The Tree of Me

I haven't blogged much this year as I seem to be spending all my out of work hours finishing more work. However, I managed to spend some time searching Trove over Easter and found this gem from The Glen Innes Examiner on Thursday 8th February 1923. The Glen Innes Examiner  Thursday 8th February 1923, p. 4 The Early Days First Child on Clarevaulx Drew First Wheat Mr Spatch's Recollections With a surprisingly clear memory and a particularly active body for his seventy years of life, Mr William Spatch sen - father of Mr W. Spatch of Bald Nob - is a very interesting human link with the early days of this district. Mr Spatch was born on Clarevaulx Station, Captain Philip Ditman, stood as his godfather - a distinction he might well have prized, since the baby Spatch was the first white child born on the station. The parents were employed on the property, and so were themselves amongst the very earliest pioneers of t...

Yesterday I spoke about Trove at the Coffs Harbour District Family History Society's monthly workshop.  This was my second presentation to this group. My topic last year was on Google. My main aim for this presentation was to show why is it important to register with Trove, why tagging is brilliant and the benefits for whole community if we correct the OCR text. Before I started I needed to gauge what the audience knew about Trove so I asked the following questions? Who hasn't heard of Trove? Who has heard of Trove but never been to the website? Who has registered with Trove? What has made corrections to text? Who has added tags to articles? Who hasn't printed and saved? Who has used Trove but have not found anything useful or interesting?  There were a couple who hadn't heard of Trove. Less than one half of the 40 people in the room had registered with Trove, fewer had made corrections and added tags. Others were not aware that you could save and ...

Years ago I asked my father how his grandfather Knox Moore had lost a finger. Of course, he was astounded that I knew his grandfather was missing a digit and asked how I knew. The photos below show exactly how I made the discovery. It's there in his wedding photo in 1907 but by 1913 he was missing part of the first finger on his left hand. Knox Moore and his wife Mary (Polly) McColm - 1907 Knox and Mary Moore with their children Matthew, Rosetta, Knox (baby) and James (in front) - 1913 My father then said that Knox had lost his finger on a circular saw. Many years later someone asked him how he had done it and as he told them how it happened he did it again. Part of another finger was gone. For years I thought no more of the story. A couple of months ago I was randomly searching the digitised newspapers on Trove . Here was the story verifying that Knox Moore had had 2 accidents involving a circular saw. The Brisbane Courier (Qld.: 1864 - 1993), Friday 18 November 1...