Centenary of End of WW1, book review & other news - Genealogy Notes 1-15 Nov 2018

It's been a big fortnight with a week away at one of my favourite beaches - Bargara near Bundaberg in Queensland. Lots of walks and swimming (not that I don't do that here at home) but it always seems different elsewhere.

Blogs

My blog for The In-Depth Genealogist on Introducing Monuments Australia has been getting some love on Twitter. For Remembrance Day I reposted my military blogs on Alexander Thomas Davis and the three Finn Brothers - John, Robert and Denis Patrick. The centenary of the end of WW1 was marked by many blog posts as everyone remembered those that were lost.

I have been invited to a book launch (Who Answered the Call) at the Bribie Seaside Museum at the end of November. This is a collected work featuring all the soldiers in the Bribie area who enlisted in WW1 and WW2 and published by the Bribie Island Historical Society. Alexander Thomas Davis is featured in it and my blog post is also referenced. Unfortunately they never found a photograph of him either and he appears to be one of a handful of soldiers who never had their photograph taken in uniform before they left.

Books

I finally finished my book review for The Promise of Tomorrow, the final volume in The Garth Trilogy by Lynette McDermott. I also reviewed the second volume Perseverance and you can read that on the Resources page of my website - scroll down to Book Reviews. The first volume was Of Angels and Eagles which I have also read but not reviewed. It is a fictional saga based on two convict families, the Garths and the Belletts who were on Norfolk Island and then Tasmania. It is an easy read and an interesting way to present a family history.

DNA

I am still trying to analyse my results and work out who is related to Mum and separating them out so that I am left with just those who must be related to Dad. I'm going to another GSQ DNA SIG meeting as Helen Smith will be back and Michelle Patient is visiting too. Lucky for my U3A advanced history group, Michelle has kindly offered to visit us here on Bribie Island so that will be an exciting opportunity for them.

New Resources
The bigger databases just keep on getting bigger and bigger. For example, during the fortnight FamilySearch added the 1901 Irish census and BillionGraves. Both of these are already available on other free websites so what is the advantage of adding them into something else. One stop searching is good because not everyone may know that these sources are available elsewhere. Or you may not think to search in them for someone.

Recently while searching for something in FamilySearch I found a reference to an ancestor who I thought would probably not have a tombstone. Yet there was a reference to him in FindAGrave and when I looked it was definitely him and there was a photograph. So a one stop place to look can be useful but you have to remember that no one database has everything - you need to look in all the big ponds and all the little ponds too.

What's Coming Up?

My last talk for the year is at Caboolture Library and it is all about blogging your family history. There are still a couple of classes for Bribie U3A and then the long hols over December and January. As everyone is keen to continue at U3A, I will be busy planning out some more classes. We are also thinking about doing a family history writing group to encourage all of us to tell our family stories. Motivation and inspiration shared are definitely useful to get you started.

Talks, book launch and research - lots of interesting things to keep me busy in the next fortnight. Until next time, have fun researching.

Blogs, 2019 Conferences & Other News - Genealogy Notes 16-31 Oct 2018

Lots of travel this fortnight, mainly to Brisbane to give presentations and attend meetings. The traffic leaving Brisbane on Saturday afternoon surprised me but once out on the open highway, we moved more freely. It is not far to travel but the traffic just makes it seem that much further.

Blogs

John Trevaskis son of my
missing James Henry Trevaskis

My guest blog for the Genealogical Society of Queensland on genealogy cruising was published. Read it here.

I also managed to get my Trove Tuesday Body Discovered Unknown Identity blog post finished in time. Sadly there are lots of unknown people out there that belong in someone's family history. Is this what happened to my James Henry Trevaskis although you would think that his wife would have had some sort of search undertaken for him. Maybe his death is meant to remain a mystery.

Conferences

I missed a meeting of the Waves in Time Conference as I was still not feeling great and there were so many other commitments I had to attend. Speakers not showing up has to be an organisers worst nightmare. Anyway the committee are very capable and it is shaping up to be an interesting program with some great speakers. A 3 day geneafest not to be missed.


The next NSW & ACT Family History Association conference has already sent out its first newsletter. So put 11-13 October 2019 in your diary and it will be held at Knox Grammar School and organised by the Ku-rin-gai Historical Society. The theme is Exploring the Past, something we all do with our family research.

Education

Three years ago, just before I broke my right elbow I signed up to do a course on family history with the University of Tasmania - Diploma of Family History. Due to the accident I had to pull out and I have been looking at it ever since. This fortnight I have again applied and the first subject if my application is successful, will be Writing Family History. This is an area that I have been working on for years - trying to get all my stories, documents, photos into something that others might read. Starts later this month and goes through to the end of January. Something to do when it is too hot outside.

New Resources

I subscribe to the FamilySearch newsletter and the amount of records being added is staggering. For example, in September 2018 almost 13 million indexed new family history records were added and over 500,000 digital images from all over the world.

You can now access FindAGrave and Billion Graves through FamilySearch too and in a search I found one of our direct ancestors had a tombstone which was surprising. I might not have looked at FindAGrave or Billion Graves but as it came up in the FamilySearch search, I looked and it was the right person. So sometimes fishing in a bigger pond is a good idea, especially if you are not really looking for anything in particular.

Talks

It was a busy fortnight with a blogging presentation at Strathpine library, a webinar on mining ancestors for the Society of Australian Genealogists and a presentation on Probate Records in Australia, the UK and Ireland for the annual seminar of the Genealogical Society of Queensland. All three presentations are on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

In addition I did my usual two talks at the Bribie U3A Advanced Family History class - genealogy software, paleography and non conformist records.

What's Coming Up?

