My Genealogy Web Footprint - Part 1 - Genforum

Often when searching the web for ancestors I come across my own message board, forum, or mailing list posts from the last eight years of my family history research. 


As part of my ongoing organisation goal, I have decided to do a series of posts on this blog where I will collect all these references across the web in one place. I have decided to call this series of posts 'My Genealogy Web Footprint'. 


I will begin Part 1 by looking at all my old posts on Genforum. They date from the years 2003 and 2004. This was very early in my genealogy journey, which is sometimes a little obvious in my posts. 


My Genforum Posting History

Melbourne, Australia Genealogy Forum

• BROWN, FULLERTON, HOUGHTON, WEBBER, AUSTIN, COURT  25 May 2004.
  This post relates to the family of Mary Brown (nee Fullerton), sister of my Great Great Granfather Peter Fullerton. I need to make some corrections to the post I made in 2004: (1) John needs to be removed as a possible Fullerton child. There was no John as far as I know - I was following a false lead. Thomas was correct though. (2) Brown descendants surnames do not include Sullivan and Baker and the locations of interest do not include Beechworth. I had accidentally mixed up two cousins with identical names! This was before I had any contact with descendants of this family and fortunately a marriage certificate I purchased helped me realise my mistake. 

Victoria, Australia Genealogy Forum

• BROWN, Ballarat East & Melbourne  25 May 2004.
  This post was the same as the one above which was posted on the Melbourne forum. 

Bayer Family Genealogy Forum

• Re: BAYER Adam b 1863 GER to IND to KS  25 August 2003
  This post relates to a family I was searching for on the Internet for some close relatives with USA ancestors. 

Breen Family Genealogy Forum

• Hugh Breen m. Mary McDonald / Mary Breen m. Michael Kenny, Co, Armagh, Ireland  31 May 2003. This post relates to a brother (Hugh) and sister (Mary) of my Great Great Grandfather Michael O'Brien. You can read more about my O'Brien/Breen family here.
  Some corrections: I don't think the Kenny/Leathem marriage that I mention is relevant. 

Bright Family Genealogy Forum

• Sarah BRIGHT, born abt. 1734, Essex, England  28 July 2003.
  This post relates to my 6 x Great Grandmother Sarah Pettit (nee Bright), my earliest known direct maternal ancestor. Back in 2003 I was just starting my family history journey. Much of the information regarding my Essex connections had come from a family history published by a cousin. At that stage of my research I was madly searching the IGI (International Genealogical Index) on the FamilySearch web site and coming up with all sorts of results. I know now that wasn't real research as I was not verifying information by viewing the original documents. I have since verified some of these IGI records for my Essex families through the digitised parish registers available on the web site of the Essex Records Office. Not all Essex parishes are available online digital images but, lucky for me, St Edmund's Abbess Roding is among those available. There is still lots of research potential in my Essex families (Bright, Brown, Clinton, Flack, Judd, Peacock, Pettit, Randall, Simson) but I am leaving that for a later date. 

Chambers Family Genealogy Forum

• Re: Any Chambers roots in Lincolnshire  27 July 2003.
  This post relates to my Chambers ancestors from Lincolnshire, England. George Chambers, baptised 5 Jan 1834 Bracebridge Heath, Lincolnshire, was my Great Great Grandfather. Some corrections: This post has a lot of IGI material which has not been verified against original records. Also, I now have better birth year estimates for Thomas Chambers and Maria Marrows. Thomas Chambers was born about 1793 (aged 65 when he died in 1858) and Maria Marrows was born about 1788/89 in Middle Rasen, Lincolnshire (aged 79 when she died in 1867, birthplace from Census records). Like my Essex families, there is plenty more scope for research in my Chambers branch. I would especially like to explore the Lincs to the Past web site in more detail. Another item for my to-do list!

Dunn Family Genealogy Forum

• Re: Frederick Pidgeon Dunn Victoria Australia  9 March 2004.
  This was one of those 'possible leads' I followed which turned out not to be relevant.

Gehlen Family Genealogy Forum

• Re: Gehlen 19 August 2003
  Again, this post relates to a family I was searching for on the Internet for some close relatives with USA ancestors. 

