Genealogy Notes 20-26 August 2014 - National Family History Month nearly over

It seems to have been a really good National Family History Month so far. I have seen lots of reports on various social media sites with people sharing what they have done and learnt at the various events around the country. Make the most of the last few days of August by reading some of the blogs and follow up on the tips. One that I am going to be looking at this week is from one of my favourite online resources. Trove Tips for Family Historians by Catriona Bryce from the National Library of Australia is a must read and it was great to see that the tips came from a brainstorming session with Liz Pidgeon from Yarra Plenty Libraries.

Liz was one of my geneabuddies when I was living in Victoria and her enthusiasm for family history is fantastic and she is a source of lots of great tips. The beauty of the internet is that I can still keep in touch with Liz (and others) by simply following their blog, or on Twitter, Facebook or wherever. In some ways once we embrace social media it does not really matter where we live.

In the first two days of this week I have done three talks in three libraries and while I am starting to feel a bit all talked out, I still have one more talk to do for National Family History Month. Today I am at the Redcliffe Library and afterwards we will be drawing the sponsors prizes giveaway which closed yesterday. We are all organised and with the help of attendees I will have some good news for the lucky winners tomorrow. Good luck to all those who entered for the various prizes and thanks to Moreton Bay Region Libraries for their fantastic support in NFHM.

There is still time to register for one of the three online genealogy courses offered by the National Institute of Genealogical Studies. You can choose from Google for the Wise Genealogist or Social Media Tools for the Wise Genealogist or Connecting Family: Online and Virtually. To register for your complimentary course send an email to info@genealogicalstudies.com with the following details - your name, mailing address, email address, course name and start month. The courses start the first Monday of each month and you can select which month best suits you eg September, October etc.

I have also managed to complete Nos 16-31 of my 31 Activities for Researchers in National Family History Month. You can read Nos 1-15 here and it has been good to see others also blogging what they have been doing. A couple of examples include Geniaus with her #NFHM2014 Report Card and TravelGenee has been blogging each of the challenges.

There hasn't been much time to do anything else except NFHM related things and I will probably find myself at a loss of what to do next week. Not really because the next Unlock the Past cruise is looming - a 3 night cruise out of Sydney and the genealogy sessions without the distraction of foreign ports. It will be just like a genealogy conference and I am really looking forward to it. It is also a great opportunity to simply have a fantastic long weekend on board a luxury ship with no cooking, no housework and you don't have to make your own bed!

But for now it is time to get ready and head off for Redcliffe. I must add up how many kilometres I have travelled this month around South East Queensland and of course if I add in the trip to Canberra for the launch it will be in the thousands. Enjoy the rest of National Family History Month. Until next time.

Genealogy notes 13-19 August 2014 - More National Family History Month news

Another busy week with one talk for Moreton Bay Region Libraries and a webinar (my first ever webinar presentation) for MyHeritage. I found it a bit strange just sitting in my study talking to my laptop knowing that there were about 120 people out there listening to me. More new technology mastered or at least experienced!

My experimenting with a NFHM board on Pinterest has been working really well (if I can say that) as I did a Google trawl looking for items about NFHM and found some interesting pieces which I was able to pin to the board. Quite a few people are following and some have even pinned my pins on to their own boards.

This week was the deadline for my next article for Irish Lives Remembered and I was sent a proof of an article I wrote for Inside History Magazine which is looking good for the next issue.

I have added a few more events to the NFHM web calendar and continue to add individuals into the sponsors prizes giveaway. There are a fantastic list of prizes to be won by individuals including 10 Ancestry subscriptions, 2 Findmypast subscriptions, 2 MyHeritage subscriptions, 2 AFFHO Congress 2015 registrations, 2 $100 genEbooks vouchers, 3 NSW transcriptions from Joy Murrin, 1 Momento photo book valued at $150, 2 Unlock the Past cruise vouchers at $200 each and $150 research services with yours truly. How to enter is on the home page of NFHM and please read the terms and conditions. The prize giveaway closed in one week - 26 August at 5.00pm. Links to all the sponsors are on the Sponsors page.

Also on offer is a free online genealogy course with the National Institute of Genealogical Studies. There are three courses to choose from and instructions on how to enrol in the course of your choice is on the Sponsors page of NFHM.

There are still lots of events to go in the last two weeks of NFHM so check out your local area and remember to see what is online as there are some interesting offers there too.

My 31 Activities for Researchers and 31 Activities for Societies in NFHM is on my Resources page and I did manage to write up my first 15 activities and you can read it here. The other 16 will hopefully be later this week.

I also managed to take up another 3 Kiva loans with my repayments from previous loans, all part of the Kiva Genealogists for Families project. That is also a good activity to do during NFHM and I must remember that for next year.  You can join me at http://www.kiva.org/invitedto/genealogists/by/shauna1522

Tomorrow I am speaking at the Deception Bay Library on Family History on the Cheap and I have not been to that Library before so probably all new people. Next week I have four talks to finish off NFHM and of course the sponsors prizes giveaway draw on 27 August at Redcliffe. I really like that I can spread some of my major NFHM  activities around - launch in Canberra, talks throughout Moreton Bay Region and the prize draw at Redcliffe. Just as well I don't mind a bit of travel.

For those not familiar with Redcliffe it was Queensland's first European settlement and September 2014 marks the 190th anniversary of settlement in the area. So a nice historical place to end my NFHM! For those reading this overseas, we really are a very young country.

I think that is all I have done the last week but then I am a bit weary! Planning a nice week off post NFHM with a week's holiday at Surfers Paradise. I haven't been there since I was a teenager so it will be interesting and something a bit different, not our usual exotic places.

Keep on enjoying NFHM and happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 6-12 August 2014 National Family History Month is nearly half over already!

Time does fly when you are having fun! I have given 6 of my 11 talks for Moreton Bay Region Libraries already and there have been some great audiences. Lots of people have gone home to try out some of my ideas for Demolishing Brick Walls or doing Family History on the Cheap. As usual I have put the presentations on my website Resources page, scroll down to Presentations.

At the top of the Resources page are my 31 Activities for National Family History Month (for individuals and societies) and it has been good seeing some people do all or only a few of the activities. One person  I know is blogging all of her activities and Fran (aka Travelgenee) has done some interesting posts on her adventures so far this NFHM. It is always surprising how people interpret a challenge and I usually pick up new ideas as well.

Pauleen (aka Cassmob) has done a NFHM 2014 geneameme challenge and again I find it inspiring to read what others are saying in response to the prompts. Read Pauleen's response to her own challenge here. Geniaus (aka Jill) has introduced us to the concept of 'geneacave' where we do our family history at home. Sure beats 'study'! And she has introduced me to the PIP process - read all about it here. Pauleen will be collating all of the responses so why not give it a go or at least read a few of them. My NFHM geneameme response is here.

