This month we welcomed guest speaker Margaret Jenkins for our opening segment ‘Writing and Sharing Our Family Story’.  Margaret’s story of the writing and publication of ‘A Press Missionary’, the life of her …. Thomas Allard Pettit was fascinating. 

A diary, written by Thomas during his journey to Australia by ship in 1884 and found in a ‘rarely if ever opened trunk in a rarely if ever used room’ after her father’s death, became the catalyst for a post retirement family history journey. Margaret chose the title ‘A Press Missionary’, to reflect Thomas’s life as a journalist, skilled businessman and civic leader with a penchant for reviving old newspapers and starting new ones across Victoria.   Thank you for sharing your story and experiences with us, Margaret!

In 'Pains and Gains’, Barry described how, frustrated with the usual research avenues, he had tried a simple Google search for the names of his GG Grandparents. Up came both names on the same page, unfortunately the dates were three decades out. He also investigated each name and found that there were fifteen women with the same name as his GGGM, but none of the dates matched the era. He also discovered that a lot of his GGGM’s family migrated to Canada. 

David described working on his wife’s family history and correcting some errors in preparation for a cousin’s reunion in March 2023. He had a further gain when he located a photograph showing three generations of the family, complete with names, which is such a bonus! His pain for the month, the Virtual Irish Treasury is not really working for him. 

Margaret, still to hear France about her enquiry, brought along promotion material for the sale of her impressive childhood home, Annamult House in Kilkenny, Ireland.  

Bev, after listening to Graham’s story last week, had found herself speculating – “was there no marriage certificate for her great grand-parents because her great grandfather’s first wife was in a psychiatric institution?"
”.
This month’s topic, ‘Occupations’, encouraged us to look into the occupations of our forebears and to reflect on whether there were patterns which have been passed down. David’s reflections on the topic led him to look at the bigger picture, of what might be happening and changing in society over time. Both David and Marg …. .  We are hoping that members who didn’t make it to the session are able to share Occupations stories next time. 

Jane’s presentation “Some ethical issues which can arise during family research” was thought provoking, but a little rushed as we were already over time.  We agreed that Jane should begin our October session, taking us through the slide show again to allow time for discussion.
  ­­­­
October’s Topic – ‘From the Bookshelves’ A book/books which has/have historical significance in terms of your family/family research...

• Do you have any books on your bookshelves which belong to, or remind you of your ancestors; can you remember the books on your parents and grandparents’ bookshelves? Browse through your bookshelves, or through memories of bookshelves in days gone by, selecting a number of books to write a little about which are related in some way to the lives of your forebears.

OR

• Have you read any historical fiction or non-fiction books which are relevant to your family story? (If not, perhaps you could Google to discover some). Who wrote them, and how did they relate to your family history, and what impact did they have on you?

 
Bev Lee, Barry O’Connor and Jane Rushworth

​​Graham began this month’s segment on ‘Writing and Sharing Family Stories’.  In recording the histories of his fifteen original ancestors’ arrivals in Australia in 'Leaving the Shore', Graham has given each person context, placed himself in their shoes and produced enjoyable and engaging stories.  Graham brought a beautifully crafted model sailing ship as a ‘prop’, along with family research books from his library to share.

​Barry O’Connor, whose recent contact with a cousin resulted in considerably more family information, provided suggestions on organizing new information. During the circulation of the family history book Barry has shared with his family, David recognised Barry’s cousin, Frank O’Connor.  David and Frank worked together some years ago but had recently lost contact. Email addresses have been exchanged!

​Andi Stevenson described how she has used her family data, including photos, to create a fascinating family tree. Copies have been printed and framed to be gifts for extended family members.

While keen to share information, Andi is mindful that not all family members share her level of interest.  Using photographs in the framed family tree has stimulated interesting talking points with other family members, for example, the noting of similar facial features and the development of photography over time.

​In our ‘Pains and Gains, Tips and Tricks' segment, Andi described locating the property in Belfast Street, Brunswick where her ancestors once lived (though sadly the original house is not there). David attended the Wodonga Family History open day; Graeme discovered a relative with a connection to the East India Company and Marg reported that, despite going to a great deal of trouble to send a stamped self-addressed envelope to Paris for information on her relatives, she has still not received a response.  Perhaps Jane’s friends, soon to be in Paris, will be able to assist! 

Malcolm described an enjoyable lunch recently at the Mitchelton winery where he presented his cousins with the family history he had written for them.  He also brought along a 1900 half sovereign in a small container handed down from father to son, through four generations so far. The story attached to this coin, is that when the current holder is ‘broke’, they can use the half sovereign, which remains quite valuable, to get themselves out of trouble.

During the break we celebrated National Family History Month with afternoon tea - lots of slices, muffins and chocolates brought along by class members to share! ​

Stories on this month’s topic, ‘Correction’, were shared after the break. David P reported having written a letter to correct information in a recent article in the Guardian. The article referred to his great grand uncle, Thomas Austin, then of Winchelsea, having imported 24 wild rabbits in 1859, influencing the spread and DNA profile of rabbits in Australia.  Keen to set the record straight, David explained that, according to his mother and other family historians, the imported rabbits were a mixture of 17 wild and 7 domesticated rabbits. 

