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.

WDYTYA, DNA, & Other News: Genealogy Notes 23-31 Mar 2018

I'm not a fan of acronyms as not everyone knows what they are but they do save you a lot of keystrokes. The two in the title of this post should be familiar to everyone.

This week was the last U3A session for Term 1 and there is a two week break before Term 2 starts. My advanced family history class looks like doubling so I need to do some planning. Many students continue on plus there will be new students which means that I have to balance so that the 'oldies' aren't bored and the 'newbies' are not overwhelmed. Plus I need to keep myself interested otherwise there is no point volunteering to do these sessions. It is actually a great way to keep up to date!

DNA

My Ancestry ethnicity profile

How exciting to be contacted by Chris Paton and be told that we are related! He found me through FamilyTree DNA while looking for connections to his Mitchell family in County Fermanagh. This didn't mean anything to me but looking at some of his other surnames I recognised three from my own grandmother's Irish and Scottish families. Now to work out the connection!

While on the topic, Queensland Family History Society is hosting a seminar with Maurice Gleeson (Irish genetic genealogist amongst other things) on 19 May so a trip to Brisbane is coming up. Maurice is also on the Alaska Unlock the Past cruise that I'm going on in September but this is another opportunity to try and understand my matches.

Genealogy/family history societies have an active education program so check out your local society and see what speakers or seminars are coming up. They are great opportunities to learn something new as well as chatting to like minded people about your family history problems, or perhaps you can help someone with their brick walls.

Blogs/Articles

The Congress satchel

The Genealogical Society of Queensland invited me to do a guest post on the recent Sydney Congress 2018 for those who couldn't attend. It will be posted on 2 April on their weekly blog. Some of the other posts might interest you too.

I also managed to get my monthly blog post for The In-Depth Genealogist in on time as well as my monthly article.  The deadline is always the end of the month and despite my good intentions of doing it early in the month, I always seem to be hovering around the very end!

With all my Congress 2018 blog reports finished, I'm hoping to do a Trove Tuesday blog post this week. It's been a while since my last one - January to be precise on the Samuel Plimsoll. So much for doing one a month but the last two months have been busy and I was away from home twice.

Resources
Thanks to Carmel (Library Currants) we have a handy website that allows you to customise a tombstone for your blog posts, articles or family histories. Try out Tombstone Builder. I quite often pick up nice little tips from Carmel's blog Library Currants so if you haven't seen it before have a look.

Ancestry have added the New Zealand police gazettes 1878-1945 and I love police gazettes because you can find out all kinds of unknown family snippets. Yes you might find a crime or a desertion but there were also missing friends/family and of course victims. My great uncle managed to have his bicycle stolen not once but twice and I would not have known this without browsing Queensland police gazettes.

If you don't have an Ancestry subscription you may have access to it through your local council library or your nearest genealogy/family history society. One of my families spent time in New Zealand so this Easter I will be checking out the New Zealand police gazettes just in case!

Television
Who has time for television when you are a family historian? There are a few shows I like to watch and one of my favourites is starting a new series on 19 April on SBS - the 9th series of the Australian WDYTYA. Celebrities include Justine Clarke, Ernie Dingo, Noni Hazlehurst, Natalie Imbruglia, John Jarratt, Todd McKenney, Patti Newton and Charlie Teo. The 8th season went to air in 2016 so it has been a long wait but I'm ready and excited.

What's Coming Up

My orchids Easter 2015

It's Easter which means some of my orchids are in flower but they are not as spectacular (must be all that rain we have had this year) as they were when I took this photo. It's in a much larger pot now so I was hoping for more blooms. Perhaps a dash of fertiliser!

Apart from gardening I like to get out and about and my next talk is at Caloundra Family History Research on 19 April with a presenatation on Sporting Ancestors.

Enjoy the Easter long weekend with family and friends, try not to eat too much chocolate and do spend your time on your family history. I hope you have some fabulous finds.

