Accentuate the Positive 2024
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 wish to take part and don't have a blog, email Jill your responses and she will post them here on the GeniAus blog.
Remember to Accentuate the Positive - please delete the statements that are not relevant to your situation.
And so here is my take on the meme....
I feel I must start this account by explaining that this year was quite busy for me. I can hear those who know me well say, “So what’s different?”.
Caspar's old flat in East Brisbane
My son moved to Melbourne in January. That meant helping clean his flat in Brisbane for the next tenant to move in (in stinking hot January) and having him stay with us for a short time before he flew off. Our house turned into something that resembled a 2nd-hand furniture store (Caspar ran a business at the time restoring old furniture),. Plans to celebrate my husband’s significant birthday were put off for two excellent reasons – the place was a mess and my husband hates birthdays.
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| Penny and Baxter tough it out with MumDaw and GrumbleDaw |
My daughter, not to be outdone, also moved house in January. There was a time when we were babysitting her dogs AND our grandson Frankie until fences were put up. I tell ya- stressful is an understatement.
I was also on the committee of QFHS for the first six months of the year as Vice-President and for a short while as Treasurer. I was also involved in delivering training to our Library Assistants, hosting our Book Club, buying items for the print library, responding to security callouts, booking Zoom meetings, putting events up on the Eventbrite calendar and helping organize events such as the Ulster Historical Foundation Tour, the 40th Anniversary of the Central European Group, the Author Talk held for National Family History Month, the Family Tree Maker Seminar, as well as helping teach the Finding Your Family course for beginners at QFHS and coordinating a collection policy review. So, while family history seemed to be happening every day on a personal level and at a society level, not much was happening in terms of research!
1. Google provided an answer to lots of my questions no doubt. In an ideal world I would have a research log that would record these kind of searches but I don't. Just rest assured that I use Google frequently for all manner of topics.
2. I was the recipient of genearosity from dear fellow blogger Carmel Galvin. I posted a request on the Australian Local & Family History Bloggers Facebook page asking for suggestions for publishing programs for those wanting to publish a memory book or a family history coffee table book. Carmel generously shared her family history with me for a few days so I could get an idea of what she had achieved with Canva. It was brilliant.
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| Picture credit Travis M Sellers |
3. This headstone gave me some extra information about my father's aunt and uncle and a son I did not realise they had. Jack died at the age of 9 months in 1919 in Melbourne before they moved to Sydney. I am deeply grateful to Travis M. Sellers for providing this photo and a map of Brighton Cemetery as well as an image of the extract from the burial register. A truly wonderful service for making a donation. Travis has been researching the Brighton Cemetery since 1992. You can follow Travis on Twitter @BGCemetery or look at the website here. Thank you Travis!
4. A useful record I discovered was - well let me tell you about my Case and Mussel families from Bishopstone. One of the things that we need to promote more is that QFHS is a Family Search affiliate library. So sometimes when you click on a record on Family Search, something pops up that says it can only be viewed at a Family Search Affiliate library. I tried out some research in connection with my Case family from Bishopstone and had a wonderful afternoon looking at records which helped inform how they came out to Australia so very long ago and how much their parish helped them to leave. One of the particular records I am referring to is the List of Emigrants to Australia Volume 345/23 1838 Project Number ENGL 0980A Roll Number 256 Item 10 . Hot tip! I found this record by looking for records related to Bishopstone on the catalogue rather than the usual search of my ancestor's surname. And guess what ? There are two Bishopstones in Wiltshire. Talk about tricky!!!
5. A newly found family member who shared - well I don't know if he's a family member but by joining the Wiltshire FHS this time last year I did receive contact from Barry Mursell who is a member of the One Name Studies Guild and is researching Mursell/Murcell/Mussel & Mussell names. This blog post has reminded me that I must get back to him and say that I'd like to find out more.Done. Tick.
6. A geneasurprise I received was...see Pt 14 below!
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| Barbara Conner nee McLoughlin hanging out the washing in Edinburgh |
7. My 2024 post that I was particularly proud of was - well I only managed 5 this year. I guess the one I liked the best was the one about my favourite photo. I like it because I like photos of ordinary household activities and its one that my Dad took of my Mum hanging up the washing - inside the house. How weird we Aussies think hanging washing inside a house would be but in cold old Edinburgh, clothes lines high up in the ceiling are a boon in wet/cold weather. The post also reminds me that my mother's letters are pure gold when it comes to getting a sense of the time. I am so grateful she left them to me.
8. DNA helped me to - ummmm - I'm not very good at pursuing DNA leads although I have made some contact with various cousins through DNA links.
9. I was pleased I upgraded Family Historian. I'm sure it works better when its upgraded. I only wish I could spend more time loading data onto it and playing with it.
10. Although Face to Face events have returned Zoom has really transformed how we interact with our membership at QFHS. And also how the Management Committee meets. No longer do we have to drive home in the dark late at night. And if you are indisposed, you can always catch up on your viewing later or tune in from your sick bed. QFHS volunteers have a wealth of talent and we have been greatly aided by our website being constantly updated with useful links (behind a sign in) for volunteers and members to access something like an intranet (the Members Portal) with recordings of information sessions and forms that they might need e.g. building maintenance requests, award nomination forms, software issue reports etc.
