More photo success, ANZAC Day blogs & other news - Genealogy Notes 22 - 28 Apr 2016

A fantastic week of new discoveries in sources previously searched but not under names I was expecting. I've always looked for variant spellings but sometimes it is hard to know if something is the right entry. And sometimes we need a little prompt to try again.

I am so glad that I went to State Library of Queensland's WW1 White Glove Experience at the Bribie Island Seaside Museum last Friday. Not only was it a chance to catch up with my old Library colleague Niles Elvery but also to see up close some of the Library's WW1 treasures. It's been a while since I have worn the 'white gloves'.

Niles Elvery Regional Coordinator
of Q Anzac 100 program

WW1 treasures on display
in regional areas

 In chatting to Niles afterwards I mentioned that I could only find one of my three Finn brothers in the WW1 soldiers portraits database which contains nearly 27,000 Queensland soldiers. He agreed that it was odd so I went home to have another look. Since last searching the database I had been lucky enough to find a photo of all three brothers in The Week, a digitised newspaper now in Trove. As usual I only searched on the Finn surname as there are not that many and as I looked at the photo of I Finn it looked very much like the photo of John Finn in The Week. Yes the I should have been a J and the error was made in 1917 at the time of publication in The Queenslander.

I was so excited about this discovery that I used it for my  post for the Trans Tasman ANZAC Day blog challenge - The Finn Brothers. Lots of other bloggers also did the challenge so have a look and maybe discover some new military tips and resources. I still have to find a good quality image of Robert Finn but at least I have images of all three now.

The Anzac Day parade and service on Bribie was bigger again this year and thankfully it was a bit cooler than last time. For most of the service there was cloud cover and not full sun. At least Max could participate in the march this year, last year he was still walking with a cane after breaking his leg in late January.

Max with his RAAF buddies
on the march

Bribie Island RSL

There is a 'we're part of NFHM' logo and I have put a copy on the Participate page of the website so that those organising events can download it. I am hoping to see lots of it in the months leading up to National Family History Month in August. When you think about it, that is only three months away!

I finished the University of Strathclyde FutureLearn free online course on genealogy. It was a well structured course and I found the six weeks went incredibly fast. While a lot of material was familiar to me there was some new information and lots of people put tips and resources in their comments. Perhaps its main benefit to me was that it inspired me to relook at some of my research and over the last few weeks I have made new discoveries and solved some old stumbling blocks.And it was free so it doesn't get better than that. There is a 'register interest' button on the website so they must be thinking of running the course again.

The History Queensland Footsteps in Time family and local history conference and fair 19-21 May 2017 website is now up. Definitely a conference to pencil into your calendars for next year! There is also an invitation to speak so if you want to be part of the program, submit your proposal before 30 August. The date's a bit tricky for me as it is also my son's 30th birthday - maybe I can pop in on my way back from the Gold Coast.

It's a rainy day here for a change so I am doing a little blog writing in between filing all my new information into my database and folders. I might pick another family I haven't looked at for a while and see what's new in Trove. That might even give me next Trove Tuesday's blog post!

Have a good genealogy week. Until next time.

Distant Cousins, Blogging Success & Other News - Genealogy Notes 13 - 21 Apr 2016

A super busy week which is why this is a little late. Mum has not been well again and there have been lots of trips up and down the highway so little chance to blog or do research. But it is amazing what you can squeeze into those spare moments.

Some months ago I discovered two divorce files for my great uncle Denis Patrick Finn, a German prisoner of war in World War One. Read his story here. There was no chance of my getting down to State Records NSW in the near future so I used the services of Marilyn Rowan who was quick and efficient. I was aware that she did NSW transcriptions but not that she also offered a document service. It was a simple matter to place my order for the two divorce files (flat fee) and within a week I had digital copies of both files (one 32 pages and the other 44 pages). Dropbox is used to deliver the files due to their size. Sadly no photographs or certificates but I did learn some new info which made me feel even sorrier for Denis.

On the way back from one of our Brisbane visits, we called in to see one of Max's first cousins, Neville Spencer - a descendant from the second marriage of his grandfather, Max is descended from the third marriage. We had never met before and the Spencer likeness was well and truly evident. We took some photos and they kindly lent me some documents to copy. I will be dropping in again next Tuesday to return their documents and to give them some of our family information. It really does pay to track down long lost cousins.

Trove Tuesday blogging is starting to get me hooked! I had a great time trying to tie up some loose ends with another one of my Carnegie families. I knew a little from family stories but not any real detail. So after a few keyword searches on names, I was able to determine the date of death of his first wife and his marriage to his second wife. Both the funeral notice and the marriage notice mentioned his WW2 service but I have never been able to find his army dossier. So this led to another search for it and the discovery of an indexing error. Read all about how I found John James Carnegie's army dossier here.

I firmly believe that one of the main reasons we can't find some people is simply because of indexing errors. This is another great example of it and of course, the trick is discovering what it has been indexed under. I love people with middle names!

In some of my spare moments I have also been trying to keep up with Pauleen Cass and her A2Z blogging challenge in April. I know others have been doing it too but Pauleen always has catchy titles  (S for Stories and Serendipity and who doesn't love serendipity) and I find myself clicking links to find out more. See Pauleen's posts here.

Thursday afternoon I gave a talk to the monthly meeting of Caloundra Family History Research - my talk Love Sex and Damn Lies went down real well. It is always surprising when people come up afterwards and say they have similar stories. I guess we all have very human ancestors. As usual my talk is on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

Tomorrow I am going to the Bribie Island Seaside Museum to hear Niles Elvery talk about and display WW1 items from the State Library of Queensland's collection. Niles and I used to work together in the John Oxley Library back in the early 90s so a good chance to catch up too.