Bev described making corrections after discovering that ‘her’ Ellen Frances was not the proprietor of the Ellen Frances Hotel, but the proprietor of the Farmers Arms Hotel in Violet Town, while Marg described finding several errors in a handwritten copy of her paternal side’s family tree going back to her great great grandfather James Ryan.

Malcolm provided a text-book example of how a mistake made in one tree can be perpetuated in others, warning of the need to be vigilant if an unexpected person turns up in a family tree; while Barry discovered information causing him to correct and reassess his GGF’s wealth at the time of his death. 

Graham’s story described realizing that the reason a marriage certificate wasn’t available for a marriage was almost certainly that a first wife had experienced mental illness, which meant that remarriage wasn’t possible.

​Andi worked us through a sequence of BMD registrations in which she had found an error, while Jane spoke about research by PHD historians on Churchill Island which has uncovered contradictory information, with subsequent corrections not being accepted well by local people.

For August’s alternate Topic - ‘Member’s Choice’ – David H shared valuable information on the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland - a project to recreate the Irish Public Records Office records.  The website includes David’s slide show presentation and the post below details David's suggestions of links about the Virtual Record Treasury to follow up, along with Graham, Barry and Andi’s suggestions for creating, writing and sharing family histories.

As Jane commented in her notes, “it was a lovely session, and fun to catch up with likeminded sleuths”.

Next month’s topic is ‘Occupations’… Looking at occupations of your forebears, are there any patterns? Describe them and try to find out about the circumstances surrounding them. Do you see any links in terms of yourself and your generation?   Next month’s session includes Margaret Jenkin’s approach to writing her family history and a presentation by Jane on ethical issues which can arise during family research. 

​
Bev, Jane and Barry

During today's session Jane took notes (refer below) of suggestions made by Graham, Barry and Andi on writing and sharing family history, while David compiled a list of the references he'd drawn upon for his presentation on Virtual Irish Records.  Thank you Graham, Barry, Andi and David!

Graham Jensen   In recording the histories of his fifteen original ancestors arrivals in Australia in his book 'Leaving the Shore', Graeme has given each person context, placed himself in their shoes and produced enjoyable and engaging stories.  He shared his experiences with the group and offered these hints:

• Define the project, ie, 15 original ancestors.
• Set a project timeline - otherwise family research has the potential to go on forever.
• Make the information an engaging and enjoyable experience for the reader.
• The process of doing family research can give an unexpected sense of connection to the past.
• The background reading that gives character context is quite enjoyable.
• The National Library is an excellent resource and includes many family histories written by other genealogy sleuths. In this case, Graham found many references to relatives, including to James Weaver, his first ancestor to arrive in Australia. 
• Graham also offered his genealogists resource books for borrowing.

Barry O'Connor  Barry is constantly updating his family history .. as are we all. He recently had contact with a cousin which resulted in considerably more family information.
So it was interesting to hear Barry's hints on organising new information, as well as other broader suggestions.

• Separate information into maternal and paternal branches. 
• Create a separate section in the records folder for "new" information.
• This new information can then be sorted by individual ancestors.
• Systematically update the data on each ancestor - a big task.
• Barry also suggested: 
  • include a statement acknowledging records, books, notes etc will have gaps.
  • Like Graham, draw a line under research.
  • Download ancestor data from Ancestry.com in alphabetical order. (Finding the Alphabetical List of Names on Ancestry.com (Barry O'Connor)

Andi Stevenson Andi has used her family data, including photos, to create a fascinating family tree. Copies have been printed and framed to be gifts for extended family members. While keen to share the information she has, Andi is also mindful that not all family members share her level of interest. So, for anyone thinking about creating and gifting family trees, here are Andi's hints:

• CorelDRAW is relatively easy to use and offers many tree design options (there is 15 day a free-trial version).
• Go easy on expenditure if you are gifting to a few people, and you know some people might not be that interested. Andi used A3 certificate frames and medium quality paper - inexpensive and elegant. 
• Photos in family trees can stimulate interesting talking points, for example, noting similar facial features, and the development of photography over time.
• Non-reflective glass can make a difference.

David Hall spoke on the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland - a project to recreate the Irish Public Records Office records.  David's slideshow presentation is available here.  David has suggested the following of links to the group: 

• 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
• I have also had a brief look at some of his 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/

This month, guest speaker Dawn Stephens spoke about using the My Heritage ‘Book’ feature to produce a book for her husband, Frank Stephens, their children and grandchildren. Dawn described the processes involved, including changing the My Heritage report from pdf to word; the online printing firm she chose, features selected, the cost involved and more.   Dawn used a crease marked photograph of herself as a child to demonstrate My Heritage’s Photo Restoration feature.  We had such a laugh when Dawn also applied the ‘animation’ feature to her photo!  Thank you for an engaging and informative presentation, Dawn!

