Thursday 2 August 2018

National Family History Month & Other News - Genealogy Notes 16 - 31 Jul 2018

Exciting news - this blog was listed by Feedspot in the Top 10 Australian Genealogy Blogs which also includes some of my favourite bloggers including individuals and genealogy societies.

Books

I have started reading Lynette McDermott's third volume in her Garth Trilogy The Promise of Tomorrow and I'm hooked again. This time the setting is the Gippsland Lakes area of Victoria. This is an area where we had some wonderful fishing trips when we lived down that way so I'm familiar with a lot of the places. I hadn't thought I would relate as much to the third volume as I had with the first (Norfolk Island) and second (Tasmania). The only problem is that it is an ecopy so I have to read on the laptop and not curled up in bed, my preferred reading spot.

Conferences

Pauleen Cass, one of my fellow social media ambassadors for the Waves in Time conference on the Sunshine Coast in May 2019 has written a wonderful blog post on what's happening - read Catch a Genealogy Wave in Queensland for a total update and make sure you put the dates in your diary. It will be a conference not to be missed.

Cruises

In a few weeks I'm off on the Unlock the Past Alaska cruise and it should be a really great time. There will be a few days in Vancouver, Canada then a few days in Seattle. While there I'm attending the UTP one day conference with Blaine Bettinger and other speakers. Then the 7 night cruise with lots of onboard talks and wonderful scenery and onshore days. I will be doing my usual post cruise blog with all the highlights and learnings.

Unlock the Past have started to publicise their next cruise which is from Sydney to Singapore and you can check out the key speakers and what else is happening here. If that one doesn't tempt you, then there is a second cruise in 2019 going from Southampton to the Mediterranean.

National Family History Month

I almost forgot that August is National Family History Month now that I have retired as voluntary national coordinator. This year I can just sit back and enjoy events and even enter the NFHM prizes giveaway. My big event for the month is attending the FamilySearch Discovery Day at Forest Glen where I'm giving two talks and listening to two of my favourite speakers. Looking forward to a great day of genealogy tips and motivation.

Moreton Bay Region Libraries have a range of free talks on offer during August and I'm booked to attend a DNA talk with David Barnes at the Caboolture Library and Helen Smith is coming to Bribie Island Library to talk about brick walls and breaking them down. It's a nice to sit back and enjoy NFHM.

Image courtesy Hazel Edwards
Well known children's author (and grandmother) Hazel Edwards is also known for her How to Write a Non Boring Family History.  Hazel is keen to interest children in history and their own family history and she is keen to see other families foster this interest in the past.

NFHM is a perfect opportunity to try some of Hazel's ideas - why not do a picture book with a few highlights of an event/s in the family. Create a special birthday book. Or help them to draw the family tree. I love  Hazel's grandson's family tree.

If you are stuck for ideas, or need some guidance on how to start, check out Hazel's handy hints.

Resources

Findmypast has added some Cheshire, Cumberland and Derbyshire records plus added more records to the 1939 Register and more newspaper titles. Ancestry and MyHeritage are major supporters of NFHM so remember to check out the Sponsors page to see what prizes are on offer during August.


What's Coming Up?

Another trip on my bucket list is to the Midlands area of England (I have been to London a couple of times and been to Oxford, Kent and Wiltshire but always seem to run out of time). Next year The Genealogy Show is in Birmingham in June 2019 so I have started to plan out a trip to see all my Staffordshire ancestral places and then head up to York, then Edinburgh and a trip to Montrose where my Carnegie ancestors hail from. I'd like to include Cornwall in this trip but it is at the opposite end of the country. Plus there are all those places in between!

There will be one more Diary before my Alaskan trip and on my return I hope to get back to regular blogging with a new theme. I need a focus to help me write those family stories. Until next time, have a great genealogy time during National Family History Month.




1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the mention of Waves in Time. I’m looking forward to seeing photos of the Alaska Cruise even if it leaves me wishing I’d gone.

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