Only one more talk on blogging at the Caboolture Library on 19 November and that will be the end for 2018. That's a total of 22 talks in 10 months (no talks in Dec-Jan). An average of just over 2 talks a month. So much for cutting back in 2018!

So far there are only 5 talks scheduled in 2019 but don't forget all my U3A advanced family history sessions which are 4 terms a year with 9-10 weeks per term. That adds up to a lot of talks but in a more informal class room setting.

We had a great Halloween class on Wednesday - chocolates, gruesome deaths and one student even came dressed in a fantastic Welsh costume. We have had so much fun it will be a continuing class in 2019.

Have fun searching in the coming fortnight - I will be away for a week at one of my favourite beaches in Queensland then back home for some serious work on my own family history in the December/January quiet time. Till next time.

Wiltshire discoveries, new resources & seminars - Genealogy Notes 1-15 Oct 2018

Herbert White (far left) was from Wiltshire

Still coughing as this chest infection seems reluctant to go. The weather has been a bit wet and perfect for staying indoors and doing research.

There have been some exciting new discoveries with my Wiltshire ancestors when I found out that Ancestry have added lots of records from the Wiltshire Record Office.

It really does pay to go back and look at your research from time to time as new records are indexed and made available. In this instance there were images which is even more exciting. I pushed back one of my Wiltshire families another generation.


Blogs

My guest blog post for the Genealogical Society of Queensland on the benefits of genealogy cruising will be posted next Monday. I enjoyed doing that as it brought back all those wonderful Alaska cruise memories, pre chest infection. Just happy I made it home to be sick, nothing worse than being sick while travelling.

Docked in Alaska

DNA

I equate bed rest with also sitting in front of a laptop and so some hours were also spent trying to analyse my DNA results and sort out those only related to Mum. Anything else must be Dad's and surprisingly Dad has about three times the results of Mum. If only I had some family names to match or his DNA for closer results. With Mum's I can see which results relate to our Cornish families on her mother's side and which ones relate to families on her father's side.

The DNA workshop at Bribie Island was good as I learnt a few more tips for analysis so it really is the more you listen/learn, the more sense results make. Especially if you have all your family names.

Education 

A while back I did the free online genealogy course with Future Learn (University of Strathclyde) and enjoyed it as well as learning new things or being reminded of things I had forgotten. Just noticed they have another free course starting on 5 November 2018. Only six weeks but covers a lot of topics - have a look at the program and see if it interests you.

New Resources

Outside the study window - so distracting!

It is almost impossible to keep up with all the new resources being added to the major genealogy sites. Findmypast have added electoral rolls for the UK 1920-1932 and more newspapers have been added plus existing titles have been added to.

FamilySearch have added FindAGrave and BillionGraves indexes which mean that you get prompts to check those sites out for names that you search for in FamilySearch.

The Ancestry update told me that they now have New Zealand naturalizations from 1843-1981 which is great for those with European ancestors. My NZ connections were all British.

It is definitely useful to subscribe to the update enews as you just don't know what will be relevant to your own research.


Talks

I managed to do my talk on Making the Most of Trove for the Bribie Island Family History Group with the help of cough lozenges, lots of water and an understanding audience. The presentation is on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

Three more talks coming up next week and then it will only be U3A talks for the rest of the year (which isn't that long to go).

What's Coming Up

Caloundra Family History Research have a one day seminar on 10 November with the theme End of World War 1: The Soldiers Come Home. Four speakers, morning and afternoon tea and a light lunch for the modest cost of $30 if you are a member of a reciprocal genealogy group or $35 for others. Bookings and further details are available on their website. Unfortunately I will be away that week so I am missing out! They are also hosting the Waves in Time conference next May and I will definitely be there for that.

Most genealogy and family history societies run excellent education programs and if you are not a member of a local society you are missing out on some great opportunities to learn and network with other geneafans.

Next week is a super busy week with talks and then a short visit to family. After that the plan is to start writing up some of my family stories in the six weeks left of 2018. Until next time, try and have some time with your ancestors.

Alaska cruise reports, SA school pupils & other news - Genealogy Notes 16-30 Sep 2018

That cold I hinted at last Diary turned into a rather nasty chest infection which meant a lot of bed rest and avoiding anything that was going to make me cough. Luckily it was the U3A term break so I didn't have to worry about getting someone to take my place and there were no other talks planned.

Blogs

Visiting Juneau Sep 2018

The down time did give me the opportunity to do some blog posts on my US/Canada trip.
Read the Seattle DNA/Irish one day seminar report here.
Read the two part report on the Alaska Genealogy cruise here - Part 1 and Part 2.

I have also been asked to do a guest blog for the Genealogical Society of Queensland on the benefits of genealogy cruising and that's due week after next.

Resources
There are always new resources being released on the mega database sites but I was particularly excited to see that FamilySearch have just added South Australian school admission registers 1873-1985. Indexed Queensland school admission registers have been on FindMyPast for some time having been indexed by the Queensland Family History Society.

They also added the England & Wales national index to wills 1858-1957 which has been available elsewhere but the advantage of having a lot of these big indexes all together in a supersite is that sometimes you get surprises in the search results. How you search and who you are searching for can vary which is why I always try and do the same search in a variety of places.

Spencer family, South Australia

One way to keep up with all these new releases is to get the free email news from the various sites although it does lead to more email and of course, once you see an exciting new resource, there goes the rest of the day/evening while you check it out.

What's Coming Up

Next week is a super busy genealogy week - there is a two hour workshop on DNA analysis at the Bribie Library, the first week of U3A term 4 and I am giving a session on searching UK archives and finding records online and I am giving a talk to the local Bribie Island Family History Group at the RSL. I always like doing those as we go to lunch afterwards and the genealogy chat continues.

