Digital tools, Open Data, Rockstar Genealogists & Other News - Genealogy Notes 11-18 Oct 2017

It's been a soggy week in south east Queensland which means lots of time indoors. I've now got my family history database on the new laptop and brought all my photographs across. It would have been easier to just copy everything across but it is amazing how many programs I have that I no longer use or there are newer and better versions. I am also tidying up my file directory and deleting things that I don't need anymore. A true spring clean and of course a nice little list of things to do later. 

The professional development day of the Queensland Professional Historians Association in Brisbane was a great success and I learnt about some digital tools for organising research so that you can find it again later. Of course Evernote was one that was mentioned, Air Table and also Zotero which I had forgotten about and how you can use it with Trove. The Department of Natural Resources and Mines has a new Queensland historical map viewer coming soon which will allow us to use the historical digital maps already in open data easier. It looks fantastic and here's hoping that the testing phase is completed soon.

My talk was on social media for historians and how it can be used for finding and sharing information as well as networking. It was a long day but good catching up with some people I've known for decades - I guess that's when we realise the years are passing. The venue was the Queensland Art Gallery theatre and I really must get down to Brisbane and spend some time in the Gallery, Library and Museum as they have all changed greatly since I worked there in the 1990s.

In the small world category, one of the attendees who I have known for years, had just spent time with a friend who is my distant cousin on the Carnegie side of the family and while she was visiting, they Googled some of the family names and found my blogs.  Naturally I said please have her contact me and we can share more family stories but I was also fascinated by the personal recollections she had of Toorbul. When you start to share your family stories online you really do start to connect up with others.

John and Helen Carnegie's grave
at Toorbul (my GGG grandparents)

Going to U3A twice a week for advanced family history and local Bribie history takes up time but it is also another opportunity to share information and learn from others. My talk on the Carnegies of Pumicestone Passage went well at the Bribie Island Historical Society Meeting and everyone was amazed at how much additional information I had found over the last three years. How I solved the brick wall with so many people using aliases left some just shaking their heads but it was something that took me years to solve and only 45 minutes to explain. It's always easier in hindsight.

I have just accepted my first talk for 2018 with Caloundra Family History Research, apart from my two talks at the Bridging the Past & Future Congress in Sydney in March. Speaking of talks, John D Reid (Canada's Anglo Celtic Connections) is again hosting his annual Rockstar Genealogist survey and voting is now open. I'm honoured to be nominated and there is a great line up of Australasian genealogists as well as some of the overseas genealogists who have visited our shores in the last few years. Check out their websites/blogs and be prepared to learn lots.

Talk of Christmas parties seems to be everywhere at the moment but I also like this time of year as I don't have any talks, so no travel and just time to catch up on projects and do some writing. Of course it helps that it is raining so no garden, pool or walks along the beach to distract me. The bookshelves need a tidy up with all my new books (some still to be read) plus print copies of journals and magazines.

We have been here 5 years in January so that means quite a few boxes have magically appeared in the study cupboards. The only time I find it easy to weed my magazines and journals is when I am moving house and then it's a necessity. Now that I am staying put, I'm hoarding again. It might be time to bundle some of them up and take them along to those Christmas parties!

I'm looking forward to a nice quiet week of research and writing and perhaps weeding those magazines. Have a great genealogy week and until next time, happy searching.

Rockstar Genealogists, Camden Conference & Other News - Genealogy Notes 8-14 Sep 2016

What a huge genealogy week! I'll start with the really exciting news first. Each year, John D Reid (Canada's Anglo Celtic Connections) conducts an online poll for Rockstar Genealogists around the world. It is always an honour to be nominated in the Australia/New Zealand category along with other well known speakers and bloggers. This year I was excited to learn that I was the Silver medallist while Jill Ball (aka Geniaus) took out the Gold and Michelle Patient and Helen Smith tied for the Bronze. The top ten is also a who's who of well known Australasian genealogists. It is also interesting to see the other Country categories and we have been fortunate down under to have some of the medallists give presentations here.