In our Pains and Gains, Tips and Tricks segment,

• Malcolm described the processes involved in updating the lettering on family plaques at a cemetery.  He spoke about the requirements to provide documents relating to ancestors and self and to having to sign a Statutory Declaration for the Cemetery Trust as proof of the right to update the plaque/s.  He stressed the need to involve family & recommended taking photos of the text on headstones, as it  canl fade over time.   Estimated cost? $150 per headstone. Stonemason = approx. $350. 
• Deb described difficulties finding birth records for the youngest three of her maternal great great grandmother’s six children and a breakthrough via Ancestry, resulting in her having a name for previously unidentified a g-g-grand aunt in a family photo.
• Marg has located an Ancestry family tree which includes her great grandfather, Percy Watson, and confirms his death location in Paris.  Options suggested by  the Embassy in Paris will hopefully assist her to find his death certificate & burial place.
• Andi shared a family tree diagram she has designed to include in a book for her siblings.  We all agreed it was easy to follow and achieved her goal of including as much information as possible without being cluttered.
• New member Graham Jensen described using local researchers in lieu of travelling.  His current use of free local research available in Denmark is proving positive. 
• Graeme Morris, keen to develop a ‘glossary’ of terms, suggested “typing “amp” for quick access to the Ampersand symbol. Remember that ampersand is also code.
  
• Jane, who as lots of voluntary responsibilities, said her gain this month was finally finding time to write her first story for our class!
  

 In our Family Stories segment on 'Myth Busting' or a previous topic,

• Jane wrote about how finding out a surprising new fact, that her mother wasn't the oldest child in her family, shattered a long-held myth.   
• Deb spoke about recent research which has resulted in a fascinating hypothesis, however also the concern that ‘putting it out there’ might create yet another myth!  
• ​Bev explored the family myth that her great, great grandfather was a Ship’s Captain (busted) and an ‘East India Man’ (almost certainly true), while
• David described how 'calling a friend' helped him to gain some clarity about, if not fully disprove, a family myth relating to having an extremely wealthy relative.

​   
Marg shared an obituary for another of her great grandmothers, Josephine Moore, who experienced the tragic loss of two young children, then an adult son, William Leopold Moore.  William disappeared in 1906 after going to the races.  His body was never found, with implictions for family Wills and unresolved family grief.  

​July's family story topic is 'There's No Place Like Home'.  The brief?  'Describe a family tree related home you remember from your childhood or that you have located in your research – where was it, who lived in it, what were your childhood impressions of it if you knew it/as you look at it through a ‘family history lens? What has become of it?'

We are thrilled that a new Australian season of 'Who do you think you are?' is underway - Tuesdays 7.30 pm SBS/SBS on Demand.  Highly recommended viewing!

Bev Lee

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

"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." 




​(10017512)

The group decided to forego our April 28th session to provide members with the opportunity to attend Benalla Family Research Group’s Australian Heritage Festival ‘Lone Graves and Other Curiosities’ sessions being held from the 26th to 29th April. ​

Members agreed to present stories for both April and May’s topics ‘They were there when….’(April) and ‘Obituary’(May) at our meeting on 26th May – ideally both, but one would be fine. 

‘They were there when’…. “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’ 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.


Bev Lee, Barry McDonald, Wendy Sturgess

David began our ‘Pains and Gains, Tips and Tricks’ reports, describing finding out more about a Great Uncle who was a saddler in Wangaratta. It is believed that when the Kelly gang was captured, they had some of his Great Uncle’s saddles, however he had not sold them any! 

Asha described finding details of her grandmother; while Bev displayed a photo of St Carthage’s Church in Lismore NSW taken during the recent devastating floods, explaining that her father had married his first wife there in 1924.  Bev also spoke of genealogists’ deep concern about the loss of photographs, documents, and memorabilia during the floods.

Wendy described visiting the bush nursing home in Pyramid Hill where she was born and the grave of a baby brother who died there.   Robyn described finding mention of relatives who eventually came to Australia from Skye when reading the ‘Low Road’, a family history book she had borrowed from Wendy.

Marg’s gain - re-joining Ancestry.  Pain - she has not used it yet!  
 
Barry’s gain?  The photo of his parents’ wedding, previously thought lost, has been found and should be in Benalla by the weekend so he can scan it and finish two family histories, after almost three years of research.

Elly described a family history full of passion and pain, intriguing us all.  Her gain – finding a lot of documents related to her mother, her pain, continuing mystery surrounding her father.

Graeme shared details of a Great Grandfather who fought in many theatres of war. He is buried in a lone grave which is now on Aboriginal designated land. His GGF has a musket ball still in his body which could be of historic significance. Graeme is not sure what to do next, however will contact local Aboriginal elders to see what can be done.  Graeme also shared symbols he is using to assist him to track and follow up people and events in the family records he is creating.

Jane’s role as the Secretary of the Benalla Family Research Group is already proving to be of great value to the class.  Jane shared news of Benalla History Week events from the 26 – 29 April (keep an eye on the website for details) and news of a free Zoom webinar this week ‘Discovering Trove’.
 