On 19-20 October 2018 the Unlock the Past team are presenting a two day DNA/Irish seminar in Brisbane with lots of my favourite speakers including Richard Reid, Louise Coakley, Kerry Farmer and others. There is also a Family Tree Maker stream for those who use that program. See the full list of speakers and provisional program here.

I have a blogging presentation at Strathpine Library on 23 October and I am one of the speakers at the Genealogical Society of Queensland's annual seminar on 27 October so it is a very busy genealogy month in Brisbane and surrounds. At least I won't be short of blogging topics!

Have a wonderful time with the latest resources and check out what is on at your local library and genealogy society. Attending talks and workshops is a great way to learn and make new friends. Until next time

Alaska Update, DNA & Other News - Genealogy Notes 1-15 Sep 2018

Well I am back home after 16 days in Canada and the USA. It was a wonderful trip with some great scenery and experiences. Plus it was a digital detox for the whole time - no laptop, phone, tablet, or social media for 16 days. It is a great way just to be in the present and not miss anything because you are too busy sending Facebook/Twitter posts or writing up blogs. The only negative is that I appear to have caught a cold but then quite a few on the cruise seemed to have a bit of something that was going around. At least I am home and it didn't impact on the holiday.

Explorer of the Seas at Juneau 

Alaska Cruise 
This was 7 days with the Unlock the Past team and attendees from the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Had a fantastic time catching up with past cruise mates and making new friends. As usual I will blog the genealogy learnings separately, probably in two blog posts as we had two full genealogy days, a half day plus a nightly lecture. Hope to have them done during the next week. The two talks that I presented - Finding Pictorial Images and Caring for Family Archives are on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

DNA News
There were lots of sessions on DNA as part of the cruise program and one of the things I picked up was that you can upload your Family Tree DNA raw data into MyHeritage for free. To find as many matches as you can you need to have your data placed in all the various sites as you don't know where potential cousins may have tested. So one of the first things I did since returning home is to upload my raw data to MyHeritage. While catching up with my blog post reading, I noticed that The Legal Genealogist wrote MyHeritage DNA Changes - and Deadline and the option will only be free until 1 December 2018. So don't wait.

Seattle's famous Sky Needle

Seattle Conference
This was held the day before the cruise left and it was mostly DNA talks by Blaine Bettinger with some Irish talks by Maurice Gleeson and a how to dig deeper on the web with Cyndi Ingle. Another great day and a chance to meet fellow cruisers and others before we sailed. A blog post on this is also on the way. While in Seattle I also took the opportunity to do a bit of sightseeing and learn more about the First Nations people who lived in the area.

Tillicum Village, Blake Island, Seattle

What's Coming Up?
Back to Bribie U3A on Wednesday for the last class for third term. The 'students' have asked for a free ranging talk on my Alaska learnings so that will be a lot of fun. Should also help me to start thinking about what to include in my blog posts on the cruise.

On Thursday as part of the Moreton Region Older and Bolder program I am on a walking tour of Bribie's World War 2 involvement when various forts and other military buildings were erected as part of the defence of Brisbane. It should be interesting.

Then there are two weeks holiday from U3A although I will be preparing the sessions for Term 4. It is Advanced Family History so I'm planning something a little different for the final term for the year.

No talks until October so that gives me a chance to catch up on other things and to get over the last two weeks of travelling where I did over 25,000 km. No wonder I feel tired although the head cold probably has something to do with that.

Until next time, have a great time researching.

Bound for Alaska & Other News - Genealogy Notes 16-31 Aug 2018

The last day of winter which has been extremely mild here. So perhaps it is good that I am off to cooler places.

Blogs

The Genealogical Society of Queensland have asked me to be a guest blogger in October and the topic will be about the wonders of genealogy cruising using my Alaska trip as an example. My regular blog for The In-Depth Genealogist made the deadline but there hasn't been any other blogging time this month.

Books

Still reading Lynette McDermott's 3rd book in The Garth Trilogy but preparations for the trip have side tracked me so the review will be finished after my return.

Conferences

All booked for the Seattle Unlock the Past conference which is also being live streamed as reported last time in Diary. That should be a great day.

The following day many of us will be going on board the Explorer of the Seas for the Unlock the Past Alaska cruise. This is going to be a lot of fun as quite a few past cruisers will be there plus quite a few newbies so a great opportunity to chat and network. Not to mention shore excursions to Juneau and Skagway in Alaska and Victoria in Canada.

I will be blogging about the Seattle conference and the Alaska cruise on my return. Stay tuned.

Talks

Went to a session on writing memoirs and biographies at the local Bribie Island Library which was motivating. Amazing how everyone says just start writing but of course that is the hardest part. We all have stories that only we know and if we don't put them in writing they will be lost.

I have already started to accept talks for 2019 and it looks like another great genealogy year coming up. Remember Queensland is having its Waves in Time conference next May and there is nothing better than a holiday on the Sunshine Coast combined with a genealogy conference.

Updating my website is another task on the to do list when I return.

What's Coming Up

With all the travel excitement I haven't given the rest of the year much thought but there are a few talks plus my advanced family history class with Bribie U3A.

Until next time, have a great fortnight of research - I certainly will be!

NFHM, conferences & other news - Genealogy News Notes 1-15 Aug 2018

Wow National Family History Month has simply been a blur and you can read about the events I have attended so far in the link below. Also coming up fast is my trip to Alaska and the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise. Only two weeks away now and I am doing a list of all the things I need to do before I leave and what I want to take with me.

Conferences - Live Streaming of Seattle Unlock the Past Conference
I am going to this Unlock the Past seminar day in Seattle but fantastic news - now it will be live streamed for all those not able to go in person. Plus it will be available as a series of 10 recorded webinars. Here is the media release.

