The Tree of Me

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...

My great, great grandmother Jane Smith McColm has 2 death certificates. When she died on 22nd January 1888 just 3 weeks after giving birth to her 7th child, Ethel Peel McColm, her husband Malcolm obviously didn't know where to register her death. Sound strange to you? Jane died at the Railway Yard at Wallangarra on the Queensland-N.S.W. border. (I've just realised that the postcard I purchased a couple of weeks ago, has further meaning.) What did her husband do? He registered her death in both Stanthorpe (Qld) and Tenterfield (N.S.W.) It is very interesting to compare the two death certificates. The first one I discovered was the N.S.W. one. This stated that she was 40 years old and came from Wigtownshire in Scotland. Her father, James Fleming, was a druggist and her mother was Jane Milroy. Jane was married to Malcolm McColm and had no children. She died of puerperal fever. I wasn't happy with this certificate. I knew she had children - my great grandmother was one o...

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 ...