Preservation Follow Up and other tasks

 

 

Eye colour

Have you ever thought about the eye colour you've inherited?  Robert and I were discussing this the other day.  Where did we get our blue eyes from?  I think I got them from my Dad on the Conner side (English).  My mother had hazel eyes.  After meeting the McLoughlins (Irish) a few years ago, I realise I could have got my blue eyes from them too.  And a bit of research into military records shows the Forfars (Scottish) and Carretts (English) could be candidates too.  

Robert thinks he got his blue eyes from his paternal grandmother.  She was a HINDE (English) but her father was a DUNCAN (Scottish) so maybe it's from that side.  Robert's eyes are a pale blue which you can see in my daughter Isabel's eyes.  My eyes are a darker blue which my son inherited from me.

I remember both my maternal grandfather Tom and my paternal grandmother Ethel had brown eyes.  I didn't meet the other two grandparents and am not sure that anyone can remember. Whilst my maternal grandfather Tom was a McLoughlin with brown eyes, his brother Frank had blue eyes according to his military record.  My paternal grandmother Ethel's eyes were brown but her father had grey eyes.  I don't know what my maternal grandmother's eyes were like but according to her brother Ernest's military record, he had blue eyes. 

Well that's by the by but I just thought I'd report on it because it was the subject of discussion over dinner last night.

 

 

Preserving, Curating and creating an Inventory

I have been somewhat obsessed with trying to get organized in terms of preserving our family history after last week's #ANZAncestryTime discussion on Twitter on Tuesday night.  I spent a lot of time poring over blog to book sites, checking out pricing and possibilities.  I think it is something I should definitely do.  I just need to get the price down a bit (i.e. edit and selectively pick my posts).  I also want to supplement them with things like family tree diagrams or pedigree charts etc.  More on that as I make progress...so far I am looking at Into Real pages, pixxibook, Blog2Print and Blookup.  Any other suggestions would be most welcome.  I really like the look of the Pixxibook but with no editing, I would have to buy 6 volumes for the princely sum of $780.  Blog2Print and Into Real Pages comes in a bit cheaper at about $500.  But I really like the look of Pixxibook.  The photos are quite big and look great.  Lots to ponder on.  

I bought a new lever arch file for my certificates the other day at Officeworks and transferred those over.  

I have created a new Excel spreadsheet (rather than a hand-written one) to track which vital records I am missing for which individuals.

I watched Thomas MacEntee's presentation on MyHeritage Facebook page here and a couple of Cyndi Ingle's webinars on Legacy Family Tree Webinars to get motivated and some advice on filing structures, plans of action et al.  

I have created an inventory of sorts and you are most welcome to borrow and adapt it for your needs.  I have placed it here on Google Drive. It's quite scary to think about how much stuff you have and what you need to do with it.

I've tidied up some of the Pages on my blog and will start linking blog stories to individual's names to get some biographies happening - yay. 

Family History Research Trips

One of the tasks I really wanted to get onto last month - apart from scanning and digitising - was planning family history research trips.  Like many of us, I am itching to get away and see new sights; even if it's only in my home state.  Here are some proposed sojourns:

1.  Walloon/Toowoomba - this really is just an excuse to see the Carnival of Flowers as I've never been.  Robert has kind of ancestors out that way.  His great- grandmother Mary Anna GRIEVE's first marriage was to William George CATHCART.  He is buried at Ipswich Cemetery (not sure if we found him on our last excursion). No we didn't.  Another thing to add to the To Do List.  Mary Anna's children from her first marriage - Ida CLAUS (nee CATHCART) and William Carlton CATHCART are buried at Drayton & Toowoomba Cemetery.  Actually I've just realised they only died days apart from each other.  I wonder what happened.  Oops.  There goes two more certificates on to the To Do list.I also want to see the new library at Rosewood.  Maybe I could combine it with a visit to the RAAF Amberley Aviation Heritage Centre.  This could augment my knowledge of my uncle Ted CONNER's time here during WW11.  Ooh and Schoolhouse Quilters have just advised me that there is a Quilt exhibition in Toowoomba as well.  The Toowoomba Quilters Club Exhibition will be held at the Salo Centre, St Ursula’s College, in Rome St, Toowoomba. The 2021 Quilt Exhibition will be open daily, Friday 18th to Friday, 24th September (during Carnival of Flowers week) from 9am to 4.30pm Saturday – Thursday and 9am to 2.00pm on Friday.  Entry will cost $5.  As well as the display of our members’ quilts and smaller items, there will be merchant stalls, a craft sales table, demonstrations, and light refreshments (biscuits, tea, coffee, water) available.  The Salo Centre has wheelchair access and ample toilet facilities.  Bus tour groups are welcome; please register with Angela on 0418 715 070, so they can arrange to greet your bus group.
   
2.  Bustard Head - this has been on the wishlist for a long time.  It would be nice to trace some of the places that my great-great-aunts taught at when they came out to Australia from England.  Harriet CONNER taught at Bustard Head Lighthouse.  It would be good to see if I could find where Cometville and Blackall Range Schools were too. My quilting group goes to Barcaldine once a year and is talking about going there again next year and maybe Longreach too and I know my sister-in-law wants to look for the elusive Robert James DAW in Augathella.  Now that would be a really long road trip!
3. Ballina to Chatham in NSW - it's definitely out of bounds at the moment but I'd like to explore this area looking for my husband's ancestors - wait for it - the SMITHS!!! Yes, I know, lost cause and all that but I'd like to give it a go.  William Arnold SMITH was born at Warrell Creek and his father Patrick Daniel SMITH was born at Chatham.  William Arnold Smith married Frances Elizabeth - wait for it - SMITH in Ballina in 1882 but we can't find any record of it.  I'd like to visit some family history societies and cemeteries around there to see if we can find the family and the parish they came from. There's the Richmond Tweed Family History Society and the Ballina and District Historical Society too.  Between the two of them and the local library, which I understand is very good, we should be able to turn something up I hope. The Historical Society website is very good.  Just look at this Cemetery Page and the Stories page - great huh?
4. Orange, NSW - I've wanted to go here for a while to explore the McLOUGHLIN story a bit more.  My maternal grandfather Thomas McLOUGHLIN was born in Bathurst but his family must have lived in Orange for a while too.  His brother Frank was born in Orange and I think the boys went to school at Croagh Patrick Boys College.  Tom's father was born in Bowenfells.  It could be a Bathurst, Orange, Blue Mountains trip. The Orange FHG and the local library also look very promising. There happens to be a Bridge weekend in Orange in early December too.  Hmmmmm. 
   
5.  

Last but not least there is always Marvellous Melbourne.  I didn't get to visit the Parliamentary Library last time I was there to see what my ancestor Peter Sinclair's workplace was like and I would like to visit cemeteries and other repositories to do more research on the ELLIS family and the CONNERs when they first arrived in Australia.

Gawd!  How to give Robert heart failure !  But oh wouldn't it be loverly?

What have you been up to?