving a 'how to' and 'how not to' guide to laying trench boards 
• three photos of battalion officers from 7th Battalion Black Watch Fife

Irish Directories Database

The Irish Directories database consists of over 550 links to Historic Directories of Ireland, available on free and subscription websites, and also includes directories for purchase on CD or download. Sources charging for access, or items for purchase are indicated with a $. Details shown include directory date, title and a direct link to relevant website. Online directories may be available as transcripts, ebooks (pdf, FlipBook etc), images or searchable databases.

To start a search, enter one or more keywords in the search text and click the search button above, or select one of the county or date dropdown filters. Searches can include any combination of key words, county or dates.

Historic Directories can be useful sources for Family and Local history research, and whilst not listing all people or locations, often include details of various institutions, officials, professions, clergy and certain trades, as well as historical or geographic details of various towns and cities. Directories which cover cities and larger towns, may also include street listings.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 16 - Naturalization

Shauna's topic for Week 16 is Naturalization and Citizenship Records.  While most of my ancestors come from various parts of Great Britain, one branch of my mother's family are German, and I do have their Naturalization certificates.

Friedrich (Frederick) Carl Beseler was born in Germany in 1810.  He married Suatus Caroline Farkens on 17 July 1838 and emigrated to Australia in 1848, arriving in Adelaide on April 1st.  Shipping records list Frederick Beseler, shoemaker and Mrs Beseler and 5 children.  The family lived in South Australia for several years before travelling to Victoria.  Frederick was Naturalized in December 1848 - his certificate, obtained from the National Archives, is below.  His son Edward also became Naturalised in 1863.

Shauna tells us that "naturalisation and citizenship records can be found in the various State Archives and after 1901 in the National Archives of Australia and note that some States transferred their early naturalisation records to the Commonwealth while others retained them. So read the fact sheet or brief guides for the State that you are researching to find out where the records are. The information may also vary depending on the time period. For example, naturalisations pre 1860 usually have more information including the ship of arrival which can be very helpful. Post 1900 records are different again."  So if your family came from non-British backgrounds, try searching for naturalisation records for them and see what information they give you. 

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 5 - Family Stories

Family stories would have to be one of my favourite topics - I first became interested in family history as a 16 year old and would happily visit older family members to hear their stories, much to their astonishment (You really want to listen to this???).  Of course, the stories I got were not always 100% accurate, but they were fun anyway.  As a teenager I only had one surviving grandparent to ask questions, and I found my mothers side of the family much easier to research to start with as there were actually older people I could talk to.  For my father's side of the family it was harder - both grandparents had died, most of my aunts and uncles were scattered, and my father knew very little - he couldn't even tell me his mother's maiden name ("I don't know, it never came up").  His parents had married in England before coming to Australia, so there were no great-aunts or uncles to talk to either.
My father passed away over a year ago having developed Alzheimers, and as his memory faded I had printed him a folder of old photographs blown up to A4 size.  Many of these photos I had found in an old shoebox at the back of a wardrobe, and had a great time scanning and digitising them - which was very handy as Dad did some 'cleaning up' without my knowledge and I am still discovering what he threw away without my knowledge.  A sure way to get him calm and relaxed was to open the folder and get him talking about a photo - even when he couldn't tell my name any more he could identify every farm hand in an old photograph from the 1950's.  He could tell me the name of the horse he and two siblings drove to school in the early 1930's and the name of the girl he went square dancing with as a teenager - and all these stories have been noted on the back of each photo.
Make sure you take the time to talk to your older generations while you have the chance, as none of us last forever, and don't forget you own stories too - your children or grandchildren may not be interested right now (I actually don't have either of these, but I do have cousins and their children to consider), but you never know who may become interested in the future.