My ANZAC Day tribute this year will be to the State Library's QANZAC100 project so stay tuned for that. It is a fantastic tribute to Queenslanders who went to WW1. It is how I found my army photo of Denis Patrick Finn but unfortunately his two brothers Robert and John were not captured in this digitisation project. I must investigate further because I would love good quality images of them all.

I still have to do Week 6 of the University of Strathclyde FutureLearn online genealogy course. It is the last week so hopefully I will catch up and finish by the end of the weekend. It has been a good course and considering it was free, excellent value.

This coming week should be a little less hectic and only one planned trip to the hospital with Mum on Tuesday . As the end of the month nears I know that my deadline for my blog and magazine article for The In-Depth Genealogist is due. That will probably focus my writing time along with the ANZAC Day blog. Have a great genealogy week!

Lots of Blogs, NFHM & Upcoming Events - Genealogy Notes 6 - 12 Apr 2016

Most of my weeks fly past in a blur but the other day I had to sit down and start planning out my movements in July and August. This is one of the busiest times of the year for me as National Family History Month starts to happen. As the voluntary coordinator on behalf of AFFHO (Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations) I arrange the launch and usually give a few talks throughout the month.

The launch this year is in Perth and we will have a seminar day with the Western Australian Genealogical Society. Its a long flight so it makes sense to do something else for NFHM. I am also at an all day seminar at Nambour for  Genealogy Sunshine Coast and one talk for Noosa Library Service, both north of Brisbane but I can drive to both places and return in a single day. I will also be flying to New Zealand to be part of their NFHM expo (details to come soon) so another long flight and several days away from home.

A couple of other events are under discussion and if they happen I will be the most traveled person in Australia that month! Maybe I should start eating spinach now.

It is good to see that some societies and libraries have already entered their events into the NFHM web calendar but we would love to see more events.

Last week's Diary was mentioned in Friday Fossicking with That Moment in Time. I love these collated posts as someone else has pulled together interesting blogs to read, new URLs to check out, and as Crissouli also has some Irish blogs, there is usually Irish news. Another collation post I try and read regularly is GeniAus' Gems and the post for 10 April  made me smile - it starts off 'some weeks just get away from me'. We all know that feeling. Again a nice selection of blogs to read.

For anyone who hasn't got the blog habit yet, you really should think about. Just this morning I received yet another email from a distant relative who had found my blog post and then my website through a Google search. It simply has to be the easiest way to make contact with distant relatives.

I've had various family dramas this week and have spent a bit of time travelling to Brisbane and back again. My hope of following up some of those new Scottish leads in last week's Diary has not happened yet but the file is still on my study table, in my line of sight.

This coming weekend is the Kiama Family History Centre Expo which will be good for everyone down that way. Caloundra Family History Research are having a military seminar on 2 July with four fantastic speakers including Helen Smith with her talk on the Health of the ANZACS: From Galliopoli to the Western Front which I heard on the recent Unlock the Past genealogy cruise. Unlock the Past are having a history and genealogy expo in Adelaide on 7-8 Oct 2016 which will also be good to attend. Someone should invent 'beam me there' technology!

This coming week I will be speaking at the Caloundra Family History Research monthly meeting so that's a trip up the highway plus there will be another couple of trips to Brisbane which is down the highway. Lots of drive time but fingers crossed there will also be a few moments for some genealogy research and maybe a blog post. Have a great genealogy week. Until next time.

NFHM 2016, Scottish finds & other news - Genealogy Notes 30 Mar - 5 Apr 2016

A big week but I am happy to announce that the new National Family History Month website is up and running and we have events already from NSW and VIC. The behind the scenes is a bit different from what I am use to but gradually working it out. Much easier and quicker for me adding the events, more just an approval process. NFHM even has its own blog - read the first post here.

So technically I will have some 'free time' now that the NFHM website is finished. Despite this tempting thought I decided not to participate in the April Blogging from A to Z challenge. Many of my geneamates are doing it but I'm behind in a few things because of the NFHM website and I really need to catch up. However I am enjoying reading some of the posts so far.

Trove Tuesday was yesterday and this is another blogging challenge that I am trying to do at least once a month in 2016. It really is worthwhile because you need to think about what to search for and then write about whatever you discover. So I am using the opportunity to revisit my research. Earlier this year I focused on Herbert William White as my Australia Day Tribute 2016 so I decided to try and find something in Trove on Herbert's son Robert James White.

Herbert White is on the left and
Robert White is standing at the back, ca 1912

Robert died aged 30 years in Charters Towers, Queensland but there were not many results except notices of the filing of probate documents by the Public Curator. What I did find was an account of Herbert's death in Richmond, Queensland where Robert was working at that time. This account in the newspaper raised a number of questions about what was happening in the family in the four months between Herbert and Robert's deaths in 1924. As Trove is adding new information all the time it can really pay to revisit your searches as my Herbert William White Obituary Trove Tuesday post shows.

I am about a half a week behind now with my Future Learn beginning genealogy course  and I was catching up nicely when I was side tracked by an offer from Scotland's People of free credits at the weekend. Who can resist free and as we had been talking about Scottish records in the course I had been thinking of my own Scottish families and where I was stuck with my research. Again revisiting my research with new ideas paid off.

My GGGGG grandmother was Mary Fraser/Frazer who married James Ferrier in 1812 in Craig By Montrose in Forfar/Angus. The marriage record said both of this parish. But I had never been able to find out anything else about Mary. Common names and looking for James and Mary in the Scottish census was a bit like a needle in a haystack. This time I looked for their children as a few of the children had what looked like surnames as middle names. So Andrew Ferguson Ferrier led me to my Mary in the 1841 census. She was a 60 year old widow living on Rossie Island with two of her adult children.