Unlock the Past Cruises announces that the Unlock the Past in Seattle full-day two-stream conference (previously announced) will now also be available to watch live online – and for a limited time after as a series of 10 recorded webinars.

Date & time: Thursday 6 September 2018, 9am-5pm (Pacific Daylight Time)
Venue: - watch in your own home - from anywhere in the world - attend in person at Seattle Public Library, 1000 4th Ave, Seattle, WA
Cost: - US$65 – Unlock the Past in Seattle Livestream - US$45 – attend in-person at Seattle Public Library, 1000 4th Ave, Seattle, WA - US$20 – upgrade from in-person attendance to add access all 10 recorded sessions after
The program will feature 10 presentations in two streams – a DNA stream and an Irish/general stream The presenters 
• BLAINE BETTINGER (USA) – Blaine is a professional genealogist specialising in DNA evidence. He is the author of the long-running blog The Genetic Genealogist and the books The family tree guide to DNA testing and Genetic genealogy.
• DR MAURICE GLEESON (UK) – Maurice was voted Genetic Genealogist of the Year 2015 (SurnameDNA Journal) and Rockstar Genealogist, Ireland 2016 (Anglo-Celtic Connections). He runs a variety of Y-DNA Surname projects and organises the DNA Lectures at Genetic Genealogy Ireland. • CYNDI INGLE (USA) – Cyndi is the creator and owner of the award-winning web site Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet www.cyndislist.com, a categorised index to more than 333,000 online resources. In its first three years, Cyndi’s List was voted the best genealogy site.
• WAYNE SHEPHEARD (Canada) – A retired geologist, Wayne now spends most of his time on family history research. This has resulted in the pioneering publication Surviving Mother Nature’s tests: The effects climate change and other natural phenomena have had on the lives of our ancestors.

For details and bookings go to www.utpinseattle.com.

DNA
As I will be hearing all about DNA in Seattle and on board the Alaska genealogy cruise, I need to spend some time organising myself to maximise any chats I manage to have with people more knowledgeable than me on analysing results.

A cousin on Dad's side has agreed to do an Ancestry DNA test so once the results are in I will know the truth with no shadow of doubt. I am reasonably convinced Mum's story is probably true but after three years of wondering, now is the time to know, one way or the other. At least this time, the result won't be a total shock.

National Family History Month

Talking at FamilySearch Discovery Day
 photo courtesy Pauleen Cass

So far I have attended three events and my blog post Review of Talks Attended  has some of the things I learnt or was reminded of. Sometimes I sit in on a talk thinking there won't be much in it for me and then I am totally surprised at different approaches, things I had forgotten about and new resources. Then there are all the tips that you can pick up talking to others over lunch or tea breaks.

There is one more NFHM event for me before Alaska and that is a session on writing and publishing memoirs and biographies at Bribie Island Library.

Although I have said this before, I want to keep developing all my draft family histories (one for each major family group eg the Carnegie's from Scotland, the Finns and Fegans from Ireland, the Prices from Staffordshire, the Whites from Wiltshire and of course all my Cornish families). These drafts all need a bit of updating with new information plus more context to make them interesting and more readable. So a writing session to finish up NFHM 2018 seems like a very good idea.

What's Coming Up?
Only two more talks at my advanced family history class at Bribie U3A - we are looking at shipping and Trove and then while I am away two other class members will each do a session. For the final talk of Term 3 it will be me talking about Seattle and Alaska and the fun genealogical time had by everyone.

Term 4 will then loom so I'm on the look out for some bright ideas. Ten weeks goes incredibly fast.

In the last quarter of the year I have some talks for Moreton Bay Region Libraries on blogging, a webinar for the Society of Australian Genealogists and I am also talking about Trove to the local Bribie Island Family History Group.

And then it will be Christmas and 2019 not far behind. I often wonder if time goes as fast for those not doing genealogy. But I am getting ahead of myself - still lots of genealogical experiences for 2018 to look forward to. Why not put NFHM 2019 into next year's diary now and start planning a fantastic August of genealogy?

Until next time, wishing you some excellent genealogy discoveries.

National Family History Month & Other News - Genealogy Notes 16 - 31 Jul 2018

Exciting news - this blog was listed by Feedspot in the Top 10 Australian Genealogy Blogs which also includes some of my favourite bloggers including individuals and genealogy societies.

Books

I have started reading Lynette McDermott's third volume in her Garth Trilogy The Promise of Tomorrow and I'm hooked again. This time the setting is the Gippsland Lakes area of Victoria. This is an area where we had some wonderful fishing trips when we lived down that way so I'm familiar with a lot of the places. I hadn't thought I would relate as much to the third volume as I had with the first (Norfolk Island) and second (Tasmania). The only problem is that it is an ecopy so I have to read on the laptop and not curled up in bed, my preferred reading spot.

Conferences

Pauleen Cass, one of my fellow social media ambassadors for the Waves in Time conference on the Sunshine Coast in May 2019 has written a wonderful blog post on what's happening - read Catch a Genealogy Wave in Queensland for a total update and make sure you put the dates in your diary. It will be a conference not to be missed.

Cruises

In a few weeks I'm off on the Unlock the Past Alaska cruise and it should be a really great time. There will be a few days in Vancouver, Canada then a few days in Seattle. While there I'm attending the UTP one day conference with Blaine Bettinger and other speakers. Then the 7 night cruise with lots of onboard talks and wonderful scenery and onshore days. I will be doing my usual post cruise blog with all the highlights and learnings.

Unlock the Past have started to publicise their next cruise which is from Sydney to Singapore and you can check out the key speakers and what else is happening here. If that one doesn't tempt you, then there is a second cruise in 2019 going from Southampton to the Mediterranean.

