Well being home is a nice change but there is so much to do around our new house and we are still unpacking. Not to mention the paperwork involved in changing over things like vehicle registration, car licenses, electoral rolls and so on. And if we want refunds for the pro rata on on Victorian regos and licenses there are even more forms to fill in (once you manage to find them on the internet).
But I'm still finding time to do some research and two clients recently gave me a couple of challenges which had happy endings. I really do love it when you find something unexpected and with all the online indexes and digitised records online it can happen quite quickly.
For example, I was trying to find the death of someone in Ireland and not having much luck and then I decided what if they followed their daughter out to NSW. A quick look at immigration indexes at State Records NSW revealed a few suspects then checking the digitised passenger lists confirmed one as a real possibility. A check then of NSW BDMs then revealed a death entry in the right locality. I'm now waiting for a transcript to prove that it is the right person but I feel fairly confident.
I've also been looking at online newspapers and regular readers that I'm a huge fan of Trove and the National Library of Australia's e-resources for British newspapers. I hate to think how much time I spend reading newspapers! Then of course there is Papers Past for New Zealand which I use whenever looking into my NZ connections.
But this week I looked at the British Newspaper Archive for the first time. I'd heard about it and read bits and pieces but never sat down to look for anything. Well after a few hours of searching I was addicted to yet another online site! I found references to births, deaths and marriages I didn't have and even found a first wife of Max's great grandfather who we didn't know about as she died within the first year of marriage, probably from child birth as she was only 26. There were references to family members in the court sections and even an inquest into the death of a brother of a direct ancestor. Newspapers really can help fill out details of our families lives.
This also reminded me that I was yet to open my Christmas present which was a complimentary copy of a newspaper from Historic Newspapers. I've been waiting for the time and opportunity to really have a good look but with our moving, travels and that I haven't had the chance. Perhaps I should take off the Christmas paper wrapping and replace it with Easter paper? Anyway it has now moved down from the shelf to my desk so that I do open it for Easter!
Now that I'm back in Queensland old friends have been contacting me and I was pleased to have Merle Grinly visit this week. Merle and I go back to the late 1970s and we met through the Genealogical Society of Queensland. She also kindly gave me copies of her new publications on CD which I will review shortly (or should that be in the fullness of time?). They are
I have been to meetings of the Bribie Island Family History Special Interest Group and they have asked me to speak in November so I'm looking forward to that. I also went to the U3A Bribie Island family history group meeting and I now have to join that. Attending meetings is a great way to find out what's new and also to share any research problems.
Next week I have a meeting of the National Archives of Australia centenary of WW1 advisory group meeting in Canberra which I'm looking forward too. I also hope to catch up with a few people to discuss National Family History Week which I need to start promoting as I'm the voluntary National Coordinator. I'm still hoping that AFFHO will decided to make it a month but I haven't had a response yet so perhaps that's not looking good.
I had all sorts of good intentions today but noticed on Facebook that Ancestry had added a whole lot of Wiltshire records to their website and FindMyPast.com.au have added a whole lot of New Zealand records. So the call of research has been too strong and I have been checking out all the new info. I really think you could do 24/7 genealogy research these days, but who would feed me? The other half likes hearing about all the new info but isn't so keen on the time that researching takes! Where as time just slips by when I'm looking online.
This afternoon it is the hairdresser as I am going to update my website - there are lots of changes I want to make and I think I really need a new profile picture too. The current one was probably taken about 8 years ago and I've aged a bit since then! The image on Diary is about 4 years old and the one on Twitter and Facebook is about 3 years old. The last few years have just vanished. So watch out for the new me!
Have fun researching, I know I am!
But I'm still finding time to do some research and two clients recently gave me a couple of challenges which had happy endings. I really do love it when you find something unexpected and with all the online indexes and digitised records online it can happen quite quickly.
For example, I was trying to find the death of someone in Ireland and not having much luck and then I decided what if they followed their daughter out to NSW. A quick look at immigration indexes at State Records NSW revealed a few suspects then checking the digitised passenger lists confirmed one as a real possibility. A check then of NSW BDMs then revealed a death entry in the right locality. I'm now waiting for a transcript to prove that it is the right person but I feel fairly confident.
I've also been looking at online newspapers and regular readers that I'm a huge fan of Trove and the National Library of Australia's e-resources for British newspapers. I hate to think how much time I spend reading newspapers! Then of course there is Papers Past for New Zealand which I use whenever looking into my NZ connections.
But this week I looked at the British Newspaper Archive for the first time. I'd heard about it and read bits and pieces but never sat down to look for anything. Well after a few hours of searching I was addicted to yet another online site! I found references to births, deaths and marriages I didn't have and even found a first wife of Max's great grandfather who we didn't know about as she died within the first year of marriage, probably from child birth as she was only 26. There were references to family members in the court sections and even an inquest into the death of a brother of a direct ancestor. Newspapers really can help fill out details of our families lives.
This also reminded me that I was yet to open my Christmas present which was a complimentary copy of a newspaper from Historic Newspapers. I've been waiting for the time and opportunity to really have a good look but with our moving, travels and that I haven't had the chance. Perhaps I should take off the Christmas paper wrapping and replace it with Easter paper? Anyway it has now moved down from the shelf to my desk so that I do open it for Easter!
Now that I'm back in Queensland old friends have been contacting me and I was pleased to have Merle Grinly visit this week. Merle and I go back to the late 1970s and we met through the Genealogical Society of Queensland. She also kindly gave me copies of her new publications on CD which I will review shortly (or should that be in the fullness of time?). They are
- Queensland Ship Deserters 1862-1911
- Queensland Transmissions of Real Estate by Death 1878-1940
- Wallangarra Quarantine Admission Registers 1918-1919
I have been to meetings of the Bribie Island Family History Special Interest Group and they have asked me to speak in November so I'm looking forward to that. I also went to the U3A Bribie Island family history group meeting and I now have to join that. Attending meetings is a great way to find out what's new and also to share any research problems.
Next week I have a meeting of the National Archives of Australia centenary of WW1 advisory group meeting in Canberra which I'm looking forward too. I also hope to catch up with a few people to discuss National Family History Week which I need to start promoting as I'm the voluntary National Coordinator. I'm still hoping that AFFHO will decided to make it a month but I haven't had a response yet so perhaps that's not looking good.
I had all sorts of good intentions today but noticed on Facebook that Ancestry had added a whole lot of Wiltshire records to their website and FindMyPast.com.au have added a whole lot of New Zealand records. So the call of research has been too strong and I have been checking out all the new info. I really think you could do 24/7 genealogy research these days, but who would feed me? The other half likes hearing about all the new info but isn't so keen on the time that researching takes! Where as time just slips by when I'm looking online.
This afternoon it is the hairdresser as I am going to update my website - there are lots of changes I want to make and I think I really need a new profile picture too. The current one was probably taken about 8 years ago and I've aged a bit since then! The image on Diary is about 4 years old and the one on Twitter and Facebook is about 3 years old. The last few years have just vanished. So watch out for the new me!
Have fun researching, I know I am!
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