Red Cross files, DNA talk & other news - Genealogy Notes 8-15 May 2017

A huge week with lots on and getting ready for the Footsteps in Time genealogy conference on the Gold Coast this coming weekend. Should be a wonderful time catching up with geneamates and learning heaps of new things.

Where to start? Bribie Island hosted a talk by Chris Schuetz from Queensland Family History Society on DNA last Thursday. It was a packed session with lots of questions and obviously people are interested in this aspect of family history. Chris continually reminded people that it is a tool and that it does not replace traditional research and a paper (digital) trail. Chris also recommended Kerry Farmer's DNA for Genealogists, 4th edition and see below for details.

Given my own DNA discoveries, Chris kindly lent me The Genetic Strand: Exploring a family history through DNA by Edward Ball. It is the story of the author's journey after finding locks of hair belonging to his ancestors. I have to return it at the conference so desperately trying to find the time to read it before then.

This week I received an email from the University of Melbourne Archives (sometimes I do miss living in Melbourne) telling me about a new digitised collection. In their words:

In 2016 Red Cross Australia donated their historical collection to the University of Melbourne Archives (UMA) as a ‘Gift to the Nation’. Part of this collection included the Missing, Wounded and Prisoner of War Enquiry Cards dating from World War Two to 1973. Since the transfer, UMA has been working to make all of the cards relating to World War Two available online. There are now over 58,000 cards available through UMA’s online catalogue. To find a card, just type the surname into the search box. For further enquiries, please contact UMA at archives@archives.unimelb.edu.au or 03 9035 4337. For more information about the series, see the wonderful article on our blog, ‘A Humane and Intimate Administration’: The Red Cross’ World War Two Wounded, Missing and Prisoner of War Cards by Senior Archivist Fiona Ross.

I had a look at a few of the cards and wonderful information, some cards more detailed than others. None of my WW2 people were reported missing, wounded or prisoner of war so I randomly looked at names. Most only have initials so best to search on surnames and to see the actual cards click on the PDF symbol.

John Finn, the family patriarch
from County Wicklow

Today is Trove Tuesday and I managed to do a blog post - Frederick John Finn, a sad victim of Murphy's Creek. Some of my Finn families have incredibly sad stories, not a lucky family. I'm not sure if there is anyone still with the Finn name as two sons never married after serving in WW1, one son only had a daughter, one son died without issue and the remaining son had two sons who died and the only surviving male was Daniel Finn, brother of Frederick John Finn. I have not been able to trace him since WW2 but perhaps he married and had sons. One to follow up.

Tomorrow's U3A class is all about using social media and Facebook for genealogy and family history so that should be a stimulating session. The small group works well as people can ask questions as we go.

I've seen on Facebook people posting about the last issue of Inside History Magazine. Mine must still be in the mail as they say! I hope it arrives soon but sad to know it is the last issue. Time to go back and look at all the wonderful stories and items of interest.

Not that I have a lot of reading time as my standing order with Gould Genealogy & History for Unlock the Past research guides means that I now have another three guides to read: Neil Smith has just published Australians in Peril: Tracing Your World War Two Australian Military Ancestors; Rosemary Kopittke has a 3rd edition of Scotlands People: the place to launch your Scottish research and Kerry Farmer has a 4th edition of DNA for Genealogists. All timely publications given all my news above.

Making sure I have everything I need for the Footsteps in Time conference is now the top priority. My presentation has already been sent but I also like to take a back up plus my trusty notebook (paper) and pen. My over the shoulder bag so that I can carry all the bits and pieces I pick up at the Fair on the Friday. It's only three days but there will also be the conference satchel to pack into the suitcase. Luckily I'm driving down so I don't have to watch the weight I carry back. Look out for the blog posts when I return.

Have a wonderful week researching and if you are at the conference, come up and say hello. Until next week, have geneafun!  

