Australian Websites, Trove Finds & What's Coming Up - Genealogy Notes 1-15 Jan 2019

2019 might just be going faster than 2018, this is already a few days late. So much has happened but let's hope it is just new year madness. There have been invitations to speak and participate in projects, planning for U3A, endless hosing the gardens and lawns as it refuses to rain (we have bore water), and trying to read all the books I received for Christmas. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday period.

Blogs

My favourite 25 Australasian websites was the first blog post for 2019. It is amazingly hard to narrow down to your favourites and of course it can vary depending on what you are currently researching. It was good to see this listed in Gail Dever's Creme de la Creme list for 19 January. I love lists that are compilations of weekly blog posts - it is easy to scroll down and see what others are writing.

Sunday Mail 23 Nov 1952 via Trove

My Trove Tuesday post was Karisma Estate, Toorbul & the Carnegie Family. This was a bit of local history and family history and we really should explore our families in the context of the communities in which they lived.

I also was included in Gail Dever's This Week's Creme de la Creme blog round up (12 Jan 2019) with The Prosecution Project for The In-Depth Genealogist.

Books

Finally managed to sit down and read Kate Grenville's The Secret River which is based on one of her convict ancestors. It is a fictional account and a gripping read. If you want to know what life was like for early convicts in Sydney find yourself a copy. My local library had it as she is a popular Australian writer.

Rereading Hazel Edwards classic How to Write a Non Boring Family History. So many good tips but of course the main thing is to simply set aside time to write, and then rewrite and rewrite.


Talks

National Archives of Australia Brisbane office

My talks for 2019 start with a QFHS seminar Taking Your Australian Research Further.

My first session is what's in the archives for Australian family history that you don't know about and the second is what other resources are you not using for your Australian family history research.

The other speaker is Janice Cooper and how to place your families in their local communities and historic times. Should be a good day.

Moreton Region Libraries have asked me to do a series of talks for them in National Family History Month (August). Seems ages away but probably here before we know it.

My first talk for them this year is in April on Convicts and Criminals at the Bribie Island Library.


What's Coming Up?
Amazingly I am almost at the end of the Writing Your Family History course with the University of Tasmania's Diploma in Family History. The weeks have just flown past and I have read so many interesting family stories from other students in the course. Some weeks you just don't have time to keep up with all of them. I haven't decided yet if I will do any other subjects.

Many years ago I did the Society of Australian Genealogists Diploma in Family Historical Studies and that was a good way to make progress on my own research. Just need more hours in the day!

Until next time happy searching.

January 1 new archives resources & other news - Genealogy Notes 16-31 Dec 2018

2018 has ended and its been a year of lots of small family discoveries. No major breakthrough but lots of facts about individuals discovered through newspapers, wills and buying the odd certificate to confirm a lead. In the coming year I want to spend more time writing the stories rather than continuing to gather new information. That's the plan.

Blogs
It wasn't a big year for blog posts but I managed at least one post a month and occasionally two if there was a lot happening, like the Alaska genealogy cruise with Unlock the Past. The last fortnight of 2018 saw two blog posts - a Trove Tuesday John Finn Charged With Incendiarism (now there's a candidate for a good story as poor John had so many things go wrong in his life) and I finally did a DNA post on Finding Truth in Family History which explains why after 42 years of family history research, I am now looking for a biological grandfather.

Books
I'm currently reading Kate Grenville's The Secret River. It's an historical novel but inspired by her convict ancestor Soloman Wiseman who settled in the area now known as Wiseman's Ferry.

None of my ancestors did anything famous or have anything named after them but I can't help thinking about what kind of historical novel could I write about their lives. Or should I just try for a straight family history although one has to make that an interesting read too.

We have formed a genealogy writing group at the local U3A so these will be the kind of questions we can discuss and motivate each other  with.

