AFFHO Congress news: Genealogy notes 23-27 March 2015

It's not quite a week since the last Diary but I thought there should be at least one Diary post during AFFHO Congress 2015. I'm still adjusting to the new time zone and waking up late as my body is programmed to wake at the same time each day. But I'm putting it to bed later than usual so I could be a bit of a zombie today.

It was a long trip here but we arrived safe to be greeted by a Congress welcoming committee who were our friends when we lived here many years ago. Then we were taken to the Mantra on Northbourne where we are staying and although we were early (before 2 pm), they found us a room that was ready and we were unpacked and having a reviving cup of tea within minutes.

I needed it because then it was the shortish walk to the Canberra National Convention Centre to collect my conference satchel (to be described in a later blog post) and meet up with lots of old geneafriends and a few of my new social media friends also came up and introduced themselves. I am going to have to stop thinking of people in terms of their blog names and remember their real names!

After I collected my blogging beads from Jill there seemed to be a whirlwind of photos with various people. No doubt some of those will surface on blog posts or social media. Then it was the walk back to the Mantra to get ready for the meet and greet at the Australian War Memorial. Fortunately I met long time friend Sue (now a member of the Caloundra Family History Group) and she offered to drive Max and myself there as he is still having a bit of trouble walking following his recent broken leg drama.

At the meet and greet we met up with lots of other people from our Canberra days but also from our genealogy cruises with Unlock the Past Cruises, other genealogy conferences and our days of living in Melbourne and Brisbane. Once you have been to one geneaconference, you know that there will always be someone to talk to at the next one as it is so easy to meet new people and to meet again regular attendees.

The first day of Congress talks was excellent and that will be a separate post too when I have more time. The venue is excellent and the Royal Theatre has three screens so that everyone can see everything. This is lots of room in the exhibition area and so far I have not bought anything. Early days yet. This was another opportunity to catch up with old friends while enjoying the excellent catering. There seemed to be lots of food at multiple stations so no overly long delays in getting lunch and tea and coffee.

At the end of the day I attended the AFFHO AGM where I was given the opportunity to talk about National Family History Month 2015 and to encourage all AFFHO societies to participate. There will be more about NFHM once I have all my Congress posts written. It is the next big thing on the Australasian genealogy horizon.

The day ended with a great Chinese dinner at Kingston (the China Plate) with Dorothy from Wagga Wagga & District Family History Society and Rosemary from HAGSOC (Canberra), both long time geneafriends. It was a wide ranging geneadiscussion.

Well if I don't stop writing this update and get ready I will miss Josh Taylor from Findmypast and the first keynote speaker of the day. My talk on sporting ancestors is one of the last talks of the day so another long day and we have the conference dinner tonight at Parliament House! If you aren't at Congress, have fun watching us on social media with #affho #genealogy or follow the usual suspects. Until next time, happy searching.

Google, photos, sporting ancestors:Genealogy notes 16 - 22 Mar 2015

Last week's Diary brought the news of an exciting discovery of a WW1 ancestor's photograph. I'm happy to say that I have just been sent a photo of my great great grandmother's sister. As we have no photos at all on this line I am super excited as she looks just like my grandmother or is that wishful thinking? Or do all little old ladies look like that?

This exciting discovery came about because someone (my third cousin once removed) Googled our common ancestor John Carnegie of Toorbul and found all my blog posts on how I eventually knocked down the brick walls around this family. I've dashed off a quick email to say hello!

I have to say that Google is perhaps the most exciting genealogical discovery of all time BUT you still need to be blogging your family stories to be discovered and contacted by long lost cousins. I really don't know why everyone doesn't have a geneablog. It is a wet rainy day here and when I logged on to write this Diary post, there was the email and the photos. How easy is that?

Week 35 of my personal genealogy blog challenge is Sporting Records and that is also one of the topics I am talking about next week at the AFFHO Congress in Canberra. I'm also happy to say that my new research guide Discover your sporting ancestors: it was not all work and no play is also now available. There are so many aspects of our ancestors lives that we can explore and I have really enjoyed tracking down some of these sporting stories.

