Genealogy notes 15-22 October 2013 - Australian archives conference

I've been a bit quiet the last week or so as I went to the Australian Society of Archivists conference in Canberra and came home extremely tired and still trying to shake my chest cold. As it was the Bribie Festival at the weekend I spent a quiet couple of days in bed so I wouldn't miss any of the festivities and I'm happy to say I'm feeling much better.

But back to Canberra which was my home for a number of years and I always love going back. This time I stayed at the Capital Executive Apartments (free mini Kit Kats in the fridge every day) which was only a couple of blocks from the free bus stop that takes visitors around to the major tourist attractions including the National Museum of Australia, the Australian War Memorial, the National Film and Sound Archive and the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House to mention just a few stops. It was a great way to travel around Canberra and to get to the conference venues.

I had planned to tweet during the archives conference but for some reason my Twitter app and my phone are no longer compatible (even reloading didn't help) so I missed out on tweeting and seeing tweets from other attendees. The hash tag was #ausarch2013 so you can see what others posted there, including photos. The irony was that for the first time I decided to travel light and left the IPad at home, otherwise I would have used that.

You can read my report on the archives conference here and I have to say that the catering at the conference and the social events was so good and so plentiful that I didn't bother with dinner at night, but then I was also struggling with the time difference as well. It's funny it took me years to get used to daylight saving, now I'm having trouble getting used to not having it!

The conference satchel was a useful reusable shopping bag and had all kinds of brochures including a copy of Wartime, the official magazine of the Australian War Memorial plus a copy of the ASA's Archives Matter! publication  (copy online free). I also arranged for the inclusion of a flyer on National Family History Month 2014 as I hope to encourage more archives to participate in NFHM next year.

From a genealogy perspective I found a number of the sessions interesting as the National Archives of Australia and the National Library of Australia talked about their future directions. Trove is just going to get better and better and it will be harder than ever to drag ourselves away from our laptops. Ancestry.com.au was the principal sponsor and Inside History Magazine was another sponsor together with a number of universities and the major archival institutions.

An onsite exhibitor was Gale Cengage Learning and most of us would be familiar with the digitised collections of Gale newspapers that we can access with our e-resources cards from the National Library of Australia and our local State Library. It's been a while since I looked at the Gale products and they had paper copies of information sheets including Nineteenth Century Collections Online, State Papers Online Eighteenth Century 1714-1782, Archives Unbound, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Part II: New Editions, Daily Mail Historical Archive 1896-2004 and later this year they are releasing The Chatham House Online Archive. Gale subscriptions are not cheap and you usually can access them via your local library or State Library and perhaps via e-resources as mentioned earlier. I usually only look at the London Times Digital Archive 1785-2007 but its quite obvious they have many more resources of interest to family historians. Browse their extensive catalogue and don't just look under Biology and Genealogy, there is also lots to interest under History and other topics. Then see what's available at your local library.

The first weekend of the Bribie Festival was great and we went to a 1960s cocktail party on Saturday night at the Bribie Island Seaside Museum. Some attendees came in 60s fashion and that brought back many memories! On the Sunday we went to the expanded markets and watched the dragon boat races and other activities. There are events all week and more markets next weekend so lots of visitors to the Island this week which is good.

All the dreadful fires in NSW at the moment are bringing back the memories we have of the Canberra fires in 2003. Even now I still feel the fear that we had that day when we were hosing our house and gardens and trying to watch out for embers. Fortunately for us they were able to stop the fire from crossing the main road and into our street. While living in Melbourne we were nowhere near a natural forest but I had my escape plan and what I would save all ready to go. Here on Bribie we have also decided not to live too close to the national park but I haven't as yet set up a new back up system and escape plan with what I definitely want to try and save. House fires sadly happen too so this has gone on to my must do list. We can only hope and pray those brave volunteers get the fires under control soon and some rain would be good.

I have emails to catch up on, blogs to read, articles to write and my new research guide to index. But I have my new issue of the Journal of One Name Studies from the Guild of One Name Studies so I think perhaps a cup of tea and a nice read is in order. Happy researching this week.

Genealogy Notes 5-14 October 2013 - genealogy magazines

Never thought I would say this but I've done very little genealogy over the last week or so as I've still been laid up with whatever the dreaded virus was! I've even lost interest in Twitter, Facebook and blogs so if you've been wondering where I've been, it's only been my bed, not very exciting.