Kerry, Ireland Genealogy Forum

• Re: MANNIX family--killarney  27 July 2003.
  This post relates to my Great Great Grandmother Cathrine McCarthy (nee Mannix). I have had some success recently searching for Church records related to her family via Irishgenealogy.ie

Judd Family Genealogy Forum

• JUDDs of Margaret Roding area, Essex, England  27 July 2003.
  This post is very short and general and relates to my Judd ancestors who all lived in the parish of Margaret Roding, Essex. 

Kenny Family Genealogy Forum

• Mary O'Brien/Breen m. Michael Kenny, County Armagh, Ireland  31 May 2003.
  This post is practically identical to the one I posted on the Breen Family Genealogy Forum (as mentioned above), it looks like I posted them on the same day too. 

McAllister Family Genealogy Forum

• Re: James Maylen/Maybury McAllister of Antrim  29 May 2003.
  This post relates to the family story that Sam McAllister (who was killed at this cottage in the Battle of Derrynamuck, Wicklow in December 1799, helping Michael Dwyer to escape) was a brother of my 4 x Great Grandmother Mary Breen (nee McAllister). 

O'Brien Family Genealogy Forum

• Re: Owen O'Brien from Massachusetts  21 July 2003.
• Re: Patrick O'Brien-Ireland to Liverpool  9 May 2003.
• Re: O'brien of Co. Armagh  9 May 2003.
• Re: Alice O'Brien Armagh Ireland 1854  9 May 2003.
• Re: ARMAGH TO FRONTENAC COUNTY ONTARIO  9 May 2003.
• Re: O'Briens, County Armagh, N. Ireland  5 May 2003.
• Re: O'Briens, County Armagh, N. Ireland  5 May 2003.
• O'Briens, County Armagh, N. Ireland  5 May 2003.
• Re: From N.Ire to Victoria County, Ontario  5 May 2003.
• O'Briens, Ireland  5 May 2003.
• Re: Owen O'Brien from Massachusetts  5 May 2003.
  
  These are various posts regarding my O'Brien/Breen family. Many of these were posted very early in my family history journey.

Peacock Family Genealogy Forum

• Re: PEACOCK in Essex Co., England  28 July 2003.
  This post relates to the family of my 5 x Great Grandparents Peter Peacock and Ann Pettit. Again, there is a lot of IGI information here, and lots of potential for further research. 

Pettit Family Genealogy Forum

• Re: Pettitts from Essex,ENG 1500s-1700s  28 July 2003.
  This post is basically the same as the post mentioned above from the Bright Family Genealogy Forum.This post relates to the family of my 6 x Great Grandparents Francis Pettit and Sarah Bright. 

Pickess Family Genealogy Forum

• Pickis/Pickes etc., Norwich, Norfolk & London  3 August 2003.
  I just noticed some of the interesting replies to this post which I haven't seen before! This post relates to my Pickis ancestors. Catherine Helen Pickis was my 3 x Great Grandmother. She was born in 1824 in London and was baptised  on 26 September 1824 in the parish of All Hallows the Great, the daughter of Robert Paul Pickis and his wife Elizabeth (I haven't found out her maiden name yet!).  

Randall Family Genealogy Forum

• Randalls of Essex, England  28 July 2003.
  This post relates to the family of my 4 x Great Grandparents, Edward Randall and Elizabeth Judd, of Margaret Roding, Essex, England. Again, there is a lot of IGI information here and still lots of verification work to do in the future.

Tangney Family Genealogy Forum

• Tangney/Cronin/McCarthy County Kerry, Ireland  2 September 2003.
  This post relates to the family of my 3 x Great Grandmother, Honora McCarthy (nee Tangney), who was, according to information from Australian certificates, born about 1806 in County Kerry, Ireland. Her parents names were Patrick Tangney and Julia Cronin. Honora married John McCarthy on 26 February 1832 in the Catholic parish of Firies, County Kerry. A transcript of the record of their marriage can be seen here at Irishgenealogy.ie. There is much potential for further research through that useful web site.

In Part 2 of My Genealogy Web Footprint series, I will explore some of my posts to Rootsweb Mailing Lists.

Copyright © 2011 Australian Genealogy Journeys. Footprint created by the author using Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 and screenshots. 