My first blog post for The In-Depth Genealogist was this week and not surprisingly I was writing about the AFFHO Congress and how we will all be using social media to share what is happening in Canberra over five very exciting days and nights. Only four more sleeps for me!

Although Congress is now occupying most of my thoughts I need to keep in mind that the weekend after it I am heading back up to Maryborough for the genealogy seminar cancelled courtesy of Cyclone Marcia. I am giving three talks and the seminar is being organised by the Maryborough Family Heritage Research Institute. I'm really looking forward to catching up with them as I first started giving talks there in the 1980s!

My book review of Jayne Shrimpton's Fashion in the 1940s is here. It gave me some great ideas to follow up on my female relatives during WW2.

During a quick visit to Brisbane I was lucky enough to have a look behind the scenes at the Queensland Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages. Plus they are one of our new prize sponsors for National Family History Month (NFHM) in August 2015. The list of sponsors prizes is looking good and thanks to AFFHO and Ancestry for being major sponsors this year (new/additional sponsors may also join between now and August). Keep up to date by visiting the NFHM website or this Diary as I am the voluntary coordinator again!

There must be other news but I really want to get back to my Carnegie research and look at the two pages of information sent along with the photos. Although looking at the time, the family might be expecting me to cook dinner! Perhaps they won't be hungry tonight? Happy researching and blogging, let people find you.

Talks, articles & webinars - Genealogy notes 22-28 Feb 2015

Hard to believe that it is the end of February already. Having only 28 days doesn't help but it seems to have gone by in a blur but I have been busier than normal with my nursing duties on top of everything else.

One casualty was there was no new post in my 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2015 but that should resume next week (as I touch my wooden desk). I did manage to send off my second blog post  for The In-Depth Genealogist and article for Going In-Depth and watch out for my first one in the March issue coming soon. It has been a learning curve working with a new online magazine as they have different procedures from other magazines I have written for. But all good new skills for me and as I get into a routine it will be easier, I thank Terri O'Connell for her patience in answering all my questions.

My talks at Woodford and North Lakes for Moreton Bay Region Libraries went well and you know you are in a rural area when a frog starts hopping around right where you are going to give your talk. Probably driven inside to get away from all the rain we had last week. Luckily some brave young men came to our rescue, picked it up and returned it outside. Albany Creek is on Monday and they are always a good group as the talk follows their local genealogy society meeting.

As I am an early riser I tuned into Legacy Family Tree Webinars to hear Lisa Louise Cooke's New and Must Have Google Tips for Genealogy. I was familiar with most of what Lisa said but there were a few new tips that I will be trying out. It was a free webinar and can be viewed online for free until 4 March. I have listened to a few webinars now, in real time if it suits us here in Australia or after the event and they can be quite useful.

The In Time and Place history and genealogy conference in Brisbane in October now has a website. There are some great sessions over the two days and I am struggling to choose between the local history stream and the family history stream. As usual I want to attend everything! Should be a great weekend. See the program here.

The local history course I have been attending at U3A has reawakened my interest in the local areas where my ancestors lived and trawling through Trove I am finding lots of information on events that were happening around them. It is so easy to be sidetracked when researching. For example, when I lived at New Farm in Brisbane for many years in the 80s and 90s I always walked past a beautiful old home called Santa Barbara which was just around the corner from us. This week I found it was built by Sarah Balls, an enterprising widow who had the fish cannery on Bribie Island before World War One. Small world as they say.

Congress 2015 is looming at the end of March and I need to finalise my two presentations and to make sure I fit within the time constraints. It is always hard to try and say everything you want and make it interesting.

The other big thing I need to do in the coming week is start to invite genealogy and family history societies to participate in National Family History Month in August 2015. Interest from sponsors has not been as strong this year (so far) possibly because most of them are already heavily involved with Congress 2015. Still we have one major sponsor and some prize sponsors and perhaps more will join us as we move closer to August. Make sure it is in your calendars and help me spread the word.

More medical appointments this week so more chauffeur duty for me. I think I have spent more time driving over the last five weeks than I have in the last five years! So that with my talk on Monday and my local history class on Friday will be almost a full week out and about. I will have to squeeze in the work on my presentations and blog writing and try to avoid being distracted by Trove and new posts on Twitter and Facebook. Wish me luck.

