Is it really Easter? : My Genealogy Weeks 22 March -12 Apr 2022

That was a speedy three weeks and Easter is upon us. I can't believe how busy it's been with presentations and preparing for my English genealogy class at Bribie U3A. I have done very little research or writing which was going to be my priority in 2022. Time to stop talking!

Blogs

Mum & Dad early 1950s

Week 8 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks was completed - Branching Out - Courting which was a look at my own parents and how they met. Week 9 was about Women and my focus was Helen Carnegie my GG grandmother. Click on the links to the week to read those stories. 

Although I have enjoyed the first nine weeks of the blog challenge, realistically I know that I can't keep up a weekly blog at present. Maybe when I retire!

Books

Perhaps my fascination with the Ela of Salisbury medieval murder mysteries is one reason why I am not writing very much. Totally love this easy to read series and Book 3 The Lost Child and Book 4 Forest of Souls were both fascinating. 

What I like most I think are references to what they ate (jellied eels) and how they spent their days in 12th century Wiltshire. With four books read, I'm half way through the eight books in the series. Next is The Bone Chess Set which will be my Easter reading.

If my medieval Cornish genealogy is correct (compiled by someone else last century), then one of my ancestors was a Sheriff of Cornwall around the same time. He would have led a similar life to Ela. The big difference, of course was that Ela was a woman and very unusual for her time. 

My research guide Australian Genealogy Online is available for sale from Gould Genealogy & History. Click here for details. Managed to sell a few at events but thanks to Covid no one seems to carry cash anymore. I just hope they all follow up and order online with a credit card when they get home.

DNA

No exciting big matches but Bribie Genealogy held a workshop for Gedmatch Tier One Tools which was very good. Finding the time to sit down and play with the new concepts hasn't been easy. Plus my notes never seem to make sense a week later. 

New Resources

Findmypast added 169 new and updated newspaper titles to its collection this week. It is almost impossible to keep up with digitised newspapers. New titles means perhaps more on our ancestors so we do have to have another look. 

Never ending indeed but super exciting at the same time. Who knows what you will find. 

Presentations

I was honoured to be part of the History for Ukraine 24 hour genealogy event on 27 March that raised money for the British Red Cross. So many great speakers and talks over the weekend.

Trips to Noosa are always fun and it was a good audience for my military talk at Noosaville library. Back there again next month with a look at mining ancestors. The presentation is on the Resources page of my website. 

Recorded my first ever webinar for Legacy Family Tree Webinars - My Top 20 Free Genealogy Websites. That got some good feedback too and it is now part of a number of talks I have on their platform. Sessions I do for The Surname Society are also recorded and added to the offerings from Legacy Family Tree Webinars. 

Finally I went to THE Genealogy Show Spring Event and gave a talk on Australasian probate records. Plus I am still trying to watch some of the other sessions before the link expires.

What's Coming Up?

Remember to check my website for talks coming up over the next few months. Go to the Events page of my website for all the details.

Have a good Easter with family and friends, stay safe and take care until next time. Shauna

Women's history month, History For Ukraine & Other News: My Genealogy Week 15-21 March 2022

More or less back to weekly recording. Can't believe how many talks I committed to in the first three months of 2022. For those who like statistics I did six talks in February - 2 in person and 4 via Zoom. I also will do six talks in March - 1 in person and two recorded and three live webinars. Thank goodness U3A 1st term was cancelled or I would be talked out. 

Blogs

Finished my blog post on my RootsTech Connect 2022 experience and you can read it here. Of course with the sessions online until next year, it hasn't really finished. My plan is to try and watch at least one a week to get through my playlist of talks. 

Catching up with 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks will be my next blogging challenge. I have done Weeks 1-7 so far and you can see them on my website's blog page.

Books

At the Bribie Library I found the latest Louise Penny book in the Chief Inspector Gamache series. Book 16 no less so I grabbed it off the shelf. How could I resist? Currently reading and enjoying All the Devils Are Here. The really good news is that Book 17 is on the way.

After that it will be back to Book 3 in the Ela of Salisbury series. 

Conferences

I have just confirmed that I still want to be a speaker at Family History Down Under 2022 in November and I will be doing two talks. Certainly hoping that this will be an in person event as well as the online stream. It has been way too long since we have had a megafest of genealogy in Australia. 