52 Weeks of Genealogy – Week 6 - Land Records

Yes, I'm out of order but now I have caught up with Shauna it is time to go back and cover the first few topics I missed, so having just studied Week 15's certificates I am now back to Week 6 and land records.
The major national and state archives in Australia and New Zealand are:

• Archives New Zealand
• National Archives of Australia
• Queensland State Archives
• State Record Office New South Wales
• Public Record Office Victoria
• Tasmania Archive and Heritage Office
• State Records Office South Australia
• State Records Office Western Australia
• Northern Territory Archives Service
• Territory Records Office 

 My Great Great Grandfather David Mulholland was one of the early settlers around Eurobin, near Bright, and the land records have a lot to tell me about his life in the area.  He came to Australia from Ireland as a young man and worked hard to build a life for himself and his family.  He purchased several parcels of land which were eventually inherited by two of his sons and the land records give me details of the price of the land, the terrain it covered, how it was used and the improvements made over time. 
Land records are a frequently overlooked resource so check to see if they have anything to offer you.

Childrens Homes

A new website has launched this week in the UK called Children’s Homes. It is dedicated to providing historical information on the various institutions that provided homes for children in Britain. This includes orphanages, reformatories, workhouses, poor homes, etc. The website is run by Peter Higginbotham, who also created the website 'The Workhouse'. At the moment, there does not appear to be any actual records uploaded to the website but it does include research suggestions and links which may prove useful to those trying to trace a child.
The site's welcome message states "The Children's Homes website aims to provide information on all of the many and varied institutions that — for whatever reason — became home for thousands of children and young people in Britain. They include a wide variety of establishments ranging from orphanages, homes for those in poverty, and children with special needs, through to reformatories, industrial and approved schools, training ships, and hostels."
The site includes a brief history of children's welfare in the UK, information on the different types of children's homes which existed, the ability to search by institution type or location, and more.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 15 - Civil Registration and Certificates

We are now up to Week 15 of Shauna Hicks's 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records, and I am finally catching up.  Of course, this means I need to go back and fill in the first few topics I missed because I started late! 
Introducing the topic, Shauna tells us that the introduction of civil registration of births, deaths and marriages was a real plus for family history as certificates can give us those vital clues for moving back through the generations. Of course dates when registration was introduced and standard information on certificates varies from country to country but we really cannot confirm our research without these documents.
Birth certificates give us information on the parents and where they were from, marriage certificates also give us information on the parents and death certificates are particularly useful for telling us how long someone was in the colony or state if they an immigrant. 
Unfortunately certificates vary in detail and authority, especially death certificates.  Birth and marriage certificates are usually more reliable as the information they contain was supplied by the people concerned (although if they had something to hide they may have stretched the truth), but who supplied the information you find on a death certificate??  Having recently lost my father, I was the family member who filled in many of the details about his life (I'm fairly certain I got it all correct).  This got me thinking about who may have supplied the information on the older death certificates I have - the only thing you can be certain of is that it was not the person most concerned!  Was the informant their spouse, their sibling, their child?  Or an officiating doctor who had never met the deceased before assisted by nosy Mabel from across the road?  I have a few very disappointing death certificates with little or no information about the person's background, and one I know for certain contains totally incorrect information, which sent me off on quite a wild goose chase.
The cost of certificates can be expensive but digital images are often cheaper so make sure you look at what options are available.  Don't let the cost deter you from a valuable potential source of information.
If you have a brick wall then certificates may be very useful. Try looking at certificates for siblings if you cannot track a direct ancestor.  Find names of children on a death certificate.  Check the witnesses on a marriage certificate as they may be family members - if not parents then aunts and uncles, cousins, siblings.  Check if timelines and places fit with known family movements, see if occupations follow through families and generations. 
Thanks Shauna - this week's topic has sent me back to look at some of my certificates again to see if there is any details I have missed.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 14 - Cemetery Records

Cemetery records are our topic for Week 14 and Shauna says they have to be one of her favourite genealogical records, and they are ones where I have had some fun researching too. There are two kinds of records to look for – burial records and headstones - don't forget to check for both.
Headstones can give additional information that may not be found elsewhere. Sometimes there might be a year or exact date of birth, or the place where they were born, or there may other family members on the tombstone, nicknames or perhaps even a masonic symbol.
Shauna also reminds us that in our global world we should not dismiss overseas websites "as anyone can contribute to free data sites such as Find A Grave. If you add some of your own family information, you may make contact with someone else researching the same family. Also the major subscription databases also have burial and transcription information. I am sure everyone has their own success stories with burial records and headstone transcriptions but is it time to relook at your research and see what is new?"
I have links to quite a few cemetery sites on my genealogy pages and have also visited the cemeteries where the graves of several relatives are located, and have found some fascinating information on headstones.
Visit Shaun's blog on Cemetery Records to read her full entry on this topic.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 13 - Personal Names and Surnames

