Index finds, DNA discoveries & Other News - Genealogy Notes 3-9 Dec 2016

The big catch up post holiday is now over, the new carpet is laid and slowly moving things back into their respective rooms. The study is looking neat and tidy although there are still lots of boxes out in the tiled hall way. It's like moving house and yet another opportunity to declutter and reorganise.

But as always it is easy to get side tracked by exciting genealogy news. As a member of the local Bribie Island Historical Society I have given a few talks on my ancestors who lived in this area from the 1870s. One of the committee members has been working on indexing local land records for the Island and came across an S J Jewsbury. As it is an uncommon surname she checked on Ancestry and found my public tree and contacted me.

Sarah Jane Jewsbury nee Finn, Truth, 26 Mar 1939 via Trove

While we don't know what those initials stand for on the land record (yet), I have a Sarah Jane Jewsbury nee Finn who was my great grandmother Mary Finn's sister. Mary married James Carnegie whose grandparents lived on the other side of Pumicestone Passage to Bribie Island. Either it is a huge coincidence or it is my Sarah Jane but now I have to try and work out what the S J stands for and if it is her, why and how did she come to own land on the island post World War One. You really can find information anywhere, as long as someone has indexed it!

Sadly Sarah Jane lost her son Ronald in 1939 as a result of a tetanus infection and the inquest made the local newspapers. As well as information on the family, there were photographs of Sarah Jane and Ronald.

Another exciting bit of news was that while I was away my blog post on City of Sydney Archives made Genealogy a la Carte, a Canadian blog list compiled by  Gail Dever.  This is part of a series of blogs I have been doing for The In-Depth Genealogist for the last two years. It is always nice to know someone has read a blog post, but to also have it listed for others to note is great. I am know thinking I should be saying that it is Sydney (or wherever) Australia as there must be lots of places called Sydney in the world.

Personally I'm not a fan of organisations changing names and websites but it is the times in which we live. State Records NSW new corporate name is State Archives and Records Authority of New South Wales. Thankfully the URL is the same and it is nice to see Archives back in the corporate name. Read more about the name change here.  

There has been no time to do any research,  but Family Tree DNA did notify me that my results were now available. Although I did the Ancestry DNA test  in 2015, I wanted to do the same test with FamilyTree DNA just in case the last year has just been one horrible nightmare. So it was with some trepidation that I looked at the results and they were even more conclusive than the Ancestry results. So if I hadn't got suspicious then, I would certainly be suspicious now with 0% Scandinavian. Interestingly my Ancestry percentages have also changed, dropping from less than 8% Scandinavian to less than 1%.

I guess in some respects I'm lucky that Mum is still alive and could explain my 'surprising' results. On the other hand, if I hadn't been expecting Norwegian heritage, then I may never have known the truth.Still trying to work out where to go next as my 40th anniversary of family history research comes up in March 2017. Where would my research be now if everyone had told me the truth 40 years ago? By the way, I notice that there are now MyHeritage DNA home testing kits so it definitely looks like being a part of our genealogy research in the future.

In the lead up to Christmas there are lots of Christmas parties and yesterday I went to the Bribie Island Family History Special Interest Group meeting. I took along some books and magazines to have an impromptu raffle and there were some excited members while I had some more space in my study. We all discussed Christmas memories and it was interesting to see how many people used to leave a beer and nuts out for Santa not to mention those who left gifts for the 'dunny' man!

Some of us then went on to lunch in the Bribie RSL which had several Christmas parties in full swing. You simply can't go past beer battered flathead and chips!

This coming week is very quiet apart from the Christmas party for the Bribie Island Historical Society so which family to choose to do some new searches on. Trove never disappoints and often I find new information on Ancestry and Findmypast so it is always worthwhile to relook at direct and collateral lines.

Until next time, happy searching.

Family History Fiction, Bendigo Petitions & Family Search Indexing - Genealogy Notes 7 Nov - 2 Dec 2016

Birthday cake courtesy Tuscan Grill on Celebrity Millenium

Funny how holidays always seem to go faster than every day life but I'm back, safe and sound from my decade changing birthday holiday. Even our cruise ship Celebrity Millenium got into the spirit of it with this personal birthday cake. It was delicious!

