Our current Drop in arrangements are that at the first Thursday session, open to intermediate and continuing beginners, Judy Barry is the mentor working alongside Bev, Deb Saunders is taking the second Thursday session, which is for this year's beginners group members. 

Shared learning on a range of topics made for an interesting and enjoyable first session. We reviewed adding web links to ancestry.com profile/facts pages using a document produced by Deb Saunders ‘Adding a Website Link to a Person’s Profile on ancestry.com’. We also took another look at DNA and centiMorgans (cM's) using a chart discovered by Judy –‘DNA - how many centimorgans do you share with relatives’.. 

During the session, prompted by Mary's quest to find out more about a family residence at 184-186 Elgin Street, we watched the following video from the State Library of Victoria: ​

A wonderful collection of letters written by her grandfather when he returned to Scotland to live on two separate occasions following his wife's death was brought along by Robyn. One airmail letter, written to then 6 year old Robyn, included pictures of the cats in the house he was staying at, all named, on the border. 

At our second session Deb worked with Phil on relationships, sources and how they link to facts within his ancestry tree. "Clicking on an attached source such as a census document will create link lines to the people in your tree that are listed in the census. This is great for cross-checking family details. An estimation of birthdates is often based on this information, but needs to be followed up with other references. We added a newspaper article to the media gallery after using the snipping tool to save it first. Finally, we explored how to edit relationships within Ancestry. Errors in terms of which child belongs to which parent can be sorted out by clicking edit, choosing edit relationships and adding the correct parent and deleting the incorrect information".

Bev Lee and Deb Saunders 

We all found the chart,  How Many Centimorgans do you share with Relatives? discovered on the web by Judy very helpful.  

Items in British Newspapers - accessing articles via the State Library of Victoria 

Both Robyn and Phil had instances of relatives who may have featured in British newspapers.  Judy worked through a number of iterations of searching for these people through her State Library of Victoria account, which allows access to British and other newspapers.  Go to State Library of Victoria https://www.slv.vic.gov.au - the button for the Catalogue is on Top Line - then search for British Newspapers.   (You will need to register to use the catalogue - this is free and renewable every year).  While the searches today had mixed success, in one case possibly because the 100 year limit hadn't expired, Judy shared lots of practise wisdom, demonstrating using the Advanced Search mode during our 'expedition' to find information.

Margaret and Phil attended the second Thursday Drop In with mentor Deb, who used her astute problem solving skills to assist them to resolve problems and dilemmas. Phil was finally able to locate mention of the murder or was it suicide, of a grand aunt? in the British Newspapers, and hopefully will find more articles.  Phil's dilemma - would the article he found contain enough information to be worth paying a subscription for!  Margaret has been to Canberra since we last met and while there had been assisted to discover an uncle's war record relating to post-war service which shed light on some of his story, but the mystery relating to his possible involvement with a Japanese princess still unresolved. We located his record to see if we could help - the plot thickened, when the file opened up with 'files'...  Margaret's dilemma - should she proceed to have them opened?  Also, his file mentioned his attachment to an 'Intell' unit... What did this mean?  A trove search resulted in an article in a local newspaper which suggested that an area.... .  Although war records sometimes present in 'hints', we looked at how we can copy web addresses to add a weblink to a person's ancestry.com profile so other people can look at it.   Deb used astute problem solving skills to help Margaret and Phil resolve their problems, and prepared a wonderful handout covering both opening war service files from the ..... site, and then going on to add them as weblinks to the person profile.   

Two fascinating 'inquiry based' sessions with all contributing to following up learning needs and managing research dilemmas.

Bev Lee

At our 'First Thursday' session in July we had three apologies, three mentors and one already very wise participant.  

​Val reported working on a French born great great grandfather who seems to have been an inveterate liar, schemer and bigamist.  Finding around 1000 articles mentioning him in Trove, Val found herself speculating whether they were based on a 'truth or a lie'. We tried to help her establish the truth of one of these stories, but this proved difficult!  Val is also keen to find out more about 'sustenance', an apparent benefit available in the early 1920's to impoverished families.  

Mentors also have pains, gains and problems to be solved, and this month Deb appreciated the opportunity to draw upon Judy's knowledge of resources available through the Melbourne Library and the State Library of Victoria.  They also had a good scout around the PROV website searching for Wills and more.  Judy shared the knowledge of Land Titles based on 30 years working in the Titles Office, demonstrating where to find title information; planning documents, maps and more on the internet.  The screen in the small room 'comes into its own' at times like these!

With fewer beginners attending this semester, we have decided to reduce the session time from three to two hours, with the new time slot 2 to 4pm.  Sessions will continue to provide support with problem solving and hands on tasks, with Judy Barry mentoring on the 1st Thursday from 2 to 4pm and Deb Saunders mentoring on the 2nd Thursday from 2 to 4pm.

In the meantime, the three posts which follow this post provide useful information on topics which have come up this year and could be be useful for future reference: 

Bev Lee

Ethnicity explained:

​Understanding DNA matches:

​What you can see after linking your DNA to your tree:

Thanks to Deb for suggesting these videos.


