The Tree of Me

Week 4 – Free  Offline  Genealogy Tools : For which free offline genealogy tool are you most grateful? How did you find this tool and how has it benefitted your genealogy? Describe to others how to access this tool and spread the genealogy love. My favourite free offline genealogy tool is Dixson Library at the University of New England in Armidale, NSW, Australia. I have been using this library since 1978 when I began university. If you have ancestors who lived in the New England area, the New England Room may be just the thing for you. The New England Collection exists to ensure the preservation of works related to the New England region...It covers a collecting area from the Queensland border in the north to the Gloucester Shire in the south and from the coast to the Bourke Shire in the west. Check out what is in this collection via the online catalogue . I have been able to access many books and ephemera about the towns where my ancestors lived and worked.  Dixson...

Week 3 – Free Online Genealogy Tools : Free online genealogy tools are like gifts from above. Which one are you most thankful for? How has it helped your family history experience? Where does one start? There are so many fantastic free online sites so I don't think I'll be able to stop at one. I love The Ryerson Index  which is an index to death notices in current Australian newspapers. It is a fantastic resource and thanks must go to those who freely give their time to work on this project. I'm only sorry that the newspaper from where I grew up is not one of those indexed. I'd index it if I had regular access to the paper. Unfortunately, I read the paper fourth hand in bulk about three times a year and I can't guarantee that issues aren't missing. Recently I've been spending a lot of time on the Public Record Office of Victoria  website, particularly looking at their Wills, Probate and Administration Records 1841-1925 . I have been able to ac...

Which paid genealogy tool do you appreciate the most? What special features put it at the top of the list? How can it help others with their genealogy research? As I still work full time in a busy job I don't feel that I have the time to effectively utilise more than one paid site, although I would like to. I joined Ancestry several years ago with the offer of a free two weeks or one month and then forgot to take out my credit card details - a great marketing ploy! However, I have not been disappointed at all in that time. The great advantage of course in having your own subscription is that you can use it whenever you like. Last night my aunt rang me up about something, so I used Ancestry to check what she was asking me and together we discussed the results. I consistently (or perhaps persistently) use the Australian electoral rolls. The recent introduction of the 1980 rolls has allowed us to make contact with distant family members and this has proved to be exciting. R...

One of the goals I have set myself this year is to take part in Amy Coffin's 52 weeks of Abundant Genealogy . I'm not sure how I'll go, but if I don't make a start I certainly won't finish! Week 1 - Blogs: Blogging is a great way for genealogists to share information with family members, potential cousins and each other. For which blog are you most thankful? Is it one of the earliest blogs you read, or a current one? What is special about the blog and why should others read it? I have my genealogy blogs in three sections on Feedly - Aus-Genie, British genealogy and Genealogy. When I check Aus-Genie I am always excited to see a post from Geniaus . I first met Geniaus at least 10-12 years ago when she came to Coffs Harbour and presented to a group of Teacher Librarians. I can still remember her talk was presented with a webpage to accompany it. She was enthusiastic and that enthusiasm rubbed off. I didn't know then that we shared another passion, that of g...

After reading several posts from others who have evaluated their year and set goals for 2012 I though that perhaps I should do the same. I tend to be someone who flits from one thing to another, (In fact I am in the middle of something now and have dropped it to write this post.) so a few goals won't go astray. After much thought I know I need to make organising what I already have a priority over discovering more wonderful information. So with this in mind here are my goals for 2012: Link my currently scanned and filed information to the appropriate individual or family in Reunion. Tidy up all my sources in Reunion. (After combining my family’s 3 files into 1, I still have many multiple sources.)  Complete scanning all my paper files. (in 2011 I worked on my filing system and am happy with that, but I still have the contents of at least a dozen large folders to scan. Take part in Amy Coffin's 52 weeks of Abundant Genealogy . In addition to the blogging challenge above I w...