Outback History, Archives & Other News - Genealogy Notes 15 - 21 Apr 2017

My Ancestry DNA  profile

A big week with lots of interesting things happening. Friend, genealogist and DNA expert Helen Smith visited me in my Island paradise over Easter and helped me to understand my DNA results better. I have done autosomal tests with Ancestry DNA and Family Tree DNA and had my brother do a Y DNA test with Family Tree DNA.

If I am going to puzzle out my father's origins then I also need to get Mum and my brother to do autosomal tests too. The order is placed and hopefully they will both agree so that I can narrow down possible connections on Dad's side.

While analysing some of my top results we did find a second cousin on my mother's side. I had researched that line back in the 1970s and nobody was that interested then but now someone has done some research and DNA testing so I need to get back in touch. They are descended from my grandmother's eldest sister. So I can see how DNA can be used to locate more distant cousins. It was a very useful few hours and I really did appreciate the one on one chat about my own results. Thanks Helen.

Moya Sharp asked me to do a guest blog post on her Outback History website which I was pleased to do. Quite a few of my ancestors went to Western Australia during the 1890s gold rushes and I have found references to them on Moya's site. It is free to search and there are lots of resources for the WA goldfields. Read my blog post Queenslanders in Western Australia to get some more tips on using the site and tracing mining ancestors.

I was a bit teary when I read the proof of my last article for Inside History Magazine, although totally honoured to be part of the very last issue. As I reported last week, the Magazine is stopping publication although their website will continue with news and other information from time to time. I won't spoil the surprise of what my last article is about but I hope it generates lots of discussion.

Chocolate & wine - thanks Caloundra

My annual trek to Caloundra Family History Research to talk at their monthly meeting was as usual a wonderful afternoon. If nothing else, I should join just so that I can savour those wonderful home cooked slices they serve at afternoon tea. On a more serious note my talks was on Archives You May Not Know But Should and quite a few people said they hadn't realised there were so many archives and that they had such wonderful records. It definitely is not all online. As usual my presentation is on my website, go to the Resources page and scroll down to Presentations.

My first session as a U3A tutor on advanced family history went well and the 90 minutes went super fast. I'm not sure that an afternoon session is best as I am a morning person but it was the only time slot available. It's a keen group of people and I'm looking for this week's session too.  I will be gathering their wish list of what they want to see discussed and hopefully it can be incorporated into our sessions. I've also asked for any brick walls as actual exercises so that should be fun too.

It's a fishing weekend so I have been able to sit down and read Nathan Dylan Goodwin's latest novella The Missing Man in a single sitting. What bliss as they are usually hard to put down once you start. I haven't done the review yet but probably by next week.

Coming up this week I have the first of two talks for Ipswich City Libraries so anyone in the Ipswich area is welcome to join us at the Central Library on Thursday 27 April at 10am. It's free with details here.

National Family History Month is a bit quiet with only one society entering their genealogy events for August 2017 so far. I certainly hope we get some more participation soon. Societies who do participate usually report that they get more new members and more people visiting their premises and attending their sessions so it does pay to advertise.

Another busy week coming up with the trip to Ipswich, tutoring at U3A and hopefully writing a blog post or two. Have a great genealogy week and good luck with your searching. Until next time.

Index finds, DNA discoveries & Other News - Genealogy Notes 3-9 Dec 2016

The big catch up post holiday is now over, the new carpet is laid and slowly moving things back into their respective rooms. The study is looking neat and tidy although there are still lots of boxes out in the tiled hall way. It's like moving house and yet another opportunity to declutter and reorganise.

But as always it is easy to get side tracked by exciting genealogy news. As a member of the local Bribie Island Historical Society I have given a few talks on my ancestors who lived in this area from the 1870s. One of the committee members has been working on indexing local land records for the Island and came across an S J Jewsbury. As it is an uncommon surname she checked on Ancestry and found my public tree and contacted me.

Sarah Jane Jewsbury nee Finn, Truth, 26 Mar 1939 via Trove

While we don't know what those initials stand for on the land record (yet), I have a Sarah Jane Jewsbury nee Finn who was my great grandmother Mary Finn's sister. Mary married James Carnegie whose grandparents lived on the other side of Pumicestone Passage to Bribie Island. Either it is a huge coincidence or it is my Sarah Jane but now I have to try and work out what the S J stands for and if it is her, why and how did she come to own land on the island post World War One. You really can find information anywhere, as long as someone has indexed it!

