Port Macquarie conference & other news - Genealogy Notes 1-14 Sep 2015

Hard to believe two weeks since by last update but I have been busy notifying prize winners and sponsors of the National Family History Month prize giveaway. There have been some very excited winners and I even had the pleasure of meeting some at the NSW & ACT Association of Family History Societies in Port Macquarie over the weekend.

I gave a Masterclass on using Public Record Office Victoria, attended the free family history fair, collected a very nice goodies bag, enjoyed the Welcome function and dinner, and went to all sessions on both days. I will do a full review this week as I learnt lots of new things. In the meantime my presentation is on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

As I still only have the use of one hand, everything seems to be in slow motion. Plus the piles around my desk just seem to be getting bigger and bigger, waiting for me to have two hands. I need a priority list on the to do list!

The biggest priority is my keynote address for the History Queensland conference in three weeks time. That will be the last opportunity in 2015 to catch up with geneafriends in the SE Qld area and I am looking forward to it.

I have a final blog post for NFHM to do for The In-Depth Genealogist who were one of our new prize sponsors. My report for AFFHO is also nearly complete and then it will be time to start thinking about NFHM 2016! I hope genealogy and family history societies start planning to include their events for next August. Every society usually has a monthly meeting or opens their library one or more days a month so everyone can participate without doing extra events. One society reported that they gained 60 new members during NFHM which is fantastic.

Time to get back to my arm exercises so have a great genealogy week and I'm hoping to get back to more regular Diary posts soon. Till next time.

National Family History Month ends for 2015 - Genealogy Notes 24 - 31 Aug 2015

Time always flies when you are having fun.  August went super quick and there were hundreds of genealogy events across Australia during National Family History Month. From the feedback I have received many societies were very pleased with attendance at their events and gained new members. One society even said they had 50 new members sign up. Is that a record or can another society claim more?

The NFHM sponsors prizes giveaway was drawn on 29 August with the assistance of Genealogical Society of Queensland members as my right arm is still encased in a sling. Since then I have been busy contacting some very excited prize winners and letting sponsors know who won their donated prizes. All slow going with my left hand. To see the list of winning individuals and societies visit the Sponsors page of the NFHM website.

There is no NFHM committee, only me and amidst all the feedback there were some very nice comments about myself  which were appreciated as coordinating a voluntary project is time consuming. I would like to thank all the societies and individuals who assisted me in spreading the news about NFHM. Without the participation of the sponsors, societies, libraries, archives and others there would be NFHM for me to coordinate. We will be back again in August 2016 - mark it in your diaries now and start planning your events.

I don't like singling any one person out as so many participated but I feel that Jill Ball's 12 hour geneagala hangout deserves a special mention. Many others also helped Jill over that time and you can watch it all on Jill's You Tube channel. Judging by the YouTube view numbers lots have already watched it. Sadly I had to miss it but hopefully she will do it again in NFHM 2016!

Needless to say I haven't done too much other than NFHM but I did pick up from Facebook that John Reid's (Canada's Anglo Celtic Connections) is again conducting his search for Rockstar Genealogists. The nominations for 2015 are now open and it is great to see quite a few Australian speakers on the list already.

Last weekend I attended the GSQ's seminar It Doesn't Rain in the Cloud with three speakers - Geoff Doherty provided an introduction to the Cloud and what you can do in the Cloud, Judy Lofthouse explored genealogy sites within YouTube and my talk was on Apps and Blogs. As usual my talk is on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations and look for Are You Appy & Bloggy: If Not, Why Not? I think everyone went home to check out the Cloud!

I also did a very successful session at Caloundra Library on Family History on the Cheap. It was the biggest audience I have ever seen for a single talk so the Library must have a very good publicity machine. My NFHM talks for Moreton Bay Region Libraries are now finished and all these presentations are also on the Resources page of my website.

Now my thoughts are turning to the NSW & ACT Association of Family History Societies annual conference at Port Macquarie next week. I am presenting a Master Class on Public Record Office Victoria and I have almost finished the presentation, just a bit more tweaking here and there. Then in October there is the History Queensland Conference where I will be giving one of the keynote presentations.

My arm will be in a sling for another 4 weeks but I hope to get back to some more regular blogging now that NFHM is over. I miss the writing plus I have lots of notes to write up from the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise and the GSQ seminar mentioned above. Not to mention getting back to my 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2015 - at this rate it will be 2016 before I finish!

Have another great week genealogy searching. Until next time.

Last week National Family History Month - Genealogy Notes 7-23 Aug 2015

In between my medical appointments and my National Family History Month talks for Moreton libraries, I have mainly been adding last minute events to the NFHM web calendar and encouraging people to enter the NFHM sponsors prizes giveaway via Facebook and other social media.

Normally I would have been blogging my 31 Activities for genealogists in NFHM but with only one hand that is not going to happen this year. However I do hope people have had a look at the suggested activities and perhaps tried a few.

As an incentive to get genealogy societies to place their events in the web calendar before 30 June, we offered a gift certificate from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies for one free course per society to either use as a raffle/door prize or to reward a volunteer or member. As the month is nearly over I am starting to receive the names of the lucky winners or recipients from the 53 societies who took up the offer.

As well I am getting feedback on successful events, new memberships and it seems that everyone has been enjoying NFHM 2015. Sometimes I pick up information on events or newspaper articles and where possible I have been adding them to NFHM Pinterest. If you know of any other feedback please let me know.

In September I will be doing a full report for AFFHO on how successful it has been this year, despite my one handedness and being out of action at key times. Part of this success is also due to my many social media friends who have also promoted NFHM, genealogy societies, libraries and archives who have hosted events and of course our sponsors have also helped to spread the word.

The sponsors prizes giveaway closes on 27 August and late entries are not accepted. The giveaway takes place on 29 August and I will be placing the lucky winners names on the NFHM website shortly thereafter.

