Family Tree Frog

Jill Bill from GeniAus once again invites us to reflect on our genealogical achievements for the year.   Here are the questions and I just know that my account of 2019 will not be a fabulous one but, if anything, it inspires me to greater heights in 2020: 1.  An elusive ancestor I found was  2.  A great newspaper article I found was about John Patrick or "Jack" McLoughlin, my mother's uncle,  in this blog post here. 3.  A geneajourney I took was to Melbourne.  I confess the trip to Melbourne was mostly about catching up with dear friends, going to a musical and doing a sewing workshop but I managed to convince a friend/chauffeur to detour while getting croissants one morning to have a look at an ancestor's house in Napier Street Fitzroy.  Who knows if it really was his house - numbers may have changed in the street - but I was just excited to be in the street where he used to live.  I wrote about Peter Sinclair ...

Libraries aren't just about books, librarians are fond of saying.  I remember being shocked when I first saw my children's school library and it was full of computers.  It wasn't even called a library - it was called a Resource Centre.  But it was run by a fantastic librarian with an unpronouncable name and boy did my kids learn about technology. By Grade 3 they were creating PowerPoint presentations.  I was amazed.  This was obviously well before I was a librarian.  I was a library lover but I didn't know much about what went into libraries or how access to information was managed.   By now you're probably beginning to appreciate that you won't be able to have everything you want in your own personal genealogy library (nor would you want to)....there just isn't enough room.  But it is possible to gain access to the vast resources of other libraries to complement your own collection. So I have highlighted the National Library of Austral...

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...

Cemetery Tour Redcliffe April 2015 I hope you are enjoying National Family History Month - there's certainly plenty on to pique your interest.  Don't forget to tick off Shauna Hicks 31 Activities for Researchers , will you?  Here is a just a taste of what's out there: Friday 14 August  10:00am - 11:30am  Fridays @ QFHS Brick Walls: solving tough research problems We all have them, these tough research problems that defy any solution. Come along to hear a presentation of some strategies to assist in solving 'brick walls'. The presentation will be followed by a one-on-one clinic (11.00 am-12.30 pm) with QFHS experts who will work with you to advise on ways that may help with these intractable problems. Once you have registered, we will provide further information on the one-on-one sessions. $11 members $15 non-members.  Book online. Saturday 15 August  9:30am -12:30pm  QFHS New Members Welcome and Orientation Are you ...

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...

Reading the paper in Edinburgh c. 1963 I haven't blogged for a while.  My apologies for the silence.  I've been busy graduating which seemed to involve lots of lovely dinners with good friends and family and being a tourist for a few days enjoying galleries and the like. Alex at Graduation ceremony in Great Hall Parliament House  Canberra March 2013 And so to today's meme courtesy of Sepia Saturday . We still read newspapers in our house.  We tend to be a bit old-fashioned.  The photo at the top is of my father reading a paper in Edinburgh when we lived there for a short while when he was studying for his PhD.   My husband enjoys nothing better than reading the paper on the weekend sitting in the sun in winter or the shade in summer. Robert reading the paper  He has to sit outside because, shock, horror he is a smoker and I am the world's worst reformed smoker.  He is sitting next to the guinea pigs, who don't hav...