Thursday 2 April 2015

AFFHO Congress wrap up - Genealogy Notes 28 Mar - 3 Apr 2015


It has been a huge week since last Diary. The AFFHO Congress 2015 is over and most of us have returned home and have been busy writing up our post Congress blogs. I had so much to say that it is a three part review. Part One was Days 1 and 2, Part Two was Days 3 and 4 and Part Three was Social Events and Exhibitors. Click on the links to read each part.

Photo taken by Mr Geniaus
As well as my own blogs I have been busy reading what others had to say and there were lots of geneabloggers there. To assist us in finding all these bloggers Geniaus (aka Jill) is compiling a pre, during and post Congress list of blogs. Jill's Geneabloggers at Congress- Reflections has all the links although there might be still more to come. Geniaus and Mr Geniaus are obviously a dynamic duo as he came in to Congress to take the Geneabloggers photo and I think we were mostly all there. That's Jill second from right at the front and you can see the lovely blogger beads that Jill supplied as with. It was a great way to instantly see who was a Geneablogger!

It was only after we got home that I realised that Easter was this weekend and we had one of Max's sons popping in for a short visit, hence the mad effort to finish my blog posts before Easter. We also have a trip down to Brisbane to see Mum and other family members. Easter is the time when my orchids start to flower and I am particularly pleased with this one. The others took a bit of a battering in the storm we had while we were in Canberra.

As always after a Congress, or any genealogy event, I am super motivated and as Mum's birthday is coming up I dragged out my draft family history on her Price family. I originally wrote it back in 2002 when I was in Canberra and of course since then I have added bits and pieces, the usual never ending story. After talking to David from Openbook Howden at Congress, I realised that I could print a few copies for family members at a relatively reasonable price, especially if I just give him a PDF. Of course this means I have to do layout, editing etc myself or they can do it but that costs more. It will depend on how clever I am!

My Easter genealogy exercise is to reread it, do amendments, additions and add in some charts and photographs with the aim of an almost final work by Easter Monday night. It is limited to three generations so I have not mentioned any living people except Mum and I believe she is the last of her generation. I will have to get someone else to read it as you can never pick up all your own mistakes.

Already I have doubts about this goal as so far today I have found new information courtesy of Trove (what else!). Two photos of Mum's uncle, William Price, who went to the Boer War twice and eventually settled in South Africa have surfaced in Trove. Now we finally know what he looked like. If I recheck Trove for everyone mentioned in the Price family draft, then I might just need more than the Easter weekend to finish.

Plus there are the new genealogy books and magazines I bought home to read (see Congress blog posts for titles), not to mention all those Congress papers. I have some new prize sponsors for National Family History Month 2015 so I need to make some more changes to the website and post Easter I am starting the NFHM PR campaign in earnest.

Next weekend (11 April) I will be in Maryborough (QLD) giving three talks for the Maryborough Family Heritage Research Institute - this was the event cancelled back in February due to Cyclone Marcia. Looking forward to that as they are always a good crowd.

Have a safe and happy Easter and where possible, try and sneak in some genealogy time, especially if you are catching up with family members. Happy searching until next time.








10 comments:

  1. Great blog. Good luck with the book.

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  2. Thanks for the shoutout Shauna. Just wish we would have had more time to talk at Congress.

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  3. What a beautiful orchid. Well done you!

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  4. Great post, thanks for sharing. Goodluck for you!

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  5. Thanks everyone for your comments. Lilian, I am already learning new Word tricks trying to do my book and Jill, there is never enough time at a geneaevent. Orchids are my other passion Alex and I am slowly rebuilding my orchid collection. Sadly I couldn't take it with me when I moved to Canberra.

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  6. Congress just flew by. Totally love the orchid. The colour is fantastic. I got home to visitors and have been so busy and now half of Easter is gone too. I will need to look at my notes to make sure I action some of the ideas. Fran

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  7. I checked out Openbook Howden and their products seem of excellent standard. Doing your own document isn't too hard - I did it with mine back in 2003. Just don't use fancy fonts...I learnt the hard way. Good luck!

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  8. I checked out Openbook Howden and their products seem of excellent standard. Doing your own document isn't too hard - I did it with mine back in 2003. Just don't use fancy fonts...I learnt the hard way. Good luck!

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  9. That is a gorgeous orchid Shauna, such a beautiful colour. How quickly Easter went, just like Congress! I thought I would have time to go through the rest of my notes from Congress over Easter but socialising and Easter Egg hunts got in the way. No excuses now. Look forward to hearing how your book comes on.

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  10. Thanks Tanya for the encouragement on the book. It is good motivation to know that others are watching progress.

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