Review of using State Library Resources to locate articles in British Newspapers

We decided to become efficient in the art of opening the State Library Catalogue and discovered that being registered, signing in, and then searching for 'British Newspapers' was an effective way to independently find the Gale Library Resources on Judy's sheet.  

If you have signed in and opened the State Library Catalogue you will be able to click on the links in Judy's Melbourne Library and State Library Resources for the State Library and they should open.

The role of Discussion Forums such as Roots Chat - 

Over recent sessions we have opened up a discussion forum based on a particular geographic area - Caithness in Scotland - and noted how it provided useful information for Helen.  

Another example:  Knowing my grandfather's cousin had been a nurse during World War I, I wondered if there might be a military record for her; indeed whether nurses were incorporated into the UK/Scottish military record system.

I put in a search for 'war records of scottish nurses in WW1'  which resulted in a suggested link to a Roots Chat forum:  

​https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=856156.0

Quite often other people are curious to find the answer to the same question!

To join most geneology related groups on Facebook you need to
1.     Have a Facebook Account
2.  Request to join the group, often explaining why, then wait to be accepted. Demonstration - Bev to join the Facebook groups Wendy recommended.  

New Projects - 

Helen - family of her adopted brother John

• Mother - Ivy Doris Littlewood - son Peter Littlewood- now John Henry Milne - 
• she married and became Ivy B...

Dawn

• Share You Tube clips - see below
• More about Isle of Wight context and confectionery business
• Westmore William's bowling history - 

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Highly Recommended - My Heritage On Line Introduction to Genealogy Course (Free) 

Today's class may change focus to working intensively together on family trees as we have had two apologies, and mentor Judy Barry is also an apology.

Pains and Gains, Tips and Tricks, 'Show and Tell'
Report backs on progress since our last meeting.

Review of using State Library Resources to locate articles in British Newspapers
Hint -

• Open up Judy's document Melbourne Library and State Library Resources and, if you haven't already done so, download it and open it so it is ready in the background.
• Sign in to the State Library (or register if necessary) so it is open in the background.
• Go to the open document from Judy and click on the program you want eg.
• Put in your search terms - Bev - 'Frances Whittuck Hooper', 'Hugh Crutwell', 'Minnie Hooper'.

Remember -  If you are signed in to the State Library and click on the links on the opened pdf document the links should open very easily.

Practice Examples:  From the group ...

Review of the Duck Duck Go search engine to discover links to useful discussion groups, indexes and other resources for Helen using the search terms “Donald Cormack” elizabeth wick -

• http://forum.caithness.org/showthread.php?152016-Cormack-and-Sutherland-families
• http://garypatton.net/st.clair_family/D25.htm
• https://www.myheritage.com/names/alexander_cormack
• http://garypatton.net/st.clair_family/D28.htm
• https://www.gravestonephotos.com/public/findfamily.php?name=Cormack ​

Review/More on PROV - Public Records Office, Victoria website and Online registration procedures selected from the explanatory videos on line -  https://prov.vic.gov.au/explore-collection/where-start​

Review/More on avoiding duplication of ancestors in ancestry.com.  Barry O'Connor's suggestions on a way to do this "Finding the Alphabetical List of Names on Your Tree". 

Facebook and other online sites and groups:  
Sites which have old Photographs in geographic areas

•  "Spirit of Leither's public group -https://www.facebook.com/groups/183540425746927/​  - my 1904 collection (my father was born in Leith in 1904)  
• 'Old Time Photos of Yester Year' - https://www.facebook.com/groups/672164369508943
• 'I grew up in Clayton/Clarinda' - https://www.facebook.com/groups/432559840258226​

Facebook groups with a Family History/Geneology focus
Check out the blog from last year based on Wendy's choices:  Researching using Facebook Groups with similar interests - u3abenalla.weebly.com/family-research/family-research-searching-for-fb-groups-with-similar-interests  (Note that I have yet to seek membership of these groups)  Here are some I do belong to:

• Irish Geneology Ancestors Research - https://www.facebook.com/groups/278441113273195
• County Roscommon History and Heritage - www.facebook.com/groups/1472395016266649
• Australian Family History Geneology Research - https://www.facebook.com/groups/857021777735534
• Geneology Victoria Australia - https://www.facebook.com/groups/GenVicAus
• Irish Geneology - https://www.facebook.com/groups/402752829736679

 
Dilemma for today -  The emotional highs and lows of family research - what to do if someone asks you to remove something from your family tree.  (Bev's example - Gladys)

More on Trove Lists?   More practice with students demonstrating - did you get time to watch the full video?  If class keen, continue to watch video on Trove Lists with a view to finish watching it at home before our next session.  