In the 1851 census I picked her up again under the surname Farrier (watch those surname variants) and this finally gave me a birthplace of Pathen (although I think that should be Rathen) in Aberdeenshire ca 1783 as she was listed as 68 years old. No wonder I couldn't find her in Forfar/Angus. Her occupation is pauper and salmon net weaver and she is still living with an invalid daughter.

Mary is gone by the time of the 1861 census and a search for her death gave numerous results but none that looked like her. As registration was only introduced in 1855 she may only have a burial record but again nothing definitely her. But perhaps as a pauper on Rossie Island there is no record. Her invalid daughter is in the 1861 and 1871 census and I think that if Mary was still alive, she would have still been living with the daughter. I need to look into this more.

From only knowing her name I have now gone to knowing where she was born, a more accurate year of birth, she was widowed early, had no money, was a salmon net weaver, lived on Rossie Island and cared for an invalid daughter.  A sidetrack from my studies definitely worth doing.

Having a good time with
Caloundra Family History Research in 2015

This month I am giving a talk to Caloundra Family History Research and they are always a great group to visit. I could probably get there quicker by boat from Bribie Island but in a car I need to go out to the highway, then up the highway then turn back towards the coast. Must start looking for a new purple top (the group's colour).

The Unlock the Past 13th cruise to Papua New Guinea now has a preliminary program up for those who have been wanting to see what talks will be given during the 10 night cruise. I am giving five talks and there are a number of military talks as well as a good spread of genealogy talks. Good to see Helen Smith giving some DNA talks as I still need to understand that a bit more.

Well back to my FutureLearn course. Week 4 started on Monday so must finish Week 3.  As I have said previously, if you want the weeks to fly, enroll in some genealogy education course or blogging challenges! Until next time have a great genealogy week.

Online learning, Women's history & Other News - Genealogy Notes 22-29 Mar 2016

If you ever want the weeks to fly past enrol in some online learning. I am doing the University of Strathclyde Genealogy: Researching Your Family Tree online course which is free. So far it is focused on methodology and thinking about what you want to find and how to go about it. A great refresher course for someone who has been researching for a while and a good introduction to research principles for those starting out. It is a mix of text, videos, hangouts and further reading sites.

Week 1 was good and I spent the time over two sessions and tried to read some of the comments. I am surprised at the numbers doing the course, which I am guessing from the number of posts/comments from other students. I am finding it hard to read all the comments and skimmed quite a lot but there are some valuable bits of advice in the comments so a difficult decision. Week 2 I totally missed the start notice but thankfully being online you can catch up. Halfway through Week 2 now, with Week 3 waiting for me. The plan is to be totally caught up before Week 4 arrives!

New logo for Australian NFHM

I have been seriously preoccupied with the final tweaking of the new NFHM website which all going well in the move to the live site will be launched in the next few days. It is designed to make my life as voluntary coordinator easier and people will be able to search for events. There is even a blog, yes another one for me to write! After the launch I will be inviting genealogy and family history societies, libraries, archives and others to add their events for August 2016, doing some PR and organising the launch. Next year should be easier!

I did write a blog post for Women's History Month - My Four Great Grandmothers which looks briefly at their lives. I never knew any of them but from my research I have an appreciation of the hard lives they lived. I've always wondered why I have moved around so much, perhaps those travel genes were inherited? A need to see and live in new places.

Last week's post which featured the National Archives of Australia's 16 websites was mentioned on That Moment in Time blog Friday Fossicking 25 March 2016. It is always good to see that someone has liked something I've written and I really do feel that people don't make the most of what NAA has to offer family historians.

My blog and article for The In-Depth Genealogist is still in draft format but I will make that deadline this month. They are moving to being two months ahead so I will have to do another blog and article in the first week of April.

I have the Bribie Historical Society committee meeting coming up and I am determined to get to one of the Bribie family history interest group meetings in April. So far this year I have been off Island and missed out so hopefully this time. The Bribie Orchid show over Easter was wonderful with both orchids and bromeliads on show. Two more orchids for my collection. My orchids also flowered for Easter with their wonderful purple colours.

There seems to be a thunderstorm rolling in which is unusual for late March. But then we have been having some hot days and our pool is still wonderful to swim in. Solar heating has to be one of the best investments. I'm hoping to swim all through winter too. That was the plan last year until I broke my elbow in July. This year will be different!

Have a good genealogy week. Until next time.

16 Websites, St Patrick's Day & Other News - Genealogy Notes 15-21 Mar 2016

My great grandmother 

For St Patrick's day, I wrote up my research on the Finn family of County Wicklow, Ireland into a blog post. I've made quite a few discoveries recently so writing everything up helped me to see where the gaps still were and what else I could follow up. Read about the family and my efforts to tie all the pieces together here. It's a tale of spelling variations, missing records and a family that seems to have moved around but mostly within a small area.

Work is continuing on the new National Family History Month (the URL will stay the same but it will look different) website and I am now happy with how events are added. It should save me a lot of time once people start adding their events after we launch the new site, hopefully very soon. I am  pleased to say that the National Archives of Australia is again sponsoring the launch which will be in Perth this year. It is their 11th year of launch sponsorship and it is fantastic to see that ongoing support for family history.