Our Family Story topic for sharing after the coffee break was ‘Hunch’.  Following a hunch to try a different variation of a person’s name – ‘Jas’ instead of ‘James’; ‘Annabella’ instead of ‘Annie’; ‘…1st Duke of Kingston upon Hull’ instead of ‘General Hull’ – resolved what had been frustrating problems for three class members. Following a hunch based on our session on DNA last year by Jim Burnell proved worthwhile, as did pursuing a hunch gleaned from reading an article about German citizens interned in Australia during WWI.  Inserting an advertisement in The Belfast Telegraph newspaper proved to be another successful hunch, unearthing Irish relatives and leading to treasured outcomes.  Finally, a hunch related to a mystery surrounding the paternity of a family member was found in a very small newspaper report of a 1906 trial.  This named a possible candidate whose history has proven easy to find.  Next step–the trial transcript!

Our April 28th session has been cancelled to provide members with the opportunity to attend Benalla Family Research Group’s Australian Heritage Festival workshops.  April’s topic, ‘They were there when….’ “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” will be shared along with May’s topic ‘Obituary’ at our May meeting. 
​
Bev Lee, Wendy Sturgess, Barry O’Connor

Thank you all for the range of ideas, dates for our diaries, links, tips and other matters shared at our March session on Thursday!  Here's a list of 'follow ups' as promised -

Benalla Family Heritage Group and the National Trust's Australia Heritage Festival 

Benalla Family Research Group is once again participating in the National Trust's Annual Heritage Festival, providing a program of workshops and events over four days from Tuesday 26 to Friday 29th April.  Details are being fine tuned and will be forwarded when available  We are aware that the session at our usual 'fourth Thursday' time slot includes a presentation by class member Barry O'Connor.  It was decided to cancel our April session that afternoon to provide the opportunity for class members to attend if they would like to.  Each session costs $5.  Members are encouraged to select at least one session across the four days and perhaps report on learnings from that session in 'Pains and Gains, Tips and Tricks' in May!  

TROVE (1) Our New, Shared 'Practice' Account 

Trove  https://trove.nla.gov.au/ - we now have a shared 'practice' account for our classes.  If you weren't in class - let me know and I'll give you the log in and password.  

Hints - 

• Use Advanced Search and select 'phrase' when looking up names.  No luck? Try different spellings, or eg. Mr. J. B. Hamilton if looking for names, Harry instead of Henry, etc....  It can take a while to find people...be patient... and stoic as sometimes there won't be anything to find...yet!
• When you find an article you want to keep - consider downloading it as a PDF (or image, or text)  (There's a little download link with a downward arrow on the side menu).
• If the digitized text is scrambled, try correcting and saving the changes you want to make!.  Click on the pen near the text you want to correct to open the text for saving, then press Save or Save and Exit when you have completed your corrections.  (You need to have signed in to our account, or your own, to do this).
• Create Lists to store entries for future use.  Find and click on the bullet list link on the side menu.  The first time you use it you'll add both the new 'list' file folder and the first document information and save them at the same time.  After that, it is easier.  A list of file folders you have set up should appear and you just need to enter and save the new document into the listed file folder.  You can always find your lists by clicking on the details under our U3AFamilyResearch2022 details at the top of the screen.  

If you would like to take part in a one to one or small group session on this, let me know and we'll set a date.  

TROVE (2) 'Discover Trove' Zoom Webinar on 30 March

From Jane - "This is the link to register for the 'Discover TROVE' session on Zoom on Wednesday 30th March from 1 to 2pm:
https://fb.me/e/1nrmoxoZD"   Jane has invited class members to join her group at Benalla Family Research Group to watch the session.  Church Street opposite the Faithfull Street T intersection.

After finding out more details at https://www.nla.gov.au/whats-on/events/webinar-discover-trove it seems worthwhile to provide the opportunity for U3A members to view the webinar at U3A on our large screen. I've registered for the session and will screen the webinar on the large screen in the U3A Meeting Room from 1 to 2 pm, followed by review of the session and practice. It's a 'fifth' Wednesday, so there's no other booking for the room. All welcome.

Risks Associated with Introduction of .au Domain Name Change 

Wendy shared a notice she had received about possible risks associated with the new domain name change to .au endings. Here's the link if you would like to follow this up - https://www.cyber.gov.au/acsc/view-all-content/alerts/new-domain-name-changes-could-leave-your-business-or-organisation-risk


Bev 

Bev Lee...    'a sense of place'  ... father's first marriage ... St Carthages, Lismore...

Wendy Sturgess...  'a sense of place' ... revisiting Pyramid Hill

At our first session in late February, we welcomed four new members and Jane’s return.
 
There was much to share in the ‘Pains and Gains’ reports which commence our sessions.  Margaret Boyle began by updating us on finding news of her mother, who had left her family during the war when Marg was a toddler.  Marg kept us spellbound describing her joy at being able to share stories about her mother with a surviving half-sister discovered following a DNA test. 

Other reports also featured ‘connections’ – whether with others working on the same families; with family historians when visiting local historical societies; or with Facebook user group members discussing issues of interest.  Barry O’Connor finally got to look at the rate records at Swan Hill and discovered the facts about the actual land holdings of his Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother O’Connor. He also managed to track down some possible information on where his parents first met.  