​Bev Lee

What is a GEDCOM file?

A: GEDCOM is a computer file format that lets genealogists swap information about their ancestors. The format’s compatible with all genealogy software, so no matter what program you use, you can open GEDCOMs created with another program — and other researchers can open your files.

You don’t have to buy a GEDCOM, but you do need a genealogy program to create or open one. You can’t use GEDCOMs in other types of software, such as word processors (Word) or web browsers (Google Chrome). You can get a GEDCOM file several ways:

1. Create a GEDCOM file of your family data using genealogy software (this is the only way to get a GEDCOM file from your own family tree information). The process is easy, but varies slightly depending on your software. In general, you’d open up the program and pick Export GEDCOM (or a similar command) from a menu. Then you’d click through a few dialog boxes that ask you questions or give instructions.
2. Download someone else’s GEDCOM file from the Internet. Genealogists post their GEDCOMs on websites such as RootsWeb WorldConnect. You can search these sites to find a match for one of your ancestors, and if you do, you can download the GEDCOM — with all the family information in the file; not just on the one matching person — to your computer. Then you’d use your genealogy software to “merge” the data from the GEDCOM into your own family file (after verifying it, of course).
3. Share a GEDCOM file the same way you’d share any computer file — for example, by e-mailing it or saving it to a disk.

Answer provided by Allison Dolan, from the December 2004 issue of Family Tree Magazine.

Screenshot for downloading a GEDCOM file: Export Tree.

5. Ancestry.com will generate a GEDCOM file

Be patient while Ancestry.com generates a GEDCOM file from your tree data. GEDCOM files are universal file types that can be read by any family tree software or web platform. (Reunion software requires a little extra work.)

6. Click green button

Once your GEDCOM file is ready, a green button will appear labeled Download Your GEDCOM file. Click to start downloading. (You can also click on the Download Tips text if you need some help.)

7. Find in your computer’s Downloads file

Once the file is downloaded to your computer, right-click on it to see it in your Downloads folder. Rename it with a more useful name (“Johnson family tree from Ancestry”) and move it to your genealogy files on your computer so you can easily find it again.

Sunny Jane Morton, Family Tree Magazine

Source/Acknowledgments - These extracts are from the Family Tree Magazine article by Rick Crume et al  GEDCOM Files - Sharing, Merging, Exporting and more available at https://familytreemagazine.com/resources/gedcom-basics/ (accessed 12 June 2023)

As we know, we have a very active family research group (Benalla Family Research Group) and a historical society (Benalla Historical Society) in Benalla. People make contact with them on a regular basis to find out about family, historical contexts for their ancestors' lives, and more.  Keep this in mind when researching your family!

Over time I have heard class members tell stories of the support they received when they established contact with, or visited, local historical societies.  I recently received a message via my blog from a person researching my great, great grandmother, Frances Emily Hooper nee Freame, and my great grandfather, George Charles Beech Hooper.

Hi Beverley, thank you, I really enjoyed reading your blog and seeing the old photos.

I thought I would drop you a line as I have just purchased the Part One transcription of the diaries of Ethel Freame (23 FEB 1860 - 2 MAR 1952 Gillingham Dorset). Ethel was a first cousin of George Charles Beech Hooper. Ethel really liked George’s brother, Peter Mortimore Hooper (5 Dec 1851- 22 February 1937) and writes about him. I could send you some extracts if you like.

I was wondering if you could tell me why George emigrated to Melbourne? His parents seem to have been well to do.

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Alice (Sydney AUS)

I replied to Alice, confirming that I would be interested in reading some extracts, resulting in her sending me extracts from a book located via the Gillingham Museum and Historical Society in Dorset, England. 

The extracts about the Hoopers selected by Alice in Hooper Extracts from Part 1 of Ethel's Diaries provide a disarmingly honest description of daily life of my great grandfather's mother, sisters and brother in England in the late 1880's and early 1890's, over two years after he had migrated to Australia as a 'goldseeker'.  I'm not sure I would have liked Ethel!   Had she not liked me, this would definitely have been taken up with some vitriole by Ethel in her diary

The access to and sharing of Ethel's diaries exemplifies the role that local history societies can have in giving information about a family, in this case the museum/historical society in the town of Gillingham, in Dorset.

Ethel Freame - A Gillingham Traveller - https://www.gillinghammuseum.co.uk/post/the-gillingham-historian-march-2022 


"Using Local Histories for Genealogy"   Family Tree Magazine

Town, county and other local histories rank among the best sources for biographical information about your ancestors. If your ancestor was a prominent citizen or an early settler, you might find a biography with details of family, occupation, religious affiliation, education and military service. Even if your ancestor isn’t mentioned by name, you might still gain clues for further research.

Here are a few of Family Tree Magazine's favorite tips for finding your ancestors in local histories.