Postcards, NFHM 2015, Congress - Genealogy Notes 1-7 Feb 2015

Another big week as I try and finalise sponsors for National Family History Month 2015. Our first event has been listed on the NFHM web calendar - thanks to State Library of Victoria for adding their annual Family History Feast. There was a Skype meeting of the AFFHO council this week and I gave an update on progress so far.

The first part of the meeting was frustrating as I could hear everything but they did not think I was there. After 30 minutes I just hung up and that's when they realised I was there and called me back so that I could have my say. The technology is fantastic but you do get little hiccups from time to time. Anyway from this month you can look forward to more updates on NFHM on the website, the Facebook page of NFHM and through this Diary. I am again voluntary coordinator so make sure the whole of August is in your calendar, it is going to be our best yet.

Seated Thomas and Elizabeth Price, Charters Towers ca 1913

Postcards was the topic this week of my personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2015 and I am really glad that I picked that topic. I went back through my collection of family postcards and selected a few to talk about and made some new discoveries which is always exciting. But it also led me to rethink about mysteries I have not thought about in years. Who is that woman in the portrait with my great grandparents Thomas and Elizabeth Price? She must have some significance or why include her in the photo. Why have her standing there?

There are now over 400 people registered to attend Congress 2015 in Canberra next month. It is not too late to register and join us for a wonderful four days of genealogy, fantastic speakers, perhaps a little buying frenzy in the exhibitors area, networking and socialising. It is the last chance until 2018 as Congress is only held every three years.

I have received a new book to review - Jayne Shrimpton's Fashion in the 1940s and it looks fantastic. Some great family photos and some great advertisements from magazines and newspapers. For some reason I always like to look at the photos in a book before I read the text. Stay tuned for that review.

My course at the 3UA on Bribie Island history is going well and even when you think you know a lot about a place, it is amazing what you can still learn. After last week's session, I asked about the Amateur Fishing Association and its records as Max's great uncle was President at some point (that clue courtesy of his funeral notice located via Trove). This week the lecturer brought in the AFA's published history and there are lots of references to Adkins Robert Spencer so no guesses what I am reading this week.

It is also timely as I am finishing up a new research guide on sporting ancestors for Unlock the Past and I was including a piece on Spencer and the AFA so now I have even more information to include. This is a perfect example of why you should visit the local historical society to see if there is any information on your family in their library or collection. By the way, sporting ancestors is one of my topics at Congress 2015, I am hoping to inspire people to look for their sporting ancestors. It wasn't all work and no play!

I have received another challenging expert query for Inside History Magazine which I definitely need my thinking cap on for. The Society of Australian Genealogists have asked me to do a webinar on Queensland genealogy for them in May. These webinars are only available to their society members but I think it is great that the Society is trying to meet the needs of members who can't attend talks in person due to distance or other factors.

On the home front the last week has been challenging. My partner broke his leg in two places while walking his brother's big dog who simply pulled him over in his excitement at going for a walk. So lots of time taken up with medical appointments, driving him places and doing things he normally does around the house. I guess we don't really realise who does what until someone no longer does it. His friends have been really good and even mown the lawn for me. And help and support from the brother, owner of the big dog? So far a couple of cheap pizzas so I didn't have to cook dinner one night!

On the plus side I can now manhandle a wheel chair into the back of our car and take Max for a walk/ride along the beach and he can sit and watch the boats and people fishing, although not quite the same as being out in his own boat. Better than sitting in the house and going stir crazy and thank goodness we didn't buy a place with steps. The study chair on wheels is a nice little vehicle to get around inside the house although some of the walls may need a paint touch up when he is mobile again. The chair is a bit like a shopping trolley, with a mind of its own.

Although I have been quiet on this topic my mother has been in hospital since before Christmas. Yesterday we found out that she was being released and sent home which is what she wants. But my brother is overseas at present so I will be doing a few trips up and down the highway while I try and look after both my charges. Mum's neighbour is very good  and will do daily checks but we are not convinced that she is really up to living alone now. We couldn't even persuade her to have a holiday on Bribie as it would be easier to get her here than Max down there. Plus there is no room for all of us in her small townhouse and we have a spare bedroom here. Mum just wants to be at home, her place.