I am also indebted to Michelle Patient for designing this wonderful badge and I have already seen other medallists using it. Thanks to everyone who voted for me and all those who received nominations are winners too and if you get the opportunity, try to attend their presentations or read their blogs.

Before the exciting news broke, I was in Camden New South Wales for the annual NSW & ACT Family History Organisations conference. It was a great event, with good speakers, exhibitors, venue, food and was definitely a chance to catch up with lots of geneamates. My Report on the Camden Conference goes into more detail about the three days.

Reading Room, AIATSIS Sep 2016

While briefly in Canberra (which was cold and wet and I remembered clearly why I left there) I visited AIATSIS, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. There have been changes since my last visit some 15 years ago, but there is a lovely reading room looking out over Lake Burley Griffin. The online catalogue allows you to work out what you want to look at and there is also an online family history tool kit. A great place to start researching Indigenous family history and it's also useful to everyone doing family history.

A friend contacted me this week asking me to check the local paper for any death or funeral notice for a relation who had died in nearby Redcliffe. I'm forever telling people that not everything is online so it is a bit ironic that I couldn't find the notice in the paper. Instead I found it online on one of my favourite sites for recent funeral notices. Heaven Address can be used to look for recent funeral notices (Memorials) or for Resting Places. 

The postman delivered Chris Paton's new Unlock the Past guide A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy so another book on the pile to read. Still waiting for Nathan Dylan Goodwin's new genealogy crime mystery The Spyglass Thriller - I ordered it a couple of weeks ago but obviously on a slow boat. Nathan has since offered me two copies for lucky door prizes at speaking events so I will have to work out where and when.

This coming week is catching up with family, seems ages since I saw my brother and mother but then it has been a couple of hectic months. Some quiet writing is also on the cards now that I have finished bits and pieces of research. It is much easier to write when not distracted by lots of other things. Until next time, happy researching.

Rockstars, Gems & Reviews - Genealogy Notes 15-24 Sep 2015

Still using only one hand so more reading than doing again this past week. I do like Geniaus' Gems or GAGs as she calls them - basically a weekly round up (when she has time and is not travelling) of interesting blog posts that she has read or seen in the past week or so. I usually find quite a few interest me and I might not have found them apart from Jill's round up. This link is to the GAGs post on 18 September. There should be another one soon.

A highlight has been the announcement of the 2015 Rockstar Genealogists - an annual listing by John D Reid (Canada's Anglo Celtic Connections). This year I was honoured to receive the Bronze medal for Australia and New Zealand and the top 10 for our area has an impressive list of speakers and bloggers. I was delighted to also find that I have personally heard 6 of the top 10 international Rockstar Genealogists right here in Australia. Great to see so many of them now travelling downunder. The Australia/New Zealand top 10 are here. Congratulations to everyone who made the top 10 lists and thanks to all those who appreciate the hard work that goes into giving presentations.

My review of the Port Macquarie genealogy conference is now online on my website and I have almost finalised my keynote paper for the History Queensland conference on 3-4 October in Brisbane. That will be a good catch up with all my Queensland geneamates and perhaps a few others from south of the border. Sadly it is the last conference for the year.

Family History Fair at Port Macquarie, 2015

On a brighter note I do have the 10th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise to look forward to in February 2016 which goes to New Zealand and the southern Australian capital cites ending in Fremantle, Western Australia. One of the key presenters I am looking forward to hearing is Judy G Russell (The Legal Genealogist) from the United States and also catching up again with Louis Kessler and some of the other regular UTP speakers.

This afternoon I am helping the Bribie Island Historical Society set up a blog so that will be interesting. There is a basic website but I think we can do more with a regular blog to share stories of the Island's fascinating past.