Beyond the Internet Geneameme

Pauleen at the Family history across the seas blog has created a Geneameme which focuses on genealogy resources beyond the Internet. 

Here is my contribution to the Beyond the Internet Geneameme. 

Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
You are encouraged to add extra comments in brackets after each item

1. Looked at microfiche for BDM indexes which go beyond the online search dates. (for Queensland before they were online)
2. Talked to elderly relatives about your family history.
3. Obtained old family photos from relatives.
4. Have at least one certificate (birth/death/marr) for each great-grandparent.
5. Have at least one certificate (birth/death/marr) for each great-great-grandparent.
6. Seen/held a baptism or marriage document in a church, church archive or microfilm.
7. Seen your ancestor’s name in some other form of church record eg kirk session, communion rolls.
8. Used any microfilm from an LDS family history centre for your research. Parish register for the Catholic parish of Clane, County Kildare, Ireland. 
9. Researched using a microfilm other than a parish register (LDS family history centre/other). e.g. Ships passenger lists at the Public Record Office Victoria, Irish tithe records at the State Library of Victoria.
10. Used cemetery burial records to learn more about your relative’s burial. I researched records for my local cemetery (where several of my ancestors are buried) as part of an assignment for the Graduate Diploma in Local Family and Applied History through the University of New England.
11. Used funeral director’s registers to learn more about your relative’s burial. Sort of, I have obtained prints of indexed funeral directors records from the Bendigo Family History Group's excellent Database compiled by volunteers. 
12. Visited all your great-grandparents’ grave sites. Some, not all.
13. Visited all your great-great-grandparents’ grave sites. Some, not all.
14. Recorded the details on your ancestors’ gravestones and photographed them. But not all ancestors, lots more cemeteries to visit and gravestones to photograph.
15. Obtained a great-grandparent’s will/probate documents. Some, not all.
16. Obtained a great-great grandparent’s will/probate documents. Some, not all.
17. Found a death certificate among will documents.
18. Followed up in the official records, something found on the internet.
19. Obtained a copy of your immigrant ancestors’ original shipping records. Some, not all.
20. Found an immigration nomination record for your immigrant ancestor.
21. Found old images of your ancestor’s place of origin (online or other).
22. Read all/part of a local history for your ancestor’s place of residence.
23. Read all/part of a local history for your ancestor’s place of origin.
24. Read your ancestor’s school admission records.
25. Researched the school history for your grandparents.
26. Read a court case involving an ancestor (online newspapers don’t count for this).
27. Read about an ancestor’s divorce case in the archives.
28. Have seen an ancestor’s war medals.
29. Have an ancestor’s military record (not a digitised copy eg WWII).
30. Read a war diary or equivalent for an ancestor’s battle.
31. Seen an ancestor’s/relative’s war grave.
32. Read all/part of the history of an ancestor’s military unit (battalion/ship etc).
33. Seen your ancestor’s name on an original land map. Do maps on microfiche count?
34. Found land selection documents for your immigrant ancestor/s.
35. Found other land documents for your ancestor (home/abroad)
36. Located land maps or equivalent for your ancestor’s place of origin.
37. Used contemporaneous gazetteers or directories to learn about your ancestors’ places.
38. Found your ancestor’s name in a Post Office directory of the time.
39. Used local government sewerage maps (yes, seriously!) for an ancestor’s street.
40. Read an inquest report for an ancestor/relative (online/archives).
41. Read an ancestor’s/relative’s hospital admission. Again thanks to the Bendigo Family History Group's excellent Database.
42. Researched a company file if your family owned a business.
43. Looked up any of your ancestor’s local government rate books or valuation records.
44. Researched occupation records for your ancestor/s (railway, police, teacher etc).
45. Researched an ancestor’s adoption.
46. Researched an ancestor’s insolvency.
47. Found a convict ancestor’s passport or certificate of freedom. (I haven't found any convicts yet, though I know there were lots of convicts who share my Irish surnames and I'm sure some of them were probably related to my gold rush ancestors!)
48. Found a convict ancestor’s shipping record.
49. Found an ancestor’s gaol admission register. 
50. Found a licencing record for an ancestor (brands, publican, etc). Only in indexes so far, I still need to get to the archives to look at original records.
51. Found an ancestor’s mining lease/licence.
52. Found an ancestor’s name on a petition to government.
53. Read your ancestor’s citizenship document.
54. Read about your ancestor in an undigitised regional newspaper.
55. Visited a local history library/museum relevant to your family.
56. Looked up your ancestor’s name in the Old Age Pension records.
57. Researched your ancestor or relative in Benevolent Asylum/Workhouse records.
58. Researched an ancestor’s/relative’s mental health records.
59. Looked for your family in a genealogical publication of any sort (but not online remember).
60. Contributed family information to a genealogical publication.

