Genealogy Notes 30 Apr - 8 May 2014 - genealogy research trips

It is funny how things seem to all go together - I had not been to a funeral or a hospital for years yet over the last few weeks I have found myself at the Royal Brisbane more often than I would like and all funerals seem to have gone high tech in celebrating a loved one's life. While it is good to see all those happy photos  (accompanied by some trendy song) on the big screen illustrating a person's life, and listening to the eulogy that highlights so many memories, I also find it quite sad. I am left wondering what I would like to see at my own funeral. A bit morbid I guess but it must be hard for the families to  write a eulogy and put a photographic presentation together at a time of loss. Perhaps as the family historian I should do it all in advance and save the family stressing out later. And really, when I think about it, I am the best person to tell my own story and they can always add their own memories in if they want.

So what have I been doing with the rest of my time? Today's talk on tracing mining ancestors at the Bribie Island Family History Group was well received  and I am always pleased when people say I have given them lots to think about. The talk is basically the same one I gave on the Unlock the Past cruise in February and the only URL that had changed was for the Ballarat & District Genealogical Society which has finally got its new website up (and it looks fantastic). The talk is on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

Last week in Diary I wrote about the Inverell trip and military seminar, and if we had not had the need to return home, I would have liked to stay on for the Australian Celtic Festival as this year it was Cornwall. It is usually held the first weekend in May at Glen Innes (Celtic Country). In 2015 it is Wales. The Festival has been on my list of things to attend for many years, a bit like the Kernewek Lowender Cornish festival in South Australia. It is only held every two years (next one 2015) but some day I will manage to get the timing right. My Cornish great great grandparents have always fascinated me and I find attending Cornish cultural events interesting or perhaps it is just my fondness for Cornish pasties!

Tomorrow I am off to Adelaide as I am giving a talk at the Unlock the Past researching and writing history seminar. This trip I have also left a little time for some research. The Adelaide cemeteries are online so I have a nice list of where everyone is buried/cremated and we will be hiring a car to get around. Although we have been to Adelaide many times we have never taken the time to visit the cemeteries so this time we are definitely doing it. Doing all the preparation at home is great and will save us so much time when we are over there.

I also want to visit Genealogy SA as I have found quite a lot of references in their online database so although it is Mother's Day on Sunday I am hoping that they will still be open. Re-examining Max's families in preparation for the trip made we realise that there are a few key certificates we still need to get and another trawl through Trove produced lots of new stories. Henry Spencer had three wives and children to them all and we have been slowly tracing the descendants with each new discovery giving further clues.

So I have a pile of new information to key into the database - I love the research and the thrill of the chase but am not so keen on the data entry and filing! We will be also visiting his living cousins as well as the grandkids and taking our own happy snaps. Really looking forward to the trip and a bit of down time after the seminar talk.

The latest issue of Inside History Magazine features an article I wrote on Lutheran archives and I was thrilled to get feedback via Facebook from Footnote Maven who is a blogger and social media friend in the USA. She gets the magazine as an e-magazine and I received her nice comments before I had even got my paper copy through the mail. It really is amazing how we can communicate and share genealogy information in the 21st century!

The May issue of Australian Family Tree Connections has my article on National Family History Month in August 2014 and I am hoping that this will generate a lot more events on the web calendar and some more Likes on the NFHM Facebook page too. AFTC is one of the NFHM prize sponsors (as is Inside History Magazine) so check out the website and see all the other sponsors and prizes that can be won this August. Why not ask what your local society is doing (they cannot win a society prize if they do not have an event listed in the web calendar)?

My personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 has fallen a bit behind with all the family issues but Week 15 was on Civil Registration & Certificates. I also managed a bit of a website update (and changed my profile picture) with most changes behind the scenes but it has helped with the rather heavy spam attacks lately.

Everything else has totally fallen behind but that is the nice thing about genealogy and family history - you can put it down for a while and pick it up again when you have more time. I have a nice stack of genealogy magazines to take on the plane so until next time happy researching.

