Webinars & Blogging magic - Genealogy Notes 17-23 May 2015

Sometimes I wonder if my fear of technology is real and attracts things to go wrong or I am just unlucky. During the week I gave a webinar on Queensland resources online for the Society of Australian Genealogists (SAG). Two days before we did a rehearsal to overcome my fears (it was only my second webinar presenting) and there was no problem. Everything went well and was familiar to me from the previous time. Come the night I could hear them but they could not hear me! After a little bit of fuss on both ends we managed to both hear each other and I gave the talk.

I still find it hard to get into a webinar without seeing the audience but I was very pleased the following day to see feedback on Facebook and Twitter with people following up some of the tips for Queensland resources online. SAG also got good feedback on the night and it really is a good way for people to attend talks if they can't personally travel to the venue/speaker. The presentation is on the Resources section of my website, scroll down to Presentations (slides only, no dialogue).

Week 38 Trade Union Records continues my personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2015. Participating in a blog challenge does help you to focus on what to write about but it also helps to stay committed to writing regularly. My family stories have led to many new discoveries that would not have happened if I was only writing in a paper based journal or magazine.

My GGG Grandmother's handwriting in her bible

In preparation for my meeting with newly discovered cousins, I tidied up some of my Finn family research and worked out what I would take along.  They are my father's generation and descended from my great grandmother's sister. One of the things you hear repeatedly with family history is that you should trace all the siblings too as you just don't know who ends up with what. How true in this case as I was able to see my GGG grandmother's diary in which she had written her name, Mrs Sarrah Fegan of Glasnargit (Ireland).

Sarah gave the bible to her daughter (also called Sarah) and when Sarah (the younger) and her husband John decided to emigrate to Queensland, Sarah brought her mother's bible with her. Their daughter Sarah Jane later became custodian of the bible and it is now with one of Sarah Jane's granddaughters (not called Sarah thankfully as it can be confusing). It was fantastic seeing the bible and reading something that was written in 1861 by my GGG grandmother. Did she ever contemplate that the bible might end up on the other side of the world or that it would still be treasured over 150 years later?

Sue White my cousin on the Finn side of our family tree

But how did we find each other? In 2013 I blogged about the three Finn brothers who went to WW1 (see my blog post here) and my cousin googled their names looking for some military information on them. She discovered my blog post and my website and realised that we shared common ancestors. A quick email to confirm and even though we live in different states, we met in Brisbane and swapped information, scanned some photos and even took some new photos. Great day.

We have some distant cousins on Max's side coming for lunch this week. We met them on our 2007 trip to Norfolk Island for the bicentenary of the closing of the first Norfolk Island convict settlement. We have kept in touch ever since. But as my first example shows, you don't have to travel thousands of miles to meet your relatives, all you need to do is blog and they will find you. Magic!

This coming week I am giving a talk at the Redcliffe Library for Moreton Bay Region Libraries as part of their genealogy program and one further talk to do before the end of the program. I am pleased to say that they have also asked me to do ten talks during National Family History Month in August so that will keep me busy. I wish I was busier adding events to the NFHM web calendar with Victoria currently leading with the number of events. Some states and territories have yet to see any events added.

There is a Skype meeting of AFFHO (Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations) on Monday so I will be doing a report on NFHM 2015 progress so far and hopefully getting some more society support from AFFHO members. But you don't have to be a member of AFFHO to add your August events to the NFHM web calendar and to be in the running for some great prizes.

Until next time, happy researching.

Asylums, Societies & Land Records - Genealogy notes 9-16 May 2015

It has been a strange week as I have spent a bit of time without access to the internet which is extremely frustrating when you need to get certain things finished. Seriously thinking about my internet set up as I do need to depend on it at times and need reliability.

Max at AFAQ Cottage May 2015

On Friday we went with a group of U3A Bribie history lovers to the Amateur Fishing Association of Queensland's headquarters at Bongaree where Max's great uncle Adkins Robert Spencer was a President for over 16 years back in the 1920s and 30s. There were photos up on the wall, an honor roll with his name on it for all those years and copies of the minutes of meetings from when he was President. The cottage is basically the same as it was then except it has been raised up a floor. We find it incredibly moving to walk where our ancestors have been and to be in the same place that they spent time. A great outing.

One consequence of no internet access was that I didn't write any blogs in the last week which feels quite strange, perhaps it is like an exercise person who misses their daily run. All revved up but no place to go. Basically I focused on upcoming talks. I reviewed my talk Family Skeletons or Just Old & Sick: Looking into Asylum Records which I presented yesterday at an education seminar for the Genealogical Society of Queensland. You can see the presentation on my website Resources page, scroll down to Presentations.

It was almost a packed house and there were lots of questions and discussions over morning tea. The Society had copies of my book on asylum records for sale and it was nice to see people purchasing them. Copies of my other research guides sold too and I gave a shout out to Chris Paton's Down and Out in Scotland when someone asked about British asylums.

Presentation area GSQ Library 

It was my first visit to the GSQ's library and as always I was impressed with just how many resources are available to genealogy/family history society members. There are internet resources, microforms, old card indexes (not always in a database), books and magazines and not to mention the wonderful volunteers who give advice to people looking for information on their families.

It always amazes me when people say they don't need to join the local society as they have no Brisbane (or wherever the society is) connections. Australian society libraries have resources for all over the world but especially the UK and other Australian states and you can access Ancestry and Findmypast and perhaps other subscription sites there as part of your membership.

One of the things I keep forgetting is that many societies have resources online in members only sections of their websites. I rejoined GSQ when I came back to Queensland in 2012 and this was my first visit to the library and I have yet to visit their members only resources online. I really need to go back for a research visit as I spotted a few things I want to follow up and in the members only section one of the things I want is online - at least the index is and with the reference I can request a copy (for a fee) without making the trek down to the library.

How many people are not making the most of their Society membership? No time is one of my ongoing issues but it is also not consciously thinking of how best to use my memberships. Of course if you are not a member of a society you are totally missing out in the first place.

Perhaps the most exciting news I picked up during the week was the release of historical land information for South Australia. Historical Torrens titles and name indexes are now online and free to view and download. It is not searchable so you need to open page after page of the name index until you find the right entry. From there you get the CT reference (Certificate of Title) and then it is a simple to preview or download a copy. Have a look at the YouTube demo here or go direct to the SAILIS website to start your search. Thanks to my friends on Facebook for highlighting a great new resource.

Social media such as Twitter, Google +, Facebook and so on can show us some exciting new resources or how to use them as others pass the news along to their friends and followers. Are you missing out?