Google your ancestors
A quick Google search could turn up references to your ancestor in county and local histories, including matches in Google Books, the largest online book collection. To focus just on Google Books, use the Advanced Book Search. For exact matches, enter the name in the Exact Phrase box. To focus on the most relevant matches, add a place name, like 'Bath', in the Title box.

My simple Google Search for Frederick Robert Crutwell brought up "Bath Records Office – Archives and Local Studies" Cemetery Records for both Frederick Robert and his father Robert:
https://www.batharchives.co.uk/cemeteries/bath-abbey-cemetery/frederick-robert-cruttwell

Search other online book collections
Enter a name in the search box on HathiTrust and select the full-text option to find the name anywhere in the digital library. Put quotations marks around the name to search on the exact phrase. In the results, click on the link for a match’s Full View. Then search the text of that book for the name. Internet Archive also has a huge collection of digitized books. Click on the orange icon that looks like an open book to search just ebooks and texts. Then select Text Contents to search for the term anywhere in the books.

Check specialized genealogy book collections 
The FamilySearch Digital Library has over 500,000 genealogy books, including local histories and yearbooks. If your public library subscribes to HeritageQuest Online, you can log in through your library’s website to search 28,000 family and local history books. Both of these sites are free. All the major subscription genealogy websites also have local histories. 

Find local histories in print
To find local histories that aren’t online, check WorldCat, a catalog of the holdings of over 10,000 libraries worldwide. Once you find a promising book, you can request it on interlibrary loan or get copies of the pages that pertain to your family.

See article in the March/April 2022 Family Tree Magazine for more tips and advice for accessing local histories"  -  Download PDF
​

​Bev Lee

​June’s sessions featured an introduction to searching for digitized newspaper articles in Trove.  Val’s quest for evidence of a family story that her grandfather had been shot in the stomach led to the discovery of two short articles which referenced this, while Phil read through articles about the Lady Northcote school in Bacchus Marsh where his family was sent in 1967 on arrival in Victoria as ‘Ten Pound Poms.’

Val brought along an engagingly presented family history book ‘Up the Abley Tree’ prepared by a cousin.  Divided into three broadly themed sections Part 1 – Our Walter – Famous or Infamous, with eight themed chapters; Part 2 Courageous Women with two chapters and Part 3 Five Survivors with five chapters, this Word-based document with photographs was attractively laid out.

​Helen brought along the results of recent research into husband Chris’s family filed systematically using colored paper clips. 

In addition to working independently during this month’s hands-on session, Garry tracked the exporting and uploading of his Ancestry.com tree as a GED.com file into My Heritage and the production of his first genealogical ‘full book’ report and ‘fan’ family tree chart.  Phil learnt how to add ‘occupations’ to ancestors’ profiles on ancestry, while Margaret continued to develop confidence in adding information from family trees and other documents collected over time into ancestry.com. 

A highlight this month was Deb’s report that revisiting details in a marriage certificate and an unexpected Google result had helped her to uncover the origin of one of her ancestors. “The Google search led to an academic article filled with information and a connection to a family member in Scotland. Not only did I find the Stewart Family ancestors lived at High Park Farm on the Kintyre Peninsula - currently owned by Paul McCartney. It has also been confirmed through DNA that my mother is part of the Royal Stewarts of Scotland, descending from King Robert III. What a surprise!” 

Bev Lee

One to one sessions have now come to an end for most beginners. Our first Thursday session continues to cover genealogical topics and skills while our second Thursday ‘hands on’ session provides mentoring and support for those who

• find it difficult to find time during the week to work on their family tree
• have a problem they would like help with,
• would like to practice something new covered on the First Thursday.

May’s hands on session began with report backs, followed by the watching of an ancestry.com video ‘Common Mistakes in Genealogy Part 2’.  Group members felt this video was worthwhile and worth watching again. Group members had brought their devices, and after identifying the problem they wanted to work on, did so supported by mentors Deb and Bev.
 
The theme at our ‘First Thursday’ session in June will be using resources from the National Library, with a particular focus on Trove.

​Bev

'Show and Tell' - where we're at! 

Each member asked for something they would like to take away today in terms of a learning need/problem to be solved.   Establish additional items for today's session on 'Trove'.  

Depending on who is in class - review of what we did last 'First Monday' then on to Trove.

1.  Review what we did last 'First Monday'

Two members of the intermediate group, Helen and Val, Deb  Saunders from the Advanced and also Beginners group; Mentor Judy Barry joined Bev for this session, with apologies from Phil and Mentor Barry O'Connor.  Deb had just been to John Barry's session at the History Festival and ran us throughsome of his key messages in his talk 'finding gold'.  One of his suggestions was using timelines; Bev also showed us some timelines that she developed when trying to make sense of what was happening ...Time Lines - available via Ancestry and My Heritage - however sometimes we need to develop our own while we are problem solving and trying to make sense of different records; people; sizes of families...  - sometimes on paper, sometimes more detailed... 
Bev's examples of taking from notes on paper to a table format - Devitt/Miller and Hooper/Taylor Combined, Devitt/Miller focus, and  yesterday's John Louis Carl..
​
Report backs included Judy's postcard find; Val's exciting discovery that it's likely the Frietags and the Westons all started out at the farm at Somerton..  Helen has been absorbed by DNA and recommended the videos suggested by Deb on the website, finding them very useful, and plans to watch them again!  Deb explained how wonderful that someone at the Box Hill  cemetery was interested enough to query the spelling of the name she was searching for, with positive results.  Val has been writing stories and working to round off the hernan tree and move on to the Abley tree.  Val worries has developed strategies to jog her memory using self talk to work herself around the problem. 
 