But there has been a little excitement here and there and I did drag myself down to the local newsagent to buy a copy of a new Australian genealogy magazine Family Tree Tracker but apparently it's a once only publication. I was alerted to it when I read Alona's blog Family Tree Tracker Hits the Shelves and she gave a detailed description of the contents. Alona is a great person to follow as she always knows what's going on! I was a bit surprised that a once off magazine was actually in a Bribie Island newsagent but I happily paid my money and of course couldn't resist looking at the UK magazines they have.  As usual one had an article on an area of interest so that was two magazines but at least I had more to read in bed.

It's not cheap buying one off UK magazines and I was looking at some of the US genealogy magazines online and noted that I could get a year's subscription (digital) for US$19.95 which is approximately $22.00. I have a GGG grandfather in the US and a GGG grandfather in Canada so it will be interesting to see what information is in the magazine over the next year. My Oct/Nov 2013 issue of US Family Tree Magazine arrived promptly and with a free digital gift - 49 Ways to Discover Your Roots. Now I might finally track down when those two GGG grandfathers died.

Another blogger I like to read is Cassmob and her blog Kenya and Kiva on her recent travels to Kenya caught my eye as I've always wanted to go to Africa (I blame John Wayne in Hatari for those who can remember that far back). I'm also a member of Kiva's Genealogists for Families Project and as I had enough credit for another loan I decided to help a Kenyan woman this time. At the moment Kiva is offering free loans (funded by other benefactors) so if you want to know more check out  http://www.kiva.org/invitedby/shauna1522. Amazingly I'm on my 37th loan of $25, most of which has been with my original $25 plus a few free gift loans and it all does amazing work helping other families.

The really exciting news is that I submitted two papers for the 2015 AFFHO Congress and both papers have been accepted. Lots of other well known speakers have also said that their papers were accepted so it looks like being a great event in 2015. Start planning to go now.

I'm off to Canberra tomorrow for the Australian Society of Archivists conference. I wish I was a bit more perky but it will be good to see all my old colleagues and to hear all the latest news. Ancestry.com.au is the principal sponsor and Inside History Magazine is also one of the sponsors. Looking forward to catching up with both of them. It seems to be a lot cooler down that way again so trying to work out what to take in my little carry on bag is a bit of a challenge.

Well have a good time researching and I hope to return fit and well from Canberra in time for the Bribie Island Festival at the weekend. Until next time.

Genealogy Notes 25 Sep - 4 Oct 2013 digitised newspaper success

Just as well I wrote up my two reports of the NSW & ACT conference quickly (here and here if you missed them) as I've been laid low with a dreaded virus since. On the good side I've managed to catch up with all my unread issues of the QFHS Queensland Family Historian and the GSQ Generation plus I have been reading Oceans of Consolation by David Fitzpatrick. This book is based on personal accounts of Irish migration to Australia from 14 families and no, I'm not lucky enough to have my ancestors within that collection. But what those various families experienced is probably similar to what my Irish ancestors went through so it is good background information and helps to provide more context to my research.

I also indulged myself with some genealogy searching in my more wide awake moments and I'm so glad I did. Trove is forever turning up new things in my family history as new papers are being digitised and added online all the time. I'm sure I've looked for my gg grandmother Helen Chick/Ferguson/Carnegie many times before but this is the first time that I've found a probate reference for her which was two years after her death. She died in Queensland where she spent most of her life but she did spend a few years in New South Wales with her second husband Charles Chick. I've not thought of looking for a will and probate for her in QLD or NSW (as she never appeared to have had any property or to settle anywhere for long) but the references in Trove quickly sent me to the State Records NSW website to check their online catalogue for probate references to Chick. Not only was there a probate reference for Helen but there was also one for Charles so after a quick dash for the credit card, I order both probate packets and I now sit patiently waiting for the postman.

The news that Findmypast.com.au now had Irish newspapers also aroused my interest and a quick search for Jeffers of Portadown revealed a number of entries which I believe belong to my gg grandmother Maria Jeffers' family. Being able to do a keyword search on a digitised newspaper is so fantastic as we probably wouldn't find some of these stories simply winding through microfilms. When I feel a bit better I'm going to spend more time looking for some of my other ancestors.

While on the subject of historic newspapers, there is an offer (until the end of the year) from Historic Newspapers - they are offering a UK 5  pound credit with findmypast.co.uk with every newspaper order. More information on the offer here. Readers may recall I was offered a review copy from Historic Newspapers last year and I have to say they do make an unusual and different present for someone as they even come packaged in tissue paper in a gift box. Christmas is fast approaching!

Speaking of presents for genealogy loved ones, I also received display copies of the latest releases from Unlock the Past. I always have the UTP titles for sale at my talks and seminars and of course, the first two UTP titles were my own books! Now there are dozens of titles from a whole range of authors. You can check out all the new (and existing) titles here. Some of them are even available as e-books. I was supposed to have my new book with them by the end of September but I simply haven't been able to think, let alone write, with my stuffed up head!