Sadly Sarah Jane lost her son Ronald in 1939 as a result of a tetanus infection and the inquest made the local newspapers. As well as information on the family, there were photographs of Sarah Jane and Ronald.

Another exciting bit of news was that while I was away my blog post on City of Sydney Archives made Genealogy a la Carte, a Canadian blog list compiled by  Gail Dever.  This is part of a series of blogs I have been doing for The In-Depth Genealogist for the last two years. It is always nice to know someone has read a blog post, but to also have it listed for others to note is great. I am know thinking I should be saying that it is Sydney (or wherever) Australia as there must be lots of places called Sydney in the world.

Personally I'm not a fan of organisations changing names and websites but it is the times in which we live. State Records NSW new corporate name is State Archives and Records Authority of New South Wales. Thankfully the URL is the same and it is nice to see Archives back in the corporate name. Read more about the name change here.  

There has been no time to do any research,  but Family Tree DNA did notify me that my results were now available. Although I did the Ancestry DNA test  in 2015, I wanted to do the same test with FamilyTree DNA just in case the last year has just been one horrible nightmare. So it was with some trepidation that I looked at the results and they were even more conclusive than the Ancestry results. So if I hadn't got suspicious then, I would certainly be suspicious now with 0% Scandinavian. Interestingly my Ancestry percentages have also changed, dropping from less than 8% Scandinavian to less than 1%.

I guess in some respects I'm lucky that Mum is still alive and could explain my 'surprising' results. On the other hand, if I hadn't been expecting Norwegian heritage, then I may never have known the truth.Still trying to work out where to go next as my 40th anniversary of family history research comes up in March 2017. Where would my research be now if everyone had told me the truth 40 years ago? By the way, I notice that there are now MyHeritage DNA home testing kits so it definitely looks like being a part of our genealogy research in the future.

In the lead up to Christmas there are lots of Christmas parties and yesterday I went to the Bribie Island Family History Special Interest Group meeting. I took along some books and magazines to have an impromptu raffle and there were some excited members while I had some more space in my study. We all discussed Christmas memories and it was interesting to see how many people used to leave a beer and nuts out for Santa not to mention those who left gifts for the 'dunny' man!

Some of us then went on to lunch in the Bribie RSL which had several Christmas parties in full swing. You simply can't go past beer battered flathead and chips!

This coming week is very quiet apart from the Christmas party for the Bribie Island Historical Society so which family to choose to do some new searches on. Trove never disappoints and often I find new information on Ancestry and Findmypast so it is always worthwhile to relook at direct and collateral lines.

Until next time, happy searching.

Queensland Convicts, Visiting Archives, Talking & Other News - Genealogy Notes 30 May - 6 Jun 2016

My son visited for the weekend and we had a technology free weekend, just sitting around and talking rather than checking emails and social media. first day was hardest but by the second day I was more comfortable and of course most things can wait till Monday. It was also an opportunity to sit back and see just what emails I was receiving and I was a bit surprised to see that most were not that important and I simply hit the delete button. So an email tidy up is going on and I am unsubscribing to a lot of 'advert' type emails that I don't recall signing up to. My gmail account was worse than my primary email but both were receiving things I don't read and thankfully both my spam filters save me from a lot too.

This week is almost full on with two genealogy adventures. It is Queensland Week and I am heading north to Noosaville Library to give a talk on genealogy research in Queensland focusing more on what's online. I've put together the usual suspects with some other favourite not so usual suspects and everyone should learn something new.

The next day I am heading south (lots of freeway driving) to the Queensland State Archives (QSA). I have been promising myself a research trip for some time but setting a date was always an issue. But I received an invitation to Shackled - Queensland's First Female Convicts which is a half day seminar with Dr Jennifer Harrison talking about the 140 female convicts who came to Moreton Bay (and we can buy copies of Jennifer's new book, of the same title, Shackled - Queensland's First Female Convicts) followed by a talk on how to research convict records at QSA. Both talks should be interesting and morning tea is also included. All for free!

