The Tree of Me

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. ...

It's been a while since I have written a blog post. Work has been hectic. However, I expect to be busy very soon checking out The Catholic Press on Trove. I have many alerts to newly digitised articles coming in the next month All of these are about some of my Catholic families in NSW. These families live in Armidale, Uralla, Cooma and Cootamundra. If you have CAtholic families why not take a look now.

I love it when Trove allows you to find events that would not be easily discovered without a random search. This post concerns my great grandfather, Philip Richard Merchant of Tenterfield. His story made both the Brisbane and Sydney papers. Sydney Morning Herald, 12 March 1931, p. 10 DRAGGED BY A HORSE TENTERFIELD, Wednesday Late yesterday afternoon Philip Merchant, a married man with 11 children, a resident  of the Tenterfield district, suffered severe in- juries when he was dragged several hundred yards by a horse. He was riding on a cart- load of wood, and, when he attempted to jump off, his foot became caught in the reins, tearing the winkers off the horse and causing it to bolt. Merchant was dashed against three telegraph poles. His condition is critical. Philip survived this accident. He died 20 years later in Tenterfield aged 68.

For this week's Trove Tuesday post I was lucky enough to find mention of a family member in The Australian Women's Weekly. The Australian Women's Weekly, 19 December 1956, p. 46 Royal Melbourne Championship Show 1956 McWilliam's Awarded T.C. Seabrook Trophy for  Most Successful Exhibitor In all still table wine classes Thomas Claudius Seabrook was a wine merchant and judge. You can read his biography in The Australian Dictionary of Biography here . An advertisement taken out by McWilliams in The Argus of 5th November 1956 states that this was the first year this award was presented.

My inspiration for today's post came from my Facebook feed via Gould Genealogy . This post alerted me to the UK National Archive Flickr launch of an Australian collection of images titled Australasia Through a Lens . My first thought was of course to wonder if there were any images I could assist to identify. This is not as silly as it seems as my great, great, great grandfather Henry William Seabrook and his sons were responsible for building many prominent buildings in Hobart. Sure enough in the Tasmanian folder I found a copy of a photo of the Royal Society's Museum on the corner of Argyle and Macquarie Streets, Hobart. Henry William Seabrook and his son, Henry William Jnr, built the Royal Society Museum on the corner of Argyle and Macquarie Streets, Hobart between 1861 and 1862 at a cost of £3772. A prominent architect of the time, Henry Hunter was responsible for the design of the building. The Royal Society's Museum, Hobart Our family is very fortun...

Once again, Trove has provided me with useful family details and another search to clarify information found in these Death and In Memoriam notices. The Argus, Monday 5th February, 1894, p. 1 SEABROOK - On the 3rd inst., at Tough-street, Hawthorn,  Charles Stephen, second son of W.J. Seabrook, aged 19 years. The following year two In Memoriam notices were published. The Argus, Monday 4th February, 1895, p. 1 IN MEMORIAM SEABROOK - In loving remembrance of Charles Stephen, second eldest son of William John and Mary Seabrook, who died at Ravenswood, Tough- street, Hawthorn, on 3rd February, 1894 SEABROOK - In loving memory of my dearly-beloved brother, Charles Stephen Seabrook, who died on February 3rd, 1894. Charlie's gone from his home below' sad it was to hear the blow; But now he's in the realms above, Trusting in our Savour's love. (Harry Seabrook) My first thought was to look up where Tough Street was in H...

It's back to work for me tomorrow after the summer break but hopefully I will still be able to allocate time to my passion. I will just have to be more disciplined. Over the last few days I've been reading Will Richardson's Why School? How Education must change when Learning and Information are Everywhere. In it he shared several unlearning/relearning ideas for educators. As I read them I could see the point he was making not only for educators but for the genealogy world as well. Share everything (or at least something)  To those who share best genealogical practices and thinking. Thank you. You are sharing some of your knowledge with those who are seeking it. Often I have found tips quite useful and file that new knowledge away for a time when it is needed. Other times I can relate to the post. Sometimes I just love to read the stories you have written. I hope I too have shared information that has been of use to others. There are so many ways we can share ou...