The wonderful display at Arana Hills Library to promote my talk for NFHM - thanks Alexandra Daw 

Hard to believe that NFHM is almost over for another year. I have three more talks for Moreton libraries, one for Sunshine Coast Libraries and a seminar at the Genealogical Society of Queensland. Then I hope to get back to some blogging as at the moment I simply don't have time to type one handed when I am out every day of the week as well.

Make the most of the last week of NFHM and have lots of genealogy finds. Until next time.

National Family History Month and other news - Genealogy Notes 1- 6 Aug 2015

Since last Diary I have been operated on, spent a few days in hospital, come home and started the rehabilitation process on my right arm. Last Friday the 30 staples came out and the wound is healing nicely. But I still can't use the right arm except to do my exercises. On the plus side my left hand is doing better than I ever imagined.

All the outstanding events have been entered on to the National Family History Month web calendar and I have set up the individual sponsors prizes giveaway. For an update on NFHM see my report here.

If you can't get to an event near you, remember that there are some online activities to do at home and there is always my 31 Activities for Individuals. There are some new prize sponsors this year so have a look at the Sponsors page too.

I would like to thank Australian Family Tree Connections for their August 2015 issue which quite clearly lets everyone know that August is National Family History Month. I hope within a few years everyone will automatically associate NFHM with August and add their events to our web calendar.

Over the next two weeks I have 11 talks to give as part of NFHM speaking at Moreton and Sunshine Coast Libraries. My final talk will be at a Genealogical Society of Queensland seminar where we will also be doing the sponsors prizes draw for societies and individuals to wrap up NFHM for another year. It always goes so quick. Details of my talks are on the Events page of my website.

While I haven't done too much the last fortnight, I could not resist checking out all the Staffordshire updates to Findmypast. While the National Burial Index had given me burial dates for some of my ancestors I had not seen the actual registers from Staffordshire which are now digitised and available through Findmypast.

We should always check original documents in case there is more information than what is included in a transcript or index and this piece of advice proved itself yet again. My GGG grandfather Henry Price died in 1840 the year before the 1841 census and I have never been able to get any further back. I still can't, but at least now I know that he was accidentally killed as the burial register states 'died in a coal pit'.

This statement sent me off to look at British Newspapers also in Findmypast (or the British Newspaper Archive) but absolutely no luck in finding a reference to Henry's accident or an inquest into his death. The Coal Mining History Resource Centre seemed to have references to every other death except Henry's and as I don't know which coal pit he died in, I can't search by place, although it would have been close to West Bromwich. More searching required!

I have a stack of reading to do but every time I sit (or lie down) to read I fall asleep, must be something to do with the medication I am on as genealogy type reading never puts me to sleep. If anything it motivates me to get up and do something! There are lots of new titles from Unlock the Past and some from the speakers on the last genealogy cruise to the Baltic. I still have two reviews for Carol Baxter's new books and the Reviews Editor of the Australian Society of Archivists has asked me to review Personal Archiving: Preserving Our Digital Heritage edited by Donald Hawkins.

At the Bribie Island Historical Society AGM I was elected to the committee so I am looking forward to getting involved with the Society's historical projects. Sadly I missed the unveiling of the plaque celebrating local involvement in WW1 (including my GG grandmother's nephew Alexander Thomas Davis) but there was a nice write up in the local Bribie Weekly. I will have to visit once I am up and about again.

I am not sure what will excite me more - being able to type with two hands again or being able to drive. Then again feeding and dressing myself would be good - but each week things are improving and it could always have been worse. All the good wishes via Facebook and emails has also helped to keep me cheery and in touch with everyone.

Enjoy the remaining two weeks of NFHM and I hope you all have some exciting genealogy discoveries. Until next time.

I'm Back (sort of) and National Family History Month 2015 - Genealogy Notes 8-31 Jul 2015

What a difference three weeks make! I have returned from my Unlock the Past genealogy cruise with my right arm in a back slab from fingers to shoulder. My fractured elbow will be operated on on Monday with a few nights in hospital to follow. Using my left hand has been a real learning experience and there will be a delay on cruise and travel blogs as everything is taking longer.

My priority has been getting new events up on the National Family History Month website and so far I have added over 100 events with my left hand. More will be added as they are submitted with time out while I am in hospital. It looks like being a great month.

The NFHM launch was yesterday in Adelaide and sadly I missed it. There will be reports and photos so stay tuned. 

Now finalising my 12 talks in August and luckily I did a lot of preparation before leaving on holidays. I have only had to reschedule one talk which clashes with a post surgery follow up. I'm happy to say that I look better now than just after my accident. My poor face took a bit of a battering on the cobble stones but fortunately nothing serious. Helen Smith's photo shows my determination that the show must go on, but I think in hindsight I was in a bit of denial!

The day after my fall in Germany, photo courtesy Helen Smith

Details of where I am speaking during NFHM are on the Events page of my website. My cruise presentations are on the Resources page, scroll down to Presentations.

My 31 Activities for Individuals and 31 Activities for Societies to do in NFHM are on the Resources page of my website. If you are stuck for ideas on how to make the most of NFHM 2015 in August check out my suggestions.

Remember to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, #NFHM2015.

Time for a little rest - everyone have a great time in NFHM and I will be bringing more news post my surgery. 

Genea cruising and National Family History Month - Genealogy Notes 29 Jun - 7 Jul 2015

There is nothing like impending holidays to focus one's mind and try to do everything before you leave. Of course it is not possible and I am now down to the last few absolutely essential things to do.

This afternoon I fly out for the UK where I will be joining the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise to the Baltic. I think I am packed, the bills are paid, the place is reasonably tidy and Max will be here finishing off the backyard landscaping.

I have handed over my Occupations course for the Australian certificate with the National Institute of Genealogical Studies so I hope they find it all satisfactory. If any amendments are needed it will be after I get back.

State Library of Victoria asked me to do a guest blog post for National Family History Month and I have sent that winging its way to Victoria. Look out for it in early August.

Also completed were my August blog post for The In-Depth Genealogist  again on NFHM (what else) and was pleased to learn that they are now a prize sponsor for individuals.

