Postcards from Egypt, WW1

This is one of the postcards that I referred to in my earlier post.  An unknown soldier sent several of these to my great grandmother while he was in Egypt.

#AFFHO Congress 2015 - Part 5

Day Four of AFFHO Congress 2015

I forgot to mention Day 3’s lunchtime keynote address by Grace Karskens, Men, Women, Sex and Desire: Family History on Australia’s First Frontier.  In this talk, Grace presented some of the findings of her research on relationships, marriage & families in the early community of Castlereagh, on the Nepean River in NSW.  Wow!  The relationships & events that Grace shared reminded me of the plotlines on The Bold & the Beautiful – talk about complicated & scandalous!  It’s absolutely incredible that the details of some of the lives of the early settlers can be reconstructed to give us such an insight.

I began the final day of the conference by listening to Paul Milner’s talk, Digging for Gold - Locating British Miners and their Records.  I have some Cornish miners who migrated to South Australia & continued mining.  I learnt from Paul that Cornwall mines were hard rock mines – tin & copper (fingers crossed that I’ve remembered that right).  The conditions in hard rock & coal mines were quite different – the size of the mine that was being worked in, the dangers involved, etc.  Paul discussed the history of mining in Britain, the conditions that miners (soft rock & hard rock) miners worked in, the records that were created & where to locate them.  He pointed us towards a range of online & printed resources to learn more about mining & the definitions of technical & colloquial terms that we might come across.  My favourite quote from this session was: if there’s a hole in the ground, you’ll find a Cornish miner at the bottom of it.

Next up was A General and Indiscriminate Stigma - the Irish Famine Orphans, 1848–1850, presented by Cheryl Mongan.  The Irish Famine Orphans were young girls  (generally between the ages of 14 – 19) from the workhouses of Ireland who came to Australia as part of the Earl Grey scheme.  The Earl Grey scheme bought over 4000 young Irish females, who had been left orphaned by the Great Famine of Ireland, to Australia to work as indentured domestic servants.  Most were orphans in the true sense, but others were termed ‘orphans’ if their parent/s were alive but unable to look after them.  These girls were often met with criticism & prejudice; they were considered disobedient, untrained & unsuited for domestic service.  Cheryl spoke about the experiences of the Irish Famine Orphans and how many of them overcame the prejudice & hardships to establish successful families of their own.  Some of the descendants of these girls come together for the annual commemorative service at the Great Famine Memorial at Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney or Famine Rock at Williamstown in Victoria.  Irish researchers have been working to unite families with their distant Australian relatives – which reminds me, the last time I checked the Irish Famine Orphan Database, there was a contact name from Ireland Reaching Out listed with my ancestor that I need to email.

The final presentation I attended at the conference was by Michelle Nichols, Discovering the Hidden Riches in Public Libraries: Fostering Family History in Local Studies Collections.  I got two things from this session – that Hawkesbury Library serves as a model for other local libraries to provide access to & promote their local collections; & that I need to visit Hawkesbury library because my great grandmother’s family lived in the area, at & around St Albans, from about the 1830s to the 1980s.

The local library’s holdings can support family history & local community research.  Resources can include local government records, historical photos & maps of the area, & local & family histories – resources relating to that specific community & the families who lived there.  I have used Blacktown’s local history collection, at least what I have seen on the shelf, but perhaps there are many other records at the library that I’m not aware of.  I know that I haven’t seen any church & cemetery records, or historical maps & photos.  Local libraries should be promoting their local history collections, even if it’s just by a webpage that outlines the materials that are available & how to access them.  Being able to access some of these records online would also be a bonus.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear Michelle mention some of the family history resources that her library has, particularly the Jurd family history book, To Live on in the Hearts & Minds of Descendants is to Never Die by Peter Newman.  This book is about my 5^th great grandfather, Daniel Jurd, who married Elizabeth Douglas, & their descendants.  I have that book & I can attest to just how large, & heavy, the book is!  I was also intrigued when Michelle showed an image of something that was written from a soldier, or to a soldier, in WW1 to an Olive who lived in the area – I could swear that was my great grandmother, but I didn’t know anything about her knowing a soldier in WW1.  I wish I had taken a quick picture of it because last week I got a pile of photos from Olive’s daughter, my grandmother, & inside was an envelope with postcards from an unnamed soldier in WW1 to my great grandmother.

