Books, Resources, Talks & Other News : My Genealogy Weeks 1-15 Oct 2024

As I write this we are having a very hot spring day and have had little rain for weeks if not months. 

The garden is suffering even though we have bore water. 

Our beautiful native birds are visiting to drink and swim in our bird baths (fresh water), a real distraction from writing this blog post. There is a bird bath just outside my office window. But I am off to China so this blog post needs to be finished. 

Books 

My Ph D thesis is in sync with my family history, so every book or article I read is relevant to one of my family lines. The temptation is to then do more family research. Plus there are so many other resources mentioned in the References and Bibliographies that I don't know what to read next. My PhD completion date is at the end of 2026 so the next three years will be fascinating. 

For example, Janet McCalman's Vandemonians is a great read for anyone with Tasmanian convicts, especially if they then went over to Victoria. 

The Brisbane History Group's publication Brisbane Diseased: Contagious Cures and Controversy (see cover photo below) has a number of relevant articles on alcoholism and venereal diseases. 

My thesis looks at prostitutes, female vagrants and female habitual drunkards in colonial Queensland gaols. One of those was my GG grandmother and I have even found one of Max's distant cousins on the Billson family line. 

Conferences 

We are booked for the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise for December 2024. It is also called the Celebrity Edge Australian Wine Cruise so I will be able to indulge both my passions. 

Seriously it leaves from Sydney, then Hobart, then over to Kangaroo Island, Adelaide, on to Melbourne and finally back to Sydney. Four at sea days devoted to good speakers and topics. May need a holiday after that!

New Resources 

Now here are some serious distractions. 

If you get the Trove newsletter, you find out what is new for the month. For example, the September list of New South Wales digitised newspapers included:

• Araluen Star and Miners' Right (1863-1864) [Queanbeyan Palerang Regional Council]
• Braidwood and Araluen Express (1899-1907) [Queanbeyan Palerang Regional Council]
• Daily Mirror (1941-1944) [National Library of Australia]
• Pastoral Times and Deniliquin Telegraph (1859-1861) [Deniliquin Genealogy Society Inc]
• Pastoral Times: incorporated with the Southern Courier (1861) [Deniliquin Genealogy Society Inc]
• Pastoral Times and Southern Courier (1861-1862) [Deniliquin Genealogy Society Inc]
• Pastoral Times and Deniliquin and Echuca Chronicle (1862) [Deniliquin Genealogy Society Inc]
• Pastoral Times and Deniliquin and Moama Reporter (1863) [Deniliquin Genealogy Society Inc]
• Pastoral Times and Echuca and Moama Chronicle (27 June 1863) [Deniliquin Genealogy Society Inc]
• Queanbeyan Age (1955-1971) [Queanbeyan Palerang Regional Council]
• South Sydney News (1940) [Bayside Council Library]
• South Sydney Sentinel (1932-1935) [Bayside Council Library]
• Wagga Wagga Express & Murrumbidgee District Advertiser (1875) [Wagga Wagga & District Historical Society]
• Wagga Wagga Express (1875-1876)  [Wagga Wagga & District Historical Society]

Findmypast released three more Oxfordshire record sets, more baptisms, marriages and burials. Plus almost 100,000 paged from digitised newspapers. My Sweatman and Cooper families were from Deddington, Oxfordshire and my Prickett family were from Fritwell, Oxfordshire. Definitely will have to check these updates out.

Talks 

There have been talks for Strathpine Library, Legacy Family Tree Webinars and Queensland Family History Society. 

Yesterday was a talk at Caboolture Library on Gedmatch and when I get back from China I am giving a talk Researching in Australia at the Really Useful Family History Show in the UK (virtual). That is looking like a really good weekend of genealogy with some excellent speakers and topics.

That will be my last talk for 2023. The fastest year ever but then I did a lot of travel and the PhD takes up time too.

What's Coming Up?

Christmas! Not quite yet but at Bribie Family History Association we have asked Judy Lofthouse to run her Christmas genealogy quiz at our December meeting. Plus stay on for our Christmas lunch at the RSL's Botanic restaurant.

I have also mapped out our 2024 speakers and members meetings. Maybe that is why I feel that the years go quickly? Planning the next one before the end of this year.

My first and last visit to China was back in 1996 so it will be interesting to see the changes in Beijing and I have not been to the other places on our trip. So all new and exciting.