Shauna has chosen Personal Names and Surnames as her topic for Week 13.  Her blog advises us to have a look at the given or personal names in your family tree. Are there any unusual ones or names handed down through the generations? What about unusual surnames? Why not investigate the origins and history of the names and learn more about the times in which they lived?  If you have a really unusual surname then it may be useful to have a look at the Guild of One Name Studies. There are over 2,600 people researching over 8,400 surnames and their variations.
Looking back through my family tree, I quickly notice a number of given names that occur again and again through the generations, and even within one family.  In my Green family a few generations back I have three Isaacs in one generation - the first two died young and the name was reused for the next son each time.  Eventually persistance paid off and the third Isaac Green in that family lived well into his 90's.  His father was named Isaac as well, and the name crops up in several other generations.  In my mother's Pummeroy family William and Alfred are popular, and recur several time across the generations.  This can create an additional challenge in making sure any information I find is linked to the correct person - I have a newspaper article from Trove that mentions William Pummeroy - and I have four of them alive at the time that the article could be referring to!
The Pummeroy surname itself is quite unusual, especially our Australian spelling which occurs nowhere else.  I have spoken to other Pomeroy / Pomroy families that link to ours back in England (there is also a One Name Study group for the Pomeroy name) but our spelling is unique!  So any other Pummeroys out there - please contact me.  My mother's family surnames also includes Beseler - a nice unusual name which comes from Germany - and more common names like Clark and Mulholland.  On my father's side the surnames are more traditional - Green, Argent, Pike and Hart are my great-grandparent's surnames.
Visit Shaun's blog on Personal Names and Surnames to read her full entry on this topic.

Integrated Census Microdata

"The Integrated Census Microdata (I-CeM) project was a three-year programme which has produced a standardised, integrated dataset of most of the censuses of Great Britain for the period 1851 to 1911.
By making available to academic researchers the detailed information about everyone resident in this country collected at each decennial census from 1851 to 1911, the I-CeM project has transformed the research landscape for work in the economic, social, and demographic history of this country during a period of profound change in the wake of the industrial revolution."
This statement comes from the main I-CeM introduction at the University of Essex.   The project allows users to obtain statistical information from the censuses from England and Wales from 1851-1861 and 1881-1911, and Scotland from 1851-1901 (no, I don't know why England and Wales are missing the 1871 census).  The project is outlined at http://www.essex.ac.uk/history/research/icem/default.htm whilst the database itself is accessible at http://icem.data-archive.ac.uk/#step1.  There is also a detailed user guide is available at http://www.essex.ac.uk/history/research/ICeM/documents/icem_guide.pdf

Thanks to Chris Paton for bringing this new database to light on his British Genes blog.

British Pathe

British Pathe is a collection of news, news film and movies spanning the years from 1896 to 1976,  not only from Britain, but from around the globe. Amongst the 90,000 films that British Pathé have put online (of which 85,000 are newly uploaded) you’ll find coronations, sports activities, fashions of the day, interviews with celebrities, the Royal Family, the Titanic, the destruction of the Hindenburg, British pastimes, gardens, military, parades, travel, culture and 1000s more. Their WW1 Definitive Collection alone contains over 1000 films, which even includes a bunch of films with the Australian and New Zealand military personnel.
Pathé News was founded by Charles Pathe, a producer of newsreels, cinemagazines, and documentaries from 1910 until 1970 in the United Kingdom, as well as being a pioneer of moving pictures in the silent era. The Pathé News archive changed its name a few times over the years, but is now known “British Pathé”.
Viewable on the British  Pathé website you can search by keyword, or you can browse through their categories:
- Entertainment & Humour
- Fashion & Music
- Historical Figures & Celebrities
- Lifestyle & Culture
- Religion & Politics
- Science & Technology
- Sport & Leisure
- Trade & Industry
- Travel & Exploration
- War & Revolution