National Family History Month

I almost forgot that August is National Family History Month now that I have retired as voluntary national coordinator. This year I can just sit back and enjoy events and even enter the NFHM prizes giveaway. My big event for the month is attending the FamilySearch Discovery Day at Forest Glen where I'm giving two talks and listening to two of my favourite speakers. Looking forward to a great day of genealogy tips and motivation.

Moreton Bay Region Libraries have a range of free talks on offer during August and I'm booked to attend a DNA talk with David Barnes at the Caboolture Library and Helen Smith is coming to Bribie Island Library to talk about brick walls and breaking them down. It's a nice to sit back and enjoy NFHM.

Image courtesy Hazel Edwards

Well known children's author (and grandmother) Hazel Edwards is also known for her How to Write a Non Boring Family History.  Hazel is keen to interest children in history and their own family history and she is keen to see other families foster this interest in the past.

NFHM is a perfect opportunity to try some of Hazel's ideas - why not do a picture book with a few highlights of an event/s in the family. Create a special birthday book. Or help them to draw the family tree. I love  Hazel's grandson's family tree.

If you are stuck for ideas, or need some guidance on how to start, check out Hazel's handy hints.

Resources

Findmypast has added some Cheshire, Cumberland and Derbyshire records plus added more records to the 1939 Register and more newspaper titles. Ancestry and MyHeritage are major supporters of NFHM so remember to check out the Sponsors page to see what prizes are on offer during August.


What's Coming Up?

Another trip on my bucket list is to the Midlands area of England (I have been to London a couple of times and been to Oxford, Kent and Wiltshire but always seem to run out of time). Next year The Genealogy Show is in Birmingham in June 2019 so I have started to plan out a trip to see all my Staffordshire ancestral places and then head up to York, then Edinburgh and a trip to Montrose where my Carnegie ancestors hail from. I'd like to include Cornwall in this trip but it is at the opposite end of the country. Plus there are all those places in between!

There will be one more Diary before my Alaskan trip and on my return I hope to get back to regular blogging with a new theme. I need a focus to help me write those family stories. Until next time, have a great genealogy time during National Family History Month.

Free Irish magazine, Waves in Time & Other News - Genealogy Notes 1-15 Jul 2018

Winter is half over and still not that cool here - ever so glad we moved north. Those lovely minus temperatures in Canberra this week were a reminder of why I moved on, I loved the city but too cold for me. We even have a visiting seal who seems in no hurry to swim away and the whales are still on their way north. Blue skies, warm sun but a few drops of rain occasionally would be welcome.

Blogs

It's official - if I don't participate in a regular blog challenge I seem to find no time to write blog posts. I'm still doing research but just not writing about it. With the genealogy cruise to Alaska looming, now is not the right time to start a new blog theme. But it will be on the agenda once I get back in September.

I even keep missing Trove Tuesday but then every day is very much the same for me these days. I need a visual reminder - not a clock in the room but a sign saying 'today is'!

What will also spark my interest again is teaching a couple of blogging sessions to my Bribie U3A advanced family history class.

Books

The Garth Trilogy

My latest book to review is Lynette McDermott's Book 3 in her Garth trilogy - The Promise of Tomorrow.

Book's 1 and 2 dealt with their transportation, life on Norfolk Island in the First Settlement, then the move to Tasmania and now the final book concludes the family's story. I enjoyed the first two volumes and now to try and find some time to read the final volume. It must feel really good to have completed three novels based around your own family history.

I'm not sure that my families have enough interest for three volumes but then again, there is a lot of crime, tragedy, mystery and travel. Maybe in my retirement!

Conferences

With the two week term break for U3A, I was able to attend the Waves in Time conference committee meeting and the organisation so far is very impressive. Venue sorted, sponsors found, exhibitors lining up and speaker proposals coming in. There are three exciting keynote speakers and as usual there will be both local and family history presentations.

Four ambassadors for social media have been endorsed - Pauleen Cass, Caitlin Gow, Helen Smith and myself so you will be hearing a lot about the conference as it looms closer.



Magazines

Did every one get their free copy of the latest issue of Irish Lives Remembered - hard to believe you can get such an interesting genealogy magazine for free. A few years back I was writing regular features for Irish Lives Remembered so I have a digital copy of every issue I think. Must check.

These days I write regularly for Going In-Depth for The In-Depth Genealogist and writing a monthly article and blog posts is quite challenging. Trying to think of a theme that you can write about over a period of months with suitable images is not as easy as it sounds.

Talks

Pine Rivers Heritage Museum

My presentation on A Fishy Look at Bribie (a mix of my family history and local history) was well attended at the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum. Two cousins who found me via a blog post on my Bribie/Pumicestone ancestors (Carnegie and Davis families) attended. It was really good to meet them in person and chat about the family. Another reminder that blogging pays fantastic genealogy dividends.

That same night I went to the Bribie Island Historical Society meeting to learn more about the Island's boarding houses. Another ancestor, Thomas Stephen Burstow, had cottages for rent over at Woorim (ocean side) and in one of those amazing coincidences, a different cousin who was at my Fishy talk  said he had photos of these cottages and the family home. So we should all be telling our stories because you just don't know who is listening/reading and what they have on the family.

My next talks will be at the Forest Glen family history discovery day in August for National Family History Month. Then after that it will be Alaska. Starting to get excited.

What's Coming Up

This has more or less been covered but in preparing for my third term U3A talks I have been revisiting my Scottish ancestors and discovering lots of new information. I'm trying to update my database and write the stories as I go, rather than piling up information but that is not always easy time wise. So there is a lever arch binder beside my desk just waiting for a few spare hours.

Some time before the end of the month I need to write another article and blog post for Going In-Depth and I'm aiming for a Trove Tuesday blog post too.

Have a great genealogy week and remember revisiting your research may lead to new discoveries. Until next time, enjoy.

