Australian Genealogy Journeys: June 2011

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

I'll be away for a while

Due to some important family commitments (I'm helping with housekeeping for a close relative, until the newest leaf of our family tree arrives!), I will be putting blogging and other social media (e.g. Twitter) on hold for about a month.

Until then, happy researching!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Books – 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week 23

Week 23. Books. What was your favorite book, or who was your favorite author from your childhood? What do you like to read now? Books or other formats?

Favourite Books From My Childhood

I love books and I haved loved books since early childhood. I thank my Mum for this love of books. I remember her reading me the Milly Molly Mandy book series, books about The Muddle-Headed Wombat and the Children's Bible.

The ex-Library collection
When I was going through Mum's bookshelf to find my favourite childhood books, I noticed that a lot of the books I remember looking at were ex-library books. Mum says I picked several of these up at the library among the cancelled books for sale. She says the stories weren't that marvelous. I only really remember looking the pictures!

I remember I loved to look at the pictures in this ex-library copy of Star Wars: The Wookie Storybook (Random House, 1979).

Well really, the pictures were quite exciting! Lots of pen scribbles in this book though.
Did I make those scribbles? Mum says, "Just possibly you did!"

Another ex-library book I remember was Paul Gallico's Manxmouse (Heinemann, London, 1968). I just loved to look at the illustrations by Janet and Anne Grahame-Johnstone. I still know absolutely nothing about the story - I only liked the pictures!

The Cow Who Fell In The Canal by Phyllis Krasilovsky, illustrated by Peter Spier (1957).
I loved to look at the pictures in this book and I also loved to hear the story.

Other favourite childhood books

I loved many of the Little Golden Books, but this one was my absolute favourite.
Walt Disney's Story of The Little House (Golden Press Ltd./Walt Disney Productions, 1970). This is a Little Golden Book version of the 1952 Walt Disney cartoon The Little House. I had never seen the original cartoon until just now when I found a copy of it on YouTube!

The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman (Random House, 1968). I remember liking this book as well books by Dr Seuss. My favourite Dr Seuss books include: Oh the Places You'll Go, Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? and The Lorax,

Busy Day Busy People by Tibor Gergely (Random House, 1973).
I loved to look at the illustrations in this book. There was just so much going on!

Owl At Home by Arnold Lobel (Scholastic Book Services, 1975). I really liked the stories in this book, especially the one about 'Tear Water Tea' where owl makes himself cry by thinking of sad things e.g."songs that cannot be sung...because the words have been forgotten", "spoons that have fallen behind the stove and are never seen again", "books that cannot be read...because some of the pages have been torn out" and "mornings nobody saw because everybody was sleeping". I'm nearly crying just listing these (and laughing at the same time)!!

The Little Puppy by Judy Dunn (Random House, 1984). I love animals so I remember liking this book. Possibly I also liked it because it was bought especially for me (Many of the other books I have featured so far were given to my older brothers and sisters). My name is written on the inside of this book along with a note that says 'she got it at a book bazaar at school 1988'.

The Little Lamb by Judy Dunn (Random House, 1977). We found this book in a bookstore after I had already owned The Little Puppy for several years. I really like sheep and had several pet lambs so this book was a welcome addition to my collection.

Even more books from my childhood
I remember reading and enjoying many books by Bill Peet including Buford the Little Bighorn which one of my brothers gave me as a birthday gift.
I also had several of the 'Happy Time Books' hardcover books of Walt Disney films.
One of my brothers had a collection of children's books by Dick Roughsey and Percy Tresize which featured Indigenous Australian stories. I remember really enjoying those books too.

Books I read during my Teens
Apart from the books they make you read in High School (few of which I liked), during my teens I read books by J.R.R. Tolkien, Lloyd Alexander, C.S. Lewis and L.M. Montgomery. Probably like many of my fellow genealogists (hope I'm not generalising here!) I spent a lot of my time in the library when I was at school!

What Do I Like To Read Now?
I still like to read all of the books mentioned above because I am nostalgic! Since my teens I have read all Jane Austen's books and several of Louisa May Alcott's books as well are more of L.M. Montgomery's . After searching for similar books to Austen, Alcott or Montgomery, I have recently been reading inspirational historical fiction from various authors including Laura Frantz, Linore Rose Burkard and Kim Vogel Sawyer. I have been downloading sample ebooks to Kindle on my iPod Touch so I can try books before I buy them. I still prefer to read whole books in normal physical format rather than electronically.
I also like to read genealogy/history books, Catholic books and sometimes information technology how-to books.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts that invite genealogists and others to record memories and insights about their own lives for future descendants

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Someone's Ancestor Sunday - Susan Ellis (nee Hehir) Photo Album - Part 17

This is the last unidentified photograph from my Great Great Grandmother's Susan (nee Hehir) Ellis' photo album. There are no identifying marks on the back or the front of this Cabinet Card.

Photograph of an unknown man from Susan Ellis (nee Hehir) Photo Album.
This photograph is a Cabinet Card. c1880s/1890s.
There are no identifying marks on the front or the back of the photograph.
The chair used as a prop in this photograph appears to be the same (or similar) chair
used as a prop in the Cabinet Card I featured in my post on
1 Marc 2011, Do these photographs show the same people?
The Cabinet Card photograph featured in that post was attributed to 'Academy of Photography, Hansen, Bendigo.'
Could the photograph above have also been taken in Bendigo?

If you are interested, you can look at all the blog posts featuring unidentified photographs from Susan's album here: Susan Ellis (nee Hehir) Photo Album.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Someone's Ancestor Sunday - Susan Ellis (nee Hehir) Photo Album - Part 16

Here is another photograph from my Great Great Grandmother's Susan (nee Hehir) Ellis' photo album. There are no identifying marks on the back or the front of the photograph.

Photograph of an unknown young man from Susan Ellis (nee Hehir) Photo Album.
This photograph is a Carte de visite. There are no identifying marks on the front or the back of the photograph.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Someone's Ancestor Sunday - Susan Ellis (nee Hehir) Photo Album - Part 15

It's hard to believe it is almost a month since I last posted on my blog. I have been away from home and away from my usual Internet connection for the last few weeks due to family commitments.

Here is another photograph from my Great Great Grandmother's (Susan Ellis nee Hehir) photo album for this weeks Someone's Ancestor Sunday. This weeks photograph is the second of two tintypes in Susan's album. The first tintype was featured in Part 14.

This photograph features two unknown children. There are no other identifying marks on the photograph.

Photograph of two unknown children from Susan Ellis (nee Hehir) Photo Album.
This photograph is a Tintype. It is small, about the size of a Carte de visite. The corners of the photograph are cut off. c1880s-1890s. There are no identifying marks on the front or the back of the photograph.