It is funny how things seem to all go together - I had not been to a funeral or a hospital for years yet over the last few weeks I have found myself at the Royal Brisbane more often than I would like and all funerals seem to have gone high tech in celebrating a loved one's life. While it is good to see all those happy photos (accompanied by some trendy song) on the big screen illustrating a person's life, and listening to the eulogy that highlights so many memories, I also find it quite sad. I am left wondering what I would like to see at my own funeral. A bit morbid I guess but it must be hard for the families to write a eulogy and put a photographic presentation together at a time of loss. Perhaps as the family historian I should do it all in advance and save the family stressing out later. And really, when I think about it, I am the best person to tell my own story and they can always add their own memories in if they want.
So what have I been doing with the rest of my time? Today's talk on tracing mining ancestors at the Bribie Island Family History Group was well received and I am always pleased when people say I have given them lots to think about. The talk is basically the same one I gave on the Unlock the Past cruise in February and the only URL that had changed was for the Ballarat & District Genealogical Society which has finally got its new website up (and it looks fantastic). The talk is on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.
Last week in Diary I wrote about the Inverell trip and military seminar, and if we had not had the need to return home, I would have liked to stay on for the Australian Celtic Festival as this year it was Cornwall. It is usually held the first weekend in May at Glen Innes (Celtic Country). In 2015 it is Wales. The Festival has been on my list of things to attend for many years, a bit like the Kernewek Lowender Cornish festival in South Australia. It is only held every two years (next one 2015) but some day I will manage to get the timing right. My Cornish great great grandparents have always fascinated me and I find attending Cornish cultural events interesting or perhaps it is just my fondness for Cornish pasties!
Tomorrow I am off to Adelaide as I am giving a talk at the Unlock the Past researching and writing history seminar. This trip I have also left a little time for some research. The Adelaide cemeteries are online so I have a nice list of where everyone is buried/cremated and we will be hiring a car to get around. Although we have been to Adelaide many times we have never taken the time to visit the cemeteries so this time we are definitely doing it. Doing all the preparation at home is great and will save us so much time when we are over there.
I also want to visit Genealogy SA as I have found quite a lot of references in their online database so although it is Mother's Day on Sunday I am hoping that they will still be open. Re-examining Max's families in preparation for the trip made we realise that there are a few key certificates we still need to get and another trawl through Trove produced lots of new stories. Henry Spencer had three wives and children to them all and we have been slowly tracing the descendants with each new discovery giving further clues.
So I have a pile of new information to key into the database - I love the research and the thrill of the chase but am not so keen on the data entry and filing! We will be also visiting his living cousins as well as the grandkids and taking our own happy snaps. Really looking forward to the trip and a bit of down time after the seminar talk.
The latest issue of Inside History Magazine features an article I wrote on Lutheran archives and I was thrilled to get feedback via Facebook from Footnote Maven who is a blogger and social media friend in the USA. She gets the magazine as an e-magazine and I received her nice comments before I had even got my paper copy through the mail. It really is amazing how we can communicate and share genealogy information in the 21st century!
The May issue of Australian Family Tree Connections has my article on National Family History Month in August 2014 and I am hoping that this will generate a lot more events on the web calendar and some more Likes on the NFHM Facebook page too. AFTC is one of the NFHM prize sponsors (as is Inside History Magazine) so check out the website and see all the other sponsors and prizes that can be won this August. Why not ask what your local society is doing (they cannot win a society prize if they do not have an event listed in the web calendar)?
My personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 has fallen a bit behind with all the family issues but Week 15 was on Civil Registration & Certificates. I also managed a bit of a website update (and changed my profile picture) with most changes behind the scenes but it has helped with the rather heavy spam attacks lately.
Everything else has totally fallen behind but that is the nice thing about genealogy and family history - you can put it down for a while and pick it up again when you have more time. I have a nice stack of genealogy magazines to take on the plane so until next time happy researching.
So what have I been doing with the rest of my time? Today's talk on tracing mining ancestors at the Bribie Island Family History Group was well received and I am always pleased when people say I have given them lots to think about. The talk is basically the same one I gave on the Unlock the Past cruise in February and the only URL that had changed was for the Ballarat & District Genealogical Society which has finally got its new website up (and it looks fantastic). The talk is on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.
Last week in Diary I wrote about the Inverell trip and military seminar, and if we had not had the need to return home, I would have liked to stay on for the Australian Celtic Festival as this year it was Cornwall. It is usually held the first weekend in May at Glen Innes (Celtic Country). In 2015 it is Wales. The Festival has been on my list of things to attend for many years, a bit like the Kernewek Lowender Cornish festival in South Australia. It is only held every two years (next one 2015) but some day I will manage to get the timing right. My Cornish great great grandparents have always fascinated me and I find attending Cornish cultural events interesting or perhaps it is just my fondness for Cornish pasties!
Tomorrow I am off to Adelaide as I am giving a talk at the Unlock the Past researching and writing history seminar. This trip I have also left a little time for some research. The Adelaide cemeteries are online so I have a nice list of where everyone is buried/cremated and we will be hiring a car to get around. Although we have been to Adelaide many times we have never taken the time to visit the cemeteries so this time we are definitely doing it. Doing all the preparation at home is great and will save us so much time when we are over there.
I also want to visit Genealogy SA as I have found quite a lot of references in their online database so although it is Mother's Day on Sunday I am hoping that they will still be open. Re-examining Max's families in preparation for the trip made we realise that there are a few key certificates we still need to get and another trawl through Trove produced lots of new stories. Henry Spencer had three wives and children to them all and we have been slowly tracing the descendants with each new discovery giving further clues.
So I have a pile of new information to key into the database - I love the research and the thrill of the chase but am not so keen on the data entry and filing! We will be also visiting his living cousins as well as the grandkids and taking our own happy snaps. Really looking forward to the trip and a bit of down time after the seminar talk.
The latest issue of Inside History Magazine features an article I wrote on Lutheran archives and I was thrilled to get feedback via Facebook from Footnote Maven who is a blogger and social media friend in the USA. She gets the magazine as an e-magazine and I received her nice comments before I had even got my paper copy through the mail. It really is amazing how we can communicate and share genealogy information in the 21st century!
The May issue of Australian Family Tree Connections has my article on National Family History Month in August 2014 and I am hoping that this will generate a lot more events on the web calendar and some more Likes on the NFHM Facebook page too. AFTC is one of the NFHM prize sponsors (as is Inside History Magazine) so check out the website and see all the other sponsors and prizes that can be won this August. Why not ask what your local society is doing (they cannot win a society prize if they do not have an event listed in the web calendar)?
My personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 has fallen a bit behind with all the family issues but Week 15 was on Civil Registration & Certificates. I also managed a bit of a website update (and changed my profile picture) with most changes behind the scenes but it has helped with the rather heavy spam attacks lately.
Everything else has totally fallen behind but that is the nice thing about genealogy and family history - you can put it down for a while and pick it up again when you have more time. I have a nice stack of genealogy magazines to take on the plane so until next time happy researching.
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