Surprisingly I am still adding a few events to the NFHM web calendar and of course I am busy with entries for the NFHM sponsors prizes giveaway which closes on 26 August. So far there are no entries from TAS, WA or the NT and only one from SA - what does this mean?

NFHM is mainly promoted online with events around the country so are those places not following us on Facebook or Twitter or Google +? I have even placed notices on the main mailing listservs for all States and Territories just in case people are not into social media. But very little response for the effort of signing up to post the notice in the first place.

Or is it just because people don't want to win the NFHM prizes? It can't be that because I would love to win some of those prizes but because I am the person running the giveaway I can't enter! Sob. I hope people don't leave it till the last day or I will go demented trying to organise everything before the prize draw takes place at Redcliffe Library.

It is Ekka week here so we are planning a visit to Mum and then on to the Ekka which brings back all kinds of memories of going with my parents as a child and taking my own son to the Ekka too. At least now I don't have to contemplate those rides but I will admit to a certain fondness still for the showbags.

Next week I am doing another talk for Moreton Bay Region Libraries and my first ever webinar with MyHeritage. I am a bit spooked at this stage as I have still to master a Google Hangout so now to get myself organised and cool and collected before Monday. Deep breath needed and maybe even more than one.

The other new thing I am trying for NFHM is Pinterest and I am really surprised at how many people have shown interest in the NFHM board that I have done. The only way to learn and get to know about some of these social media sites is to dive in and have a look. You can't break anything or at least I haven't yet!

My 'geneacave' desk looks like a cyclone has hit it so time for a good tidy up before I move on to my next NFHM challenge. Have a great time this August researching your families in NFHM. Until next time.

Genealogy notes 30 Jul - 5 Aug 2014 Start of National Family History Month

I always knew the lead in to National Family History Month was going to be busy but I have been flat out like a lizard drinking! It was great to be in Canberra for the launch at the National Archives of Australia, sponsor of the launch since 2006. You can read about my report on the launch here. It was also a great opportunity to catch up with old NAA colleagues and friends from HAGSOC (nice to see the PR for NFHM on their home page).

I did not have to remember why I left Canberra as it was a bit snowy on the day of the launch, although I always did love seeing the snow on the Brindabellas and the flight home the next day was pretty with all the snow lying around in southern New South Wales. By the time I got home to Bribie the cold front had moved north and I still needed a cardy!

My 31 activities for individuals in NFHM are now on the Resources page of my website and there are also 31 activities for genealogy/family history societies there too. Nothing is compulsory and you can do as many or as few activities as you want during the month. Remember there are other online events in the NFHM web calendar. Also on the NFHM website are the giveaway prizes from NFHM sponsors and details of how to enter are on the Home Page.

When I agreed to do my 11 talks for Moreton Bay Region Libraries I was only thinking it was one hour talks not factoring in travel time. Moreton must be one of the bigger shires as the travel time varies from 8 minutes to the Bribie Library to almost an hour to the Arana Hills Library where I am speaking today. I am giving 5 talks this week but only one next week as it is Ekka time. The following week is also only one talk with the final three in the last week of NFHM. The giveaway prize draw takes place at the Redcliffe Library on 27 August and I do thank Moreton Bay Region Libraries for their fantastic support during NFHM. As well as myself, they have other speakers giving family history talks too.

State Library of Victoria asked me to do a guest blog on their Family Matters blog for NFHM and you can read it here. This will be the first Family History Feast that I have missed since we first started it back in 2004 so a bit sad. But fantastic that it continues even though two of us have retired! And of course they do podcasts of the speakers so I will be able to listen once the sessions go online. Something to anticipate!

Sadly I suspended my own personal blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 as I simply could not keep it up and still get all the events etc up for NFHM but I will return to it in September. Sharon (The Tree of Me) has been playing catchups with it and I have just put links to her posts on my website. It is always interesting to see how others approach a set blog post and it is great for finding new ideas.

I have promised to blog my 31 activities for the month but haven't done so yet. One new thing that I have done is set up a Pinterest account and have boards for NFHM and Diary of an Australian Genealogist. Social media is amazing and there are so many things you can do to express yourself and your interests online. Not only did I put some NFHM photographs on Pinterest but  I also put some on the NFHM Facebook page. HAGSOC member Jeanette Hahn took some photos of the launch and has given us permission to use them.

Time for me to head off to Arana Hills Library and my third talk for NFHM and I hope everyone else is having a great time this August. Until next time, happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 22-29 Jul 2014 getting ready for National Family History Month 2014

As some of you may know I am the voluntary coordinator of National Family History Month which is an initiative of AFFHO, the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations. As it is only three days to the start of NFHM 2014 just about everything I am doing at present is NFHM related.

I am working on a few things that I cannot put up on the website until 31 July as we do not want people jumping the gun which makes it a bit hard for me as last minute stuff is always tricky. What if my internet plays up or I get sick or my laptop dies? Yes I am a worrier but I do want this NFHM to be bigger and better than previous years.

I did a media interview with the Seniors newspaper so I hope that we get some publicity in their August issue. It is often hard to attract media attention but we send out media notices and hope that it is a slow news day. All of our NFHM sponsors also help promote NFHM through their own enewsletters and social media.

Events are still going up and the launch is all organised. Although last night's weather did not thrill me. There was some talk that it might even snow in Canberra on Friday as a cold front is coming in. It will probably be frosty and that often reminded me of snow when I lived here. But fortunately for me most of the really frosty days seem to be after I leave and return home to sunny warm Queensland.

I came to Canberra early because I was attending the launch of Discovering ANZACs but it was postponed when the Governor General went to the Netherlands following the MH17 air tragedy. So I have some unexpected free time on my hands and a return trip to Canberra at some point.

I have been a member of Genes Reunited for years although I don't often go on and see what's new. So I have been trawling for some of my family names and finding that there are quite a few new people researching the same families. I have sent contact emails and already received some positive responses and when viewing their trees it is obvious that we are descended from the same ancestors just down different lines. A timely reminder to recheck databases from time to time as new material is continually being added.

The closure of State Records South Australia's reading rooms took me by surprise as I had not seen anything about it until after the event. The city search room closed on 18 July and the Gepps Cross reading closes on 1 August which is a bit of a sad start to NFHM. State Records is relocating its public access services to the State Library of South Australia so it will be interesting to see how that works. The State Library has some great events planned for NFHM so perhaps that will help fellow family historians get over their disappointment with State Records. See SLSA list of events on their website here.

I have been following the 5th Unlock the Past cruise with lots of great photos from them on Facebook and the occasional blog from Helen Smith and Alona Tester. It has almost been like I was there but not really. They seem to have had fantastic weather judging by the short sleeves which surprised me as I always think of the north of Scotland as cold and bleak. Too much Hamish Macbeth perhaps!

