The Tree of Me

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...

William Vesey Dawson (390)  1892 - 1974 This is the third post in  a series of posts over the next few years to remember all the men in my extended family who enlisted in World War 1. Originally I had identified 26 soldiers who enlisted between 20 August 1914 and 2 November 1918.  However, further checking has now revealed a total of thirty five enlistment.  Of the thirty five, five were killed overseas or died here in Australia. William Vesey Dawson was the fifth child of William Henry Dawson and his wife Bridget Mylan.  Twenty two year old Bill enlisted in Casino, NSW on 25th October 1914,  just a month after his older brother Ernest.  Bill worked as a saddler and a general farm labourer. Like many young men from the north coast of NSW Bill (No 390) became a member of the 5th Light Horse. William Vesey Dawson No 390 (Dawson family collection.) Brothers, William Vesey Dawson and Ernest Lee Dawson. Photo taken at Alexa...

A couple of days ago I came across the Letters of 1916 website. I was quite excited when I read about this project. The Letters of 1916 project is the first public humanities project in Ireland. Join the hundreds of people who are helping us create a crowd-sourced digital collection of letters written around the time of the Easter Rising (1 November 1915 – 31 October 1916) by contributing copies of letters to the database or transcribing previously uploaded letters. In my collection of letters written from Ireland by my Dawson family I have two letters that fit the timeframe. The first written in November 1915 from Eleanor Dawson to her niece Louisa Spinks who lived in Whittlesea north of Melbourne. The second, was written in June 1916 by Eleanor's daughter Maude to her cousin Louisa. Today I added the first of these letters to the website. My only disappointment so far is that I can't seem to be able to transcribe my own contribution. Hopefully it will be available for ...

This is my post for week 13 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. My story this week is about a man I never met but with whom I corresponded for many years. It is about how his personal name allowed me to know I was going to make a connection to my family. William Lee Dawson had moved from Kilronan in Ireland to Franklin in Tasmania in 1854. After his death in 1871, his wife Emma moved to Melbourne to be closer to her siblings. Her four children Catherine, Harry, Louisa and Robert ended up living in Victoria, norther...

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...

I'm now ready for week 2's challenge in  Shauna Hicks  challenge for 2014. Week 2 - Internal Migration The subject of internal migration in Australia is one that has always interested me, especially as it highlights the extreme differences between my husband's family and mine. All his ancestors lived in northern New South Wales and the distance I had to cover headstone hunting in the 1980's was only one and a half hours from north to south. They arrived in Australia, made their way to the New England area (some taking longer than others) and settled.  This had to do with the purchase of farming land. My family, however tend to be travellers. My headstone search has taken me to NSW, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia just for direct ancestors. Some of my families moved short distances often, others very long distances. One family story involves my great great grand parents Peter and Elizabeth Ogden. The Ogdens came from Liverpool, England b...

I have decided that I need a challenge to get me blogging again on a regular basis. So I was pleased this morning when I saw  Shauna Hicks  personal blogging challenge for 2014. Each week Shauna intends to blog about a different genealogical record. I have tried a weekly blogging challenges before and have never lasted more than about 6 weeks, so my aim this year is to improve on this. Week 1 - Military Medals Last week's challenge is about military medals. In my direct line I have no one who fought in any recent wars. However, my parents did have uncles who fought in both the First and the Second World Wars. William Vesey Dawson 1892 - 1974 - Brisbane 1914 William Vesey Dawson was born in Gladesville on 29th May 1892. His family later moved to the north coast of NSW and it was there that he joined  the 5th Australian Light Horse Regiment on 25th October 1914. He served with this regiment at Gallipoli but it was to be later in the war while he was with ...

During 2012 I visited three churches of significance to the family of Thomas and Betsy Dawson who emigrated to Australia from Renhold, Bedfordshire in 1848 aboard the Equestrian.  All Saints Church, Renhold, Bedfordshire, England St Leonard's Church, Old Warden, Bedfordshire, England All Saints, Ravensden, Bedfordshire, England

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...

I have written three previous posts about Samuel Cuming Dawson of Cloghran, Swords, Co Dublin, Ireland. The first discussed a letter he posted to Autralia in 1878 when he was a cadet aboard the Conway. The second  showed the honour board when he won the Queen's Medal. The third post discussed information from the Maritime Museum in Liverpool. Today I write what may be the final post for Samuel Dawson. Last year, I visited Swords and found Samuel's headstone at St Columba's Church of Ireland at Swords, Co Dublin. Unfortunately, I couldn't read the date of his death. Headstone of Samuel Cuming Dawson - St Columba's Swords. Today I have been using my NLA card and have been trawling the Irish Newspaper Archives with great success. (However, it's a shame the site is so slow to move to the next result page.) A search for Dawson and Cloghran has come up with 598 results and one of the first ones was an obituary for Mr Sam C Dawson. Of course, his ob...

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 ...

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 ...

Norman George Dawson (1913- 1931) Norman is the next in a series of posts I have been writing about childhood deaths in my family. Norman George Dawson, who was born in Brisbane was the 2nd of three children born to Bertrand George Dawson (my great uncle) and his wife May Katrina Victoria Otteson.  My Fault Entirely While Norman George Dawson (17) was riding a bicycle on January 23, he collided with the gutter in Barry-parade, and as a result of injuries he died in the Brisbane General Hospital on the following day. Yesterday, Mr W Harris, P.M., held an inquest into his death. May Catrina Dawson, of Brunswick-street, New Farm, said she was the boy's mothers. He told her he was riding home from work, and in endeavouring to avoid a motor car he hit the gutter, and was thrown against a brick wall. James Muir Glendinning, of Newstead-terrace, Newstead, said he was driving  a motor truck along Barry-parade. He intended to turn into Alfred-street, when he saw...