Great news but please do not enter the giveaway until 1 August or your entry will be invalid. There are messages to that effect against each individual prize in bold capital letters and yet people still enter. I have been notifying people who do enter early but I won't be from now on as I will not be here.

Also completed my August article for Going In-Depth, the digital magazine published by The In-Depth Genealogist and it will be a tight thing to get the September ones done when I get back. I hope inspiration will be with me!

NFHM has kept me busy with events being continually added but note that any events added between today and 28 July will not be visible until I come back and make it so. Probably lots to do when I get back! Everything for the launch is under control and I am now doing 14 talks in August. Might need another holiday in September.

My 31 Activities for Individuals and 31 Activities for Societies to do in NFHM are on the Resources page of my website. If you are stuck for ideas on how to make the most of August check out my suggestions.

This Diary will also be on holiday until the end of July. I am not taking a laptop, otherwise it would not be a holiday. It is only three weeks but lots will be happening with some great speakers and presentations on the cruise not to mention sight seeing in all those wonderful European cities. Stay tuned for some blog catch ups later this month. Until next time, happy genea searching.

New Resources & NFHM 2015 - Genealogy Notes 22-28 Jun 2015

The countdown is now really on for my genealogy cruise to the Baltic with Unlock the Past Cruises. Only 8 days before I fly out and still so much to do. Although being coordinator of National Family History Month is a voluntary position it still requires a lot of 'work' especially at this time of the year. Lots of events have gone up into the web calendar and I have been busy promoting these on the National Family History Month Facebook page.

Many of our sponsors have also included pieces on NFHM in their magazines or newsletters - thanks to Ancestry, Australian Family Tree Connections and Inside History magazine and there may be other pieces that I have not seen yet. My blogging friends have also been spreading the word so August looks like being another great geneafest.

As I only get back a few days before the launch I have tried to organise everything and I am leaving all the instructions and notes with Genealogy SA, the South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society,  who will liaise with the National Archives of Australia while I am away if anything comes up. If I don't make it back to Adelaide in time for the launch, at least everything will still go ahead.

So far with all my travels I have never encountered any real issues apart from the odd missed flight due to road traffic delays, cancelled flights and the only luggage issue was when I went to Darwin and my luggage ended up in Tasmania. If my good luck continues to hold, I will be there for the launch.

Each NFHM I put up my 31 activities for individuals to do during August and I have another 31 activities for genealogy and family history societies to do to help them make the most of NFHM this year and in the future. I have put them up a bit earlier due to my absence overseas but people might want to start planning what they want to do during August. Both sets of activities are on the Resources page of my website, at the very top so you can't miss them.

Just about every week we hear about new resources being released but this week I was especially excited to hear that Findmypast has entered into partnership with Public Record Office Victoria  to index and digitise the coastal passenger lists 1852-1924. When I worked there these were on our wish list but the lists were in a fragile condition, unindexed and not even microfilmed.

The other exciting news is that Findmypast and PROV are also doing Courts of Petty Session records for Victoria - regular readers will know that I simply love CPS records as so many of my ancestors are in them for all kinds of crimes from the petty to sometimes more serious.

Here is a snippet from the Findmypast media release.

Sydney, Australia, 25 June 2015, Never before microfilmed or indexed, the collection of Victoria’s Coastal Passenger Lists 1852-1924 will be brought online to Findmypast.com.au later this year. Comprising both original images and transcripts of an estimated 118,000 records, these passenger lists provide a vivid snapshot of immigrants and travellers alike arriving in Victoria’s coastal ports.
 
Family historians using these invaluable records will uncover details of their ancestors’ passage to Australia, as well as biographical information. Covering the 1850s onwards, these records capture the mass immigration into Victoria in the historic gold rush era, which fuelled one of the most dramatic population booms in Australian history.
 
Over one million Victoria Petty Sessions records, dating from 1851 to the 1970s, will also be brought to Findmypast as part of the partnership in an ambitious project expected to span several years. The collection includes approximately 1.7 million original images and transcripts, covering numerous record sets from dozens of central and regional courts throughout Victoria – from Prahran to Port Fairy to Mildura.
 
Capturing details of each case, those involved, and the trial outcome, the Victoria Petty Sessions will help family historians to investigate their ancestors’ criminal history.
 
Director of Public Record Office Victoria Justine Heazlewood says the advantages of this new digitising partnership are two-fold “These informative historical records will become available to online researchers much sooner than would have been possible otherwise, both on our digital catalogue within two years as well as via Findmypast.com.au” 

It really is an exciting time to be doing genealogy as we have never had access to records like this in the past. I can't wait for those records to come online.Now it is cheaper to have a subscription than travel to another state to do research. And more instant, no more waiting for snail mail or time off work to travel. Of course we do need to remember that not everything is online.

The hardest part for me when I see these new releases is that I want to go and look straight away but I know that I should be doing an article or blog post for The In-Depth Genealogist or finishing the course I am writing for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies or updating one of my research guides for Unlock the Past. I have a new edition of What Was the Voyage Really Like? coming out next month - it was the first research guide I wrote so very exciting to see a new edition.

With only 8 days left I am still working out what to fit into the suitcase and currency is a bit of an issue. If I want to buy something on shore with so many different countries, euros are not as standard as I thought especially in Denmark and Sweden, plus I am still reading about the history of the countries we are visiting and some of the places I am hoping to see when on shore.

What will probably happen is that I will end up getting everything done on time, throw things together the night before and set out for a great holiday and have a good time. Travel jitters get me every time!

So no more genealogy releases please to distract me although Trove can continue to send those wonderful emails saying that what I was waiting to see is now ready. I'm just not opening them till I get back as I know I will be off on another tangent and lose more hours in Trove. There is only one more Diary until I leave so wish me luck finishing everything and have another great genealogy week.