It is sad to see your parents grow old and lose their independence. As babies we are dependent on them but then we are too young to really know what that means. When we are older, we know the value of independence and what it's loss means. Even Max who is now dependent on me and others for the next couple of months is feeling that loss of independence because he simply can't do what he wants to do. Someone has to help him. I hadn't meant to say all this but obviously it is at the forefront of my thoughts and will probably remain there for some time.

Thank goodness I have genealogy to distract me in my spare moments! Happy researching this week.

Genealogy Notes 19-25 December 2014 - Christmas thoughts

Christmas Eve and we are getting everything ready for tomorrow's lunch at my mother's place. All my brother's family will be there and all of mine too - the only one who may not be there is our mother. A week or so ago she had a fall, needed some stitches in her head and after a few days in hospital it was back into rehab to make her strong enough to go home. But she developed pneumonia over the weekend and it is now a wait and see how she goes to whether or not they will let her out for Christmas lunch. The antibiotics have helped and she is looking better but we will get the doctor's decision later today. So we might be all trooping up to the hospital before we tuck into our seafood feast.

Christmas is always the one time of the year when we do try to come together as a family but it has not always been possible with my living interstate for so many years. Plus we have extended families - my son usually alternates Christmas between us and his other grandma but this year he is managing to fit us both in, although they are not planning to eat two Christmas lunches! Max's families are all interstate so there will be lots of phone calls and there are packages under the Christmas tree.

So no matter how you are celebrating Christmas this year, take the time to think about your families and all the memories you are creating. Capture those images and memories on your cameras so that you can remember those moments in the future. Merry Christmas everyone and I hope there are some genealogy goodies in your stockings.

This time of year I also start thinking about 2014 in retrospect and looking ahead to 2015 and what it might be bringing. Regular readers will know that I try and capture this with my Genealogy Aspirations blog posts - here is my 2014 Genealogy Aspirations. I will be reviewing those five aspirations and thinking about what I want to focus on in 2015. Hopefully I will have that done before the end of the year, only a week away now.

There are lots of exciting genealogy events happening in Australia in 2015 and I am lucky to be giving talks at all of them. See where I am speaking in 2015 on the Services & Events page of my website. Additional talks may be added as I accept invitations throughout the year. I have also got some new and exciting writing projects lined up too but more about that in the New Year.

I have done completed two more interviews with speakers from the AFFHO Congress 2015 mega genealogy event next March in Canberra - Cora Num and Jennie Norberry. There are still a few more to come but probably not until the New Year. It is really interesting to see the tips for attending Congress that the speakers are giving. For me, to make the most of it you just need to be a sponge, and soak it all up but it also helps to be prepared and that's why I think these speaker interviews are so useful.

The National Family History Month 2015 website and NFHM Facebook page are updated as much as I can until sponsorship is finalised, hopefully in January. Then my goal is to try and convince every genealogy and family history society in Australia to have an event. I may need some help with that, so if you are a member of any societies, make sure you mention NFHM  August 2015 to them.

Thank you to all my regular readers and to those who dip in from time to time. I enjoy passing on news and details of the genealogy events I am lucky enough to attend. I go into 2015 more convinced that social media is the way of the future and hopefully we will see more genealogy and family history societies joining in and reaching out to their members and others in the online world.

Have a safe and happy Christmas everyone, until next time.

Genealogy notes 11-18 Dec 2014 - more AFFHO Congress interviews

Hard to believe Christmas is now only a week away and the New Year a week after that - but then I say that every year. We have hosted a party for the neighbours and most of the shopping is done, the tree is up and the lights flashing around the yard and house. So definitely looks like Christmas even if I am still wondering where the year went.

I have done two more AFFHO Congress 2015 speaker interviews - Robyn Williams from New Zealand on New Zealand topics and Kate Bagnall who has been researching Chinese Australian families. I still have a couple more interviews to do next week and I have been sending out reminders to others on my list to interview. Pauleen Cass, my fellow official Congress blogger with Jill Ball, has posted her interview with me - see it here.