The study needs a bit of a tidy up. I seem to be able to pull books down from the shelves but getting them back up is a bit more tricky. The table has piles of stuff on it - lots of new info from Trove waiting to be data entered into my genealogy program and then filed in my family history binders. But that requires two hands! When I do get the go ahead, I will have to be careful not to overdo it but ease back in gently.

Have a great genealogy week - until 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.

Genealogy Notes 15-22 Sep 2014 more lovely awards & great blogs

Well it has been a big week for receiving some wonderful tributes for my blogs and my presentations. First up I received a One Lovely Blog Award from Alex Daw (Family Tree Frog) for this Diary blog and if you have not seen my response, read it here. My second One Lovely Blog Award was from Helen Smith (Helen Smith's Keyboard) for my other family oriented blog SHHE Genie Rambles and my response is here.

As part of the Awards we each nominate other blogs that we like to read or admire and that  way we all get to find out about all the fantastic blogs out there. It really is good to see so many people using blogs to tell their family stories and make them accessible via Google.

The highlight of my week was finding out that I was the Gold Medalist Rock Star Genealogist in Australia and New Zealand in John Reid's (Canada's Anglo Celtic Connections) annual survey. The Top Ten list for ANZ is also a line up of some of our best bloggers and speakers although a few northerners also made the list probably due to their down under tours with Unlock the Past in the last few years.

All this recognition has inspired me to get back to blogging and I have managed to restart my personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014. Week 22 is on Family Letters and Correspondence and I share two family letters that I am fortunate to have found during my research.

My next big project is a new research guide and I am trying to get a section each day as well as finalise my two talks for the Queensland Family History Society seminar on 4 October. One talk is on asylum records and I have done a version of this presentation on a number of occasions as it is based on my guide My Ancestor Was In An Asylum: Brief Guide to Asylum Records in Australia and New Zealand.

My second talk is on prison records and I was surprised to find that the last time that I only spoke about prison records was in 2002! Normally I combine it with convict records so my October talk is a reworked version of one of my most popular talks over a decade ago. It has been interesting updating it (although my family stories haven't changed) but so much has changed online!

My talks for the next Unlock the Past genealogy cruise and Norfolk Island genealogy conference in late October are also done but I will probably keep tweaking them between now and then. I have a couple of new talks which is always a little nerve wracking as you never know if people will like them and find them useful.

At the weekend I took my own advice and finally decided to tackle my Irish brick walls (yet again). In 37 years of researching I have yet to learn anything more about my Irish GGG grandparents apart from their names.In my brick wall talks I tell people to try tracing siblings if you can't track back a direct ancestor so over the years I have managed to identify some siblings but never traced them.

So using the National Archives of Ireland for wills and census records, Findmypast for a wide range of Irish records for County Wicklow, FamilySearch, Ancestry and Roots Ireland I managed to put together a reasonable framework for two of the siblings. If I purchase marriage certificates it should prove they are siblings but that won't advance me back. It is unfortunate that Irish death certificates are not more informative. I now have possible deaths for all four of my Wicklow GGG grandparents but unless a family member was an informant purchasing a copy may not actually confirm it.

I have always been a bit of a gambler so I will apply for photocopies (the cheaper option to certificates) and see what I get. Nothing ventured nothing gained so wish me luck. I still have to look at my four GGG grandparents in Northern Ireland but that will have to wait for another free weekend.

There have been lots of useful Tweets and Facebook posts too and quite a lot of these are picked up in Geniaus' The Australian Genealogists Daily which I subscribed too as it usually provides a good snapshot of relevant tweets.

Time for some lunch and exercise - some days it is too easy just to sit at the laptop and do that last bit of research or read one more blog or check Twitter for new sites! Until next time happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 5-14 Sep 2014 exciting new resources

Just back from a relaxing week long holiday at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast where I revisited many of my childhood holiday haunts. Over 50 years on there is a lot of change but it is amazing how simply being in a place can bring back memories long forgotten. But then some things haven't changed and you wonder how they have survived all the development around them. Fleay's Wildlife Park is now under National Parks Management and surrounded by suburbia but is an amazing refuge for some endangered species and they still have their platypus display, one of my most vivid childhood memories.