Tasmania, NFHM & Trove - Genealogy Notes 15-21 Jun 2015

Another big week and some amazing family discoveries in Trove (Australia's free digitised historical newspapers for overseas readers). More and more titles are being added - see the latest update of newspapers here. Now whenever I have a spare 15 minutes I do a quick Trove search on a family name. Of course this is a trap as it is very rare for me not to find at least one new story.

Yesterday I decided that I would have another look for Max's elusive grandfather and this time I looked for the names of each of his three wives. What a bonus! Articles on all of them and most of the stories also included Henry Spencer's name  ONLY the OCR was poor and the articles were not showing up under a search of his name. I didn't have time to correct the text but I did add tags for his name.

I am beginning to think that Henry lived at the District Court as there was another court appearance with his brother as the plaintiff and another one with his first father in law. I will now have to spend a whole day at the Queensland State Archives looking at court records, with these new cases on top of what I already had.

This is where Trove is so fantastic - it gives you the clues, dates, places and topics that you can then use to find original records and learn more about what ever it is. BUT you need to remember the disadvantages of OCR and do searches from all angles and maybe it is only an initial and not a full given name. Anyway my 15 minutes before dinner turned into a late dinner so maybe do your quick 15 minute search at a more convenient time or risk the family's wrath.

Tasmania has also been on my mind this week and not because that is where we first started tracking Henry Spencer. The University of Tasmania is again offering its free online introduction to family history course and you need to enrol before 6 July. I know others who did this last year and they said it was fantastic. So I have signed up for this round and I can start it when I get back from holidays. But I have to catch up quickly on my return. Sadly the list of things I have to do as soon as I get back is growing, I will probably need another holiday later in the year!! Still I think it will be good to do an introductory course as family history has changed a lot in recent years and refresher courses always motivate me with new ideas and resources.

In 2013 I was given a print copy of Michael Piggott's book Commonwealth Government Records About Tasmania to review. At the time the launch was delayed so instead of publishing the review, I saved it till after the launch.Yes out of sight out of mind and as Michael is the keynote speaker of this year's National Family History Month launch I was thinking about the review and wondering why I could not find it on the Resources page of my website. I forgot to publish it but better late than never. Read the review here and the guide really is a good resource if you have Tasmanian families. It is also a good insight into the usefulness of the National Archives of Australia's research guide series.

Last but not least National Family History Month was the big time taker this week with adding events to the website, promoting them on the NFHM Facebook page, liaising with Genealogy SA who are helping me with the launch preparations and chatting to sponsors. I have to say I am a bit disappointed that more genealogy and family history societies, libraries and archives have not put their events in the web calendar yet. I had hoped there would be more before I went overseas as nothing will be added in my absence. Perhaps there will be a mad flurry this week.

We have no events for WA, TAS or the NT yet and QLD has 27, NSW 26, VIC 57, SA 5, ACT 4 and only 1 online event so far. Why not remind your society, library or archive and get them to add their August events to the NFHM web calendar? Remember it has to be before early July or it will get added at the end of July which will still in time for NFHM but some people like to plan so that they can attend as many events as they can.

Well it is a beautiful winter's day here in Paradise and my garden looks much warmer than my coolish study. I am going out to enjoy the sunshine and maybe even a coffee before I tackle the dreaded weeds! Happy researching and please help me spread the word about NFHM 2015.

Brickwalls, Old Dog, New Tricks - Genealogy Notes 8-14 Jun 2015

Two presentations last week - my own at the Deception Bay library which went well with an enthusiastic crowd and lots of questions. If only I had a dollar for everyone who has chatted to me about their brick wall! The presentation is on my website Resources page, scroll down to Presentations.

The other talk was also part of the Moreton Bay Region Libraries family and local history program. They had Helen Smith talking at the Bribie Island Library so I didn't have far to travel to hear one of my favourite Queensland speakers. Helen's talk was on Death Certificates and Archaic Medical Terms and I had heard an earlier version of this talk.

Helen at Bribie Island Library

The second part of her talk was completely new to me and I would have loved to hear a whole hour on it. Basically Helen looked at occupational diseases and how some jobs ended up disfiguring or killing the people who did them. With lots of miners in the family, I was already aware of miner's phthisis but in the days of no health and safety, a lot of working people's health was at risk of accidents and diseases.  Looking forward to hearing more about this from Helen and there may even be a book on the way.

The first part of the talk was on the basics - why get death certificates, where from and what's on them and so on. Essential to know if you are starting out but a bit boring if you have been around a while like me. BUT even if you are an old hand you should never tune out as you just might miss something totally relevant. Helen said not one but two things that made me sit up and start thinking during this part of her talk.

Most of my brick walls have tumbled over the last few years with new indexes, digitised resources and mega databases but I still have one that has eluded me since I first hit it in 1977. For nearly 40 years I have been trying to find the death of James Henry Trevaskis in Copperfield Queensland between Oct 1868 and Nov 1873 when his wife Dorcas remarried. So what did Helen say that might be relevant for my brick wall?

Helen mentioned how many unknown deaths there were - people who die and are not identified or their remains are found until many years later. Is my James Henry an unknown? I suspect even if he was it might be a bit hard to prove but I will be looking into all unknown male deaths in my time frame to see if any fit or should be looked into more.

The second thing was similar in that if there is no body there is no death certificate. So if James disappeared his wife would have had to wait seven years to declare him dead. But she remarried five years after the last known sighting of James Henry which tends to suggest that she knew he was dead. But why no death certificate? Helen's talk has motivated me to look at everything again and it has been a while since I looked in Trove for him. Wish me luck!

The other big time occupier this week was adding events to the National Family History Month web calendar - August is not that far off now. If family history and genealogy societies want to receive a bonus sponsors prize this year their events must be in the calendar before 30 June. For all those excited individuals out there, the individuals prize giveaway does not start until 1 August so no early birds please! See the NFHM website for details of sponsors, prizes and terms and conditions.

The NFHM launch in Adelaide is coming together and thanks to South Australian friends for helping me put together a guest list. Invitations are going out this week and I need to work on my speech notes and background launch slide. I have to get as much done as I can before I leave on holidays as I arrive back just a few days before the launch and will be fighting jet lag and a back log of everything before I jump on a plane and head to Adelaide.