Our Family Story topic for sharing after the coffee break was ‘A sense of place’. Members shared stories of places important in the lives of their forebears, including Deniliquin, Echuca, Kilmore, Scotland, including the Isle of Skye, the beautiful highland valley of Glenesk, Portree and more; the #3 and #69 tram routes in Melbourne, even ships traversing the high seas.  Stories featured included the lives of farmers, crofters, sheep stud owners, blacksmiths, ships doctors, hotel keepers, stone masons, mariners, those in the Flinders Lane rag trade and more.
​
The list of Topics for 2022 was distributed .  The topic for our next class on March 24 is ‘Hunch’.   The brief – ‘Sometimes when researching we find ‘a black hole’, however have a fairly strong hunch about a possible resolution of the problem.  Our dilemma - we don’t want to record it if the evidence isn’t strong enough.  Describe a fairly strong hunch you continue to have during your research.  Who does it involve, why do you think it might apply; what is stopping you from including it in your family tree.  (If you have resolved a hunch, you could describe this instead.)’

Bev, Wendy and Barry

Following a three-month break, there will be lots to share on Thursday 24 February in the ‘Pains and Gains’ reports which commence our sessions. 

Our Family Story topic for sharing after the coffee break is ‘A sense of place’. The brief – ‘Write about a place which was important to a number of your forebears.  Why did you choose this place?  How did it feature in their story, why was it important to them? 

Share your reflections in 150 to 400 words (no penalties for exceeding), accompanied by a photograph/s, hopefully captured close to the time in which the place featured in one or more of your ancestors lives’.  Oral presentations fine too!  

​
Bev Lee

Family Story topics to begin the year,  remembering of course the preface – “from 150 to 400 words or thereabouts (no penalties for exceeding), oral presentations fine too!”  

February - ‘A sense of place’
Write about a place which was important to a number of your forebears.  Why did you choose this place?  How did it feature in their story, why was it important to them?  Share your reflections in 150 to 400 words, accompanied by a photograph/s, hopefully captured close to the time in which it featured in one or more of their lives. 

March - ‘Hunch’
Sometimes when researching we find ‘a black hole’, however have a fairly strong hunch about a possible resolution of the problem.  Our dilemma - we don’t want to record it if the evidence isn’t strong enough.  Describe a fairly strong hunch you continue to have during your research.  Who does it involve, why do you think it might apply; what is stopping you from including it in your family tree.  (If you have resolved one, you could describe this instead)

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

Universal ‘Back Up’ topic – if a topic doesn’t inspire you or you have writers’ block!
‘A Ha Moments’ and/or ‘Disappointments’
What stand out among the memorable ‘a ha moments’ and/or memorable ‘disappointments’ you have experienced while doing family research?  Pick one (or two) and write about it, explaining when it happened, who in your family tree was involved, what effect it had on you.  It may be an ‘a ha moment’ or ‘disappointment’ you have felt for the person involved, or for you as you negotiated your family research journey. 


Bev Lee 

Commencing our November session with ‘Pains and Gains’ again led to shared problem solving and lots of encouragement and ideas for next steps.

Bev reported on using the Ryerson Index, an index of death notices in Australian newspapers, for more recent death notices details.  Robyn described having trouble locating traces of the family name ‘Delargy’, however reported locating some new evidence on Wikitree which she is validating.  Barry has been using the Irish search information supplied by Elizabeth at the last session. While unable to trace his GG Grandfather’s records, he has been able to confirm some information about his GG Grandmother. His search continues.  Jan continues searching for evidence of the Keon family from the Irish websites but has had no luck to date.  Andi went to Wunghnu Cemetery searching for family graves, finding a ‘Mills’ grave-stone, but no other family members. It has been found that three family members drowned in the same boating accident, however Andi found nothing in the cemetery records of their resting place. 

David became immersed in shipping passenger lists while researching and locating the passenger list for William Hinds. He shared fascinating findings based on his research into the ‘Thomas Arbuthnot’; noting that the lists were segregated into male and female; highlighting financial details such as the passage cost was £19 and sharing his conclusion that the income earned by the ship’s owner/s was significant. Marg went to Malmsbury on the day lockdown ended as planned, meeting a helpful and informed local historian who had located extensive family history for her.  Marg also located a possible contact in Ireland for information on the Ryan family and sent an email. There has been no response to date. Wendy gave the group a new search site called Ancestorian, which is free. The site has information from various regional groups and appears to be a valuable research tool.

After the break we shared stories on the November topic ‘Census’, using Census results, or records which would enable us to form a census-like view, to describe what might be happening for a family in our tree across the decades.  Robyn was able to track her maternal great great Grandfather Norman McIntyre family across 70 years using largely Scottish census results; while Barry had by necessity to use Electoral Rolls which are the closest thing to a census list of names in Australia during the 1900’s.  Bev’s search took her from Lincolnshire to Indiana, with the US Census records from 1860 to 1880 helping her develop a picture of her great grand uncle’s life in America.  You can read these and other ‘Census’ stories on the website. 

