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.
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
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