Photos

One of the last things I did in 2018 was to have a professional photo shoot with a local photographer Deb Neill. She does some really lovely photos of Bribie which I see through various Bribie Facebook sites. I have been wanting to update my profile picture for a while but I hate getting my photo taken and I can never really find one that I like. That's why I am still using the 2014 photo taken of me while in Inverell for a talk. Deb has done a series of photos that I can use on social media, website, blogs, books or seminar flyers. The hard part is trying to decide which one to use as there are a couple that I really like or maybe I should use different ones on different sites. Anyway there will be a new me coming soon!


Conferences & Talks

The events page of my website has been updated with talks and conference sessions I'm doing in 2019. As the year progresses new dates will be added. For me the most exciting event will be the Waves in Time conference at Caloundra under the auspices of History Queensland and Caloundra Family History Research. It is only an hour or so up the highway but I will be staying up there to maximise the time at the family history fair and the conference.

New Resources - 1 January record releases

Remember that a new year means new archives & BDM resources as another year comes into the open access period. It was good to see the ABC News story on Public Record Office Victoria's newly opened mental hospital files. Some states like New South Wales update their BDM indexes throughout the year while others simply update at the end of the year. It is always worth checking for any new births, deaths or marriages and it is a great way to keep your research current.

What's Coming Up?

My U3A classes in advanced family history (weekly) and writing family history (fortnightly) will keep me busy and motivated. Plus I have even enrolled in how to use a smart phone as I'm sure there are lots of tips and tricks to learn. That's only a 5 week course.

The first genealogy seminar for the year is with the Queensland Family History Society with the theme Taking Your Australian Research Further. I am looking at what you can discover in Australian archives and other resources people might not be using for their family history research. Janice Cooper is the other speaker on the day advising us how to place our families in their communities and in the times they lived.


Until next time, I hope you find time for some genealogy research with lots of exciting discoveries.

Oxfordshire Finds, New Books & Other News - Genealogy Notes 1-7 Apr 2018

Instead of writing this blog post over the weekend I was busy searching and finding my Oxfordshire families in Ancestry. It's been quite a few years since I last looked at this family and now the parish they came from has been digitised. Not only can I search for them but I can also see the original parish register images myself. My GGG grandmother was Mary Ann Cooper from Deddington, Oxfordshire and I could find indexed entries for all her siblings but not for her. A little bit of hunting and I discovered her indexed as Gasper which is a bit different from Cooper. This is the 1790s and the handwriting is not always easy to read so be creative when you can't find someone where you expect to.

North end of market place, Deddington, Oxfordshire
with the parish church in the background,
photo courtesy of Motacilla, Wikipedia Commons

It's also useful to then have a look at Wikipedia for an outline of the parish history and any photos. Wikipedia Deddington stated that the parish includes two hamlets - Clifton and Hempton and this helped to explain why I was finding Clifton as a place of birth in the census records.

Understanding the geography of an area and places names are all key to establishing you have the right family. Plus there were some photographs of various buildings in the parish.

When you can't just drive down the road and visit a place, this is the next best thing.


Blogs

John Trevaskis

My second Trove Tuesday blog post for the year was Gone Home to Ireland But Still Remembered Here was a real genealogy find. My great grandmother's brother John Trevaskis was killed in a mining accident in Charters Towers and his wife Mary (nee Kelly) went back to Tipperary, Ireland taking their two children with her. This was about 1906 and when she died in 1944 her son published a death notice in the Townsville Daily Bulletin to let any friends and family know. Thanks to Trove I now know when she died and that she probably still had friends or family in North Queensland.

Thanks also to Crissouli who regularly mentions my blog posts in her weekly Friday Fossicking in That Moment in Time. These weekly roundups have all kinds of links to blogs, resources, news etc so if you are having trouble keeping up, check up her weekly roundup.

Books
Well it was a bonanza week at the post office. Just like Christmas. First Nathan Dylan Goodwin's review copy of The Wicked Trade and the Suffragette's Secret genealogical crime mysteries is sitting here tempting me. I like to read Nathan's books with no distractions so waiting for an opportune time.

