Posts

Family History Month - Week 1

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  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. ...
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Barley Sugar

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  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 ...
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52 Ancestors in 52 weeks - Week 3 - Favourite Photo

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      The theme for Week 3 is "Favorite Photo." Amy Johnson Crow has devised these prompts and you can participate too by signing up here. Tell the story of a favorite photo: Who is in it, when and where it was taken, and why it was taken. (That last part is often left out!)   Barbara Conner hanging up washing in Edinburgh     This is a photo of my mother hanging up the washing when we were living in Edinburgh in the 60s. I think my father took it to record what ordinary life was like at the time and to send back to the folks at home in Australia.  I'm sure my mother was not pleased but I am so grateful because you can see so much in this photo.  They had a kettle, something like a Sunbeam electric frypan.  I think I can spot a toaster and a radio up on the top shelf.  You can see that the glass came in milk bottles in those days and that the twin tub washing machine was in the kitchen.  There are canisters for things like tea and c...
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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Origins

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Image by Ekaterine Kantaria from Pixabay The theme for Week 2 is "Origins." Genealogists often get the question, "Where is your family from?" With this week's theme, you could explore an immigrant ancestor, but you could also think about the origin of other aspects of your family. Who was the first person in your family to settle in a particular town? If you have a long line of people with the same occupation, talent, etc, who was the first person you know who did it? If you want to join the challenge, sign up here. Here is my latest ethnicity estimate from Ancestry which, if you have taken a test with Ancesry, you can find under the DNA tab, sub-heading Origins. This has changed over time and there are reasons for that but I don't claim to be a DNA expert so you will have to look elsewhere for an answer.  Suffice it to say that my Irish percentage has increased significantly.  And in my youth I did have a lot of people tell me that I looked very Iri...
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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Family Lore

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Image by hurk from Pixabay Amy Johnson Crow challenges us to write about our Family History again in 2024 using her 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge.  The theme for Week 1 is "Family Lore." Many of us have heard stories from our grandparents about incredible feats our ancestors did or a famous person we're related to. What's a tale that has been passed down in your family? Did it end up being true or did it turn out to just be a good story? You can join the challenge too her e. The most famous/shocking story handed down in our family was that my father's great-grandfather was meant to have shot himself.  Lo and behold it wasn't the entire truth (he lived to tell the tale) but there was certainly a large kernel of truth in the story handed down by my grandmother.  You can read the story of Edward Conner's life here . Of course there's always more to be done isn't there?  I ordered his death certificate years ago but it was lost in transit so...
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Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2023

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  Every year, fabulous blogger and family historian Jill Ball on Geniaus issues a challenge to fellow bloggers to record the positive things that happened at the end of the year.  No matter how big or small the achievements, the emphasis is on the positive.     Here are my responses for 2023's questions:        1.  On revisiting some old research I found ... Hmmm….to be honest I had no time to revisit old research this year AT ALL.   Very disappointing.        2.  In 2023 I hooked up with a new (to me) living cousin ...   Thanks to my blog and also to testing my DNA with Ancestry (but mostly my blog), a new to me cousin contacted me in November.  I was so busy at first that I didn’t reply... so she contacted me a different way i.e. through my Ancestry account.  Bless her for persisting.     Our great-grandmothers were sisters.  I think that makes us 2nd cousins o...
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