I have been making a list of books that I wanted to look at since last year – these books could help me break my biggest brick wall – Helena Lindner - & the closest place to access them was at the National Library in Canberra.  I had limited time in Canberra, having to be back in Sydney & up bright & early to go back to work on Tuesday, so I decided to leave the conference a bit early so that I could go to the National Library.  This unfortunately meant that I had to miss the afternoon session I had planned to attend, Cora Num’s lunchtime keynote address on using online newspapers, & also the panel discussion L  However, I got to read through the information in the relevant books so I have a possible new lead.

I absolutely loved being at the conference – getting the opportunity to listen to speakers in person, the information that was presented – basically being immersed in genealogical learning for 4 days straight!  It was also great to be able to meet other geneabloggers, some of who I know, or know of, from the online community.  Jill Ball, you were especially welcoming & introduced me to quite a few other people J.  I bought a few resources & I have many new research areas to follow up.  The only downside was how incredibly exhausted I was after each day, & not feeling well enough to catch up with fellow HSP105 UTAS students at the dinner on Sunday night L.

I know that I will definitely be attending Congress in Sydney in 2018!  

#AFFHO Congress 2015 - Part 4

Day Three of AFFHO Congress 2015

Sunday began with Kerry Farmer’s talk, Migration Schemes to Australia.  Migration schemes were schemes where financial incentives, often subsidised passage, were offered to encourage migrants from the British Isles to come to Australia, instead of the US & Canada which were cheaper alternatives.  Different migration schemes were in place at different times during the 19^th & 20^th centuries.  Different schemes had different selection criteria to attract desirable immigrants - those with certain skills, in particular age groups or in required occupations.  The number & type of immigrant could be controlled as needed by varying the assistance or incentive & the selection criteria.  Kerry outlined some of the different migration schemes that have been in place, both before & after federation – who the immigrants were, why they were desirable at the time, what incentives were offered, how the scheme was financed, and where to find further information.

A Different Kind of DNA Talk, presented by Colleen Fitzpatrick, presented some information that I was already familiar with, however Colleen used some analogies that really strengthened my understandings of DNA.  The analogy she made between our DNA & manuscripts that were hand-copied was probably the strongest – the more a manuscript was copied, the more likely there was to be a mistake, just like when DNA is copied from parent to child.  She also introduced me to cladograms, which are visual representations of Y-DNA results that show how individuals are related.

Perry McIntyre’s second presentation was ‘The infernal villain will be sent away’: Convict Case Studies from the National Archives of Ireland, Dublin.  Perry told us about the Chief Secretary’s Office Registered Papers in the National Archives of Ireland, which are the equivalent of Australia’s Colonial Secretary’s Correspondence.  This resource is currently being digitised but most of the documents have been transcribed, meaning they are searchable by keywords & names.  To illustrate how CSORP can help us in our research, Perry presented some case studies of people that came to the attention of the authorities for their criminal activities.

After lunch I attended Pauleen Cass’ talk, Harness the Power of Blogging for Your Research or Your One Place Study.  To illustrate how blogging gives genealogists unique opportunities to bring descendants from a particular group of emigrants together, Pauleen presented two case studies from her own research that focused on migration networks: one from Ireland & one from Germany.

The final talk for the day was Bring Your Ancestors to Life: Using Court of Petty Session Records, presented by Shauna Hicks.  Shauna uses the term ‘petty sessions’ as an umbrella term for a wide range of court administered records.  These records were usually for minor criminal offences but the Court could also sit as Small Debts Courts, Police Courts, Licensing Courts, Children’s Courts & Coroners Courts.  Different colonies / states used named their Courts differently & also had variations in the Court’s responsibilities over time.  Shauna used Queenland’s State Archives to show the wide range of a court’s responsibilities & what types of records can be found.  Most State Archives have an online guide to the court records they hold. 