Time does fly as since the photo I sent to the Congress organisers which must have been back in 2013, I have changed my look. Always odd seeing photos of yourself and that is something I have done a lot of over the past week. I have been going through photo albums selecting photos to digitise and at the same time, generating so many memories.

There has been a sustained attack on all my paper genealogy magazines and  journals, although each one I read has just given me new ideas to follow up. Once I am on a new website hours can go by and of course there are all the leads from Twitter and Facebook posts too. In an attempt to capture some of the #genealogy tweets I started a Shauna Hicks Genealogy Daily Paper-li but for some reason, even though I only selected people I follow for genealogy, I have ended up with some strange additions.

So that needs a bit of tweaking and of course I still follow Jill Ball's The Australian Genealogists Daily. I noticed that some key tweets weren't showing up in that which is why I started my own. We have so many good online social media enthusiasts in Australia we should try and capture more of what they are sharing with us.

MyHeritage issued a press release about their new Instant Discoveries which

"provides information about one's ancestors and relatives while signing up to MyHeritage, giving a free, fun and immediately gratifying introduction to the fascinating world of family history. First-time users to provide very basic information about 7 family members: themselves, their parents and grandparents and then powerful technology automatically searches for information about their family in MyHeritage’s vast databases of billions of records. Within seconds, users are then presented with an Instant Discovery™, showing a person likely to be their ancestor, together with a wealth of related information including the entire family branch, names, facts, photos and documents. Users can then apply it all to their family tree in a click." 

They tested it on people in New York and you can view the video here. I am wondering how it would actually work here in Australia and at the moment it is only available to new MyHeritage users. I have had a MyHeritage account for a few years so I can't check. So if anyone here in Australia has tried it please let me know.

While I can see the appeal of instantly finding someone, especially in this day and age, I am not sure if that is better than some of the research thrills and satisfaction I have had over the years as I have painstakingly tracked people down. For me the path has been the challenge, not just the family knowledge at the end.

Findmypast had a very handy family historian Christmas gift guide for the  which I hope my family noted and of course I am also hoping for Nathan Dylan Goodwin's new novella The Orange Lilies. I have also mentioned a new orchid several times and there is that wonderful red and white toadstool statue at the local nursery which would be perfect in the back garden. Boxes of chocolates or electric toothbrushes will not be accepted! I do hope that Santa is more receptive than the family.

My other big task is getting the website and Facebook account for National Family History Month changed over for 2015. I have made some changes to wording on the home page but got stuck changing over the banner so I have called in the cavalry to assist.  Sponsors are still being finalised so I have left 2014 sponsors for the moment.

Events for 2015 can now be added to the web calendar - see here. The Family History Month Facebook page has been updated to and I will start to post any NFHM 2015 news as it comes too hand (or I generate as the voluntary coordinator).

Finally as part of the Kiva Genealogists for Families team I made another three loans for Christmas - two were from repayments from earlier loans and the other $25 loan was my Christmas gift to others. Join me by clicking here. $25 has the power to change peoples lives and it is so
nice to be part of this team helping families.

Very hot and humid here today and a storm predicted for the afternoon. We have seen some very bad storms the last few weeks so I hope everyone stays safe. There will be one more Diary before Christmas so have fun with all those last minute preparations. Remember to find some time for genealogy, it doesn't take too long to read a blog or two! Until next time.

Genealogy Notes 4-10 Dec 2014 blog posts & 2015 events

The last week has seen three very different blog posts. The first was a So This is Christmas 2014 geneameme challenge from Sharn White (FamilyHistory4U) and it has been interesting reading the various responses from other Geneabloggers. My response was 2014 Christmas Genealogy Geneameme and I found it very hard to remember any of my childhood Christmas dinners. So this Christmas I will have to ask my brother what he remembers and to see if Mum has any old Christmas photos to jog my memory!

My next blog post was a book review of Nathan Dylan Goodwin's first two genealogical crime mysteries with Morton Farrier, a forensic genealogist - Hiding The Past and The Lost Ancestor. Read my review of both books here. Since I finished the review, I have discovered there is a new Morton Farrier adventure, a novella ebook The Orange Lilies and I have been dropping hints to the family. Certainly a more interesting present than the electric toothbrush I received last year!