FamilySearch

FamilySearch.org has added an additional 3.7million indexed records of New Zealand passenger records to their existing collection. These passenger lists cover the years from 1839 to 1973. This collection includes both inbound and outbound passengers at various ports in New Zealand and covers the peak migration period of the 1870s. A form of identification was required by all passengers before they were allowed to embark on the ship so these records tend to be fairly accurate (notwithstanding the usual spelling errors and typos of the ship officers who were responsible for handwriting the names into the registers). These records can be searched by first and last name. Access is free.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 12 - Gazetteers

Shauna has chosen Gazeteers for week 12's topic.  So just what is a gazetteer? Shauna tells us that "a simple definition is that it is a publication which lists geographical places in alphabetical order plus giving some descriptive background information on the place. Not all that exciting as usually there is no detailed information on our ancestors but gazetteers can provide good background on where and how our ancestors lived and why they may have decided to move or emigrate to Australia."

Samuel Lewis published topographical dictionaries for Ireland in 1837, Scotland in 1846, England in 1848 and Wales in 1849, and these are simply gazetteers by another name.  Reading the relevant Gazeteers can help us to imagine what life was like for our ancestors living in those places at that time. Maps are useful to show where a place is but gazetteers give a much more descriptive look at places and can explain why our ancestors had certain occupations, how they lived and perhaps why they chose to leave and try their luck on the other side of the world.  Context is important in family history research and with so many gazetteers online there is no excuse for not checking them out and seeing what they can add to your research. Happy gazetteering!

Visit Shaun's blog on Gazeteers to read her full entry on this topic.

52 weeks of Genealogy - Week 7 - Local Histories

According to Shauna, "Local history often goes hand in hand with family history as our ancestors were very much a part of the communities in which they lived. I have always looked for local histories for areas they lived in and this also includes any church or school histories or anniversary celebrations. Quite often there has been direct references to my families and if I am lucky, a relevant photo or two.  However like all resources, anything we find in a published history should still be checked for accuracy. Many older histories do not cite their sources and it can be very hard to trace where a particular story has come from."
My father's family comes from a small village called Fordham in Essex, England.  I have been lucky to find a quite active local history group who have published a couple of booklets about the history of the village and have been even luckier to be able to obtain copies.  They mention the family several times and even have a few photos, and the detail of village life during the time of ancestors I have never known certainly fills in the picture for me.  As Shauna noted, hoever, it is necessary to check the accuracy of such information, especially if the local history is unsourced, as they are often quite anecdotal in nature and people's memories and prespectives are subject to alter over time. 
Visit Shaun's blog on Local Histories to read her full entry on this topic.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 8 - Diaries

There are all kinds of diaries, and some are more detailed than others. Shauna advises trying to "find personal accounts of areas where your families lived, and don't forget to look for military unit histories and diaries to supplement what you have found in army dossiers. If you have never thought of exploring these types of records before, why not try and find a shipboard diary for an ancestor’s voyage. You may be pleasantly surprised."  Finding a diary of and ancestor's voyage out to Australia or of their military unit's war experiences can give you a weath of information, even if the diary if not written by YOUR family member.  Reading the thoughts and reactions of another person experiencing the same thing can really make the history come alive.
Of course, finding the diaries of a family member is just a treasure!  I am lucky enough to have some of both my father's diaries and my maternal grandmother's diaries, and some of their handwriting is a challenge to decipher.  While I only have a few years worth for each of them, and neither exactly filled pages with the minutae of daily life, both are invaluable in filling in details of major family events and my own early life and I treasure them.
After my father's death my mother and I found some of his diaries hidden at the back of an old wardrobe, and I am so lucky to have them.  My father had Alzheimers and spent several months before he died 'cleaning up'.  Months later I was still realising things were just gone - including the entire contents of my family history filing cabinet!  His diaries date from my childhood and are patchy at best - some have weeks and even months with nothing recorded - but several give me exact dates for major family events and his (often surprising) reactions to them.
My grandmother's diaries are similar - they date from my childhood and are patchy in coverage - but these were given to me by my grandmother, who knew I was interested in family history and knew I would find them interesting, and those few little books contain her view on family events I remember dimly at best.
So whether the diary is actually written by your ancestor or by someone on their ship, in their military unit, or living up the road in the same village, diaries can offer you a wealth of detail that may not be available anywhere else.
Visit Shaun's blog on Diaries to read her full entry on this topic.