Trove have sent me a few messages telling me that articles I had flagged on Trove are now ready to see - remember if you see those 'coming soon' messages you can ask them to notify you when the article is available. I find it a handy reminder that I want to see something in particular.

This coming week I have my webinar with Society of Australian Genealogists members on Queensland resources so I am a bit worried about the dodgy internet connection at the moment. I have selected some interesting and not so well known online resources to talk about so it should be good, touch wood! Webinars are one of the members only benefits that SAG offers although you have to be quick to book as they are extremely popular.

Next weekend is a bit of a family gathering, my son's birthday and my niece is turning 21 so a catch up with Mum and my brother's family and dinner out to celebrate. As I am already in Brisbane for that I am taking the opportunity to meet up with a distant cousin who found me via one of my family blogs on the Finn family. She has my GGG grandmother's family bible which my GG grandmother brought out from Ireland with her. How exciting is that! Plus there is other information we can exchange so I am really looking forward to that.

Until next time have a great genealogy week.

Immigration & Getting Ready for NFHM 2015 - Genealogy Notes 1-8 May 2015

Last Diary I was getting ready for Southern Suburbs Branch of the Genealogical Society of Queensland's immigration seminar. It was a great day and I learnt a few new things and you can read my report on the seminar here. I've also spent a bit of time exploring (playing) with my new Queensland Customs House Shipping 1852-1885 passengers and crew CD.

Thanks to Rosemary's talk on it, I have been doing different searches plus I wanted to check out what was on it for the 1864 voyage of the Legion of Honour which I had spotted in her talk. Imagine my surprise when I put in the date and name of the ship and nothing came up. Not all databases use soundex and bring up similar spellings and when I put in Legion of Honor there she was. The ship's name is spelt both ways in a variety of sources so it was a simple thing to find. It is a useful reminder that the difference of one letter might be all that is stopping us from finding what we are looking for. So remember to search for name variations!

National Family History Month 2015 was my other priority this week as I want to get as many events in the web calendar before I go on holidays in July. As it is a manual process to put events into the calendar and a voluntary position I do for AFFHO, I am not taking NFHM on holidays with me! So I am encouraging all genealogy and family history societies, archives, libraries and others to put their events up early so that people can plan what they intend to go to during August. Read more about what's in store in my NFHM blog post and please note that NFHM is in August so only August events will be listed.

I seem to be having some allergy issues at the moment, lots of sneezing which makes it hard to concentrate or do anything as it is non stop sneezing. The chemist sold me some tabs which control the sneezing but then your head just feels like it is full of concrete. We had prebooked on a trip to North Stradbroke Island with the Bribie RSL Branch and I did not want to miss out so I popped a tablet and went.

Why North Stradbroke? Last time I was there was back in the late 1970s and not a lot has changed accept the more modern ferries, love the Big Red Cat (a vehicular ferry). But back then I did not know that my great great grandfather John Finn had lived at Dunwich Benevolent Asylum for a time, nor did I know of his time in Brisbane Gaol and Woogaroo Asylum - all of that was waiting for me to discover ten years in the future. Next weekend I am giving a talk on asylum records for the Genealogical Society of Queensland so I have been thinking of John as his story is in my presentation.

The only trouble with travelling with a bus load of other people is that you stop at the scenic places (we went to Dunwich, Amity Point and Point Lookout) and drive straight past the cemetery and any of the other historic places. I would have loved to visit the museum but there was no time. Still it was a good day out although an 11 hour round trip! I will certainly plan to go again and do the historical things we missed out on this time.

Mum and I ca 1975 (where did 40 years go?)

Tomorrow is Mother's Day so I will be visiting Mum and letting her know she still has two cousins older than her. I expect she will be surprised. My son is also going to go to Mum's so a chance to all see each other at the same time. My brother might even be there, a real family day.

As I mentioned above I have my asylums presentation next weekend and then I am doing a webinar for the Society of Australian Genealogists on Queensland resources online. So another technologically challenging session for me but one way to learn about new technology. Personally I think I prefer nodding heads in an audience rather than a laptop screen at home by myself.

Everyone have a great Mother's Day either being with our mothers or remembering them. Until next time, have an exciting genealogical week.

Serendipity & new resources - Genealogy notes 23-30 Apr 2015

I am starting this week's Diary post with one of the best blog posts for genealogy/family history societies I have seen in a while. It is Long Lost Relatives aka Susan Petersen's An open letter to genealogy societies and I can relate to all of her points and mostly agreeing. Although regular readers will know that I am still pretty much a paper based reader but then that is probably because I do most of my reading in bed and the only technology in the bedroom is the ancient clock radio. I am a member of five societies at the moment and renewal is coming up and I am seriously thinking of letting my membership lapse for some of them. Why pay for something that you don't use or get value for?

Part of the Anzac Day parade on Bribie 2015

Anzac Day was huge on Bribie Island and Max also had his RAAF reunion here so there was lots of social activities over the weekend. The parade on Bribie was bigger again this year and it is great to see all the schools involved too. For a small island, Bribie has two primary schools and one high school and an amazing number of children when seen all together. The distance was too far for Max and his walking stick but we watched the parade and attended the service at the Bribie RSL.

Max before the service at Bribie RSL

Last week I wrote about her I was trying to see if Mum was the last of her generation and I said there were two olders cousins still unaccounted for. The very next day I received an email contact via Ancestry from the son of one of those cousins (which was a little spooky or is that serendipity) to say that his mother and her older sister are still alive. Wow. Since then he has updated me on that side of the family as I have not been in touch with them since the 1980s.

Finding cousins (several times removed) is so much easier these days, especially if they have put their family history interests online in a subscription database or one of the free sites. If they are blogging their family stories that is another plus as Google can search and find them for us. I find it ever so much more effective than the old genealogical research directories that we paid to put our names into together with a broad date range and county.

In the last month I have been contacted on three different family lines because they have found my interests online somewhere. The information all three has filled gaps in my own knowledge of the family and I am going to meet one of them in a few weeks to see family memorabilia in person. We live a few hours apart but will be meeting somewhere in the middle. All very exciting.

Serendipity also played a role in my Week 37 Military Histories and Unit War Diaries entry in my personal blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2015. While I knew about those resources I had not used them before so if I hadn't gone to the talk, I would not have been inspired to look. We never know when and where we are going to find clues for our family history. If you have not seen or used these resources read my Week 37 post.

