Tasmanian Name Index

I have spent a lot of this weekend exploring the Tasmanian Archives & Heritage Office’s (TAHO – LINC Tasmania) new Tasmanian Name Index.  It has been a hot topic on the AUS-Tasmania Rootsweb mailing list during the last week.

I have a few Tasmanian ancestors &, as I live in Sydney, I haven't been able to do much research on them yet.  So having access to digital records is fantastic.  A month ago I contacted the AUS-Tasmania Rootsweb mailing list with a request for a lookup of the children of Margaret Sweeney.  The information I got back allowed me to identify 3 children from her 2nd marriage & 2 children from her 3rd marriage.  It also provided me with the registration number & year so that I could order copies of the children's birth certificates, however as Tasmanian certificates cost about $45 I haven't ordered copies of these (collateral line) certificates yet.

Using the Tasmanian Name Index, I was able to find Margaret Sweeney's children from her 1st marriage.  If found not only their births, but 2 of her daughters, Icey & Ruby, died when they were young.  I found Icey's death register entry, a report on the inquest into her death (cause of death - phosphorus poisoning) which was published in the Tasmanian Police Gazette on 10 December 1897, plus the official inquest findings.  Ruby's death register entry was also available.

Thanks to the Tasmanian Name Index, I now have images of birth & death register entries (plus an inquest) on my computer & it didn't cost me a thing.  It would have cost about $180 to order a copy of the certificates.

I haven't been able to locate any of Margaret's children (to her 2nd & 3rd marriage), who were born after 1900, on the Index yet, probably because births include 'some baptisms collected by the Registrar General (1900-1933 baptisms only)'.  So for births after 1900, there are only some which were collected by the Registrar General.

Some Examples:

To demonstrate what you can expect from the records on the Index, I've included some images relevant to my own research.  

Here's the birth entry for Icey Fowler (courtesy of TAHO LINC Tasmania - Tasmanian Names Index):

Birth register entry for Icey Fowler

For the sake of comparison, I have scanned the certified copy of Margaret Sweeney's birth & 1st marriage records that I purchased & the birth & marriage register entries I obtained from the Tasmanian Name Index below.

Here's the birth register entry for Margaret (courtesy of TAHO LINC Tasmania - Tasmanian Names Index):

Birth register entry for Margaret Sweeney

and the certified copy of Margaret's birth:

The only difference between the two is in the spelling of the Sweeney surname.

The following image is the marriage register entry for Margaret and her first husband Alexander Fowler (courtesy of TAHO LINC Tasmania - Tasmanian Names Index):.   

and here's the certified copy of Margaret's first marriage: 

Again, the only real difference is in the spelling of the Sweeney surname, although there is a different date under 'when registered' on the register entry.

When you find a record in the Tasmanian Names Index, you have a few options to view & / or copy the image.  You can view the image online & then download it, print it, have it emailed to you or use a permalink to send someone the image/s.  If you are a LINC Tasmania member you can also create a list for specific ancestor and add relevant records to the list (guests can also create temporary list. but the list will be lost when you finish your session). 
LINC Tasmania has a video that explains how to use the Tasmanian Name Index.  It is available on the LINC Tasmania website & on Youtube via their LINC Tasmania channel. This explanation includes search strategies such as how to include or exclude search terms such as dates, places & record types.


In conclusion, although there are some limitations to what is available, there are a lot of free resources which you can immediately download & save to your computer or print a copy out.  Free & instant - what's not to love!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (SNGF) - What Date Was Your Grandfather Born?

This week Randy Seaver from Genea-Musings has posted the following SNGF challenge - What Date Was Your Grandfather Born?:

Your mission this week, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  What day of the week was your Grandfather born (either one)? Tell us how you found out.
2) What has happened in recorded history on your Grandfather's birth date (day and month)? Tell us how you found out, and list five events.
3)  What famous people have been born on your Grandfather's birth date?  Tell us how you found out, and list five of them.
4)  Put your responses in your own blog post, in a comment on this blog post, or in a status or comment on Facebook.

I couldn't decide which of my grandfathers to choose, so I've chosen both.

Harold John Barnes – 20 October

John was born on a Friday according to http://www.dayoftheweek.org.

Important events that occurred in history on 20 October include:

1911 –   Amundsen sets out on race to South Pole

1963 –   South Africa begins trail of Nelson Mandela & 8 others on conspiracy

1973 –   USA Watergate: The Saturday Night Massacre

1973 –   Sydney Opera House was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II

1979 –   The number 1 hit on UK music charts was the Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star

I found these events on 2 websites: http://www.thepeoplehistory.com & www.datesinhistory.com.

Some famous people born on 20 October are:

Snoop Dogg – Rapper

Bela Lugosi – Movie Actor

Mickey Mantle – Baseball Player

John Krasinski – TV actor (The Office)

Michelle Bridges – Fitness trainer guru (The Biggest Loser Australia)

Tom Petty – Singer

I found these birthdays on http://www.famousbirthdays.com.

John Raymond Curran – 6 July

John was born on a Sunday according to http://www.dayoftheweek.org. 

Important events that occurred in history on 6 July include:

1863 –   Australia - Northern Territory passes from New South Wales to South Australia

1885 –   The first inoculation of a human being for rabies.  Louis Pasteur inoculated a boy, Joseph Meister, who was bitten by a rabid dog.