The beauty of Norfolk Island

Before that I will be enjoying the AFFHO Congress on Norfolk Island in August. I hope I remember how to find my way around the airport. 

Events

I have volunteered to give a presentation at the History For Ukraine 24 hour history/genealogy fundraising event. My session is on Ukrainians in Australia and I will be using documents from the National Archives of Australia to tell some of their stories.

Other downunder speakers are Fiona Brooker, Michelle Patient and Rachel Croucher. Fiona, Michelle and Maggie Gaffney are also co hosting the down under session. Check out all the details and times on the History for Ukraine website. Thanks to Michelle for working out the correct times for us.

Times for the Down Under part of the program

There are some great speakers from all over the world and it is a very worthy cause. This coming weekend so make sure you find some time and join us if you can.

New Resources

Trove is celebrating Women's History month in March and their latest blog is Remarkable Women in Trove which features three interesting women. 

Back in 2016, I wrote a Women's History month blog post on my four great grandmothers. Read about them here. Have you researched your female ancestors this month? If not, there is still a week left in March. 

Talks

I have prerecorded a talk on Australasian probate records for THE Genealogy Show Spring Event 1-3 April. That same week I will be doing a live webinar for Legacy Family Tree Webinars on free genealogy websites. Plus at the end of the week another trip to Noosaville Library for a session on military ancestors. A mega week for me. Check the Events page of my website for details.

Denis Patrick Finn my 2nd great uncle was underage when he enlisted in WW1

The good news is that the rest of April is free from speaking engagements. Although I will be tutoring a 9 week course on English genealogy at Bribie U3A.

What's Coming Up?

Don't miss the History for Ukraine event. It starts 10pm Brisbane time on the Saturday night 26 March and my session is 5pm on the Sunday 27 March afternoon. 

Tidying up my records is temporarily halted as I have rediscovered my medieval ancestors (thanks to Ela of Salisbury). Some decades ago now I was given our Cornish family history back to William the Conqueror (yes I know its perhaps dubious). However I still find it fascinating and of course now there are more online resources for me to check the accuracy of the previous research. 

Have a wonderful week of research, webinars or simply reading a good book. Until next time, Shauna

RootsTech Connect & Other News: My Genealogy Fortnight 1-14 March 2022

What a fantastic fortnight which included the geneamegafest of RootsTech Connect. It was good to watch some live stream but my personal preference was to watch in my own time. I hope you all had a chance to participate and remember the sessions will be available for the next 12 months. 

I also liked the Connect with Relatives and managed to have a few good connections on Mum's side. Should help with some of my DNA matches. 

Blogs 

Well behind with my 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks genealogy blog challenge but I do have some posts drafted. My main problem is trying to find images to suit the posts. I mostly have to go with images of places as I don't have many photos of my families. 

A week away with limited internet plus I try to have down time when away, meant I did more touristy things than genealogy. 

Meet the Big Pelican at Noosaville. A great restaurant strip nearby on Gympie Terrace.

Bribie Genealogy

Given all the flooding and the uncertainty of the weather, we changed from an in person meeting to a Zoom meeting. 

Our guest speaker was Judy Lofthouse and she spoke about using Findmypast and also looked at the 1921 census. I like that we can record Zoom sessions with the speaker's consent but I also miss the in person chat and lunch afterwards.

Bribie U3A

First term was cancelled due to covid, but second term is going ahead and I agreed to do English Genealogy this term. Most of the sessions have been completed as it was meant to be last term. Although I will have to check as there have been changes to a number of sites since then. It will be nice working with a group of people again and trying to help them with their English genealogy.

Books 

Finally read The Foundlings by Nathan Dylan Goodwin and really enjoyed it. 

Now onto the Ela of Salisbury medieval murder series by J G Lewis. I like starting a new author and book series as I know that there are more books to follow when I finish one. Or at least until the series runs out. 

One of the things I really did enjoy on the hols was having a number of the Ela books on my Ipad. Now on to Book 3. 

Spotted this cute little houseboat while cruising on Noosa River - imagine how many books you could read there uninterrupted.

The Ela mysteries have also led me to dig out my medieval family lines as they cover the same time period which makes it even more fascinating to me.

