The Tree of Me

Previously I have written two posts about where my ancestors are buried. This post gives details of my husband's paternal ancestors. Grandparents      Patrick Brennan and Stella Kerr Armidale, New South Wales Great grandparents                                                                                    William Brennan and Annie Ryan Armidale, NSW Alexander Kerr Glen Innes, NSW  Photo AusCemIndex Harriet Kerr - not an ancestor       Edith Kerr (Squires) Armidale, NSW No photo Great Great  Grandparents                                               ...

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...

This week is week 12 of   Shauna Hicks  challenge for 2014.  Shauna said that t his blog challenge is to stimulate my own genealogy blogging efforts in 2014 by focusing on a different kind of genealogical record each week. I wanted a challenge that reflected my own archival background as well as my own genealogy interests and there are probably lots of other records that I could have included. The challenge has an Australian focus but most of these records will be found just about anywhere in the genealogy world. A gazetteer   is a dictionary of place-names. Gazetteers describe towns and villages; parishes and counties; and rivers, mountains, and other geographical features. Gazetteers generally list place-names in alphabetical order.  Gazetteers may also be called topographical dictionaries. ( Family Search ) The Family Search website give beneficial information about Gazetteers in Ireland . One of the most useful is Samuel Lewis' typographical D...

This is my second post in my new series - From my Bookshelf I frequently trawl Abebooks for local history books, particularly for those places where ancestors lived. I have been rewarded with several interesting finds. Whenever I am in a town in Australia where family members have lived I see if there are any books written about the area. I usually find something interesting. Today I decided I needed to update my books on Library Thing . There were quite a few new purchases which hadn't been added. Hopefully, I now have most of my genealogy related books on Library Thing. As I pulled books from my shelves to catalogue I decided that there were many that I need to read more thoroughly. One of those is Close to the edge  - stories of the New England Gorges  written by Dave Vidler. This book is a collection of interviews from 14 people who live in the New England gorge country or as my husband's family called it the falls-country near Armidale, New South Wales. Looking at...

Happy fathers's day to all my husbands "fathers" who have lived in Australia. Father James Jeffery Brennan (1930 - 2001) Grandfathers Patrick Brennan (1898 - 1975) Albert Scheef (1876 - 1953) Great grandfathers William Brennan (1851 - 1928) Alexander Kerr (1875 - 1960) Jakob Scheef (1835 - 1904) Robert Waters (1855 - 1932) Great great grandfathers James Ryan (c1840 - 1922) Alfred Kerr (1845 - 1918) Thomas Squires (1855 - 1906) Georg Glock (1806 - 1883) Andrew Silas Waters (c1814 - 1870)  Elis Dawson (1822 - 1888) Great great great grandfathers Robert Kerr (1803 - 1853) William Spatch (c1816 - 1864) Thomas Dawson (1801 - 1863) Great great great great grandfather James Key (c1788 - 1875) My husband's oldest "father" was his great, great, great, great grandfather, James Key who died at Stonehenge near Glen Innes in 1875 aged approx 87. His youngest "father", great, great, great grandfather William Spatch, also d...

After blogging about my great great grandparents I though I should add those of my husbands. Thomas Brennan is presumed to have been born and died in Ireland. He married Margaret Tobin on 18th February 1846 at Leafe Hill, Muckalee, Co Kilkenny, Ireland. Margaret Tobin is presumed to have been born and died in Ireland. James Ryan , son of Daniel Ryan and Anastasia Deeves was born c 1840 at Kilcooley, Co Tipperary, Ireland. He married Catherine Cleary at Uralla, NSW, Australia. James died in Uralla 20th September 1922 at Uralla, NSW, Australia Catherine Cleary , daughter of John Cleary and Catherine Heffernan was born c1846 at Cashel, Co Tipperary, Ireland. She died on 3rd April at Kentucky, NSW, Australia. Alfred Kerr , son of Robert Kerr and Ellen Smail was born on18th June 1845 at West Maitland, NSW, Australia. He married Mary Ann Spatch on 3rd July 1864 at Glen Innes, NSW, Australia. Alfred Kerr died on 26th March 1918 at Glen Innes, NSW, Australia Mary Anne Spatch , daughter ...