1905 –   Alfred Deacon becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the 2^nd time

1928 –   The 1^st all-talking motion picture was shown in New York

1939 –   Holocaust – the last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed

1942 –   Anne Frank and her family went into hiding in the ""Secret Annexe"" above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse to escape being sent to Nazi concentration camps

1955 –   USA – Air Pollution Control Act  was implemented for research into causal analysis & control of car-emission pollution after the killer fog in London left 4 000 dead & created worldwide concern over the effects of emissions pollution

I found these events on 2 websites: http://www.thepeoplehistory.com & www.datesinhistory.com.

Some famous people born on 6 July are:

Dalai Lama – Religious Leader

Sylvester Stallone - Actor

Kevin Hart – Actor / Comedian

50 Cent – Rapper

Frida Kahlo – Mexican artist

Geoffrey Rush – Australian actor

Peter Singer – Australian philosopher

  

I found these birthdays on http://www.famousbirthdays.com.

Thank You For My One Lovely Blog Award!

During my last blog binge (i.e. trying to get my Feedly under control again) I was caught by surprise to see may name & blog nominated by Pauline Cass for the One Lovely Blog Award!  This is my first year blogging & this is my first nomination / acknowledgement, so I feel honoured.  Thank you Pauleen, for the nomination but also for reading my blog :)

The rules for participating are:

• Thank the person that nominated you and link back to that blog – see above.
• Share seven things about yourself – see below.
• Nominate 15 bloggers you admire – also see below.
• Contact your bloggers to let them know you’ve tagged them for the One Lovely Blog Award

7 Things About Me:

1.       I am a primary school teacher in Western Sydney.

2.       I really enjoy my job.

3.       I have 2 children.

4.       I am a big reader.

5.       Stephen King is one of my favourite authors.  I think he’s one of the greatest writers of our time.

6.       I LOVE perfume & scented candles.

7.       I love finding out about ancestors I don’t know much about.

Bloggers I Admire & / or Read Regularly are:

Family History Across the Seas (Pauleen Cass) – Pauleen, I found your Beyond the Internet series last night & your week 48 focus on teachers prompted me to search the NSW archives for teacher records.  I now have a list of resources such as teachers rolls, teacher leave cards, teacher career cards, salary registers, results of teacher examinations & the records of the two schools that I know my ancestor worked at.  I’ll be popping into the State Archives on a Saturday morning very soon!

Janelle’s Family Tree Edition (Janelle) – I particularly liked the post about the Victorian BDMs being available for download & transferable to Excel.

Shauna Hicks History Enterprises – Although I haven’t contributed to it, reading 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 gives me many ideas for my research.

The Tree of Me (Sharon)  - I like reading Sharon’s responses to Shauna’s 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records.

Kylie’s Genes (Kylie Willison) – I like the variety of topics on this blog.

The Dictionary of Sydney – Not purely genealogical, but this blog has regular historical articles about Sydney - people, places, things & events in Sydney.

Family Tree Frog (Alex) – Alex participates in a few different blog themes.

Geniaus (Jill Ball) – Jill’s pretty much the DearMYRTLE of Australia.

Hack Genealogy (Thomas MacENTEE) – There are some gems here, particularly for computers.

Geneabloggers – This resource provides blogging prompts & is a one-stop shop for finding other genealogy blogs.

Are My Roots Showing? (Jenny Lancelot) – I also like the variety of topics on Jenny’s blog, including her responses to the Geneablogger’s blog prompts.

DearMYRTLE – DearMYRTLE's blog links to her Youtube channel & also to her Hangouts on Air - I watch the recorded versions.

Trove Tuesday

After reading other geneablogger's Trove Tuesday posts, I was inspired to find something new on Trove.  Searching for articles about the European Hotel in Bathurst, I came across a mention of my 2nd great grandmother, Catherine Curran, nee Whitelock.  I knew she was a teacher from electoral rolls but I knew nothing else about her teaching career.  I found this hard to read but I'm pretty sure I have it transcribed accurately now.

Source: The Bathurst Times (NSW : 1909 - 1925), Saturday 14 January 1922, page 4

"Mrs C W Curran, of Arncliffe, has been spending a couple of weeks in Bathurst.  She has been accompanied by her youngest son and only daughter and has been the guest of Mr C Ledlin, of the European Hotel.  Mrs Curran is a wonder.  She has been in charge of one public school or another since she was 21 years of age, and even prior to that was mistress of the infant department at Bathurst South School.  She now has charge of Arncliffe.  During her long and active association with the Education Department she has been a keen music enthusiast.  Incidentally she married and contributed to the nation ten fine young Australians, nine of whom are still living and making good.  Her eldest son is 25 years old, and, unless one knew the family, one would never believe that Mrs Curran answered grandmother to at least three children."

This article was published in The Bathurst Times on 4 January, 1922.  Thank you Trove :)

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Did Your Children Know Their Great Grandparents?

Randy Seaver's SNGF topic for September 20 was 'Did Your Children Know Their Great Grandparents?'

My children were actually lucky enough to meet their great great grandmother, Olive Grace Rae.  My sons were 4 & 2 when she died.  Below is a photo of my great grandmother with my oldest just after he was born.  I feel lucky that she got to meet both of my boys.

Olive Grace Rae & her great great grandson