I did manage to put up a new blog post on my website, Researching the State Library of Victoria from Afar which was a guest blog for their Family Matters blog. It really is amazing just how much information is available on our State library websites so check them out for whatever States your ancestors were in.

For those who don't follow me on Twitter and Facebook I'm going to start recording in this Diary some of the links I share through those social media forums. Perhaps I will just simply list them:
The Community Archive: National Register of Archives and Manuscripts, New Zealand
Founders and Survivors (Tasmanian convicts project)
Twisted Twigs on Gnarled Branches Genealogy (some great genealogy sayings and often funny and true!

Finally I would like to thank my two Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra friends for helping me out with a National Family History Month 2014 task. I've arranged for a special flyer to go into the conference satchel for the Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) Conference which is in Canberra in just over a week. Being sick I hadn't got around to getting the flyer printed and posted off to meet their deadline. My two friends arranged the printing and delivery for me for which I'm really grateful. As national coordinator for NFHM, I'm a one person band but that doesn't work so well, when the band needs a tune up! I still haven't heard from AFFHO about my evaluation and recommendations post NFHM 2013 but I'm hoping to set up the 2014 website soon.

After being sick for over a week, I'm off to the doctor's again - I'm rarely sick these days and I find it frustrating not having a clear head and more energy. Still catching up on my reading and lying in bed with the IPad and Trove isn't all that bad either. But I am attending the ASA conference week after next so I do have to get better for that. Happy researching! 

Genealogy Notes 21-24 September 2013 NSW & ACT Genealogy Conference

It's been a busy few days and this Diary update is covering my time at the NSW & ACT genealogy conference in Canberra, hosted by HAGSOC. My report on Friday's Family History Fair is here and my report on the conference sessions is here. There was just so much happening I've divided it up into smaller pieces.

The conference is a full day on the Saturday and a half day on the Sunday which allows some of the attendees to get home the same day depending on where they live. The venue for all the sessions was the Hellenic Club and they also did the catering which was plentiful and delicious. Morning and afternoon tea was a treat and lunch had a great variety of sandwiches, wraps, rolls and fruit as well as tea and coffee.

During the breaks everyone was busy either catching up with others or visiting the exhibitors (see my Fair report above for who was there). I particularly liked catching up with some of my social media friends who I have never met before but instead of calling them by their real names, I tend to still think of them as per their blog or twitter names! Here are a few of them and they have also done blog posts so check some of their conference posts out too!
Geniaus (aka Jill Ball) who also posts lots of photos as well
Helen Smith (From Helen V Smith's Keyboard) also a keen photographer
Branches Leaves and Pollen (aka Amy Lehmann)
Jenny Joyce (Jenny's Genealogy Blog)

The conference dinner was really good - 3 courses with two soups to start with, then either chicken or steak for mains and dessert was apple crumble or berries. Everything came out smoothly and got cleared away just as efficiently. It was buy your own drinks and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The live entertainment was also good but the microphones didn't seem to want to behave so I felt for the performers who just went ahead without the microphones. The show goes on as they say!

It was a bit of a late night, I'm usually an early to bed, early to rise person so I was a bit weary the next morning. I remembered to check out of the hotel and take my suitcase with me as I was going straight to the airport after lunch. It was all a bit hectic over lunch with everyone trying to eat and then head off. Exhibitors were trying to pack up and people saying their goodbyes. I missed catching up with a few to say goodbye, especially some of my HAGSOC friends but they were all busy or celebrating the end of the conference.

The taxi ride to the airport was uneventful, I had time for a quick glass of champers in the Qantas Club then I was on a very small plane back to Brisbane. After collecting my luggage which seemed twice as heavy as when I left, I had to find my way to where the buses picked people up. Brisbane is still a new airport for me and this was my first time getting a bus home. Found the right spot and the bus turned up about 30 minutes later. Then it was an easy drive up the Bruce Highway to Morayfield where I left the bus to be collected by the Bribie airport shuttle who then drove me to Bribie Island, and right to my door! A very long day.

The last two days I've been writing up all these blogs and diary entries as well as looking at all the information I brought home, the books, brochures and my notes. I've also been reading other people's blog posts on the conference and it is good to see what they have noted, especially if I didn't get to the session myself. There is enough here to keep me busy for weeks! Hope you have enjoyed these conference write ups and do check out some of the links, there are some great genealogy sites out there. Happy researching.