When I do return home at the weekend there will be no rest as on Monday I start the first of my 11 presentations for the Moreton Bay Region Libraries to celebrate NFHM and they have other speakers too so at this early stage I think Moreton is going to take out the title of most supporting public library for NFHM 2014. This also reminds me that I will need to finalise my talks  between now and then. The Events page of my website has where I am speaking and the NFHM web calendar for Queensland has all the Moreton events listed.

Only three more sleeps to NFHM 2014 - get ready for a huge month of genealogy and family history across Australia and New Zealand. Happy researching everyone.

Genealogy Notes 15-22 July 2014 - NFHM & exciting family finds

Wow the past week has been full on with all kinds of exciting things. National Family History Month is keeping me busy with more events added and there have been some changes to dates, times, venues and even a cancellation. So remember to keep checking the NFHM web calendar for any changes. There is also a new prize sponsor - Momento photo books so keep an eye out for news about the prize draws as we get into NFHM in just over a week's time. Full list of NFHM sponsors and prizes here.

Findmypast (a NFHM prize sponsor) have been doing 100 record sets in 100 days and some brilliant records have been added over the last 100 days but the one that got me most excited were the last four sets - Nos 97 - 100 Staffordshire baptisms, burials, marriages and banns. I have oodles of Staffordshire ancestors and have had a quick play (found my GGG grandfather's marriage and the deaths of my GG grandparents amongst other things ) but there is a fishing competition on this weekend and I will be alone for two days. So I am quietly planning my Staffordshire feast of family history for this weekend!

Peter from Lost Cousins also drew my attention to the Staffordshire records release as I have put my Staffordshire census information into the Lost Cousins database. I need to recheck that as more census information has been released since I last added my families.

Another NFHM prize sponsor, Inside History Magazine has featured a story on Max's ancestors which I discovered over a cup of tea this morning. Max's grandmother was the cousin of Archie Barwick who features in the new documentary The War That Changed Us so looking forward to seeing that  and to learning more about Archie. It goes to air on 5 August on the ABC so perfect timing for NFHM!

At the prompting of other relatives I have put my family trees up publicly in Ancestry (a major sponsor and a prize sponsor of NFHM) and I am a bit amazed at the distant relatives that have sent me emails and new information. It certainly pays to advertise but keeping up with all the new enquiries at this time is a little hectic. Thank goodness NFHM is only a month although there are some who have suggested it should be all year!!

I also been watching the new series of Who Do You Think You Are on SBS and found Andrew Denton's story so moving but then all the stories are interesting and get me wanting to do more research on my ancestors! Just wish some of them had led more exciting lives! If you have missed an episode you can watch them online too.

The other exciting news is that I have been invited to the launch of the National Archives of Australia's new Discovering ANZACs website by the Governor General and followed by high tea so definitely not to be missed. Luckily it is the same week that I am in Canberra for the launch of NFHM, next week is going to be huge. Plus I get to catch up with all my old Canberra friends.

The 5th Unlock the Past cruise is currently underway and both Alona and Helen have managed to write some blog posts and put pictures up on Facebook so that those of us not there can still find out all the news. Read Alona's posts here and Helen's here.

Trove is having a pre NFHM event and are looking for your family stories and there are some I Love Trove badges on offer so read all the details here but closing date is 30 July so be quick!

Well that's my news for this week and I will have another Diary update on Sunday before I head off to Canberra will all the latest news on NFHM. August is going to be a fantastic month for genealogy and family history. Happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 8-14 July 2014 A History Conference and other news

Since the last Diary I have been in Brisbane attending the annual Australian Historical Association history conference. While mostly academic history I find that some of the papers presented are also of interest to me in my love of all aspects of Australian history, especially colonial times. I have reported on the conference in my SHHE Genie Rambles blog on my website and you can read the report here. There is a link to the conference abstracts in the blog post for anyone who wants to look at the hundreds of papers presented over the five days plus other links which may be of interest.

One of the issues of being away from home for five days is trying to keep up with all my usual things. National Family History Month continues to get closer and we have another prize sponsor - Joy Murrin Family History Services.  I am still trying to decide on where to have the prize draw as I like to do it in front of an audience towards the end of NFHM. Moreton Bay Region Libraries have asked me to do 11 talks during NFHM so I need to revamp those talks too before August. I also have to finish my 31 things to do in NFHM for individuals and societies - this was popular last year so I am doing a revised version for 2014.

The launch of NFHM is on track and the winners of the Nick Vine Hall awards have been notified so that they can attend the launch. This year thanks to our major sponsors Ancestry.com.au, FamilySearch and MyHeritage we can bring both winners to Canberra which is really good. I think it is nice that I have started a new tradition (but then that might just be my personal bias).

I know that NFHM hasn't even started yet for 2014 but already I am thinking ahead to 2015. Sponsors, prizes, events and where to have the launch. I have moved it from Melbourne, to Brisbane and now to Canberra. Where to next for NFHM?

Invitations to speak are always nice to receive and 2015 is starting to look very busy. But in the past week I have also received invitations for the second part of this year. Fortunately the date suggested by the North Brisbane Branch of the Genealogical Society of Queensland was free so I am doing my church records talk there on 5 September. I used to go to their meetings back in the late 70s so we have known each other for a very long time. The other invitation is still not confirmed so more news next time. Details of all my talks for the rest of the year are here.

There are also lots of new records online and special offers around. Being tardy with my emails means that sometimes the offer is over before I even see it. But MyHeritage have a free offer to search their WW1 military records until the end of July. More about the offer here. Findmypast.com.au continue to add a staggering amount of records to their database and I find reading their blog the best way of finding out what's new. Read their blog posts here. I have also been looking at the Lives of the First World War website too. Ancestry.com.au have had free access to Australian records over the weekend and the offer ends today.

So while it is nice to go away for a five day history conference, you can miss out on other good things too. And of course I brought back a stack of new reading material and it is beautiful fine, sunny and warm outside (although the early mornings and evenings remind you that it is winter) so I am tempted to go outside and have a nice read. But that doesn't get blogs written, emails answered or talks prepared. Moderation in all things is a good motto so the kettle is on, my stack of Fryer Library journals on the poolside table and I am about to enjoy that winter sunshine with a nice chai latte! Until next time.

Genealogy notes 1-7 Jul 2014 NFHM & obituaries

Well another week has flashed by and National Family History Month is fast approaching. I have been busy adding events to the web calendar (over 200 events so far) and organising the launch. I also have to report two more sponsors. MyHeritage is now a major sponsor as well as a prize sponsor which is fantastic news. Patrica Barth from Family Tree Scriptorium is now a prize sponsor and it is great to see her association with NFHM continuing. Patricia is the widow of Nick Vine Hall after whom the AFFHO awards for best genealogy/family history society journal is named.