The only genealogy (apart from childhood memories) I did was to check in with Twitter and Facebook each morning to note any exciting news (more in a moment) and to take time to vote in John Reid's (Canada's Anglo Celtic Connections) Rockstar Genealogists survey. Voting is now closed so it will be interesting to see the results of his third year of doing this global survey. The other thing I had to do was thank Alex Daw (Family Tree Frog) for nominating Diary for a Lovely Blog Award - see my response here.

I know some people think that spending time on social media is a waste of time but it is where I catch up with most of my genealogy news. For example, through Facebook I found out that Findmypast.com.au now has the NSW will and testament books online from 1800 to 1952. Totally fantastic news and now that I am home, looking forward to some serious searching.

Another exciting resource is the 1894 and 1897 women's suffrage petitions which were indexed by the Queensland Family History Society in a project with the Queensland Parliament and now all online to search free. Again discovered via Facebook.

Through Cassmob's blog Family History Across the Seas, I discovered that Diary was listed in Jill Ball's (Geniaus) list of  50 Best Genealogy Blogs published in the latest issue of Inside History Magazine. Given that I was away from home, I had to wait patiently till we got home and collected our mail. There are some great blogs on the list and I don't know how Jill manages to keep it to 50. It is an honour to be among such great company.

One of my Twitter discoveries was Connected Histories 22 digital resources for British History 1500-1900 and one of the ways I pick up these genealogy tweets is by looking at Jill's The Australian Genealogists Daily. I find this so useful as a catch up that I retweet it each day and also post it to Facebook.

This weekend was the NSW & ACT Association of Family History Societies annual conference and this year it was hosted by the Illawarra Family History Group with the theme Illawarra Remembers 1914-2014. This is a conference that I try to get to every other year and as I went to the one in Canberra last year, Illawarra was just a little too hard to get to this year. However, next year it is being hosted by the Port Macquarie & District Family History Society which is where we almost settled. I think everyone enjoyed the conference as I have seen some very happy faces on Facebook.

This coming week I have to seriously finish all my talks for the Unlock the Past 6th cruise in October (5 talks) after which I am going to the UTP Norfolk Island Conference (another 5 talks). Some are revamped talks but I am also doing some totally new talks and that takes a good deal of preparation.

I also want to get back to my personal blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 and regular Diary updates. And perhaps a spot of research with some of those lovely new resources. Happy researching until next time.

Genealogy Notes 27 Aug - 4 Sep 2014 NFHM 2014 ends

Sorry Diary is a couple of days late but my internet had a melt down (too much use over National Family History Month) but full service now restored. Plus I have been super busy notifying all the prize winners and letting the sponsors know too.

The NFHM sponsors prize draw was done after my talk at Redcliffe Library. Here is a happy snap of the audience listening to my talk on the Golden Rules of Genealogy and Demolishing Brick Walls.  After the talk we had a lucky door prize draw for one of my books and some Inside History Magazines and Australian Family Tree Connections magazines and then some of the audience stayed to assist with the NFHM sponsors prize draw. Good fun all round. Photos courtesy of Moreton Bay Region Libraries.

I received some very excited emails from the lucky winners and some thanks and feedback on organising the whole month for AFFHO. You can read about the winners in my NFHM wrap up blog and it also includes some statistics on number of events and participating organisations. I thought it was a bigger month than last year and the numbers proved that. 

Then the next big thing I had to do was a report  for AFFHO and already I am thinking about what we can do next year to continue to build on this success. All suggestions welcome. 

I am still adding some items to the NFHM Pinterest board when people draw my attention to activities that I haven't picked up myself yet. 