Genealogy notes 19-23 Sep 2013 Day One of NSW & ACT conference

The last three days have been genealogy packed as I attended the NSW & ACT Association of Family History Societies annual conference in Canberra - Limestone Plains to Marble Halls. My Friday started before sunrise as I got up early to make sure I had everything before the Forrest Airport Shuttle Transfers arrived at 5.55am. They had another pick up at Beachmere so I enjoyed the scenic drive till we picked up the other passenger then it was back to the highway and straight to the airport. A quick breakfast in the Qantas Lounge then onto the plane for Canberra. There were no delays this time and I arrived to a wet and chilly Canberra where I realised I'd forgotten to pack a jumper but I did have a shawl in my suitcase.

A quick taxi ride had me at my hotel the Quality Inn at Woden just a few minutes walk from the Hellenic Club where the conference was being held. It was too early to check in so I left my suitcase and headed to the free family history fair which was held in conjunction with the conference. There were free talks every half hour throughout the day from 10am to 3.30pm and I missed the first four as I didn't arrive until about 11.30am.

A full report on the fair and all of the exhibitors is on my website blog SHHE Genie Rambles.

After the fair finished I caught up with some genealogy friends at the Hellenic Club bar while we waited for the Meet and Greet which kicked off the conference. It was well attended and there was lots of finger food and buy your own drinks. Lots of talking and catching up with people.

I have to admit I slipped out about 8pm for a couple of reasons. It had been a long and tiring day plus it was a Friday night and I'm a Phryne Fisher fan. I simply love Kerry Greenwood's series on the female detective and usually I don't like TV or movie adaptations of my reading loves, but this TV series on Phryne Fisher is an exception. This episode was set in Queenscliff in Victoria, one of the places we liked to go when we lived down that way.

Then it was a good night's sleep as the next day was full on and the conference dinner in the evening. Stay tuned for more news.

Genealogy notes 12-18 Sep 2013 Victorian Resources Online & more

Another busy week and although I no longer live in Victoria, my thoughts have been all about Victorian family history research this week. Why? You may recall that I was doing a guest blog for Family Matters, the genealogy blog of the State Library of Victoria. Good news, Using the State Library of Victoria from Afar is now published. It's written for all those who can't personally visit the SLV and it highlights some of the great genealogy resources they have online for free. If you want still more Victorian links check out the very end of the Resources page on my website - it has a list of all my favourite Victorian websites for family history.

Still want more Victorian resources - Findmypast now has the index to Victorian passenger lists 1846-1899 online and I am always amazed at the variety of Australian and New Zealand records that is now searchable in their database - see latest list here. Public Record Office Victoria also has a lot of online indexes and digitised records including wills and probate records so another great free site to visit.

I've always been a fan of the One Place Studies website and now there is a society that you can join if you are researching a one place study. Family history and local history often intersect so check out if anyone is doing a study of one of your places of interest or if you have lots of information on a particular place, you might want to see what others are doing with their studies.

Online e-newsletters received during the week include Queensland State Archives' qsa bulletin highlighting some great new indexes and other news (latest issue here) and Lost Cousins another free online e-newsletters with a broad range of info on the UK and elsewhere (latest issue here). I also received my back issues of History Queensland magazine - somehow the renewal of my subscription went astray during the big move so I have four issues to catch up on with that!

It's probably obvious (in hindsight) that this Diary doesn't capture all the info links I share via Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus and I know that not everyone follows me in all those media so some people are not aware that I was nominated in the recent Rockstar Genealogists survey. This is organised by John D Reid through his Anglo-Celtic Connections blog.

Can't think why I didn't mention it in this Diary as I was quite excited at the time that someone had nominated me. Well I was even more excited this week to find out that I had won the Silver Medal in the Australia & New Zealand section with good friend Chris Paton picking up the Bronze Medal (even though he lives in Scotland). I was really delighted to see another good friend Jill Ball announced as the Gold Medal winner! I noticed that Chris picked up the Gold Medal for Canada as well (he does seem to get around)! Getting nominated is great recognition and picking up a medal is a true honour and I'd like to congratulate all the nominees, and medal winners in all the different countries and John for organising the poll and having a Downunder category.

Quite a few of those nominees and winners will be on the 4th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise next February so I think that's going to be a fantastic trip and I'm already excited at the thought of listening to great speakers and learning more about all kinds of genealogy and family history resources.

In two days I'm going to be at the NSW & ACT Family History Organisations annual conference, this year in Canberra with the theme Limestone Plains to Marble Halls. I will be posting on Twitter and Facebook while at the conference and when I get home I'll write up a report on the conference as usual. There is a family history fair on the Friday and my plane arrives early enough for me to spend the afternoon there so it will be interesting to see how many books I buy! One thing about travelling by plane, it does make you think about how you will get everything home.

