Archives, Certificates, National Family History Month & Other News - Genealogy Notes 7 - 15 Jun 2016

It has been a crazy hectic week. The talk at Noosaville Library on Queensland Genealogy Resources Online went extremely well. It was a full house with no chairs vacant which was really great to see. The Library was so thrilled they collated the feedback and sent it to me later that afternoon. All positive and most people seemed to want more. As usual, the talk is on my website Resources page, scroll down to Presentations. Looking forward to going back there in August.

Reading room at Queensland State Archives, June 2016

The trip to Queensland State Archives was equally good and it was great to see other geneamates there for the convicts seminar. My research was also good, I simply love files that have certificates in them. Read my blog post on the whole day at Convict Queensland and visiting Queensland State Archives.

A new edition of Family History on the Cheap is now out which makes the third new edition I have done for this year. The others were What Was The Voyage Really Like? and Trove: Discover Discover Genealogy Treasure in the National Library of Australia. It is easier to update a guide than to write one from the beginning.

A while back I ordered an 1849 marriage certificate from the UK even though I knew most of the information. The names of the two witnesses don't mean anything to me at the moment. The real benefit was in the fathers' occupations. I knew one was a bailiff from the census records but the marriage certificate says William Adkins was the bailiff to the Marquess of Hertford. A quick look at Wikipedia and I found out all about the Marquess of Hertford and their property.

I then decided to look at Findmypast for British newspapers to see if their was anything on my person and I was rewarded with a brief death notice. He died at Arrow on 14 Oct 1859 of apoplexy and he was 'for a long time house steward to the Marquis of Hertford, aged 77 years'. The following year his son in law Paul Spencer as executor of William's will, called for any creditors. The other executor was William's son also called William but he had predeceased his father. So now I have more information on the son and a will to follow up.

The other father was Joseph Spencer (father of Paul in the last para) and his occupation was Inland Revenue Officer but those records are not online and no overall index for a quick lookup. I have the National Archives UK guide to tracing them so I will need to engage a researcher in London. We know nothing about Joseph apart from his name as we have never been able to locate him in the census. We have his family and it is not until the 1861 census that his wife describes herself as a widow. Perhaps his job took him away from home on census nights? It is too common a name to locate a death certificate without some parameters so his occupation may be our best chance to learn more.

One certificate at just under $20 and lots more to follow up on two family lines. Definitely worth getting!

The other thing grabbing my attention this week is National Family History Month and I have been busy organising the launch over in Perth. In a blog post Meet NFHM 2016 Major Sponsors I looked at the sponsors who help keep NFHM going. In future posts I will also introduce our prize sponsors and don't forget to add your events to our web calendar. Remember the early bird prize for societies ends on 30 June, don't miss out. Full details on the Sponsors page.

I'm in the last stages of finishing up the Health Records course which is part of the Australian Certificate with the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. It has been a fascinating exercise and I have learnt lots of interesting things along the way. The last part of any project is always the longest for me as I keep tinkering with the modules but it is due 30 June so that's focusing my attention.

I also want to update my database and files with all the new information from Queensland State Archives and plan another trip. Trying to file as I go instead of piling up for later. I need to apply that to my journals and magazines, both print and electronic. Perhaps I need more coffee breaks or is it that there are so many good things to read?

Until next time, have a great genealogy week. 

Queensland Convicts, Visiting Archives, Talking & Other News - Genealogy Notes 30 May - 6 Jun 2016

My son visited for the weekend and we had a technology free weekend, just sitting around and talking rather than checking emails and social media. first day was hardest but by the second day I was more comfortable and of course most things can wait till Monday. It was also an opportunity to sit back and see just what emails I was receiving and I was a bit surprised to see that most were not that important and I simply hit the delete button. So an email tidy up is going on and I am unsubscribing to a lot of 'advert' type emails that I don't recall signing up to. My gmail account was worse than my primary email but both were receiving things I don't read and thankfully both my spam filters save me from a lot too.

This week is almost full on with two genealogy adventures. It is Queensland Week and I am heading north to Noosaville Library to give a talk on genealogy research in Queensland focusing more on what's online. I've put together the usual suspects with some other favourite not so usual suspects and everyone should learn something new.

The next day I am heading south (lots of freeway driving) to the Queensland State Archives (QSA). I have been promising myself a research trip for some time but setting a date was always an issue. But I received an invitation to Shackled - Queensland's First Female Convicts which is a half day seminar with Dr Jennifer Harrison talking about the 140 female convicts who came to Moreton Bay (and we can buy copies of Jennifer's new book, of the same title, Shackled - Queensland's First Female Convicts) followed by a talk on how to research convict records at QSA. Both talks should be interesting and morning tea is also included. All for free!

So with that motivation in the morning, I thought why not a little research in the afternoon before the long trek home. This may say something about my age, but I am Number 1 in the QSA researcher's system and I was really pleased to find out that they can reactivate my number when I visit. In preparation for the trip I have been searching the catalogue for series and item numbers as the system has changed and there are new numbers for my old favourite series.

I also did some name searches and even though there is not a lot of name identified data in the online catalogue (more in the online indexes), I discovered some really exciting references to my great great grandfather John Finn in two series that I would not have thought to look in. I also discovered a reference to Max's grandfather Henry Spencer, again in something I would not have checked. Indexed entries are fantastic. Imagine how much we could find is everything was name indexed if time and money were not critical.

Unfortunately you can't pre-order records at QSA, so I need to get there early and try and order before the talks start. My list of want to look at files is probably too long so a return trip will be necessary but I am looking forward to some wonderful new information on problem ancestors. The other distraction is that I will probably meet up with other geneafriends at the talks, although they might also be trying to fit in a bit of research too.Stay tuned.