#AFFHO Congress 2015 - Part 3

Day Two of AFFHO Congress 2015

I missed the morning sessions on Saturday as I wasn’t feeling very well that morning.  I had been planning on going to Pauleen Cass’ talk The Marriage of Local and Family History – A Bridge to the Past, & Paul Milner’s Scotland - Maps and Gazetteers for Research.

So my first presentation for the day was by Jenny Joyce, The UK Gazettes – A Treasure Trove of Information for Family History.  Jenny used a variety of examples from the gazettes to illustrate the range of resources that are in the gazettes & how they can help you research ancestors, events & the social history of an area.  She also demonstrated how to access the gazettes online.

I attended the lunchtime session, Volunteering at The National Archives, by Roger Kershaw.  He presented an interesting list of the social, emotional & work-related benefits of being a volunteer at the archives.  Roger also displayed some data that showed how many hours were spent on a project by volunteers & compared it to how long it would have taken a paid employee to complete the same work & how much it would have cost the archives to pay that employee.  What can be achieved by volunteers (the whole ‘crowdsourcing’ concept) is staggering!  It costs almost nothing & is done in a fraction of the time, allowing more resources to be accessed by anyone online.

The afternoon keynote address was by Richard Reid, If You Ever Go Across the Sea to Ireland: Realities of 19^th Century Ireland.  I have ancestors from several Irish counties.  Richard really put the scope of emigration from north-west Donegal to NSW from 1859 - 1865 into perspective.  My 3^rd great grandfather emigrated from this area in 1861.  The richness of his descriptions of the conditions in Dunfanaghy & the wider area of Cloughaneely inspired me to buy his book, Farewell my Children so that I could learn more about the area specifically & emigration from Ireland around this time in general.

Kerry Farmer’s talk was Learn More from Autosomal & X-Chromosome DNA.  I had my DNA tested about 2 years ago but I haven’t really been able to do anything with it so far.  After listening to Kerry’s talk, I know that if I can get my parents’ DNA tested it will help me determine where segments of my autosomal DNA came from, & then I will be better able to determine how Family Finder matches on Family Tree DNA are related to me by using triangulation and phasing.  The idea of using GEDmatch to create a Lazarus kit for an untested direct ancestor is intriguing.  Again, if I’m able to test my parent/s’ DNA, I’ll be able to use GEDmatch to its fullest potential.  Unfortunately, people aren’t always comfortable ‘giving away’ their DNA for testing.  Kerry’s book, DNA for Genealogists, has just been newly revised & released, so I’m looking forward to using it & her website to look further into my DNA results & see what else I can learn.

The final session I attended for the day was Remembering and Commemorating our Ancestors by Perry McIntyre.  Perry stated that family historians & historians need to work together to construct a balanced written history.  She also showed images of a range of memorials & discussed how & why these memorials were erected to commemorate our ancestors & pivotal events in social history such as the Irish Famine & the diaspora.

#AFFHO Congress 2015 - Part 2

Day One of AFFHO Congress 2015 continued . . .

Roger Kershaw gave the after-lunch keynote address, Tracing Free Emigrants to Australasia.  His talk explained the records held by The National Archives (TNA) in the UK relating to a variety of government assisted schemes to encourage emigration to Australia & New Zealand.

Carol Baxter’s presentation, Help! Which Information is Correct? Tried-and-True Strategies for Determining Historical Truth, was so energetic & engaging.  It had me thinking about primary & secondary sources that are used in genealogy research.  This concept caused a lot of confusion & anxiety for many people who participated in UTAS’s Introduction to Family History unit over the summer; it also sparked a lot of discussion between the students, which was a good thing.  Carol analyses information sources in three ways: by its source, the information contained & the evidence it gives.  She categorises sources as original, derivative or authored work; information as primary, secondary or undetermined; & evidence as direct, indirect or negative.  Something Carol said that really resonated with me was to listen to a document’s voice when you weigh its evidence to help you determine whether the source is primary, secondary or undetermined.