Work continues on my Occupations course for the National Institute of Genealogical Studies. When you start to focus on a particular subject area it is amazing how many 'new' resources you discover as one thing always leads to another. This is my way of saying I am easily distracted by fascinating websites and start looking for my own families instead of keeping up the writing. Really the internet just has to be the most fantastic resource for family history but it's not all online yet.

Updating my talk on what the voyage was like for Sunday's seminar at Southern Suburbs Branch of the Genealogical Society of Queensland also made me realise how much easier research has become as I first gave a version of this talk back in the 1980s. Newspapers are now digitised and online (but not all), as are photographs of ships, many shipboard diaries have been digitised and again, I was distracted and went looking for information on my families. However, my talk now has some fascinating new snippets on my own research so a win win.

My next blog post and article for The In-Depth Genealogist were finished just in time (end of the month is the deadline). The blog is a series of posts on some of my favourite research institutions in Australia and as we have so many great archives and libraries I suspect it will go on for quite some time. With the articles I am taking a subject approach and like the examples above, I am finding new information myself just researching and writing these posts and articles.

I am pleased to say that some events are starting to come through for National Family History Month which is now only three months away. Next week I will be doing a blog post on it to let everyone know what is new this year and what they can look forward to in August. Remember to remind your local society to add their August events into the web calendar to be eligible for the wonderful sponsors prizes for societies.

It is a very wet weekend here so I have stacked up all my paper genealogy magazines received over the last couple of months and am planning a nice time sitting back reading. I also have quite a few digital copies to read too but sitting at this desk is not quite as appealing as the recliner lounge. I must learn to use my IPad better - I do have some digital books on there but most of my magazines are on the laptop.

No doubt there will be lots of things I will want to follow up from my reading so I'm guessing before too long I will be back at my desk, one of my family history folders on the table beside me, looking up a website to see if I can find anything on the family that I have not already got. Just as well we need to eat, drink and sleep otherwise I would always be at this desk!

Only one more month of autumn then winter will be upon us. But then winter up here is not quite like it is down south. While I miss those wonderful autumn colours, I don't miss those frosty mornings. Have a great genealogy week and I hope you are making as many exciting discoveries as I am. Until next time.

ANZAC Day, Digital Memories & Death Records - Genealogy Notes 17-23 Apr 2015

Another huge week with lots happening on my own personal genealogy as well as going to genealogy seminars and National Family History Month ramping up. First up I went to Colleen Fitzpatrick's three Brisbane seminars and you can read my review here.

I also participated in Kintalk's Trans Tasman ANZAC Day blog challenge. This year's tribute was to Alexander Thomas Davis my cousin three times removed who received a gun shot wound to the head in France and died of wounds shortly after arriving back home at Toorbul. Read my tribute to Alexander here.

The Queenslander, 8 Jan 1916 courtesy
State Library of Queensland

The latest issue of Queensland's Registry of BDM's Family History Journal has a military article on my three great uncles Robert, John and Denis Finn who all enlisted in WW1. The Registry describes me as an 'avid supporter' - my online dictionary says that is someone who is enthusiastic, keen, ardent, devoted, dedicated, zealous and fanatic. Yep, I guess that is me! To subscribe (free) and read their really interesting journal and find out what's happening in Queensland BDMs visit this link.

My mother's draft family history progresses and I bought her a small book Dear Mum from me to you: journal of a lifetime which is basically a series of questions about her childhood, parents, marriage, children and so on. I thought it would be a good idea if Mum jotted down her memories in this journal and I could incorporate some of them into the family history. Well she did short answers to the first three questions and then it was all a bit hard with her arthritic fingers.

Not to be defeated I went back with a digital recorder and said all she had to do was read the question and then give her answer. I showed her the on/off buttons and away she went. I came back a little while later and she had totally finished the whole book, when I had been expecting her to take days, if not weeks. I haven't worked my way through the questions yet but some of her memories seem quite short. Perhaps I can go back with further questions after she has thought about things more. At least I am getting a bit more than the usual 'what do you want to know that for?'.

The other thing I was trying to confirm (or not) was that Mum is the last of her generation. I have thought this might be true for some time so I set about trying to get death dates for her cousins if I didn't already have them. This led to some interesting discoveries in Ancestry and My Heritage where I know some of my relatives have put their family trees. For those lines were no one is actively following the families, I did searches in Brisbane City Council's Grave Location Search, Moreton Bay Regional Council's cemetery database and the Ryerson Index and picked up a few more death dates.

Mum's youngest brother Cyril who saw service in WW2,
Mount Thompson crematorium  

I had heard that Mount Thompson crematorium was also now online but had never looked before. Well there went a few hours! Not only is it online but there are images of the plaques so even though I have photos taken back in the 1980s I was able to see more up to date images and in quite a few cases, additional people had been added to some family plaques. However, if your person does not have a memorial then they don't appear in the search results. At least mine don't.

The interesting thing about the Heaven's Address site is that it also links to other crematoriums and memorial gardens (not just Queensland) and is definitely worth a visit to see if one of your families final resting places is included.

I was then left with only a couple of names other than Mum's. So I did a Google search on their names using inverted commas around the names. Worked a treat for one of them! I found Betty Isabel White listed on the Gympie Funerals website and the last time I corresponded with the family they were in the Gympie area. The information is basically what would have appeared in the local newspaper announcing the funeral. I wasn't so lucky with the other two cousins (sisters) but if still alive, they would be older than Mum. Looks like I will have to try and find some of my own cousins to solve the question of whether Mum is the last of her generation.

There are quite a few talks coming up in May so I will be out and about again. The first is a seminar being held by Southern Suburbs branch of the Genealogical Society of Queensland. It is on 3 May and includes 4 talks all on immigration topics. Details are here but it is a great opportunity to hear Eric and Rosemary Kopittke, Helen Smith and myself. Great value at $20 (in advance) for the day but you do need to bring your own lunch or buy it nearby. Other talks coming up can be found on the Events page of my website.

I have been adding some events to the National Family History Month web calendar but I would love to see more events added. Genealogy and family history societies who enter an event before 30 June 2015 will receive a gift certificate from the National Institute of Genealogical Studies. Full details on the Sponsors page.

Tomorrow we have the ANZAC Day dawn service and parade on Bribie Island plus there is the RAAF reunion which kicks off tonight with dinner at the Bribie RSL and ends on Sunday with a BBQ lunch. So not a lot of genealogy will be done this weekend but I am hoping to catch some of Max's military stories. Now that I have dusted off the digital recorder he is next on my list of subjects.