My ethnicity map with Ancestry DNA

I haven't seen too much talk of DNA Nation on social media but I have been taping it and have just managed to watch the first episode. I did my matriarchal DNA some years ago with 23 and Me and more recently the Ancestry ethnicity test which revealed mostly a UK background. My brother has just done a full Y test with Family Tree DNA so I am waiting to get those results. DNA Nation looks at three Australians with diverse backgrounds and the first week looked at the matriarchal side of things. I found it interesting and helped confirm my understanding of female DNA. Now to find some time to watch weeks 2 and 3.

As it has been a busy week with some solid writing, I didn't get too much time to read blogs or follow social media. So one of my easy catch up tricks is to check out Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings which is a list of the blogs that he liked best last week. As usual there were some great blog posts listed for 29 May to 4 Jun - why not have a look and see what you may have missed.

A lot of travel time coming up but if those archive files are as exciting as I hope they are, it will be a serious genealogy research weekend coming up. By some good fortune it is also a fishing competition weekend so the house will be all mine with no distractions. Lucky me. It's also a long weekend for the Queen's birthday so perhaps everyone can fit in some genealogy research. Until next time happy searching.

Irish Death Certificates, NFHM 2016 & Other News - Genealogy Notes 22 - 29 May 2016

Part of our daily walk around the resort

After a relaxing week's holiday at a resort in the Gold Coast Hinterland, there is not a lot of genealogy news to report. The only thing I did was check my emails occasionally and update events on the National Family History Month web calendar. The National Institute for Genealogical Studies early bird prize for genealogy and family history societies adding their August NFHM events to the calendar closes on 30 June, just over a month away. I hope that motivates a few more societies to be part of NFHM 2016. Full details on the Sponsors page of the website.

During the week I accepted another two speaking engagements for NFHM - both in the Sunshine Coast area so fortunately not a lot of travelling time for me. This is probably just as well as I am now doing 19 talks for NFHM in Western Australia, Queensland and New Zealand. That may be a record for the number of talks given by any one person and it is almost a certainty that I will be the most traveled person that month. Still, I do love NFHM and seeing everyone so passionate about genealogy and family history. Please help spread the word and encourage your society, local library or archives to join in too by entering their August events in the web calendar.

An email from FamilyTree DNA left me in two minds - excited and somewhat pensive. My brother has finally done the Y DNA test for me and it has been received my FamilyTree DNA. Now we are just waiting for the results. I'm giving my Love Sex and Damn Lies talk twice during NFHM so will there be a different ending??

My four Irish death images arrived by email and very good quality digital images and ever so much cheaper than a certificate. I was right not to expect too much additional information but one informant was the son in law so that confirmed I had the right person. One informant was the husband so again the right person and the other two had informants where I don't recognise the name and no relationship is given. But names, ages and places all match so I am reasonably confident I have all four Irish GGG grandparents deaths.

The causes of death were the most interesting part.Sarah Fegan was 84 years old and died of senile decay and cardiac failure. I realised that she had lived longer than her daughter Sarah who came out to Queensland. I was left wondering if she had been informed of Sarah's death or had all contact with the family been lost. Her husband Robert Fegan had died earlier, aged 78 years from asthma, something I suffered from as a child. Rosanna Finn died aged 67 years from bronchitis another one of my childhood illnesses and her husband James Finn died aged 75 years from chronic Bright's disease and something else that I cannot read (yet). This had me reaching for Helen Smith's Death Certificates and Archaic Medical Terms to learn that Bright's Disease is an inflammatory disease of the kidneys (increased protein in the urine).

Coming up in June is Queensland Week 4-12 June 2016 (celebrating Queensland's birthday on 6 June) and I will be speaking at Noosaville Library about online sources for Queensland genealogy and family history. I'm looking forward to going back to Noosaville as it is another one of those places we almost settled. Watch out for other interesting events during the week.

History Week in New South Wales is 3-11 September and they are calling for events to be registered and also for groups who would like a speaker to visit them. Now in its 19th year, it has a Neighbours theme including stories of individuals, families and communities living near one another and links between suburbs, regions and countries. Full details on their website and it should be an exciting time for those in NSW.

Now that I am back home there are a few writing projects that need to be finalised before the end of June and regular blogs and articles to be completed. The weather is a little cooler but still not really autumn and with winter next week, I am still able to swim in the pool, although it is solar heated.

Tortoise enjoying a sun bake

Python also enjoying the sunshine

One of the great things about where we stayed on the Gold Coast Hinterland was that it had a natural lagoon with an amazing range of birds and tortoises which were fond of coming up for a sun bake during the day. I was not so fond of the huge python we came across on one of our bush walks. It really  was good to have a week off but now looking forward to a fantastic week of genealogy research. Until next time enjoy those genealogy moments.

AFFHO Congress 2018, NFHM 2016 & other news": Genealogy Notes 14 - 21 May 2016

Well the big news this week was the announcement of the AFFHO Congress date and venue. It will be held 9-12 March 2018 at the Darling Harbour International Convention Centre in Sydney. I've been to other conferences there and it is a fantastic venue with lots of accommodation nearby, easy transport and other fascinating Sydney things to do nearby.There is a Congress 2018 website and a Congress 2018 Facebook page to follow for all the news leading up to 2018. You can even watch the YouTube video. It seems like a long way away but time will fly. Not an event to be missed.

The other news I found exciting was that Roots Ireland now has a one day subscription. I don't have that many Irish families and would not really benefit from a whole year subscription. But if I sit down and work out all my Irish searches, a one day session just might  suit. Mind you, I would have to make certain there would be no family interruptions to distract me. Perhaps the next fishing trip away could be my time for an Irish weekend?

I'm eagerly waiting for an English marriage certificate and four Irish death certificates to arrive. With the marriage certificate I am hoping to discover the occupation of the groom's father. I have been unable to find anything on him other than his name and perhaps the occupation will help. If it says deceased that will be a clue to. With the death certificates I am interested in the cause of death and not expecting to learn anything else but it will help to finalise those lines.