Many people only ever go to the National Archives of Australia main website (the link above) but did you know they actually have lots of websites. From the Home page, select the Engage option and then Connect with us option. This is a quick route to all the other websites including:

• The arcHive website -  this is where you can help the Archives to list some of their records that are not online yet. As a reward, you earn points towards Archives publications or copies of Archives files for your research. 
• Australia's Prime Ministers - everything you ever wanted to know (or not)
• Banned - read about the secret history of Australian censorship
• Constitution Day - a blog about the Constitution
• Destination Australia: sharing our post war migrant stories - if you have someone who arrived after WW2 there are over 20,000 photos of migrants here plus lots of stories
• Discovering Anzacs - joint project with Archives New Zealand covering the Boer War and WW1. You can upload your photos and stories as well as see government records on soldier ancestors.
• Faces of Australia - this site features 227 images from the Archives' collection - help them to identify people, places and events
• Forced Adoptions History Project - learn about the history and experiences of forced adoptions in Australia. Includes information on accessing adoption records and support services.
• Mildenhall's Canberra - early Canberra photographs that you can comment on and pinpoint locations if you have any information 
• Montevideo Maru - this Japanese ship was sunk in July 1942 by the USS Sturgeon not realising that it carried over 1,000 mostly Australian prisoners captured in Rabaul and who were being transferred to Hainan off southern China. A really tragic story and a great memorial to those soldiers.
• Paper Research - includes a history of papermaking, research on paper quality and a database of watermarks 
• PhotoSearch - as the name suggests, browse, discover, map and share 
• Soda - newly scanned records that you can view, share and get updates 
• Uncommon Lives - the stories of famous and not so famous Australians as revealed in files held by the Archives
• Vrroom: Virtual Reading Room - resources for students and teachers on Australian history, civics, citizenship and more.

How many of NAA's 16 websites are you familiar with? There is a lot of family history information in the National Archives of Australia, make sure you are not missing any of it.

During the week I had a Q&A request from Family Tree Magazine UK which is always fun and often challenging to do. At the AFFHO meeting last night (via Skype) I reported on NFHM progress and the AFFHO AGM is on 21 April. Last year the AGM was in Canberra at the Congress, this time it will be virtual. Amazing technology and times that we live in.

My blog post for National Women's History Month (March) is almost finished and it is a tribute to my four grandmothers. Easter is the end of this week and we are staying home so I will be doing my monthly blog and article for The In-Depth Genealogist. Plus continuing to work on my new guide but there will be time for the Easter Bunny to visit. Great that there is a bridge to our island!

My orchids are starting to flower just in time for the Easter orchid show. I find it amazing because Easter changes each year but that doesn't seem to bother orchids. They always seem to know when to bloom. One of the many wonders of nature that continues to delight us.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Easter with family and friends and that you manage a little genealogy research too. Until next time.

Irish Research & Geneaevents Coming Up - Genealogy Notes 8-14 Mar 2016

This week I completed the third of my blog posts Days 13-19 on the 10th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise. I also did the review blog of the whole cruise and what I thought were highlights and negatives. Looking at my notes it will take me a while to follow up on URLs I noted and suggestions to explore for my brick walls.

Celebrity Solstice in Tauranga, New Zealand

Another Trove Tuesday blog post led me to discovering photographs of two of my great uncles and what was really fantastic was that all three brothers' photos from WW1 were in the same newspaper article with a caption that said they were 'the sons of John Finn of Brisbane'. Read it here.

Denis Finn, The Queenslander, 8 Jan 1916 via Trove

As it was a rainy weekend I decided to follow up on the Irish leads I had reported on last Diary post. A more thorough search of the Catholic parish registers in Findmypast confirmed that I had found more siblings of my great great grandfather John Finn (father of the three soldiers mentioned in the paragraph above). I found more references to Finn and Beakey sponsors who are probably related to my GGG grandparents James Finn and Rosanna Beakey. BUT nothing that definitely ties them all together as siblings or other relatives. A work still in progress.

Although finding John's siblings, I still could not find reference to his own baptism in 1856 so in some frustration I simply Googled parish names for where the family lived based on his siblings places of baptism. This led me to the Irish Genealogy Toolkit and the page on the Wicklow Family History Centre. This is where I learnt that there is a gaping hole (their words) in the registers for Kilbride and Barndarrig from 1838 and 1858. As John was born ca 1856 his baptism is probably in that 'hole'.

The family seem to have moved around so why have I now focused on that parish. While browsing Findmypast I also checked out some of the prison and court of petty session entries for my Finns and Beakeys. Surprise surprise, my John liked a drink even before he left Ireland for Queensland. Quite a few references to drunk and disorderly and even better some time in prison. How do I know he is mine? Well his physical description in the Irish prison matches exactly his prison description in the Brisbane prison. In the Irish prison register he gives his birthplace as Barndarrig, hence my looking more closely at this parish.

Although I have not been able to find out more on James Finn and Rosanna Beakey apart from possible siblings or other relatives I feel that I am progressing a little on my Irish family. A quick search of newspapers didn't reveal anything exciting but I probably need to spend more time as Rosanna Beakey's name has quite a few spelling variations as does James Finn.

I have been looking at what is coming up in the genealogy world and whether I can get there or not.

New South Wales has the Kiama Family History Centre family, local and social history expo on 16 April 2016 and that is an easy drive from Sydney. The NSW &ACT annual genealogy conference is in Camden on 9-11 September 2016 and is an easy drive from either Sydney or Canberra. This year the theme is Cowpastures and Beyond. Both are probably too far for me to get to easily and without considerable cost. Perhaps I will save the money for Rootstech 2017 which is 8-11 Feb 2017!

Unlock the Past is having an Adelaide genealogy expo on 7-8 October 2016 and a trip to Adelaide is also a chance to visit family and friends. I had planned to go to their event last August but my broken elbow meant I had to miss out.

August is National Family History Month and I will be having a busy month with the launch in Perth, and commitments already to speak in Nambour and Noosa in Queensland. Plus there are a couple of other speaking engagements not yet confirmed for August.

The new NFHM website is progressing and we are still tweaking the events calendar which should make things easier for me. At least that is the plan. Not long now before I release the 2016 NFHM news.

