Family Tree Frog

  Hello everyone and welcome to my first blog post for National Family History month in the land downunder. It is so lovely that so many fellow geneabloggers want to take part in this challenge.   I can't wait to see what we all come up with. Well, as some predicted, we in Brisvegas are now in a snap lockdown or slap knockdown as one very tired journalist reported the other day, much to our amusement.  Of course it's frustrating.  I was hoping to have a celebratory champers with my sister-in-law tomorrow to celebrate the end of Dry July.  But I am well aware that we have been pretty lucky in the Sunshine State so far.  I have been able to spend lots of time with my new grandson which I know is way more than many other grandparents have been able to do over the past 18 months or so, so I mustn't grumble.  We have plenty of food and I have plenty of family history to do and online bridge to play so I am quite chuffed to be able to get on with it. I know ...

Goodness me!  2020!  Who woulda thunk we'd be seeing the year 2020? Alan Burnett from Sepia Saturday has provided us with the prompt of the charming smile of an unknown lady. So here goes...a photo from my maternal grandfather's collection.  I welcome all comments from the McLoughlin clan as to who this photo is of...the name Lena springs to mind.  Probably one of my grandfather's sisters. Here is a photo of the photo wallet in its entirety.  The number on the top left looks suspciously like my mother's writing but it could be a photographic studio note.  Does it mean it was taken in 1921?  We will probably never know.   I can find evidence of the Rupert Kay Studio in the Sydney Morning Herald from Trove 21 January 1914. 1914 'Advertising', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 21 January, p. 12. , viewed 04 Jan 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15492509 I think dating the photograph at about 1921 is ...

N is for Newspapers (and Navy Records Society and Nancy Dawson) Regular readers of my blog will know how much my family history research has benefited from digitised newspapers on Trove and overseas newspapers accessed through my National Library of Australia card (free to Australian residents) using their e-resources such as the 19th Century British Newspapers - one of the British Library Newspapers collections - or The Times Digital Archive.   I have been able to trace ship movements and find fascinating stories about my naval ancestors' families.   I visited the National Library of Australia this week in Canberra.  It was a fleeting visit but, as always, the staff never failed to impress me with their professionalism and above all, care.   From the security guard who approached me diplomatically about my enormous handbag and giving me thoughtful instructions on how to best access the lockers downstairs, to the staff who handled our en...

We're a bit excited here at the thought of participating in Troveia tomorrow night. We're studying hard as you can see. We've registered our team - Moreton Monitors - and hope we win a prize or two. It's Trove's 5th Birthday and what is a birthday without some games? Some kids play Pass the Parcel or Pin the Tail on the Donkey. We're playing Hunt the Newspaper or Journal Article instead. What do you need to play?  Well you should probably be familiar with Trove. And you should probably have a Twitter account. For all the information on how to register and play go here. Some friends to help you would be good too - friends with good searching skills and persistence. The fun begins at 7pm AEDT in Australia.  We live in Queensland so that will be 6pm. Happy Birthday Trove!

  Image by asenat29 from Flickr under Creative Commons Licence Free online genealogy tools are like gifts from above. Which one are you most thankful for? How has it helped your family history experience? I do like a list.  I do.  I do. A couple of weeks ago, Genealogy in Time released a list of Top 100 Most Popular GenealogyWebsites. They were quite specific about what they would and would not class as a genealogy website. For example: NOT Library, museum and general archive websites.  University websites.  Wide-ranging government websites.  General knowledge websites (such as Wikipedia). Sniff. Well, my list is going to include a library website.  And I bet every red-blooded, Australian Genealogist knows which site I'm going to pick.  Yes.  Dear old Trove.   If you haven't heard from your genealogist friend recently, you can bet pounds to peanuts they're buried up to their neck in lubberly newspaper ...

This is my great-grandmother Kate Amelia Forfar (nee Ellis) 1872 - 1905 She and her husband - her second husband - Walter William Forfar have led me and my relations a bit of a merry dance over the years. Earlier this year I had a bit of a breakthrough using one of my favourite tools of late i.e. Trove . Well, it wasn't really a breakthrough - if anything, the discovery has just led to more questions. We're not quite sure when Walter and Kate got married, if at all. Let's go back a bit.  First of all, Kate married Alfred H Doe 4 April 1896 at the Congregational Church at Woollahra at the age of 24 according to the NSW BDM Index. I've just ordered the certificate.  Kerching. There is a marriage notice that you can see on Trove here . Kate and Alfred were granted a divorce in 1902, some six years later as per the notice in the Sydney Morning Herald here . What is interesting is that by that time Kate already had two children with Walter William Forfa...