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May - 'They were there when...' and/or 'Eulogy/Obituary'

27/5/2022

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At our May meeting we welcomed Malcolm, who came along to observe the advanced class and is still working on his rapidly expanding family tree. 

​Robyn commenced our Pains and Gains segment, reporting that contact via Ancestry.com on great great ancestors had resulted in her locating an informative book, 'Hell Ship'. Robyn also received some valuable assistance from the Hamilton Historical Society from their local newspaper articles.  Graeme also described 'gains' through reading, in his case a book written by a family member in America which gave details of a family member in childhood days.

Marg, Barry and Jane all said they had nothing to report, however they have all been busy over the past two months!  Marg reported that her work on her Father's history is proving a bit of a challenge'!  Barry has been busy distributing family history information to family members and has presented his story on 'Benalla's Fourth Son' Arthur Baird at the Family History Festival and to Probus; while Jane was heavily involved in the organisation of the Festival and is also coordinatinng the new Network group.  Jane was happy with the attendance numbers at the recent festival and noted that the Network Group is progressing with the project to create a common resource bank.  Wendy attended Barry's Arthur Baird presentation at the Festival and reported that she now has a copy of the book to take with her when she visits the Qantas Founders Museum later in the year.

Finally, Bev shared a 'tip' mentor Judy Barry had shared with the Beginners' group on how to access British and Irish Newspapers by registering as a member with the State Library of Victoria's Catalogue.  

Fascinating 'They were there when...' stories were shared of Marg's father being in the last plane lifted from the roof of the US embassy at the Fall of Saigon; Graeme's ancestor being at Napoleon Bonaparte's Battle of Waterloo; David's presentation relating to his maternal grandfather bearing witness to the riots before, and possible also, the Eureka rebellion; Bev's story of her great grand-uncle's adventurous life as a pilot guiding ships through the treacherous Heads of Port Phillip Bay during the gold rush years and Wende's tragic story about family members losing their lives in a Wangaratta flood in 1881. 

The topic 'Eulogy or Obituary' elicited thoughtfully crafted, engaging stories about people we have often shared facts and stories about during class. Stories shared about James O'Connor, Silvester Bowers, Donald Campbell and Henry Taylor drew on a range of resource sources, ancestry.com profiles; Trove reports; family stories; online geneological  records and more.

Interestingly, many of the stories shared across the topics harked back to the 1850's.  Books, published or unpublished, also featured during the session, including Robyn's mention of 'Hell Ship'; Jane's discussion of themes in the book 'The Floating Brothel'; and more.  At the end of the class members were busily writing book titles down as possible avenues of research.  

We had a number of apologies from members this month and look forward to hearing their stories on their return.
 

​Next month's story topic is 'Myth Busting'. The brief?  "It is wonderful when a family story handed down over time and assumed to be a possible myth turns out to be grounded in 'evidence based' fact. Choose and describe such a family story, highlighting how you were able to confirm it and what this meant to you and your family." 

If this topic proves elusive, perhaps take a look at 'They were there when...' or 'Eulogy/Obituary' through another ancestor's eyes; or the back-up topic 'Now where did I come from?', possibly relating your story to your DNA quest as suggested in the topic listing.

Bev Lee, Barry O'Connor, Wende Sturgess
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Class agenda for Thursday 26 May 2022

26/5/2022

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"Pains and Gains, Tips and Tricks"

​Bev:
1   Using the State Library of Victoria membership to access British and Irish Records
  • Judy Barry recently demonstrated finding and using British Newspapers using her membership of the State Library Catalogue to the Beginners Group.
  • I decided to also 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 recommended by Judy Barry and included on her list.
  • On registering I was allocated a sign in number for the catalogue; and used this  and a password to open up the catalogue.  
  • I found that if I had signed in to the State Library Catalogue I could click on and open the State Library Resources links in Judy's handout detailing some of the State Library's Resources 
Practice examples:  'Westmore Stephens' -  'Hugh Crutwell' - other

Shared Stories:

We agreed to present stories for both April and May’s topics today,  "ideally both, but one would be fine." 

‘They were there when’….(April)  “Did someone in your family tree experience a significant news, historical or cultural event first-hand?  Share your understanding of what may have been their experience”

‘Eulogy/Obituary’ (May) Write a eulogy for an imagined funeral (or an obituary for a newspaper) for someone in your family tree you never, or barely met (preferably at great grandparent level or earlier), based on your research and any family stories passed down about them.

Coming up next month:   
 

​‘Myth Busting’  The brief?  "It is wonderful when a family story handed down over time and assumed to be a possible myth turns out to be grounded in 'evidence based' fact. Choose and describe such a family story, highlighting how you were able to confirm it and what this meant to you and your family." 




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    Family Stories

    Family Research

    ​Family Research is a guided self-help group for members who are already working on their family tree.  Sessions commence with report backs on ‘pains and gains’ during research over the previous month accompanied by shared problem solving,  encourage-ment and ideas for next steps.  Presentations by group members and guest speakers provide inspiration and suggestions of different approaches and resources.  Stories are also shared each month on topics designed to encourage deeper reflection on our research.  

    Family Stories Topic List 2023

    Convenor/s Contact Details

    Bev Lee
    ​0478 607 838

    Barry O'Connor
    ​0407 266 688

    Jane Rushworth
    ​0437 621 575

    Meeting Times

    4th Thursday 1 to 4 pm

    List of Family Stories topics - 2023
    Finding the Alphabetical List of Names on Ancestry.com (Barry O'Connor)
    Graeme's Glossary - idea under construction 

    Links

    Benalla Family Research Group 
    Trove
    'More on Trove'
    Everyone Loves Trove (Podcast)
    'Lee Devitt Family History Blog' Bev Lee
    Digby Family Stories - Penny Bristol Jones
    DNA Detectives and the End of Family Secrets

    Hands on...

    Program to convert PDF files to Word –https://www.pdf2go.com/pdf-to-word

    Photo restoration - simple projects - 
    https://hotpot.ai/restore-picture

    ​HEREDIS 

    ancestry.com.au

    myheritage.com

    ​Scotland's People 

    findpenguins.com
    ​

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