Three weeks without a computer, internet, phone or social media - I slept better, got more exercise and still managed to be busy most days! Only managed to read, and enjoyed, two books, both fiction but with a family history focus. Robyn Davidson's Ancestors is an interesting twist on how our ancestors can influence our lives and Victorian Purman's The Three Miss Allens throws light on challenges placed on women by society and how easily our family histories could have been changed by events. Both authors are Australian so there is an Australian flavour to both books.

Of course being totally disconnected means you come home to a small mountain of emails, enewsletters and paper journals and magazines, not to mention Facebook, Twitter and lots of my favourite blogs. There is lots of news including the National Library of Australia's announcement that Dr Marie-Louise Ayres will be taking over as the next Director General of the NLA from 2 Mar 2017. Dr Ayres is taking over from Anne-Marie Swirtlich AM who has been at the helm since 2011 and given us the wonderful Trove during that time.

Another exciting snippet that caught my attention was the news that the Bendigo Regional Archives Centre has digitised over 600 petitions from Bendigo and district residents between 1870 and 1899. Currently 284 petitions with 14,240 signatures and addresses have been indexed and are available online. The whole project is expected to be finished in 2017 with over 35,000 names. My families had left Bendigo by then but this is great for anyone with Bendigo ancestors in that date range.

FamilySearch is celebrating 10 years of web based volunteer indexing with 5.5 billion historical records now online for free. I remember this coming in while I was still at Public Record Office Victoria and we made use of it to index the wills and probates that FamilySearch were digitising in a joint PROV/FamilySearch project. The technology is amazing and such a wonderful tool for family history research. You can read the whole media release here and there is a free downloadable I Love Families images.

Vietnam's orchids rival Singapore's!

So after the technology excitement of Trove, BRAC and FamilySearch I had to order some certificates from Western Australia, something I haven't done for a while. The WA indexes are online but that is as far as it goes. To obtain copies I had to print out order forms for each certificate, hand write my details and then surface mail the forms to Perth. The copies should arrive in a couple of weeks.The only good news was that uncertified digital images are $20. With Queensland and Victoria  you can order certificates online and have the copy within seconds, although sometimes that is just an encouragement to spend more money quicker. Obviously patience is still a required genealogy skill!

On the good news front, I've received a few enquiries to speak at various venues in 2017 so the year is starting to fill out quite nicely and not too busy. This year has been quite frantic with 31 presentations which must be an all time record for me. Next year is definitely going to be more relaxed! I just have to remember to say No and factor in things like travel time.

The rest of this month is dedicated to finishing the Education Records module for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies Australian certificate. This is my fifth module in the last few years and I will be taking a break from this too as they are quite labour intensive. On the plus side I always learn a lot myself but with two cruises already booked for next year, I need to be realistic about work loads.

Singapore's most amazing building - a cruise ship on top of three hotel buildings.
We stayed at a place a little more down market!

No doubt lots of other things happened in my absence but for those interested in where I have been, read on. A few days in Singapore then off on a 14 day cruise to Vietnam (two ports - saw the Chu Chi tunnels and Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang and Hoi An), Hong Kong, The Philippines (two ports - Manilla and Boracay) and Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia before heading back to Singapore for a few more days. A great trip with no drama until our flight home was delayed - supposed to fly out at 8.50pm but didn't leave until 2.00pm the next day. We were given overnight accommodation and breakfast but didn't get to the hotel until 2.00am and we didn't arrive home until 11.00pm so for two days we were like zombies!

Snowman in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia - saw them in every country
we visited. Who knew they could live so close to the Equator?

We had prebooked a transfer back to Bribie Island and when they saw the flight was delayed they made the most remarkable assumption that we would no longer need the transfer. So there was no one to meet us at the airport - obviously we had to arrive back sometime, even if it was the evening instead of the morning! Being stranded at Brisbane airport late at night is no fun and perhaps travel insurance would have covered the rather large cost of a taxi to Bribie but I recently put Uber on my phone (thankfully I took it with me in case I needed it on return). Within 7 minutes we had a Uber driver happy to take us home and the cost was quite a bit cheaper than our usual Island airport transfer. I know who we will be using next time!