It was nice to receive a small but welcome payment for my articles for Going In-Depth digital genealogy magazine published by The In-Depth Genealogist. My next article and blog for them is due at the end of the month so that will keep me busy. I was also asked to do another Q&A  for Family Tree Magazine UK which was interesting.

Also renewed my subscription to Dick Eastman's Plus newsletter which always has some great articles. Really looking forward to hearing him talk again at the Auckland Family History Expo in August.

National Family History Month is still adding events but we would really welcome more genealogy events for our August genea-extravanganza. Check out  the new website and why not also follow us on our NFHM Facebook page for all the latest news and events.

I'm away from home at the moment so not a lot of time to do much genealogy but will be visiting a cousin who has always shared family information. Will be good to catch up with them.

Until next week, have a great geneaweek.

Killing Off Ancestors, Adelaide Expo & Other News - Genealogy Notes 7-13 May 2016

Mother's Day tulips

Mother's Day 2016 for us was a great family reunion with all of us turning up at Mum's place. There are not a lot of us - just me and Max, my son and his fiancee (not sure if I have mentioned this before but she now wears a rather dazzling ring), my brother and his wife, my nephew and his girlfriend and my niece. My brother has still not done the DNA test I bought last November but he is admitting to being slack. Fingers crossed he went home motivated. I need an ending to my Love Sex and Damn Lies talk!

Another date for your calendars is the Unlock the Past Australian History and Genealogy Expo in Adelaide 7-8 October 2016. I'm planning to go and I know some of my other geneafriends are planning a trip over and of course all our SA friends who don't have to travel.

Why am I making the trek? My Cornish ancestors arrived in South Australia in the early 1860s and my great grandmother Dorcas Trevaskis was born in Moonta in 1866. I have always been fascinated with Cornish culture and one of my favourite books is Philip Payton's Cornwall: A History. Philip Payton is going to be one of the speakers at the Expo and it will be so good to hear him in person. The other key presenter is Tom Lewis a military historian who I first heard in Darwin in 2012 at the 70th anniversary commemoration of the bombing of Darwin. Two excellent reasons to go plus there are other presenters and exhibitors for two days of genealogy in Adelaide.

Killing off John's parents

Some months ago now I discovered what I believe to be the death years for my Wicklow great great great grandparents, James and Rosanna Finn and Robert and Sarah Fagan. I have delayed getting the certificates because there is not a lot of information on Irish death certificates although it would be good to know cause of death and if the informant is a relative.

Re-looking at my paperwork in the Note section I find you can get a photocopy of the entry for 4 Euros instead of 16 Euros for the certificate. This option should be in the list of options available not in a note. Anyway now that I know for about $25 AU instead of $100 I can kill off my GGG grandparents I have gone ahead and ordered the photocopies. I have even asked for the copies to be sent email as I am now super keen to see if there are any surprises.

Getting Sarah's
death certificate at last

At the least I will know more about them than I do now which is only their names and their marriage information (sadly minus any parent details). So killing them off (getting their death certificates) may signal the end of the road for my Irish research. Although who knows what might turn up as more records are indexed or digitised.

Another piece of good news is that the National Archives of Australia replied to my enquiry re the wrong indexing of John James Carnegie's WW2 dossier. I was right and they have corrected it so that Carnegie is now the surname and not James. So if you do find indexing errors, always point them out and if it is a genuine error it can be fixed. If the name is wrong on the records then it can't be changed. For example, my great uncle Solomon Price has a number of Boer War documents but on one of them it is definitely Soloman not Solomon so I have to search both variants as he seems to have used both spellings at different times.

This coming week I have a Skype meeting with AFFHO where I will be giving an update on National Family History Month. My only wish is that more people will put their August events up into our new web calendar. NFHM can only work if societies advertise events such as their monthly meetings, library days or anything else they are doing during August. The early bird prize for all societies contributing an event ends on 30 June so don't miss out. Archives and libraries can also participate. Our media sponsor Inside History Magazine has given us a whole page advert in the May-Jun 2016 issue so that should get people interested.

Have a great week and remember to squeeze in a little genealogy. Until next time happy researching

Mother's Day, In Memoriams & Other News - Genealogy Notes 29 Apr - 6 May 2016

Mother and son, 1987

This weekend is Mother's Day and the only blog post I achieved this week was my Mother's Day 2016 post. My son was born just after Mother's Day and we tend to often celebrate the two events together. This is what we looked like back then and hopefully we will take some more good photos when we catch up on Sunday.

In Memoriam notices can be worth looking for and with Trove's digitised newspapers it is ever so much easier than trying to find them on microfilm. In my Mother's Day blog I have written about the In Memoriam notices that the daughters of my great grandmother Dorcas White wrote to remember their mother, long after she died. Even today the verses are moving and show that Dorcas was a mother greatly loved.

The end of a month always sees me finishing up my blog and article for The In-Depth Genealogist. I have been doing a blog series on Australasian archives and libraries for over 12 months now and the article series is about researching downunder with a different subject each month. It is a great way for me to keep up with what is new and quite often I end up doing some research on one of my own families as they were all over Australia and New Zealand at various times.

As voluntary coordinator of National Family History Month in Australia, I will be busy in August with the launch in Perth and talks here in Queensland. I'm excited to reveal that I will also be celebrating NFHM in New Zealand as I am a speaker at the Auckland Family History Expo. Even more exciting, Dick Eastman is a key speaker and the last time I had the pleasure of meeting Dick was in Auckland at the 2009 AFFHO Congress. It should be a great three days and I will also be giving a talk at the Auckland Library on the Monday. They have a fantastic family history centre there and I am looking forward to seeing it again. A busy August coming up.

