The Tree of Me

 I have a rather large collection of invoices and receipts that belong to my husband's Scheef family. Albert Gustave Scheef and his family owned a property, Spring View at Long Point, Hillgrove. Together they give a detailed insight into the life of the family from the stock details, vehicles owned, medical appointments and purchases from suppliers. Over the next couple of months I hope to scan them all. The invoices are dated from the mid 1940s to the early 1950s. Albert died in October 1953, so perhaps later invoices were not placed on a metal spike as the earlier ones were. The Scheef family had dealings with a large number of businesses in Armidale. Medical Dr R. B Austin, Armidale Dr J.K. Harbison, Armidale The Armidale & New England Hospital Leo E. McConvill, Dental Surgeon, 107 Faukner Street, Armidale Mr W.H. McBean, Braemar, 171 Beardy Street, Armidale D.D.H. Fayle, The Armidale Dispensary Mallam's Pharmacy, Chemists, Armidale Legal Weaver, Gentle & Harrison, P...

This is the second post highlighting photographs of the headstones of direct ancestors on my husband's mother's line.  Grandparents Albert Gustav Scheef & Julia Waters Armidale Great grandparents Jakob Scheef & Christina Glock Armidale Robert Waters & Ann Dawson Armidale Great great grandparents Georg Ludwig Glock & Barbara Rosina Wägerle Uralla No known headstone Andrew Silas Waters & Margaret Doherty  Armidale, NSW Elis Hare Dawson & Mary Richardson (may not be buried here)  Armidale, New South Wales Great, great great grandparents Thomas Dawson & Betsy Hare Armidale district (Unmarked grave)

Earlier this year my mother wondered if there was a newspaper account of an athletics carnival she attended in the early 1950s. At this carnival the Armidale Teachers College girls team of which she was a member had broken the 440 yard relay record. A little searching and I found the account. Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser ,  Monday 21 December 1953, page 2

Each time I visit Armidale I always head straight to the bookshops to see if there are any new local history publications. Last week I was not disappointed. Bob Harden's book European Settlement & Pastoralism at Kunderang Upper Macleay River, 1840-1960 was on the shelf. I always go straight to the index and look up the Armidale families who have connections to my husband's extended family. A quick inspection discovered Brennan, Waters, Dawson, Sewell and Bell. I parted with $64.99 and purchased the 430 A4 page hardcover book. Bob stated that his objectives were  "to provide a coherent account of European settlement and pastoralism at Kunderang in the upper Macleay River, with particular emphasis on who the settlers were, how they lived and how they carried out their pastoral endeavours " (p. 10) He has definitely achieved his objectives. The book has been meticulously researched and is a wonderful history of the gorge country. Each landholder's connecti...

The Gorilla Hunters R.M. Ballantyne Recently I've been tidying up around the house attemping to put into action the Fly Lady's tidying philosophy. Three piles - one to put away, one to give away and one to throw out. On our TV stand there was a copy of a book belonging to my husband's grandfather Patrick Brennan. Naturally this went in the put away safely pile. To celebrate Empire Day on May 24th 1912, 13 year old Patrick Brennan, son of William Brennan and Annie Ryan of Enmore, near Armidale was given a copy of the book The Gorilla Hunters (A Tale of the Wilds of Africa) by R.M. Ballantyne. Inscription to Patrick Brennan 1912 Inside is the following inscription. Empire Day May 24th 1912 Presented to Patrick Brennan Groses Creek Provisional School Harry H Wharton Teacher Flower pressed in the book Like a lot of my posts I want to see what other evidence this item can lead to. What further questions can I investigate?...

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...