We will all be remembering our military ancestors this weekend, the centenary of the landing at Gallipoli. One of Max's cousins, Tasman Jarvis died on 25 Apr 1915 at Gallipoli, My tribute blog post to him was on 24 Apr 2010 and you can read it here. Until next week, happy searching.

Maryborough, Memories & the Unexpected - Genealogy Notes 11-16 Apr 2015

Maryborough Family Heritage Research Institute

This week's Diary is a little early as it is Mum's 81st birthday party this weekend and I know I won't get time to write this at her place. The three talks went well in Maryborough (QLD) and I think there are some lessons for all genealogy and family history societies in my trip. So I blogged about the experience, why not read Genealogy Society Seminars - Why You Should Have Them. As usual, I put the talks online and you can find them on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

After last week's Diary I was thrilled to receive some advice on including photos in my mother's draft family history from fellow geneablogger Library Currants. It sounds so easy reading her notes, but when you are working alone at home things can seem difficult and too hard. So remember there is an online circle of geneafriends out there to seek advice from and this is yet another example of how blogging can pay off.  Yes it is great for cousin bait but we can also seek assistance from others who are doing the same things we are.

I neglected to mention that I took Nathan Dylan Goodwin's Orange Lilies with me to the AFFHO Congress in Canberra. The plan was that I would read it at night before bed but each night I arrived back at the hotel too tired to read anything. Anyway I have now managed to catch up with the adventures of Morton Farrier, forensic genealogist (fictional) and his investigations into his own family history. Now I can't wait for the next book to come out.

I also managed to finish The Convict Theatres of Early Australia, 1788-1840 by Robert Jordan recently republished as an e-book by Currency House. Read my review here. I didn't think this book would have anything directly relevant to my own family history research but I was wrong. There is a whole chapter on Norfolk Island and as we have a convict family in the First Settlement this started me wondering if they were theatre goers.

Tonight there is a Google Hangout with Geniaus looking back on Congress which I am planning to attend. It is a little easier now as daylight saving has finished and it is a more suitable time for me. Plus I won't get confused as to what time it really is on. Details here.

As well as Mum's party at the weekend, I am also going to the Colleen Fitzpatrick (real life forensic genealogist) seminars in Brisbane, co-hosted by the Genealogical Society of Queensland and the Queensland Family History Society. There are three talks which I have not heard before and an opportunity to catch up with my Brisbane geneafriends. No doubt both societies will also be selling their publications so temptation will probably be present as well.

The other major occupier of my time is Trove as they have now started to release some of the digitised issues of the Brisbane Telegraph and there are literally dozens and dozens of references to my families in the newspaper. Some of the information I have already got from the Courier Mail but in a lot of cases there is more information in the Telegraph or it is only in the Telegraph. This means I need to check every reference. Some entries are not yet available and some look really exciting so I have asked to be emailed when they go live.

Next week I have to do my contribution to Kintalk's Trans Tasman ANZAC Day blog challenge and on the ANZAC day weekend there is an RAAF reunion on Bribie Island so we will be going to quite a few functions between Friday and Sunday. The march is on Saturday but Max won't be walking this year as his ankle and leg are still recovering from his fall at the end of January. I have offered to wheel him in the wheelchair or he could go with the older guys in the community vehicles but that is not quite the same as marching himself.


The must do item on my list is to continue the Australian occupations course I am writing for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. I had been doing quite nicely with that but Max's broken leg, Congress and Easter were all big distractions. Hopefully I will slip easily back into where I was up to and complete it over the next few weeks. I need to clear the decks as National Family History Month will be gaining momentum from May onwards as I add events to the web calendar and start doing some publicity. How quickly a year passes!

Until next week, happy searching.

Blogs, Awards and Progress - Genealogy Notes 4-10 April 2015

An interesting week with some genealogy research progress. While at Congress I had asked Sylvia from FIBIS (Families in British India Society) about our Tasmanian convict who died in Darjeeling India and since then she has helped me learn a bit more about the Oakley family in India.

In one of my talks I tell people not to have tunnel vision and to broaden out their thinking. This is MY example of tunnel vision because Sylvia also said I could have found out some of this information earlier by doing a Findmypast search. When I use FMP I think of the UK, Ireland and Australasia but of course it is much more than that. I feel a little silly now but that is one way we learn, by talking to others about our research and by making sure we make the most of websites we visit. No matter how many years of research we have under our belts, it is hard to keep up with everything new and sometimes we forget the obvious.

My other big learning exercise for the week was tackling my mother's draft family history in Word. I have made some good progress on revising text, style and I have inserted lots of photos. And that is where I started to come unstuck. I have always had trouble with images in Word and adding captions seems that little bit harder. Previously I had all the end notes at the end of the draft but I thought it would look better at the end of each chapter. That's not quite working out either. But then again I have learnt lots of other things about Word so still making progress.

I have started writing Australasian articles and blog posts for the In-Depth Genealogist and my first article appeared in the March issue of Going In-Depth and two blog posts have been published. I need a better way of raising my notifications about when they are published as I keep missing them. It is probably in my settings and with the Congress rush I haven't had time to sort myself out. I have also been exploring the resources on their website and although mostly US centric at the moment, there are some resources I want to explore further when time permits. And there is my GGG grandfather in Minnesota to follow up.

My personal genealogy blog challenge continues and Week 36 was on Hospital Records. Kintalk's Trans Tasman Anzac Day genealogy blog challenge is on again and I have already chosen which military ancestor I will write about this year. Anyone can join in and honour one of their military ancestors. Alexander Thomas Davis is also featured in a military display at the Bribie Island Seaside Museum and as he has no descendants, I will write up more about his military service and how he died of wounds not long after he arrived back home at Toorbul

A good bit of my time was again spent on National Family History Month (NFHM). I now have all the new sponsors information on the website and details of the prizes to be won in August. That's a reminder that the competition does not start until 1 August although I know there are some eager people out there already!

I also sent an invitation email to 186 genealogy and family history societies throughout Australia so I hope some of them decide to participate if they don't already. I also have another 50 or so societies for whom I don't have an email address so I am still working on those. Why not encourage your society to participate too, simply refer to all your August activities as NFHM events and enter them into the NFHM web calendar.

I once jokingly said that I needed a medal for all the work I do for NFHM voluntarily and now I have my medal, but not quite for NFHM. Back in 2009 I was awarded AFFHO's (Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations) meritorious service award for my family history endeavours in QLD, ACT and VIC over the years. The award is actually a trophy but from this Congress they are also giving a medal which can be worn at AFFHO events which is a nice way of recognising past recipients. Look out for me wearing mine this August!