After the launch I am staying on for the weekend in Adelaide so that I can participate in the Unlock the Past Power Up Your Local and Family History Research all day seminar which looks at war, sport, photographs and diaries and letters. I am doing three talks, Graham Jaunay is doing one and so is Susan Marsden, President of the History Council of South Australia. Should be a great day and an excellent way to kick off National Family History Month in Adelaide.

The next week should see me finish writing the Occupations course for the Australian certificate run by the National Institute of Genealogical Studies.  This has been a lot of work mainly because there are so many resources but I have also learnt a lot too. I think future students will find it interesting.

This weekend I am cleaning out the pantry cupboard (although a lot of the time I seem to have been procrastinating or wondering where something came from). It is always a mystery how something neat, tidy and organised always seems to end up so messed up. When I shop I put all the tins in one place, cereals in another, sauces in their spot, spices together, I don't hide anything. But I am not the only one that lives here. The small tins of dog food were a surprise, I thought at first glance they were sardines but no, apparently it is good fishing bait. Why in our food cupboard?? Then there are the chocolates, biscuits, jams, empty jars, plastic containers all tucked away and forgotten about. At least now the other half has some supplies for the next fishing trip and I have a neat and tidy pantry again.

Until next week happy researching.

Geneatripping & NFHM 2015 - Genealogy notes 1-7 Jun 2015

Most weeks I wonder how quickly the week has gone and then some times I ponder where the years have gone. This Diary is celebrating its 4th birthday on 1 July and the original reason it started was to simply demonstrate how quickly you can set up a blog using Google Blogger. From memory it did take a little more than the 5 minutes I told the audience but since then I have seen many people set up their own blogs and write their family stories and have success in reaching long lost cousins. It really is worth the effort.

While this Diary's content has changed a bit now that we have settled and not wandering around the place so much, it has fallen into a weekly blog more by default than any design.So I am pondering some changes as we approach Diary's 5th year!


Having just said that I am not moving around that much, for the next four months I am actually on the move. My long awaited holiday in Europe is fast approaching and I will be joining other geneafriends on the 8th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise to the Baltic countries.  It is 15 years since I last went to the UK and Europe so I am really looking forward to this holiday. A few days in London and surrounds prior to the cruise will help with the jet lag. Look forward to lots of geneablogging coming from that trip.

On my return, before I even get over my jetlag, I am back on a plane to Adelaide for the launch of NFHM 2015. As voluntary coordinator of National Family History Month I have been moving the launch around Australia so that we can raise the profile of NFHM which is an Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations (AFFHO) initiative. I'm hoping to attend a genealogy event or two in Adelaide while I am there.

Just a quick reminder that genealogy and family history societies must have their events up in the NFHM web calendar before 30 June if they want to receive a bonus prize. Full details on the NFHM website.

After the launch weekend it is back home. Moreton Bay Region libraries have asked me to do 10 talks at their various libraries during NFHM. They are fantastic supporters of NFHM and always have a great genealogy program throughout the year. So happy to be living in an area where the local library is interested in local and family history. Details of the August talks are on the Events page of my website.

The end of NFHM is being celebrated at a Genealogical Society of Queensland seminar so that is a relatively quick trip to Brisbane. The NFHM prizes for societies and individuals will be drawn at the event and I thank GSQ for hosting the prize draw this year.

Then I am off to Port Macquarie for the annual NSW & ACT family history conference - I usually try to attend these conferences if the program is interesting and the host city is relatively easy to travel to. When I lived in Canberra I went to quite a few so there are lots of geneafriends that I like to catch up with.

Back in Brisbane by the first weekend in October so that I can go to the In Time and Place conference on local and family history organised by History Queensland, the Genealogical Society of Queensland and the Queensland Family History Society. There will be no shortage of blogging posts from these events and it is good to see geneablogger Alona (Genealogy & History News) spreading the word about these major events coming up. Read her round up of national and state events here.

Attention regional delegates. Thanks to the generous support of the State Library of Queensland, the Conference Organising Committee is delighted to offer free registration to regional delegates from areas beyond south-east Queensland. For details and to apply, see the website or contact by email, by 24 July 2015. Fantastic offer if you want to attend and live outside south-east Queensland. 

Even if you can not personally attend these events there will be lots of geneabloggers tweeting, Facebooking, or using Google + to let people know what is happening at each of these events. It is amazing what you can learn from social media at genealogy events.

The last week was also busy with lots of writing. I have done a second edition of my first ever research guide What Was The Voyage Really Like? which was published in 2010. So much more is online now and you really do need to revisit your research from time to time. The new edition should be published in July so watch out for that.

Week 39 in my 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2015 is on old age pension records and again I found that there are more records out there than we might think. Doing simple keyword searches in online archive catalogues can turn up some amazing record series. Of course most are not name indexed or digitised but if you can visit and search yourself it might be worth while.

This coming week I am giving a talk at Deception Bay Library on Thursday and on Tuesday I am going to Bribie Island Library to hear a talk by Helen Smith. Something else to blog about.

Research wise I haven't done much except ask Trove to send me emails when family articles from the Telegraph and Daily Standard become available on Trove. It is amazing how many reference there are to my families in these two newspapers - they were obviously not Courier Mail people. Are other Brisbane people finding this too or is it just my families?

Until next week have a great genealogy weekend.

Free ebooks, talks & cruising - Genealogy Notes 24-31 May 2015

Hard to believe today is the last day of autumn and tomorrow will be winter. But then it never really gets that cold up here and only occasionally do I miss those frosty Canberra mornings when it looks like it snowed all night. Still half the year is almost gone and my year long projects keep pottering along - cataloging my library into LibraryThing, scanning my old photos, tidying up my really old genealogy research including scanning old photocopies which have seriously faded over the last 20-30 years. Don't get me started on all the old rusty staples and paper clips I'm finding in my files!

