Genea cruising and National Family History Month - Genealogy Notes 29 Jun - 7 Jul 2015

There is nothing like impending holidays to focus one's mind and try to do everything before you leave. Of course it is not possible and I am now down to the last few absolutely essential things to do.

This afternoon I fly out for the UK where I will be joining the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise to the Baltic. I think I am packed, the bills are paid, the place is reasonably tidy and Max will be here finishing off the backyard landscaping.

I have handed over my Occupations course for the Australian certificate with the National Institute of Genealogical Studies so I hope they find it all satisfactory. If any amendments are needed it will be after I get back.

State Library of Victoria asked me to do a guest blog post for National Family History Month and I have sent that winging its way to Victoria. Look out for it in early August.

Also completed were my August blog post for The In-Depth Genealogist  again on NFHM (what else) and was pleased to learn that they are now a prize sponsor for individuals.

Great news but please do not enter the giveaway until 1 August or your entry will be invalid. There are messages to that effect against each individual prize in bold capital letters and yet people still enter. I have been notifying people who do enter early but I won't be from now on as I will not be here.

Also completed my August article for Going In-Depth, the digital magazine published by The In-Depth Genealogist and it will be a tight thing to get the September ones done when I get back. I hope inspiration will be with me!

NFHM has kept me busy with events being continually added but note that any events added between today and 28 July will not be visible until I come back and make it so. Probably lots to do when I get back! Everything for the launch is under control and I am now doing 14 talks in August. Might need another holiday in September.

My 31 Activities for Individuals and 31 Activities for Societies to do in NFHM are on the Resources page of my website. If you are stuck for ideas on how to make the most of August check out my suggestions.

This Diary will also be on holiday until the end of July. I am not taking a laptop, otherwise it would not be a holiday. It is only three weeks but lots will be happening with some great speakers and presentations on the cruise not to mention sight seeing in all those wonderful European cities. Stay tuned for some blog catch ups later this month. Until next time, happy genea searching.

New Resources & NFHM 2015 - Genealogy Notes 22-28 Jun 2015

The countdown is now really on for my genealogy cruise to the Baltic with Unlock the Past Cruises. Only 8 days before I fly out and still so much to do. Although being coordinator of National Family History Month is a voluntary position it still requires a lot of 'work' especially at this time of the year. Lots of events have gone up into the web calendar and I have been busy promoting these on the National Family History Month Facebook page.

Many of our sponsors have also included pieces on NFHM in their magazines or newsletters - thanks to Ancestry, Australian Family Tree Connections and Inside History magazine and there may be other pieces that I have not seen yet. My blogging friends have also been spreading the word so August looks like being another great geneafest.

As I only get back a few days before the launch I have tried to organise everything and I am leaving all the instructions and notes with Genealogy SA, the South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society,  who will liaise with the National Archives of Australia while I am away if anything comes up. If I don't make it back to Adelaide in time for the launch, at least everything will still go ahead.

So far with all my travels I have never encountered any real issues apart from the odd missed flight due to road traffic delays, cancelled flights and the only luggage issue was when I went to Darwin and my luggage ended up in Tasmania. If my good luck continues to hold, I will be there for the launch.

Each NFHM I put up my 31 activities for individuals to do during August and I have another 31 activities for genealogy and family history societies to do to help them make the most of NFHM this year and in the future. I have put them up a bit earlier due to my absence overseas but people might want to start planning what they want to do during August. Both sets of activities are on the Resources page of my website, at the very top so you can't miss them.

Just about every week we hear about new resources being released but this week I was especially excited to hear that Findmypast has entered into partnership with Public Record Office Victoria  to index and digitise the coastal passenger lists 1852-1924. When I worked there these were on our wish list but the lists were in a fragile condition, unindexed and not even microfilmed.

The other exciting news is that Findmypast and PROV are also doing Courts of Petty Session records for Victoria - regular readers will know that I simply love CPS records as so many of my ancestors are in them for all kinds of crimes from the petty to sometimes more serious.

Here is a snippet from the Findmypast media release.

Sydney, Australia, 25 June 2015, Never before microfilmed or indexed, the collection of Victoria’s Coastal Passenger Lists 1852-1924 will be brought online to Findmypast.com.au later this year. Comprising both original images and transcripts of an estimated 118,000 records, these passenger lists provide a vivid snapshot of immigrants and travellers alike arriving in Victoria’s coastal ports.
 
Family historians using these invaluable records will uncover details of their ancestors’ passage to Australia, as well as biographical information. Covering the 1850s onwards, these records capture the mass immigration into Victoria in the historic gold rush era, which fuelled one of the most dramatic population booms in Australian history.
 
Over one million Victoria Petty Sessions records, dating from 1851 to the 1970s, will also be brought to Findmypast as part of the partnership in an ambitious project expected to span several years. The collection includes approximately 1.7 million original images and transcripts, covering numerous record sets from dozens of central and regional courts throughout Victoria – from Prahran to Port Fairy to Mildura.
 