Genealogy notes 25-29 Apr 2014 - Inverell military seminar

The last few days have been spent travelling down to Inverell, NSW and back to attend the Inverell District Family History Group's military seminar day. It is not a quick trip - 7 hours drive and on the way down we went via Ipswich, Warwick, Stanthorpe, Tenterfield, Glen Innes and finally Inverell. On the way back it was a similar trip except after Warwick we went Allora, Grantham, Gatton, Kilcoy and Woodford just to vary the trip a bit.

The great thing about the drive especially once we got to New England was all the autumn colours. The poplars, maples, oaks etc put on a truly beautiful display and by the time we arrived in Inverell we were homesick for our time in Canberra which always had the most magic autumns. The smell of wood smoke also brought back many memories. Of course here in Queensland there are no seasons (not really) so it was very good to see it all again.

It was the Inverell District Family History Group's 30th birthday and to celebrate they had a one day military seminar and a 30th anniversary dinner which we also attended. The registration satchel included various giveaways including pen, pencil, rubber, post it notes, notebook, flyers from NSW transcriptions agents, and various tourism leaflets.There was also a lovely set of black and white postcards On the MacIntyre: Homesteads and Gardens of Western New England and a CD Index to Misc Newspaper Items: People, Places & Events in the Inverell District.

There were five talks and four speakers (I gave two talks). As some people were travelling quite a way, morning tea was first and the talks started at 10am. I thought this was an excellent idea as to make a 9am start some people would have had to leave home before a somewhat chilly dawn. That was the other thing that travelling south reminded us of - it is colder down there!

First up was my talk on the Australian Women's Register and how it can be used when researching female ancestors and women's organisations. As usual I have place the Powerpoint slides on my website - go to the Resources page and scroll down to Presentations. The second speaker was Warren Skewes (Transcribing the Fischer Diaries) talking about war diaries he has transcribed. Warren also brought along a display of war memorabilia from his own private collection which was really interesting to look at. When ever someone holds up original diaries and other items I always hope they have them stored somewhere safe and that there is a back up copy.

After an excellent lunch, Jennifer Milward from the Australian War Memorial gave a talk on helping you to research Australian military service in WW1. Every time I hear a talk about the AWM, I am amazed at how much is on their website apart from the People databases. You really need to explore all the tabs on the home page! For example, check out what is under the War History tab.

The next speaker was Christine Bramble (Great War Nurses from the Hunter Valley) whose talk was 'Almost falling through the cracks - the wartime story of Matron Ida Greaves RRC'. The acronym is the Royal Red Cross and Christine's talk was fascinating and highlighted someone whose war history was almost forgotten until her research using an amazing personal family archive. I think Matron Greaves would be a worthy addition to the Australian Women's Register which my first talk was on.

I gave the last talk of the day and it was titled - To Blog or Not to Blog, That is the Question! This talk was all about blogging, what it is, why do it and how to go about it plus a few of my favourite blogs. It is also on my website, go to the Resources page and scroll down to Presentations.

Afternoon tea and the raffles draw ended an excellent day of talks and conversation. We also had a small display of Unlock the Past books for sale which was appreciated by the various local genealogy societies who don't always get the opportunity to see the books before buying. This kept Max busy during the breaks but he also had time to look at the various military displays around the room too.

The 30th dinner was enjoyed by a smaller group and I really enjoyed the roast pork, vegies and apple sauce with pavlova for dessert while others enjoyed roast beef and an apple pudding. After some brief presentations and speeches it was time to cut the 30th birthday cake which was then thoroughly enjoyed by those present. Not that we were still hungry! Then it was time to end a long but fantastic day remembering our military ancestors.

After the extended weekend we are back on Bribie catching up with things, then we have to go down to Brisbane for the funeral of one of Max's cousins. While sad affairs, funerals are also a time to catch up with family members and now that we are back in Queensland we have been catching up with his mother's family. We are also hoping to have Mum out of hospital in the next few days so I'm not too sure how much genealogy will be happening! Still these days it is amazing what you can do with tablet, wifi and just a few spare minutes. Until next time happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 19-25 Apr 2014 - Military Musings

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

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

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

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

•             Australian Embarkation Roll 1914-1918

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

•             Australian Nominal Roll 1914-1918

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

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

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

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

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