Hazel Edwards (author of How to Write a Non Boring Family History) let me know of an interesting idea that she picked up at a recent Victorian GUM Non Boring Family History Writing workshop. The attendees had to be their ancestor and were interviewed in an oral history type situation. I have often wondered what it would be like to have been one of my ancestors but I have never actually answered questions from their perspective. An interesting concept as thinking is one thing and actually writing down or verbalizing is another. Another thing on the 'to do' list.

Week 21 of my personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 was on obituaries. I don't have many in my own research but when you do find one, these records can break down records. Read about it here.

This week I am at the Australian Historical Association annual conference which is conveniently in Brisbane this year. I am also going to an all day session with the Professional Historians Association of Queensland and they have some nice little side trips organised. Tours of the John Oxley Library and the Fryer Library will be interesting as it is over 20 years since I worked at JOL and more than that since I visited Fryer as a uni student.

I am still immersed in a big writing project that threw me a few curved balls at the last minute so I really haven't had a chance to do much else as I definitely want to finish it before the start of NFHM. I know James Bond said 'Never Say Never' but I don't think I will go this path again. The whole point of my writing is that I enjoy it and I need to get back to that point again.

So look forward to all sorts of news from the AHA and PHAQ conference sessions in next Diary. Until next time happy researching!

Genealogy notes 23 - 30 June 2014 NFHM and writing blogs

Well the last week did not go as planned.Mum's birthday party went well and we had our little trip to Sea World and unbelievably the baby polar bear came out to play when I was standing right in front of his enclosure thinking I was going to miss him. Mum polar bear wasn't far behind him and the Dad polar bear was in another enclosure where we saw him swimming and having a good time too. So all up an excellent few days of family fun.

Then I made the mistake of deciding to rearrange some book cases and the layout of the study. I am happier with this rearrangement but it does take time regrouping and reshelving hundreds of books. We are definitely never moving again! Of course I also found books that I had not yet read so a nice little pile of them to look forward to. The other thing is that I have too many genealogy magazines and I can't bring myself to part even with the very outdated ones. I find that flicking through them gives me ideas or reminds me of things that I have forgotten about. Yet space and storage is a factor.

Some of my genealogy society memberships and genealogy magazines are only digital these days which saves space but out of sight out of mind. I need to write myself reminders to read these digital copies.

I think all of this was a bit of procrastination as whenever I get towards the end of a big writing project I always seem to find other things to do rather than tackle the fiddly bits and pieces to finish a job. Still it won't go away and that is the goal for this week.

There are two new posts in my personal genealogy blog challenge - 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014. Week 19 is Family Bibles and Week 20 is Mining Records. I am finding it hard to keep up the weekly blogs but it is really good to look at each topic and then to think about what ancestors I want to write about or look up new information on.

National Family History Month is still taking up time with new events being added all the time. I posted an update on my website - read the update here. Invitations to the launch have gone out and I have booked my flight and accommodation for Canberra. I think next year it has to be a warmer launch (but I guess that will be determined by whoever the voluntary coordinator is).

My findmypast.com.au subscription allows me to access British newspapers online and in another obvious display of procrastination I spent a lovely afternoon finding interesting bits and pieces in UK newspapers. I often do this with Trove or Papers Past so it was interesting to spend more time exploring the UK equivalent.

On Twitter I have been following all the new indexes on the Claim a Convict website. They are doing really good work and it is a must go to website for anyone with convicts. Deceased Online is another website that I follow on Twitter for updates on UK burials and cremations and of course FamilySearch is always adding to their website. Then there are all the nice links I pick up from Facebook genealogy friends and sometimes I go on Google + but keeping up with everything is tricky.

Genealogy friend Geniaus speculated in a blog post How Do You React? if anyone ever reads what we write and should we even keep writing. While I do write to share bits and pieces with my genealogy cyber buddies, I also write for myself. It is a way for me to record what I am doing, to write down ancestor stories, and to look back on what I have done over the past few years of having a website and blogging. The Wayback Machine (part of the Internet Archive) has captured snapshots of my website over the years and this Diary is archived in the National Library of Australia's Pandora web archive accessible through Trove.

So yes I do think people should keep on blogging and imagine if every genealogist and family historian blogged their family stories. We would be finding cousins all over the place and brick walls would come tumbling down which are some of the positives I have seen so far in my own writing.

And on that note I have to get back to some serious work! Until next time happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 17-22 Jun 2014 - National Family History Month 2014

This past week has been busy with lots of preparation for National Family History Month 2014 which is an initiative of AFFHO (Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations). I am the voluntary coordinator so I have been making arrangements with the National Archives of Australia for the launch. NAA have hosted the launch since 2006 so their support is really appreciated. Ancestry.com.au and FamilySearch are our two major sponsors this year and their is a long list of prize sponsors on the NFHM website.

Here is an image from last year's launch with Professor Cliff Pollard who spoke about WW1 nurses. Our 2014 keynote speaker is Dr Richard Reid on the Western Front 1914-1918.

Apart from launch arrangements I have also been busy checking events that ate being put into the NFHM web calendar. Spam is a problem for everyone so each event has to be approved before it becomes visible and lots of events have gone up over the last week. Any genealogy/family history society, library, archives or similar organisation can put their August events up in the web calendar. It is a great way for more people to see what events you hold.

I have also been doing a bit more promotion on the NFHM Facebook page and as of this morning there are 952 Likes so it definitely looks like we are going to hit the 1000 Likes before the launch of NFHM on 1 August. My thanks go to all my cyber buddies who help promote NFHM in their various social media circles.

I forgot to mention last time that Inside History Magazine asked me to do a guest blog on 'how to ask an expert'questions you have on your genealogy and family history research. You can read the blog post here. It is based on my own experiences trying to help people and the more clear and concise you are, the more likely someone will be able to give you the answer or suggest other things to look at.

It was a forgetful week last week as I also neglected to say that I met Rebecca Wheatley at the National Archives of Australia advisory meeting on the centenary of WW1. She is working on the Monash University One Hundred Stories Project and we were shown some very moving and emotional stories about soldiers who came home from the war. These are being put on YouTube and the link is here. Penguin is planning to publish a book of the One Hundred Stories in November 2015.

One of my favourite online newsletters is Lost Cousins which comes out every week. Another is Snippets from Queensland Family History Society and I am a subscriber to Dick Eastman's newsletter (plus edition as I like the longer articles as well as his short news stories). Dick also suggested that I put the NFHM event up on his web calendar which I have done and I must remember to check that more often myself.

My talk at the Caloundra Family History Research group went well and I was showing them some of my favourite Google tools for family history. As usual I have placed a copy of the talk on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations. Google is always changing so I need to update the talk every time I do that presentation.