11. I dipped my toes into Substack and Bluesky.
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| Ulster Historical Foundation talks at Kedron Wavell Services Club |
12. I connected with lots of lovely people from overseas and close to home....Fintan Mullan and Gillian Hunt from the Ulster Historical Foundation when they came to deliver a series of wonderful talks to the Society in February. And our author talk in August featuring three authors - Catherine Smith, Karen Rosser and Sylvia Bannah was really special. I really value my Society of Australian Genealogists membership too and all the special interest groups they offer as well.
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| L to R Karen Rosser, Sylvia Bannah seated and Catherine Smith talking to eager customers re their books |
13. By dipping my toes into AI I was able to create my own images for my blog - see this post for examples. I have also written social media posts and book reviews and position descriptions for volunteer roles using AI. I tried out MyHeritage's AI biography™ and LiveMemory™ tools. People seem to either love or hate the LiveMemory™ results. You can see a photo of me come to life from when I was about 10 or 11 years old that I posted here on BlueSky.
14. I was honoured to receive the QFHS Award for Services to Family History at the Volunteers Morning Tea recently. You can see the photo here on our website. Running the Society really is a team effort and the past two years a baptism of fire where we formed friendships for life I'm sure.
15. I found the Research Skills Studio Workshop with Dr Sophie Kay very interesting.
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| Parliamentary Library Victoria |
16. A great repository/archive/library I visited was the Parliamentary Library of Victoria. We were only allowed in there for a couple of minutes but you can imagine how excited I was to walk in my ancestor's footsteps as per this blog post here. I can thoroughly recommend a tour of Parliament House in Victoria. The tour guide was excellent. It was an architectural tour and my companion and I loved it.
17. I got the most value from this book - oh well, you know me and books! Where do I begin? I received or bought so many great books this year. Unfortunately not all of them have been read yet. The ones that pertain to family history are: Normal Women- 900 years of making history by Philippa Gregory, The World - a family history of humanity by Simon Sebag Montefiore, Three times my grandmother called me a liar - a memoir by Max Bannah, Lotte by Martin Raymond, How to get the most from family pictures by Jayne Shrimpton, the Victorian School Room and the Victorian Workhouse by Trevor May. The only one of these that I managed to read was Max Bannah's book which he kindly gave me at the author talk we had in National Family History Month. I love reading memoirs and this one was a cracker. It made me gasp at one point (always a good sign), laugh and cry. Well done Max!
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| L to R Ann Swain, Graeme Drew (at back), Tony Swain, Lyndal Cosgrove, Chris Schuetz, Cr Danita Parry, Clem Ditton, Alex Daw, Kevin Haley, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, Dette Glenday and Carolyn Grimward |
18. It was exciting to finally meet the Lord Mayor of Brisbane and Cr Danita Parry. The Management Committee invited them to visit our facilities and see what we have to offer at the Queensland Family History Society. Both the Lord Mayor and Cr Parry were really engaged and very generous with their time.
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| QFHS members outside the Telecommunications Museum |
19. A geneadventure I enjoyed was - Ouf! - so many geneadventures. The Members Lounge at QFHS has a social outing usually once a month. Sometimes it can just be a coffee and a catch up in a cafe somewhere - boy do we talk our heads off! But we've had some great excursions this year. I think the one I enjoyed the most was to the Telecommunications Museum. Lord, did I feel like a relic. So many phone handsets I recognised, and telex machines and do you remember how we used to ring up to find out what time it was ...."at the third stroke, it will be 426 and 30 seconds precisely!- bip, bip, bip" On a personal note, Dad and I thoroughly enjoyed Brisbane's Motor Museum too - we saw a Jaguar exhibition in August but the exhibitions change all the time. Do check it out if you have time.
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20. Another positive I would like to mention is how helpful the Portsmouth City Council were when I approached them in January this year seeking confirmation that my G-G-Grandfather Edward Conner/Connor was buried at Kingston Cemetery. They gave me a plot number and a map of the Cemetery, should I go and visit one day. The advice was as follows:
The late Edward Conner is resting at Kingston Cemetery. Section (94) Aylwins, Row 8, Plot 45. His burial was 7/10/1903 at 76 years. He is resting with Rebecca Conner. The plot has been reclaimed as it was not purchased
so the headstone on the plot will read Rosetta 1954 and Alice 1970 Miller.
You can see the feet of the very helpful Stitch Witches on the Sunshine Coast who have been helping me with thread suggestions for embroidery and placement of sashiko. You can see in the middle there a photograph of one of my father's ancestors - James Cook - no NOT the James Cook - but ours was in the Navy too and I chose a nautical theme for the quilt because my father does love the sea and sailing. You can read James Cook's bio here.
Do you have a fireplace? How was your genea - year? Have you had much time to do research?
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