Tomorrow I am in Maryborough giving three talks for the Maryborough Family Heritage Research Institute and I believe that there are also attendees from other groups as well. Should be a great day but after three talks and however many questions I will be looking for a quiet Sunday. Perhaps even a spot of research or more work on Mum's family history book. Until next time happy searching.

AFFHO Congress wrap up - Genealogy Notes 28 Mar - 3 Apr 2015

It has been a huge week since last Diary. The AFFHO Congress 2015 is over and most of us have returned home and have been busy writing up our post Congress blogs. I had so much to say that it is a three part review. Part One was Days 1 and 2, Part Two was Days 3 and 4 and Part Three was Social Events and Exhibitors. Click on the links to read each part.

Photo taken by Mr Geniaus

As well as my own blogs I have been busy reading what others had to say and there were lots of geneabloggers there. To assist us in finding all these bloggers Geniaus (aka Jill) is compiling a pre, during and post Congress list of blogs. Jill's Geneabloggers at Congress- Reflections has all the links although there might be still more to come. Geniaus and Mr Geniaus are obviously a dynamic duo as he came in to Congress to take the Geneabloggers photo and I think we were mostly all there. That's Jill second from right at the front and you can see the lovely blogger beads that Jill supplied as with. It was a great way to instantly see who was a Geneablogger!

It was only after we got home that I realised that Easter was this weekend and we had one of Max's sons popping in for a short visit, hence the mad effort to finish my blog posts before Easter. We also have a trip down to Brisbane to see Mum and other family members. Easter is the time when my orchids start to flower and I am particularly pleased with this one. The others took a bit of a battering in the storm we had while we were in Canberra.

As always after a Congress, or any genealogy event, I am super motivated and as Mum's birthday is coming up I dragged out my draft family history on her Price family. I originally wrote it back in 2002 when I was in Canberra and of course since then I have added bits and pieces, the usual never ending story. After talking to David from Openbook Howden at Congress, I realised that I could print a few copies for family members at a relatively reasonable price, especially if I just give him a PDF. Of course this means I have to do layout, editing etc myself or they can do it but that costs more. It will depend on how clever I am!

My Easter genealogy exercise is to reread it, do amendments, additions and add in some charts and photographs with the aim of an almost final work by Easter Monday night. It is limited to three generations so I have not mentioned any living people except Mum and I believe she is the last of her generation. I will have to get someone else to read it as you can never pick up all your own mistakes.

Already I have doubts about this goal as so far today I have found new information courtesy of Trove (what else!). Two photos of Mum's uncle, William Price, who went to the Boer War twice and eventually settled in South Africa have surfaced in Trove. Now we finally know what he looked like. If I recheck Trove for everyone mentioned in the Price family draft, then I might just need more than the Easter weekend to finish.

Plus there are the new genealogy books and magazines I bought home to read (see Congress blog posts for titles), not to mention all those Congress papers. I have some new prize sponsors for National Family History Month 2015 so I need to make some more changes to the website and post Easter I am starting the NFHM PR campaign in earnest.

Next weekend (11 April) I will be in Maryborough (QLD) giving three talks for the Maryborough Family Heritage Research Institute - this was the event cancelled back in February due to Cyclone Marcia. Looking forward to that as they are always a good crowd.

Have a safe and happy Easter and where possible, try and sneak in some genealogy time, especially if you are catching up with family members. Happy searching until next time.

AFFHO Congress news: Genealogy notes 23-27 March 2015

It's not quite a week since the last Diary but I thought there should be at least one Diary post during AFFHO Congress 2015. I'm still adjusting to the new time zone and waking up late as my body is programmed to wake at the same time each day. But I'm putting it to bed later than usual so I could be a bit of a zombie today.

It was a long trip here but we arrived safe to be greeted by a Congress welcoming committee who were our friends when we lived here many years ago. Then we were taken to the Mantra on Northbourne where we are staying and although we were early (before 2 pm), they found us a room that was ready and we were unpacked and having a reviving cup of tea within minutes.

I needed it because then it was the shortish walk to the Canberra National Convention Centre to collect my conference satchel (to be described in a later blog post) and meet up with lots of old geneafriends and a few of my new social media friends also came up and introduced themselves. I am going to have to stop thinking of people in terms of their blog names and remember their real names!

After I collected my blogging beads from Jill there seemed to be a whirlwind of photos with various people. No doubt some of those will surface on blog posts or social media. Then it was the walk back to the Mantra to get ready for the meet and greet at the Australian War Memorial. Fortunately I met long time friend Sue (now a member of the Caloundra Family History Group) and she offered to drive Max and myself there as he is still having a bit of trouble walking following his recent broken leg drama.

At the meet and greet we met up with lots of other people from our Canberra days but also from our genealogy cruises with Unlock the Past Cruises, other genealogy conferences and our days of living in Melbourne and Brisbane. Once you have been to one geneaconference, you know that there will always be someone to talk to at the next one as it is so easy to meet new people and to meet again regular attendees.

The first day of Congress talks was excellent and that will be a separate post too when I have more time. The venue is excellent and the Royal Theatre has three screens so that everyone can see everything. This is lots of room in the exhibition area and so far I have not bought anything. Early days yet. This was another opportunity to catch up with old friends while enjoying the excellent catering. There seemed to be lots of food at multiple stations so no overly long delays in getting lunch and tea and coffee.

At the end of the day I attended the AFFHO AGM where I was given the opportunity to talk about National Family History Month 2015 and to encourage all AFFHO societies to participate. There will be more about NFHM once I have all my Congress posts written. It is the next big thing on the Australasian genealogy horizon.

The day ended with a great Chinese dinner at Kingston (the China Plate) with Dorothy from Wagga Wagga & District Family History Society and Rosemary from HAGSOC (Canberra), both long time geneafriends. It was a wide ranging geneadiscussion.

Well if I don't stop writing this update and get ready I will miss Josh Taylor from Findmypast and the first keynote speaker of the day. My talk on sporting ancestors is one of the last talks of the day so another long day and we have the conference dinner tonight at Parliament House! If you aren't at Congress, have fun watching us on social media with #affho #genealogy or follow the usual suspects. Until next time, happy searching.

Google, photos, sporting ancestors:Genealogy notes 16 - 22 Mar 2015

Last week's Diary brought the news of an exciting discovery of a WW1 ancestor's photograph. I'm happy to say that I have just been sent a photo of my great great grandmother's sister. As we have no photos at all on this line I am super excited as she looks just like my grandmother or is that wishful thinking? Or do all little old ladies look like that?