One Facebook post that really caught my attention this week was Katherine R Willson's Genealogy on Facebook compilation. It is 209 pages with over 7,000 links which must represent a lot of people doing genealogy via Facebook. Makes me wonder how many Australian societies have their own Facebook page and are using it to actively attract new members to their society? Is your society on the list? Have you liked their page? If your society is not on the list, why not suggest they start a Facebook page? I follow quite a few Australian societies via Facebook and you really do learn about new resources and what is happening locally.

This week I am planning on working on a new research guide which is always an opportunity to do some of my own genealogy as I look for examples from my own research to include in the guide. I also want to do a blog post for Women's History Month which is March and I probably should blog my Irish ancestors for St Patrick's Day later this week.

Have a great genealogy and family history week. Until next time.

Genealogy Cruising & Back Home - Genealogy Notes 27 Feb - 7 Mar 2016

I am finally back home after three weeks away on the 10th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise. Read about Days 7-12 here (also has a link back to Days 1-6 if you missed it) and I am still to write Days 13 to 18 plus my overview report. Should both be finished by the end of this week.

Scottish pipe band bravely playing in the rain as we left Dunedin, New Zealand

I came home with seven new Unlock the Past research guides which I am looking forward to reading:
Paul Blake - Discover Protestant Nonconformity in England and Wales
Christine Clement - Migration to New Zealand (2nd edition)
Cathy Dunn - Norfolk Island 1788-1814
Thomas MacEntee - The Genealogy Do-over Workbook
Chris Paton - A Decade of Researching Ireland 1912-1923
Chris Paton - Discover Scottish Church Records
Helen Smith - Google the Genealogist's Friend

It was a fantastic trip but always good to be back home. A pile of mail to sort through, washing and shopping to be done and I won't mention the weeds in the garden. Obviously not much rain while we were gone as some plants have died or are looking a bit dried out yet those pesky weeds thrived. After adding a bit of bird seed to the feeder our Rosella and Lorikeets have welcomed us home.

While still in Perth I sent off my April blog and article to The In-Depth Genealogist and realised I have been writing for Going In-Depth for just over 12 months (with three months off for my accident). Time flies when you are having fun.

And fun is the operative word at the moment. I was super excited to see that Findmypast put up the Irish Roman Catholic parish registers while I was away. I have only had a little time to explore but already I have found some of my missing Finn and Beakey ancestors (and all variations of those two names). The interesting thing is that some of the Finns were indexed as Funn, not a spelling I have previously considered. So I need to do some more searching and then let Findmypast know so they can consider text correction for the entries. The writing is really poor and you wouldn't make the connections without my prior research and knowledge of the families.

Sadly my direct ancestor, great great grandfather John Finn is remaining elusive. But I now have more of his brothers and sisters so perhaps he is not too far away!

My priority this week is definitely the new National Family History Month website which has languished while I was away. Lucky for me the designer is patient. A couple of friends are trialing the new events page which will save me a lot of time adding events in the lead up to August. No more cut and paste and I will be free to do other things. Sponsors have also been fantastic and I can't wait to share that news with everyone. Not long now.

Looking forward to some more normal weeks ahead not to mention some personal genealogy time to follow up things from the cruise. Until next time.

Genealogy Cruising & Trove Funding - Genealogy Notes 12-26 Feb 2016

Hard to believe that two weeks have passed but I have been having lots of fun on the 10th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise touring round New Zealand and across to Sydney and then on to Melbourne, Adelaide and Fremantle. While in New Zealand I went technology free, my annual rest period from social media, but we are now back in Australian waters and I have turned the wi fi back on.

Since the last Diary I have flown to Auckland, New Zealand and spent two nights at the Kiwi International Hotel, sightseeing on Auckland Harbour and taking the ferry over to Devonport. In future I think we need to ask where others are staying as I found out afterwards that another geneablogger and Facebook friend was also at the Kiwi International.

Celebrity Solstice at Tauranga, New Zealand

It has been good catching up on Celebrity Solstice with some of the regular cruisers and meeting new cruisers with some from the UK and the US as well as Australia and New Zealand. I have done a separate report on Days 1 to 6 and it is on my SHHE Genie Rambles blog site. Read about the first six days here.

With no online access, I slept better and longer although that might also have something to do with daylight saving in New Zealand. Even the sun doesn't get up until 7.15am! I am reading more and not feeling like I am chasing myself with lots of things to do.  So totally relaxed.

Of course the downside is I have no idea of what has been happening in the geneaworld or what new records are now online.  Or what my geneafriends are up to. Hopefully it won't take me too long to catch up once we are back home.

One thing that has distressed me is the proposed funding cuts to the National Library of Australia and the future of Trove and its ability to keep giving us wonderful content. Read Tim Sherratt's post on #fundTrove for more detail on the funding cuts and how we can voice our concerns. 

This update is from a cloudy Melbourne and stay tuned for cruise updates, hopefully from Adelaide in a couple of days time. With a full program of genealogy lectures on sea days it is often hard to find the time to write blog posts too. Until next time happy searching.

Genealogy cruising and NFHM 2016 - Genealogy Notes 5-11 Feb 2016

Well I will start with the good news. From tomorrow I will be winging my way to Auckland where I will be joining Unlock the Past for its 10th genealogy cruise. I have already seen Facebook posts re Judy Russell (aka The Legal Genealogist) arrival and touring around SE Queensland and meeting other geneabloggers. Judy is one of the key presenters on the cruise and I am really looking forward to meeting her and listening to her sessions.

Paul Blake from the UK is another key presenter and Louis Kessler from Canada who I have met on an earlier UTP genealogy cruise. Plus quite a few of our leading Australian and New Zealand speakers which is just as well as it is an 18 night cruise with 8 full days at sea with presentations from 9am to 8pm. For days when we are in ports, there are after dinner presentations. All up 72 topics in a single stream so no gut wrenching decisions on whose talk to miss out on. Plus there will be 4 Research Help Zone periods for one on one questions, or maybe even small groups.