South Australian records online, conferences coming up & other news - Genealogy Notes 16-30 Jun 2018

The end of another financial year and part way through winter. Not that we have had a lot of cold weather here yet. I did put a jumper on one day but then it was also raining so definitely a cooler day.

Lots of things on the family front seem to be keeping me busy with little personal time for my own research.

My son marries his long time girlfriend in a few weeks and she has just shown me her family tree for the first time. I knew that the family were from The Netherlands but never realised that the family line goes back to the mid 16th century. They never moved around much and Dutch records seem to be good. I am so glad that my son has Australian royalty (convicts) and a nice sprinkling of English, Irish and Scots ancestors although none of our lines go back much past the 18th century.

Conferences

The Waves in Time 2019 conference committee have asked me to be an ambassador for the event along with four other social media geneabuddies.

It will be our job to make sure people are aware of the conference, the speakers and the sessions. Less than a year to go and there is another planning meeting in early July.

The Sunshine Coast is a great place to host the conference and you can plan a holiday alongside the three day geneaevent.

Recently I was asked was I attending the NSW & ACT Association of Family History Organisations annual conference Sailing Into History in Bateman's Bay this year as I usually do try to attend their conferences. Sadly this year I will be winging my way home from the Unlock the Past Alaska genealogy cruise so miss by one weekend. It looks like another good conference and I used to love weekends down at Bateman's Bay when we lived in Canberra so really sorry not to be going. But then Alaska and my extra days in Vancouver and Seattle will be fantastic too.

Resources

The Spencer family home in Adelaide

Anyone with South Australian ancestors will know that it is not the easiest Australian state to do research in. That seems about to change with the exciting news of records from the State Record Office of South Australia being made available through FamilySearch.

Alona wrote about the release in her blog post Millions of South Australian records added to Family Search.With a title like that I simply had to have a look and most of the records are not yet indexed into FamilySearch but you can browse the registers as if you were in the search room. I have been browsing probate records but there are also prison records, insolvencies, passenger lists, inquests, asylums, courts and more. A veritable feast which will be totally wonderful when indexed and more easily searched.

Talks

Adkins Robert Spencer

Next week I will be speaking at the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum with A Fishy Look at Bribie - while this has local history throughout it is also very much a part of our own family history. My great great great grandparents John and Helen Carnegie were oyster farmers in Pumicestone Passage in the late 19th century and Max's uncle Adkins Robert Spencer was President of the Amateur Fishermen's Association of Queensland at Bongaree for many years in the early 20th century. Plus there are lots of other fishy stories. Should be a lot of fun and I always enjoy visiting the Museum as it has so much to see.

My contribution to National Family History Month this year is giving two presentations at the Family Discovery Day at Forest Glen. There are four sessions throughout the day with four talks in each session with some good speakers. So 16 talks to choose from but you can only attend one talk in each session so some tough decisions to make. Attendance is free but you need to register (just enter Forest Glen Queensland).

What's Coming Up?
It is a two week break from tutoring advanced family history at Bribie U3A, but it is never really a break for the tutor as they are preparing for the next term. Not sure how long I can keep delivering a new talk every week based around the needs of the class but it is always fun trying.

I've got some topics in advance from the group as almost all of them are continuing and some have been with me since the beginning two years ago. So with luck I will get a few talks ahead before term starts again.

Until next time, happy searching.

Perth two day seminar, NSW crew lists & More - Genealogy Notes 1-15 Jun 2018

Changing over to a fortnightly blog post didn't quite go to plan as this is a few days late. Sometimes I wonder how I did everything when I was working five days a week. Yesterday was a total spring clean of the house so I can at least feel good about that. I've also been working on some of the brick walls for my U3A class - happy to say that I have broken one wall down and will be presenting the results at the class on Wednesday.

Books

The second edition of my Where Do I Start:Researching in Australia and New Zealand is now available and I brought home some copies with me from the Unlock the Past seminar in Perth the other week.

The Western Australian Genealogical Society also gave me a copy of Family Reflections which is their silver anniversary anthology edited by Loreley Morling. I love reading family history stories and this is a collection of 35 family histories submitted by individual members. So many aspects of Western Australia's history is reflected in the collection and I will certainly enjoy reading the publication and getting some tips for my own WA families.

Resources
As always there are new resources online but the State Archives and Records NSW new online index has over 2500 names in the Crew & Passengers lists, 1828-1841 that were located in correspondence sent to the NSW Colonial Secretary's Office. So if you are missing a crew member in early NSW, check it out.

Seminars

Day one venue State Library of Western Australia

The Unlock the Past seminar in Perth was over two days with Doug Elms, Kerry Farmer and myself giving talks on a variety of subjects including family history software, DNA, newspapers, immigration, mining ancestors, education records and more. My report on the geneaevent gives all the detail. I gave four talks and all four presentations are on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

What's Coming Up?
My next talk is on 11 July from 10-11 am at the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum and I will be having a fishy look at Bribie Island - talking about our ancestral ties to the Pumicestone Passage. The event is free and for catering purposes they do like you to book. I can certainly recommend the yummy morning tea. Last time I went there was a chocolate cake to die for. Book here.

Then two weeks later my son will marry his long time girlfriend. So that will be a family event not to be missed! They are doing things quite differently - there will be the main event on the Monday and the wedding breakfast will be a real breakfast on the Tuesday morning. He tells me his life is modelled on mine and I have to admit that I'm not the most conventional person. All I want for them is to be happy together and to make the most of their lives. So far they have achieved way more than I had by my 30s so their goal of living and working in Europe looks like a winner. All I'm thinking about is the opportunity of having a white Christmas in the next year or two! Something definitely on my bucket list.

Until next time, happy searching.