Unlock the Past sent author copies of the second edition of my It's Not All Online: a guide to genealogy sources offline and it looks very nice in the new style. Hard to believe that was first published in 2011 and it is still very true today. I have a standing order for any new Unlock the Past titles - I find them very useful for research, talks and keeping myself across a range of genealogy topics. New editions include So You Are Totally New to Family Tree Maker 2017 by John Donaldson; Papers Past New Zealand's Yesteryear Newspapers by Coral Shearer; and Paul Blake's Discover Protestant Nonconformity in England and Wales.

Totally new titles from Unlock the Past include Discover The Poor Law in England and Wales by Paul Blake; Manorial Records for Family Historians by Geoffrey Barber; Hiring a Professional Genealogist You Can Trust by Legacy Tree Genealogists and The Madness of 'Mac' Surnames by Carol Baxter. Yes the whole book is for anyone with a Mac surname and it looks at all of the possible surname variants with lots and lots of examples. All Unlock the Past titles can be purchased online from Gould Genealogy & History as print or e-copies.

U3A
I have been busy doing some talks for the second term of my Advanced Family History class at Bribie U3A in 2018  - there are 10 weeks so rather than a mad weekly panic to have something ready I have prepared sessions in advance. I may even start giving some of these talks in a wider context if they are well received and the students like the approach. Plus there are the presentations from last year which new class members won't have seen. It starts up again next week with about double the numbers we have had previously. I'm a little nervous or perhaps I'm just used to our little group around the table.

What's Coming Up
This is a big week for meetings with the Bribie Island Historical Society on Wednesday and the Bribie Island Family History Group on Thursday. The Society's blog has everything you ever wanted to know about Bribie history and remember a local historical society may have information on your ancestors too. Plus it is Mum's birthday on Saturday and we are hosting coffee and cake here for the family.

This week has been absolutely fabulous for new genealogy information on quite a few of my family lines. So glad I decided to review some of my older research and discover what is now available online. Until next week, have a great genealogy week with lots of exciting finds.

Convict Records, new conferences & blogs - Genealogy Notes 19 Nov - 26 Dec 2017

I had a wonderful break and it is actually harder to sit and do nothing than you think. Sitting and watching mother nature is fascinating and I never realised just how many different types of sand crabs come out to play/feed at low tide and there are more birds than just seagulls at the beach. The determination of female turtles is amazing - they wait 30 years before first heading back to the beach they themselves hatched on to lay their own eggs. Then they swim away and do it all again the following year. The sad part is that over the last 30 years that I have been doing this, erosion has taken away many of the sand dunes and now the Rangers and volunteers try to move the eggs to higher ground so that the eggs are not lost to the next incoming tide. A very worthy project and great to see so many tourists supporting turtle conservation.

Totally refreshed I am now getting ready for 2018 and making sure I don't double book any speaking engagements and that they don't clash too often with my Advanced Family History class at Bribie U3A. Quite a few of last year's students are returning and I'm pleased to say that two of them broke down brick walls after we discussed them in class. It definitely pays to discuss a brick wall with others and get alternative views and suggestions.

An old, but still relevant and interesting article about the destruction of convict records in NSW in 19th century - article was written by Christine Shergold and it is available online at State Archives and Records NSW where Christine worked for many years.  It is a timely reminder that if you are looking at a specific group of records, take the time to read any online guides about the records for background information and context. It might just explain why you can't find a particular record.

This last week of 2017 I'm busy finalising my two papers for the Bridging the Past & Future Congress in Sydney in March 2018. I'm really looking forward to four days of amazing talks and meeting new and old friends. My airfare and accommodation is all booked and paid and it is within easy walking distance of the venue. More time for looking at the exhibitor stalls or catching up with people for coffee and a chat.