At the end of the session, we firmed up our ‘course description’ and plans for next year.  Our current group will continue to be offered for members who already working on their family tree.  Social distancing regulations permitting, we are adding a hands-on segment to some of our sessions and offering a new ‘Beginners’ course in 2022.  Comprising up to three one-to-one sessions in Term 1 transitioning to small group sessions in Term 2, Family Research – Beginners is designed for members who would like to start an online tree or gain confidence in using an online tree they started years ago.  

Wendy Sturgess, Barry O’Connor and Bev Lee

Footnote - as discussed during today's session....

Following on from last month's presentation on Free Irish Records, Elizabeth has sent us the handout she promised on websites which we may find useful - I've attached this below.  

Elizabeth also provided a USB containing the Word document of her talk and the images of the documents handed out in class.  I've incorporated the images of the records  into the text and worked with Elizabeth's feedback to prepare a second document which reflects the effort she put into preparing her  presentation and the case studies she developed drawing on her own family records.   I hope you find it useful as a review of the session and that Elizabeth is able to draw on it in future if asked to do a similar presentation. 

Bev Lee

Irish Geneology drawing upon Free Irish Records - presentation by Elizabeth Kearns to the Family Research group, U3A Benalla,  on October 28, 2021 (large file)

'Free Irish Records' - handout of useful websites,  Elizabeth Kearns 29 October 2021

November's topic may come to you easily, but could leave you feeling perplexed and 'stumped'.  This being the case, it seemed worthwhile to tease it out a little for you.   

The topic has been designed to help you to flesh out the story of your family a little more - their family structure, whereabouts, etc.  Here's a reminder:  

‘Census’ Find one of your favourite families in your family tree. Pick a year for a census in which you describe what you know about where they were living, who was likely to be living there, what their occupations were, what else was happening in the country, world at the time… in fact anything else you know about them then. Create your own census, or draw upon a census document you have found during your research to develop your ‘census report’ around. 

In some cases, following a set of census records eg. England or Scotland from 1841 to 1911 (and in a few months to 1921) could produce a fairly rational and full story of a family's life.   However, even then, children can be born and die between censuses so never appear on a census.  This could happen to more than one child in a family across a decade.   Families can suddenly appear - if they migrated from Ireland to England or Scotland, for example, and disappear as they migrate overseas.  

However a number of our families are beset by a lack of published census results.   As we learnt from Elizabeth last week, only the 1901 and 1911 Irish Census records are available in full.  In Australia, although there were musters in the early days, there are  few dedicated census results with names listed at addresses available.  Australian censuses appear to have been (and still be) used more to collect aggregate information to provide a basis for social, economic and cultural policy formation than to provide details of who is living in families.    

The following link explores this dilemma -  https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Australia_Census 

'Thinking outside the square', we are likely to need to draw on other records to see who may have been living in the households of our forebears at a particular time.  Electoral rolls can be useful, as Barry found, however remember that they won't include family members under 21 years.  Another problem, people may be living in the same household, but for some reason have different surnames, so they are unlikely to appear on the same page of the electoral roll.  

Considering these (and other problems) underpins the purpose behind this month's topic, which is really to try to enhance the story of your forebears' lives by 'hypothesizing'  possible census results for decades commencing in eg. '01', '11',...'81', if they weren't published.  I could, for example, hypothesize my Lee family's 'census results' in Ireland in 1861 based on knowledge gleaned from 1871 Scottish Census and Catholic Baptismal Records from Ireland in the 1850's and 60's, and then follow up with what was on the 1881 Scottish census to explore a little more about what happened with the family a decade after the arrival, when perhaps some of the children had married and had children of their own.

Australian records  provide a particular challenge.  It will be the work you have done in finding BMD records which will provide much of your evidence, supplementing information from Electoral Rolls when they began to be published.  I'd suggest that you stick with the '01' '11' etc decades for the imagined census dates for story telling purposes.

Of course, some of you will be able to do a broad sweep across 70 years of  UK or Scottish  published census results if that takes your fancy.

If you have time and the interest to understand more about censuses, you might like to watch the video which follows.

I hope this is helpful.  Do feel free to respond to the topic in your own way; however if you want to chat about it, give me a call. 

See you on the 25th November at 1pm!

​Bev Lee

Our 'Pains and Gains' reports to the group this month were wide ranging. Barry reported finding his maternal great grandmother's death certificate listing senile decay (or old age) as a cause of death, while David visited the Family History Research Group where he was able to locate the birth certificate of an uncle he was searching for. Marg said that most of her work during the month related to researching the topic for today, however asked the question 'How do you find people who came in via New Zealand?'.  This led to lots of discussion and sharing of ideas.

Robyn expressed frustration that a lot of people who are DNA matches don't have family trees online, while others have private trees.  We talked about the advantages of public trees, particularly for the sharing of photographs and documents, some of which can be quite rare.  Andi described sharing photographs helpful, recently finding some photos and documents of a grandfather she knew little about.  Andi is currently accessing a lot of BDM certificates and described taking a sharing approach to them.   A useful suggestion which all agreed on - to make your tree private while working on it, moving it to public view at other times. 
 
