Archives, Certificates, National Family History Month & Other News - Genealogy Notes 7 - 15 Jun 2016

It has been a crazy hectic week. The talk at Noosaville Library on Queensland Genealogy Resources Online went extremely well. It was a full house with no chairs vacant which was really great to see. The Library was so thrilled they collated the feedback and sent it to me later that afternoon. All positive and most people seemed to want more. As usual, the talk is on my website Resources page, scroll down to Presentations. Looking forward to going back there in August.

Reading room at Queensland State Archives, June 2016

The trip to Queensland State Archives was equally good and it was great to see other geneamates there for the convicts seminar. My research was also good, I simply love files that have certificates in them. Read my blog post on the whole day at Convict Queensland and visiting Queensland State Archives.

A new edition of Family History on the Cheap is now out which makes the third new edition I have done for this year. The others were What Was The Voyage Really Like? and Trove: Discover Discover Genealogy Treasure in the National Library of Australia. It is easier to update a guide than to write one from the beginning.

A while back I ordered an 1849 marriage certificate from the UK even though I knew most of the information. The names of the two witnesses don't mean anything to me at the moment. The real benefit was in the fathers' occupations. I knew one was a bailiff from the census records but the marriage certificate says William Adkins was the bailiff to the Marquess of Hertford. A quick look at Wikipedia and I found out all about the Marquess of Hertford and their property.

I then decided to look at Findmypast for British newspapers to see if their was anything on my person and I was rewarded with a brief death notice. He died at Arrow on 14 Oct 1859 of apoplexy and he was 'for a long time house steward to the Marquis of Hertford, aged 77 years'. The following year his son in law Paul Spencer as executor of William's will, called for any creditors. The other executor was William's son also called William but he had predeceased his father. So now I have more information on the son and a will to follow up.

The other father was Joseph Spencer (father of Paul in the last para) and his occupation was Inland Revenue Officer but those records are not online and no overall index for a quick lookup. I have the National Archives UK guide to tracing them so I will need to engage a researcher in London. We know nothing about Joseph apart from his name as we have never been able to locate him in the census. We have his family and it is not until the 1861 census that his wife describes herself as a widow. Perhaps his job took him away from home on census nights? It is too common a name to locate a death certificate without some parameters so his occupation may be our best chance to learn more.

One certificate at just under $20 and lots more to follow up on two family lines. Definitely worth getting!

The other thing grabbing my attention this week is National Family History Month and I have been busy organising the launch over in Perth. In a blog post Meet NFHM 2016 Major Sponsors I looked at the sponsors who help keep NFHM going. In future posts I will also introduce our prize sponsors and don't forget to add your events to our web calendar. Remember the early bird prize for societies ends on 30 June, don't miss out. Full details on the Sponsors page.

I'm in the last stages of finishing up the Health Records course which is part of the Australian Certificate with the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. It has been a fascinating exercise and I have learnt lots of interesting things along the way. The last part of any project is always the longest for me as I keep tinkering with the modules but it is due 30 June so that's focusing my attention.

I also want to update my database and files with all the new information from Queensland State Archives and plan another trip. Trying to file as I go instead of piling up for later. I need to apply that to my journals and magazines, both print and electronic. Perhaps I need more coffee breaks or is it that there are so many good things to read?

Until next time, have a great genealogy week. 

Queensland Convicts, Visiting Archives, Talking & Other News - Genealogy Notes 30 May - 6 Jun 2016

My son visited for the weekend and we had a technology free weekend, just sitting around and talking rather than checking emails and social media. first day was hardest but by the second day I was more comfortable and of course most things can wait till Monday. It was also an opportunity to sit back and see just what emails I was receiving and I was a bit surprised to see that most were not that important and I simply hit the delete button. So an email tidy up is going on and I am unsubscribing to a lot of 'advert' type emails that I don't recall signing up to. My gmail account was worse than my primary email but both were receiving things I don't read and thankfully both my spam filters save me from a lot too.

This week is almost full on with two genealogy adventures. It is Queensland Week and I am heading north to Noosaville Library to give a talk on genealogy research in Queensland focusing more on what's online. I've put together the usual suspects with some other favourite not so usual suspects and everyone should learn something new.

The next day I am heading south (lots of freeway driving) to the Queensland State Archives (QSA). I have been promising myself a research trip for some time but setting a date was always an issue. But I received an invitation to Shackled - Queensland's First Female Convicts which is a half day seminar with Dr Jennifer Harrison talking about the 140 female convicts who came to Moreton Bay (and we can buy copies of Jennifer's new book, of the same title, Shackled - Queensland's First Female Convicts) followed by a talk on how to research convict records at QSA. Both talks should be interesting and morning tea is also included. All for free!

So with that motivation in the morning, I thought why not a little research in the afternoon before the long trek home. This may say something about my age, but I am Number 1 in the QSA researcher's system and I was really pleased to find out that they can reactivate my number when I visit. In preparation for the trip I have been searching the catalogue for series and item numbers as the system has changed and there are new numbers for my old favourite series.

I also did some name searches and even though there is not a lot of name identified data in the online catalogue (more in the online indexes), I discovered some really exciting references to my great great grandfather John Finn in two series that I would not have thought to look in. I also discovered a reference to Max's grandfather Henry Spencer, again in something I would not have checked. Indexed entries are fantastic. Imagine how much we could find is everything was name indexed if time and money were not critical.