This exciting discovery came about because someone (my third cousin once removed) Googled our common ancestor John Carnegie of Toorbul and found all my blog posts on how I eventually knocked down the brick walls around this family. I've dashed off a quick email to say hello!

I have to say that Google is perhaps the most exciting genealogical discovery of all time BUT you still need to be blogging your family stories to be discovered and contacted by long lost cousins. I really don't know why everyone doesn't have a geneablog. It is a wet rainy day here and when I logged on to write this Diary post, there was the email and the photos. How easy is that?

Week 35 of my personal genealogy blog challenge is Sporting Records and that is also one of the topics I am talking about next week at the AFFHO Congress in Canberra. I'm also happy to say that my new research guide Discover your sporting ancestors: it was not all work and no play is also now available. There are so many aspects of our ancestors lives that we can explore and I have really enjoyed tracking down some of these sporting stories.

My first blog post for The In-Depth Genealogist was this week and not surprisingly I was writing about the AFFHO Congress and how we will all be using social media to share what is happening in Canberra over five very exciting days and nights. Only four more sleeps for me!

Although Congress is now occupying most of my thoughts I need to keep in mind that the weekend after it I am heading back up to Maryborough for the genealogy seminar cancelled courtesy of Cyclone Marcia. I am giving three talks and the seminar is being organised by the Maryborough Family Heritage Research Institute. I'm really looking forward to catching up with them as I first started giving talks there in the 1980s!

My book review of Jayne Shrimpton's Fashion in the 1940s is here. It gave me some great ideas to follow up on my female relatives during WW2.

During a quick visit to Brisbane I was lucky enough to have a look behind the scenes at the Queensland Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages. Plus they are one of our new prize sponsors for National Family History Month (NFHM) in August 2015. The list of sponsors prizes is looking good and thanks to AFFHO and Ancestry for being major sponsors this year (new/additional sponsors may also join between now and August). Keep up to date by visiting the NFHM website or this Diary as I am the voluntary coordinator again!

There must be other news but I really want to get back to my Carnegie research and look at the two pages of information sent along with the photos. Although looking at the time, the family might be expecting me to cook dinner! Perhaps they won't be hungry tonight? Happy researching and blogging, let people find you.

WW1 Soldier Portraits, the first AFFHO Congress and women - Genealogy Notes 9-15 March 2015

I love blogging. I actually relax when I write and this week I managed to do two blogs. Week 34 in my 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2015 is on Maps another fascinating resources for genealogy and family history research. The second blog was Thoughts on the 1977 AFFHO Congress (the first ever Congress) and its proceedings and speculating on how many people who went to that will be at the 14th Congress in Canberra in a week or so.

I started researching my own family history in March 1977 so I have been lucky to hear many of Australia and New Zealand's top conference speakers since then. Plus I have always bought the proceedings to refer to later. The genealogy world has changed so much since then.

The State Library of Queensland has been digitising soldier's portraits from WW1 as published in The Queenslander as part of their QANZAC 100 Memories for a new generation project. They are doing detailed images and as such the images and soldier's names are much clearer than what is in Trove. For example, I have been unable to find Denis Patrick Finn's photo in Trove but thanks to the SLQ's project, I now have his image and the reference to the page and date of The Queenslander. Denis was wounded and served time in a prisoner of war camp so I am really glad to now have a photo of him in uniform. He looks so young but then he was only 17 years old. I have more WW1 soldiers to find so that is another project I am closely following.

March is Women's History Month and my geneacolleague Hazel Edwards (author of How to Write a Non Boring Family History) sent me some wonderful ideas from her annual Witty Women's lunch and this year guests had to bring a plate of food to share with a quote from an historic female. Hazel has been doing this for 36 years with different themes, that's a lot of celebrating women of the past. Here are some examples and I have tried to keep to a family history type theme:

• Actress & inventor Hedy Lamarr developed a patent for frequency hopping now used in Wifi & Blue Tooth
• DNA researcher & biologist Rosalind Franklin, was mentioned three times, with double helix fruit platter, corkscrew cheese sticks and rice rolls in genetic patterns. Her male colleagues Watson, Crick & Wilkins got the Nobel Prize for the double helix model in 1962.
• Family historian Kath Ensor wrote ‘The Blue Family history with Indigo and Skye’ 
• Nurse Florence Nightingale was quoted in connection with ‘Notes on Nursing: What It is, and what it is not,’ translated as having a little of what you fancy, has and always will, do you good.’ 

Reading Hazel's list of women, food and quotes started me thinking about my female ancestors and could I associate them with a food or a quote. Something to work on for next year's women's history month. Thanks Hazel for the reminder of all those talented women from the past and present.

Two talks this week and both on Bribie Island which made a pleasant change from all the driving I have been doing lately. It is always nice to speak at my local library (part of Moreton Bay Region Libraries) and it was a good turnout with some new and familiar faces. Plus a blast from my past - the 60s - a lady came up and introduced herself as the daughter of the family who lived across the road from us in Bardon (Brisbane suburb) back then. There is also a family connection as her brother married my cousin and they and their two children lived two doors up from us in the same street.

My other smaller talk was at the monthly meeting of the Bribie Island Historical Society. It was a members night and a number of people got up and talked about various families and events. My focus was on Max's Burstow, Eldridge and Spencer families and their connection to Bribie in the 1920s and 30s. It was amazing how many of the members stories interconnected. Max has now met one of his Eldridge cousins still living on the Island and we have swapped notes over a yummy carrot and walnut cake which I made. I As I have been a bit stressed with all his medical issues, I reawakened my domestic goddess as I do find cooking and creating meals relaxing.

Regular readers will remember that I was going to be involved in a mini genealogy do over based on promptings from Thomas MacEntee. I was really shocked yesterday when I looked at where I was at - Week 3 - and when I visited his website they are up to Week 11. If you ever want time to fly, nurse someone with a broken leg. So I'm a bit behind there and the other thing I missed out on finishing was my free trial of Family Historian. That month is well and truly over and I had only really started looking at it when priorities shifted. But my mind was almost made up to purchase and swap over so that will be a post Congress task.

In my spare five minutes I always try to do a quick search in Trove and without fail, I am turning up new articles on my families. Some of the new titles added recently have just been fantastic. The Brisbane Telegraph is coming soon and that is going to be a geneafest of family info.