Conferences 

Just going back to RootsTech, Fran Kitto (fellow member of Caloundra Family History Research) posted a blog RootsTech 2022 Conference Update to remind our members that the sessions are still available. All societies should encourage their members to have a look at the sessions. So much to learn.

 I attended the Scottish Indexes Conference last weekend which was really good as usual. The handouts are useful to refer back to. The next conference is on 3 September 2022 which seems ages away. Registration is already open and its free - although if you value these conferences, a donation is always appreciated.

Talks

My two sessions at RootsTech were Mining Ancestors and Making the Most of the National Archives of Australia. There is a handout for both talks as well.

My first talk for Moreton Libraries in 2022 will be at Caboolture Library on organising your DNA matches without the headache. 

I have also agreed to give a short talk on Ukranians in Australia as part of the History for Ukraine 24 hour event. It will be on 26 March.

My talks and where they are being held are listed on the Events page of my website. 

What's Coming Up Next?

My new research guide Australian Genealogy Online is now available for sale from Gould Genealogy & History. Click here for details. My copies should arrive this coming week. Looking forward to seeing the final result.

Also excited about some new work projects which should kick off in late March.

Should be back to weekly updates now that I am home.

Have a wonderful week researching and until next time take care and stay safe. Shauna

Shipboard diaries, ancestral epidemics & other news: My Genealogy Week 22 - 28 February 2022

February is always a short month but it still went faster than anything. 

We were trapped at home by floodwaters and almost driven mad by incessant rain for six days. Watching all those who lost their homes and businesses all the way along the south east Queensland coast was heartbreaking. The weather event is still going on in NSW with towns flooded and isolated. Brisbane is starting her big clean up. 

Mother Nature in February at her worst. Also a very stark reminder to make sure our family history records are backed up, stored safe and accessible to others.

Blogs

Trying to keep up with my 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks genealogy blog challenge. Here is Week 7 which looked at my GGG grandfather Robert Fegan/Fagan from Glasnarget South, County Wicklow, Ireland. Week 8 will be next after this blog post. 

There was also an additional blog post this month as a guest blogger for the Genealogical Society of Queensland. I do this twice a year. The topic for my first 2022 post was ancestral epidemics. My ancestor was the only one in her family to survive a cholera epidemic. Do you ever think about all the coincidences in life and brings us to where we are today? If she had died, I wouldn't be here and that is probably repeated in other family lines. Enough philosopy, read about the 1832 cholera epidemic in the UK Midlands here. 

Books

Back in December as a Christmas present to myself, I had a buying spree on Amazon and purchased Nathan Dylan Goodwin's The Foundlings and the seven book series Ela of Salisbury medieval mysteries by J G Lewis as ebooks. Then promptly forgot about them as ebooks are not the same as print books piled up on the bedside table to read. 

Almost finished The Foundlings and as always a great Morton Farrier story. The Ela of Salisbury books I purchased as my White family were from the Salisbury area and I liked the Brother Cadfael mysteries. Plus Ela was a real person and has an entry in Wikipedia Ela of Salisbury. The series is next on the list to read.

Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire, founded by

 Ela of Salisbury in 1229 via Wikipedia

Conferences

RootsTech Connect is almost upon us and I will be giving two talks. There is an amazing range of topics and speakers plus they are offering some talks from 2021 as well. 

I also love the Relatives at RootsTech app and when I first looked I only had 50 connections, then that jumped up to 187 connections but none closer than 4th cousin once removed. Some were even from Australia and New Zealand which was interesting but most were in the USA. That can be useful for working out the more distant DNA matches.

New Resources

Front cover of the Yelland diary
that I received decades ago 

During the week I was contacted by someone who reads my blogs. Nothing new there but her ancestors were on the same immigrant ship as my John Finn and Sarah Fegan. Her ancestor wrote a shipboard diary of his time on the Mairi Bhan and she sent me a copy. 

I already had a copy from another descendant and was able to share that. Shipboard diaries are not that common and we have two for the 1878 voyage of the Mairi Bhan. While similar, both diarists commented on different aspects of the voyage. 

If I didn't blog, I would not have this exciting new insight into my GG grandparents voyage to Queensland. Everyone should be blogging their stories.

Talks

No talks this week but I did prep some talks for March.

I also hosted on Zoom the monthly meeting of the Association of Professional Genealogists in Australia and New Zealand. It is always good to see each other and catch up on the news.