I'm giving 8 talks, 3 of which are after dinner so I hope I can stay awake. I remember on the first cruise saying that after a long day of touring or talks people would not turn up for evening sessions. On the cruises I have been on, the evening sessions are always well attended so I totally underestimated people's passion for genealogy! Which is a bit silly in hindsight as I am one of those who usually turns up!

For those of you not doing the cruise, there are shore sessions in the various ports in New Zealand (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin) and Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane post cruise). Both Judy and Paul plus some other speakers will be doing sessions - check here to see places, dates and programs.

We will probably do another trip on the
Wellington Cable Car, New Zealand's only funicular railway. 

During the voyage I might get a blog or two written (finding time is the hard part plus internet access is not cheap on board) but once back in Australian ports I should be able to use my wifi. There will be an overall cruise report at the end but with an 18 night cruise I will need to break up the detailed reports into smaller posts. Plus I am looking forward to seeing those New Zealand cities again as it has been a few years since we were last there.

Now for the not so good news. I had really hoped to unveil the new National Family History Month website before I left. It looks really good and I love the new logo and colours. Those of you who know me will already have an idea what the colour is! However I haven't really had a chance to test it all out, enter a few events not to mention learn how to do all the behind the scenes stuff. Rather than go away and hope it will all be ok, I would rather wait until I am back in a position to deal with any last minute hiccups, if any. So March looks like an exciting month and probably another steep learning curve for me.

The week has been busy doing text for the new NFHM web pages, writing my April article and blog for The In-Depth Genealogist and generally tidying up before I leave. The one bit of exciting news that I picked up via Facebook is that Trove 7 will launch on 25 Feb 2016. To do the changeover Trove will be unavailable from 5pm on 22 Feb so that is 2-3 days of no Trove.

I'm glad I will be at sea with no internet as I find that most days at home I am jumping onto Trove to look something up. I won't be impacted by being Troveless for a few days but if you are a Trove addict, plan something else for those few days.

Have a great time researching while I am away and look out for some geneacruise blogs either here or on my SHHE Genie Rambles blog. Until next time.

Rootstech from afar & other genealogy news - 29 Jan to 4 Feb 2016

Well who has been following Rootstech on social media? I know quite a few of the this year's Aussie contingent plus a few from the UK and the USA. I have been following tweets and Facebook updates and it really is quite staggering. Some Aussie friends are also listening in via live streaming of some sessions.

Apparently there are over 26,000 attendees with 7,000 under the age of 18 and from 37 countries all gathered together for a 4 day genealogy conference in Salt Lake City with its snow and minus temperatures. With the live streaming of sessions who knows how many people are 'attending' this conference.

Our own AFFHO Congress on Genealogy & Heraldry every 3 years probably gets about 500 people on average with some from overseas countries, although they are mostly speakers. We probably have over 250,000 people who are members of genealogy and family history societies in Australia and then there are all those people who do not join societies. Yet we can't get anywhere near the size of an American genealogy conference.

A venue is probably an issue plus the sheer size of our country but it is only once every 3 years. Our next Congress is Bridging the Past and the Future in Sydney in 2018, two years away so perhaps we should all start planning to get there for our own fantastic genealogy conference downunder. Put it in your calendars now!

I think I will also put Rootstech 2017 in my calendar too - 8-11 Feb 2017 - it would be really something to see and experience it for myself. Not to mention popping in to the FamilySearch Library while I am there. That's on my bucket list so two birds, one flight!

John Finn born 1856 Ballygannon

Findmypast's Friday news was the release of nearly 5 million Norfolk parish records. Sadly I don't have any Norfolk family but it really is incredible how much is now being put online for easier searching. One of the big announcements from Rootstech this week was that Findmypast are adding 10 million Irish Catholic parish register records. Now that is something I will be getting excited about as my Catholic Irish family hasn't gone backwards in the almost 40 years I have been researching. I am hoping for big things with my John Finn born 1856 in Ballygannon, Wicklow.

My big drama for the week was realising that my National Library of Australia library card had expired. Why is it that you only become aware of expiry dates when you really want to use something. But thanks to the Library's wonderful efficiency it was simply a matter of hitting the renewal button, updating my details and within seconds my card was renewed. They even had logged me into the site.Wonderful eResources.

Otherwise it was a busy week checking talks for the Unlock the Past cruise in a week's time, finishing off my March blog and article for Going In-Depth and an expert query for Inside History Magazine.

As I will be away I also need to do the April blog and article for Going In-Depth before I leave and I would like to do another Trove Tuesday blog post to keep to my at least once a month schedule. Packing might take some thought as we will be in possibly colder climes and perhaps some hotter ones depending on February's weather which seems a bit all over the place at the moment.

This time next week I will be in Auckland, New Zealand but there will be a Diary update before I leave and perhaps one or two while I am away. It will depend on how fun I'm having on the genealogy cruise! Until next time, happy searching.

Celebrating Australia Day & Other News - Genealogy Notes 22 - 28 Jan 2016

Sunshine Coast Antique Car Club on Bribie for Australia Day

Having a guest for the Australia Day weekend was good but it did mean that my laptop was in rest mode for a lot of the time. On Bribie there is always a full day of activities and we went along to check out the market stalls, watch the lamington eating contest, admire the vintage cars and generally observe everyone having fun in the park and on the beach. The only dampener (no real pun intended) was that there was an extremely heavy shower mid morning which did see a few people pack up and go home.