Our focus area this month was Irish Records.  Irish born U3A member and keen family researcher Elizabeth Kearns gave a most informative presentation on Free Irish Records, using a case study and other resources relating to her family to demonstrate the process of discovering a range of documents.  Elizabeth answered questions from the group during her presentation and stayed to contribute ideas to people with Irish ancestry who wrote about 'black holes' in their research later in the session.  We would really like to thank Elizabeth for the effort she took in preparing the presentation, for the handouts and list of resources prepared as a follow up to her presentation. 
 
Having missed last month’s topic ‘Family Treasure Chest’, Wendy brought in a handmade scarecrow doll and her grandmother's treasured doyley's...

Welcome

"Pains and Gains" - reports on family research work completed during the month.
(Includes the Facebook Recommendations post below)

Irish Records - Elizabeth Kearns - Irish born U3A member and keen family researcher Elizabeth Kearns will share tips on useful resources when researching Irish families and answer questions. 

Break


This month's topic - sharing of stories 

‘A black hole…’   Write about a ‘black hole’ you are still perplexed about in your research.  Who does it involve?  What do you know about them?  Where is the gap in your research?  What do you think may have happened ie. What are your ‘hypotheses’/What is your hunch?  Why do you think you are still finding it hard to make a breakthrough?  Where to next?

Planning for 2022 - including a review of the  Course Description in Program Guide:

"Family Research is a ‘guided self-help group’ which aims to provide support and encouragement to members who are working on their family history.  We also provide 

• Mentoring for members keen to develop skills in using family history resources such as Ancestry.com; Trove; My Heritage; Scotland’s People and other online records such as Births Deaths Marriages, Rates Notices and Cemetery Records 
• Links to the resources available at the Benalla Family History Group
• ​Opportunities to write about our families, with monthly topics such as ‘Found’; ‘A Family Secret’; ‘A Family Treasure’; ‘I wish I’d met…’; ‘In search of ….’; ‘A black hole’; ‘Grandparents’, and more!"

​
Next Month's Topic - ‘Census’ Find one of your favourite families in your family tree. Pick a year for a census in which you describe what you know about where they were living, who was likely to be living there, what their occupations were, what else was happening in the country, world at the time… in fact anything else you know about them then. Create your own census, or draw upon a census document you have found during your research to develop your ‘census report’ around. 

It is easy to 'Search' (box upper Left) for Facebook groups with similar interests.  

Here are some handy sites in Facebook recommended by Wende Sturgess to begin...

• ‘Ancestry Website users’
• ‘Trove – Help Find my Ancestors’
• ‘Genealogy in Australia’
• ‘Genealogy My Ancestors Came to Australia’

Ancestry website users
For users of the Ancestry website (All regions are welcome) and the Ancestry mobile app, to share questions and find answers in the mechanics of using the website and the mobile app. The group concentrates on the genealogy aspect of using the Ancestry Website, finding the documents to support your tree.  If you need help on how to search for your long passed family, then this is your group. There are two sets of Units required before you first post. You will have to agree to those in the questions asked you request to join this group. there are short tutorials on the workings of this group and and even quicker set on ways to better navigate facebook. There are, also, several other non-mandatory units on ways to use ancestry.
.Private group  · 16K members     2 posts a day

Trove - "Help! Find My Ancestors"
This group has been designed to assist members who need some extra help with Trove. Locating that elusive family notice or article can sometimes be frustrating. Trove is a wonderful tool to use to find information about the daily lives of our ancestors. Birth, Death, Funeral and Marriage notices are just one treasure trove of information that can be sourced from the Trove website. I started this group as a support group for new family history researchers to check in and ask questions on where to look for more information about their ancestors. However, I have quickly discovered that many researchers have difficulties using Trove. There is also a section on tips and tricks on how to find these articles yourself. Also for experienced researchers to provide their expertise to new researchers, so regardless of your knowledge and experience this group is for you. Happy Hunting!  
Private group  · 3.8K members  10 posts a week

Genealogy in Australia 
To join Genelogy in Australia you are required to answer only two admin questions. We are all willing and friendly volunteers with varying degrees of experience in genealogy and family history. We all share a passion for our ancestors and their stories. If you require assistance with your research, please ask, we are more than happy to help you dig for answers. Please note that we do not search for living people in this group. By joining you agree to read the Welcome Message pinned in Announcements and the Group Rules. Grahame, Lynn, Michelle and Kylie July 14th 2021
Private group  · 12K members 7 posts a day

Genealogy My Ancestors Came to Australia
​A Geneology group to help your fellow researchers find records and help chip away at those brick-walls. Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members are warned that our group may at times contain images of deceased persons.
Private group  · 21K members  10 posts a day

There are many, many FB groups on particular interest areas eg. Irish Family History, DNA, and more.... here are two more Trove related and general ancestry .... 