So many things still to do!  Happy researching everyone!

Copyright © 2011 Australian Genealogy Journeys. Clip art from Open Clip Art Library. 

Tombstone Tuesday - Illabo Cemetery

I had previously seen this little country cemetery through the windows of the Melbourne-Sydney CountryLink XPT Train. When I went to Sydney earlier this year to visit close relatives, I made a note on my iPod touch which simply read 'Illabo Cemetery'. 

In September, my parents and I made a journey to Canberra by car, again to see close relatives. We decided to take a scenic route and see some of the country we usually see through the window of the express train - Junee, Cootamundra, Murrumburrah-Harden etc. We stopped to take photographs of many Churches on our journey and we also decided to stop for a couple of minutes at the Illabo Cemetery. The Illabo Cemetery is located just off the Olympic Hwy, 1 km west of Illabo. Illabo is between Junee and Cootamundra. 

I took a selection of photographs of the gravestones at the Illabo Cemetery, though my photographs are not great quality. I did not find any surnames from my family tree but I thought there must have been some reason why I stopped to photograph gravestones at that cemetery. Therefore I am placing the photographs here for other genealogists. I hope they are useful for someone's family history.


Illabo Cemetery Photographs on Picasa Web Albums.

We ended our stop at the Illabo Cemetery by having the privilege of seeing a Superb Parrot (a threatened species) in a gum tree just near the last group of graves I photographed. 

From Illabo Cemetery

Further reading:

• Australian Cemeteries - Illabo Cemetery
• Illabo Cemetery - Junee Shire Council
• Book: Bethungra, Illabo &​ Wantabadgery cemeteries : headstone inscriptions /​ compiled by Brain Humphrys.(1999)

Copyright © 2011 Australian Genealogy Journeys.

Trove uncovers a treasure

It is always a great idea to 're-search' the National Library of Australia's Trove search portal for your ancestors' names in digitised newspapers. As more titles are added to those already digitised, and as more text corrections are made, new search matches are appearing all the time. I can see I need to set up a few more RSS feeds for search terms related to my ancestors if I don't want to miss new search results!


Here is a treasure from the Sydney newspaper Empire, 27 March 1855,  which I uncovered on Trove over the weekend. 

1855 'Advertising.', Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875), 27 March, p. 1, viewed 15 October, 2011, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60181069

SUSAN HEHIR.- If this should meet the eye of Susan Hehir, of Killoo, County Clare, Ireland, who left Ireland for Melbourne, per Ship Honora, February 1854, she will hear of her sister Bridget Hehir, by addressing a Letter to J. N. MORCOM, Bohrarra, near Maitland, New South Wales.

Until now we did not know on which ship my Great Great Grandmother (Susan Ellis nee Hehir) arrived in Australia. But now the question is, what was the ship Honora which "left Ireland for Melbourne...February 1854"? So far I can't find any information about a ship called the Honora online via PROV Passenger Lists or through Trove or a Google search. I have tried spelling variations of the name Honora, without success. I have also searched the PROV Passenger Lists index for all ships beginning with H which arrived in Melbourne (with passengers) in the first six months of 1854. Any suggestions where I could look next? I can see some offline research at the library might be necessary here. 


Thanks to all the people who help to digitise these newspapers, and to all the volunteers who help with text correction. Trove is an invaluable resource!

---

Here is an idea I just came up with today. Please let me know your thoughts.


There are certain types of articles in the digitised newspapers on Trove that potentially have value to genealogists - Birth, Death and Marriage Notices, Missing Friends, Ships Passenger Lists etc. (I have personally also found stock reports useful for finding references to my cattle droving ancestors!) However, many genealogically significant articles are still not searchable as they need text correction. I have a couple of Trove accounts and have been contributing text corrections every so often since 2008, but I would like to contribute more and I'm looking for a structured way of achieving this. 