So with that motivation in the morning, I thought why not a little research in the afternoon before the long trek home. This may say something about my age, but I am Number 1 in the QSA researcher's system and I was really pleased to find out that they can reactivate my number when I visit. In preparation for the trip I have been searching the catalogue for series and item numbers as the system has changed and there are new numbers for my old favourite series.

I also did some name searches and even though there is not a lot of name identified data in the online catalogue (more in the online indexes), I discovered some really exciting references to my great great grandfather John Finn in two series that I would not have thought to look in. I also discovered a reference to Max's grandfather Henry Spencer, again in something I would not have checked. Indexed entries are fantastic. Imagine how much we could find is everything was name indexed if time and money were not critical.

Unfortunately you can't pre-order records at QSA, so I need to get there early and try and order before the talks start. My list of want to look at files is probably too long so a return trip will be necessary but I am looking forward to some wonderful new information on problem ancestors. The other distraction is that I will probably meet up with other geneafriends at the talks, although they might also be trying to fit in a bit of research too.Stay tuned.

My ethnicity map with Ancestry DNA

I haven't seen too much talk of DNA Nation on social media but I have been taping it and have just managed to watch the first episode. I did my matriarchal DNA some years ago with 23 and Me and more recently the Ancestry ethnicity test which revealed mostly a UK background. My brother has just done a full Y test with Family Tree DNA so I am waiting to get those results. DNA Nation looks at three Australians with diverse backgrounds and the first week looked at the matriarchal side of things. I found it interesting and helped confirm my understanding of female DNA. Now to find some time to watch weeks 2 and 3.

As it has been a busy week with some solid writing, I didn't get too much time to read blogs or follow social media. So one of my easy catch up tricks is to check out Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings which is a list of the blogs that he liked best last week. As usual there were some great blog posts listed for 29 May to 4 Jun - why not have a look and see what you may have missed.

A lot of travel time coming up but if those archive files are as exciting as I hope they are, it will be a serious genealogy research weekend coming up. By some good fortune it is also a fishing competition weekend so the house will be all mine with no distractions. Lucky me. It's also a long weekend for the Queen's birthday so perhaps everyone can fit in some genealogy research. Until next time happy searching.

Genealogy notes 16-17 Feb 2012 - Battlefield tours

Why is it when you have limited time, everything goes ever so much faster. Thursday was a blur with lots of unexpected things happening while I was busy trying to tidy up before leaving for Darwin and the War Comes to Australia tour. This has been organised by Unlock the Past and Mat McLachlan's Battlefield Tours and I am very privileged to be one of the speakers on the tour.

This is my first battlefields tour and I have contemplated doing one to Gallipoli or the Western Front as we have relatives who died at either place - Tasman Jarvis who died at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and Frederick Trevaskis who died at Langemark, Belgium on 13 Oct 1917. I'm a bit cranky with myself for missing Greece and Crete last year as Max's father Charles Douglas Spencer received his military medal in Greece in 1941.

I also wouldn't mind doing a South African one as two of my mother's uncles, Solomon and William Price went to the Boer War twice, both joined the South African Police and William even married a Boer widow before he died in South Africa in 1916. The other trip I would seriously consider doing is Tobruk where my uncle Leslie Gordon Price was a 'Rat' but his 'kidney dish' shows that he was at many other places in the Middle East and later the Pacific.

So in some ways it's a  bit odd that I have ended up in Darwin for a battlefields tour with no personal connection apart from Max's 25 years defence service which saw him in Darwin with both the Army and the RAAF in the 1960s and 70s. However,  it was a good opportunity to see how these tours operate and whether you do find out more about the military side of things as well as doing the touristy thing too. As we have four grandchildren in Darwin, we know the city fairly well but I was interested to see how others highlight Darwin to tourists.

