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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AFFHO Congress wrap up - Genealogy Notes 28 Mar - 3 Apr 2015

It has been a huge week since last Diary. The AFFHO Congress 2015 is over and most of us have returned home and have been busy writing up our post Congress blogs. I had so much to say that it is a three part review. Part One was Days 1 and 2, Part Two was Days 3 and 4 and Part Three was Social Events and Exhibitors. Click on the links to read each part.

Photo taken by Mr Geniaus

As well as my own blogs I have been busy reading what others had to say and there were lots of geneabloggers there. To assist us in finding all these bloggers Geniaus (aka Jill) is compiling a pre, during and post Congress list of blogs. Jill's Geneabloggers at Congress- Reflections has all the links although there might be still more to come. Geniaus and Mr Geniaus are obviously a dynamic duo as he came in to Congress to take the Geneabloggers photo and I think we were mostly all there. That's Jill second from right at the front and you can see the lovely blogger beads that Jill supplied as with. It was a great way to instantly see who was a Geneablogger!

It was only after we got home that I realised that Easter was this weekend and we had one of Max's sons popping in for a short visit, hence the mad effort to finish my blog posts before Easter. We also have a trip down to Brisbane to see Mum and other family members. Easter is the time when my orchids start to flower and I am particularly pleased with this one. The others took a bit of a battering in the storm we had while we were in Canberra.

As always after a Congress, or any genealogy event, I am super motivated and as Mum's birthday is coming up I dragged out my draft family history on her Price family. I originally wrote it back in 2002 when I was in Canberra and of course since then I have added bits and pieces, the usual never ending story. After talking to David from Openbook Howden at Congress, I realised that I could print a few copies for family members at a relatively reasonable price, especially if I just give him a PDF. Of course this means I have to do layout, editing etc myself or they can do it but that costs more. It will depend on how clever I am!

My Easter genealogy exercise is to reread it, do amendments, additions and add in some charts and photographs with the aim of an almost final work by Easter Monday night. It is limited to three generations so I have not mentioned any living people except Mum and I believe she is the last of her generation. I will have to get someone else to read it as you can never pick up all your own mistakes.

Already I have doubts about this goal as so far today I have found new information courtesy of Trove (what else!). Two photos of Mum's uncle, William Price, who went to the Boer War twice and eventually settled in South Africa have surfaced in Trove. Now we finally know what he looked like. If I recheck Trove for everyone mentioned in the Price family draft, then I might just need more than the Easter weekend to finish.

Plus there are the new genealogy books and magazines I bought home to read (see Congress blog posts for titles), not to mention all those Congress papers. I have some new prize sponsors for National Family History Month 2015 so I need to make some more changes to the website and post Easter I am starting the NFHM PR campaign in earnest.

Next weekend (11 April) I will be in Maryborough (QLD) giving three talks for the Maryborough Family Heritage Research Institute - this was the event cancelled back in February due to Cyclone Marcia. Looking forward to that as they are always a good crowd.

Have a safe and happy Easter and where possible, try and sneak in some genealogy time, especially if you are catching up with family members. Happy searching until next time.

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.