The Tree of Me

This geneameme comes from Cassmob  who has issued a 2014 Australia Day Challenge.   The geneameme comes in two parts: one to test whether your family is ridgey-didge and the second to show us how Australia runs in your veins, without any flag-waving and tattoo-wearing. Shout it out, be proud and make everyone wish they lived in this wide brown land of ours. My first ancestor to arrive in Australia was :  Patrick Flynn who arrived on the Southworth in 1821. A few more years until our family can celebrate its bicentenary.  I have Australian Royalty (tell us who, how many and which Fleet they arrived with) :  Unfortunately no one arrived early enough to be on one of the numbered fleets. However, Patrick Flynn (see above), James Agnew (see below) and Thomas Mylan 1824 Prince Regent all arrived courtesy of the British government. I’m an Aussie mongrel, my ancestors came to Oz from :  England, Ireland and Scotland Did any of your ancestors...

Helen Smith at Helen V Smith's Keyboard has set this year's Australia Day Challenge. Australia Day, 26th January is a day we celebrate what makes us Australian. Regardless of whether your ancestor came 40 000 years ago or yesterday and regardless of where they were from, together their descendants are Australian. Your challenge (should you choose to accept it) is to tell the story of your first Australian ancestor. To make it fair to both the male and female sides of your heritage why not make it two stories. One each on the earliest ancestor on each side? Patrick Flynn (1791-1862) Patrick Flynn was my first ancestor to arrive in Australia. He was born c1791 in County Limerick, Ireland. In 1811 he married Hanora Connor and they had three children Ann, Mary and Thomas. Patrick was convicted in County Wexford, Ireland for being a whiteboy in March 1821 and was transported to Australia for life.  He sailed from Ireland on 18th November 1821 aboard the s...

Last year Shelly from Twigs of Yore challenged geneabloggers to blog about the oldest documentation we had about an Australian ancestor. This challenge actually prompted me to begin my blogging journey. My initial Australia Day challenge was about Dr William Lee Dawson . This year's challenge is described below. Australia Day 2012: Wealth for Toil To participate, choose someone who lived in Australia (preferably one of your ancestors) and tell us how they toiled. Your post should include: What was their occupation?  What information do you have about the individual’s work, or about the occupation in general? The story of the person, focussing on their occupation; or The story of the occupation, using the person as an example.  Dr William Lee Dawson I am again going to use my great great grandfather, Dr William Lee Dawson (1819-1871) as my chosen ancestor. William Lee Dawson began his medical studies on 1st November 1845 at the Apothecaries' Hall and St Vincent's...

I have been meaning to start a genealogy blog for some time. I agonized over what to call it and have already changed the title twice today. Over the summer I have revived my genealogy twitter account (@shazbrennan) and begun to follow several blogs via Feedly . Shelly from Twigs of Yore set an Australia Day challenge for genealogy bloggers, so I thought it’s now or never. The Challenge Find the earliest piece of documentation you have about an ancestor in Australia. If you don't have an Australian ancestor, then choose the earliest piece of documentation you have for a relative in Australia. What is the document?  The document I have chosen to discuss is one that is actually in my possession. It is a single sheet of paper giving details of the births of my great great grandfather Dr William Lee Dawson on 16th September 1819, his brother Richard and sister Catherine. Although not an Australian document, it does document an Australian ancestor. William Lee Dawson Born...