Another insolvent in the family, more talks & other news - Genealogy News 18-31 May 2018

Where did May disappear to? This blog looks like becoming a fortnightly event as the weeks seem to go too quickly these days.

Tutoring

Since taking on the advanced family history tutoring at U3A, the preparation for each week's class seems to have taken over my blogging time. I enjoy the classes and have been making new discoveries on my own families while preparing the talks. Last week they wanted a session on insolvencies and bankruptcies and during the preparation I discovered that my great great grandfather John Finn filed for insolvency in northern NSW in 1897. I'm now waiting for a copy of the file from State Archives and Records NSW. The Archives doesn't have a copy service for this record series so I'm using NSW Family History Transcriptions who provide copies of key record groups. Certainly cheaper than travelling to Kingswood.

John is one of my favourite ancestors as he has left so many records - BDMs, passenger list, land files, court records, prisons, newspapers, asylums and now insolvencies. Yet there is no known photograph of him, just this newspaper sketch from when he was accused of arson. Thankfully he was acquitted but the records were still created.

Everyone's keen to continue so we have just signed up for another term. At the end of this term I will have done four terms, a whole year and some students have been with me the whole time.

Talks

Some were keen and took their places early.

The afternoon seminar with the Gold Coast Family History Society went really well with some good feedback. My two talks on Archives You Should Know and Skeletons in the Family had every body talking over the afternoon tea and post seminar. There were lots of questions too. As usual, both talks are on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

The Society has a wonderful venue to host these mini seminars with lots of room. Behind the seating area there is kitchen space for morning or afternoon teas.  Afterwards I was fortunate enough to be given a tour of their library, also in the same building.

Great library facilities for the lucky members of
the Gold Coast Family History Society.

Then four of us went out for pizza, wine and more stimulating talk about family history. I stayed overnight as it was over a two hour drive down, and after three hours of talking I didn't really feel like driving home in the dark. That's the trouble with winter, I miss the longer days.

Due to a heavy cold I ended up not going to Maurice Gleeson talks in Brisbane which was disappointing. I spent most of the day in bed asleep which is most unusual for me. He provided copies of both his talks to attendees so at least I had those to go through. Everyone said I missed a really good day. I do have the chance to hear him again in Seattle and on the Alaska cruise so that is something to look forward to.

What's Coming Up?

Next Thursday I'm off to Perth for the Unlock the Past exploring family and local history seminar where I will be giving four talks. Kerry Farmer and Doug Elms are also on the program along with local speakers and exhibitors so it will be a full on two days.

Then it's a whole month until my next talk for Pine Rivers Heritage Museum where I will be having A Fishy Look at Bribie Island. Should be fun as its combining my family history with local history. I have been to talks there before and they always have a really nice morning tea.

Until next time, have a great genealogy time with lots of new discoveries.

Genetic Genealogy, Book Review & Black Sheep Talks: Genealogy Notes 9-17 May 2018

Mother's Day flowers

The past week was dominated by Mother's Day and it was the first Mother's Day that Mum celebrated with my brother and I at my place and my son and his soon to be wife also came for a fish and chip lunch. So my three generations were all in the one place for Mother's Day. My brother headed home to celebrate it all over again with his wife and two children. We are a very small family these days.

As part of the day I showed some very early photos of Mum and I plus early photos of my son and I - Mum's comment was that it didn't even look like us but throw in a few decades and yes that was us way back then! It is only when looking at photos that I feel the passing of the years and wonder at how quickly time passes.

Books

My review of Nathan Dylan Goodwin's The Wicked Trade and The Suffragette's Secret: genealogical crime mysteries is now finished. Read it here. As usual a really good read and now the patient wait for the next book.

My new book to read (or more correctly reread) is Blaine Bettinger's The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy. I am getting lots of DNA matches but still struggling to understand my results so back to the drawing board for a refresher.

Talks
In that DNA spirit I am off to Brisbane tomorrow for the Queensland Family History Society's seminar on Genetic Genealogy with Dr Maurice Gleeson. Apparently it is fully booked which just shows how popular DNA is at the moment. I've spoken at that venue and it is not a small theatre. Should be a great morning and a catch up with geneamates. Just noticed that his handout is already on their home page - a bit of reading for tonight to make the most of the two talks tomorrow. Blog post to follow.

The room started to fill early

My two talks with the Cooroy-Noosa Genealogical & Historical Research Group on Monday were well attended with an almost full house for the convicts talk in the morning and slightly less for the afternoon session on missing ancestors (look for them in prisons). Lots of people seem to have black sheep in the family.

There was lunch in between and an opportunity to chat to people and have a look around their wonderful premises. As usual both talks are on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

My U3A advanced family history session on Wednesday was all about locating photographs of your ancestors, places they lived, schools they attended, ships they arrived on and other aspects of family history using photographs to tell the stories.

Part of the research area, books always look more
interesting than a row of computers

Television

I have been fascinated by all the celebrity stories so far on the new Australian series of WDYTYA on SBS. There have been some really interesting stories and only three more episodes to go. Although they do drag it out in some cases, but then I guess that is all part of the entertainment value of the show.

What's Coming Up

My next genealogical outing will be to the Gold Coast Family History Society Again I will be giving two talks - one on finding and using archives for family history and the other on skeletons in the family. Another favourite topic with so many in my own family. That mini seminar is on 26 May at Nerang and it is open to the public with a modest price for members and slightly higher for non members.

Obviously I will be working on these two talks during the week as well as doing a blog post on the QFHS Genetic Genealogy seminar. Plus a new talk for my U3A students on insolvencies and bankruptcies which will be fun. Lots of interesting records to talk about there.

Until next time have a great genealogy week.