I have got another busy week planned with lots of writing - there are a couple of jobs that I simply must finish before we get too close to NFHM. From 7-11 July I am attending the annual conference of the Australian Historical Association which is in Brisbane this year. There is also a Professional Historians Association Queensland day in conjunction with the AHA conference so I am going to that as well. Should be a stimulating week of history and networking.

Today we are finally getting to celebrate Mum's 80th birthday (having had to delay it several times due to her not being all that well). So I must dash as I don't think she will want to be kept waiting (we are the ones picking her up and taking her to the venue). Final thoughts - not genealogy I'm afraid but I am finally treating myself to a trip to Sea World to see the polar bears so an exciting week coming up. Happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 12-16 Jun 2014 Canberra & NFHM news

Well it has been a very busy few days and considerably cooler than what I am used to. The trek to Canberra involved a bus ride to the Brisbane airport, small plane to Canberra (didn't realise they still used propeller planes) then a taxi to the Forrest Hotel and Apartments which is where I stay as it is a nice, if chilly walk to the National Archives of Australia where my meeting was. Because of the time it takes me to travel to Canberra I always come in the day before.

This usually gives me time for a coffee and chat with the President of AFFHO who are the organisation behind National Family History Month. It is a chance for me to report on how it is going and to get support back from the AFFHO members. So after a spirited discussion we both went away with a 'to do' list for this year's launch and to make sure every AFFHO member across Australia remembers to put their events up in the NFHM web calendar. My Facebook NFHM campaign has been going well and the number of Likes is steadily creeping towards 1000 (865 at the time I typed this). I am reasonably confident this target will be reached.

Dinner was with an old HAGSOC friend from my time living in Canberra and again the conversation was all about genealogy, societies and NFHM. Again I came away with some good ideas for this and future years. It was also the most divine pork belly on Asian vegetable broth and as it was raining we had dined at the Sherwood Restaurant at the Forrest Hotel. It took me a little while to realise why they called the restaurant that but I put that down to the cold!

Next morning it was even colder as I did the 20 minute stroll to the National Archives of Australia for the advisory committee meeting for World War One. This is always a good opportunity for me to catch up with some of old colleagues as I worked at NAA at the beginning of this century for a few years. The new Discovering ANZACs website is at the testing stage and should be live before August so stay tuned for more news. It will be replacing the old Mapping Our ANZACs website plus there are a lot of new and exciting features.

As National Family History Month is being launched in Canberra at the National Archives it was also an opportunity to discuss the arrangements in person which is always much nicer than just over the phone or by email. Everything looks on track so I am quite happy with all the organising side of NFHM but I will make a call to all those genealogy and family history societies, libraries and archives who have not yet put their events into the web calendar, please do so that people can start planning what they want to attend and when.

Whenever visiting the NAA I take the opportunity to go to their latest exhibition which is A Place to Call Home, about post war migrants and their experiences in Australia. While living in Victoria we had visited Bonegilla so I found the photos in this exhibition fascinating and could appreciate the comments of the migrants featured in the exhibition. The exhibition is also linked to the NAA website Destination Australia.

For some reason I could not get a cheap flight home so I stayed another night and caught up with the current president of HAGSOC for another genealogy and travel chat over dinner at Ginseng in Manuka. The Forrest Hotel is within easy walking distance of Manuka and I have been slowly working my way around all the fantastic restaurants there. There is also a great little bookshop there and as I walked through the door, there was Carole Baxter's new book up on a stand taking pride of place on the shelf. Great to see her book so actively promoted.

Then next day it was the long trek home again. Last Diary was all about my exciting discovery on my Gunderson line so I was interested to see if there had been any feedback. My cousin had been so excited he contacted the American researcher for me and this person was initially skeptical as they were not aware of the illegitimate son which was what I had thought. He tried to prove my conclusion but was unable to find the entry in the online digitised parish registers. I had bought the certificate back in 1983 so I knew the entry was there so a quick scan, an email and when he rechecked using the references in the certificate he found the entry.

The question still in his mind is - was there more than one Gunder Jorgenson from Toe in Seljord? I did look at this back in the 80s and could not find anyone else but that was all before computers, indexing and digitisation. I still think it is right but another search now won't go astray.

Everything else is piling up around me as NFHM starts to take over my life but I am going to the Caloundra Family History Research Group on Thursday for a presentation. I am looking forward to this as they are a really friendly group. The following week should be a little quieter. Happy researching till next time.

Genealogy Notes 8-11 Jun 2014 Serendipity and Brick Wall Crumbles

This Diary post is a little early as I am off to Canberra tomorrow for a meeting at the National Archives of Australia and some catch up chats with some National Family History Month friends as the August launch of NFHM will be in Canberra this year. So I have been trying to catch up with a few things before I leave.

Week 18 of my 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 is all about almanacs as a source for tracing people. The last few weeks I have been using examples from my Gunderson family, my father's family who were Norwegian. While searching in Pugh's Almanacs (online and free at Text Queensland along with a whole lot of other Queensland resources) I found a brief reference to the death of my original Norwegian immigrant Anders (Andrew) Gundersen (Gunderson). He was accidentally killed in a dray accident and it was interesting to find him listed in the calendar of events for the year. Read more about my almanacs post here.

Whenever I think about Anders, I also think about his father who emigrated to America in 1850 with his wife and family. My Anders was an illegitimate son who stayed in Norway with his mother before emigrating to Queensland in 1873 with his own wife and two young sons. Anders' father was Gunnar Jorensen and anyone with Scandinavian ancestry will know it can be a nightmare trying to trace them with the various spelling variations, patronymics, anglicisation of given names and surnames and so on.

I first started researching the family in 1977 and back then I was lucky enough to have a genealogy pen friend in Norway who found the Jorensen family in a 'bygdebok', essentially a genealogy of families from a particular area. It took my family back to 1688 in a single leap. Since then Norwegian records have been digitised and are online free so I have been able to look at the original parish records too.

My next piece of serendipity occurred in the 80s when I decided to try and trace them in America. I picked a professional researcher and sent him the details. As luck would have it, his ancestors went to America on the same ship as mine so he answered my query almost instantly. Remember this was all mostly before the advent of computers and big databases.

My next break came when I decided to put an enquiry on a Norwegian genealogy forum and someone saw it and knew someone who was researching the same family. Again I was given a lot of information in a short space of time but the person was researching Gunnar's wife's family, not his side. So I still did not know what had happened to him.

As US census came online I gradually found references to the family over the decades with the spelling of the names varying quite widely each census. Fortunately they didn't move around much. But I still had not found Gunnar's death and I have not looked in years. So having just written about his illegitmate son again, I woke up this morning determined to find him. I use Ancestry.com.au to search the US census so I rechecked that and again proved he probably died sometime in the 1870s.