During the rain the cafes and shops seemed to do lots of business and with no available tables out of the rain, we purchased our lamingtons and retreated home for coffee and cake. After drying out, my friend had a look at the new National Family History Month website which is a work in progress. Lots of good suggestions have been passed on to the designer and I am really looking forward to the new look for 2016.

My Australia Day blog tribute was to my maternal great grandfather Herbert William White from Farley in Wiltshire - read his story here. The reason he was my choice was the family story is that he had red hair and that is why some of his descendants have red hair, me included.

Herbert William White is on the far left in this family photo.

My writing  this week has mainly been focused on a piece for Inside History Magazine and my regular blog and article for Going In-Depth for The In-Depth Genealogist.

On Facebook I have been quietly watched geneamates from all over the world make their way to Rootstech 2016. I will be looking out for their tweets and Facebook posts as it always seems to be a great event. One day I will get there myself.

The Findmypast Fridays are always interesting as they release new records but last Friday's was really relevant to anyone with Queensland connections. They have added over 39,000 more Queensland funeral records as well as over three million New Zealand births, deaths and marriages. Plus other UK records and more newspapers. I should set Fridays aside to explore any new records instead of making a list of what to check when I have more time.

The amount of material coming online now is really quite exciting. Don't forget to also look at UK county archives as only this morning I checked to see what was online for Gloucestershire. The Gloucestershire Archives catalogue is online and there are individual names to be found. I was researching for a query and even though I have no Gloucestershire interest myself, I still found it fascinating to browse.

In two weeks time I will be in Auckland waiting to board the Celebrity Solstice for the next Unlock the Past genealogy cruise around New Zealand and southern Australia. I have started to gather all the bits and pieces I want to take and my eight talks are finished so that is one less job to do.

The coming week sees a return of the Bribie Island Historical Society committee meetings, and the following week the Society starts up its monthly evening meetings. So 2016 is well and truly happening. Follow Rootstech on social media over the next few days and be prepared to be amazed with new genealogical developments. Until next time.

Trove Tuesday, PNG & other news - Genealogy notes 51-21 Jan 2016

Well it is now official, my website has been archived by the National Library of Australia into Pandora. This Diary was added a few years ago and I can now put this button on both sites to indicate that they are in Pandora. There are some great websites there and while some are still current, many are archived because they are no longer in existence. Why not check out what's already in Australia's web archive, Pandora!

I have been working on my talks for the next Unlock the Past genealogy cruise which leaves in about three weeks. As usual I am amazed at how many websites have changed since I last checked links or how much has been added to sites. It is so distracting because I often hive off to check something out instead of  working on the presentation. I remember we used to joke about genealogy being never ending back in the 80s - that was a self fulfilling prophecy especially with the introduction of the internet.

Gordon Price, WW2

The other distraction re genealogy cruising is that Unlock the Past have started advertising their July 2017 cruise to Papua New Guinea which has long been on my list of places to visit. My uncle Gordon, a Rat of Tobruk. spent time their during WW2 (read Gordon's story here) as did Max's father and my grandfather Henry Price was also sent there in WW1. Read Henry's story here. So a strong family and history connection ties us to that part of the Pacific. No surprises that I booked a cabin this week!

It was only after I had paid the deposit and confirmed everything that I realised I would be away for the start of National Family History Month 2017 which is  due to launch in Sydney. Well perhaps I won't be the voluntary coordinator by then or I do what I inadvertently did in 2015, not attend the launch. I have to get through NFHM 2016 first before I need to make those decisions. My approach to sponsors is going well and most of last year's sponsors have agreed to sponsor again which is fantastic.

I am currently looking at web proofs for the new revamped NFHM website - so hard to make those design type decisions. I like a bit of that one and a bit of the other one which of course doesn't help the designer. But I will say it looks 100% better than the old website. All will be revealed soon and the site will be open for new events in February. The launch is in Perth this year so definitely spreading the word across Australia.

Although I have no new resolutions for 2016, I have always wanted to participate in Trove Tuesday blogging. Lots of other bloggers have been doing it for years but rather than commit myself to every Tuesday I am going for at least one Trove Tuesday post a month. More if time permits. My first ever Trove Tuesday post was on my great grandfather James Carnegie and I found a fantastic report on his retirement from Brisbane River Ferries in 1946. Read the whole story here.

The really bright spot in the week was a royalty notice from Unlock the Past for the 3rd quarter of 2015. My biggest selling guide was Where Do I Start? closely followed by my Tracing Mining Ancestors guide. Book sales still outnumber e-book sales and I even have a few overseas sales which is interesting. So print publishing not quite out of the picture yet.

With a guest arriving tomorrow I have spent time gardening, cleaning and decluttering rather than researching or writing. Sad but true. But next week it will be back to more research fun.  In the meantime it is the Australia Day weekend although some people do have to work on the Monday before the holiday on Tuesday.

This Australia Day I am going to pick one of my first immigrant ancestors who I have not written too much about yet. Herbert William White came out from Wiltshire in the early 1880s and married a South Australian of Cornish descent in Charters Towers, Queensland. Stay tuned for his story!

Enjoy Australia Day and the coming week. Good luck with any genealogy searches. Until next time.

Pandora, Aussie blogs & other news - Genealogy Notes 8 - 14 Jan 2016

Wow the second week of 2016 went past in a blur and with all my rehabilitation I didn't get time to do much. But it was a week when three good things happened from a genealogy viewpoint and just a shame I couldn't write about them all at the time.

First up I was alerted to a blog post by State Library of New South Wales about the second edition of my book What Was The Voyage Really Like? It was fantastic to see one of my books being used to help people who go into SLNSW. It is part of their popular questions blog series. Thanks to a number of geneabuddies I was alerted to the post otherwise I might have missed it. Read their post here. My books are for sale online through Gould Genealogy & History and are part of their Unlock the Past guide series.