Entrance to the largest shopping centre in Manilla -
time to get out our Christmas 'decs' but where to find a snowman?

Anyway it is now back to a more quiet lifestyle in the lead up to Christmas. Until next time, have a great genealogy week.

Dentists, Cornwall & Other News - Genealogy Notes 30 Oct - 6 Nov 2016

My first overseas trip in 1975

With Melbourne Cup, my birthday and getting ready for a holiday it has been pretty much a non genealogy week at least on my own family history research. I have been busy finalising some client reports so that I can go away with a clear conscious.

My December article for Going In-Depth is already there and I probably should also do the December blog post to avoid a mad rush when I get back. Remember you can see a few free issues from 2013 under the Back Issues link. There has been another Q&A for Family Tree Magazine UK and I'm always amazed at some of the brick walls people encounter.

I've also been catching up on watching the latest Australian series of Who Do You Think You Are which I have enjoyed a lot. One celebrity even has a dentist in the family and as Max comes from a chemist/dentist UK family I discovered some new places to look. The British Dental Association has an online museum and there are all kinds of fascinating things to look at and read about. Even if your ancestor was not the dentist, they may have gone to one. Did you know that toothbrushes as we know them only appeared about 200 years ago and even then they were usually too expensive for ordinary folk.

Thanks to Facebook I discovered the Cornwall Forever website and its down to fully explore when I return. It looks at the people, places, history and all kinds of other interesting facts. The current series of Poldark has also been a must watch as I imagine my own Cornish tin miners working in the mines. With the food shortages, lack of jobs and the incredible winters depicted in the series it is little wonder that so many of them came out to South Australia in the early years.

The Office view

When we moved here we decided we could live with the carpet. Four years on we still haven't managed to get it clean (must be the black sand although the beaches are white) and the original cream colour is not what it was when the house was first built. The front lounge is OK as I don't think they ever used that room and we don't either. So the four bedrooms are down to be recarpeted on our return. No big drama except that I have to move the big bookcase in the third bedroom and clean out everything in my study - bookcases, filing cabinets, desk and everything else. It's just like having to move again!

The Office view

Looking around me I can't imagine how I have managed to accumulate so much more 'stuff' since I first unpacked here four years ago. For a person who keeps saying no more books and magazines I seem to be some sort of magnet for them. Speaking of magnets, even the filing cabinets are again covered in magnets from my travels in the last few years. The rest of them are still unpacked in the wardrobe. I started collecting them when I moved to Canberra in July 1999, must have been for something to remember during the cold dark winters!

This post includes two views from my study window. And people wonder why we left down south?

There may be another Diary before I leave but possibly not as there are only three days left  and I'm still hoping for a trip up to Fort Bribie depending on the tides. After my holiday with no work, not even emails, I will be totally relaxed and looking to do some serious family history in the lead up to Christmas. I find that if I can take something along, almost like show and tell, I can get other family members to remember things.

Have a great genealogy few weeks and I'll be back soon.

Specialist websites, NAA charges & Other News - Genealogy Notes 22-29 Oct 2016

It's been a strange week - it feels like I'm on a treadmill and not going anywhere. Or a Groundhog day. Still we can't always progress in leaps and bounds.

Dorcas Trevaskis

Following up on one of my discoveries from the recent Unlock the Past expo in Adelaide, I previewed Verity's soon to be published Veryhistoric Yorke Peninsula website (stand by for the URL) as my GG Grandparents James Henry Trevaskis and Elizabeth Rosewarne married there in 1865 and my G Grandmother Dorcas Trevaskis was born there the following year. I first met Verity on an Unlock the Past cruise so she was aware of my family interest in the area and I knew that she was into One Place Studies. It is simply amazing how much she has pulled together including photographs and newspaper articles for some of the places on the Yorke Peninsula. It is a work in progress and like anything, some places have more information than others. There are also links to sites of interest for all South Australia.