​Trove User Group
This group is for users of Trove. It is for sharing ideas and asking questions on how to get the best out of your searches on Trove. This is not a genealogy site for getting help on finding relatives, but for how to search for them on Trove. Please take the time to read our search tips in the 'files' section, you could find the answer to your question there. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/troveusergroup/files   
Private group  · 6.6K members   6 posts a week
​
Ancestry Helpers 
This page was created for those that are looking for help in their family research. To help members interested in learning how to do the family research. We are here to help you with your family research. Most of us have been doing family research for quite a while and enjoy helping others. We will help you learn how to do the family research correctly and will give you ideas/suggestions or techniques on how to further your research with the tools that are available. Please join this group if you are needing help in your family research or are willing to help others in their family research.
Private group  · 27K members  10 posts a day

Thanks to Andi Stevenson and Wende Sturgess for pointing us in the direction of geneology related Facebook Groups.  What a fertile ground for family history research! 

Back together again after Zoom sessions in July and August! 

In 'pains and gains', Andi described finding that her grandfather had lost his appeal against 'a maintenance order' - leaving her wondering exactly what that was about!  Barry found an uncle who had abandoned his family; continued his research on Hansard re land titles in the Shire of Swan Hill; and in an ongoing search, found Lewis Ignatious O'Connor listed as a butcher.  Robyn was delighted at finding photographs of the Antique Mart her grandfather owned in Hamilton and accessing other photographs of the building following contact with the Hamilton Historical Society; also at finding in the electoral rolls that he was a wheelwright. 

David shared a solution to an ongoing problem with Ancestry.com freezing – a change from Firefox to Google Chrome.  He continues to be perplexed about a photo taken in Glasgow which he thought was of his grandfather's sister but decided it couldn't be as it was taken between 1880 and 1884. On comparing it with a photo of his grandfather's sister taken when she was older, he noticed the two women had similar features. 

Marg described enjoying phone contacts with relatives as she writes stories to share in class.  Bev reported back on writing a 'vale' for her 103 yr old aunt and godmother, who had been a milliner in Flinders Lane during the early 1930's.  Bev had been able to draw upon an interview with her aunt during a visit to see her in Sydney in 2010, when her aunt was 94 and still living in her home. We talked about the importance of talking to our older family members if we have the opportunity.    

We were waiting with bated breath to hear from Margaret, as we'd heard there had been important developments in her search to find her mother.  Margaret's mother left Margaret and her brother and sister with their grandparents while her husband was at war in 1941-2.   We sat spellbound listening as Margaret described her disappointment after receiving DNA results a couple of months ago, then her joy at being contacted by a half sister who had completed a DNA test after Margaret had received her results.  A joyous, serendipitous result!  We all decided that Margaret's story surpassed the case studies in the handout - 'Unlocking Family Secrets - the emotional impact of geneological research in trove' - Ashley Barnwell, University of Melbourne, Trove.

​Family Stories this month related to ‘Memories Treasure Chests’ - boxes, shelves, drawers, old suitcases etc - containing objects and artefacts relating to our family history.  Stories were captured of forebears by drawing upon photographs; an autograph book; recipe books; a willow pattern saucer; a telegram; newspaper reports; a kimono; military items including a dog tag and British War Medals; a stainless steel bracelet; a triple strand of simulated pearls; membership badges, a gold pen, watches and more.

​Next month's topic - ‘A black hole…’   Write about a ‘black hole’ you are still perplexed about in your research.  Who does it involve?  What do you know about them?  Where is the gap in your research?  What do you think may have happened ie. What are your ‘hypotheses’/What is your hunch?  Why do you think you are still finding it hard to make a breakthrough?  Where to next?

Bev Lee and Marg McCrohan

A post script to our (already lengthy) report in the October edition of the Newsletter -

An apology in late September, Wendy suggested that we put together a list of questions on DNA and Family Research to ask Jim Burnell, who is happy to come back to talk to us again.  Wendy has begun to develop a list from questions appearing on the Facebook group page she belongs to.  The class wholeheartedly agreed to Wendy's suggestion.

​During the session, Bev briefly introduced 'Cluster Research', which stresses the importance of thinking laterally when we come across family secrets, brick walls and dead ends - for example, looking into siblings lives for hints, census pages in the neighbourhood surrounding the person being sought, and more.  Here's a video if you would like to look into this further - 

The topic for the month was to discuss a family secret.  These stories are compiled on the family research site under the Family Stories link on our page and are well worth the read.

During the session the dilemma and ethics of sharing information on public forums was discussed.  Some of the stories potentially had sensitivities and implications for other possible (unknown) readers.  Decisions needed to be made by some class members about what to include in, and indeed whether to include, stories for the website. References on ethical dilemmas were previewed which provide some guidance -  Genealogy 101: Ethics for the Genealogist (blog post) and National Geneological Society – Guidelines for Sharing with Others.

Our new attendee Helen then outlined how direct family links to Benalla discovered during recent family research have made her feel that her move to Strathbogie many years ago and subsequent move to Benalla were preordained.

Next month’s topic is: ‘Memories Treasure Chest’ - Create or draw upon a ‘Memories Treasure Chest’ (box, shelf, drawer, old suitcase etc) containing objects and artefacts relating to your family history.  Capture the story of two ancestors using items such as maps, menus, theatre programs, an old report card, vials of perfume, a garment, treasured photographs, a souvenir, an expired passport or other object/s. Tell the story of each ancestor and item(s) chosen for them in no more than 250 words per ancestor.

Wendy Sturgess and Bev Lee