There is another new conference on the Australian scene in 2018. There is the inaugural GAGHA conference in Adelaide on 17-19 August - if you are like me, you hate acronyms and are sitting there trying to work out what it is. Pat yourself on the back if you got German - Australian Genealogy & History Association which will be exciting for all those with German ancestors. The call for papers is open until 31 December 2017 so be quick if you want to present a paper but otherwise note the dates and plan a trip to Adelaide. Registration opens in February and I imagine that they will also be promoting it at the Sydney Congress.

I managed to get one more Trove Tuesday blog post done for 2017 and its about The Queenslander Cot Fund which helped the Hospital for Sick Children in Brisbane. Amazingly this one newspaper article mentioned my GGG grandmother, my GG aunt, her two sons and my G grandfather and his fiancee, later my G grandmother. Three generations of a family connected in time and place by one newspaper article. Thanks Trove and if you want to know what titles are coming up in 2018, click here. It's a bit disappointing that there are no Queensland titles but I am excited about the Ballarat ones.

After a break, I have started writing blogs and articles for The In-Depth Genealogist again and my first blog post was Introducing The Ryerson Index. It gives just some of the reasons why and how I use the Index for genealogy and family history. Check out other In-Depth blog posts here. I'm also happy to say that my article on Starting Out in Australian and New Zealand Genealogy made it onto the front cover of the December issue of Going In-Depth.

Unlock the Past have a new range of Handy Guides which are low cost 4 page guides on a range of topics and these are in addition to their guide books where there are now over 80 titles. I'm looking forward to checking these out in Sydney in March. My absolute favourite Unlock the Past activity in 2018 is their Alaska cruise in September. I've not been to America before so I'm also looking at a post cruise trip but so many places to consider.

My son ca 1991 - now he is getting married
and moving to Europe to live. White Christmas coming up!

Christmas lunch was out our place this year and my brother and his family joined my son and Mum for a magnificent seafood feast which literally went on for hours as we tasted oysters, crab and a range of different prawns with avocado and freshly baked rolls. Followed by a yummy creamy fruit pavlova for dessert. For the traditionalists we also cooked a piece of port with our best ever crackling. All I managed for Christmas dinner was a cup of tea and a shortbread biscuit! Given the heat yesterday we were all glad that we had broken with tradition although Mum did keep saying it really didn't seem like Christmas.

There are lots of exciting things on my genealogy agenda for 2018 and I look forward to sharing them with everyone. Enjoy the last week of 2017 and try to squeeze in some family history, especially if you have relatives visiting. Until 2018 have fun.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

John Finn, the family patriarch
from County Wicklow

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

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

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

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

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

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

Irish Tour Downunder, Archives Day & More - Genealogy Notes 1-7 May 2017

There seems to be a number of overseas speakers visiting downunder over the next few months which is wonderful. First up is the Australia and New Zealand lecture tour by Fintan Mullan and Gillian Hunt from the Ulster Historical Foundation between 18 May and 4 June 2017. They are visiting New Zealand, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and the Sunshine Coast. To see dates and venues click here. Unfortunately for me I will be giving a four talk seminar in Coffs Harbour when they are on the Sunshine Coast. Can't go to everything!

Then there is the Unlock the Past tour with Chris Paton and and Dirk Weissleder finding European and British ancestors. They are visiting Auckland, Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth throughout August - to see dates and venues click here. This is a wonderful list of events for National Family History Month (NFHM) which always occurs in August.

The Brisbane date is the day after we get back from the Papua New Guinea Unlock the Past genealogy cruise so I'm hoping that I still have the energy to make the trek back to Brisbane to hear the Chris Paton talks.

Speaking of NFHM I've also agreed to do some talks for the Sunshine Coast Libraries during August so my month is looking quite busy too. For all my speaking engagements see the Events page of my website.

But before August we also have International Archives Day 9 Jun 2017 and David Fricker, Director General of the National Archives of Australia is calling on archives around the world to be part of the celebrations. Watch out for archive events and news on 9 Jun 2017. Read more about it here.

During the week I managed to take part in Trove Tuesday with a blog post Why You Should Repeat Trove Searches. With new titles being added from time to time, it is quite possible that you will find new articles. I was quite excited by this find about my GGG grandparents when they were living in Grafton, NSW under an assumed name. It's no wonder we can't find our ancestors sometimes!