Capturing details of each case, those involved, and the trial outcome, the Victoria Petty Sessions will help family historians to investigate their ancestors’ criminal history.
 
Director of Public Record Office Victoria Justine Heazlewood says the advantages of this new digitising partnership are two-fold “These informative historical records will become available to online researchers much sooner than would have been possible otherwise, both on our digital catalogue within two years as well as via Findmypast.com.au” 

It really is an exciting time to be doing genealogy as we have never had access to records like this in the past. I can't wait for those records to come online.Now it is cheaper to have a subscription than travel to another state to do research. And more instant, no more waiting for snail mail or time off work to travel. Of course we do need to remember that not everything is online.

The hardest part for me when I see these new releases is that I want to go and look straight away but I know that I should be doing an article or blog post for The In-Depth Genealogist or finishing the course I am writing for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies or updating one of my research guides for Unlock the Past. I have a new edition of What Was the Voyage Really Like? coming out next month - it was the first research guide I wrote so very exciting to see a new edition.

With only 8 days left I am still working out what to fit into the suitcase and currency is a bit of an issue. If I want to buy something on shore with so many different countries, euros are not as standard as I thought especially in Denmark and Sweden, plus I am still reading about the history of the countries we are visiting and some of the places I am hoping to see when on shore.

What will probably happen is that I will end up getting everything done on time, throw things together the night before and set out for a great holiday and have a good time. Travel jitters get me every time!

So no more genealogy releases please to distract me although Trove can continue to send those wonderful emails saying that what I was waiting to see is now ready. I'm just not opening them till I get back as I know I will be off on another tangent and lose more hours in Trove. There is only one more Diary until I leave so wish me luck finishing everything and have another great genealogy week.

Tasmania, NFHM & Trove - Genealogy Notes 15-21 Jun 2015

Another big week and some amazing family discoveries in Trove (Australia's free digitised historical newspapers for overseas readers). More and more titles are being added - see the latest update of newspapers here. Now whenever I have a spare 15 minutes I do a quick Trove search on a family name. Of course this is a trap as it is very rare for me not to find at least one new story.

Yesterday I decided that I would have another look for Max's elusive grandfather and this time I looked for the names of each of his three wives. What a bonus! Articles on all of them and most of the stories also included Henry Spencer's name  ONLY the OCR was poor and the articles were not showing up under a search of his name. I didn't have time to correct the text but I did add tags for his name.

I am beginning to think that Henry lived at the District Court as there was another court appearance with his brother as the plaintiff and another one with his first father in law. I will now have to spend a whole day at the Queensland State Archives looking at court records, with these new cases on top of what I already had.

This is where Trove is so fantastic - it gives you the clues, dates, places and topics that you can then use to find original records and learn more about what ever it is. BUT you need to remember the disadvantages of OCR and do searches from all angles and maybe it is only an initial and not a full given name. Anyway my 15 minutes before dinner turned into a late dinner so maybe do your quick 15 minute search at a more convenient time or risk the family's wrath.

Tasmania has also been on my mind this week and not because that is where we first started tracking Henry Spencer. The University of Tasmania is again offering its free online introduction to family history course and you need to enrol before 6 July. I know others who did this last year and they said it was fantastic. So I have signed up for this round and I can start it when I get back from holidays. But I have to catch up quickly on my return. Sadly the list of things I have to do as soon as I get back is growing, I will probably need another holiday later in the year!! Still I think it will be good to do an introductory course as family history has changed a lot in recent years and refresher courses always motivate me with new ideas and resources.

In 2013 I was given a print copy of Michael Piggott's book Commonwealth Government Records About Tasmania to review. At the time the launch was delayed so instead of publishing the review, I saved it till after the launch.Yes out of sight out of mind and as Michael is the keynote speaker of this year's National Family History Month launch I was thinking about the review and wondering why I could not find it on the Resources page of my website. I forgot to publish it but better late than never. Read the review here and the guide really is a good resource if you have Tasmanian families. It is also a good insight into the usefulness of the National Archives of Australia's research guide series.

Last but not least National Family History Month was the big time taker this week with adding events to the website, promoting them on the NFHM Facebook page, liaising with Genealogy SA who are helping me with the launch preparations and chatting to sponsors. I have to say I am a bit disappointed that more genealogy and family history societies, libraries and archives have not put their events in the web calendar yet. I had hoped there would be more before I went overseas as nothing will be added in my absence. Perhaps there will be a mad flurry this week.

We have no events for WA, TAS or the NT yet and QLD has 27, NSW 26, VIC 57, SA 5, ACT 4 and only 1 online event so far. Why not remind your society, library or archive and get them to add their August events to the NFHM web calendar? Remember it has to be before early July or it will get added at the end of July which will still in time for NFHM but some people like to plan so that they can attend as many events as they can.

Well it is a beautiful winter's day here in Paradise and my garden looks much warmer than my coolish study. I am going out to enjoy the sunshine and maybe even a coffee before I tackle the dreaded weeds! Happy researching and please help me spread the word about NFHM 2015.