Resources we previewed for further reading: 

• Military Records 
• School Records
• ​and a videos mentioned above to help understanding of DNA results

Other resources which came up included

• Using printfriendly.com to print out a document which is easy to read - often web pages are difficult to print from
• Judith Borthwick's project on nurses who ran private hospitals in Benalla before the Bush Nursing Hosital opened.

'Show and Tell' - where we're at! 

Each member was asked for something they would like to take away today in terms of a learning need/problem to be solved -
Deb was keen to learn more about accessing school records - we talked through some ideas/information in the group, then Bev showed us some resources from school records available through the State Library;
Helen is keen to resolve a difficulty she was having in working on husbands DNA based ancestry account  - Helen has watched the videos on understanding DNA...

DNA?  Should I, Shouldn't I??
Thinking about getting DNA results?  (or perhaps you already have them)
Deb's suggestions for understanding DNA results.  see this link:  
u3abenalla.weebly.com/family-stories/members-choice-an-introduction-to-dna-results-in-ancestry

Using Records Collections - Military Records

Recommended reference
https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/family-matters/mentioned-in-dispatches-ways-to-research-your-military-ancestors/ 

Australian War Memorial - War Service Records
Records  Example - Benalla Nurse Sister Hilda Knox, WWI 

Nominal Roll re Death in France 1917 - ​www.awm.gov.au/collection/R2453650
Embarkation Details Search- 
https://www.awm.gov.au/advanced-search/people?people_preferred_name=Hilda+Knox&people_service_number=&people_roll_title=&people_embarkation_date=&roll=First+World+War+Embarkation+Roll
1916/17  https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1987255
1914 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1853846
​AIF Project  https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=167859​
Personnel Service Record: 
recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ListingReports/ItemsListing.aspx

Recommended Reference:  https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/family-matters/mentioned-in-dispatches-ways-to-research-your-military-ancestors/ 
​
Family Research Library Resources  'TROVE' 

A preview of Trove - search term 'Sister Hilda Knox, Benalla' 

Problem Solving - 'Issues from the floor'

'Second Thursday 'Beginners 'Hands On' sessions have been designed to help if you

• find it difficult to find time during the week to work on your family tree--there is time during the session for you to do this.
• have a problem you would like help with,
• would like to practice something new we covered on the First Thursday.

We usually begin with a 'Pains, Gains and Problems' sharing to get an idea of what people would like to work on.

There may be perhaps 30 minutes spent on a shared activity/example, etc.

Then it's hands on until around 30 when we regroup to talk about what you have done.

Take a break for a coffee when needed!

Easter Thursday afternoon affected attendance in April, however Shirley, who has been working one to one on family trees set in New Zealand and Scotland, came to her first small group meeting, joining Phil, who arrived keen to learn how to put photographs on his tree.  We worked through the process of downloading a Gedcom file from Shirley’s practice tree then uploading it on to her own ancestry.com account - job well done! Phil had a beautiful photo of his mother on his phone, it wasn’t long before this was on his family tree.  Both went home planning to spend hours over Easter on family history!

One to one sessions have been continuing, although at the moment, they are 'couples' sessions, with Shirley and Margaret both working on trees for their husbands, who have been coming along to contribute ideas to the process, often leading to rich reminiscencing about the past.

In May, one to one sessions will begin to tail off and there will be two sessions as originaly timetabled - 
1st Thursday – ‘new beginners session 1’, a session focusing on learning new skills and developing a deeper understanding of the possibilities of family research.
2nd Thursday—'new beginners session 2’ – hands on session (bring your laptops/other devices used)

​Bev Lee

In May we move to a slightly revised timetable.  One to one sessions have, or are coming, to an end for most new students, who move to a ‘hands on session’ on the 2nd Thursday.. 

1st Thursday – new beginners (and ‘intermediate’ class members who would like to attend to review topics), a session focusing on learning new skills and developing a deeper understanding of the possibilities of family research.

2nd Thursday—'new beginners’ – hands on (bring your laptops/other devices used)

3rd Thursday—‘intermediate’ group – a hands on focus, but with a ‘pains and gains’ catch up and theme for the day in terms of theory/practice
​
4th Thursday—‘advanced’ group – this group is pretty competent ‘hands on’ but meets to review progress over the past month through sharing of ‘pains and gains’, shares family stories on topics selected to encourage a deeper look at their family history; guest speakers (intermediate students also invited to hear guest speakers).

