New DNA matches, books I'm loving & other news: My genealogy week 15 -22 Jan 2025

 Another busy week with a trip to Caloundra to give a talk on Scottish ancestors and lots of work on my confimation milestone for my PhD. In fact, that has taken over my life at the moment.

Books

Still fascinated with Tea Cooper's books. Just finished reading The Fossil Hunter and have now borrowed The Naturalist's Daughter from the Bribie Island library.

Bribie Family History Association

Out first meeting for 2025 is on 7 February with Mariane Young as our guest speaker on researching in Ireland. Putting together the slides for the meeting so that those members who can't attend still get all the news. Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Conferences

For something different, I am going to talk about the NSW/ACT annual conference which is in Wollongong this yearbetween 12-14 September 2025. No details yet but you can sign up for the conference newsletter. No 1 is here.

My RootsTech handouts are due next week but I notice that my sessions have disappeared from the classes schedule. I need to check that out. 

New Resources

I haven't used Findmypast for a while so a bit surprised to see a new look. There was a hint to an Elizabeth Bilson in the 1841 census in Melton Mowbray and when I checked it out, a 12 year old Mary Spencer was also living there. More proof that the Billson and Spencer families were connected in Leicestershire. Only trouble was that the image is very poor and the name of the three week baby girl is not readable. A search in 1851 didn't find them so I need to have a good look at this. When I get spare time!

Snippet from 1841 census via Findmypast

Then I popped over to Ancestry to check my new DNA matches. Got excited with a large match, first cousin once removed, but once I checked it out, I realised it was a second cousin with a much larger cM match than her brother. Interesting.

Otherwise most of my new matches were in the smallish range of under 20cM. 

I should probably schedule regular checks of my DNA accounts as I have them with FamilyTree DNA and MyHeritage as well as Ancestry and 23 & Me. 

Talks 

My next talk is for Monash Library in Melbourne and it's a variation of my why can't I find it talk. So lots of tips and tricks on how to find something hiding in the indexes. Always a good group and it is hybrid with some in the library's conference room and some on Zoom.

And a trip up to Noosa Libraries - another good group. I like the advert they have done for my talk Why Can't I Find It? Family history searching at Noosaville Library. Very Sherlockian, if that is a word? You can book online by going to the Events Calendar - select Monday 17 Feb at 10.30am till 12 noon.

Always amazed by all the bats in the trees around the library complex. Have to be careful where you park the car!

What's Coming Up?

A new passport! Having booked my trip to Sweden, I now realise that there won't be six months left on it by the end of my holiday. 

Have fun researching, until next time, Shauna

Remember 1 January updates & other news: My Genealogy Week 8-14 January 2025

Well the first week of the year went by in a blur. I mostly worked on researching the women who will feature in my PhD The Grass Wasn't Always Greener.

With all the rain we have had lately, there are lots of lovely blooms in the yard. Max bought some inside to brighten up the house. Lots of red.

Books

Currently reading another one of Meg Kennealy's books which I enjoy. 

Just finished The Fossil Hunter by Tea Cooper and I do love her books on early New South Wales.

Looking forward to our Bribie Family History Association Book Club starting up again in February. Bev always manages to make an interesting choice, and not one that I would necessarily pick for myself.

Conferences

Uploaded my slides and handout for Connections 2025. My session is all about archives. What else!

RootsTech 2025 is on in just a few weeks. The program is now live and it is free to register. You can select what talks you want to listen to and no need to stay awake all night as sessions are mostly prerecorded.

Resources

I forgot to mention last week that the 1 January meant a new release of records into the public domain. So time to look for new BDMs and archival records, and not just in Queensland. Check out Public Record Office Victoria's What's New in December 2024.

FamilySearch continue to amaze me with their use of AI over Australian wills and probates. Fantastic for locating relationships you might not be aware of. For example, a will/probate is usually indexed under the name of the deceased. With AI you also get everyone mentioned  in the will including children and other beneficiaries. Fantastic. The full text search over other records is equally good. Check out the projects in FamilySearch labs. 

Talks

First talk for 2025 is tomorrow with the Caloundra Family History Research Group. The topic is researching Scottish ancestors. James Carnegie's parents were from Montrose, Angus, Scotland and Mary Finn's parents were from Rathdrum, Wicklow, Ireland.

James Carnegie and Mary Finn

For a list of where I am speaking check out the Events page of my website.

Travel

Another trip to Sweden and my little grandson's 3rd birthday. 

On the way home I will spend a week in Ireland visiting the Rathdrum area of Wicklow where my Finn and Fegan families came from and also going up to Northern Ireland to visit Belfast and Islandmagee where my GGG grandparents Stewart Heddles and Agnes Templeton are buried. 

Also having a stopover in Doha so I don't arrive totally washed out in Copenhagen. 

What's Coming Up?

Bookfest in Brisbane and the opportunity to buy some great book bargains. Last year I showed great restraint limiting myself to $100 and one green shopping bag. Achieved but quite a few went back on the tables and choosing that final selection was hard.

 Do I want to do that again? Do I need more books? 

Until next time happy researching Shauna

New Year, Inspiring Blogs & Other Genealogy News: My Genealogy Week 1-7 January 2025

 Welcome to 2025 and another great year of family history research. 

I spent the holiday break on another attempt to weed out my two remaining vertical file cabinets. Tossing what I don't need, scanning what I do need, and putting aside my paper birth, marriage and death certificates for donation to the Queensland Family History Society. After scanning of course.

As usual my library has grown and these new additions are all added into Library Thing, which is also an app on my phone to avoid buying something twice. Yes I am feeling organised to take on 2025.

Blogs

I participated in Jill Ball's Accentuate the Positive 2024 annual blog post. You can read mine here and then go to Jill's Geniaus blogpost for the accumulation of all the contributors to get more ideas for 2025. At the time of writing this post, Jill is still receiving blogposts, so just watch her blog site for the accumulation update.

Books

As mentioned above, there are some new books on the shelves.

Conferences

Looking forward to the AFFHO Congress in Brisbane in March. Read more about Connections here.

Online Webinars

Looking forward to the next series of Rippling Effects of the Great Irish Famine which starts at the end of January. Some excellent speakers including our own Dr Perry McIntyre and it runs for five weeks until the end of February. Lectures are recorded and you can watch at a time that suits. And it's free. 

The previous series is still available on their You Tube channel. See it here.

Resources

The end of the year is always a great time to get a round up of what has been added to various databases. MyHeritage does their compilation as a diagram which really appeals to me. Read their blog post for more details here. Staggering numbers.

I'm a bit behind with Ancestry but I just read that they added over 13 million records in November. it is easy to see all the new collections - just visit the recent collections page and select the country of interest.

FamilySearch also did a blog post on their year in review. Read it here. 

How can anyone keep up with all these new resources? It really is a great time for researching our family history.

Talks

My web page for events has been updated for 2025. See where I am speaking (the list is updated from time to time). Just check the Events page for details. 

March and the Congress will soon be here so I hope to catch up with lots of friends and colleagues in Brisbane.

What's Coming Up?

My first talk for the year is at the Caloundra Family History Research Group on 16 January. In person, and hybrid, I will be looking at Scottish ancestors and how to trace them. Always a fun group to visit.

Research on my PhD is ongoing and amazing how fast 20 hours a week goes. At least there is no travel time.

Have a great geneaweek and until next time, have fun finding those ancestors. Shauna