1939 National Identity Register

FindMyPast and the National Archives have announced a joint project to put online the 1939 National Identity Register.
 This was basically a mini-census that was taken on the night of Friday 29 September 1939 (at the start of World War II). The British Government conducted the survey because it wanted updated statistics on the population so that identity cards could be issued. It was also required in case a draft was needed, in case of mobilisation and mass evacuation of the general population and in case rationing was required (which was introduced a few months later in January 1940). For genealogists, the 1939 National Identity Register makes up for the regularly-scheduled 1941 census, which did not take place due to the war.
The details recorded in the 1939 National Identity Register include name, residence, sex, date of birth, marital status, occupation and whether the person was a member of the armed forces or reserves. The process for the enumeration worked as follows. On the night of Friday 29 September 1939, some 65,000 enumerators delivered forms to each household. Each household was responsible for filling out their own form. Two days later on the Sunday and Monday, the enumerators returned to collect the forms. The enumerators checked the forms and (if there were no problems) issued a complete identity card on the spot to each member of the household.
There was a strong incentive for everyone to register correctly. Other than societal pressure given that war had just broken out, it was widely broadcast that anyone who “neglected” to register would not be eligible in the future for ration books. The 1939 register covers some 40 million individuals. Given the absence of a 1931 census (the records were destroyed in a fire in December 1942) and a 1941 census (never taken due to the war), this record set will be very valuable to family historians. No date has been given as to when the records will be available online.
If you want to be kept informed about the project, you can register at www.1939register.co.uk One thing to note is that due to privacy issues, information on individuals still alive today will not be included in the database. 
Thanks to Genealogy in Time for highlighting this news.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 11 - Newspapers

In Australia Trove is a fantastic source of free online newspapers as well as a range of other resources. It is simply a matter of doing a keyword search on a person’s name and narrowing the results by using any combination of the available filters.  It is important to remember that not all newspapers have been digitised yet and placed online - new papers or expanded year ranges of existing papers are becoming available all the time, so you need to remember to redo your searches from time to time.
It is due to Trove that I discovered one of my great-uncles, Norman Clark, was killed by a shark off Middle Brighton beach in 1930.  He was the first swimmer taken by a shark in Victorian waters for a number of years, and the attack occurred during a boating regatta in full view of hundreds of horrified spectators, including his fiancee and 12 year old brother.  His body was never recovered and several sharks found too close to swimming areas were subsequently killed, and the incident made the news around the country.  It was even reported in New Zealand - Papers Past is the New Zealand equivalent of Trove.  When I asked my mother if she knew about the attack she never knew what had happened, ony that Norman had died young.  Trove even produced an article with a grainy photo of Norman, the only image of him I have ever seen.
I regularly visit Trove and am always rewarded with some snippet of information about my family, and also find Trove a great way of finding out about community events they quite likely were involved in.
Visit Shaun's blog on Newspapers to read her full entry on this topic.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 9 - Inquest Records

An inquest is held when someone dies in an accident, or has not been seen by a doctor for some time or if they have died in an institution such as an asylum or prison. This is the topic Shauna Hicks has chosen for Week 9 of her 52 Weeks of Genealogy.
As Shauna discussed, most inquests are reported in the newspaper and this is where a search of Trove can be useful in finding information on accidental or sudden deaths in the family. Once the date and place of death is known it is easy to then go to the relevant State Archives and look for an inquest file or register.  Witnesses statements usually give an account of a person’s last moments as well as giving personal and biographical information that may not be found elsewhere.
 Most State Archives have online guides to inquest records and some may even have online indexes so these should be consulted in the first instance. Also Trove may be useful in determining a date and place of death or inquest but also follow up with the archival record as well.
This is not an area where I have done much research with my own family, and it is a timely reminder of the peril of bypassing any potential sources of information - you may well be missing a goldmine of family details.  Hopefully I will be able to use inquests to find out more about an ancestor's death and, through that, his life.  Thanks Shauna.
Visit Shaun's blog on Inquest Records to read her full entry on this topic.