Last Diary it was raining and I was about to do some serious filing and catching up on the Spencer family. Most of this information I had gathered over the last few years since we moved to Bribie. I've discovered lots on the family during this time and just kept piling it together and its amazing how much I had forgotten or not looked at closely because of other priorities.

It was only as I cross checked my database and the documents and filed in the binders that I could see how much of the Spencer families lives I have detailed. Thanks to Findmypast I even managed to flesh out a few generations in England. The sad part is that it does not look like there are any males of that Spencer line left in England although there are a few here. So many sons only had daughters or did not have children at all.

Mother and daughter ca 1974

As a female, I am not that interested in male only  lines, my female lines are equally interesting but it is sad to see a family name disappear. This also happened with my White family in Queensland. There are lots of White descendants from the daughters but the sons either did not marry or only had daughters. I'm now starting to look for any similar trends in my other families.

I hope everyone enjoys the Mother's Day weekend as we either visit them or remember them. In this photo Mum and I looked more like sisters and I'm guessing this is about 1974. Pity we didn't put dates, places and names on our photos back then!

Until next time, happy genealogy researching.

More photo success, ANZAC Day blogs & other news - Genealogy Notes 22 - 28 Apr 2016

A fantastic week of new discoveries in sources previously searched but not under names I was expecting. I've always looked for variant spellings but sometimes it is hard to know if something is the right entry. And sometimes we need a little prompt to try again.

I am so glad that I went to State Library of Queensland's WW1 White Glove Experience at the Bribie Island Seaside Museum last Friday. Not only was it a chance to catch up with my old Library colleague Niles Elvery but also to see up close some of the Library's WW1 treasures. It's been a while since I have worn the 'white gloves'.

Niles Elvery Regional Coordinator
of Q Anzac 100 program

WW1 treasures on display
in regional areas

 In chatting to Niles afterwards I mentioned that I could only find one of my three Finn brothers in the WW1 soldiers portraits database which contains nearly 27,000 Queensland soldiers. He agreed that it was odd so I went home to have another look. Since last searching the database I had been lucky enough to find a photo of all three brothers in The Week, a digitised newspaper now in Trove. As usual I only searched on the Finn surname as there are not that many and as I looked at the photo of I Finn it looked very much like the photo of John Finn in The Week. Yes the I should have been a J and the error was made in 1917 at the time of publication in The Queenslander.

I was so excited about this discovery that I used it for my  post for the Trans Tasman ANZAC Day blog challenge - The Finn Brothers. Lots of other bloggers also did the challenge so have a look and maybe discover some new military tips and resources. I still have to find a good quality image of Robert Finn but at least I have images of all three now.

The Anzac Day parade and service on Bribie was bigger again this year and thankfully it was a bit cooler than last time. For most of the service there was cloud cover and not full sun. At least Max could participate in the march this year, last year he was still walking with a cane after breaking his leg in late January.

Max with his RAAF buddies
on the march

Bribie Island RSL

There is a 'we're part of NFHM' logo and I have put a copy on the Participate page of the website so that those organising events can download it. I am hoping to see lots of it in the months leading up to National Family History Month in August. When you think about it, that is only three months away!

I finished the University of Strathclyde FutureLearn free online course on genealogy. It was a well structured course and I found the six weeks went incredibly fast. While a lot of material was familiar to me there was some new information and lots of people put tips and resources in their comments. Perhaps its main benefit to me was that it inspired me to relook at some of my research and over the last few weeks I have made new discoveries and solved some old stumbling blocks.And it was free so it doesn't get better than that. There is a 'register interest' button on the website so they must be thinking of running the course again.

The History Queensland Footsteps in Time family and local history conference and fair 19-21 May 2017 website is now up. Definitely a conference to pencil into your calendars for next year! There is also an invitation to speak so if you want to be part of the program, submit your proposal before 30 August. The date's a bit tricky for me as it is also my son's 30th birthday - maybe I can pop in on my way back from the Gold Coast.

It's a rainy day here for a change so I am doing a little blog writing in between filing all my new information into my database and folders. I might pick another family I haven't looked at for a while and see what's new in Trove. That might even give me next Trove Tuesday's blog post!

Have a good genealogy week. Until next time.

Distant Cousins, Blogging Success & Other News - Genealogy Notes 13 - 21 Apr 2016

A super busy week which is why this is a little late. Mum has not been well again and there have been lots of trips up and down the highway so little chance to blog or do research. But it is amazing what you can squeeze into those spare moments.

Some months ago I discovered two divorce files for my great uncle Denis Patrick Finn, a German prisoner of war in World War One. Read his story here. There was no chance of my getting down to State Records NSW in the near future so I used the services of Marilyn Rowan who was quick and efficient. I was aware that she did NSW transcriptions but not that she also offered a document service. It was a simple matter to place my order for the two divorce files (flat fee) and within a week I had digital copies of both files (one 32 pages and the other 44 pages). Dropbox is used to deliver the files due to their size. Sadly no photographs or certificates but I did learn some new info which made me feel even sorrier for Denis.

On the way back from one of our Brisbane visits, we called in to see one of Max's first cousins, Neville Spencer - a descendant from the second marriage of his grandfather, Max is descended from the third marriage. We had never met before and the Spencer likeness was well and truly evident. We took some photos and they kindly lent me some documents to copy. I will be dropping in again next Tuesday to return their documents and to give them some of our family information. It really does pay to track down long lost cousins.

Trove Tuesday blogging is starting to get me hooked! I had a great time trying to tie up some loose ends with another one of my Carnegie families. I knew a little from family stories but not any real detail. So after a few keyword searches on names, I was able to determine the date of death of his first wife and his marriage to his second wife. Both the funeral notice and the marriage notice mentioned his WW2 service but I have never been able to find his army dossier. So this led to another search for it and the discovery of an indexing error. Read all about how I found John James Carnegie's army dossier here.