Until next time

Congress 2018 wrap up, talks, DNA contacts & other news - Genealogy Notes 15- 22 Mar 2018

As usual the week flew past with a couple of outings, a few blog posts and another attempt to tame the paper in my office. Going through drawers of 'stuff ' is always illuminating - first, why did I keep it, where did I get it from, what do I do with it now and so on. Mostly there were BSOs as Lisa Louise Cooke put it during one of her sessions at Congress 2018 - bright shiny objects that distract you when you are looking for something else.

I did the right thing to park (print/save depending on your methodology) them but what I failed to do was set a date with myself to review them in a timely fashion. Now most are superseded with the wonders of technology but I am still left with a sizable pile of paper that I must go through because it is not going back into the filing cabinet. Out of sight out of mind (at least my mind).

Blogs

Handy conference satchel

I have finally finished writing up my daily reports on Congress 2018 plus a look at some of the Exhibitors and a Summary. Read the posts here Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Exhibitors/Summary.

As you can see from the introduction I have started to do some of my learnings but it is easy to be distracted. Focus with a research plan - one person/family at a time. Then you look in Trove and lots of you beaut results leap out at you! Focus is not easy.

Books/Reading 
My copy of Lisa Louise Cooke's The Genealogists Google Toolbox 2nd edition has arrived so that will be another date with self - sit down, read and practice the suggestions. What's the bet that I find lots of BSOs and that might just be on one family name. Which name to practice the new tricks on? Names in a hat might work. Stay tuned.

Yesterday I downloaded my free copy of the latest issue of Irish Lives Remembered and it has Winter 2017 on it. That's their winter not ours and the editorial welcomes us to the new year so it is running a bit behind time. Still it has articles from some of my favourites including Jayne Shrimpton (photographs) and Maurice Gleeson (DNA). Apparently Maurice's DNA took him on a wild genealogical ride - looking forward to reading that article as mine has done the same! Great magazine and its free.

Research
Quite a few years ago I did a mitochondrial DNA test with 23 and Me. This is your maternal DNA and nothing has ever really come out of it. I have had more contacts from Ancestry and MyHeritage with autosomal DNA. Now I have received an email from someone who said my name was familiar and that we were related via the 23 and Me site. Well her name was familiar too and after a bit of thought I realised she also attends the Bribie U3A local history class that I go to. She lives around the corner from me and now it appears that we are related! Small world indeed. We have a family history catch up during the week to establish the connection.

Cousins - Max and Cliff post talk enjoying a cuppa

Talks
It's not often I go off the Island, usually either for medical reasons or to go to a talk somewhere. Happy to say this time was to the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum to see The Final 100 Days exhibition. It is the last days of WW1 and marks the end of the anniversary celebrations for the centenary of WW1. Those last four years have gone quick and lots of great projects have been undertaken during that time. The exhibition closes on 27 May 2018 so there is time to get there if you live in the Brisbane/Moreton regions.

Denis was 17 when he enlisted and spent his 18th
birthday in a German POW camp.
Image courtesy State Library of Queensland.

One of my favourite projects was the State Library of Queensland's digitisation of WW1 soldier portraits from The Queenslander. I found quite a few of my relatives and it is really good to have a quality image and not one from Trove (they are usually too dark for clarity). The Library has some wonderful resources for World War One.

The other reason we went to the exhibition was that Max's cousin Cliff was doing a talk on Queensland military hospitals, repatriation and Spanish flu. So it was a chance to catch up with family plus Cliff does some wonderful talks on various aspects of the war on the home front as well as overseas.

What's Coming Up
How did Easter get here so quickly and as I write this the humidity is 100%. There are light showers too and I can see the weeds growing before my eyes.

This week is the last session of Term 1 at Bribie U3A for my advanced family history classes. In Term 2 we will have double the number as they are taking the tables out of the room to fit more chairs in - this will get rid of the waiting list as most students re-enrol each term. Keen!

Tutoring keeps me on my toes planning and Term 2 has 11 weeks. I survey each class to see what they would like to learn more about and that helps with ideas.

Blog posts and articles still to write and I must try and get another Trove Tuesday post done.

Time for a coffee break. Until next time, have a great genealogical week with many wonderful finds.