Accentuate the positive 2022

Thanks to Geniaus who reminded us of this annual blog post.

Jill invites us to take part in this activity by responding to the following statements in a blog post. Write as much or as little as you want and complete as many statements as you wish. 

So here goes!

I got the most joy from what I call Friday night - Genealogy night. I sit down on the lounge with my laptop and I wander wherever my research takes me!

The Covid situation gave me an opportunity to get value from a SAG membership. (I rejoined after a long haitus.)  I've enjoyed the Friday afternoon get togethers. It also gave me an opportunity to get some research together for a couple of presentations. I certainly hope they continue in 2022.

I didn't get to any face to face events in 2021. However Zoom conferences have been an added bonus.

My main focus this year was (still is) tossing multiple printouts of research and scanning, scanning and more scanning. Over the past couple of months, in particular, I have tried to scan for a few hours each week. I've rediscovered a lot of things that I hadn't entered into Reunion. 

I love my Epson FastFoto FF-680W Wireless High-Speed Photo and Document Scanning System and would certainly recommend purchasing one.

A new piece of technology or skill I mastered was Airtable. At the moment I'm using it to keep track of all the death and funeral notices that I've found on the Ryerson Index and are not available on Trove. It will be useful for when I'm next at a major library. 

A Facebook Group that helped me was German Genealogy Translations. Thanks to the amazing volunteers I have the translation of  a few pages of a letter written in May 1859 from Stenheim an der Mur (Gemany)  to the Rocky River Diggings at Uralla, New South Wales. 

I think I may need to find a professional translator to translate all the letters as this one certainly indicates that the contents are worth translating. 

My 2021 social media post that I was particularly proud of was or I should say will be the one still in my drafts. It will detail how I have worked out the author of a letter to my great, great grandfather using all the clues in the letter. It isn't even a relative! From this letter I've also discovered where he lived in Queensland before moving to Sydney. The location isn't mentioned in the letter either.  Don't you just live the hunt? Hopefully, I'll have it ready by the end of the year.

A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was Portlaw, County Waterford 1825-1876 Portrait of an Industrial Village and its Cotton Industry.

My great great grandfather John Charles Ryan came from Waterford. The time period of his life in Waterford is covered in this book by Tom Hunt. I'm very interested in the Malcolmsons who established a cotton spinning mill in the village in the 1820s. I have a letter written from Portlaw which I think may be written on Malcolmson stationery. (More research to do here.)

I was impressed by how I could find time to quickly check my DNA matches most mornings before going to work!

I found several newspaper articles on members of my McCaull and Milroy families in the United States. I've discovered priests, ministers, soldiers in the Confederate Army and John McCaull (1C4R) with Charles Ford bought from Gilbert and Sullivan the right to produce "The Pirates of Penzance" in America. (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Wednesday 14th November, 1894, p. 4)

I got the most value from my world wide Ancestry subscription. Although it is expensive it really does provide value for money. Every few weeks I discover more pertinent records. Having several branches of both my family and my husband's family emigrating to America makes it very useful.

I progressed my DNA research by attending the recent SAG four part series. Unfortunately I only joined for the last two and haven't had time to really put into practise what I've learnt. 

A DNA discovery I made was uncovering a match to my O'Halloran/Halloran family. We have a very old envelope with Halloran names on it and now I have a Halloran match to Goulburn, so lots to investigate here. Hoping to discover descendants of the third Halloran family member to emigrate to Australia. 

I finally found my 6G grandmother Jean Carruthers six feet under. Jean died on 4th April 1841 and is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Fowlerville, Livingston County, New York, USA. She emigrated to America either with or after her daughter Margaret and her husband William Forsyth. Her son John, who is my ancestor stayed in Scotland. His great granddaughter, Jane Smith Fleming and her husband Malcolm McColm, emigrated to Australia in 1878. A special thanks for a copy of Mary R Roots book, History of the Town of York, Livingston County, New York which gives details of her burial. 

Headstone of Jean Carruthers Milroy.
Photo Find a Grave

I splashed out and purchased a new Macbook Pro with 1 terabyte of storage. I'd been waiting for the new model and it does not disappoint. I purchased my first Apple computer in 1984 and have remained a loyal customer ever since. There is no other computer!

Another positive I would like to share is that my nephew had just taken a Y-DNA test for me. Hopefully some interesting finds for my Moore family in the next few months.