While participants currently working ‘one to one’ are just beginning to develop their family tree, they all remember and draw upon stories told by family members and their own memories of grandparents, great uncles and aunts.  They generally discover old family documents and photographs in old suit-cases or tucked away in boxes of varying sizes.  It is not long before they begin to make discoveries and develop a deeper understanding of their family history – with one beginner currently immersing herself in British Census records describing the many generations of her family who worked in the steel industry in Sheffield, England; while another beginner is discovering ancestors transported to Tasmania and a generation- spanning mining connection to the Maldon area.

The small group class which meets on the 1st and 2nd Thursday afternoon had in common that they had a well-developed set of resources and had started working on their family tree.  However, all had mysteries to be solved, information to be found, hopefully by developing a better understanding of using online records and family tree programs.  It has been exciting to watch them making gains in terms of their initial goals and, in doing so, strengthening their understanding of ancestry.com, Trove, BDM, Scotland’s People, Census records, British Newspaper collections and more.
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Dawn Stephens recently achieved her goal of producing a book about her husband’s forebears for family members.  The result impressed us all!  Dawn incorporated a My Heritage genealogical report followed by engaging ‘case studies’ following her husband’s paternal line, along with lots of photographs across the generations.  Dawn’s choice of satin paper, paper weight, colour and cover worked beautifully - we were all keen to get details of the online printing firm involved!  

Bev Lee

Report backs on progress at our second session in April included Judy's findings for Dawn on Westmore Stephens.  We moved from 'What' Judy found...to 'How' Judy found the resources using the State Library's British Library newspaper access features and other lateral examples of how Judy finds links!

​We completed our overview of Judy's handout Melbourne Library and State Library Resources by having a closer look at the State Library Resources listed on page 2.  (Hint - If you click on the links on the opened pdf document and are signed in to the State Library the links should open very easily).

Judy also demonstrated her use of the  Duck Duck Go search engine to discover links to useful discussion groups, indexes and other resources for Helen using thesearch terms “Donald Cormack” elizabeth wick -

• http://forum.caithness.org/showthread.php?152016-Cormack-and-Sutherland-families
• http://garypatton.net/st.clair_family/D25.htm
• https://www.myheritage.com/names/alexander_cormack
• http://garypatton.net/st.clair_family/D28.htm
• https://www.gravestonephotos.com/public/findfamily.php?name=Cormack ​

We also checked out the PROV - Public Records Office, Victoria website and Online registration procedures.  A wide range of records are available at PROV - as country residents, it's particularly important to preapre by accessing and ordering as much as we can online before we vist.  There are many explanatory videos on line -  https://prov.vic.gov.au/explore-collection/where-start​

When beginning to use Ancestry, it's not too long before we begin to suspect that we've duplicated some of the ancestors on our tree.  It's a good idea to review and if necessary edit ancestors on our trees from time to time - check out Barry O'Connor's suggestions on a way to do this "Finding the Alphabetical List of Names on Your Tree". 
 
Dilemma for today - finding a one month old child born 'out of wedlock' to a young family member discovered when researching the Welshman's Reef Cemetery not mentioned by other people working on the tree.  

We had touched on using Trove lists again during the session, so concluded by beginning  to watch this video on Trove Lists with a view to finish watching it at home before our next session.  

Report Backs on progress since our last session - the pains, the gains, the tips, the tricks!

Tip (Bev) - News of the UK Census for 1921 - English census records for 1921 are now available on Find My Past - need to register/log in; easy to manage; appear to cost $4.80 per certificate - gives enough info to suggest close to the mark records before needing to pay.  (Trial William McGovern  b 1911 in Sheffield)  Note - ​https://www.freecen.org.uk/ provides free census results from 1841-1911; doesn't provide whole census for family, but will find person with info on fam/surname. 

Resources: 

Genograms - useful work arounds when "it all gets a bit confusing"  (Bev)

Drawing up a Genogram as a 'mind map' when relationships are unclear and easily confused can be most helpful.  Handouts.

2.   National Library of Australia Resources: particularly Trove:

​Trove -  'Discover Trove' - Webinar last week - most of the content is available now through this link on You Tube

"This webinar will provide an introduction to searching Trove for new users, highlight changes and additions to Trove for returning and long time users, and share some useful tools and tips for navigating Trove and it's holdings.

​Contents: 00:00 - Introduction 00:40 - What is Trove? 01:50 - Searching Trove - Basic Search - Newspapers and Gazettes 08:35 - Digitised Newspapers and Access Conditions 09:20 - Searching Trove - Basic Search - Magazines and Newsletters 09:20 - Searching Trove - Basic Search - Magazines and Newsletters 11:58 - Navigating Trove Transcription Text 12:55 - Downloading from Trove 15:18 - Viewing Images on Trove - Images Hosted on External Websites 17:16 - Viewing Images on Trove - Filtering to Online Only Results 19:13 - Searching Trove in Languages Other than English 21:30 - Finding more Information - Help Pages 22:40 - Finding more Information - Contacting Trove Support 23:18 - Conclusion

National Library of Australia Resources:

National Library of Australia Homepage: https://www.nla.gov.au/
​Trove: https://trove.nla.gov.au/
Trove Support: https://trove.nla.gov.au/about/contac...
Digital Classroom: https://www.nla.gov.au/digital-classr...
Catalogue: https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/
Ask a Librarian: https://www.nla.gov.au/askalibrarian
Get a Library Card: https://www.nla.gov.au/getalibrarycard/
Past Webinar Recordings: https://www.nla.gov.au/content/past-w...
Subscribe to our National Library eNewsletter and learn about upcoming learning webinars. https://www.nla.gov.au/news/enews"

Using past focus questions from the floor and online resources, problem solving using online and other resources.