I firmly believe that one of the main reasons we can't find some people is simply because of indexing errors. This is another great example of it and of course, the trick is discovering what it has been indexed under. I love people with middle names!

In some of my spare moments I have also been trying to keep up with Pauleen Cass and her A2Z blogging challenge in April. I know others have been doing it too but Pauleen always has catchy titles  (S for Stories and Serendipity and who doesn't love serendipity) and I find myself clicking links to find out more. See Pauleen's posts here.

Thursday afternoon I gave a talk to the monthly meeting of Caloundra Family History Research - my talk Love Sex and Damn Lies went down real well. It is always surprising when people come up afterwards and say they have similar stories. I guess we all have very human ancestors. As usual my talk is on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

Tomorrow I am going to the Bribie Island Seaside Museum to hear Niles Elvery talk about and display WW1 items from the State Library of Queensland's collection. Niles and I used to work together in the John Oxley Library back in the early 90s so a good chance to catch up too.

My ANZAC Day tribute this year will be to the State Library's QANZAC100 project so stay tuned for that. It is a fantastic tribute to Queenslanders who went to WW1. It is how I found my army photo of Denis Patrick Finn but unfortunately his two brothers Robert and John were not captured in this digitisation project. I must investigate further because I would love good quality images of them all.

I still have to do Week 6 of the University of Strathclyde FutureLearn online genealogy course. It is the last week so hopefully I will catch up and finish by the end of the weekend. It has been a good course and considering it was free, excellent value.

This coming week should be a little less hectic and only one planned trip to the hospital with Mum on Tuesday . As the end of the month nears I know that my deadline for my blog and magazine article for The In-Depth Genealogist is due. That will probably focus my writing time along with the ANZAC Day blog. Have a great genealogy week!

Lots of Blogs, NFHM & Upcoming Events - Genealogy Notes 6 - 12 Apr 2016

Most of my weeks fly past in a blur but the other day I had to sit down and start planning out my movements in July and August. This is one of the busiest times of the year for me as National Family History Month starts to happen. As the voluntary coordinator on behalf of AFFHO (Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations) I arrange the launch and usually give a few talks throughout the month.

The launch this year is in Perth and we will have a seminar day with the Western Australian Genealogical Society. Its a long flight so it makes sense to do something else for NFHM. I am also at an all day seminar at Nambour for  Genealogy Sunshine Coast and one talk for Noosa Library Service, both north of Brisbane but I can drive to both places and return in a single day. I will also be flying to New Zealand to be part of their NFHM expo (details to come soon) so another long flight and several days away from home.

A couple of other events are under discussion and if they happen I will be the most traveled person in Australia that month! Maybe I should start eating spinach now.

It is good to see that some societies and libraries have already entered their events into the NFHM web calendar but we would love to see more events.

Last week's Diary was mentioned in Friday Fossicking with That Moment in Time. I love these collated posts as someone else has pulled together interesting blogs to read, new URLs to check out, and as Crissouli also has some Irish blogs, there is usually Irish news. Another collation post I try and read regularly is GeniAus' Gems and the post for 10 April  made me smile - it starts off 'some weeks just get away from me'. We all know that feeling. Again a nice selection of blogs to read.

For anyone who hasn't got the blog habit yet, you really should think about. Just this morning I received yet another email from a distant relative who had found my blog post and then my website through a Google search. It simply has to be the easiest way to make contact with distant relatives.

I've had various family dramas this week and have spent a bit of time travelling to Brisbane and back again. My hope of following up some of those new Scottish leads in last week's Diary has not happened yet but the file is still on my study table, in my line of sight.

This coming weekend is the Kiama Family History Centre Expo which will be good for everyone down that way. Caloundra Family History Research are having a military seminar on 2 July with four fantastic speakers including Helen Smith with her talk on the Health of the ANZACS: From Galliopoli to the Western Front which I heard on the recent Unlock the Past genealogy cruise. Unlock the Past are having a history and genealogy expo in Adelaide on 7-8 Oct 2016 which will also be good to attend. Someone should invent 'beam me there' technology!

This coming week I will be speaking at the Caloundra Family History Research monthly meeting so that's a trip up the highway plus there will be another couple of trips to Brisbane which is down the highway. Lots of drive time but fingers crossed there will also be a few moments for some genealogy research and maybe a blog post. Have a great genealogy week. Until next time.

NFHM 2016, Scottish finds & other news - Genealogy Notes 30 Mar - 5 Apr 2016

A big week but I am happy to announce that the new National Family History Month website is up and running and we have events already from NSW and VIC. The behind the scenes is a bit different from what I am use to but gradually working it out. Much easier and quicker for me adding the events, more just an approval process. NFHM even has its own blog - read the first post here.

So technically I will have some 'free time' now that the NFHM website is finished. Despite this tempting thought I decided not to participate in the April Blogging from A to Z challenge. Many of my geneamates are doing it but I'm behind in a few things because of the NFHM website and I really need to catch up. However I am enjoying reading some of the posts so far.

Trove Tuesday was yesterday and this is another blogging challenge that I am trying to do at least once a month in 2016. It really is worthwhile because you need to think about what to search for and then write about whatever you discover. So I am using the opportunity to revisit my research. Earlier this year I focused on Herbert William White as my Australia Day Tribute 2016 so I decided to try and find something in Trove on Herbert's son Robert James White.

Herbert White is on the left and
Robert White is standing at the back, ca 1912

Robert died aged 30 years in Charters Towers, Queensland but there were not many results except notices of the filing of probate documents by the Public Curator. What I did find was an account of Herbert's death in Richmond, Queensland where Robert was working at that time. This account in the newspaper raised a number of questions about what was happening in the family in the four months between Herbert and Robert's deaths in 1924. As Trove is adding new information all the time it can really pay to revisit your searches as my Herbert William White Obituary Trove Tuesday post shows.