Her other website Dusty Docs is also quite amazing and I had thought it was only for the UK and Ireland but there are also pages for Australia and New Zealand. Just go to the Choose a Country option and both are in the drop down menu. I always find portal sites fascinating as the compilers bring together all kinds of websites, some of which are obvious and others you would probably never think to look for or even stumble over. Of course once you start exploring unfamiliar links, there goes a few hours!

It is coming up for two years since I started writing articles and blog posts on Australasian genealogy topics for the digital genealogy magazine Going In-Depth, published by the The In-Depth Genealogist. Although published in America, it has authors from around the world so that in any issue there can be lots of interest. As usual I was behind in my reading, or even flicking through, so I was unaware that many of my articles actually make the front cover. I was quite chuffed (is that a word) and like all writers and bloggers, I often wonder does anyone read what I write. To be featured on the front cover is a tangible expression that people like my topics.

There is a six month exclusivity period with the publishers but after that I am free to do what I like with my work. So I have over 12 months of articles and blogs that I am thinking of updating (if necessary) and putting on my website for wider use. I've covered lots of Australian archives and libraries as well as some of the usual, and not so usual, genealogy topics. This has appeal as I'm not writing totally from scratch but it will also be a useful measure to see how much has changed since I first wrote the piece.

The big news this week is the increase in the National Archives of Australia's copying charges - see Fact Sheet 51 for the new prices which are effective from 24 October 2016. There has been a sharp increase in the cost of files between 11 to 100 pages which is probably a truer reflection of the costs to digitise the files. If you can visit the Archives office where the records are, you can usually use your own digital camera to take copies. However, if you can't visit, then depending on what you are researching it may be cheaper to get a local record agent or whoever to look at the file first.

Me and my baby brother

This coming week we have Halloween (yes even on Bribie Island), Melbourne Cup and my birthday which used to be the old Guy Fawkes night. Apparently Mum watched the fireworks from her hospital window before giving birth to me! I have some good early birthday memories from when you could have bonfires and fireworks in your own back yard. It was never the same after they moved it to June and then eventually banned it.


Perhaps I'm just suffering birthday blues or Mum continually telling me she can't have a ?? year old daughter is having an effect. Apparently I'm making her feel old! Mind you I'm wondering where all those years have gone too. A good reminder to get all those family stories documented now before time speeds by and our memories fade.

Have a good genealogy week and happy searching.

Victorian Inquests, Facebook & Other News - Genealogy Notes 15-21 Oct 2016

Another big week. Lots of exciting news including that one of my talk proposals for the Footsteps in Time  genealogy conference on the Gold Coast in May 2017 was accepted. That means I have to send off the photo and short biog to the Committee and the deadline is 30 October. Hopefully that means the conference program will be up on their website some time in November. Being so close to home I was always going to attend, but the program is also a big attraction. Can't wait to see who else is speaking.

Towards the end of my time with Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) we were digitising inquest files in collaboration with FamilySearch. It was exciting to read Suzie Zada's blog post Victoria, Inquest Deposition Files 1840-1925 online. The project was huge so nice to see that we can start to see some of the files. Suzie's post was also a reminder that PROV has a new Beta website. On first glance it looks more exciting and inviting but I haven't had a reason to look for anything yet.

I personally hate new websites because it can be a challenge to find information you could once find easily. A good example is State Records New South Wales new website which thankfully they are working towards getting things right although I still struggle to find things. For example, I had difficulty finding their guides on asylums, not under A, not under H, but under M for Mental Health Facilities. Some asylums are benevolent, destitute or children so it seems odd to now put them all under M and not A for the more generic asylums. Even an old fashioned see reference would help. I liked them on the old site.

Another blog post that I liked this week was Alona's  Update Australian Facebook + Genealogy. Alona has been compiling a list of all Australian Facebook sites that relate to genealogy and family history. It is quite amazing how many there are and how much traffic some of them get. Lots of people are asking for advice and making connections online.

