Family Tree Frog

I've been thrashing around trying to make sense of my Forfar line - as usual. With my impending trip to Tassie, I wanted to make sure of my facts and drew up a timeline.   So far, this is what I have.... On Tuesday 21 November 1899 a Wanted Ad appeared in the Mercury for " small furnished cottage for married couple, convenient to town.Full particulars and rental to W W Forfar 19 Albert Road, Albert Park, Melbourne" And then.... On Friday 8 December 1899 Mrs and Miss Forfar (I think this is meant to be Mr and Mrs Forfar) arrive in Hobart on SS Monowai .  Walter would have been 21. Kate would have been 27 years old and 7 months pregnant. Mercury 9 December 1899 courtesy of National Library of Australia Shipping List SS. Monowai In the brush with fame stakes, the SS Monowai also transported Phar Lap to the States I think judging from this photo... This was probably the view that greeted them when they arrived.... And ma...

I won a prize this week and I didn't even know about it until it turned up in the mail! A parcel arrived from Gould Genealogy & History .  "That's funny," I thought "I haven't ordered anything..."  I read the enclosed Tax Invoice and it said "Congratulations on being a winner of the Inside History Magazine promo" Inside History Magazine has a fabulous Facebook page which I liked ages ago and just about every day they give away prizes.  I had forgotten that in May I entered a competition to win a copy of Chris Paton 's British and Irish newspapers.   The challenge was to tell the best story you've found in an old newspaper.      I was the first to enter saying:  My grandmother always told a story about my 2nd great grandfather shooting himself and we were always a bit skeptical until I found this article. and shared a link to this post on my blog. So I've won a book.  And being a reasonably freshly hatched librar...

This post may not really be of much interest to anyone.  It's such a common story in family history but it bears repeating.  And this is more of a note to self than anything else but if you get something out of it too, all to the good. I'm a bit excited because next week Caspar and I are going on a holiday to Tasmania.  As a family historian going somewhere automatically becomes a question of "What research should I be doing while I'm there?"  I haven't been to Tassie for a long time - maybe a decade??  Last time I was there it was for work, so a very snatched visit with little time to do any prolonged resesarch.  This trip will probably be a bit the same.  I don't want to bore Cas too much. However.... The Forfar family have led me and my cousins a merry dance over the years and their first born child (I think) was born in Hobart - Queen Street East Sandy Bay to be precise.  So I'd like to go back there and have another go...