Posts

In the beginning...52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 1

Image
Amy Johnson Crow offers the following prompt for bloggers who are participating in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. This week’s theme is “In the Beginning.” (According to “The Sound of Music,” the beginning is a very good place to start.) Who was the first person you wanted to find when you started your genealogy journey? Was there a family member who sparked your interest, maybe by giving you a bunch of genealogy “stuff”? This would be a great week to write about them! Some people think family history is my life.  Perhaps they're not far off the mark. Although bridge, my grandson, reading, sewing and spending time with dear friends compete heavily for my attention too.  This week's prompt has made me think about who was there at the beginning of my family history journey? Three women were very supportive of my early efforts in family history research - my mother, my mother-in-law and her sister-in-law.   Barbara, Isabel, Alex and Caspar I became aware of family history in my t...

Accentuate the Positive 2024

Image
  Back in 2012 when Jill Ball aka Geniaus decided to publish   the first Accentuate the Positive Geneameme she said: "At this time of year many geneabloggers take stock of what they have achieved or not achieved in the previous twelve months and set themselves goals for the coming year. I have been reading several of these posts this week.   Jill feels that a lot of her geneablogging friends are too hard on themselves; several have reported on their successes this year but quite a number have lamented that they haven't achieved as much as they set out to do or that they haven't blogged with the frequency they envisaged. Jill says "You are a bunch of highly motivated people who have made great strides in the genealogy sphere. Let's share the good news." Jill invites you to take part in this activity by responding to the following statements/questions in an online  post. Write as much or as little as you want and complete as many statements as you wish. If you...

Family History Month - Week 1

Image
  Image created by Alex Daw using AI on NightCafe Lovely Jennifer Jones from Tracking Down the Family has shared the AFFHO suggested memes for family history bloggers during Family History Month. Week 1: Family history contributions/volunteer activities that you have participated in Week 2: Your Experiences, successes and lessons learned about cluster research or FAN club research - acknowledging that our friends, associates and neighbours are our community Week 3: How we, as family historians and genealogist could be a closer community. Has the internet or COVID or social media changed the way we engage with each other, and what else could we do? Week 4: Stories of amazing contributors to the family history community - don't forget AFFHO's Award for Meritorious Service to Family History 2025, will be announced at Australasian Conference 2025. Have you considered who should be nominated?    Image created by Alex Daw using AI on NightCafe So here's my contribution. ...

Barley Sugar

Image
  Photo by Alex Daw Barley Sugar It's been a while since I've blogged and boy do I miss it. Have you received an email from Ancestry lately suggesting you check out new traits?  DNA doesn't lie, so they say, but I beg to differ.   This will probably be an intensely boring post for those of you who don't really know me but I feel compelled to record my responses to the alleged traits for the amusement or interest of posterity and my family. 16 new traits have been identified for me.  There are 56 identified traits altogether. Let's tackle the new traits first: Competitiveness - likely to be competitive - influenced by my maternal side apparently.  Yes I agree but not with the side of the family.  If you'd asked me I would have said the paternal side.  My paternal grandmother was I believe intensely competitive - witness the articles I have written about her swimming prowess.  I'm struggling to recall any competitiveness displayed by my mother ...