I decided to go to Helen Smith’s presentation on The English Workhouse & its Records thinking that it might give me more insight into an ancestor’s experiences in an Irish workhouse.  Part way through the presentation I remembered that I had another ancestor who was in an English workhouse with some of her children after her husband had left the parish to avoid debtor’s prison.  In fact, several sources state that she died in Ticehurst Union Workhouse in Sussex in 1832.  However Helen’s talk, & further research into the Ticehurst Union Workhouse, shed doubt on this – this workhouse wasn’t built until 1835.  Helen discussed the social & political conditions that led to the formation of union workhouses, how people were admitted into the workhouse, what their life was like inside the workhouse & how people could leave the workhouse.  She also described what kinds of records are available for workhouses & where to find them.  Helen’s talk gave me some new avenues to research - now I just need to formulate a research plan (or several).

#AFFHO Congress 2015 - Part 1

I had a brilliant time at AFFHO Congress 2015 at Canberra last week.  I attended a lot of genealogy sessions, bought some books & met some fellow geneabloggers.  I got to hear some presenters that I have really been looking forward to & I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the talks by many other presenters who I didn't know much about before Congress, apart from reading their interviews with the official Congress bloggers, Jill Ball, Pauleen Cass & Shauna Hicks.

Although it was only a week ago, so much has happened since then that I wish I had taken the time to write down my thoughts during the conference about the different talks I attended.  I stayed with my son when I was in Canberra, & this was the first time I have been to visit him since he moved to Canberra for university 2 years ago, so I spent as much time with him as possible.  I was also surprisingly exhausted each night during the conference.  When I got back to Sydney, the last few days of Term 1 with my class were jam-packed, & I went to pick up my new puppy from the airport on Good Friday.  I have been living in puppy bliss since then  J

So this blog post about the conference won't be as comprehensive as it could have been. 

Day One of AFFHO Congress 2015

This was the first time I used my mobile phone as an alarm clock – I have to say that it wasn’t very effective.  About the only thing I think to take with me was my own alarm, which is very persistent & loud & will keep yelling at me for an hour straight no matter how many times I hit snooze.  I missed the Opening Address (in fact I missed all of the morning key note addresses), which I firmly blame on iPhone’s alarm.  Seriously though, my alarm clock will probably be the first thing I pack from now on.

The first presentation I attended was by Simon Fowler, ‘Shovelling Out Paupers’: Researching Assisted Emigration in English Archives.  It was a good introduction to the conference, as I hadn’t ever attended a genealogy event before.

Next up was Paul Milner’s Buried Treasures – What’s in the English Parish Chest.  I have heard of the mystical ‘Parish Chest’ before but to be honest, I didn’t know that it was particularly useful or accessible, so I hadn’t really looked into it.  I had seen Paul’s book of the same name publicised a few days before through Gould Genealogy’s newsletter, but didn’t give it too much thought for the same reasons mentioned previously.  Before the talk had even finished, I was convinced that I absolutely have to access parish chests because they are a veritable treasure trove of information.  A lot of the records have to do with providing welfare to the poor or needy as the parish of settlement was responsible for the welfare & old-age care of it members.  Other records include:

• vestry minutes;
• churchwarden accounts which list the expenditures of the church;
• parish lists, which may list all the inhabitants in the parish or just those who participated in a parish function;
• local militia lists, which may contain the names of all men in the parish who are eligible for militia service, or just those who actually served; &
• parish charities.

Paul was such a casual but engaging speaker - I think I could happily listen to him talk on almost any genealogy-related topic.

This blog post will have to be broken into several posts.

Btw, I loved the Congress app!  It made organising my schedule & knowing where I had to go & when I had to be there so much easier.  I’m even using it now to help me write this blog post J