Until next time, stay safe and happy researching. Shauna

Genie books to read, DNA cousin date & other genealogy news: My genealogy weeks 17 - 30 September 2023

Gorgeous spring weather, the only thing missing is some rain occasionally. My orange crucifix orchids are just beautiful at the moment. The hippeastrums are starting to flower too.

Yet anothe attempt to get back to a fortnightly blog post. Only a couple of days late.

Books

It has been a Kate Grenville feast this fortnight as I finished The Search for the Secret River and Sarah Thornhill the sequel to The Secret River. Both books hard to put down but you need to have read The Secret River first.

Also started reading and finished Ancestry by Simon Mawer. What a great way to write a family history. I was engrossed from beginning to end.

Borrowed all those books from the local library. Did have to put in a request as they were not on Bribie but still within Moreton Bay City Libraries collection. 

So many good books, so little time.

Bribie Family History Association

The next meeting is on Friday 6 October at 9.00am at the Bribie RSL in the Anzac Room. Our speaker is Caroline Jamieson with a talk on writing your own story. Most of us probably think we lead boring lives but we all have stories to tell and leave for our grandchildren and those that follow them.

I have been busy organising the 2024 speaker program and where has this year gone.

DNA

This week I met a 4th cousin of my Mum's and we went out to lunch and chatted about all kinds of things. However, we are not sure where the DNA link is. It is only one segment and 14cM in size. The interesting thing is that neither my brother or I inherited that piece of DNA. 

A search on Gedmatch revealed that there are 111 matches to both Mum and her 4th cousin. Sorting through those might give us some clues but as the cousin has Uren in the family, then my guess is a Cornish connection. Mum's 7x great grandmother was a Uren but that seems a long way back and perhaps the connection is closer. Stay tuned.

New Resources

Had an interesting time looking up my North Ireland families in Findmypast's new 1912 Ulster Covenant collection. There are nearly 500,000 names in the dataset. My families were out here in Australia by then but they did leave brothers and sisters behind, as well as parents.

RootsTech 2024 

I'm not going to Salt Lake City in person in 2024 (planning a trip to England and Ireland instead). 

Hard to believe but I have agreed to host a pyjama party, either live, hybrid or virtual at some point during the weekend next year. It is hard to get excited watching a conference session by yourself. Also given that the sessions will mostly be when we are asleep, the idea of a nightime party suggested itself. More thought is needed to keep myself and guests awake. Stay tuned.

Talks

Received some lovely feedback from my session on Gedmatch to the Strathpine Library family history group.Th City of Moreton Bay libraries has a wonderful local and family history program throughout the year, and free to attend.

Thank you so much for presenting your talk on GEDmatch at Strathpine Library on the 12th of September. We had some lovely feedback: 

 Lots of new information on a subject I know little about

Easy to understand presentation

The information shared was helpful.

Great Speaker
Shauna Hicks can always be relied on to give a clear explanation of the topic. She explained features of the site and showed information from the pay to view and use section which was interesting.

The speaker is always very knowledgeable and presents the information in a clear logical interesting way

Shauna Hicks presented an excellent summary of how We could use Gedmatch.

Presenter systematically explained the topic in detail, including examples.

I am giving the Gedmatch talk again to the Caboolture Library family history group in October.

Also excited about my October webinar on Legacy Family Tree. All about gold fever and looking for miners down under. That is on this Wednesday 4 October and you can register for free and watch for a week after.  Whenever I see the photo below I wonder if that's what my great grandfather looked like when he first came out from Wiltshire to the gold fields of Charters Towers.

Image courtesy State Library Queensland

My 2024 list of talks is slowly being added to. Trying to avoid being too rushed next year as my Ph D research is taking up more time than I expected. Five days a fortnight doesn't sound much but fitting that in with family events and work needs and talks is tricky. My thesis topic is fascinating, colonial women in Queensland gaols, has lots of scope and I'm discovering so many stories of women who have largely been forgotten by family and history.  

What's Coming Up?

China! Going on a 10 day trip taking in Beijing (and the Great Wall), Hangchou and a trip on the fast train, then      and finishing up in Shanghai. I first went to China in 1996 for an archives conference so it will be interesting to see any changes in Beijing. All the other places on this trip will be new to me. So excited but then I like travel and seeing different cultures and eating different foods.