Bev Lee

Meeting on the first Thursday, the beginners’ group trialled the use of genograms to ‘mind map’ family members on paper when becoming confused by family relationships on their family tree.  Deb, Gary, Phil and Mary then reported on progress they have made over the month – with lots of learning shared as a result.  New class members Margaret and Peter Poels gave us the chance to check out ancestry.com’s ‘pay per view’ for ‘World’ records, with 10 documents for $10.99 enabling us to find records of Peter’s grandparents in the Netherlands, including the maiden name of a grand-mother Peter hadn’t known.  Group members using UK census records enjoyed watching an informative program on the UK Census on You Tube.   In April the beginners’ group will again meet on the first Thursday from 1 to 4 and continue one to one sessions by appointment. 


Beverley Lee 

Family Research Beginners – New Students 2023
 
Session 1 - Setting the Scene, Setting Goals and Setting Up Ancestry Accounts

• Introductions
• Completing the questionnaire handout
• The four 'quadrants' - grandparent's paternal and maternal
• Identifying focus area to commence
• Introduction to ancestry.com.au   https://www.ancestry.com.au/ YouTube
• Topics arising during the session - Scotland's People, Genuki.com etc!

'One to One' Sessions

Session 2 – Family Trees, Census Records, Show and Tell report backs/practice
 
Family Trees - from simple 'working docs' to complex online sites

• Genograms - simple diagrams/mind maps to help when getting confused
• Programs on the Internet which produce a simple tree eg https://www.heredis.com/en/
• Programs on the Internet with hints and records repositories – ancestry.com and myheritage.com

Census Records -review/video to follow up at home
​

'Show and Tell' - where we're at! Members to open up their tree on the screen and provide an overview of where they are at - any problems they would like help with or if not, identify a person you have found interesting and tell us briefly why, who they are connected to.  Joint problem solving while observing processes on the screen. 
Skills to take away - eg. Using Tree Search to locate people & check for duplication’
 
One to One Sessions

Session 3  - Using Family History Resources from the Australian National Library 

Trove #1 - An Introduction to Trove
'Show and Tell' - where we're at!

Session 4  - Using Family History Resources from the Melbourne/State Libraries

Guest speaker - Judy Barry

• Family History resources at Melbourne City Library
• Links to Resources at the State Library of Victoria

'Show and Tell' - where we're at!

Session 5  Using PROV, Mailing Lists, Facebook Geneological Resources
Using Records from the Public Records Office of Victoria - Deb?
Using Mailing List based sites such as RootsWeb
Using Facebook Geneology Related Sites

 'Show and Tell' - where we're at!

At our first 'First Thursday' session, Bev and Barry meeting with new class members in the small classroom.
  
By the end of their first session new students had identified the four sides of their family at grandparent level, established a focus question/area of work to begin the year, watched ancestry,com and Scotland’s people in operation, and more.  

New students have also commenced one-to-one sessions – each class member is eligible for three one to one sessions early in the year.  Finds in early sessions have included census information; family bible details; shipping list information; how DNA results feed into active ancestry.com accounts and more.

Thanks go to Barry O’Connor for providing valuable mentoring support.

During March and April, new class members will come in on the first Monday from 1 to 4 and also have one to one appointments.   

​Bev Lee

Goals of session

To develop an idea of the way in which our course operates - Introductory Handout 

To establish core direction - - Why are you here?  Which particular aspect of your family history most intrigues you, is the most mysterious? Task:  write a  'focus sentence' to guide your journey? - Sharing by group members and report backs.

To clarify current skill levels -
Activity 'Background Information--New Members' worksheet. 

To establish the key people in a family tree/genogram up to great grandparents .
*  Using Grandparents' family names to organise research according to 'Sides' eg. Bev's blog pag https://www.leedevittfh.weebly.com.  Many people set up A4 Arch Folders to organise work to commence their research based on the four grandparent family 'sides'.
*  Worksheet activity  - complete  'Family Research - Beginner's Focus' - worksheet 

Towards Presenting Our Family Research #1

Sample Geneological Report using My Heritage (PDF) prepared after several 'one to one' sessions.  It's a fairly formal report but a good base for future research and story telling.  

Introduction to Using Online Resources #1 

Be Connected - 'Researching Family History' - introductory units to working on family history online 

Ancestry.com
What can Ancestry.com offer to people who have already done a lot of work on their family tree drawing on original documents, family stories, photographs and more, but have not previously used online resources to assist them in their research?  A focus on - other people who are working on the same/similar family tree/members; source documents to support research.

Case Study/Introductory 'workshopping' of a family tree via  ancestry.com.au  drawing out key principles, related ancestry trees; source documents eg. census, marriage records. 

Conclusion - Clarifying and sharing purpose/direction - Sharing of focus sentence from worksheet.. 

Follow up -  We will meet again on the first Tuesday in March hopefully everyone will have had at least one 'one to one' Session before then. 