Unfortunately you can't pre-order records at QSA, so I need to get there early and try and order before the talks start. My list of want to look at files is probably too long so a return trip will be necessary but I am looking forward to some wonderful new information on problem ancestors. The other distraction is that I will probably meet up with other geneafriends at the talks, although they might also be trying to fit in a bit of research too.Stay tuned.

My ethnicity map with Ancestry DNA

I haven't seen too much talk of DNA Nation on social media but I have been taping it and have just managed to watch the first episode. I did my matriarchal DNA some years ago with 23 and Me and more recently the Ancestry ethnicity test which revealed mostly a UK background. My brother has just done a full Y test with Family Tree DNA so I am waiting to get those results. DNA Nation looks at three Australians with diverse backgrounds and the first week looked at the matriarchal side of things. I found it interesting and helped confirm my understanding of female DNA. Now to find some time to watch weeks 2 and 3.

As it has been a busy week with some solid writing, I didn't get too much time to read blogs or follow social media. So one of my easy catch up tricks is to check out Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings which is a list of the blogs that he liked best last week. As usual there were some great blog posts listed for 29 May to 4 Jun - why not have a look and see what you may have missed.

A lot of travel time coming up but if those archive files are as exciting as I hope they are, it will be a serious genealogy research weekend coming up. By some good fortune it is also a fishing competition weekend so the house will be all mine with no distractions. Lucky me. It's also a long weekend for the Queen's birthday so perhaps everyone can fit in some genealogy research. Until next time happy searching.

Irish Death Certificates, NFHM 2016 & Other News - Genealogy Notes 22 - 29 May 2016

Part of our daily walk around the resort

After a relaxing week's holiday at a resort in the Gold Coast Hinterland, there is not a lot of genealogy news to report. The only thing I did was check my emails occasionally and update events on the National Family History Month web calendar. The National Institute for Genealogical Studies early bird prize for genealogy and family history societies adding their August NFHM events to the calendar closes on 30 June, just over a month away. I hope that motivates a few more societies to be part of NFHM 2016. Full details on the Sponsors page of the website.

During the week I accepted another two speaking engagements for NFHM - both in the Sunshine Coast area so fortunately not a lot of travelling time for me. This is probably just as well as I am now doing 19 talks for NFHM in Western Australia, Queensland and New Zealand. That may be a record for the number of talks given by any one person and it is almost a certainty that I will be the most traveled person that month. Still, I do love NFHM and seeing everyone so passionate about genealogy and family history. Please help spread the word and encourage your society, local library or archives to join in too by entering their August events in the web calendar.

An email from FamilyTree DNA left me in two minds - excited and somewhat pensive. My brother has finally done the Y DNA test for me and it has been received my FamilyTree DNA. Now we are just waiting for the results. I'm giving my Love Sex and Damn Lies talk twice during NFHM so will there be a different ending??

My four Irish death images arrived by email and very good quality digital images and ever so much cheaper than a certificate. I was right not to expect too much additional information but one informant was the son in law so that confirmed I had the right person. One informant was the husband so again the right person and the other two had informants where I don't recognise the name and no relationship is given. But names, ages and places all match so I am reasonably confident I have all four Irish GGG grandparents deaths.

The causes of death were the most interesting part.Sarah Fegan was 84 years old and died of senile decay and cardiac failure. I realised that she had lived longer than her daughter Sarah who came out to Queensland. I was left wondering if she had been informed of Sarah's death or had all contact with the family been lost. Her husband Robert Fegan had died earlier, aged 78 years from asthma, something I suffered from as a child. Rosanna Finn died aged 67 years from bronchitis another one of my childhood illnesses and her husband James Finn died aged 75 years from chronic Bright's disease and something else that I cannot read (yet). This had me reaching for Helen Smith's Death Certificates and Archaic Medical Terms to learn that Bright's Disease is an inflammatory disease of the kidneys (increased protein in the urine).

Coming up in June is Queensland Week 4-12 June 2016 (celebrating Queensland's birthday on 6 June) and I will be speaking at Noosaville Library about online sources for Queensland genealogy and family history. I'm looking forward to going back to Noosaville as it is another one of those places we almost settled. Watch out for other interesting events during the week.

History Week in New South Wales is 3-11 September and they are calling for events to be registered and also for groups who would like a speaker to visit them. Now in its 19th year, it has a Neighbours theme including stories of individuals, families and communities living near one another and links between suburbs, regions and countries. Full details on their website and it should be an exciting time for those in NSW.

Now that I am back home there are a few writing projects that need to be finalised before the end of June and regular blogs and articles to be completed. The weather is a little cooler but still not really autumn and with winter next week, I am still able to swim in the pool, although it is solar heated.

Tortoise enjoying a sun bake

Python also enjoying the sunshine

One of the great things about where we stayed on the Gold Coast Hinterland was that it had a natural lagoon with an amazing range of birds and tortoises which were fond of coming up for a sun bake during the day. I was not so fond of the huge python we came across on one of our bush walks. It really  was good to have a week off but now looking forward to a fantastic week of genealogy research. Until next time enjoy those genealogy moments.