The Tree of Me

Thanks once again to Geniaus for coming up with theAccentuate the Positive 2012  geneameme .  At this time of year many geneabloggers take stock of what they have achieved or not achieved in the previous twelve months and set themselves goals for the coming year. I have been reading several of these posts this week. I feel that a lot of my geneablogging friends are too hard on themselves; several have reported on their successes this year but quite a number have lamented that they haven't achieved as much as they set out to do or that they haven't blogged with the frequency they envisaged. You are a bunch of highly motivated people who have made great strides in the genealogy sphere. Let's share the good news. My response Perhaps I had been one of those who lamented about the lack of progress this year. So for the last hour (or more) I have sat here contemplating my efforts and I have to admit they are not so poor. I just wish I had more time to devote to this ex

This week I had to go to Lismore for a couple of days for work. This morning I took the opportunity for an early swim at the local pool. Later in the morning I remembered that I had a photograph of my grandfather Don Dawson taken in what I had been told was Lismore. From memory there was a war memorial and some sort of large army vehicle and I thought I had been told it was somewhere near the pool. All I had to do was find the specific location. I decided that I wanted a then and now photograph. I'd get my photo taken in the same place as my grandfather. Now where was the photo taken? There is a memorial at the pool and a large army gun. However, when I searched through the images on my computer and found the photograph there was no similarity as you can see by the images at this site. Don Dawson A search of Trove has uncovered an article in The Argus about the unveiling of the War Memorial in Lismore. Unfortunately it doesn't mention its exact location in Lismore.

This week my Trove Tuesday post revolves around James Agnew - son of James and Ellen (Alicia) Agnew of Cooma. The first mention of James Agnew in Trove occurs in a list of emigrants arriving by the ship Waverley from Dublin in 1847. He is one of the 2 sons of Alicia (who was know as Ellen in Australia) Agnew. Alicia and her family joined her husband James Snr in Australia in 1847. Her sister-in-law Catherine who is also mentioned below did not arrive on the Waverley but came the following year on the Success . Sydney Morning Herald, 9 November 1847, p. 3 Some time between 1847 (when he was about 13) and 1885 James Agnew left Cooma and headed south to Sandhurst in Victoria. His family lost track of him there and the following advertisement was placed in The Argus in 1885 by his younger sister Matilda who was anxious to contact him. The Argus, 24 Aug 1885, p. 1 Reading this now, I would have loved more detail. When did he leave the Monaro and when did the family last h

My previous Family Home post showed the childhood home of Catherine Ellen Dawson . After leaving Tasmania Catherine moved to Melbourne with her mother and siblings after the death of her father Dr William Lee Dawson. Catherine married Gustav Baumgarten in Melbourne on 30th November 1876. They lived at Pleasant Bank Vineyard at Barnawatha.  According to the Cyclopedia of Victoria they had 180 acres of vines, 465 acres of agricultural and grazing land and a further 300 acres under cultivation.   During 1908 the Baumgarten family moved from Barnawatha to Moolan Downs, near Meandarra west of Dalby. They left a thriving business with an established homestead and moved to western Queensland. One of their first tasks when they arrived was to build the dwelling shown below. Original dwelling at Moolan Downs - c1908 The second house at Moolan Downs The final homestead at Moolan Downs One can only admire our early pioneering families. Gustav died at Moolan Downs only fou

Today's Trove Tuesday post is one begging for information. My great, great grandmother, Margaret Jane Moore died in Wallangarra, Queensland on 1st August 1923. The following year two In Memoriam notices appeared in The Brisbane Courier. The Brisbane Courier, 1st August 1924, p. 6 The first is from her loving son, daughter and grandchildren. This could have been either of her two sons, Knox and James and either of her daughters Rose, Elizabeth or Margaret. I believe it was from Knox and Rose who both still lived in Wallangarra. However, it is the second notice that interests me the most. If is from her daughter Maggie and granddaughter Ivy. I would love to contact any descendants of Ivy, the daughter of Maggie (Margaret). If anyone comes across this post and has information please contact me via the Email link on the View my complete profile link. I believe that if Ivy is still alive she would be about 97 years old in 2012.