I was using all kinds of spelling variations and was a bit amazed when a couple of public trees showed my Gunnar Jorensen as Gunder Jorgenson. Wife's name and children's names all matched up so I knew I was looking at the right family. Even more amazing they had an image of my GGG grandfather - it is not a good image but given that I don't have one of his son Anders I am so happy to have seen even a poor image. It is from a book so perhaps I can get an even better photo. As well as that the person had put up an image of Gunnar's headstone in the cemetery where he is buried.

One of Gunnar's sons fought on the Union side during the American Civil War and died aged 26 years. I look forward to doing some more research on this as the War has always interested me. It is also probably why my Irish ancestors came to Queensland in the early 1860s instead of going to the US.

I haven't emailed the people with the public tree yet as after all I am descended from the illegitimate son and they may not even know about him. But when I get back from Canberra and am less excited, I will certainly be contacting them to see if there are any more photos and information and do they want to know about their Queensland cousins!

This would have to be the most exciting thing that has happened in my own family history in quite a while. I know that there can be a lot of criticism of public trees as sometimes people don't check their information or simply copy from others but without Ancestry.com.au there is no way that I would have made this connection and done it so easily this morning. We just need to remember that these big databases are tools that help us to do our research, they don't replace the need to still research in original documents.

Well none of my other news can top that and I have to finish packing for Canberra and my early start in the morning. This just proves that if you wait long enough that brick wall might just crumble, mine only took 37 years on and off! Happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 30 May - 7 Jun 2014 Probate records and other things

Winter snuck up on me and the last week simply passed me by. It is not really winter here as I still have my daily swim when home although it is getting a tad cooler in the pool. To try and get into a wintry mood I even made my favourite curried ham and pumpkin soup but we all agreed it was a bit warm to be having soup.

Not like Canberra  where we lived for a few years and I will be heading to next week for a few days. There is a National Archives of Australia WW1 advisory committee meeting and I will be taking the opportunity to have a look at where we will be launching National Family History Month this year. Not long now till August so I hope societies, libraries and archives are putting all their August events into the NFHM web calendar. A great way to attract newbies and even old timers to your events. I also have some catch up with friends dinners and coffees and tossing up whether to go to the National Library of Australia or the Australian War Memorial.

But that is next week - so what made me forget to write up my Diary this week. Well I did finally get my orchid house and we spent a bit of time deciding where to put it and moving my orchids. The weather has been glorious and we have made quite a few more changes to our fruit orchard and palm tree forest.

Time spent indoors saw me renew my subscription to the Cornish Association of Queensland and I managed to get back into my 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 personal blog challenge. Week 17 is all about Court Records and I have no shortage of personal examples there! I also finished my talk on Australasian probate records for the Queensland Family History Society which was today. A 9.00 am start is a challenge when you live outside of Brisbane but I managed to get there just in time.

First speaker was Saadia Thomson-Dwyer from Queensland State Archives talking about all the wills and intestacy records they have and how to access them. It was a perfect introduction to my talk which looked at the rest of the Australian States and Territories and New Zealand which have similar records. My presentation is as usual on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.  Ann Swain followed with UK and Northern Ireland and there is quite a difference between the various countries with Scotland quite different from England and Wales. I must check out the National Archives of Ireland and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland for some of my Irish families as quite a lot has gone online since I last looked. There was morning tea, a lucky door prize, books for sale and time to catch up and chat with old friends. I think there was almost a 100 people there so a great day and I know what they will all be doing for the rest of this long weekend.

Tomorrow we are heading back to Brisbane for the History Alive festival at Fort Lytton which should be really good. I love their advertising - one place, two days, 2000 years of history. There are lectures, reenactments, people going around in everything from medieval wear to colonial uniforms including the American civil war plus an interesting range of food options too.

Monday I am planning a clean up the study day as when things get busy I just stack things - piles of journals to read, a list of emails to answer, online journals and newsletters to read and while doing the preparation of my probates talk I found all kinds of new information on the various websites and in Trove (love the new version 6.1) and Papers Past. That all needs to be added into my family history database.

I have also ordered some new book titles from Unlock the Past and there are quite a few titles that I simply want to sit down and read, not just browse. They should arrive next week just in time for my trip to the Caloundra Family History Research who have invited me up to talk at their June meeting. The Caloundra group have the most amazing purple shirts and I really wanted to join them but couldn't find a house we wanted on the Sunshine Coast. It's not far up the highway from Bribie Island so maybe I can go to some of their meetings!

It is Saturday night and I am home all alone. But when you do genealogy you are never really alone because there will be genie friends on Twitter, Facebook, Google + who will be able to share any genealogy happy dance should I discover anything super exciting from all the probate links I noted today. Happy researching and next Diary will be Wednesday before I head off to Canberra.

Genealogy Notes 22-29 May 2014 - genealogy seminar report

It is a busy time with lots of writing happening. I always do a first draft quickly then take time to revise and make sure I have said everything I want to say. Then I sit on it for a few days to see if it really is OK. So some new articles will be winging their way to Inside History Magazine and I have almost finished a new piece for Irish Lives Remembered. I am also near the finishing end of the new course on newspapers and biographies for the Australian Records Certificate with the National Institute of Genealogical Studies.

The weather here has been absolutely glorious and you would not know that winter is only three days away. I have been swimming every day and I even managed a bit of a pink colour up today as I did not realise it was so hot. The swimming helps refresh me in between writing bouts!

Trove that fantastic Australian genealogy resource has had an upgrade and you can read all about Trove 6.1 here.

Last Diary I mentioned I was going to the Genealogical Society of Queensland's annual seminar at the weekend and it was a great day. I did a full report on it in my SHHE Genie Rambles blog on my website. You can read the report here.

My next genealogy event is a meeting of the Queensland branch of the Guild of One Name Studies this coming weekend. Really looking forward to that and really happy that they decided to hold the meeting on Bribie Island. For once I don't have to travel far.

My next talk is for the Queensland Family History Society's seminar day in June - Where There's a Will: Wills and Associated Matters in Queensland, Australia and the UK. I am doing the talk on Australian sources other than Queensland. So this coming week I will be working on that presentation, one reason why I focused on writing so much this week. Talks take a lot of preparation but at least I can usually recycle them with a little bit of revision and updating.

June is History Month and I have been looking at the print catalogue of Boolarong Press (a Brisbane book publishing company who support local authors). In the history section they have some really interesting books on Brisbane and Queensland history that I would like to read should I ever find time. My pile of books to read is now almost a bookcase on its own and I have been so healthy lately that I have not even had the need to stay in bed and catch up on all my backlog of genealogy journals, magazines and newsletters. 