So it was with some excitement that I made the trek out to Melbourne airport and after about an hour's delay due to 'paperwork', my Jetstar plane finally made it into the air. It's a long flight over Central Australia and I always get a window seat so that I can look down on the desert, see the sand dunes, the salt lakes, sometimes flooded creeks and rivers and so on. It's fantastic scenery even from that height although we didn't seem to be as high as usual. The pilot also managed to make up some time and after collecting our luggage we (other battlefields tour people were on the same flight) were quickly met and at the Novetel Darwin Atrium on the Esplanade in no time.

With about five minutes to spare before the official welcome dinner we all quickly checked in and headed back down for dinner which was postponed for a few minutes so that we could all settle. I had a bit of trouble with my key card not opening the door but that was soon sorted. Given my hearing issues, they very nicely left me a seat on one of the front tables where I was pleased to see two people I knew from Queensland and the gentleman on my right was from the same suburb where I live (talk about a small world).

Like most group dinners this was an either/or choice and I ended up with chicken for a main and the pudding for dessert with the other choices being steak and cheesecake. Tables of eight never really work for me but given the noise level everyone else seemed to be having a good time getting to know each other. A sponsor of the tour is Inside History Magazine and there was a complimentary copy of their magazine handed out to each individual or couple - appropriately it was their military issue Sep-Oct 2011. After dessert we had the first lecture of the tour, no wasting time!

Brad Manera's World War 2 1939-45: an overview of Australia's role in Europe and the Pacific was a very good introduction to the whole tour. Brad is an easy speaker and his photographic presentation supported what he was saying. At the end he took lots of questions from a very keen audience.

We all have to be ready for our tour of Darwin in the morning at 9.00am and as I had already lost 90 minutes that day (daylight saving & time differences within Australia for my overseas readers), I went to bed! Tomorrow afternoon there are two more lectures and a sunset cruise so another big day ahead. Stay tuned.

Genealogy notes 12 July 2011 DNA genealogy

Another day working on talks for my Brisbane/Toowoomba trip in August. I'm happy to say that all talks are drafted and I'm now in the review stage to make sure they run to time, make sense and give attendees information to further their own research. Without knowing an audience, you have to try and cater for everyone from basic beginners to those who may have considerable experience.

Amongst my emails yesterday was an updated report from 23andMe which is a DNA company which specialises in genetic testing for health and provides an insight into various health risks through maternal DNA.  I have also had people contact me to see if we are related because of DNA strands matching up, although this is more 4th or 5th cousin relationships. So far there have been no definite connections. This is an area that I have been exploring more this year and I will probably do a DNA test with one of the companies that is more into family history rather than health issues.

I also need to read more about the subject as well and recently purchased a book DNA For Genealogists by Kerry Farmer to help me understand more. I have heard Kerry's talk on DNA at an Unlock the Past history and genealogy expo but it is a lot to take in so the book will build on that (I hope). Science was never one of my strong subjects at school.

Another interesting email was from Unlock the Past and a draft brochure for their War Comes To Australia: WWII 70th anniversary tour to commemorate the bombing of Darwin in 1942. I have been asked to give a talk on Tracing Military Ancestors as part of the tour which is 17-22 Feb 2012. There will be two seminars as part of the tour and other speakers are Brad Manera and Dr Tom Lewis OAM. It should be an exciting time to be in Darwin next year.

I still receive mail from the postman and while not as much as via email, it is still exciting to open up the mailbox and see letters and journals. Yesterday I received my latest copy of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria's journal and newsletter. You can also see the latter on their website, even if you aren't a member and it is a good read with lots of information on research in Victoria and what is happening with affiliated historical societies. The Society has a lot of information, indexes and databases online and anyone with Victorian ancestors may find it worthwhile to search for their names and places.

We are leaving for Adelaide on Saturday and I have so many things I want to do before then. To do lists are something that I'm good at but they do have a problem of growing faster than I can tick them off. The next six weeks are incredibly busy and I'm looking forward to some down time in September. Fingers crossed!