Tomorrow I am heading to Brisbane to give a talk on Ancestors in Church to the North Brisbane Branch of the Genealogical Society of Queensland. I have known some of them for decades so it will be a good catch up. Then I am planning a few days of rest!

I also hope to get back to my personal genealogy blog 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 which I had to suspend due to all my NFHM activities. It will be nice to get back to some research and writing just for my own pleasure. 

One blog that was brought to my attention was John Reid's Canada's Anglo Celtic Connections. John does the Rockstar Genealogists survey and you can see the 2014 nominations here. Other nominations/suggestions welcome but close 6 Sep 2014. There are quite a few Aussie speakers and bloggers that I like here as well as some that I have cruised with on Unlock the Past Cruises.

NFHM wrap up has consumed most of my time this last week so nothing much else to report but my genealogy life should go back to normal in the next week or so. Happy researching while I lose myself in a good novel or two and the odd nanna nap!

Genealogy notes 12-18 Sep 2013 Victorian Resources Online & more

Another busy week and although I no longer live in Victoria, my thoughts have been all about Victorian family history research this week. Why? You may recall that I was doing a guest blog for Family Matters, the genealogy blog of the State Library of Victoria. Good news, Using the State Library of Victoria from Afar is now published. It's written for all those who can't personally visit the SLV and it highlights some of the great genealogy resources they have online for free. If you want still more Victorian links check out the very end of the Resources page on my website - it has a list of all my favourite Victorian websites for family history.

Still want more Victorian resources - Findmypast now has the index to Victorian passenger lists 1846-1899 online and I am always amazed at the variety of Australian and New Zealand records that is now searchable in their database - see latest list here. Public Record Office Victoria also has a lot of online indexes and digitised records including wills and probate records so another great free site to visit.

I've always been a fan of the One Place Studies website and now there is a society that you can join if you are researching a one place study. Family history and local history often intersect so check out if anyone is doing a study of one of your places of interest or if you have lots of information on a particular place, you might want to see what others are doing with their studies.

Online e-newsletters received during the week include Queensland State Archives' qsa bulletin highlighting some great new indexes and other news (latest issue here) and Lost Cousins another free online e-newsletters with a broad range of info on the UK and elsewhere (latest issue here). I also received my back issues of History Queensland magazine - somehow the renewal of my subscription went astray during the big move so I have four issues to catch up on with that!

It's probably obvious (in hindsight) that this Diary doesn't capture all the info links I share via Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus and I know that not everyone follows me in all those media so some people are not aware that I was nominated in the recent Rockstar Genealogists survey. This is organised by John D Reid through his Anglo-Celtic Connections blog.

Can't think why I didn't mention it in this Diary as I was quite excited at the time that someone had nominated me. Well I was even more excited this week to find out that I had won the Silver Medal in the Australia & New Zealand section with good friend Chris Paton picking up the Bronze Medal (even though he lives in Scotland). I was really delighted to see another good friend Jill Ball announced as the Gold Medal winner! I noticed that Chris picked up the Gold Medal for Canada as well (he does seem to get around)! Getting nominated is great recognition and picking up a medal is a true honour and I'd like to congratulate all the nominees, and medal winners in all the different countries and John for organising the poll and having a Downunder category.

Quite a few of those nominees and winners will be on the 4th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise next February so I think that's going to be a fantastic trip and I'm already excited at the thought of listening to great speakers and learning more about all kinds of genealogy and family history resources.

In two days I'm going to be at the NSW & ACT Family History Organisations annual conference, this year in Canberra with the theme Limestone Plains to Marble Halls. I will be posting on Twitter and Facebook while at the conference and when I get home I'll write up a report on the conference as usual. There is a family history fair on the Friday and my plane arrives early enough for me to spend the afternoon there so it will be interesting to see how many books I buy! One thing about travelling by plane, it does make you think about how you will get everything home.

I've another great weekend of genealogy ahead of me so now for a spot of grocery shopping and housework so that the family doesn't miss me too much while I'm gone! Until next time happy researching.