Beverley Lee
​Barry O'Connor​

During Term 1 2023, we are breaking up our scheduled days to enable us to work with both new and continuing students. 

New class members will gather on the first Thursday – Thursday 2 February - from 1 to 4 pm for an introduction to the course, mapping the four sides of their family (grandparents - maternal and paternal sides), identifying the side of the family they would like to focus on to begin and the setting up of one to one appointments.  The ‘one to one’ sessions are important in the early part of the year as some class members will be completely new to setting up their family tree and/or using ancestry, others will have done some work on their family tree however lack confidence in using computers.
  
The continuing small group is meeting for coffee and catch up with Judy Barry at Rambling Rose on the 2 February from 2 to 3, followed by a hands-on session on the second Thursday - 9th February -from 1 to 4 pm.  

Beverley Lee, Judy Barry and Barry O’Connor

​With three sessions this month, discoveries through ancestry and Trove and additions and edits to family trees abounded. Julie brought along a tiny leather covered notebook in which her grandmother, then later her mother, kept notes and newspaper cuttings related to family events, enabling her to find out more about a great aunt, while Helen brought along her father’s weathered leather wallet which contained old pay slips and other documentation.   ​

The writing and sharing of stories began in earnest this month, with Val revisiting her story about ‘Irish Jack’ Hernan, incorporating humorous asides which made it very engaging to listen to.  Julie's story contained whimsical elements, such as the place of songs in the handing down of family culture over time, which we could all relate to.  Helen drew on recent research in a story which made a complex, overwhelming family structure clear and easy to follow. Robyn’s idea for her 'Hero or Villains' story, led to an on-line Trove search and discussion of an article about a court case involving a tragic murder which also revealed detailed, previously unknown, information about her forebears’ early life in Australia.

Guest speaker Elizabeth Kearns’ session on working with free Irish Records was inspirational.  Elizabeth had requested 'cues' from class members beforehand and threw light and possible directions to follow up for Julie, Val and Bev and Dawn.  Elizabeth's presentation, supported by explanatory notes relating to her forebear, John Dolan, provided a wealth of ideas to support us in working with Irish records.  Elizabeth’s talk also inspired Robyn to look into the Irish DeLargy line in her largely Scottish family tree.  Thank you so much, Elizabeth. 
 
Also this month, we welcomed Asha, who came along as a 'taster'; discussed Bev’s case studies and Jane Rushworth’s slide presentation on ethical issues in family research, and reviewed the Family Research – Beginners course description, agreeing that having two sessions at the beginning of the month works well, with the second session as a hands-on session. 

Our final session for 2022 was celebrated with shortbreads, Christmas cake, other Christmassy fare and a presentation by guest speaker Maggie Hollins.  Maggie shared the engaging story of her ancestor Betsy Trim, who came to Australia as a 16-year old via a bounty scheme in the early 1830’s, when men outnumbered women in the colony.  Maggie brought along two collage-based art works she has created to recognise Betsy’s life.  Thank you for a delightful presentation, Maggie.
​
Beverley Lee 

Theme -  Ethical Issues in Family Research  Bev's Case Scenarios - 'Family Secrets' - mentions of crime, mental health issues.  Jane's Slide Show Presentation built on and extended the ethical issues raised. 

Theme - Irish Records

Last week we spent some time trying to locate and understand the role of Townlands in Irish Records (https://www.townlands.ie/), as Elizabeth will mention Townlands next week.  

Looking for Counties, Parishes and Townlands-- where to begin? 
https://www.genuki.org.uk/big then click on county, then keep drilling down into records 
https://www.townlands.ie
Griffith Valuations data - https://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml
(actually - https://www.askaboutireland.ie looks well worth dipping into!) 

Some cues to give Elizabeth before our next session:  
Julie - County Tipperary / Townland - Clogharailymore / Captain Goold /
Val - County Offaly (Kings County) -   House - Ballyieghan
Dawn - Andrew Crawford - County Donegal; wife from County Down
​Bev - Townland of Greaghnagloch  (see also https://u3abenalla.weebly.com/family-stories/found-the-lee-family-in-greaghnagloch-parish-of-kilronan​)

​Our first session in October featured guests Graham Jensen and Margaret Jenkins who spoke about researching, writing, printing and sharing their family histories. 

Inspired by finding a journal in a rarely opened trunk in a rarely opened room in an old family home, Margaret’s absorbing record of her great grandfather’s life, 'A Press Missionary--the life of Thomas Allard Pettit', has found a home in libraries in Gippsland and on the bookshelves of family and friends.