The final blog for the week was another interview in my AFFHO Congress 2015 series of interviews with speakers. Read my interview with Michelle Nichols here. I have some more interviews to put up but there have been severe storms here every day and it is just not worth being online with so many lightning strikes around. Pauleen Cass one of the Congress official blogging team is doing a similar interview with me although I am still considering my own answers to the questions!

I have received some sponsor confirmations for National Family History Month 2015 which is fantastic. Hopefully I will hear from the others in the next week or so and then I can change the website over for 2015. Make sure you have August marked in your diaries as NFHM.

All my known speaking engagements for 2015 are now on the Services & Events page of my website.  I have three major conferences, two genealogy cruises, some society seminars and library talks so far and as I commit to any other presentations I will add them to the list. But it looks like being a big year for genealogy in 2015 especially if you live in Canberra, Port Macquarie, Adelaide or Brisbane or can travel to those events!

I went to the Bribie Island family history group meeting and Christmas lunch today and everyone spoke about what they had been doing. Sometimes that is a great way to learn about new sites or to get other peoples ideas on your family history problems. No more meetings now until next year.

Another storm is rolling its way in and it is now so dark I almost need the lights on and it is still afternoon. We are fairly lucky here on Bribie Island as the main storm cells seem to go around us and as a sand island, the water usually just goes straight through. The winds can be pretty full on depending on the direction they are coming from.  Thunder, lightning, rain and wind now here so time to log off and stand by with the mop and a torch! Happy researching until next time.

Genealogy notes 24 Nov - 3 Dec 2014 Congress 2015 speaker interviews

The last week or so has totally got away from me. But yesterday I did make the Bribie Island Family History Group meeting where the speaker talked about his own convict families and how wonderful the Australian Joint Copying Project was. This reminded me of the talk I gave on AJCP earlier this year for the Genealogical Society of Queensland - the presentation is still on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations and it was in May 2014.

There are now two interviews in my AFFHO Congress 2015 speaker interviews - Richard Reid interview and Sue Reid interview (no relation to Richard). Over the next week or so I will be doing another two interviews and all up I have 12 speakers in my list. The other two official Congress bloggers Jill Ball and Pauleen Cass are also doing a similar number of interviews. Some fantastic speakers are lined up for Congress so watch out for all the latest news.

There is an AFFHO committee meeting tomorrow night. I am a member with my role as voluntary coordinator for National Family History Month. Meetings always prompt me to do things so I wrote a small piece on NFHM 2015 for the December News Flash and I have contacted all of last year's NFHM sponsors and invited them to sponsor us again. Of course we always welcome new sponsors too!

Another new experience is looming for me too. I have been asked to participate in Maria Northcote's Genies Down Under podcasts - January and February episodes to be exact. In the past I have done podcasts with the State Library of Victoria and the Genealogical Society of Victoria for members only (more just recording my talks at those institutions). This is a bit different so I have said yes so look out for them in the New Year.

I have been busy writing some Q&A pieces for Inside History Magazine and Family Tree Magazine UK and as usual, always amazed by some of the tricky ancestors out there doing their best to stay hidden!

Findmypast have been adding lots of Scottish records over the last month so I did a quick search and was pleasantly surprised to find three references to my Scottish GGG grandfather. The references prove that he was a merchant seaman (an occupation on one of the certificates I have for him) and one of the references had his birth date so I know it is definitely him. I just wish I could work out what all the abbreviations and squiggles on the entries mean. One of the entries looks like US which might explain the American colours tattoo he had, I always believed he must have travelled to the US prior to marrying and coming to Queensland.

Unlock the Past Cruises sent out a media release for the seven cruises they have in 2015-2016 - something for everyone. You can see their 16 page catalogue here. It would be great to do them all but not really an option time or money wise for most of us. So I am definitely doing the Baltic cruise in July 2015 as it is a while since I last went to Europe.