James Carnegie and Mary Finn

I also managed to write my review of Nathan Dylan Goodwin's The Missing Man, the fifth installment of the adventures of fictional forensic genealogist, Morton Farrier. Read my review here. Other reviews and presentations can be found on my Resources page.

Going to the local U3A for the advanced family history classes and the local history sessions is also keeping me busy. So many people have wonderful family stories and this Friday I will be giving my Carnegie @ Pumicestone talk which is all about my GGG grandparents who settled here in the Toorbul/Bribie area in the late 1870s.

There hasn't been any time for new research and next week is the History Queensland Footsteps in Time conference on the Gold Coast. I am really looking forward to that and catching up with lots of genealogy friends.

Until next time happy searching!

New Wiltshire records, more newspapers coming & Other News - Genealogy Notes 1-7 Apr 2017

There is nothing more exciting than finding out about new collections online. All of the major databases have free enewsletters or blogs that alert you to what's new which can be distracting. To be honest anything would take me away from the housework at the weekend.

Findmypast announced in their Friday 7 April update that there are new Scottish Roman Catholic parish records and new Wiltshire parish records online.

My great grandfather Herbert William White (on the far left in the photograph) was from Pitton & Farley in Wiltshire. I have a few lines in Wiltshire and neighbouring Hampshire that are stuck so this was welcome news.

I've discovered a few more things but one family still eludes me in the 1841 census. I know they are there but I simply can't find them in any of the transcript/indexed sites.

Not even using approximate ages and given names only. The surname is Pragnell and that can be written in lots of different ways.


Another area where I can spend lots of hours is digitised newspapers and the list of titles coming to Trove includes the following:

• Daily News (Tweed Heads, NSW: 1938-1940) ); [State Library of New South Wales Digital Excellence Program]
• The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW: 1879-1906); [State Library of New South Wales Digital Excellence Program]
• Labor Daily (NSW: 1924 - 1938); [State Library of New South Wales Digital Excellence Program]
• Millthorpe Post (1900-1901); [Millthorpe and District Historical Society]
• Tribune (Communist Party of Australia: 1955-1974); [State Library of New South Wales Digital Excellence Program and The Search Foundation]
• Moreton Mail (1886-1889); [Moreton Bay Regional Libraries]
• The Citizen (Port Adelaide, SA: Nov. 1938-May 1940); [Renewal SA]
• The Gateway (Port Adelaide, SA: 30 Aug. 1946-29 Nov. 1946); [Renewal SA]
• Port Adelaide District Pictorial (14 Mar. 1952-14 Jan. 1954); [Renewal SA]
• The Progressive Times (Largs North, SA: 16 May 1949-Feb 1951); [Renewal SA]
• Seaport News Review (21 Jan. 1954-29 Apr. 1954); [Renewal SA]
• The Evening Echo (Ballarat, VIC: 1914-1918); [State Library Victoria]
• The Star (Ballarat, VIC: 1856) [Ballarat Library]
• Hamersley News (180-1987) [State Library of Western Australia]

I'm particularly excited about the Moreton Mail and the South Australian titles. Now to be patient until they are finished. 

This coming week there are meetings of the Bribie Island Historical Society and the Bribie Island Family History Group and there will be a talk on the Susanne Godeffroy which arrived in Brisbane from Hamburg, Germany in 1865. Not one of my family ships but I always enjoy hearing about different voyages. 

There are two of my own talks coming up this month in Caloundra and Ipswich so I need to finalise those talks. To see where I am speaking over the next few months visit the Services and Events page of my website. I have started writing again for Going In-Depth, an online genealogy magazine published by The In-Depth Genealogist. I had a few months off as it is not always easy coming up with articles on a regular basis. A bit like blogging.