I purchased a copy of Ballymoney Old Church Graveyard by Dorothy Arthur when I was in Ireland two years ago. For anyone with family from Ballymoney or the surrounding area, this book is a must. Dorothy Arthur has photographed and transcribed each of the headstones, and provided some information about the families. My families from this area are Moore, Knox, Glen(n), Henry and Hanna(h). There are representatives from each of these families buried at Ballymoney. However, at this stage I can't fit any of these people into my families. One day perhaps! If anyone has family who may be buried at Ballymoney I am more than happy to look them up in this book for you.

Trove Tuesday was begun by Amy Houston on her blog Branches Leaves & Pollen . She asked us to blog about what we've discovered and to share it with others. I think it's a great idea. I have found so many great stories on Trove so I'm attempting to blog each Tuesday. I certainly have enough material to keep me going for several months. Last week my Trove Tuesday post told of the murder of Ellen Sullivan . Today I have another murder to share with you. I apologise if this posts upsets anyone as it happened in 1940. Eileen Brennan was the 3rd daughter of seven children born to Thomas Vincent Brennan and his wife Kathleen Egan. She was 22 years old when she was murdered by her employer Leo Grant. He committed suicide at the murder site. Sydney Morning Herald 16 October 1940, p. 12 The report in The Armidale Express was more detailed and stated that Leo Grant had recently purchased the Silver Bell cake shop in Beardy Street after moving from Sydney. He also had a b

Sandgate Cemetery is a major Newcastle cemetery which opened in 1881. The Sandgate Cemetery Trust needs to be congratulated on their fantastic website. For those of you who have seen Sandgate Cemetery you will understand why I have never tried to find any relatives buried there. Whenever we drove past the cemetery when my children were younger they tried to hold their breath. They never managed it, especially as we had to travel along two sides of the cemetery. However, now a visit is not out of the question thanks to the fantastic location tools embedded into the website. Approximately 95% of graves now have a virtual Google Maps latitude and longitude - the remainder of graves are being progressively co-ordinated by the Sandgate team. The first image on the window that is opened is the location of the grave shown in SATELLITE view on Google Maps as shown. If Google Earth is installed on your computer, an EARTH button will also appear. Using Google tools in EARTH view, the g

Lorine McGinnis Schulze in her Olive Tree Genealogy Blog  suggests looking at the number of ancestors you can identify  back 9 generations. There are a total of 1022 direct ancestors. Lorine suggests that many people will begin to double up on ancestors but this isn't the case with my family. It is actually a little depressing when my figures are revealed. The first table documents my ancestors. It looks like I have only identified 11.1 % back to my 7th great grandparents. There are a few branches in which I can delve further into the past. These include Scottish, English and Irish (Church of Ireland) links. Roadblocks have been caused by Tasmanian death certificates - no parents names to get back to Norfolk research and Irish catholic research. Generation Number of Ancestors My Numbers Cumulative Percentage  GGGGGGG grandparents 512 5 11.1% GGGGGG grandparents 256 9 21.% GGGGG grandparents 128 10 38

Today I have officially said goodbye to several family members whom I have become very attached to over the last several years. Goodbye to Peter Hope and his wife Lydia Prince, Peter's Hope line of John, Benjamin, Petri and Petri. The last Petri had been married in Hartington in 1653. I also had to say goodbye to Peter and Lydia's daughter Mary who married Thomas Hickenbottom, and their children and grandchildren. They were all so easy to trace. Altogether I had to say goodbye to 13 direct line ancestors. Why? THEY ARE NOT MINE. I should be excited but I have to admit to being a little sad. My ggg grandmother, Ann Hope married Samuel Ogden on 3rd September 1837 in the Parish of Prestwich, Manchester in the County of Lancester. Her father, Peter Hope was a farmer and one of the witnesses to the marriage. The challenge for many years had been to find out who was Peter Hope. Ann Ogden's entry in the 1851 English census stated that she was born at Tillese. Of course I c

Today I came across a nine generation chart I had made a few years ago. Many people were highlighted and it took me a minute or two to work out what it meant. I had highlighted the names of those direct ancestors who had arrived in Australia. I decided to graph the information and this is what it revealed for my family. Here are the results for my husband's family.                           My family  42 direct arrivals in Australia 7 family group arrivals Arrivals between 1822 and 1883 2 single arrivals still to locate My husband's family 21 direct arrivals in Australia 3 family group arrivals Arrivals between c 1831 and 1885 1 family arrival to locate The downside of this is that my daughter wishes one of her grandparents had arrived from Great Britain and then she could get an ancestry visa. We are 2 generations to early for this to happen. What do your arrivals look like?