I am about a half a week behind now with my Future Learn beginning genealogy course  and I was catching up nicely when I was side tracked by an offer from Scotland's People of free credits at the weekend. Who can resist free and as we had been talking about Scottish records in the course I had been thinking of my own Scottish families and where I was stuck with my research. Again revisiting my research with new ideas paid off.

My GGGGG grandmother was Mary Fraser/Frazer who married James Ferrier in 1812 in Craig By Montrose in Forfar/Angus. The marriage record said both of this parish. But I had never been able to find out anything else about Mary. Common names and looking for James and Mary in the Scottish census was a bit like a needle in a haystack. This time I looked for their children as a few of the children had what looked like surnames as middle names. So Andrew Ferguson Ferrier led me to my Mary in the 1841 census. She was a 60 year old widow living on Rossie Island with two of her adult children.

In the 1851 census I picked her up again under the surname Farrier (watch those surname variants) and this finally gave me a birthplace of Pathen (although I think that should be Rathen) in Aberdeenshire ca 1783 as she was listed as 68 years old. No wonder I couldn't find her in Forfar/Angus. Her occupation is pauper and salmon net weaver and she is still living with an invalid daughter.

Mary is gone by the time of the 1861 census and a search for her death gave numerous results but none that looked like her. As registration was only introduced in 1855 she may only have a burial record but again nothing definitely her. But perhaps as a pauper on Rossie Island there is no record. Her invalid daughter is in the 1861 and 1871 census and I think that if Mary was still alive, she would have still been living with the daughter. I need to look into this more.

From only knowing her name I have now gone to knowing where she was born, a more accurate year of birth, she was widowed early, had no money, was a salmon net weaver, lived on Rossie Island and cared for an invalid daughter.  A sidetrack from my studies definitely worth doing.

Having a good time with
Caloundra Family History Research in 2015

This month I am giving a talk to Caloundra Family History Research and they are always a great group to visit. I could probably get there quicker by boat from Bribie Island but in a car I need to go out to the highway, then up the highway then turn back towards the coast. Must start looking for a new purple top (the group's colour).

The Unlock the Past 13th cruise to Papua New Guinea now has a preliminary program up for those who have been wanting to see what talks will be given during the 10 night cruise. I am giving five talks and there are a number of military talks as well as a good spread of genealogy talks. Good to see Helen Smith giving some DNA talks as I still need to understand that a bit more.

Well back to my FutureLearn course. Week 4 started on Monday so must finish Week 3.  As I have said previously, if you want the weeks to fly, enroll in some genealogy education course or blogging challenges! Until next time have a great genealogy week.

Online learning, Women's history & Other News - Genealogy Notes 22-29 Mar 2016

If you ever want the weeks to fly past enrol in some online learning. I am doing the University of Strathclyde Genealogy: Researching Your Family Tree online course which is free. So far it is focused on methodology and thinking about what you want to find and how to go about it. A great refresher course for someone who has been researching for a while and a good introduction to research principles for those starting out. It is a mix of text, videos, hangouts and further reading sites.

Week 1 was good and I spent the time over two sessions and tried to read some of the comments. I am surprised at the numbers doing the course, which I am guessing from the number of posts/comments from other students. I am finding it hard to read all the comments and skimmed quite a lot but there are some valuable bits of advice in the comments so a difficult decision. Week 2 I totally missed the start notice but thankfully being online you can catch up. Halfway through Week 2 now, with Week 3 waiting for me. The plan is to be totally caught up before Week 4 arrives!

New logo for Australian NFHM

I have been seriously preoccupied with the final tweaking of the new NFHM website which all going well in the move to the live site will be launched in the next few days. It is designed to make my life as voluntary coordinator easier and people will be able to search for events. There is even a blog, yes another one for me to write! After the launch I will be inviting genealogy and family history societies, libraries, archives and others to add their events for August 2016, doing some PR and organising the launch. Next year should be easier!

I did write a blog post for Women's History Month - My Four Great Grandmothers which looks briefly at their lives. I never knew any of them but from my research I have an appreciation of the hard lives they lived. I've always wondered why I have moved around so much, perhaps those travel genes were inherited? A need to see and live in new places.

Last week's post which featured the National Archives of Australia's 16 websites was mentioned on That Moment in Time blog Friday Fossicking 25 March 2016. It is always good to see that someone has liked something I've written and I really do feel that people don't make the most of what NAA has to offer family historians.

My blog and article for The In-Depth Genealogist is still in draft format but I will make that deadline this month. They are moving to being two months ahead so I will have to do another blog and article in the first week of April.

I have the Bribie Historical Society committee meeting coming up and I am determined to get to one of the Bribie family history interest group meetings in April. So far this year I have been off Island and missed out so hopefully this time. The Bribie Orchid show over Easter was wonderful with both orchids and bromeliads on show. Two more orchids for my collection. My orchids also flowered for Easter with their wonderful purple colours.

There seems to be a thunderstorm rolling in which is unusual for late March. But then we have been having some hot days and our pool is still wonderful to swim in. Solar heating has to be one of the best investments. I'm hoping to swim all through winter too. That was the plan last year until I broke my elbow in July. This year will be different!

Have a good genealogy week. Until next time.

16 Websites, St Patrick's Day & Other News - Genealogy Notes 15-21 Mar 2016

My great grandmother 

For St Patrick's day, I wrote up my research on the Finn family of County Wicklow, Ireland into a blog post. I've made quite a few discoveries recently so writing everything up helped me to see where the gaps still were and what else I could follow up. Read about the family and my efforts to tie all the pieces together here. It's a tale of spelling variations, missing records and a family that seems to have moved around but mostly within a small area.