Another birthday as I inch closer to one of those birthdays with a 0 on the end. Yet I still feel like I am in my 40s except for the arthritic thumbs and a few other aches and pains.

Then it is Christmas and we will be sharing a week's holiday in the Gold Coast hinterland with one of Max's sons and his family. They are all athletic and looking forward to bushwalking, swimming, golfing, kayaking etc. I am taking a stack of books to read and exercise my brain.

Have fun researching this week. Until next week, take care Shauna

NFHM, guest blog, talks & other genealogy news: My genealogy months 16 July to 16 September 2023

Two months have disappeared just like that. But there were very busy months.

National Family History Month is over for 2023. I hope everyone had a great time at their local family history society or online with the many virtual offerings. I gave two talks - one at Caloundra on convicts and criminals in the family and the second at Noosaville on making the most of archives. Both days were well attended and with good feedback.

If you haven't seen the opening presentation by Hamish Maxwell-Stewart and Andrew Redfern it is still on the website until the end of September. All about AI (artifical intelligence) and using it for genealogy.

An added bonus for the month was that my family were visiting from Sweden and I got to spend some special time with my little grandson.

Blogs & Draft Family Histories

Sometimes I think I have lost my blogging mojo. Even if I have spare time, I don't seem to want to write smaller pieces. The exception there is my guest blogs for the Genealogical Society of Queensland. My next post is entitled The Agony and the Ecstasy with all due reference to Michaelangelo. Here is the link to my guest post 

Honestly my writing time is taken up with sorting and updating my sources in my draft family histories. I was truly slack in the early days about citing sources especially births, deaths and marriages. Still nothing finalised but working on several at the same time. When I get bogged down or bored with one, I swap to another. At this rate I won't finish anything. 

Books

My usual love of reading is now coupled with reading for my PH D on women in colonial gaols in Queensland in the 19th century. Almost a reverse of my Masters thesis which examined female philanthropists in colonial Queensland who helped fallen women. 

Now there really isn't enough time in the day.

However I must mention Kate Grenville's Searching for the Secret River an ebook I borrowed from my local library. The Secret River was a fictionalised account of her family history and this ebook tells how she went about finding her family history. An insight that we can all relate to.

Conferences

So many good geneacruises

I have booked on the next Unlock the Past genealogy cruise but that is not until December 2024. It is the 18th cruise and Chris Paton is the key speaker with a host of other overseas and Australasian speakers. 

Before then we have RootsTech 2024 from 29 February to 2 March and sadly I am not going in person. 

Instead I am thinking of hosting a live pyjama party here so that we can watch live sessions in the middle of the night! 

That might be better than watching on Zoom by myself and risk falling asleep in front of the computer.

Registration is now open. It seems a long way off but will be here in no time if the past year is an indication. 

Nick Vine Hall Awards

These awards are an AFFHO initiative to promote the publication of society journals and family stories. Previous winners are on the website. I have just taken over the organisation of these awards as I have fond memories of the chats I had with Nick Vine Hall over the years and especially when we were both in Melbourne. Lunch on the lawn outside the State Library of Victoria dodging pidgeons. Those were the days. 

I will be doing a review of the criteria for judging the NVH Awards and finding three new judges, preferably not associated with a society that publishes a journal either in print or ecopy. Once that is all sorted then it will be time to promote the Awards to societies and encourage them to enter. How hard can that be?

Talks

Thomas Price died
at the Wee McGregor mine in QLD

My last talk was for the GSQ on the Midland Counties of Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. It is interesting to have indepth looks at individual counties. 

The next one is for Legacy Family Tree Webinars on Gold Fever and Finding Miners Down Under. That is 4 October at 11am Brisbane time. The dreaded daylight saving time will be back by then.

What's Coming Up

We have a trip to China in October and I was last there in 1996. Excited to be seeing the Great Wall of China again. So spectacular and I love Chinese food. That will be our last getaway for the year. 

Finally, I have just had another basal cell carcinoma cut out of my face, just to the left of my nose. The other one was on the right side of my face. 

Seriously thinking I should have done a new speaker portrait before the surgery but too late now. All will be revealed next Thursday when the stitches come out. 

Make sure you find time for annual skin checks, so important in our country.

Until next time, happy searching

Shauna