Trove Tuesday is a regular blog challenge and this week my piece was titled Why You Can't Find Someone because I finally found a newspaper report on my great grandfather Thomas Price's accidental death. He is the dapper gentleman on the right in the photo. 

Why did it take so long to find, given that I had a date? Because it was recorded as William Price and I wasn't searching for a William! Read the post for the whole story and how I found it.

Easter is next weekend and it will be a chance to catch up with the family and celebrate Mum's 83rd birthday. Seems like only yesterday we were planning the big 80 and now the big 85 is looming. Should be a good time. Cake and Easter eggs together!

Enjoy the coming week and try and find the time to check out all the new resources coming online. 

Until next time, happy searching.

Mining Ancestors, Archives and Conferences - Genealogy Notes 8-14 Jan 2017

A great week with lots happening and exciting news on some new projects.

For many years I have been a fan of the Outback Family History website which is dedicated to Western Australian goldfields. Quite a few of my Queensland miners also went to the WA goldfields in the 1890s. This week the Outback Family History people sent out a news release about a new Western Australian Virtual Miners Memorial which  will be a permanent memorial for anyone who had died because of a workplace accident or from diseases such as 'miners lung' in Western Australia. All types of mining will be included.

Every mine death in Western Australia will be recorded in the database at no charge but if you want to add photographs or text there is a small fee of $15.00. This profile allows for unlimited text and up to 10 images which you can update and add to at any time through a secure log in. There is a Western Australian Virtual Miners Memorial Facebook page and the website launch is happening on 28 Jan 2017.

Foyer of National Archives of Australia,
Brisbane Office

During the week I made the trek to the National Archives of Australia Brisbane Office to look at a file. I was tempted to just order a copy but I wasn't sure how big the file was and their new price structure does make you stop and think. So glad I went as it turned out to be a rather large file with lots of wonderful information which I could copy for free with my camera. Some of the treasure included copies of a passport, birth certificate, citizenship certificate and  personal letters. The service was great and one of the other items I wanted was wrongly barcoded, and they went away and found the right item and rebarcoded it while I was going through the larger file.

On the way home I  popped into the Queensland Family History Society library and was warmly welcomed. I quickly found the book I was looking for and did my look up and then chatted to the volunteers who work on some amazing projects mostly on immigration or school records.Such a bonus for those of us with Queensland ancestors.

One of my regrets from when I lived in Canberra was that I never managed to get to one of the Galong Irish weekends - there was always something else on or I was someplace else that weekend. Now I live two states away and it is even harder to get to Galong. Sadly they are not doing any more Irish weekends but the Yass and District Historical Society has organised a Galong Conference program Whole Histories: Keeping the Stories Alive which includes some of my favourite speakers. Three days of local and family history in April, a fantastic opportunity for those living down that way.

Transmission by Death Notice,
Courier Mail 18 Dec 1939 via Trove

During the week I managed my first Trove Tuesday blog post for 2017 on Transmission by Death Notices. I have always liked them because they give  details of freehold land when someone dies and usually you had to look for them in government gazettes. Now with digitised newspapers it is easier to find and access them in newspapers.

Here on Bribie Island we had our own excitement this week with a visit from a 15th century (1480s) caravel, Notorious (not to be confused with Johnny Depp's The Black Pearl which has been seen out and about on the Gold Coast). I tried to get a photo of Notorious with the Glass House Mountains in the background to prove it really was Bribie. But the wind and the tide were determined not to let me get a broadside view.

Notorious in Pumicestone Passage
with the Glass House Mountains in the distance

Notorious' owner and builder was inspired by the legend of the Mahogany Ship from south western Victoria and I was familiar with this from my time in Victoria. It was last seen in 1886, having first been seen by Europeans in 1836. It was thought to have been a Spanish or Portuguese caravel from 1522 which is long before Captain Cook sailed up the east coast of Australia in 1770. Notorious launched in Port Fairy in 2011 and has now sailed between Hobart and Port Douglas and various ports in between. Of course it has its own Notorious Facebook page so that you can follow her adventures.