Work is continuing on the new National Family History Month (the URL will stay the same but it will look different) website and I am now happy with how events are added. It should save me a lot of time once people start adding their events after we launch the new site, hopefully very soon. I am  pleased to say that the National Archives of Australia is again sponsoring the launch which will be in Perth this year. It is their 11th year of launch sponsorship and it is fantastic to see that ongoing support for family history.

Many people only ever go to the National Archives of Australia main website (the link above) but did you know they actually have lots of websites. From the Home page, select the Engage option and then Connect with us option. This is a quick route to all the other websites including:

• The arcHive website -  this is where you can help the Archives to list some of their records that are not online yet. As a reward, you earn points towards Archives publications or copies of Archives files for your research. 
• Australia's Prime Ministers - everything you ever wanted to know (or not)
• Banned - read about the secret history of Australian censorship
• Constitution Day - a blog about the Constitution
• Destination Australia: sharing our post war migrant stories - if you have someone who arrived after WW2 there are over 20,000 photos of migrants here plus lots of stories
• Discovering Anzacs - joint project with Archives New Zealand covering the Boer War and WW1. You can upload your photos and stories as well as see government records on soldier ancestors.
• Faces of Australia - this site features 227 images from the Archives' collection - help them to identify people, places and events
• Forced Adoptions History Project - learn about the history and experiences of forced adoptions in Australia. Includes information on accessing adoption records and support services.
• Mildenhall's Canberra - early Canberra photographs that you can comment on and pinpoint locations if you have any information 
• Montevideo Maru - this Japanese ship was sunk in July 1942 by the USS Sturgeon not realising that it carried over 1,000 mostly Australian prisoners captured in Rabaul and who were being transferred to Hainan off southern China. A really tragic story and a great memorial to those soldiers.
• Paper Research - includes a history of papermaking, research on paper quality and a database of watermarks 
• PhotoSearch - as the name suggests, browse, discover, map and share 
• Soda - newly scanned records that you can view, share and get updates 
• Uncommon Lives - the stories of famous and not so famous Australians as revealed in files held by the Archives
• Vrroom: Virtual Reading Room - resources for students and teachers on Australian history, civics, citizenship and more.

How many of NAA's 16 websites are you familiar with? There is a lot of family history information in the National Archives of Australia, make sure you are not missing any of it.

During the week I had a Q&A request from Family Tree Magazine UK which is always fun and often challenging to do. At the AFFHO meeting last night (via Skype) I reported on NFHM progress and the AFFHO AGM is on 21 April. Last year the AGM was in Canberra at the Congress, this time it will be virtual. Amazing technology and times that we live in.

My blog post for National Women's History Month (March) is almost finished and it is a tribute to my four grandmothers. Easter is the end of this week and we are staying home so I will be doing my monthly blog and article for The In-Depth Genealogist. Plus continuing to work on my new guide but there will be time for the Easter Bunny to visit. Great that there is a bridge to our island!

My orchids are starting to flower just in time for the Easter orchid show. I find it amazing because Easter changes each year but that doesn't seem to bother orchids. They always seem to know when to bloom. One of the many wonders of nature that continues to delight us.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Easter with family and friends and that you manage a little genealogy research too. Until next time.

Irish Research & Geneaevents Coming Up - Genealogy Notes 8-14 Mar 2016

This week I completed the third of my blog posts Days 13-19 on the 10th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise. I also did the review blog of the whole cruise and what I thought were highlights and negatives. Looking at my notes it will take me a while to follow up on URLs I noted and suggestions to explore for my brick walls.

Celebrity Solstice in Tauranga, New Zealand

Another Trove Tuesday blog post led me to discovering photographs of two of my great uncles and what was really fantastic was that all three brothers' photos from WW1 were in the same newspaper article with a caption that said they were 'the sons of John Finn of Brisbane'. Read it here.

Denis Finn, The Queenslander, 8 Jan 1916 via Trove

As it was a rainy weekend I decided to follow up on the Irish leads I had reported on last Diary post. A more thorough search of the Catholic parish registers in Findmypast confirmed that I had found more siblings of my great great grandfather John Finn (father of the three soldiers mentioned in the paragraph above). I found more references to Finn and Beakey sponsors who are probably related to my GGG grandparents James Finn and Rosanna Beakey. BUT nothing that definitely ties them all together as siblings or other relatives. A work still in progress.

Although finding John's siblings, I still could not find reference to his own baptism in 1856 so in some frustration I simply Googled parish names for where the family lived based on his siblings places of baptism. This led me to the Irish Genealogy Toolkit and the page on the Wicklow Family History Centre. This is where I learnt that there is a gaping hole (their words) in the registers for Kilbride and Barndarrig from 1838 and 1858. As John was born ca 1856 his baptism is probably in that 'hole'.

The family seem to have moved around so why have I now focused on that parish. While browsing Findmypast I also checked out some of the prison and court of petty session entries for my Finns and Beakeys. Surprise surprise, my John liked a drink even before he left Ireland for Queensland. Quite a few references to drunk and disorderly and even better some time in prison. How do I know he is mine? Well his physical description in the Irish prison matches exactly his prison description in the Brisbane prison. In the Irish prison register he gives his birthplace as Barndarrig, hence my looking more closely at this parish.

Although I have not been able to find out more on James Finn and Rosanna Beakey apart from possible siblings or other relatives I feel that I am progressing a little on my Irish family. A quick search of newspapers didn't reveal anything exciting but I probably need to spend more time as Rosanna Beakey's name has quite a few spelling variations as does James Finn.

I have been looking at what is coming up in the genealogy world and whether I can get there or not.

New South Wales has the Kiama Family History Centre family, local and social history expo on 16 April 2016 and that is an easy drive from Sydney. The NSW &ACT annual genealogy conference is in Camden on 9-11 September 2016 and is an easy drive from either Sydney or Canberra. This year the theme is Cowpastures and Beyond. Both are probably too far for me to get to easily and without considerable cost. Perhaps I will save the money for Rootstech 2017 which is 8-11 Feb 2017!