Graham encouraged us all to reflect on why we undertake family research.  He described his own reasons, his two year immersion in researching and writing, and his rationale for titling his book, 'Leaving the Shore'.  Each chapter features a key person listed in order of their arrival in Australia; with a particular favourite of Graham's being James Weavers, the first of his ancestors to arrive in Australia.     ​

"Pains and Gains"   Julie's eagerly awaited DNA results arrived with news of  unanticipated Nordic genes passed down the line through her Scottish great grandfather, leading to encouragement by Bev to open a Scotland's People account.  Val continues to search Trove for family news from the past, is  working on a third 'bios' of key people in her tree and is now adding photographs to the text and keen to master adding photographs to ancestry.com.  Robyn recommended the book 'Hell Ship' when reporting on her story for "From the Bookshelves" and resolves an issue she had been struggling with after making contact with a relative in Southhampton which had helped to resolve an issue which she had been struggling with. Helen is chuffed at having been able to trace one 'line' back to before the 13th Century.   Scotland's people proved useful this month for Helen, who was able to verify that the birth certificate illegitimate person on her family tree had the father's name listed and his role as informant of the birth listed, a rare occurrence in such cases.  

Bev receives a message from a person researching her great grandfather which increased her awareness of the role local historical societies can play in family research.  Extracts from the diaries of Ethel Freame, a cousin of her great grandfather, provide a disarmingly honest account of the daily life of his mother, sisters and brother in England two decades after he had migrated as a goldseeker to Victoria.  The diary had been located through the Gillingham Museum and Historical Society in Dorset, England -   Ethel Freame - A Gillingham Traveller.  While Bev felt that she didn't really like Ethel much after reading the diary extracts, Julie provided a useful analysis from the perspective of feminist history of Ethel perhaps being shackled, frustrated and possibly rather cynical about the world around her.  

With the menacing and imminent flood affecting numbers at our second 'hands on' session, we added an extra session on October 20.  A busy session working with mentors Judy Barry and Bev Lee, lots was achieved, new areas identified, while at the same time enjoying time spent together chatting about family research (floods, earthquakes and more!)  Areas to keep practicing for review in future sessions - adding photographs and other media to the Gallery Page of ancestry.com 'Profiles', clicking on the profile imaging to link to and crop photo of the person for the profile, and Scotland's People.  

At our next session on Thursday November 3 we are hoping that Elizabeth Kearns will be our guest speaker on 'Free Irish Records'.  Bring along a story of 150 to 400 words about either something/someone featuring in our current research, or from the Family Research group's topic list, 'From the Bookshelves'.  


Bev Lee

During our first session after our August break we welcomed new member Robyn, who brought along one of the five Arch folders she has developed to store records for her family.  Robyn said that she enjoys and learns a lot by reading through them.  Helen reported back on travels to Ireland in which an 8 day isolation for Covid sadly inhibited chances for family research.  Val described taking a complete break from family research while holidaying 'up north' for a month, then coming back and to find her skills in using Trove had deserted her!   

Following Dawn's presentations in July on writing and sharing a family history using the My Heritage book report feature, we  previewed the geneological report Malcolm Sanders developed and had printed for his cousins. We also checked out David Hall's informative and thought provoking presentation on the Virtual Records Treasury of Ireland,  a recently launched project to recreate the records of the destroyed Public Records Office in Dublin. Here are links suggested by David:

• A news item covering the project.https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/irish-virtual-record-treasury
• A review by Irish Genealogist John Grenham.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-FAfkJBX-o&t=6s  (Other YouTube posts, that look to be very useful.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh1WNp17x-hGdMdbpChrE6Q)
• A brief outline of using the site.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0PSa_Ugb3c
• The site itself.https://virtualtreasury.ie/'

Malcolm and David are both members of the Family Research class - thank you for developing and these resources, Malcolm and David!

In news via a message from Julie, Ancestry have a half price promotion on at the moment, including DNA,  Finally, news from Bev via Scotland's People that  the time consuming process of digitising the 1921 Census is almost complete and should be available by the end of the year.  

With Robyn keen to check out the downloadable photo restoration app Hotpot.ai, we worked on some before and after images of Helen's half brother John, then some photos with scratches across faces to demonstrate that while the free hotpot.ai version is suitable for simple restorations; it doesn't handle scratches on people's faces well, leading to distortions in the image.  Mentor Judy Barry suggested working on the scratches on faces beforehand, then applying Hotpot.ai.

In discussing learning needs for the remainder of the year, we decided to include a 'hands component'.  We  talked about writing and sharing stories each class, with Robyn reading her stories 'There's No Place Like Home' and 'Occupations' from the Family Research topic list. Helen then read out a story she is currently drafting about a colourful character in her family who designed the sleeve for the drum on the cover of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band!  The suggestion is to prepare something of between 150 and 400 words to share at the '1st Thursday' session, either drawing from the Family Research Group monthly topic or something you are currently working on.  

Julie returned to class in our second session, delighted at her tech savvy daughter's interest and support in helping her to develop her family tree on ancestry.com and fired with enthusiasm to develop it further!   

The second session was largely 'hands on'.  Class members identified what they wanted to work on, then spread out, using PC's/laptops/phones to work on particular learning needs, with Judy and Bev providing mentoring support.  The hands on component was warmly received and will continue on the '2nd Thursday' session for the rest of the year. 