But like anything online you do need to check that what you have been told is correct and follow through with original records. I remember one time someone told me that they had been advised that a particular series of records had been destroyed. Having worked in archives for most of my life that seemed strange as they were significant records, so I checked the catalogue and easily found the series which had been indexed and I was able to give the person a direct reference to ask for. A bonus for me was that I hadn't thought to look at that series myself, and I found a file for my mother in law.

A few years ago I had the pleasure of hearing Paul O'Keefe talking about his family connection to Ned Kelly. From memory the talk was called The Girl Who Loved Ned Kelly and it was the story of Ettie Hart, Paul's great great grandmother. It was fascinating and I'm pleased to see that the whole story is now a musical Ned Kelly My Love and showing in Brunswick, Melbourne in November. One of the few times I wish I was still living down south!

Some of my ancestors lived interesting lives but no one is going to write books or musicals about them. Therefore it is always exciting to see this happen to people I know.

Tomorrow I'm going on the Kookaburra River Queen, a paddle wheeler that goes up and down the Brisbane River while offering morning and afternoon teas, lunches and dinners. We are down for the buffet lunch for Chris' Blarney lunch. Chris writes a number of blogs (how does she keep them all up) but I particularly follow her That Moment in Time which is a weekly round of interesting blogs, Irish news, what's new on Findmypast and other places. If you are short of time it's a good place to look. I know a few of the people going but others will be new. It should be a good day and the weather is fantastic at the moment.

Lots of genealogy reports, articles and blog posts coming up again this week. Some weeks there is nothing but then it gets super busy with requests. Still I love challenges. Have another great week of genealogy searching. Until next time, good luck.

Adelaide Expo report, Book review & Other News - Genealogy Notes 8-14 Oct 2016

My little trip to the Unlock the Past Genealogy & History Expo in Adelaide last weekend was fantastic but not without drama. I'm actually wondering if they are good for my health or am I just a little accident prone. We flew in on Thursday afternoon and I noticed that the rings on my fingers were very tight and there was a bit of swelling. My partner was the same and we both thought it would go down in the evening as Adelaide was hot and humid that afternoon.

Before bed I managed to get all but one ring, my engagement ring, off. The finger was still swollen and the ring was very tight. Hoping that all would be well in the morning we went to sleep until I woke up in a fair bit of pain and an extremely swollen finger about 12.30 am. We didn't hire a car so we couldn't drive to a hospital and there was no night reception so after a chat with the Ambulance folk they suggested we probably needed the Fire Service to cut the ring off. To cut a long story short, I was the one wearing only a nightie, with bare feet on the footpath on Anzac Highway in the wee hours of the morning while the lovely firemen worked every so carefully to cut me free without further damage to my finger. While I was extremely embarrassed at having to call on their services, they graciously said it was good to come out and be able to help someone.  Emergency services people really are wonderful. Thank you all.

Thankfully the rest of the weekend went better and you can read my Day One and Day Two reports for all the details. It really was a good event with lots of lectures, exhibitors and networking with friends and colleagues. My partner spent the time with his son and grandkids so a great weekend all round.

While in Adelaide I went without checking emails, spent practically no time on social media and generally did things the old fashioned way. I managed to read Nathan Dylan Goodwin's new book The Spyglass File and you can read my review here. The trouble with his fictional forensic genealogist Morton Farrier is that I want to read all his adventures straight away but of course, each book takes time to research and write. If you are only just discovering Nathan's books, there are three earlier Morton Farrier adventures and a novella. May the fifth book appear as soon as possible.

The University of Tasmania is offering a family history unit over Spring and Summer as part of their Diploma of Family History, entitled 'Writing Family History'. The unit is fully online and has a 100% HECS scholarship for domestic students, meaning that you will not incur a tuition fee or debt for studying the unit. It provides an introduction to writing non fictional and fictional narratives based on genealogical records. Applications are open now and you can apply here.

I'm thinking of enrolling in this unit but the last time I enrolled in one of their family history subjects I broke my right elbow (on another Unlock the Past event) and had to withdraw. Thanks to the 'firies' I still have my finger on my left hand so perhaps all will be well this time.

