Genealogy Updates for March 2023: in person conferences, new resources, & other news

 March was a huge month travelling to the USA for my first ever in person Roots Tech conference. The rest of the month was mainly spent travelling and I would like to thank all those who followed my Facebook photos of the trip. It was fantastic and good to know that others enjoyed my experiences. The most genealogy I did was via emails - reading enews and genealogy ejournals and checking Ancestry and MyHeritage for new DNA matches.

Blogs

FamilySearch Library books and more books 
& even one on an area that I am researching in County Antrim, Ireland

My review of the RootsTech 2023 genealogy conference from an in person perspective is here. 

As always I kept a travel diary so I can go back and see what I did and given that RootsTech was so full on I'm glad I did that. So many experiences!

Books

Very proud of myself in that I only bought one book over there. Diahan Southard's Your DNA Guide.

To be honest there wasn't a lot of temptation as it is too expensive to ship books to a conference. So many exhibitors had order forms or referred you to Amazon. Nathan Dylan Goodwin was the only one with a pile of books around him at the start but by the end those piles had dwindled. I am an impulse buyer so his strategy worked better - the bird in the hand. 

Also good to finally meet him in person. 

Conferences

Although Roots Tech 2023 is over, you can still view the sessions online at home. There is enough to keep us all interested until next year. The dates for Roots Tech 2024 are 29 February to 2 March.

The next Australian genealogy conference is the NSW Association Annual Conference and this year it is hosted by the Wyong Society. The there is The Running Waters of History between 8 - 10 September 2023. Speakers include Martyn Killion, Michelle Patient, Mark Bundy, Geoffrey Potter, Michael Bell and Jeffrey Madsen. The conference is in person and virtual. This year I will be a virtual attendee, as I have conflicting dates with a talk for the Genealogical Society of Queensland that same weekend. 

New Resources

Do you ever check the new additions to the British Newspaper Archive? I get their enewsletter but I usually skip over as I'm busy but then of course I never revisit the email. One of my new promises to myself is to read things as they come in. Not always practicable but worth trying for.

For example, in March they advised that they had added more to the Birmingham Mail which was first published in 1870. Almost another half million digitised pages which made me quite excited as both Max and myself have Black Country ancestors. Years covered include from 1871 to 1999 with gaps. I particularly like that newspapers post 1954 (Trove cut off) as it can lead to discovering more recent cousins. 

Talks

First week home was busy with talks to Strathpine Library on genealogy for beginners and Noosaville Library on resources for women as part of International Women's History Month. 

Next is my talk as part of the Legacy Webinars 24 hour genealogy marathon on 13 April. My session is Australian Indexes Online for Family History Research That You May Not Know About. The event is free but you must register to receive the link. Check out all the speakers and topics here.

What's Coming Up

Due to all my travels I have agreed to run the Irish genealogy course again at Bribie U3A. The first term missed half the lectures due to my absence so they have enrolled again.

Salt Lake City in person 2023

The rest of April will be spent sorting my notes from Roots Tech and following up on all of my action points. 

Easter is next week and the school holidays are always an opportunity to catch up with my brother. Not to mention that I also have a fondness for hot cross buns which I never buy outside of  March/April.

Have a great genealogy month and I hope to be back to regular reports now that all my big trips are out of the way. Until next time, stay safe and well. Shauna

Genealogy Update for February 2023: RootsTech 2023 in person & other news

Didn't February go quickly. But then again it is only six weeks since I arrived back from my trip to Sweden and meeting my first grandchild Theo. Now I am heading off to the USA on more adventures. I am a RootsTech 2023 influencer so will be in the thick of the action in the media hub.

Books

My aim is not to buy any books at RootsTech. I have to carry them around afterwards and keep the suitcase under weight regulations. Will I achieve this? 

I'm also hoping to meet one of my favourite authors in person at RootsTech - Nathan Dylan Goodwin. I've already got all his books so no temptation apart from a selfie with him. 

See website link above

Conferences

All I can think about is I will be at RootsTech in person this year for the first time. It doesn't seem to be as big this year as it is also virtual and many have chosen to watch from afar. Still there are a lot of exhibitors and talks and people I want to catch up with. Plus I want to visit the FamilySearch library, another long term bucket list item. 

So looking forward to walking through the doors
of the FamilySearch Library image via Wikipedia

New Resources 

MyHeritage added 41 million records in January. I can't even imagine that many more records being added. The collections are from 12 USA state, the UK, Australia, Finland, Greece, Israel and Portugal and include BMDs, obituaries, migration and voter registration records. Australia caught my eye and it is the South Australian Adelaide Gaol Prisoner Registers 1848 to 1912. There are 76,555 records that are indexed and digitised by FamilySearch. It seems a lot of crime in the City of Churches but exciting news for anyone with Adelaide ancestors. Perhaps they were repeat offenders?

Do you subscribe to the Trove newsletter? Each month there are interesting stories from the collections. Plus there is a list of new resources in Trove. Below is a copy and paste because I always find it fascinating what is added and to also see who is behind the funding. Some historical societies are also funding the digitisation of newspapers for their geographic area. How good is that? 

Look at February's offering - great for teachers in New South Wales, and I'm interested in The Catholic Advocate in Brisbane and the Port Lincoln Times in South Australia.