Val: In search of John Hernan's arrival in Australia .... could this be him...unlikely but a good story - adding an article to a list on Trove - ​trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/32152651?searchTerm=John%20Hernann 

An Introduction to Trove Lists - a wonderful way of organising resources on Trove as your research using Trove Intensifies.   Explanation and 'Case Study'/practise.  

SHOW AND TELL:  COMING UP!

‘Family Research – Beginners’ is quite a thrilling course to convene.  It’s full of discoveries and stories about heroes and villains, secrets, mysteries and more!  I sometimes think we should be filming episodes of ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ for our class members, with of course, a similar budget for trips overseas and employment of local genealogists to assist them with their search!  

The small classroom’s new Smart TV/PC technology is proving a great asset to our class, with the large screen easy to view when making and discussing new discoveries and learning new skills on ancestry.com, Trove and Scotland’s People.
 
Our goal of providing three one to one sessions for each class member is well underway, though a few members are still to commence these.  Thanks go to Judy Barry, Barry O’Connor and Wendy Sturgess for assisting me in mentoring our beginners this month.
​
Bev Lee

U3A members have arrived at Family Research - Beginners with baskets or folders full of resources collected during a family research ‘burst of energy’, sometimes recently, sometimes decades ago.  Some baskets have also included books or documents donated by other family members, or their own first effort at writing about their family.    Most importantly, all brought along stories passed down over generations.

It is always a question of where to begin!  This year we have asked class members to identify and focus on a person or family branch of interest which still needs work, or where there is a particular family mystery, ‘black hole’ or roadblock.

Using this person or family branch we are using the new computer and large screen in the small classroom to develop understanding of ancestry.com, both in one to one and small group sessions.   Lots of sharing of ‘practice wisdom’ gained in past paper-based family research is occurring along the way. 

Hints invariably appear as soon as a core person and father’s name are used to establish the tree. 

It isn’t long before we are reading through source documents which shed light on the person, family mystery, or family branch which is the focus for research.  Census results, baptisms, photographs, are reviewed and considered carefully before being accepted and added to the tree – with others ignored or added to the ‘maybe’ shoebox for future reference.  During the process, some class members have discovered a tree commenced once as a ‘free trial’ is still available on ancestry! 

We’re very pleased to welcome experienced family researcher Judy Barry as a mentor for the beginners’ group.  Thank you for offering to be a mentor, Judy, and for the rich, thoughtful contributions you are already making.  Thanks to Wendy Sturgess and Barry O’Connor, who will also be supporting the beginners’ group.

Bev Lee

Resources to support Session 3 included:

Resources available through 'Family Tree Maker' - for example  www.familytreemagazine.com/websites/ancestry-help/best-ancestry-tips-tricks/

Library Resources
Using Resources at the Melbourne Library and State Library of Victoria (PDF) (Judy's Handout)
Using your Benalla Library account to access documents through ancestry.com (Julie McNeill)

Be Connected - 'Researching Family History' - an introduction to the units.

Simple Family Tree Sites

• Familyecho.com: a free, web-based tool for drawing up a basic family tree
• Heridas - an online site with a free version

Sites with hints and record linking  
ancestry.com.au  - (continued) 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.

Using Census Records 
Helen's family research quest demonstrated the contribution made by accessing census records - here's a video you might like to watch on using the English Census Records:

Goals of session

To clarify expectations & framework for Semester 1 - reading/discussion of the Course 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 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 

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

Case Study/Brief Presentation - Marg B's Quest to Find Her Birth Mother 

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.  
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Useful Resources for Family Research #1 
Judy Barry presented a handout listing resources she has found useful 
FAMILY HISTORY RESOURCES AT MELBOURNE CITY LIBRARY
LINKS TO RESOURCES AT THE STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA 

Introduction to Using Online Resources #1
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 Helen's Newport Family Tree via  ancestry.com.au  drawing out key principles, related ancestry trees; source documents eg. census, marriage records. 
 
Clarifying and sharing purpose/direction - Sharing of focus sentence from worksheet.. 

Follow up -  We will meet again next Tuesday (2nd Tuesday) and there will also be contact with some class members re setting up first one to one appointment.