Last night I gave a presentation to the Bribie Island Historical Society on the early Presidents of the Amateur Fishermen's Association of Queensland, giving it a family history twist. There was lots of interest and questions and my research on the Presidents will expand to take in all the suggestions. It was my last talk for the year. A quick count shows that I did 28 presentations in 2016, that may be an all time record and they can be seen on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

It's been a full on week and I'm still catching up on research reports, blog and article writing, and the online Education Records module. This week will also have my fingers on the keyboard as I have a holiday coming up in November and I want to go away with a clean desk!

Until next time, have another great week geneasearching.

Genealogy Expo Bound & Other News - Genealogy Notes 1-7 Oct 2016

This Diary post is being written in advance as I am about to leave for Adelaide and the Unlock the Past Adelaide expo on Friday and Saturday. It will be genearaging while you read this. Wondering if this will get me another entry in Geniaus' geneadictionary? Last week's geneaenvy made it and if you haven't caught up with Geniaus' latest inclusion, read it here.

I'm giving two talks at the Expo - one on digitised newspapers which seems to be the most popular talk after the organisers did a survey of who was attending what session. Sadly my other talk on sporting ancestors didn't poll as well and I'm now in a smaller room. Most people automatically assume they have no sporting ancestors but the reality is that they have probably never looked. It's not just cricket! All those fishermen, hunters, shooters, swimmers and others must belong to someone. My book is available from Gould Genealogy & History and on sale at the Expo.

Usually I try to do daily posts when I attend these types of events, but since breaking my right elbow last year travel has been more complicated. It's hard to tow a suitcase, laptop and handbag with only one arm so I need to become more techno with the tablet. I have an old model IPad but was given a smaller Android tablet which I haven't quite got the hang of yet.

I could do photos easily with the IPad but the new tablet only seems to take selfies and I'm not quite into that. You can't seem to turn it around and take photos and see what's in the frame. Others have looked and confirmed its not just me being silly. I could use my phone but then I have to get my reading glasses out and as they are a new addition to my wardrobe, I quite often find they are at home!

There will be a full report once I get back but in the meantime I'm sure there will be lots of tweets and Facebook posts from other geneabloggers at the Expo. As well as local South Australians, I know others travelling from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria so it will be a busy time with all the talks, exhibitors and catching up with geneafriends.

If you want time to go fast then get involved in following a daily blog or challenge. I'm a fan of Amy Johnson Crow and she is currently doing 31 Days to Better Genealogy with a different post each day. It's National Family History Month over in the USA and it's similar to what I have done here as a NFHM online event for the last few years. The timing is not great for me with the trip to Adelaide and other projects but each day gives new ideas from someone else's perspective. I can always follow up at a more leisurely pace. The first five days have gone so quick that when I see the email pop up I can't believe it is 24 hours later!

This week saw me send off my monthly blog and article for The In-Depth Genealogist. These are always on Australasian topics and the blog posts tend to favour archives and libraries (no surprise there) and what you can use online.

Max and I as part of the 200th anniversary of
the closure of the First Settlement 2007

We are thinking of going back to Norfolk Island (for a third trip) with some of our Bribie friends. It seems we have raved so much they now all want to experience it themselves. A friend on Norfolk Island reminded me that next year is the 10th anniversary of our convict reunion over there. Seems like 2017 is the year to go back but where have the last 10 years gone?

Last week the family were hassling me about Christmas but now they seem to have twigged that I'm about to enter a new decade, which I had thought I could slip quietly into. I wonder if the swinging 60s still applies or, now that 60 is the new 40, is it back to the 40s? Not sure that I could deal with another mid life crisis.

Either way over the last few weeks of my 50s I thought it might be interesting to try and find photographs from each decade. This might keep the family amused if they insist on the big party. The hard part is that having been a gypsy for a good part of my life, there is not a great photographic store to choose from. Perhaps some of you who have known me through family history for the last 40 years have some interesting photos of me?

Have a great genealogy week and if you are in Adelaide, do say hello. Happy searching until next time.