Convicts and Excel Spreadsheets

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The Commissariat Store, Brisbane Saturday 25th September 2021

I took the photo above last weekend when I attended the RHSQ Book Fair to buy books for the QFHS Library.  I didn't buy too many but it was my first visit to The Commissariat and I would like to go back for another proper visit. You can see the new Casino being built in the background there.

How was your day? Did you get any family history research done?  My goals for the day were to keep on top of my social media commitments for QFHS, reduce the number of emails in my inbox and do some housework!  It was pretty hot today - I think it got to about 37 degrees Celsius.  I buckled and put the air-conditioning on at home.  Good sheet and towel drying weather though for wash day Monday :)  But it's hot for what is essentially the second month of Spring.  Doesn't bode well for Summer does it?

I also managed to squeeze in watching a SAG seminar I've had in my inbox for a while - 15 Ways to Use Excel in Family History.  Tomorrow night, I will co-host the #ANZAncestryTime Twitter chat about Convicts.  

And so I have decided to focus on what I learned from the Excel seminar and my Convicts for this blog post, in preparation for tomorrow night and to do a timeline for the Cathcart/Grieve families following on from the research I did yesterday, so that I can check assumptions and see holes etc.

The presenter of the Excel seminar was Danielle Lautrec and she made me feel at one and the same time very disorganised but empowered to do something about it by the end of the session ;) Wow!  I am super-impressed by all the things Danielle has thought of using Excel for with regard to family history.

From keeping your references in an Excel spreadsheet (brilliant idea) to using it as a planning tool for purchasing (e.g. certificates, books) according to your priorities, I am in awe of her analytical ability.  I've already augmented my spreadsheet for Acquisitions for QFHS by adding another worksheet to enter in Proposed Acquisitions.  And I am thinking smarter about our Social Media spreadsheet in terms of adding hotlinks to the events on Eventbrite or our website.

I use Excel in family history mostly for timelines so was pleased to obtain other suggestions.  Of course you could use it to illustrate aspects of your family history e.g. country of origin.  The most useful tip I got from the tips and tricks at the end of the session was hearing about Flash Fill.  I hadn't heard of that before.

Convicts

I thought I had more than two convicts but they are the only ones I can find just now, so here's my spreadsheet for them.  I can always add to it if I find there are more.

 

Okay - so that was an interesting exercise.  So in order to share that I exported it as a PDF then I clicked on Select, then a bit like using the Snip tool, I selected the area I wanted to copy, clicked on snapshot which works a bit like cut and paste.  I then pasted it onto this page and its treated like an image so I could make it bigger or smaller. 

Timeline

Okay here is the timeline for the Grieve and Cathcart families.



Not perfect.  There's probably a better way of doing it but it will do for the minute.  It's quite tricky doing so many people in a timeline but it's been worthwhile.  I've discovered that William and Ida and John Alfred shared a house in Murgon and then in Towooomba by looking at the electoral rolls.  I've yet to put Ida's children into the timeline.  I could add William's wife too.

You will see that I've also added a permanent page to record my research goals which I will add to as time goes by.  That really should be a spreadsheet too!

Hope you had a great day researching family history.  Do you use Excel for family history?

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