Red Cross Records coming online soon

The records of over 24,000 volunteers who served in the British Red Cross during WW1 are expected to become available online soon, thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.  Index cards for Voluntary Aid Detachment workers (VADs) are being digitised and are expected to be online - free to access - by August.

Their website contains the following statement :
Did your relatives volunteer during the First World War?
To mark the upcoming centenary, the British Red Cross is digitising the records of all those who volunteered during the Great War – that’s almost a quarter of a million people.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the information will be made available to the public for the first time.
Work will soon begin to digitise thousands of index cards stored at the Red Cross’ London headquarters. The first batch of index cards will be online in time for the start of the centenary in August, and new material will be uploaded on a monthly basis.
Selfless volunteers
So just who were these volunteers? Leading up to the First World War, many voluntary aid detachments were formed. These comprised volunteers from the British Red Cross, Order of St. John and Friends Ambulance Association.
These brave and selfless volunteers (known affectionately as VADs) went on to help thousands of casualties, often putting their own lives at risk.
Fittingly, the Red Cross now plans to recruit another 100 volunteers to help with the £80,000 digitisation project. 
Famous names
The index card list also has some very interesting names tucked away. Famous former volunteers include author Agatha Christie, novelist and poet Naomi Mitchison, and writer and feminist Vera Brittain.
Phil Talbot, director of communications, said: “All these volunteers – whether they worked in auxiliary hospitals, convalescent homes or drove ambulances – played a vital role during the Great War.”
He added: "The index cards are a unique source of historical information. As we approach the centenary, we believe this is a fitting way to pay tribute to those who gave their time in non-military service.”

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 10 - Occupations

I have decided to try to participate in Shauna Hicks's 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014, although I do lack a little confidence in my ability to do full justice to each topic, as I seem to be rather time-poor lately.  I have a bit of catching up to do also,  as I am coming in at Week 10.  Better late than never.

Shauna launched this blog challenge to "stimulate my own genealogy blogging efforts in 2014 by focussing on a different kind of genealogical record each week. I wanted a challenge that reflected my own archival background as well as my own genealogy interests and there are probably lots of other records that I could have included. The challenge has an Australian focus but most of these records will be found just about anywhere in the genealogy world."  What a great idea!

Week 10 focuses on Occupation Records.  Within my own famiy history many ancestors were tied to the land (Ag Labs abound), although some professions do seem to appear quite regularly in some lines.  6 generations of Millers appear in my father's mother's family, 4 generations of plasterers run in my mother's paternal line.  Census records give me the professions of a few generations, with Ancestry (I use the Library Edition) as my main source of records.  Several old directories have been very handy too, including the Historical Directories of England and Wales.  Sometimes marriage or death certificates have given me information, and Trove has been another useful source.

Once you find the occupation it can be another challenge to work out exactly what the occupation involved.  Sites such as Old Occupation Names or Old Occupations in Scotland can be a great source of information (and amusement), especially for my favourite example, the ancestor who listed Hooker as her occupation on her marriage certificate in 1874.  For those who think this may be just too much information at such a time - here is the listing from Old Occupation Names :
1) 16c. Reaper 2) 19c. Textile mill worker operating machinery which laid out fabric in uniform folds to required length.  Yes, she worked in a textile mill.

5000 Poppies

As part of the 2015 Anzac Commemoration, the 5000 Poppies project will be “planting” a field of more than 5000 poppies in Federation Square Melbourne as a visual tribute to Australian servicemen and women for more than a century of service in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.  Over 9000 poppies have been collected to date.

Members of Campaspe Regional Library are asked to contribute to the project by dropping in their  home made poppies to any branch library.  Poppies can be knitted, crocheted, felted or sewn from any materials. Crafters are encouraged to dedicate their poppy to a member of their family who served in World War One.

Craft patterns and dedication forms can be found on the 5000 Poppies website.  Poppies will be collected and displayed together with their dedications in libraries for Remembrance Day  November 11 2014.

Sands Directory of Sydney

The firm of John Sands Ltd (Printers and Stationers) published their directory each year from 1858-59 to 1932-33 (except for 1872, 1874, 1878 and 1881). The household and business information it contains has become a fundamental source for research into Sydney history, especially family history.
Until now the directory has usually been accessed through a microfiche edition made by WF Pascoe Ltd which is available at many public libraries.