What's Coming Up?

My new research guide published by Unlock the Past is now available from Gould Genealogy & History, either in print or ebook. So that is very exciting news. 

Bribie Genealogy's March meeting is on Friday 4 March and we have Judy Lofthouse from Brisbane talking about the 1921 Census. There will be our usual lunch afterwards which is a good way to end a busy week.

I have also had a bit of a breakthrough on the unknown biological father of my great grandfather James Carnegie. I have now connected a DNA match to that family line so it is now a matter of trying to work out how and where the intersection happened. That should keep me busy!

Happy researching until next time. Stay safe and well, Shauna

Cornish Families, 52 Ancestors, Talks & Other News: My Genealogy Week 15-21 February 2022

Still playing catch up this week. There is just so much happening at the moment. I may have overcommitted myself to talks in February and March. Still it is nice to see people in person again as well as via Zoom.

Blogs

Managed to complete Week 6 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - theme Branching Out and Maps - picked my GGG grandfather John Carnegie to write about. Although his life could almost be a book. 

If only we could buy land there now for that price!

Working on Week 7 with theme Branching Out and Landed. As there is no landed gentry in my family ancestors, I have gone more with the idea of obtaining land in a new country. 

Books

Last minute editing changes for my book Australian Genealogy Online. It should be good to go next week from the publisher Unlock the Past.

My thanks to the wonderful editing skills of Rosemary Kopittke. She can spot inconsistencies with words or font sizes at 60 paces I think. The good thing is I learn something new from her every time. 

Conferences

At the weekend I attended the Family History Show and listened to some great talks by Debbie Kennett, Mia Bennett and others. In the Goody Bag there was a compendium of all the Discover Your Ancestors monthly magazine for 2015. Just what I wanted - more emagazines to read. Still a great gift which cost me nothing as I received a free ticket to attend as a subscriber to The Genealogist. 

RootsTech Connect is just a week away now so I hope you have registered. It is free. The Relatives at RootsTech feature indicates that I have 50 relatives attending so far. However they are all in the US and no closer than 6th cousin. But they might help to explain some of those more distant DNA matches. Plus more people may register over the next week.

Family Stories

Putting the finishing touches to the family history of the Spencer Family of Cosby, Leicester and Max wants several copies done for his family. 

It was good to print a paper copy for last minute amendments, corrections and whatever other changes were needed. I seem to see errors and inconsistencies more when reading a paper copy than an ecopy. Not sure why, may be just a habit I can't shake.

Talks

My 2022 talk fest continues and you can always see where I am speaking on the Events pages of my website.

The Why Can't I Find It? talk at Caloundra Family History Research ended up being via Zoom. I had been looking forward to seeing everyone again in person. That said, it was still a good session and I think they all went away with some new ideas. 

I still have my membership cup!

My talk on the Cornish in Queensland to the Cornish Association of Victoria via Zoom also received good feedback. There were questions about how/why I try to see myself in the places of my ancestors through images, books and newspaper accounts. To me context is important - we need to know what their lives were like, otherwise they are just names, dates and places. It was lovely to see faces from my days of living in Melbourne. 

Where appropriate slides from my presentations are on the Resources page of my website. I have done this for the last 10 years as I know how hard it is to listen and write at the same time. The slides are for personal research use only NOT to download and hand around the place or put up on other websites. I try to make it easy for my listeners to just sit back and enjoy my talks. The copyright is still mine and anyone who wants the slides for another purpose should ask me. Rant over.

Twitter

It was fun and interesting to be part of the first @ANZAncestryTime on Twitter for 2022. It is now only on the 3rd Tuesday night of the month starting at 6pm Brisbane time. Why not come along and be part of the online discussion and share your family stories and knowledge with others. We use the hash tag #ANZAncestryTime to keep all the tweets together and Sue @tasteach writes up the summary for us. 

What's Coming Up?

I'm currently busy with my talk on Australasian probate records for THE Genealogy Show in April. Not only to I have to write and present the talk, I have to prerecord it. 

There is something strange about sitting in a room and delivering a presentation to yourself and trying not to watch yourself in the camera. It usually takes a few attempts and I have to try not to run over time. 