Genealogy conferences 2019, digitised gaol photos & other news: Genealogy Notes 1-8 May 2018

It was a big week for exciting announcements and I had a fabulous time discovering new information on my own families. Even after 40 years of research I am still learning new things about some family members who have always fascinated me. New online indexes and digitised records make it a must to go back and relook at your previous research.

While working on my two talks for the Cooroy-Noosa Genealogical & Historical Research Group on convicts and prisoners I was simply amazed at how much more is online and more easily accessible than when I did my convicts thesis for the Society of Australian Genealogists Diploma back in the early 1990s. Similarly while working on this week's talk on parish registers for Australia and the UK for the Bribie U3A advanced family history class I had even more finds. Now I want to review all my early Australian research. My to do list just gets longer and longer.

Blogs

The Chyebassa, image courtesy State Library Victoria

My Trove Tuesday post was the Voyage of the Chyebassa to Queensland in 1883. My great grandfather Herbert William White made his way to Charters Towers after leaving the ship at Townsville. Searching in Trove gave me insights into the voyage and what it was actually like travelling on board the Chyebassa including what they ate. Another wonderful Trove discovery.

Conferences
My overseas plans for next year were all thought out with a planned trip to my first ever Rootstech conference from 27 Feb to 2 Mar 2019. I've been promising to do that for years but something else has always been happening in the early part of the year. Plus I have wanted to go to Salt Lake City for years. This is a four day event which is better value than just a two day event unless you combine the trip with some tourism or genealogical research.

There is also an Unlock the Past Mediterranean cruise with some of my favourite speakers Paul Milner, Janet Few and Caroline Gurney in Sep 2019 going to Portugal, Spain, Gibraltar and on to France and Italy. I've been to the first three places but not the last two so I'm tempted.

This week I found out about two conferences which seem to be stepping into the empty space left by WDYTYA. The first is Family Tree Live on 26-27 Apr 2019 in London's Alexandra Palace with lectures, workshops, displays and stands aimed at all levels of family history experience. It is being organised by Family Tree in partnership with the Federation of Family History Societies. To receive the latest show information you can sign up for the e-newsletter at Family Tree. I love going to London but it is expensive for accommodation and I have been there.

The second conference The Genealogy Show is on 7-8 Jun 2019 at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham where Mum's Price family is from. The Midlands are somewhere I have not managed to get to yet. So a big temptation. The organisers have already set up a Facebook page for The Genealogy Show 2019 where you can get all the latest updates.

Also on next year is the local Waves in Time conference at Caloundra on 24-26 May and that is a definite must attend, apart from it's only an hour or so up the highway from where I live. It will also be a lot cheaper to attend.

Decisions decisions - pity you can't go to everything so I'm back to next year's planning board. Genealogists downunder definitely need 'beam me there' technology.

Convicts and Prisoners
From the introduction you will see it's been a week for looking at convict and prison records. State Archives and Records NSW has some wonderful online guides, indexes and digitised records but I was pleased to see that there are now digitised gaol photographs online (last time I looked it was just the index). It was thrilling to see a photo of my great uncle Denis Patrick Finn in 1928, not because he was in gaol but it was the only the second photo I have even seen.

Denis Patrick Finn, image courtesy
State Library of Queensland

The first was as a 17 year old soldier heading off to the Western Front in WW2 on what was probably his big adventure, having lied about his age to do so. Denis spent his 18th birthday in a German prison of war camp and as his prison alias in QLD was Johann Romanoff, there was a lasting legacy from his teenage experiences during the war.

Looking at his life (through prison registers in QLD and NSW and his two broken marriages) you can easily see that Denis could not settle back into a 'normal' way of life. His two brothers, John and Robert, also returned from the war but instead of trying to live in an urban area, both never married and lived in remote regional areas.

The other website that amazed me with new records was the Biographical Database of Australia. I found new information on my early Sydney convict families and the database groups the information together if they are  sure it is the same person. However, you still need to check other entries for the name as it may not all be together. One drawback is that the database only lets you search on a name which is fine if it is not a common name, but if you are looking for John Smith there are lots of results to skim through. Still it is a useful resource for early NSW in particular. It is free to search but to see the full record there is a reasonable subscription as it is a not for profit project.


Reading
The weekend saw me finish Nathan Dylan Goodwin's The Wicked Trade - now to do the review. As usual I can't wait for the next book!

Virtual Genealogy 
In some ways it was only a matter of time before we started having virtual genealogy societies. Many of our traditional genealogy and family history societies now have members only areas for those who can't attend meetings or the library in person. This is a fantastic benefit and the primary reason I am still a member of four Australian societies.

Last year I mentioned I won a subscription to VicGum and while I have been looking at their newsletters and email posts, I had yet to look at the members only area. Technology is amazing as I have been watching some of their meetings and guest speakers and it is just like being in the audience.

So this week I joined the Virtual Genealogical Society which is a global organization serving family history enthusiasts of all levels, geared towards those:

● whose circumstances make it difficult to attend local genealogical society meetings
● who prefer online presentations, special interest groups (SIGs), conferences, and socializing
● with an interest in connecting, networking, and mentoring with global genealogists.

They aim to provide a forum for genealogists to connect, network, and mentor with genealogists around the world through monthly meetings online, webinars, social networking, annual conferences, and in-person meet-ups at conferences, institutes and events around the world. It will be interesting to see how this develops and if it will change how existing (real not virtual) societies operate.

What's Coming Up?
A big week with today's talk on parish records in Australia and the UK at Bribie U3A and on Monday my talks on convicts and prison records with the Cooroy-Noosa Genealogical & Historical Research Group in partnership with Noosa Libraries. If you are at either event do come up and say hello.

Plus I have to start adding all my new information to my database and there must be a blog or two in these new stories. Sometimes it is hard to choose - spend time discovering new information or stop searching and spend time writing it up!

Have a great genealogy week until next time.