Even if you could finish your family history (and I don't believe you can as new information keeps turning up with new digitised resources eg Trove and I'm seriously staggered at how many times  I keep finding new newspaper articles on my family) you would never finish looking after your family records. Updating software, migrating files, and with all of our wet weather in early May we have had a serious mould outbreak. Something we never saw down south. So housework was the main winner this week!

However I did manage to go to Redcliffe Library and give my Warning Warning Tips & Tricks to Avoid Common Mistakes. It was a great audience and I actually went a little over time for the first time in ages. As usual the presentation is on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations. My next talk for Moreton Libraries is not until 11 June and it is at Deception Bay.

Lorikeets

Before then on 9 June I have the pleasure of attending Helen Smith's talk on Death Certificates and Medical Terms. Best of all I don't even have to travel far as Helen is giving the talk at the Bribie Island Library! Afterwards we will be lunching on the beautiful Pumicestone Passage.

I hope it is one of our clear blue sky days so that Helen can truly see Paradise. These little guys visit me throughout the day - we have lorikeets and rosellas visit as well as crested pigeons, doves, butcher birds, magpies, peewees and even the humble sparrow. It can be a bit distracting trying to write and watch them at the same time!

Pale crested rosella

With only six weeks until I am off on my Baltic genealogy cruise with Unlock the Past I am doing last minute trip planning and making final payments. I always like to pay for as much as I can before I go to save any last minute issues. Sharing a cabin with a friend from the Gold Coast will be a new experience for me but it is a great way to keep travel costs down and have more money for side trips and souvenirs. Alona (Lonetester) has just posted her five reasons why she is looking forward to the Baltic cruise - read them here.

As this will be my first European holiday since 2000 and the first time I have traveled to the Baltic I am maximising my holiday time and leaving my work and voluntary commitments back on Bribie.

This means I am hoping that everyone will send me their National Family History Month events before the end of June so that I can add them to the web calendar. Any events received while I am away will not go up until after I return. I am also sending out the launch invitations and getting the launch program finalised before I leave too. I return on 27 July and will have just three days to get over jet lag, get back up to speed and fly to Adelaide on 30 July for the launch the next day. Wish me luck!

Five years ago my first research guide What Was The Voyage Really Like? was published by Unlock the Past. It doesn't seem five years but I have spent the last few days doing a second edition and it really is amazing how much has changed in just five years. Records have been digitised and are now available online for ease of access and being able to do your own searches is fantastic. The ongoing development of Trove has made is so much easier for us to find photographs of ships, for example, before we could only do by individually searching each of our state libraries collections. It really is a fantastic time to be doing family history research, I only hope that those doing it online also realise there are still a lot of resources in our libraries and archives that are not online.

Although I am not a great ebook fan I do love a bargain and Thomas MacEntee (Geneabloggers) (USA) quite often advertises free ebooks on Facebook and just this morning I downloaded another title. GenEbooks (Australian) also has discounted specials or a free title which I try to remember to download if the title interests me. I now have quite a collection of free genealogy titles on my Ipad which will probably accompany me to Europe and help pass those long hours in the air or on stopovers, assuming I get sick of shopping in Dubai.

Otherwise I have not done too much genealogy or blogging this week but at least the house is clean and even the gardens were weeded and watered. Since the flood earlier in the month it has not rained at all and everything looks dry. Have another great genealogy week!

Webinars & Blogging magic - Genealogy Notes 17-23 May 2015

Sometimes I wonder if my fear of technology is real and attracts things to go wrong or I am just unlucky. During the week I gave a webinar on Queensland resources online for the Society of Australian Genealogists (SAG). Two days before we did a rehearsal to overcome my fears (it was only my second webinar presenting) and there was no problem. Everything went well and was familiar to me from the previous time. Come the night I could hear them but they could not hear me! After a little bit of fuss on both ends we managed to both hear each other and I gave the talk.

I still find it hard to get into a webinar without seeing the audience but I was very pleased the following day to see feedback on Facebook and Twitter with people following up some of the tips for Queensland resources online. SAG also got good feedback on the night and it really is a good way for people to attend talks if they can't personally travel to the venue/speaker. The presentation is on the Resources section of my website, scroll down to Presentations (slides only, no dialogue).

Week 38 Trade Union Records continues my personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2015. Participating in a blog challenge does help you to focus on what to write about but it also helps to stay committed to writing regularly. My family stories have led to many new discoveries that would not have happened if I was only writing in a paper based journal or magazine.

My GGG Grandmother's handwriting in her bible

In preparation for my meeting with newly discovered cousins, I tidied up some of my Finn family research and worked out what I would take along.  They are my father's generation and descended from my great grandmother's sister. One of the things you hear repeatedly with family history is that you should trace all the siblings too as you just don't know who ends up with what. How true in this case as I was able to see my GGG grandmother's diary in which she had written her name, Mrs Sarrah Fegan of Glasnargit (Ireland).

Sarah gave the bible to her daughter (also called Sarah) and when Sarah (the younger) and her husband John decided to emigrate to Queensland, Sarah brought her mother's bible with her. Their daughter Sarah Jane later became custodian of the bible and it is now with one of Sarah Jane's granddaughters (not called Sarah thankfully as it can be confusing). It was fantastic seeing the bible and reading something that was written in 1861 by my GGG grandmother. Did she ever contemplate that the bible might end up on the other side of the world or that it would still be treasured over 150 years later?

Sue White my cousin on the Finn side of our family tree

But how did we find each other? In 2013 I blogged about the three Finn brothers who went to WW1 (see my blog post here) and my cousin googled their names looking for some military information on them. She discovered my blog post and my website and realised that we shared common ancestors. A quick email to confirm and even though we live in different states, we met in Brisbane and swapped information, scanned some photos and even took some new photos. Great day.