Our guest speaker on Thursday 6 October at 1pm will be Graham Jensen.  Graham has a particular interest in the creative writing of family history and will speak on researching, writing, printing and sharing his family history, 'Leaving the Shore'.  

Bev Lee

Family Research – Beginners small group sessions will resume in Classroom 2 on Thursday 1 September.  Perhaps mysteries will have been resolved, brick walls hurdled, while members have been away!  

​Members who had one-to-one sessions earlier in the year are invited to ‘touch base’ to arrange a follow up session – 0478 607 838 or bevlee47@gmail.com.

Bev Lee

In July’s ‘Pains and Gains’ segment, Val was delighted to report that old Word files have been successfully retrieved and she has written two ‘chapters’ based on ‘Irish John’ Hernan and another key character for her family story.  Helen’s DNA results arrived – confirming her understanding that her family is largely of Scottish origin. 

This month we reviewed programs which convert PDF files to Word – especially pdf2go (https://www.pdf2go.com/pdf-to-word) - and the growing use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in photo restoration.  The free Hotpot.ai (https://hotpot.ai/restore-picture) program was applied to improve a photo of Helen’s brother taken when he was a child, removing scratches and then ‘colorising’ it. 

Other problem-solving included rectifying ancestry.com records (for a stepfather mistakenly listed as a biological father) and the tricky process of downloading and inserting images from Trove into family stories. 

Work is continuing ‘one to one’ with members new to family research using ancestry.com.  Going back to the generation which emigrated or were transported to Australia often develops family stories and themes very similar to the family stories and themes developed on ‘Who do you think you are’. 

With members travelling overseas and interstate over the next month or so, the small group is taking a break in August and will resume on Thursday 1st September from 1 to 4pm. 
​
Bev Lee

'Housekeeping - rolls, apologies'

'Pains and Gains'

New Goals?    Particular learning needs for today?

'Review' - Dawn's session on My Heritage - follow up handout from Dawn  

Tweaking Old Photographs #2

"​Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. The term may also be applied to any machine that exhibits traits associated with a human mind such as learning and problem-solving."

"The free Hotpot AI (https://hotpot.ai/restore-picture) program restores pictures by automatically performing scratch removal, face enhancement, and color sharpening. What used to require trained professionals hours can now be accomplished in seconds.   The service repairs both color and black & white photographs."

There is a limit to what it can do -

• there is a limitation in pixel size - it needs to be under 1280x1280
• while it is effective on scratch removal, the program is unlikely to work well on scratches on portrait/people in close up where the scratches are on the faces:  "The Lee Children photo" 

However it worked quite well on Julie's photo in which the people weren't in closeup - 

"While this service automates photo restoration, it cannot replace experts for demanding restoration jobs.   It is designed to help consumers with lightweight requirements while helping professionals save time on difficult restoration requests."  
​https://hotpot.ai/restore-picture

If you don't have access to advanced programs such as Photoshop, or if you are are beginner, you will often find 'Paint', which usually comes with Microsoft programs such as Office 365, a good place to start in making changes to eg. spots and blotches on photos.  Work on these first, preferably in a larger sized photo which you work on in an enlarged state, then reduce the photosize to 1280 x 1280 pixels or thereabouts and apply it to Hotpot AI - https://hotpot.ai/restore-picture

More reading -  Article - Reviews 4 AI photo restoration programs, with top recommendation for 'Photoglory' 
www.makeuseof.com/restore-old-photos-best-software/

This month the small group class reviewed the goals and focus areas they had written down when entering the course and felt they had definitely made progress.
​
In our Pains and Gains segment, Val reported working with tech savvy family members so that her writing up of family history saved in Word many years ago doesn’t need to be retyped.  The shipping record for ‘Irish John’ Hernan remains elusive, however Val now knows more about his early years in Australia.  Julie reported greater luck with shipping records, demonstrating quickly finding the shipping list she was looking for in South Australian Shipping Records.  Knowing the name of the ship was a great help!  Helen is awaiting DNA results and resolving family mysteries concerning her biological grandfather and adoptive brother.  Dawn has continued to find documents which add depth to her research, and in one of our sessions shared her enthusiasm and expertise in using My Heritage with the group.

Judy Barry introduced photo restoration this month, describing the work she had done on restoring a series of old photos.   We talked about Paint as an accessible tool for those who don’t have access to Photoshop; then, at Dawn’s suggestion, checked out the new photo restoration feature in My Heritage. 
 
Bev shared a Trove newspaper extract this month citing the bravery of her great grand uncle, Port Phillip shipping pilot, Captain Henry Taylor, in acting to save the lives of the passengers and crew of the vessel Earl of Charlemont in 1852.  Mentor Judy Barry suddenly exclaimed … ‘My ancestors were on the shipwreck of the Earl of Charlemont!!!’  What a coincidence!

It has been a most enjoyable semester working with the small group class; working one to one with beginners commencing their family tree and working alongside mentors Judy Barry and Barry O’Connor.


Bev Lee