Unlock the Past is having an Adelaide genealogy expo on 7-8 October 2016 and a trip to Adelaide is also a chance to visit family and friends. I had planned to go to their event last August but my broken elbow meant I had to miss out.

August is National Family History Month and I will be having a busy month with the launch in Perth, and commitments already to speak in Nambour and Noosa in Queensland. Plus there are a couple of other speaking engagements not yet confirmed for August.

The new NFHM website is progressing and we are still tweaking the events calendar which should make things easier for me. At least that is the plan. Not long now before I release the 2016 NFHM news.

One Facebook post that really caught my attention this week was Katherine R Willson's Genealogy on Facebook compilation. It is 209 pages with over 7,000 links which must represent a lot of people doing genealogy via Facebook. Makes me wonder how many Australian societies have their own Facebook page and are using it to actively attract new members to their society? Is your society on the list? Have you liked their page? If your society is not on the list, why not suggest they start a Facebook page? I follow quite a few Australian societies via Facebook and you really do learn about new resources and what is happening locally.

This week I am planning on working on a new research guide which is always an opportunity to do some of my own genealogy as I look for examples from my own research to include in the guide. I also want to do a blog post for Women's History Month which is March and I probably should blog my Irish ancestors for St Patrick's Day later this week.

Have a great genealogy and family history week. Until next time.

Genealogy Cruising & Back Home - Genealogy Notes 27 Feb - 7 Mar 2016

I am finally back home after three weeks away on the 10th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise. Read about Days 7-12 here (also has a link back to Days 1-6 if you missed it) and I am still to write Days 13 to 18 plus my overview report. Should both be finished by the end of this week.

Scottish pipe band bravely playing in the rain as we left Dunedin, New Zealand

I came home with seven new Unlock the Past research guides which I am looking forward to reading:
Paul Blake - Discover Protestant Nonconformity in England and Wales
Christine Clement - Migration to New Zealand (2nd edition)
Cathy Dunn - Norfolk Island 1788-1814
Thomas MacEntee - The Genealogy Do-over Workbook
Chris Paton - A Decade of Researching Ireland 1912-1923
Chris Paton - Discover Scottish Church Records
Helen Smith - Google the Genealogist's Friend

It was a fantastic trip but always good to be back home. A pile of mail to sort through, washing and shopping to be done and I won't mention the weeds in the garden. Obviously not much rain while we were gone as some plants have died or are looking a bit dried out yet those pesky weeds thrived. After adding a bit of bird seed to the feeder our Rosella and Lorikeets have welcomed us home.

While still in Perth I sent off my April blog and article to The In-Depth Genealogist and realised I have been writing for Going In-Depth for just over 12 months (with three months off for my accident). Time flies when you are having fun.

And fun is the operative word at the moment. I was super excited to see that Findmypast put up the Irish Roman Catholic parish registers while I was away. I have only had a little time to explore but already I have found some of my missing Finn and Beakey ancestors (and all variations of those two names). The interesting thing is that some of the Finns were indexed as Funn, not a spelling I have previously considered. So I need to do some more searching and then let Findmypast know so they can consider text correction for the entries. The writing is really poor and you wouldn't make the connections without my prior research and knowledge of the families.

Sadly my direct ancestor, great great grandfather John Finn is remaining elusive. But I now have more of his brothers and sisters so perhaps he is not too far away!

My priority this week is definitely the new National Family History Month website which has languished while I was away. Lucky for me the designer is patient. A couple of friends are trialing the new events page which will save me a lot of time adding events in the lead up to August. No more cut and paste and I will be free to do other things. Sponsors have also been fantastic and I can't wait to share that news with everyone. Not long now.

Looking forward to some more normal weeks ahead not to mention some personal genealogy time to follow up things from the cruise. Until next time.

Genealogy Cruising & Trove Funding - Genealogy Notes 12-26 Feb 2016

Hard to believe that two weeks have passed but I have been having lots of fun on the 10th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise touring round New Zealand and across to Sydney and then on to Melbourne, Adelaide and Fremantle. While in New Zealand I went technology free, my annual rest period from social media, but we are now back in Australian waters and I have turned the wi fi back on.

Since the last Diary I have flown to Auckland, New Zealand and spent two nights at the Kiwi International Hotel, sightseeing on Auckland Harbour and taking the ferry over to Devonport. In future I think we need to ask where others are staying as I found out afterwards that another geneablogger and Facebook friend was also at the Kiwi International.

Celebrity Solstice at Tauranga, New Zealand

It has been good catching up on Celebrity Solstice with some of the regular cruisers and meeting new cruisers with some from the UK and the US as well as Australia and New Zealand. I have done a separate report on Days 1 to 6 and it is on my SHHE Genie Rambles blog site. Read about the first six days here.

With no online access, I slept better and longer although that might also have something to do with daylight saving in New Zealand. Even the sun doesn't get up until 7.15am! I am reading more and not feeling like I am chasing myself with lots of things to do.  So totally relaxed.

Of course the downside is I have no idea of what has been happening in the geneaworld or what new records are now online.  Or what my geneafriends are up to. Hopefully it won't take me too long to catch up once we are back home.

One thing that has distressed me is the proposed funding cuts to the National Library of Australia and the future of Trove and its ability to keep giving us wonderful content. Read Tim Sherratt's post on #fundTrove for more detail on the funding cuts and how we can voice our concerns. 

This update is from a cloudy Melbourne and stay tuned for cruise updates, hopefully from Adelaide in a couple of days time. With a full program of genealogy lectures on sea days it is often hard to find the time to write blog posts too. Until next time happy searching.