The Tree of Me

Recently, I was in Canberra for a meeting and a conference so I took the opportunity to visit Cooma in an attempt to locate the burial place of my ggg grandparents James and Ellen Agnew. James died on 14 th July 1864 at Countegany and his death certificate states he was buried at  Cooma.   Ellen died on 13 th May 1891 and was buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery Cooma. Unlike his brother Henry who died in 1884 and has a headstone at Mittagang Cemetery, there is no headstone for James or Ellen there. The only real clue I had came from Monumental Inscriptions Monaro.   1. Christ Church is an Anglican Church just out of Cooma on Church Road and was an early burial place for the Cooma district. Christ Church Maneroo 1845   Christ Church Although Anglican, early Catholic burials took place there. Thanks to transcribers in 1977 I had two clues. Graves 106 and 107 were for a Patrick Agnew and James Agnew. The remainder of the h...

Recently I came across the blog 5000 poppies . Lynn Berry and Margaret Knight have a vision to plant 5000 poppies in Federation square in Melbourne as part of the 2015 Anzac Commemorations The 5000 Poppies project will be “planting” a field of more than 5000 poppies in Fed Square Melbourne as a stunning visual tribute to Australian servicemen and women for more than a century of service in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. People are asked to make poppies (instructions can be found on the site) to be part of this display. Already they have more than 10 000 poppies. I have decided to contribute to this project. My idea is to make a poppy for each of my extended family who fought in World War 1. As I started to make my list of soldiers I became disappointed with myself as I have neglected to tag these men with a military flag in Reunion. I am now trying to amend this. These are the soldiers for whom I will dedicate my poppies. Ernest Lee Dawson Bertram Da...

Happy father's day to all my "fathers" who have lived in Australia. Father Ronald Leslie Moore (1932 - 2001) Grandfathers James Malcolm Moore (1909 - 1989) Donovan Franklin Dawson (1899 - 1972) Great grandfathers Knox Moore (1873 - 1942) Phillip Richard Merchant (1883 - 1951) William Henry Dawson (1859 - 1916) Michael Patrick Ryan (1866 - 1940) Great great grandfathers John Moore (1846 - 1929) Malcolm McColm (1851 - 1924) Thomas Hugh Merchant (1843 - 1902) William Henry Allsop (1847 - 1921) William Lee Dawson (1819 - 1871) John Mylan (1833 - 1918) John Charles Ryan (c1837 - 1910) Peter Ogden (1838 - 1911) Great great great grandfathers James Henry Merchant (1818 - 1865) Joseph R Hooton (1827 - 1902) Samuel Allsop (1818 - 1877) John McInerney (c1829 - 1868 Henry William Seabrook (1806 - 1883) Thomas Moylan (1795 - 1838) James Agnew (c1796 - 1864) Great great great great grandfather Patrick Flynn (c1791 - 1862) My oldest "f...

From Randy Seaver Genea-Musings . Ah, Genea-folks, it’s Saturday Night again – are you ready for more Genealogy Fun? Your mission tonight, should you decide to accept it, is to: 1)  List your 16 great-great-grandparents with their birth, death and marriage data (dates and places).  [Hint - you might use an Ancestral Name List from your software for this.] 2)  Determine the countries (or states) that these ancestors lived in at their birth and at their death. 3)  For extra credit, go make a “Heritage Pie” chart for the country of origin (birth place) for these 16 ancestors. [Hint: you could use the  chart generator from Kid Zone  for this.] [Note: Thank you to Sheri Fenley for the " Heritage Pie" chart idea. ] Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a post on Facebook or google+. Well it is Sunday here in Australia but here are my great great grandparents. John Moore, son of John Moore and Elizabeth Glenn, was born ...

Edward Patrick (Neddy) Agnew (1906 - 1922) Neddy is the next in a series of posts I have been writing about childhood deaths in my family. Neddy Agnew was the 6th child of Adam John Agnew and his wife Bridget Josephine Murphy of Warren's Corner, Numeralla, east of Cooma, NSW. Living on a farm there were probably many dangers, none more so than riding a horse. FATAL ACCIDENT AT NUMERALLA (From our Correspondent) "We are very sorry to report the death of Edward P. Agnew, aged 13 years and 9 months. Deceased was riding home when, it is surmised his horse slipped on the wet road, throwing the lad on his head. The deceased lad, who was the youngest son of Mr and Mrs A.J. Agnew, of Warren's Corner, Numeralla, was well liked by everyone. He took great interest in all clean and manly sport and was a good horseman. He was a most trustworthy lad and of a very obliging nature and no matter what he promised to do he never broke his work." Cooma Express, 6 January 1922,...

Where are you Marion? or Why haven't I checked message boards for years? At the moment I am kicking myself. Years ago (and I mean many years ago) I would often post on or search message boards. I now wish I hadn't stopped the habit. Last week I came across this message from Marion dated 2004. I am searching for my great grandfather James Agnew born derry ireland. abt 1827 died in Australia 1907. He married Elizabeth Jane Bone in 1888 in Melbourne Australia. He also married Bridget Cahill in 1854, Ann McCartney in 1858, and Harriett Meadows in 1859. I have this James Agnew as a possible but highly probable member of my family. Ellen (Alice) Agnew arrived in Australia from Castledawson, Londonderry aboard the Waverley in 1847 with her four children to join her husband James in Cooma, NSW. Much research which can be found on the internet, only mentions 3 Agnew children, John, Rosanna and Matilda. James, the eldest seems to have moved from Cooma very early on. Research my au...

Thanks to a post at  Irish Genealogy News  alerting us to the launch of  IrishGraveyards . The website is the result of GPS and eye mapping by a surveying company. The company then creates a digital map of the graveyard and erects a sign showing the names and locations of those buried in the graveyard. The website allows you to search the graveyards to locate specific graves or to browse through a graveyard. The website contains a map showing graveyards which have been surveyed. The majority are in the north and west. There are photographs of each of the headstones.  I searched the site for 4 of my Northern Ireland surnames - Agnew, Birt, Lagan and McElwee. I drew a blank with Agnew and Birt. However, the were a large number of both Lagans and McElwees. The McElwees on this particular site do not come from near my McElwee family. However, my search for Lagan has proved more fruitful. My gggg grandparents Andrew and Rosanna Lagan (neeMcElwee) are buried at Swatragh...