In the coming week we have family visiting and a couple of grandkids running around so I'm not too sure how much time I will get in the study. I still have to find time to finish a big writing project and a few smaller research queries to do. No doubt there will be exciting new links through social media that I will want to follow up and already I have a small pile of paper journals and magazines to read. Perhaps the family will all  want an afternoon nap! Until next time have a great week of genealogy.

Distant Cousins, Blogging Success & Other News - Genealogy Notes 13 - 21 Apr 2016

A super busy week which is why this is a little late. Mum has not been well again and there have been lots of trips up and down the highway so little chance to blog or do research. But it is amazing what you can squeeze into those spare moments.

Some months ago I discovered two divorce files for my great uncle Denis Patrick Finn, a German prisoner of war in World War One. Read his story here. There was no chance of my getting down to State Records NSW in the near future so I used the services of Marilyn Rowan who was quick and efficient. I was aware that she did NSW transcriptions but not that she also offered a document service. It was a simple matter to place my order for the two divorce files (flat fee) and within a week I had digital copies of both files (one 32 pages and the other 44 pages). Dropbox is used to deliver the files due to their size. Sadly no photographs or certificates but I did learn some new info which made me feel even sorrier for Denis.

On the way back from one of our Brisbane visits, we called in to see one of Max's first cousins, Neville Spencer - a descendant from the second marriage of his grandfather, Max is descended from the third marriage. We had never met before and the Spencer likeness was well and truly evident. We took some photos and they kindly lent me some documents to copy. I will be dropping in again next Tuesday to return their documents and to give them some of our family information. It really does pay to track down long lost cousins.

Trove Tuesday blogging is starting to get me hooked! I had a great time trying to tie up some loose ends with another one of my Carnegie families. I knew a little from family stories but not any real detail. So after a few keyword searches on names, I was able to determine the date of death of his first wife and his marriage to his second wife. Both the funeral notice and the marriage notice mentioned his WW2 service but I have never been able to find his army dossier. So this led to another search for it and the discovery of an indexing error. Read all about how I found John James Carnegie's army dossier here.

I firmly believe that one of the main reasons we can't find some people is simply because of indexing errors. This is another great example of it and of course, the trick is discovering what it has been indexed under. I love people with middle names!

In some of my spare moments I have also been trying to keep up with Pauleen Cass and her A2Z blogging challenge in April. I know others have been doing it too but Pauleen always has catchy titles  (S for Stories and Serendipity and who doesn't love serendipity) and I find myself clicking links to find out more. See Pauleen's posts here.

Thursday afternoon I gave a talk to the monthly meeting of Caloundra Family History Research - my talk Love Sex and Damn Lies went down real well. It is always surprising when people come up afterwards and say they have similar stories. I guess we all have very human ancestors. As usual my talk is on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

Tomorrow I am going to the Bribie Island Seaside Museum to hear Niles Elvery talk about and display WW1 items from the State Library of Queensland's collection. Niles and I used to work together in the John Oxley Library back in the early 90s so a good chance to catch up too.

My ANZAC Day tribute this year will be to the State Library's QANZAC100 project so stay tuned for that. It is a fantastic tribute to Queenslanders who went to WW1. It is how I found my army photo of Denis Patrick Finn but unfortunately his two brothers Robert and John were not captured in this digitisation project. I must investigate further because I would love good quality images of them all.

I still have to do Week 6 of the University of Strathclyde FutureLearn online genealogy course. It is the last week so hopefully I will catch up and finish by the end of the weekend. It has been a good course and considering it was free, excellent value.

This coming week should be a little less hectic and only one planned trip to the hospital with Mum on Tuesday . As the end of the month nears I know that my deadline for my blog and magazine article for The In-Depth Genealogist is due. That will probably focus my writing time along with the ANZAC Day blog. Have a great genealogy week!