While reading the obituary of Mary Anne Sullivan Ryan, wife of John Ryan of Uralla, NSW, I read that her mother had been murdered when she was twelve. Her lot in this her adopted country was marked by a very grim tragedy, for she had the extremely shocking experiences of a young mother cruelly murdered by the blacks. This tragedy occurred in the Aberfoyle district. Mrs Ryan was then only 12 years old, being the second eldest in a family of four sons and three daughters, the youngest a baby in arms. For several years before the advent of Trove I had searched for documented evidence of the murder of Ellen Sullivan. She died before 1856 so I had difficulty deciding which Ellen Sullivan she was and without a specific year it was too overwhelming to search several years of The Armidale Express . However, once I knew about Trove this search was one of the first I performed. Although The Armidale Express is not on Trove (can't wait for this one) I knew the news would have been publis

Currently I am reading a book called The Connected Educator - Learning and Leading in a Digital Age by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Lani Ritter Hall. One comment early in the book has struck a chord with me. I am unable to learn from you if you are not sharing online. I will never be able to find you and leverage what you know. p. 11 So this is a big thank you to all genealogy bloggers out there. I have learnt much from many of you. I have laughed at many posts. I have felt heartache with others. Reading the blogs of others has allowed me to interact with many people I don't know. It allows me to reflect on ideas and prompt me into action. Perhaps when I get my blogging act back together again, others may be able to learn from me!

This is my first Trove Tuesday post. I have been so busy at work that my genealogical pursuits are being pushed further and further behind. As you can imagine this is something that I am not happy about. However, as I am on holidays for two weeks I hope to have a few posts ready to post during the coming weeks. I have discovered many great finds from Trove but today I decided I needed to find something new. One of my families lived at 21 Cambridge street, Rozelle and/or its semi-detached neighbour for over 100 years. In fact they rented from the same family for all that time. I must remember to blog about this story. I decided to see if Cambridge Street, Rozelle ever featured in one of the Sydney papers. So today here is my first find. Sydney Morning Herald, 22 January, 1904, p. 3 My great, great grandfather John Charles Ryan lived at 21 Cambridge Street. Depending on the street numbering it is quite possible that Walter Jones would have lived in the next semi-detached hous

Today I have spent some time on the website Everafter . The following is taken from their website. A graveyard is one of the most accessible sources for studying a community’s history. Each one is unique and has its own collection of headstones, many of which will, unfortunately, deteriorate through neglect, weather or vandalism; some eventually becoming completely illegible.  everafter  has modernised the way the deaths of our loved ones are recorded.  We provide Parishes and Councils with a complete set of up-to-date graveyard records and an online Graveyard Management System to record future burials.    The  everafter  team recognise the importance of preserving the information held by graveyards and we are committed to delivering a unique, high quality service which will guarantee that an accurate record of the deceased exists  everafter . Many of the cemeteries that have been recorded are from the Magherafelt area of County Derry. There is a flickr site and youtube channel

A few weeks I posted this photograph asking if anyone had could guess what it is. Well now I've got the answer for you. This photograph was taken at my father's work. I imagine it was taken in about the 1950s as I have many photographs taken at this time. My father worked at Anderson's Meat Packing Company at Wallangarra on the Queensland-NSW border. The image shows pumped up intestines which were then placed in drying rooms. After drying the ends were cut off and packed flat in cartons. And of course you can guess what they would have been used for - sausage casings. Here is a link to the wikipedia article about sausages .

During a recent tidy up of my filing cabinets I discovered 2 school books that had been placed in there for safe keeping many years ago. The first book was My Busy Book from 1965 when I was in Kindergarten at Jennings Public School. Perhaps some of you may remember the salmon coloured books from the 1960s. Fortunately it was a small school. The teacher traced many shapes each afternoon for us to fill in with various patterns the next day. She also wrote dotted words for us to trace the next day. It seems that jelly pads had yet to reach Jennings. Unfortunately the salmon colour didn't scan. The second of these exercise books belonged to my grandfather's brother, Matthew John Moore who attended Jennings Public School. I haven't always been in possession of this book. I attended the Jenning's centenary celebrations in 1990 and was excited to see that this book was part of the display. I asked the organisers who had donated the book for the display but was infor