While scanning photos at my mother-in-laws this weekend I came across this photo of Jimmy Semmens. He had sent the photo to his uncle Tom Smith husband of Margaret Waters of Armidale, NSW. When Margaret Smith died she left everything to her niece Julia Scheef. I think this is how the photo eventually came to my mother-in-law, Julia's daughter. Jimmy Semmens - Australian Bantamweight Boxing Champion 1921 - 1925 So who was Jimmy Semmens? Some quick research this evening has revealed that he was an Australian Bantamweight Boxing Champion. His first fight for the title against Billy Tingle in front of a crowd of 8000 people at the West Melbourne Stadium on 1st October 1921 ended in a knockout when Tingle went down after 14 of the scheduled 20 rounds. Semmens was described in The Argus  as being "a clean build, fast and resourceful boxer, with a remarkable left-hand punch, which he uses as a rapier to keep an opponent at safe distance." Jimmy retained the title ov...

I started my blog in January this year answering the Australia Day Challenge. Today I decided to look at my stats to see what I could discover. Some people have contacted me directly about my posts. One of these came within hours of posting for the Anzac Day Challenge. I was contacted by someone in the RAAF regarding my post about Allan Seabrook Mitchell which was very exciting. I have also been contacted by William Vaughan author of Murder Trials in Ireland, one of the books I have reviewed . He has sent me some information about my Agnew family. I already had this information partially transcribed so it has been very useful to compare the two transcriptions and fill in a few of the gaps I had when I had extreme difficulty reading the document dated 1834. My pages views have come from Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Malaysia, Iran and Russia. Should I be concerned about any of these? I'm disappointed the person who ...

Amongst my mother-in-law's collection of photos that came from her mother is this wonderful one of a road being built. The photo was most likely taken in Armidale, but possibly Uralla. Of course, I have no idea when the photo was taken or who the two gentlemen are but I'm making an assumption that at least one of the men is related to my husband. The clues to locating this street I feel are the two trees and the house facing the street. Short of driving up and down each street the only idea I can think of is to send a copy to The Armidale Express hoping that they will publish the image. Someone may recognise the street as their own.

My husband's family are very fortunate as his great grandfather travelled on holiday to Germany from Armidale, NSW from May to September 1885. While visiting remaining members of his family he sent many letters back to Australia and kept a diary of his time overseas. I'll post his letters on the date they were written. European Hotel 90 Castlereagh Street Sydney the 7 May 1885 My Dear Wife and Children I am glad that I feel in good health and believe far better than in New England. My knees do not trouble me at all since I left home and neither do I feel anything in my inside since I left but my new boots give me a good deal of trouble so I bought a pair of shoes as well as my other clothes. My passage I paid for yesterday and have seen the vessel I am going in it is a grand ship when I was in it I found scarce my way out of it again. Yesterday there came two German warships into the Harbour so is also the English warship Nelson and they are anchored side by side there...

Sometimes you come across a fantastic family photograph. This photograph is one of those. What a fantastic family group! I was fortunate that family members knew the occasion. However, if I didn't know the occasion I need to look for clues in the photo. The photo was taken outside a church and there are two older people sitting in the middle of the photo. It is obviously an important occasion, either for a family or a church group. It is the celebration of the golden wedding anniversary of Robert Waters and his wife Ann Dawson, of Armidale, who were married on 30th April 1878 - 133 years ago. The photo was taken 83 years ago this week. The occasion was reported in The Armidale Express (5 May 1928) GOLDEN WEDDING Mr and Mrs R Waters On Monday, April 30, Mr and Mrs R Waters, of Silverton, Metz, celebrated their golden wedding. They were married at Hazeldale, Dumaresq, by the Rev Dr Sellors on April 30, 1878, Mrs J C Lees (nee Miss J Waters) was bridesmaid, and the late Mr ...

Amanuensis Monday  was started by John Newmark in his blog  Translyvanian Dutch  and encourages family historians to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes and other historical artifacts. An amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. My husband's family are very fortunate. They have a series of letters written from Germany to Jacob Frederick Scheef who lived at Rocky River, near Armidale and later at Tilbuster and Puddledock. These letters date from 1859 until 1894. It's a shame we can't read German! There is also a diary Jacob kept and the letters he wrote home when he returned for a holiday to Germany in 1885. At least these are in English! Currently these documents are housed at the University of New England and Regional Archives , in Armidale, New South Wales. Letter sent from Stuttgart to the Rocky River diggings. It went around the world! Appears to have been writte...