The Tree of Me

I am attempting to take part in Amy Johnson Crow's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" blogging challenge. I have begun a few long term blogging challenges over the years but have never managed to complete any of them. My record is 17 weeks. Perhaps this one may be more successful. The challenge for Week 1 is "Start." One of Amy's prompts was the home person in your family tree. The 1 ID in my Reunion data is my great, great, grandfather Dr William Lee Dawson. He was the subject of my first and several other blog posts. I'll link to earlier posts about William Lee Dawson but will also add an image that very few people have seen. I am very fortunate to have in my possession a photo album which belonged to his daughter,  Louisa Annie Spinks (Dawson). It was given to me by her grandson Charles Roussac. Over the years many family members have visited his grave in Franklin, Tasmania, Australia. Each time I go to Tasmania I make sure I take a trip to Frank...

The Mercury , Tuesday 10 January 1871, p. 3 My great great grandmother Emma Dawson must have spent some time with Mesdames Walpole and Innes organising this bazaar. As a teacher librarian I'm pleased to see that she was part of the committee raising funds for the Mechanics's Institute Library in Franklin, Tasmania. Little did she know that five and a half months later she would be widowed at the age of 36 and would soon leave Franklin to live closer to her siblings in Melbourne.

An article titled The Man Who Hanged his Wife was not a story where I expected to find some information about an ancestor. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find a mention of Dr William Lee Dawson. Last week as a whole barge full of mourners at the late Dr Dawson's funeral were returning from Franklin to Iron Stone Creek, on their way homewards, the attention of one of the many Hobart Town visitors was called by a Huon passenger to a figure sitting with head bent, and thoughtfully, as it smoked a black pipe in the bows of the boat. "That's the man who hanged his wife". Dr Dawson's wife's family lived in Hobart Town so I wonder now which ones came to his funeral. A whole barge full of mourners - I wonder how many that was? You might like to read the rest of the story. It's not what it seems! The Mercury, Wednesday 5th July 1871, p. 2

It always pays to try different search terms. I usually search for articles about my great great grandfather with his name "William Lee Dawson". This time, however, I tried just Dawson and Franklin. I was fortunate and discovered this article about the first amateur dramatic performance of the Franklin Reading Club held on Tuesday, 29th August 1871. This performance and subscription ball was held in aid of the widow of the late Dr. Dawson. The evening raised about £10 for Emma Dawson (Seabrook). Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Wednesday 6 September 1871, page 3

This week is week 8 of Shauna Hicks genealogical blogging challenge for 2014. Shauna has said that  this blog challenge is to stimulate my own genealogical blogging efforts in 2014 by focusing on a different kind of genealogical record each week. I wanted a challenge that reflected by own archival background as well as my own genealogy interests and there are probably lots of other records that I could have included. The challenge has an Australian focus but most of these records will be found just about anywhere in the genealogy world. I am hoping that this challenge will provide a focus for my blogging efforts this year. This post could have an alternate title - Why I'm thankful for this challenge. Just before starting this post I was holding one of my most valued possessions. It is compact, measures 11cm x 16cm x 2.5cm. The outside is a reddish, browny leather. There was once a clasp (possibly brass - naming metals is not one of my strengths) holding the ends together, ...

Today I discovered that I can check out the registered deaths in Tasmania in the 1800s on the Family Search website. My great great grandfather Dr William Lee Dawson was the medical officer in Franklin from 1854 until his death in 1871. More that twenty years ago, I had perused these records to discover what were the causes of death in Franklin and what types of cases Dr Dawson may have come across. Now that I can access them from home I have decided to take a more indepth look. So far it’s not looking good for newborns and babies under the age of one. However this is not the purpose of this post.  On 16th October 1858, five people were accidentally killed by the felling of a tree. Those who lost their lives were settler Peter McEwen 45, farmer James Watson 19, Annie Montgomery 12, John McEwen 6 and labourer William Wellgrave 50.  Family Search - Franklin Deaths 1858 I always wondered what happened to them. After rediscovering them today I decided to go to Trove. ...

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...

The three photographs below are of a house in Franklin , Tasmania that my great great grandfather, Dr William Lee Dawson had built in 1861. Home of Dr William Lee Dawson, Franklin, Tasmania Side view of the home According to his diary, William Lee Dawson, his wife Emma (Seabrook) and their two eldest children Catherine Ellen and William Henry moved into the house on Wednesday 20th March, 1861. Two further children, Lousia and Robert were born while the Dawsons lived here. They continued to live in this house until William's death in 1871. Shortly after his death, Emma rented the property to a Robert Walker and moved to Hobart Town and later to Melbourne. The house cost a total of £236 3s 6d to build. From the ledger in William Lee Dawson's diary we can ascertain that the house had a green baize door. The baize would have been attached to the door that separated the servant living quarters from that of the family. Baize had the effect of quietening the noise. ( Wikipe...