One of the casualties of my busy week and other looming deadlines is my personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of  Genealogical Records in 2014 which appears on my website. Week 16 was on Naturalization and Citizenship Records and I promise Week 17 will appear within the next week. 

Regular readers will know I am a genealogy cruise addict and my next Unlock the Past genealogy cruise is their 6th cruise, a three night cruise sailing in and out of Sydney. There are no ports of call so just a genealogy conference at sea - what could be better? I am also going to their Norfolk Island conference which is just after the 'taster' cruise and Norfolk is a really beautiful place and another perfect place for a genealogy conference. Two conferences in the space of a fortnight - true bliss!

As someone who plans their life around their genealogy interest, I have been looking at the UTP cruises for 2015 and there are some really tempting cruises but I can't go to everything. No point living in Paradise if I don't spend anytime here! So at this stage the cruise I am really thinking about going on is the 9th cruise, a Trans Atlantic one in Nov 2015. This occurs at the same time as a significant birthday for me and I cannot think of a better present plus I have always wanted to cross the Atlantic. It is provisional at the moment as UTP are still looking at options but 16 days from Southampton, Boston, New York, Bermuda, Port Canaveral and Miami, Florida is really tempting me. It is relatively cheap too compared to some of the others. So here's hoping it gets confirmed soon.

Well enough dreaming. Time to start getting dinner ready and feed the troops. Happy researching everyone. 

Genealogy notes 16-21 May 2014 - webinars and talks coming up

It is going to be a busy few weeks with lots of genealogy talks coming up. I am excited to be finally doing one of the Society of Australian Genealogists webinars. You have to be a member to participate and that is one of the reasons I keep my subscription but being a bit slack, by the time I get around to reading the news they are usually booked out. So looking forward to tomorrow night's webinar with Martyn Killion on Genuki, one of my favourite UK and Ireland genealogy portals. Martyn's talks are always excellent so I am sure I will learn heaps about how to use this site better.

Then on Sunday I am attending the Genealogical Society of Queensland's annual seminar on Hidden Treasures: Secrets from the Documents. The program looks fantastic with great speakers and topics. My two talks are on the Australian Joint Copying Project and Court of Petty Session Records. I will be there for the whole day so look forward to a report on it next week.

The following weekend the Guild of One Name Studies Queensland Branch is having their meeting on Bribie Island which is very exciting and great that I don't have far to drive! My Burstow one name study is seriously neglected but hoping to find some more time to get back to that in June. No doubt speaking to other local GOONs will fire up my enthusiasm but time will still be the tricky bit.

The weekend after that it is one of the Queensland Family History Society's seminar days and this one is Where There's a Will: Wills and Associated Matters in Queensland, Australia and the UK. I am doing the talk on Australian sources other than Queensland. I will be writing a report on that day too. That is on the Saturday and on the Sunday we are going to Fort Lytton for the annual History Alive festival which is all things military including colonial reenactments. The program looks fantastic and it is years since I went to one. The rest of June is also busy but I will save that for a later Diary.

Events for National Family History Month August 2014 are slowly coming in but I would really like to see that more active. Just hoping societies and organisations don't leave it till the last minute to add their events to be in the running for the various prizes from our sponsors. Two reasons - people need time to put events into their diaries and plan to attend and I don't want to be rushed putting events up as I have to do it manually. So spread the word and get those events coming in now.

My personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 continues and Week 16 was on Naturalization and Citizenship Records.

Most of my time has been going into writing a course for the National Institute of Genealogical Studies. You start out thinking that it is achievable but as you go along it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. Realistically you cannot put everything into six modules but cutting back is harder than not including in the first place. Plus knowing the audience will all be at various levels of knowledge is also tricky. Make it too simple and you bore them and make it too complex and you lose them. A bit like doing talks only on a much bigger scale! Still it is a new experience for me and we all learn as we go. I know it is a way off yet but I will be interested in the feedback on this.

It is my son's birthday today, one of the few days when I actually think I am getting older. He came into the world 27 years ago and honestly those years have simply flown past. I have been looking at baby photos, school photos, university photos, girlfriend photos and it is easy to see the changes as he has grown up. He is currently in Europe with his partner so we will celebrate when they return. While he is into social media, he was a bit horrified when I suggested we could be friends on Facebook!

Watching the most glorious sunset here on Bribie Island. Tomorrow I am taking Mum home from hospital again and hoping that there will be no more yo yo visits - she seems to have been toing and froing for months but she is looking better than she has for a while and I know she is looking forward to being back in her own home.  Her 80th birthday party is still on hold and will probably be early June when my son is back from Europe.

Well I hope everyone has a great genealogy weekend planned. Until next week happy researching. 

Genealogy notes 9-15 May 2014 - genealogy in Adelaide, South Australia

Now back home on Bribie Island after a great few days in Adelaide. It was good to see the families and to watch the grandkids play netball and soccer and to have dinner with them. We even caught up with Max's cousin and some friends too. Just wished they all lived a bit closer to each other, you don't realise how big Adelaide is until you start to travel around it!

But I also managed to fit in the genealogy aspects of the trip. On Saturday afternoon I attended the last quarter of the Unlock the Past researching and writing history seminar with Carol Baxter, the History Detective. It was also good to see Brisbane friend Helen Smith also there and her blog on the seminar is a must read - see here. Alona from Gould Genealogy & History was there selling Unlock the Past publications and I picked up copies of the two latest guides - Chris Paton's British and Irish Newspapers and a second edition of John Donaldson's So You Are Totally New to Family Tree Maker. I must say that all the UTP research guides spread out on the sales table looks impressive, it doesn't seem that long ago that they were publishing the first guide, my What Was the Voyage Really Like?.

I listened to the session from Genealogy SA on what they can offer researchers and I was so impressed I joined up but more about that later! Then it was my talk on Newspapers: Finding Online Family & Local History News and as usual I have put the slides on the Resources page of my website - scroll down to Presentations. I do this so that people don't have to madly write while I am speaking, they can go home and go through it all again at leisure and I suspect after nearly two days of seminars, they were fast approaching brain overload.

I have attended one of Carol Baxter's writing seminars before but I still learnt some tips from her two last sessions on Sensory Writing (how to make it all more interesting using our five senses) and Publishing.(geared more for professional publishing which most attendees won't use but I did find the self publishing tips helpful). For information on the other sessions read Helen's blog - link above.

It was really good to see Genealogy SA there as well as the State Library of South Australia with lots of leaflets, guides and two staff to answer questions. A personal presence is always the best way I think to give people an idea of what they can get when they visit - it can be quite intimidating walking into somewhere like the State Library and not knowing where to go or even if you can ask questions. State Records SA and National Archives of Australia Adelaide Office were there on Friday and had left their information leaflets for any Saturday attendees like me.

