The Tree of Me

My nanna would always tell me stories whenever we visited her place. It's a shame now I can't recall them all. However, I do vividly remember her telling me that her father Michael Ryan was a good runner and often ran in races in  Sydney. Her future father-in-law Harry Dawson was his coach. I've often searched on Trove without luck for some evidence to support this story. Earlier in the week I think I may have hit the jackpot. The difficulty was knowing exactly what to search for in Trove. I was browsing for something totally unrelated when I saw an article about a Carrington Handicap. I now had the possible name of a race. The following advertisement from 1888 indicates that professional footraces (or at least some of them) in Sydney were worth winning. Sydney Morning Herald, 14 January 1888, p. 2 A search for Carrington Handicap and Ryan in the period 1886-1895 (years selected as likely years he would be running) produced many results. Unfortunately the Sydn...

This story was originally printed in The Peninsula Observer (year unknown) . The author's permission is given to reprint here. Cambridge Street in the 1970s Whenever I walk down Cambridge Street, Rozelle, I recall being told about Great Granny Ryan. Great Granny Ryan loved a beautiful teaset which she had seen in a shop. She scrimped and saved until the day finally came, when she could buy that set. She carefully carried home her pride and joy but coming down the hill in Cambridge Street, she slipped and fell and her beautiful teaset rolled down the hill, ending in a broken heap at the bottom. I always felt so close to Great Granny when I looked down Cambridge Street. Great Granny Ryan was born Mary O'Halloran (Halloran). She had arrived in Brisbane in the early 1860s from Roscrea in Ireland. She had two sisters and a brother John. Mary married John Charles Ryan in St Stephen's, Brisbane on 1st June 1864. Her husband was born in Portlaw, County Waterford, Ireland...

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 received an email from Aoife O'Connor, a PhD student with Sheffield University based in Dublin. Aoife is hoping to contact genealogists and family historians with criminal ancestors to fill in a survey or take part in an interview to assist with her research. Aoife's message is printed below with her permission.  A Criminal Ancestor  Are you descended from convict ancestors transported far from home or did great, great, great uncle John end up in court for squabbling with the neighbours?  If your ancestor was a hardened criminal, a victim of a miscarriage of justice, a political prisoner, or in court for not paying their dog licence a new study is looking to hear from you. Criminals in the family have always fascinated family historians and it seems more of us are discovering more of them all of the time.  The digitisation of the records of the criminal justice system and newspapers are bringing to light a side of our an...

After a very meagre year researching and blogging the holidays are here and it's time to make amends. The first thing I did today was to take a month's subscription to The British Newspaper Archive . My first find today was the reporting of the marriage of Richard Cecil Dawson  to Dorothy Davies-Gilbert on 31st July 1916.  Richard was my great grandfather's first cousin. Sussex Agricultural Express, Friday 4 August 19196, p.  4. Of note is the fact that their honeymoon was held at the Lake House at Highclere.  A search on google maps reveals two lakes, Duncs Mere and Milford Lake just to the north of Highclere.  Highclere nowadays is famous as  Downton Abbey is filmed there. For some time Richard (Dick) Dawson was The Earl of Carnarvon's horse trainer. Most of his early successes were with horses owned by the Earl. 

I am currently reading Elliot Perlman's The Street Sweeper . A passage early on in the book resonated with me. "History can provide comfort in difficult or even turbulent and traumatic times. It shows us what our species has been through before and that we survived. It can help to know we've made it through more than one dark age. And history is vitally important because perhaps as much as, if not more than biology, the past owns us and however much we think we can, we cannot escape it. If you only knew how close you are to people who seem so far from you......it would astonish you. Also, it's a way of honouring those who came before us. We can tell their stories. Wouldn't you want someone to tell your story? Ultimately, it's the best proof there is that we mattered. And what else is life from the time you were born but a struggle to matter, at least to someone?" There are so many stories to tell about our ancestors to show that we do honour them and...

Last week I wrote a post about a photo I had found in amongst a collection from one of my mother's cousins. I had tried to read the writing on the back of the photo but couldn't make out the first word. I had made an assumption that the children may have been orphans but thanks to the Facebook group Australian Genealogy I now have an answer. The first word was crucial. Sharon Brennan Personal Archive. KIDNAPPED! This word quickly came in a reply to my posting a link to the blog post on the Facebook group. I looked carefully at the word and yes it appears to be kidnapped. One of the next comments then gave me a link to a newspaper article from The Straits Times , titled Kidnapping Children dated 24th May 1909, p. 10. It appears that trafficking in children was rife at this time. I have not copied the article as there were various copyright notices before I could access the article but it can be read online and I urge you to do so. Complaints are fairly rife amo...