Only one more week or so before I head down to Canberra so it will be a catch up/tidy up kind of week so that I am totally prepared to simply sit back and enjoy Congress. If you are there too, come up and say hello! Till next time, happy researching.

Crime, new books & a strange bird - Genealogy notes 1 - 8 Mar 2015

Another week with little time to think but an amazing range of genealogy activities. I guess there is always room to squeeze in what we like doing.

Collecting my mail from the post office is an easy way and I was thrilled to see that Unlock the Past has just published three new titles from some of my favourite speakers - Paul Milner with Buried Treasure: what's in the parish chest?; Chris Paton with Down and Out in Scotland: researching ancestral crisis and Thomas MacEntee with 500 Genealogy & Family History Tips. I can't decide which one I want to read first, I love Chris' "ancestral crisis" as that is what my families seem to do all the time and Thomas' is bound to have me zipping all over the web while Paul's looks like a gentle read but will have me wanting to be on the next plane to England!

There is another new title Til Death us do Part: causes of death 1300 - 1948 by Janet Few who is a UK speaker who I have not heard before. It looks fascinating and I must check out her website The History Interpreter.

I have also been asked to review another book The Convict Theatres of Early Australia 1788-1840 by Robert Jordan and now published by Currency House as an ebook. That sounds really interesting too and I am still working on my reviews for Jayne Shrimpton and Carol Baxter. Sounds like I need a nice quiet place to curl up and have a good read!

My personal blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2015 continued with Week 33 on Church Records, another underused resource for finding out info on our ancestors, especially some of our female ancestors. Below is my great grandmother Elizabeth Price who was a deaconess at the Baptist church in Charters Towers.

It was a big week for talks with one at Albany Creek Library on Warning Warning: Tips & Tricks to Avoid Common Mistakes and one for the Queensland Family History Society on court of petty session records. Both talks are on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations. The QFHS talk was part of their seminar on Criminals and Victims and you can read my report on the day here. You can learn so much from attending education seminars like this as the speakers really know their topics.

I haven't done any feedback gathering on my talks for a while so with the Moreton Bay Region Libraries talks I have been asking people to fill in a quick survey form. I am happy to say that most people gave me 5s, said they could have listened to me longer and would attend another talk given by me. Plus some suggestions for future talks. This was great and confirmed verbal feedback on other occasions.

But there was one person who gave me 2s indicating that I was not clear, interesting or relevant. There was nothing else to give me a clue as to why I had been so disappointing for them. I know you can't please everyone but it would have been good to know why and perhaps there is something I can do to change their experience in the future.

The reason I raise this is that geneafriend Jill Ball called me a 'strange bird' in her post Going Out on a Limb. I have always placed the slides from my talks on my website so that attendees can go home and relook at the slides at their leisure and so that they don't have to madly write notes while I am talking. They can experience the talk in total and then go home and think about the detail. It also means that those who can't attend can at least see the slides even if they miss all the dialogue that goes with it.

Jill's point is that not many people do this and some even try to stop people taking photos of their slides rather than writing the points down. I did think about not putting my slides online last year after I heard that someone had reproduced one of my talks after taking out my footer and logo. I know my online practice is appreciated by people who attend my talks, why should they suffer because someone decides to copy my work. As Jill says, if someone is going to reproduce your work they can still do it by taking handwritten or typed notes so are we going to ban note taking too. I for one am happy to continue being a 'strange bird'.

This week I am talking at the Bribie Island library so not a long drive which is a refreshing change plus I am going to be talking about Max's families on Bribie in the 1930s at the Bribie Island Historical Society meeting on Wednesday night. It's been fun putting together  a bit of show and tell on his families and their connections to the Island way back then.

The absolute must do is finalise my talks for the AFFHO Congress 2015 which starts in Canberra on 26 March 2015. So much to say and so little time to do it. All the Congress papers are being published on USB although a paper copy will also be available for those who want to pay. It is going to be a fantastic four days catching up with friends, listening to some great talks and socialising.

Until next week try and get some genealogy searching in  or at least read some  fantastic blog posts, or a genealogy society journal.

Talks, articles & webinars - Genealogy notes 22-28 Feb 2015

Hard to believe that it is the end of February already. Having only 28 days doesn't help but it seems to have gone by in a blur but I have been busier than normal with my nursing duties on top of everything else.

One casualty was there was no new post in my 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2015 but that should resume next week (as I touch my wooden desk). I did manage to send off my second blog post  for The In-Depth Genealogist and article for Going In-Depth and watch out for my first one in the March issue coming soon. It has been a learning curve working with a new online magazine as they have different procedures from other magazines I have written for. But all good new skills for me and as I get into a routine it will be easier, I thank Terri O'Connell for her patience in answering all my questions.

My talks at Woodford and North Lakes for Moreton Bay Region Libraries went well and you know you are in a rural area when a frog starts hopping around right where you are going to give your talk. Probably driven inside to get away from all the rain we had last week. Luckily some brave young men came to our rescue, picked it up and returned it outside. Albany Creek is on Monday and they are always a good group as the talk follows their local genealogy society meeting.

As I am an early riser I tuned into Legacy Family Tree Webinars to hear Lisa Louise Cooke's New and Must Have Google Tips for Genealogy. I was familiar with most of what Lisa said but there were a few new tips that I will be trying out. It was a free webinar and can be viewed online for free until 4 March. I have listened to a few webinars now, in real time if it suits us here in Australia or after the event and they can be quite useful.

The In Time and Place history and genealogy conference in Brisbane in October now has a website. There are some great sessions over the two days and I am struggling to choose between the local history stream and the family history stream. As usual I want to attend everything! Should be a great weekend. See the program here.

The local history course I have been attending at U3A has reawakened my interest in the local areas where my ancestors lived and trawling through Trove I am finding lots of information on events that were happening around them. It is so easy to be sidetracked when researching. For example, when I lived at New Farm in Brisbane for many years in the 80s and 90s I always walked past a beautiful old home called Santa Barbara which was just around the corner from us. This week I found it was built by Sarah Balls, an enterprising widow who had the fish cannery on Bribie Island before World War One. Small world as they say.

Congress 2015 is looming at the end of March and I need to finalise my two presentations and to make sure I fit within the time constraints. It is always hard to try and say everything you want and make it interesting.

The other big thing I need to do in the coming week is start to invite genealogy and family history societies to participate in National Family History Month in August 2015. Interest from sponsors has not been as strong this year (so far) possibly because most of them are already heavily involved with Congress 2015. Still we have one major sponsor and some prize sponsors and perhaps more will join us as we move closer to August. Make sure it is in your calendars and help me spread the word.