We managed to visit all the cemeteries on my list and find the graves we were looking for. So much easier now with the cemetery data and maps all online. I printed everything before we left so we just parked near the relevant sections and followed the maps (although it does help if you orientate the map the right way to start). We took photos of all the graves and headstones although there was no headstone or plaque on Max's grandmother's grave which seemed a bit sad as it was surrounded by some impressive headstones.

From there we went to Genealogy SA's reading room where I joined up, they have some good services for interstate members and I like their online members area. I am now a member of GSV, GSQ, QFHS, SAG and Genealogy SA which almost takes me back to the late 1970s when I was a member of everything as that was the only way to find anything out. Although these days we have Google and the internet but that does not quite match some of the services these societies are now offering online to members.(I just have to give up more lattes (or bottles of wine) to pay for the subscriptions!

As I had done my homework before the visit, I was armed with a list of things I wanted to do in a very short space of time. Thanks to the friendly volunteers I managed to achieve most of it. My most urgent items were some death and marriage certificates and it is really good to see these without having to pay for a certificate. The Society has the district copies which people can use but printing is not allowed so it was a quick transcript. For those who can't visit in person the Society offers a transcription service which is also a lot cheaper than an official certificate.

One of the marriage certificates (a son from the first marriage) gave me a light bulb moment on a direct line. I have been trying to find where a Palmer family fits into the Spencer family and I think this certificate is the key to unlocking that mystery. I need to do a little more research on what I found at the weekend but it may be mystery solved! Interestingly when we caught up with friend after leaving Genealogy SA one of them said he was having trouble with his main family line. He even thought he might be tracing the wrong line so my first question to anyone with a brick wall or problem is 'have you got all the certificates' step by step going backwards. In this case he had only been buying the birth certificates so I'm looking forward to an update when he gets some marriage and death certificates which should solve the confusion.

On the Monday we treated ourselves to a wine tour of the Barossa Valley with Taste the Barossa. They pick you up from your accommodation and then drive you to the four wineries and some scenic sites such as the Whispering Wall and Mengler's Hill Lookout. We had a delicious ploughman's platter style lunch at Peter Lehmann's winery and I thoroughly enjoyed the trip as it is such an historic area dating back to the 1840s. Some of the little villages/towns still look the same and there are lots of ruins scattered around as well.

So a great research and family weekend and I have been busy adding all my new data into my software and working out what needs to be done next. As much as I like just doing my own research, reality steps in and I now have to finalise my two new talks for the Genealogical Society of Queensland seminar on 25 May - looking at the AJCP and court of petty session records. Plus I have articles due for Inside History Magazine and Irish Lives Remembered. My personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 has suffered with all the travels but that will be back next week.

I hope everyone else has had a successful genealogy week. It is such a good feeling when things start to fall into place. So don't give up, and happy ancestor hunting this week!

Genealogy Notes 30 Apr - 8 May 2014 - genealogy research trips

It is funny how things seem to all go together - I had not been to a funeral or a hospital for years yet over the last few weeks I have found myself at the Royal Brisbane more often than I would like and all funerals seem to have gone high tech in celebrating a loved one's life. While it is good to see all those happy photos  (accompanied by some trendy song) on the big screen illustrating a person's life, and listening to the eulogy that highlights so many memories, I also find it quite sad. I am left wondering what I would like to see at my own funeral. A bit morbid I guess but it must be hard for the families to  write a eulogy and put a photographic presentation together at a time of loss. Perhaps as the family historian I should do it all in advance and save the family stressing out later. And really, when I think about it, I am the best person to tell my own story and they can always add their own memories in if they want.

So what have I been doing with the rest of my time? Today's talk on tracing mining ancestors at the Bribie Island Family History Group was well received  and I am always pleased when people say I have given them lots to think about. The talk is basically the same one I gave on the Unlock the Past cruise in February and the only URL that had changed was for the Ballarat & District Genealogical Society which has finally got its new website up (and it looks fantastic). The talk is on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

Last week in Diary I wrote about the Inverell trip and military seminar, and if we had not had the need to return home, I would have liked to stay on for the Australian Celtic Festival as this year it was Cornwall. It is usually held the first weekend in May at Glen Innes (Celtic Country). In 2015 it is Wales. The Festival has been on my list of things to attend for many years, a bit like the Kernewek Lowender Cornish festival in South Australia. It is only held every two years (next one 2015) but some day I will manage to get the timing right. My Cornish great great grandparents have always fascinated me and I find attending Cornish cultural events interesting or perhaps it is just my fondness for Cornish pasties!

Tomorrow I am off to Adelaide as I am giving a talk at the Unlock the Past researching and writing history seminar. This trip I have also left a little time for some research. The Adelaide cemeteries are online so I have a nice list of where everyone is buried/cremated and we will be hiring a car to get around. Although we have been to Adelaide many times we have never taken the time to visit the cemeteries so this time we are definitely doing it. Doing all the preparation at home is great and will save us so much time when we are over there.

I also want to visit Genealogy SA as I have found quite a lot of references in their online database so although it is Mother's Day on Sunday I am hoping that they will still be open. Re-examining Max's families in preparation for the trip made we realise that there are a few key certificates we still need to get and another trawl through Trove produced lots of new stories. Henry Spencer had three wives and children to them all and we have been slowly tracing the descendants with each new discovery giving further clues.

So I have a pile of new information to key into the database - I love the research and the thrill of the chase but am not so keen on the data entry and filing! We will be also visiting his living cousins as well as the grandkids and taking our own happy snaps. Really looking forward to the trip and a bit of down time after the seminar talk.

The latest issue of Inside History Magazine features an article I wrote on Lutheran archives and I was thrilled to get feedback via Facebook from Footnote Maven who is a blogger and social media friend in the USA. She gets the magazine as an e-magazine and I received her nice comments before I had even got my paper copy through the mail. It really is amazing how we can communicate and share genealogy information in the 21st century!

The May issue of Australian Family Tree Connections has my article on National Family History Month in August 2014 and I am hoping that this will generate a lot more events on the web calendar and some more Likes on the NFHM Facebook page too. AFTC is one of the NFHM prize sponsors (as is Inside History Magazine) so check out the website and see all the other sponsors and prizes that can be won this August. Why not ask what your local society is doing (they cannot win a society prize if they do not have an event listed in the web calendar)?

My personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 has fallen a bit behind with all the family issues but Week 15 was on Civil Registration & Certificates. I also managed a bit of a website update (and changed my profile picture) with most changes behind the scenes but it has helped with the rather heavy spam attacks lately.

Everything else has totally fallen behind but that is the nice thing about genealogy and family history - you can put it down for a while and pick it up again when you have more time. I have a nice stack of genealogy magazines to take on the plane so until next time happy researching.