Genealogy notes 16-21 May 2014 - webinars and talks coming up

It is going to be a busy few weeks with lots of genealogy talks coming up. I am excited to be finally doing one of the Society of Australian Genealogists webinars. You have to be a member to participate and that is one of the reasons I keep my subscription but being a bit slack, by the time I get around to reading the news they are usually booked out. So looking forward to tomorrow night's webinar with Martyn Killion on Genuki, one of my favourite UK and Ireland genealogy portals. Martyn's talks are always excellent so I am sure I will learn heaps about how to use this site better.

Then on Sunday I am attending the Genealogical Society of Queensland's annual seminar on Hidden Treasures: Secrets from the Documents. The program looks fantastic with great speakers and topics. My two talks are on the Australian Joint Copying Project and Court of Petty Session Records. I will be there for the whole day so look forward to a report on it next week.

The following weekend the Guild of One Name Studies Queensland Branch is having their meeting on Bribie Island which is very exciting and great that I don't have far to drive! My Burstow one name study is seriously neglected but hoping to find some more time to get back to that in June. No doubt speaking to other local GOONs will fire up my enthusiasm but time will still be the tricky bit.

The weekend after that it is one of the Queensland Family History Society's seminar days and this one is Where There's a Will: Wills and Associated Matters in Queensland, Australia and the UK. I am doing the talk on Australian sources other than Queensland. I will be writing a report on that day too. That is on the Saturday and on the Sunday we are going to Fort Lytton for the annual History Alive festival which is all things military including colonial reenactments. The program looks fantastic and it is years since I went to one. The rest of June is also busy but I will save that for a later Diary.

Events for National Family History Month August 2014 are slowly coming in but I would really like to see that more active. Just hoping societies and organisations don't leave it till the last minute to add their events to be in the running for the various prizes from our sponsors. Two reasons - people need time to put events into their diaries and plan to attend and I don't want to be rushed putting events up as I have to do it manually. So spread the word and get those events coming in now.

My personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 continues and Week 16 was on Naturalization and Citizenship Records.

Most of my time has been going into writing a course for the National Institute of Genealogical Studies. You start out thinking that it is achievable but as you go along it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. Realistically you cannot put everything into six modules but cutting back is harder than not including in the first place. Plus knowing the audience will all be at various levels of knowledge is also tricky. Make it too simple and you bore them and make it too complex and you lose them. A bit like doing talks only on a much bigger scale! Still it is a new experience for me and we all learn as we go. I know it is a way off yet but I will be interested in the feedback on this.

It is my son's birthday today, one of the few days when I actually think I am getting older. He came into the world 27 years ago and honestly those years have simply flown past. I have been looking at baby photos, school photos, university photos, girlfriend photos and it is easy to see the changes as he has grown up. He is currently in Europe with his partner so we will celebrate when they return. While he is into social media, he was a bit horrified when I suggested we could be friends on Facebook!

Watching the most glorious sunset here on Bribie Island. Tomorrow I am taking Mum home from hospital again and hoping that there will be no more yo yo visits - she seems to have been toing and froing for months but she is looking better than she has for a while and I know she is looking forward to being back in her own home.  Her 80th birthday party is still on hold and will probably be early June when my son is back from Europe.

Well I hope everyone has a great genealogy weekend planned. Until next week happy researching. 

Genealogy Notes 19-25 Apr 2014 - Military Musings

Today is ANZAC Day and everyone's thoughts are centred around our military ancestors and the centenary of the start of World War One. Kintalk (Auckland Libraries) have organised their usual Trans Tasman ANZAC Day blog challenge and I posted my story on Jack Russell aka Thomas Henry Alphonsus (Alfred) Spencer who fought in both World Wars. Read his story here. I am also looking forward to reading the other blogs in the challenge.

Week 14 of my personal genealogy blog challenge, 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 is on Cemetery Records and you can read about it here. Each time I do one of these blogs, I find out a little more about one of my families as I revisit the research or look at things from a different angle. The weekly challenge also means that I do not let it slip down my to do list.

Findmypast.com.au have been releasing 100 records in 100 days and part of this exciting project is the release of thousands of military records for ANZAC Day.  The new collections contain nearly 700,000 detailed records of soldiers who served as part of the Australian Imperial Forces between 1914 and 1918.

The new records available on findmypast.com.au include:

•             Australian Embarkation Roll 1914-1918

Transcripts contain details of approximately 330,000 AIF personnel, recorded as they embarked from Australia for overseas service during the First World War. They include full names, rank, age, trade, marital status, address at date of enrollment, next of kin details, religion, date of joining, unit embarked with, and further remarks. Many of the next of kin addresses recorded are in the UK.

•             Australian Nominal Roll 1914-1918

This list contains details of approximately 324,000 AIF personnel who served overseas during World War 1. It was recorded to assist with their repatriation to Australia from overseas service. The transcripts include the soldier number, full name, final rank, awards, date embarked, and the date returned to Australia, killed in action, or died of wounds. The records also include soldier’s’ unit of service at the time of death or at the end of the war, and non-effective entries – how that person became no longer effective (for example, if they were returned to Australia).

Read more about the records and their ANZAC Memory Bank which contains personal stories here.

I have not had much chance this past week to do much genealogy but I did catch up on my back issues of the Journal of One Name Studies and I am really excited that there will be a meeting of the Queensland branch of the Guild of One Name Studies (GOONS) on Bribie Island on 31 May. At least I won't have far to travel! The other big reading catch up was with Quarterly, the journal of the Association of Professional Genealogists and it is always good to read about what others are doing.

I am a member of Kiva's Genealogists for Families team and took up another three $25 loans to help families in other countries. It is a great project and you can join me on the team here.

I am heading to Inverell, New South Wales today so that I can give my two talks at the Inverell District Family History Group seminar tomorrow. There is a military theme to the day and I am looking forward to hearing the other three speakers. I will be writing about that when I get back home. A busy weekend ahead and I hope everyone finds some time to think about their military ancestors and maybe even do some research and writing. Until next time.