The City of Sydney has now obtained a complete digital edition of the directory from WF Pascoe, scanned from the microfiche, and is making it available for public access through their website.  This is the first time a complete set of Sands Sydney, Suburban and Country Commercial Directory has been made available online.

Irish Wills database extended

PRONI has extended its wills calendar database to include entries up to 1965, with the data available online now at www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives/will_calendars/. This is a great addition to the database, extending it beyond 1943 and filling in the gaps.

The collection is being formally launched today and part of their press release is copied below :

PRONI is pleased to announce details of a public event to formally launch the extension of our Wills Calendar Application. 170,000 additional Will index entries covering the period 1918 – 1921, 1944 – 1965 will be added to this unique resource. These wills were proved in the Armagh, Belfast and
Londonderry District Registries.

This comprehensive index will enable researchers to search over 400,000 Will index entries for the years 1858 – 1965, making this an invaluable genealogical resource.

What ELSE is new on Ancestry?

They are having a major upload of new records at Ancestry!

They have now added a major series of collections of Roman Catholic records from parishes across Ireland which include the following :

1) Ireland, Select Catholic Birth and Baptism Registers, 1763-1912.  Records sourced from 73 parishes
2) Ireland, Select Catholic Marriage Registers, 1775-1912.  Records sourced from 62 parishes
3) Ireland, Select Catholic Death and Burial Registers, 1767-1912.  Records sourced from 19 parishes
4) Ireland, Select Catholic Confirmation Registers, 1775-1912.  Records sourced from 12 parishes.

While these records clearly do not cover all parishes they are still a very welcome addition to Ancestry's range of records and access to Ancestry is free at all our library branches.  For those with Irish ancestry, happy hunting!

What's new on Ancestry?

There are a huge number of new records available on Ancestry.com which can now be searched.  They include the following –

Index Title	Date Range	No of Records
Australian Marriage Index	1788-1950	5,329,018
Australian Death Index	1787-1985	5,893,086
Australian Birth Index	1788-1922	5,157,166
England Perogative Court of Canterbury Wills	1384-1858	1,012,964
British Army WW1 Service Records	1914-1920	1,907,094
England and Wales Birth Index	1916-2005	71,311,768
England and Wales Death Index	1916-2007	49,722,476
England and Wales Marriage Index	1916-2005	63,960,989

These are only a few of the many new datasets to become available on Ancestry over the past few months.  It should be noted that the wills are ONLY for the Perogative Court of Canterbury, and also that not everyone made a will, or had anything to leave behind them.  The poor especially did not leave wills.  It will, however, give you a copy of the original handwritten will if you are lucky enough to find any relevant to your family.  Your next problem is deciphering it, as old handwriting can be quite a challenge to understand.  Remember also that many older wills may have been written in Latin.

Irish Military Service Pensions

The Irish Department of Defense has launched a collection of military service pension records that span the years from 1916 to 1923. The first collection  contains some 10,000 files on members of the Irish Volunteers, Citizen Army, Hibernian Rifles, the Irish Republican Army, Cumann na mBan and the National Army. This collection is part of a wider program by the Irish Department of Defense to catalogue and eventually put online some 300,000 military service pension files. Most of the files are expected to be online by 1916. The collection is fairly diverse and includes everything from letters applying for a pension to various organizational and membership files to basic administration files. The pension files are particularly detailed and list the full name of the individual, address, date of birth, date of death, civilian occupations, military record, military awards, etc. The entire collection can be searched by keyword. The website has a detailed guide to the collection. Access is free.

Victorian Wills on FamilySearch

FamilySearch.org has indexed 1 million records from their State of Victoria probate register collection. The collection covers the years from 1841 to 1989 and generally involves wills. A typical record lists the name of person, date of death, address, occupation, date of testament and a declaration. Most wills list names of children, names of heirs, name of the spouse and name of the administrator of the will. Access is free.

