The Tree of Me

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

4th birthday card from my grandparents, Jim and Esme Moore. Time certainly flies. Four years ago today I started my genealogy blog. Like my second and third blogiversary I have rummaged through my archive (read boxes of stuff) and found my childhood birthday cards. There was an initial panic as I couldn't find the bag from a Fijian trip in 1971 which contained the cards. I had my husband looking in the roof only to later find the said bag inside a box in my study (where they should have been). This one was from my grandparents Jim and Esme Moore. The only things that ring true about this card are that I love red and have curly hair. I have never been as close to a dog as the little girl in the card! Looking for the cards has once again reminded me that this year I need to:  concentrate on sorting and scanning my research instead of collecting more. (I still have boxes of information to sift through) finally make a decision about how I am going to organise my

Yesterday I was checking out some folders in my genealogy cupboard when I came across a bag with some photos that came from my great uncles Peter Dawson's house. There were many that I had previously seen, some that I knew about and ones that were a complete surprise. This photo was one of the latter.   Sharon Brennan collection from Peter and Pauline Dawson. Before I looked at the back of the photo, I wrote down what I could ascertain from the photo. The children in the photo are Chinese. There are 2 westerners in the photo. One of the men has a queue (plait).  According to Wikipedia it was compulsory for the men to wear a queue until the 1910's. I'm unsure about what is in the sack. Initially I thought it may have been food for the children, but I'm not sure. On second thoughts the sack may in fact be part of the clothing of the woman? whose hand is outstretched. Some of the children appear to be wearing a name tag. The writing on the b