We have some distant cousins on Max's side coming for lunch this week. We met them on our 2007 trip to Norfolk Island for the bicentenary of the closing of the first Norfolk Island convict settlement. We have kept in touch ever since. But as my first example shows, you don't have to travel thousands of miles to meet your relatives, all you need to do is blog and they will find you. Magic!

This coming week I am giving a talk at the Redcliffe Library for Moreton Bay Region Libraries as part of their genealogy program and one further talk to do before the end of the program. I am pleased to say that they have also asked me to do ten talks during National Family History Month in August so that will keep me busy. I wish I was busier adding events to the NFHM web calendar with Victoria currently leading with the number of events. Some states and territories have yet to see any events added.

There is a Skype meeting of AFFHO (Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations) on Monday so I will be doing a report on NFHM 2015 progress so far and hopefully getting some more society support from AFFHO members. But you don't have to be a member of AFFHO to add your August events to the NFHM web calendar and to be in the running for some great prizes.

Until next time, happy researching.

Immigration & Getting Ready for NFHM 2015 - Genealogy Notes 1-8 May 2015

Last Diary I was getting ready for Southern Suburbs Branch of the Genealogical Society of Queensland's immigration seminar. It was a great day and I learnt a few new things and you can read my report on the seminar here. I've also spent a bit of time exploring (playing) with my new Queensland Customs House Shipping 1852-1885 passengers and crew CD.

Thanks to Rosemary's talk on it, I have been doing different searches plus I wanted to check out what was on it for the 1864 voyage of the Legion of Honour which I had spotted in her talk. Imagine my surprise when I put in the date and name of the ship and nothing came up. Not all databases use soundex and bring up similar spellings and when I put in Legion of Honor there she was. The ship's name is spelt both ways in a variety of sources so it was a simple thing to find. It is a useful reminder that the difference of one letter might be all that is stopping us from finding what we are looking for. So remember to search for name variations!

National Family History Month 2015 was my other priority this week as I want to get as many events in the web calendar before I go on holidays in July. As it is a manual process to put events into the calendar and a voluntary position I do for AFFHO, I am not taking NFHM on holidays with me! So I am encouraging all genealogy and family history societies, archives, libraries and others to put their events up early so that people can plan what they intend to go to during August. Read more about what's in store in my NFHM blog post and please note that NFHM is in August so only August events will be listed.

I seem to be having some allergy issues at the moment, lots of sneezing which makes it hard to concentrate or do anything as it is non stop sneezing. The chemist sold me some tabs which control the sneezing but then your head just feels like it is full of concrete. We had prebooked on a trip to North Stradbroke Island with the Bribie RSL Branch and I did not want to miss out so I popped a tablet and went.

Why North Stradbroke? Last time I was there was back in the late 1970s and not a lot has changed accept the more modern ferries, love the Big Red Cat (a vehicular ferry). But back then I did not know that my great great grandfather John Finn had lived at Dunwich Benevolent Asylum for a time, nor did I know of his time in Brisbane Gaol and Woogaroo Asylum - all of that was waiting for me to discover ten years in the future. Next weekend I am giving a talk on asylum records for the Genealogical Society of Queensland so I have been thinking of John as his story is in my presentation.

The only trouble with travelling with a bus load of other people is that you stop at the scenic places (we went to Dunwich, Amity Point and Point Lookout) and drive straight past the cemetery and any of the other historic places. I would have loved to visit the museum but there was no time. Still it was a good day out although an 11 hour round trip! I will certainly plan to go again and do the historical things we missed out on this time.

Mum and I ca 1975 (where did 40 years go?)

Tomorrow is Mother's Day so I will be visiting Mum and letting her know she still has two cousins older than her. I expect she will be surprised. My son is also going to go to Mum's so a chance to all see each other at the same time. My brother might even be there, a real family day.

As I mentioned above I have my asylums presentation next weekend and then I am doing a webinar for the Society of Australian Genealogists on Queensland resources online. So another technologically challenging session for me but one way to learn about new technology. Personally I think I prefer nodding heads in an audience rather than a laptop screen at home by myself.

Everyone have a great Mother's Day either being with our mothers or remembering them. Until next time, have an exciting genealogical week.

ANZAC Day, Digital Memories & Death Records - Genealogy Notes 17-23 Apr 2015

Another huge week with lots happening on my own personal genealogy as well as going to genealogy seminars and National Family History Month ramping up. First up I went to Colleen Fitzpatrick's three Brisbane seminars and you can read my review here.

I also participated in Kintalk's Trans Tasman ANZAC Day blog challenge. This year's tribute was to Alexander Thomas Davis my cousin three times removed who received a gun shot wound to the head in France and died of wounds shortly after arriving back home at Toorbul. Read my tribute to Alexander here.

The Queenslander, 8 Jan 1916 courtesy
State Library of Queensland

The latest issue of Queensland's Registry of BDM's Family History Journal has a military article on my three great uncles Robert, John and Denis Finn who all enlisted in WW1. The Registry describes me as an 'avid supporter' - my online dictionary says that is someone who is enthusiastic, keen, ardent, devoted, dedicated, zealous and fanatic. Yep, I guess that is me! To subscribe (free) and read their really interesting journal and find out what's happening in Queensland BDMs visit this link.

My mother's draft family history progresses and I bought her a small book Dear Mum from me to you: journal of a lifetime which is basically a series of questions about her childhood, parents, marriage, children and so on. I thought it would be a good idea if Mum jotted down her memories in this journal and I could incorporate some of them into the family history. Well she did short answers to the first three questions and then it was all a bit hard with her arthritic fingers.

Not to be defeated I went back with a digital recorder and said all she had to do was read the question and then give her answer. I showed her the on/off buttons and away she went. I came back a little while later and she had totally finished the whole book, when I had been expecting her to take days, if not weeks. I haven't worked my way through the questions yet but some of her memories seem quite short. Perhaps I can go back with further questions after she has thought about things more. At least I am getting a bit more than the usual 'what do you want to know that for?'.