NFHM 2016, Scottish finds & other news - Genealogy Notes 30 Mar - 5 Apr 2016

A big week but I am happy to announce that the new National Family History Month website is up and running and we have events already from NSW and VIC. The behind the scenes is a bit different from what I am use to but gradually working it out. Much easier and quicker for me adding the events, more just an approval process. NFHM even has its own blog - read the first post here.

So technically I will have some 'free time' now that the NFHM website is finished. Despite this tempting thought I decided not to participate in the April Blogging from A to Z challenge. Many of my geneamates are doing it but I'm behind in a few things because of the NFHM website and I really need to catch up. However I am enjoying reading some of the posts so far.

Trove Tuesday was yesterday and this is another blogging challenge that I am trying to do at least once a month in 2016. It really is worthwhile because you need to think about what to search for and then write about whatever you discover. So I am using the opportunity to revisit my research. Earlier this year I focused on Herbert William White as my Australia Day Tribute 2016 so I decided to try and find something in Trove on Herbert's son Robert James White.

Herbert White is on the left and
Robert White is standing at the back, ca 1912

Robert died aged 30 years in Charters Towers, Queensland but there were not many results except notices of the filing of probate documents by the Public Curator. What I did find was an account of Herbert's death in Richmond, Queensland where Robert was working at that time. This account in the newspaper raised a number of questions about what was happening in the family in the four months between Herbert and Robert's deaths in 1924. As Trove is adding new information all the time it can really pay to revisit your searches as my Herbert William White Obituary Trove Tuesday post shows.

I am about a half a week behind now with my Future Learn beginning genealogy course  and I was catching up nicely when I was side tracked by an offer from Scotland's People of free credits at the weekend. Who can resist free and as we had been talking about Scottish records in the course I had been thinking of my own Scottish families and where I was stuck with my research. Again revisiting my research with new ideas paid off.

My GGGGG grandmother was Mary Fraser/Frazer who married James Ferrier in 1812 in Craig By Montrose in Forfar/Angus. The marriage record said both of this parish. But I had never been able to find out anything else about Mary. Common names and looking for James and Mary in the Scottish census was a bit like a needle in a haystack. This time I looked for their children as a few of the children had what looked like surnames as middle names. So Andrew Ferguson Ferrier led me to my Mary in the 1841 census. She was a 60 year old widow living on Rossie Island with two of her adult children.

In the 1851 census I picked her up again under the surname Farrier (watch those surname variants) and this finally gave me a birthplace of Pathen (although I think that should be Rathen) in Aberdeenshire ca 1783 as she was listed as 68 years old. No wonder I couldn't find her in Forfar/Angus. Her occupation is pauper and salmon net weaver and she is still living with an invalid daughter.

Mary is gone by the time of the 1861 census and a search for her death gave numerous results but none that looked like her. As registration was only introduced in 1855 she may only have a burial record but again nothing definitely her. But perhaps as a pauper on Rossie Island there is no record. Her invalid daughter is in the 1861 and 1871 census and I think that if Mary was still alive, she would have still been living with the daughter. I need to look into this more.

From only knowing her name I have now gone to knowing where she was born, a more accurate year of birth, she was widowed early, had no money, was a salmon net weaver, lived on Rossie Island and cared for an invalid daughter.  A sidetrack from my studies definitely worth doing.

Having a good time with
Caloundra Family History Research in 2015

This month I am giving a talk to Caloundra Family History Research and they are always a great group to visit. I could probably get there quicker by boat from Bribie Island but in a car I need to go out to the highway, then up the highway then turn back towards the coast. Must start looking for a new purple top (the group's colour).

The Unlock the Past 13th cruise to Papua New Guinea now has a preliminary program up for those who have been wanting to see what talks will be given during the 10 night cruise. I am giving five talks and there are a number of military talks as well as a good spread of genealogy talks. Good to see Helen Smith giving some DNA talks as I still need to understand that a bit more.

Well back to my FutureLearn course. Week 4 started on Monday so must finish Week 3.  As I have said previously, if you want the weeks to fly, enroll in some genealogy education course or blogging challenges! Until next time have a great genealogy week.