I've another great weekend of genealogy ahead of me so now for a spot of grocery shopping and housework so that the family doesn't miss me too much while I'm gone! Until next time happy researching.

Genealogy notes 4-11 Sep 2013 - news from genealogy journals

Amazing another week gone and I'm happy to say I've been catching up on my genealogy magazine reading, in print and online! I tried to make a resolution that I would read everything the day it arrived, no more stockpiling but of course that isn't realistic. Some days I don't log online and I only collect the mail once a week from the post office so already I have mini stockpiles! Still I've tried to read everything that has come in this past week, or at least flicked through it before adding to the reading pile.

September is probably a bad month to start this new resolution as that's when my quarterly journals arrive - so I have the latest issues of Generation from the Genealogical Society of Queensland, the Queensland Family Historian from the Queensland Family History Society, Ancestor from the Genealogical Society of Victoria, the September issue of Australian Family Tree Connections and the Sep/Oct issue of Inside History Magazine. That's a lot of reading and a lot of new things to look at online as well if you follow up the tips you find reading these types of journals.

There were two things that struck me flicking through Ancestor - one is that they have a new CD which is a digitised version of all their newsletters and journals since 1948 to 2011. I love these digitised compilations as you can still have all the issues (without them occupying heaps of space) and it is all easily searchable. I already have copies of both GSQ (30 years of Generation) and QFHS (1979-2010 compendium) journals on CD which is great as every time I moved over the last two decades I've given away my print journals. I'm now thinking of buying the GSV Ancestor journals on CD, although I don't have too many print copies with me as I only moved twelve months ago. I only kept the last few years.

The second thing I noticed was that GSV now have a membership category for young members (18-25 years of age) and they are referring to them as Next Generation Genies. I think this is a great idea and I don't know if any other Australian societies have done the same. Anyone know? I've been saying for ages that societies need to look at attracting more younger members and to start using social media as that is where you find them. This was something that really struck me during National Family History Month and the lead up to it. There are some interesting young people out there reporting on their genealogy research via social media. One person I was pleased to finally meet up with was Caitie who uses Tumblr to record her research, has a Facebook page, uses Twitter and even records genealogy research videos on You Tube. Find her on Twitter here.

Inside History Magazine isn't something you flick through so I've saved that for a quiet time (ie no one else around) so I can curl up on the lounge with a cup of tea and my mag!  Of course I can't do that (at least not easily) with my online magazines as I usually read on my laptop, although sometimes I'll use my IPad. The free September issue of Irish Lives Remembered focus is on Cavan where one of my Irish ancestors came from so that was a must read. This issue also has the start of my new series on Finding the Irish Downunder and the first part is on Queensland. I also caught up with my news from Ancestry and Findmypast and Dick Eastman's blog gives me a daily update - there is just so much new information coming out all the time.

I wrote a guest blog for Family Matters, the genealogy blog from the State Library of Victoria so that should be coming out soon. I was contacted by some distant relatives because they are finding me through my blog writing - my Finding My Long Lost Jeffers Cousins Online just keeps on giving me new relatives despite the fact I wrote it in Feb 2010! I did a follow up titled Letters Home My Irish Families and that put me into contact with even more relatives. The other contact was related to Max via his Barwick grandmother and she actually writes a family genealogy newsletter so she sent some samples and they are fascinating and full of information on the family. So we are signing up for a subscription. More to read!

I also finalised the evaluation report for AFFHO on National Family History Month and included a number of suggestions and recommendations for NFHM 2014. It will be interesting to see what they think of my report and my plan for a 12 month approach to planning NFHM in future. Looking at my diary I realised that next week is the NSW & ACT family history associations conference Limestone Hills to Marble Halls in Canberra. I'm already registered with accommodation close by so that I can easily walk to the venue each day. It will be great to catch up with all my old friends and colleagues as I missed last year's due to our big move.

Last night was the Bribie Island Historical Society meeting which was interesting as usual and we have the Bribie Festival coming up in October along with the 50th anniversary of the Bribie Bridge. We're going to the 60s cocktail party which should be a buzz, pity I didn't keep any of those memorable clothes! I'm off now to the Bribie Island Family History Group meeting where Dawn Montgomery from the Queensland Family History Society is going to be talking about one of my favourite indexes - the Ryerson Index (death notices and obituaries in Australian newspapers). Tomorrow we have a heritage walk at Godwin Beach which will be interesting - there really is a lot to do if you are interested in history, genealogy and heritage.

I hope everyone is finding some time for their own research and until next time, keep on top of that reading!