Genealogy Cruise Post 6

It is hard to believe that today is the last day of the cruise, and tomorrow we arrive back in Sydney and disembark.  This has been a fantastic trip, with time to relax and unwind as well as the opportunity to hear so many great talks and meet so many enthusiastic genealogists.  It truly is the people who make this cruise what it is - so many friendly faces.  Amongst the many passengers on board we have all learnt to recognise the white and red Unlock the Past lanyard that identifies a fellow genealogist and even when not attending talks we tend to congregate - at meal times, at shows, in the library and the coffee shops.
Talk highlights today have included researching your family's Health History (mine all live forever - I hope I have those genes!) with Helen Smith.  Another great talk by Chris Paton on Irish Land Records, which he followed by later in the day with Scottish Inheritance.  As he said, when it comes to wills and probate, Scotland is NOT England.  And here I thought Scottish Church history was twisted and murky!!  Another highlight was Finding the Poor in 16th and 17th Century England.
The final talk of the cruise - Chris Paton again, I think he was losing his voice at the end of all this - was in the evening and focused on British civilian POWs in World War 2.

A big congratulations should go out to the team at Unlock the Past and to all the speakers for a thoroughly enjoyable and very informative program, and I hope to cruise with you again.

Genealogy Cruise Post 5

A morning of talks before our arrival in Hobart for the afternoon and all day tomorrow.  Jan Gow started my morning with Delving Deep into FamilySearch, a site I am quite familiar with but which is constantly changing and uploading more information.  There is so much more to this site than is immediately obvious, and it is easy to make the mistake of heading straight for the records and missing all the other resources and information the site has to offer.  My dining room tablemate Kirsty Gray also gave a talk on the World of the Workhouse - the history of how they developed and were administered, and what they were like for those unfortunate enough to need them.  Now to explore Hobart.

Genealogy Cruise Post 4

After a hot and sunny day walking around Adelaide, it is back to the Conference Room for more great talks.  The Top 10 Tips for finding hard-to-find ancestors has reinforced for me just what a huge undertaking family history can be and how persistent and sometimes just lucky we have to be to find that elusive clue that leads to a brick wall breakthrough.  Jill Ball's talk on free websites for Australian genealogy has me once again amazed at how much information is now available online and the sheer scale of effort that has gone into various digitising and scanning projects.  Also just how much is still left to do - it is certainly not all online.  Other talks today have included Lost in London, Civil Registration in the British Isles, and World War 1 diggers.  My brain is full.

Genealogy Cruise Post 3

Today kicked off with a talk by Helen Smith on using timelines in Genealogy.  This is  not something I have considered before now, but I really like the concept and will put it to use.  I do need to consider the social and historical context more for my ancestors - the major events (local, national and worldwide) that took place during their lives.  It tied nicely with Shauna Hicks's talk on mapping your ancestors, something I have done to some extent but I see a whole new area of focus opening up for me.  Chris Paton's talk on The Godly Commonwealth has me despairing of ever unravelling Scottish Church history - I only have one small branch of the family that is Scottish but quite a few of my ancestors were non-conformists (apparently we have a history of not being followers of the common path!), so they can be tricky to find.  These and several other talks today have left me with even more notes and severe information overload - I went back to my room, sat down to relax for a few minutes and woke to find I had slept through dinner!

Genealogy Cruise post 2

After deciding not to go ashore for our day in Melbourne, the city on the cruise that I know the best, I have been reading back over my notes after having spent the morning thoroughly exploring the ship.  I loved Jill Ball's talk about blogs (thanks Jill for your kind comments about mine), and Thomas MacEntee's talk on building a genealogy toolbox have made me think about all the tools I use for genealogy - the programs, the websites, the charts, the documents... and how I store and keep track of what I use.  Having recently had a major reorganise of my files I am currently in a fairly good position to be able to find things, but my organisation could definitely be better.  Neil Smith's talk on Australia's military history was timely considering the huge number of projects underway this year for the 100th anniversary of the start of World War 1.  While I have the basic war records of most of my military family from WW1 & 2, it is amazing to realise how much else is out there that I have never thought of or tried to access.  Finally for day 1, Kerry Farmer's talk on immigration has reinspired me to find the shipping records of several ancestors.  The can't ALL have swum...
And finally, I have to say how much I love the way they deliver our towels....