National

• Education: journal of the NSW Public School Teachers Federation (1919-2019) [New South Wales Teachers Federation]
• Papers of Frank Macfarlane Burnet (1928-1985) [Australian Academy of Science]
• Hemisphere Journals (1957-1984) [National Library of Australia]
• Colonial Art [National Library of Australia]

TAS

• Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser (1827) [Libraries Tasmania]

QLD

• Nanango News (1912, 1913, 1920, 1922) [Nanango History Room Inc]
• The Australian (Brisbane, Qld. : 1878-1888) [State Library of Queensland]
• The Catholic Advocate (Brisbane, Qld. : 1915) [State Library Queensland]

SA

• Daylight (1919-1928) [State Library of South Australia]
• Port Lincoln Times (1955-1965, 1992-2002) [State Library South Australia]
• The Blackwood Magazine (1914) [State Library of South Australia]

WA

• Common Wealth (1933)  [State Library of Western Australia]
• The Maylands & Bayswater Chronicle (1905) [State Library of Western Australia]
• The Sun (Kalgoorlie, WA. : 1919) [State Library of Western Australia]

VIC

• Kyneton Guardian and Woodend and Malmsbury Chronicle (1863-1870) [State Library Victoria]
• Nagambie Times (1882-1913, 1919-1920) [Nagambie Historical Society Inc]
• The Bacchus Marsh Express (1884) [Bacchus Marsh and District Historical Society]

NSW

• Forbes Times (1899-1902) [Central West Libraries]
• Mittagong Argus (1902-1904) [Berrima District Historical & Family History Society]
• Mittagong Express (1899, 1901-1902) [Berrima District Historical & Family History Society]

Talks

I was busy in February with talks in person at Burpengary Library, Caboolture Library and Caloundra Family History Research as well as a virtual with Monash Library in Victoria and the Association of Professional Genealogists in the USA.

There are more presentations coming up at the end of March and into April. Check the Events page of my website for details.

What's Coming Up

Due to my travels the Advanced Irish Genealogy at Bribie U3A was cut short so I have agreed to do Irish again in Term 2. That will keep me busy as most of them have tricky Irish brick walls which we have looked at during other terms. 

I also want to get back to my own research and finish one or more of those draft family histories that have been haunting me for years. 

Take care and stay safe while I jet over to Salt Lake City for RootsTech 2023.

Genealogy Diary Update for January 2023: Meeting the new twig on the family tree was the highlight

Welcome to 2023 and another wonderful year of researching our family stories.

An early reader 

An early walker

My visit to Sweden to see my little 7 month old grandson was wonderful and I enjoyed every minute of the 10 days I was with them. I think they too liked having an extra pair of hand/eyes around the place. The plan is that they will visit Australia and New Zealand to introduce him to other family members in July 2023. So only a few more months and I will see him again. Not that he will remember me. 

Christmas lunch Swedish style

The whole trip was amazing and I enjoyed seeing Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Copenhagen and Singapore as well as the area around Lund in Sweden. My Facebook profile captures the sights, food and drinks quite well. Anyone would think all I did was eat. 

Blogs

Only one blog post and that is my response to Jill Ball's annual Accentuate the Positive Geneameme. This is a good way to look at what has been done over the year in a number of different areas. 

Books

One of my holiday reads was Nathan Dylan Goodwin's The Sawtooth Slayer. A great read and an insight into using Gedmatch to identify clusters. 

I downloaded some of Sarah Woodbury's historic novels about Wales and I am now hooked on her as an author. She has a number of different series with different characters and settings but all based on historical Wales.

Caloundra Family History Research

The following is a Call Out To Past Members from CFHR re their 30th anniversary in May.

To mark the 30 th anniversary of The Caloundra Family History Research group in May this year, we are embarking on a project to record the group’s history. Our aim is to finish and present this important record at our anniversary celebration.

To achieve our goal, we need your help! We are inviting former members of our group, or if you know of a former member, to please contact us so that we can record your reminiscences. We are happy to conduct interviews or we will accept written accounts of your memories.

We have a rich history and we envisage showcasing our growth, activities, research, stories, library, special interest groups and guest speakers. Stories from our past members would greatly enrich our 30 th Anniversary history book.

Please contact us at:

Email: hello@caloundrafamilyhistory.org.au

Mail: P.O. Box 968, Caloundra QLD 4551

Phone our Secretary: 0437-235-842 or Publicity Officer: 0408-254-765

Conferences

My next big adventure is attending RootsTech 2023 in early March. My first time in person so I am looking forward to visiting the FamilySearch Library. Not sure if I will do any research as I have a few things on the tourist list as well.

DNA

No new close relatives but I want to try and identify more of my clusters. I suspect it is a bit harder than Nathan's fictional genetic genealogists in his books but worth a try.

Surprisingly I have had a few emails from distant cousins - nothing too close  and we haven't been able to identify the common ancestors. With three unknown biological ancestors on Dad's side its a bit of a handicap. Need much closer matches.

Talks

February is a busy month for presentations - both in person and virtual. Check out the Events page of my website. My first talk for 2023 is for the family history group at Monash Library in Melbourne. I did talks for them during the Covid lockdowns and now we continue as a hybrid group on Zoom and in person at the library. Hopefully the technology will be on our side.

What's Coming Up?

My great grandmother
- both her parents were Irish

Bribie U3A is starting up in a couple of weeks and we are looking at Irish Genealogy in first term. I am going to be away for 4 sessions. That might be a good time to set them some practical exercises to try and further their own Irish research while I am away. 

Bribie Genealogy has morphed into Bribie Family History Association and our meetings will still be the first Friday of the month at the RSL, Bribie Island. Except for April as that will be Easter.

So between my presentations and my voluntary activities the next few weeks will be busy. Already I have found new information on a number of my Irish families and that gives added value to my efforts at U3A Bribie. 

Until next time, happy searching

Shauna