The Tree of Me

In 2012 I blogged about the family home of the Baumgarten family at Moolan Downs in Queensland.   The Baumgartens moved to Moolan Downs 1908 following the sale of their Victorian property Pleasant Bank Estate near Barnawatha. Yesterday a comment on the post gave me a link to the sale of Pleasant Bank Estate. Albury Banner and Wodonga Express 14 February 1908, p.  6. What a wonderful find which gives specific details of the property and its stock.  I've previously blogged about the Bumgartens here .

I'm doing well.  I'm still here for week 5  of   Shauna Hicks  challenge for 2014.  Shauna said that t his blog challenge is to stimulate my own genealogy blogging efforts in 2014 by focusing on a different kind of genealogical record each week. I wanted a challenge that reflected my 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. Where does one start with this topic? There are so many family stories I could share starting with those my nanna told me when I was a very young girl. Space was at a premium so I slept in her double bed with her and she kept me up most of the night telling me stories and laughing. How I wish they had been recorded because I'm sure I have forgotten more than I can remember! However, the story I wish to share is one that came f...

As a genealogist it is important to place your family in a location and a time period. Families, place and time are crucial to make your family history live. Through research I have discovered that in the past members of our family were in significant places at significant times or were part of significant events. Without research, I would not have known the following: Gustav Baumgarten (gg uncle) is mentioned in Ned Kelly's J erilderie Letter . William Lee Dawson (gg grandfather) was a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in London. Willi Scheef (very distant relative) was killed on the Hindenberg. Family just out of Dublin could hear the gun shots during the 1916 Easter Rising but didn't know what was happening. The list goes on. But what about the families that didn't seem to leave any information other than what can be gleaned from births, deaths and marriages? What was happening in the town or area in the time period they lived there? Check for images on Pic...

Last night I was fortunate to come across a blog Carol's Headstone Photographs . Carol has taken photographs of many Victorian cemeteries and several from New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. Simply browse her site, hosted by RootsWeb , send her an email requesting specific photos and Carol will email them to you. I browsed the list and saw Barnawatha. My mother's great aunt had lived at Barnawatha and sure enough there were several Baumgartens buried there. The branch of the family that I am interested in had left Barnawatha and moved to Moolan Downs in western Queensland in 1908. However, one of their children had died at Barnawatha. Lindsay Gustav Dawson Baumgarten, the fourth son of Gustav and Catherine Baumgarten died on 12th August 1885, aged 11 weeks. Thank you Carol for your fantastic service to the genealogy community.