More medical appointments this week so more chauffeur duty for me. I think I have spent more time driving over the last five weeks than I have in the last five years! So that with my talk on Monday and my local history class on Friday will be almost a full week out and about. I will have to squeeze in the work on my presentations and blog writing and try to avoid being distracted by Trove and new posts on Twitter and Facebook. Wish me luck.

Asylum records, upcoming talks and new records - Genealogy notes 16- 21 Feb 2015

A week that did not go according to plan. I was supposed to give three talks for the Maryborough Heritage Institute at the weekend and we were going to have a short holiday in Bargara nee Bundaberg just before going to Maryborough. On the second day at Bargara we were told that we would have to evacuate due to Cyclone Marcia heading for the Queensland coast. This also meant that the Institute had to cancel the seminar as cyclones are too unpredictable with lots of wind and rain. So our little trip north was cut short and we headed back home to avoid getting trapped by floodwaters.

The Maryborough seminar is now on 11 April so keep that date free and I do have one photographic memory of our less than successful trip to see the turtles at Mon Repos (near Bargara).  The weather was against us but I managed one walk on the beach near the resort we were staying at. Just near the stairs to the beach I came across a nest of turtle eggs that had been exposed by the high tide and surf. You can see the steps on the right and the nest on the left of the photo.

Mon Repos is a turtle sanctuary but some of the turtles go to nearby beaches and you can be lucky and see them at Bargara. When the weather is bad, volunteers go round trying to find exposed nests so that they can save the turtle eggs until they hatch. Apparently they don't mate until they are 30 years old which is probably why so many of them are facing extinction, especially when cyclones and high tides wipe them out before they are even born! Another amazing fact is that the baby turtles remember where they were born and they go back there to lay their own eggs, year after year.

Wouldn't it be fantastic if our own ancestors were as predictable! Genealogy wise, I have been amazed at all the Scandinavian records (millions) that MyHeritage have added recently. My direct line is Norwegian and I researched it back in the 1980s the hard way. This time I put my great great grandparents names into MyHeritage and up came their marriage certificate information. I think it cost me a fair bit back then as I had to find it, purchase it, have it translated and then wait however long for it to arrive from Norway. Now it is instant, although you don't get the certificate, just the facts!

As I am going on the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise to the Baltic in July, I thought it would be good to do a bit of sightseeing in England. Although I have been to the UK before, there are lots of touristy places I have yet to go to. My friendly and efficient travel agent Kelli at the Flight Centre on Bribie Island has booked me into a nice hotel for 3 nights and 2 coach tours so that each day I can tick off some of my must see places in England bucket list. Usually do all my own bookings but with limited me time at the moment, it was nice to be organised and spoilt by somebody else. Thanks Kelli. So looking forward to a bit of R&R and me time!

Somehow I managed to keep my personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2015 going. Week 32 is on asylum records and I have got amazing information on some of my ancestors because there were admitted to asylums at some stage. It is not a place you would instantly look for people, but they could go into an asylum for all kinds of reasons. The biographical information collected on admission is similar to hospital and prison records and fantastic, if all the details are known.

This week sees the start of my series of genealogy talks at Moreton Bay Region Libraries. Woodford and North Lakes are on my travel itinerary this week and Albany Creek next week. It will be good to visit all those libraries again as there is usually a good attendance at talks. Details of upcoming talks are on the Events page of my website.

As most of my time is spent behind the wheel of a car lately I am behind with my newsletters and blogs  and seem to be getting most of my genealogy news via Facebook and Twitter. In just over four weeks time there will be lots of genealogy happening at AFFHO Congress 2015 in Canberra. Hope I am not too exhausted to enjoy it - imagine going to sleep in some of those brilliant speaker sessions! After the fantastic lunches is always a worry, but the general air of excitement and anticipation usually keeps everyone awake and taking notes.

More medical appointments tomorrow for the other half and his broken leg, so instead of reading all those dated magazines in the waiting room, I have a couple of genealogy magazines and journals in my bag this time! Until next week happy researching.

Photographs, Rootstech & New books - Genealogy notes 8-15 Feb 2015

Not a lot of spare time this week due to the additional nursing and chauffeuring I have been doing. Thank goodness for the internet and social media. I had originally planned to attend Rootstech 2015 along with other Aussie geneamates but Mum's health was a concern and I never envisaged that Max would break his leg so just as well that I decided not to go this year.

I have been following Rootstech via Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and blogs so I know what I fantastic time everyone has been having. When everyone gets home I look forward to many blog reports - who to look out for? Geniaus (aka Jill Ball), Helen Smith, Alona Tester, Pauleen Cass, Caitlin Gow to start with. No doubt they will refer to others there as well.

Check out Rootstech 2015 and note that some of the sessions were recorded and you can view them. There was also live streaming but you had to be in the right time zone or prepared to watch at odd hours. It would be fantastic to see Rootstech downunder one day but at least we have Congress 2015 coming up at the end of March. Hopefully Max will be out of his leg cast by then although he will still have to be careful about what he does.

Week 31 of my personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2015 was on Photographs. Again it was a great challenge as I relooked at one of my grandmother's early albums of mostly unidentified people. I could pick my father in some of them so I am trying to date them that way and then try and work out who the other people are. Dad (Mervyn Gunderson) is on the left, he was always tall and skinny and easy to pick out in photos.

With all my running around after other people I had not visited the post office box for a while and was pleasantly surprised to find some new books to read (in that mysterious space called spare time). Carol Baxter has a new book called Help! Historical and Genealogical Truth: How do I separate fact from fiction? which should be really interesting.

I have a standing order for new titles from Unlock the Past so I was pleased to see a second edition of Chris Paton's Irish Family History Resources Online and a new guide from Noeline Kyle on Nurses & Midwives in Australian History: a guide to historical sources. I have Irish ancestors so Chris' book will be one to work through and Noeline's more of a read as I don't have any nurses or midwives in the family. It will be good to know more about the historical context of nursing and midwifery.

My three talks for the Maryborough genealogy seminar next weekend are finalised and ready to go. I will also have some of the Unlock the Past titles with me for sale as people do like to see things before they buy. It must be coming up for two years since I was last there so I am looking forward to seeing old friends.

Next week looks equally full on with everything except genealogy but hopefully I will get some time to at least keep up with the Rootstech news and blogs as my Aussie friends make their way home. Until next week happy researching!