The second piece of good news was a couple of days later with an email from the National Library of Australia asking permission to archive my website Shauna Hicks Historical Enterprises into their web archive Pandora. This is a great honour and I was thrilled. This Diary blog was added to Pandora back in 2013 so now both my websites will be available into the future.

Through Facebook posts I discovered that many Aussie geneabloggers have been added to Pandora recently which is a fantastic recognition of some great blog writing on genealogy in Australia. Congratulations to all those selected. Unfortunately the Library can't archive everybody but this is a great start.

I am a member of a closed group on Facebook for Australian Local & Family History Bloggers and GeniAus compiled a list of everyone's blogs and it is amazing at just how many blogs there are. Not everyone fits the criteria for membership of this group so there are other Aussie genealogy related blogs out there. We could easily spend all day just reading blogs! If you are short of time I always check out GeniAus' GAGS (GeniAus' Gems) - read her round up for 15 Jan 2016.

That might be my excuse for not doing any blog writing myself yet but it is more that other things have higher priority just now. Every time my specialist says it is a 12 month rehab program I just want to say bring on 2017! Perhaps the first month is the hardest and it will get easier.

Back to my good news. The third item was a message from the Post Office to come and collect a parcel. A bit late for Christmas so I went down and was very pleased to discover that I had been sent a lovely tote bag from The In-Depth Genealogist for being part of their writer's team for Going In-Depth, their digital genealogy magazine. It is the only one of its kind in Australasia although some of my Aussie geneamates going to Rootstech in February will bring one back too.

I will get to Rootstech one year but this time I am on the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise around New Zealand and southern Australia in Feb/Mar. While at the post office I was surprised to find another parcel waiting for me.  Yes my tickets and booklet for the cruise so not long now, less than four weeks. I just have to finalise my eight talks before then!

One news item I picked up this week was the release of WW1 hospital diaries by the National Archives UK. It is not only UK forces but also Australia, Canada, India and New Zealand. Read more about the records here.

Next week is busy. I have a good friend from Canberra coming up for a visit over the Australia Day weekend so it will be a great catch up and she can see our lovely Island. My friend is going to Rootstech so I might see if she will bring me back a souvenir! Another visit to the surgeon, not so thrilling but a routine 4 week check up. And as we have a visitor coming, I really should do some housework which has been neglected since my December hospital visit. Or should I just call up the cleaners we used when I had my broken elbow (which is still in therapy mode too)? Decisions decisions.

Have a good geneaweek and check out some of the Facebook sites for Australian genealogy or follow some of the Aussie geneabloggers - always lots of tips and new resources to follow up. Until next time.

New Access Releases, Book Reviews & Other News - Genealogy Notes 1-7 Jan 2016

Happy New Year and welcome to 2016. Diary has had a bit of a makeover and when I can decide on a personal new look, I will post a new image of me too.

I love the first week of January because BDM Registries and State Archives open up another year of records to access. Already I have some new data from Queensland BDMs which I then use to search Trove. This often allows me to pin down an exact date of birth, marriage or death (assuming I haven't already found it in Trove) or to discover the names of children born in collateral lines.

This year Public Record Office Victoria received some excellent coverage from ABC News with their new releases for 2016 but then with a headline 'Bigamy Madness Murder: 75 year old files opened' it was sure to get people's attention. If you missed it, read about it here.

What this means is that we should all have a look to see what's new. A bit time consuming every yearas I have research in most States but there are lots of exciting new finds waiting to be discovered.

I finished my book reviews - somehow they take longer to write up than actually reading the books. Both were a great read and as usual I could not put down The America Ground: a genealogical crime mystery by Nathan Dylan Goodwin. It is the fourth Morton Farrier, forensic genealogist story and I can't wait for the fifth. Read the review here.

The other review was Hazel Edwards memoir, Not Just a Piece of Cake: Being an Author which was easy to read and inspirational. It triggered many memories from my own life and family experiences and it shows that memoirs do not have to be written from birth onwards in chronological order. Read the review here.

So far I am sticking with my resolution to not commit myself to anything ongoing this year but I have been very much tempted by Dear Myrtle's Finally Get Organised weekly checklists for 2016. The first week looks good so I will probably follow on an ad hoc basis rather than signing up.  The benefit of registering is that it does make you more aware of keeping up with the checklists and how much you do always depends on you but with last year's health issues dragging into 2016 I need to be more of an observer.

There are other great blogging participation programs out there so have a Google or check Geneabloggers. A real Aussie one is Trove Tuesday where people blog about their finds on Trove every Tuesday using the hash tag Trove Tuesday. Speaking of Trove, there are lots of great new titles coming up in the next six months. Have a look here to see what will be available by June 2016. The North Queensland papers will be fantastic for my own research.

Where I am speaking between January and June 2016 is now on my website Services & Events page and although I have only have three events listed I am giving ten talks! The second half of the year will be busier including talks during National Family History Month.

Speaking of which, this coming week I have to really start thinking about National Family History Month in August and the new website we will be showing off at the end of January. There has been a good response from some of our usual sponsors but I still need to follow some up and of course, new sponsors are always welcome. I feel sure that our new logo and website will make NFHM 2016 the best ever yet.

It's been a big week with some welcome rain and for the first time in the three years we have been here, we have seen green frogs. Full grown not just babies so very exciting and I have to report they are not the easiest to photograph. Every time I tried to take a photo he hopped further away, it was almost as if he knew.

A big day of gardening down the back revealed a dreaded cane toad, thankfully we have not seen many. It was humanely dispatched according to RSPCA guidelines. The coming week will be warming up so I'm planning on staying inside and doing some genealogy research in the new resources. Have a good genealogy week and hopefully some exciting discoveries! Until next time.