As I mentioned earlier, RootsTech Connect is not far away but my two talks for that have already been recorded and are waiting to go live. I will be checking the chat for both talks during the weekend. If you want to learn more about mining ancestors and using the National Archives of Australia online catalogue come along to RootsTech. Registration is free.

March has another three talks - all live with one in person for Moreton Libraries and the other two via Zoom. 

Stay safe, take care and keep on genearesearching. Until next time, Shauna

Talkfest, New Resources & Events: My Genealogy Week 8-14 February 2022

Well I should have known that once I went back to work (my business) I would have less time to do all the fun stuff I have been doing over December and January. While I enjoy giving talks they do take time to prepare and then present, either in person or via Zoom. This week there were three talks so there was no time for blogging. Also the reason why this weekly blog is a few days late.

Need to catch up with Weeks 6 and 7 of my 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks or I will be spilling over into 2023. If you missed my Weeks 1-4 they are on my blog page. There is no necessity to keep up as the idea is more to encourage us to write about our ancestors. However I do love a challenge.

Books

One of the big distractions for me over the last week is finalising my new book, Australian Genealogy Online. It will be my 12th research guide and published by Unlock the Past and available through Gould Genealogy. I am really excited to see the final product which might be some time this week. Plus there should be a few more spare minutes in the day.

Conferences/Expos

It has been a while since I got excited about travelling but August is shaping up to be a huge National Family History Month. First I am speaking at the AFFHO Congress on Norfolk Island which will be a great opportunity to see people in person. We first went there in 2007 then again in 2014 and were meant to go in 2021 but delayed due to Covid.

From our first visit to Norfolk Island 2007

I am also contemplating a trip to New Zealand for the Auckland Family History Expo and then the following weekend, the Christchurch Expo. I have been to the Auckland one a few times over the years and been to the Christchurch one virtually. Fingers crossed that borders stay open and that the pandemic is really on the way out.

Downsizing

During the week I gave the Genealogical Society of Queensland five boxes of books to either use, toss or resell for profit. The really sad part is that looking around my bookshelves in the study you can't even see where any are missing. My LibraryThing needs a total overhaul but I think I still need to do another cull and pass on books that may be useful to others. 

New Resources

MyHeritage have recently released their new online genealogy course for beginners in their Knowledge Base.  Pleased to say that I am one of the lecturers in the Australian section of the course. Although aimed at beginners there are probably tips and refreshers for more experience researchers. 

This week Ancestry has the following update, especially interesting for Southt Australian researchers 

• New South Wales index to deceased estate files 1859-1958 
• South Australian passenger lists 1845-1940
• South Australian Destiture Asylum ledgers and admissions to industrial and reformatory schools 1849-1913
• South Australian prison registers 1838-1912
• South Australian Supreme Court criminal records 1837-1918 and reports to the Police Coroner 1842-1967
• South Australia select tax and financial records 1838-1928 and returns of 1841 census
• South Australia Adelaide Hospital admission registers 1841-1946

Some really early dates there for South Australia. My Trevaskis family arrived in Adelaide in 1864.

Talks

On Thursday I actually drove up to Noosa Heads to give my presentation on Where Do I Start? in person to a group of enthusiastic people at Noosaville Library. 

On the way home I called into Sunshine Coast Hospital to see my surgeon and get the results of my latest tests. Reading the local newspaper while waiting, I came across this advert for my talk to Caloundra Family History Research.

My other talk this week was to the Port Macquarie & District Family History Society via Zoom. We almost settled there but ended up moving further north. Still love the place. My presentation was on using DNA to search for biological ancestors. A great audience and some lovely feedback.

Remember that you can see the slides of some of my presentations on the Resources page of my website. Where I am speaking is on the Events page.

What's Coming Up

This coming week is the Caloundra talk mentioned above plus a talk to the Cornish Association of Victoria on the Cornish in Queensland. Both sessions are via Zoom. I haven't spoken to their group since I left Victoria in 2012 and probably even a few years before that. But I still have their gift to me as a speaker.

That will be my last talk for February (six talks, not quite a record) so I can rest my voice for a little. Three talks coming up in March plus my two RootsTech Connect sessions. Don't forget to register for RootsTech as it is free and a huge range of speakers and talks. 

Hopefully I will find some time to get back to writing up those family history drafts now that I have a few other projects out of the way. 

Wishing you success with your genealogy research this week, take care and stay safe, Shauna.