The other thing I was trying to confirm (or not) was that Mum is the last of her generation. I have thought this might be true for some time so I set about trying to get death dates for her cousins if I didn't already have them. This led to some interesting discoveries in Ancestry and My Heritage where I know some of my relatives have put their family trees. For those lines were no one is actively following the families, I did searches in Brisbane City Council's Grave Location Search, Moreton Bay Regional Council's cemetery database and the Ryerson Index and picked up a few more death dates.

Mum's youngest brother Cyril who saw service in WW2,
Mount Thompson crematorium  

I had heard that Mount Thompson crematorium was also now online but had never looked before. Well there went a few hours! Not only is it online but there are images of the plaques so even though I have photos taken back in the 1980s I was able to see more up to date images and in quite a few cases, additional people had been added to some family plaques. However, if your person does not have a memorial then they don't appear in the search results. At least mine don't.

The interesting thing about the Heaven's Address site is that it also links to other crematoriums and memorial gardens (not just Queensland) and is definitely worth a visit to see if one of your families final resting places is included.

I was then left with only a couple of names other than Mum's. So I did a Google search on their names using inverted commas around the names. Worked a treat for one of them! I found Betty Isabel White listed on the Gympie Funerals website and the last time I corresponded with the family they were in the Gympie area. The information is basically what would have appeared in the local newspaper announcing the funeral. I wasn't so lucky with the other two cousins (sisters) but if still alive, they would be older than Mum. Looks like I will have to try and find some of my own cousins to solve the question of whether Mum is the last of her generation.

There are quite a few talks coming up in May so I will be out and about again. The first is a seminar being held by Southern Suburbs branch of the Genealogical Society of Queensland. It is on 3 May and includes 4 talks all on immigration topics. Details are here but it is a great opportunity to hear Eric and Rosemary Kopittke, Helen Smith and myself. Great value at $20 (in advance) for the day but you do need to bring your own lunch or buy it nearby. Other talks coming up can be found on the Events page of my website.

I have been adding some events to the National Family History Month web calendar but I would love to see more events added. Genealogy and family history societies who enter an event before 30 June 2015 will receive a gift certificate from the National Institute of Genealogical Studies. Full details on the Sponsors page.

Tomorrow we have the ANZAC Day dawn service and parade on Bribie Island plus there is the RAAF reunion which kicks off tonight with dinner at the Bribie RSL and ends on Sunday with a BBQ lunch. So not a lot of genealogy will be done this weekend but I am hoping to catch some of Max's military stories. Now that I have dusted off the digital recorder he is next on my list of subjects.

We will all be remembering our military ancestors this weekend, the centenary of the landing at Gallipoli. One of Max's cousins, Tasman Jarvis died on 25 Apr 1915 at Gallipoli, My tribute blog post to him was on 24 Apr 2010 and you can read it here. Until next week, happy searching.

Blogs, Awards and Progress - Genealogy Notes 4-10 April 2015

An interesting week with some genealogy research progress. While at Congress I had asked Sylvia from FIBIS (Families in British India Society) about our Tasmanian convict who died in Darjeeling India and since then she has helped me learn a bit more about the Oakley family in India.

In one of my talks I tell people not to have tunnel vision and to broaden out their thinking. This is MY example of tunnel vision because Sylvia also said I could have found out some of this information earlier by doing a Findmypast search. When I use FMP I think of the UK, Ireland and Australasia but of course it is much more than that. I feel a little silly now but that is one way we learn, by talking to others about our research and by making sure we make the most of websites we visit. No matter how many years of research we have under our belts, it is hard to keep up with everything new and sometimes we forget the obvious.

My other big learning exercise for the week was tackling my mother's draft family history in Word. I have made some good progress on revising text, style and I have inserted lots of photos. And that is where I started to come unstuck. I have always had trouble with images in Word and adding captions seems that little bit harder. Previously I had all the end notes at the end of the draft but I thought it would look better at the end of each chapter. That's not quite working out either. But then again I have learnt lots of other things about Word so still making progress.

I have started writing Australasian articles and blog posts for the In-Depth Genealogist and my first article appeared in the March issue of Going In-Depth and two blog posts have been published. I need a better way of raising my notifications about when they are published as I keep missing them. It is probably in my settings and with the Congress rush I haven't had time to sort myself out. I have also been exploring the resources on their website and although mostly US centric at the moment, there are some resources I want to explore further when time permits. And there is my GGG grandfather in Minnesota to follow up.

My personal genealogy blog challenge continues and Week 36 was on Hospital Records. Kintalk's Trans Tasman Anzac Day genealogy blog challenge is on again and I have already chosen which military ancestor I will write about this year. Anyone can join in and honour one of their military ancestors. Alexander Thomas Davis is also featured in a military display at the Bribie Island Seaside Museum and as he has no descendants, I will write up more about his military service and how he died of wounds not long after he arrived back home at Toorbul

A good bit of my time was again spent on National Family History Month (NFHM). I now have all the new sponsors information on the website and details of the prizes to be won in August. That's a reminder that the competition does not start until 1 August although I know there are some eager people out there already!

I also sent an invitation email to 186 genealogy and family history societies throughout Australia so I hope some of them decide to participate if they don't already. I also have another 50 or so societies for whom I don't have an email address so I am still working on those. Why not encourage your society to participate too, simply refer to all your August activities as NFHM events and enter them into the NFHM web calendar.

I once jokingly said that I needed a medal for all the work I do for NFHM voluntarily and now I have my medal, but not quite for NFHM. Back in 2009 I was awarded AFFHO's (Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations) meritorious service award for my family history endeavours in QLD, ACT and VIC over the years. The award is actually a trophy but from this Congress they are also giving a medal which can be worn at AFFHO events which is a nice way of recognising past recipients. Look out for me wearing mine this August!

Tomorrow I am in Maryborough giving three talks for the Maryborough Family Heritage Research Institute and I believe that there are also attendees from other groups as well. Should be a great day but after three talks and however many questions I will be looking for a quiet Sunday. Perhaps even a spot of research or more work on Mum's family history book. Until next time happy searching.

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.