I have never been to America so I am also doing the Trans Atlantic cruise in November 2015 plus I have always wanted to celebrate my birthday at sea. The Melbourne Cup is just going to have to miss me next year. It is a while since I was in New Zealand too so I am going to do the New Zealand to Australia (including Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth) cruise in February 2016.

I am missing out on Western Australia, Queensland and the Barrier Reef cruises and I am still undecided on the European river cruise which goes from Amsterdam to Basel in Switzerland through France and Germany. My issue is timing - it is late July early August 2016 which is of course National Family History Month but perhaps I will no longer be voluntary coordinator by then??

Now that I have my next research guide with Unlock the Past's editor, I am going to have another big tidy up in the study, get back to cataloging more of my books into Library Thing and do some of my own research during the 'quiet' holiday season. The other half has a significant birthday coming up and I have something planned which I need to start working on or it won't be finished in time.

So lots to keep me going next week.Happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 17-23 Nov 2014 AFFHO congress papers due

Back home again and trying to get back into normal mode again but playing catch up with emails, blogs and things that should be done. Amazing how fast weeds grow when you have been away for a few weeks. One of my orchids also flowered while I was away and then got battered in the storm just before we got back.

The most pressing deadline is the end of November when all the AFFHO Congress 2015 speakers have to get their papers in so that the organisers can arrange publication in time for the Congress in March. The deadline for presentations is later so I have not given them any thoughts yet. My two papers are on sporting ancestors and court of petty session records for family history and I have my drafts here ready to go. I like to read them a few times before sending off because I quite often want to make last minute tweaks.

Still on Congress, I have been in touch with some of the presenters who I will be featuring in blog posts between now and Congress. Along with my official blogging team partners Jill Ball and Pauleen Cass we will be doing interviews in blogs, hangouts and YouTube. It will be interesting to learn more about everyone over the coming months. By Congress they will seem like old friends!

Speaking of AFFHO, I was asked to provide copy for the next News Flash on National Family History Month 2015 which I have not given much thought to yet. But I must get on to changing the website over in preparation for 2015. Contacting NFHM sponsors is also on the must do list. What I can say is that NFHM 2015 launch will be in Adelaide in 2015 so slowly moving around Australia now with previous launches in Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra. Make sure August 2015 is in your diaries!

I have also done a couple of ask an expert queries for Inside History Magazine and as usual they are challenging. Some people's brick walls are bigger than the Great Wall of China and in some cases it would be fantastic if we could simply go back in time and ask our ancestors why? In my post office box on my return was the latest issue of Inside History Magazine so when it gets too hot today I will be curling up with that for a good read.

While on the caravan trip I managed to read both of Nathan Dylan Goodwin's genealogical mysteries and I totally enjoyed them. Still in the process of doing a review but hopefully that will be completed in the next week.

Also managed to read quite a bit of Carol Baxter's new reference book - I'm providing pre publication feedback which is a great opportunity to see how another author works. I have to finish that by early December.

Of course my own new research guide is still nearing completion. I like to find dedicated time to do that and travelling in a caravan doesn't give you that luxury. So that is the major task this week - to finish it and send it off to the wonderful editor at Unlock the Past. Finishing a guide always seems to take me longer than writing the whole thing in the first place!

On the good news side I have been asked to present a master class on Public Record Office Victoria at the NSW & ACT Association of Family History Societies annual conference which is in Port Macquarie in October 2015. It is still early stages in their conference planning so the website is not up yet. There will be a link from the Association's website soon. There is a Facebook page for the NSW & ACT 2015 conference. I try to get to these conferences whenever I can, usually determined by their location which changes each year. Port Macquarie is one of those places we nearly settled in so it will be a great opportunity to revisit this historic area.

My speaking calendar for 2015 is full on and I hope to put all the dates on my website soon, still waiting on some confirmation of presentation titles. So far I have 15 events with more than one talk at some of those events. So a busy year ahead.

There hasn't been any opportunity for my own genealogy research but I am planning to give up television. At home we seem to have got into the habit of just flopping in front of the TV at night and while in the caravan we didn't too that. Other things occupied us so my new resolve is to try and be a little busier at night rather than just flopping!

Until next time, happy researching and think about attending some of the great conferences happening in Australia in 2015.