A little while ago I created the 'Genealogy Bloggers' group on Trove forums. I am ashamed to admit I actually did not get to look at the group again until today. Thank you very much to six fellow Genealogy bloggers for joining the group! 


So this is my idea:  

• If, while searching Trove for our own ancestors, we come across a genealogically significant newspaper article (ie. an article with lots of names) which needs text correction, and we don't have time to correct the text at that moment, we could add the article to a particular public list or tag it with a particular public tag. 
• When we genealogy bloggers have a few spare minutes we could select an article from the list/tag that has not yet been corrected and correct it.
• Alternatively, we could add the article URL to a discussion on the Genealogy Bloggers group on Trove forum, or we could tweet a link to the article with a particular Twitter hash tag. Or perhaps we could use features of another social bookmarking site such as a collaborative group on Diigo? Or perhaps we could create a circle on Google+ for this purpose? It's a matter of finding the best way to share this information with fellow genealogy bloggers so we can collaborate. Which way is it?

I'd love to know what others think of these ideas. Maybe someone is already doing this somewhere else? Please share your thoughts. Thanks.

Copyright © 2011 Australian Genealogy Journeys.

The Ancestors' Geneameme

Geniaus has created another genealogy themed meme - The Ancestors' Geneameme. Here is my contribution.

The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type 

Which of these apply to you?

1.  Can name my 16 great-great-grandparents
2.  Can name over 50 direct ancestors
3.  Have photographs or portraits of my 8 great-grandparents
4.  Have an ancestor who was married more than three times (not more than three times, but two of my Great Great Great Grandfathers married three times).
5.  Have an ancestor who was a bigamist (Not a direct ancestor)
6.  Met all four of my grandparents (My Grandpa died when I was two, my Grandad died twelve years before I was born).
7.  Met one or more of my great-grandparents
8.  Named a child after an ancestor
9.  Bear an ancestor's given name/s
10.  Have an ancestor from Great Britain or Ireland (all of them as far as I can prove, I'm just waiting for evidence of that Spanish ancestor to turn up!)
11.  Have an ancestor from Asia 
12.  Have an ancestor from Continental Europe
13.  Have an ancestor from Africa
14.  Have an ancestor who was an agricultural labourer (lots of them!)
15.  Have an ancestor who had large land holdings (haven't yet verified my connection to a landed gentry family in England. My Great Grandfather once owned a station property on the Nullabor Plain in Western Australia with his brothers...I don't think it lasted very long and they didn't live there as far as I know. My 3 x Great Uncle had a station property in Far North Queensland)
16.  Have an ancestor who was a holy man - minister, priest, rabbi (several Catholic priests in my family tree, brothers of my great grandmother.)
17.  Have an ancestor who was a midwife
18.  Have an ancestor who was an author
19.  Have an ancestor with the surname Smith, Murphy or Jones (Smith and Jones, I haven't found a direct ancestor named Murphy...yet!)
20.  Have an ancestor with the surname Wong, Kim, Suzuki or Ng
21.  Have an ancestor with a surname beginning with X
22.  Have an ancestor with a forename beginnining with Z
23.  Have an ancestor born on 25th December (My Grandad was born on Christmas eve)
24.  Have an ancestor born on New Year's Day
25.  Have blue blood in your family lines (maybe if I verify that landed gentry connection in England)
26.  Have a parent who was born in a country different from my country of birth
27.  Have a grandparent who was born in a country different from my country of birth
28.  Can trace a direct family line back to the eighteenth century
29.  Can trace a direct family line back to the seventeenth century or earlier
30.  Have seen copies of the signatures of some of my great-grandparents
31.  Have ancestors who signed their marriage certificate with an X
32.  Have a grandparent or earlier ancestor who went to university (...does a 4 x great grandfather who was a servant at an Oxford college count? If I can verify a family line in England I could potentially have some University educated ancestors from the 17th century. Other than that, members of my parents generation and my generation are the first people in my family tree to have the opportunity to be educated at university, for which I am very grateful.) 
33.  Have an ancestor who was convicted of a criminal offence (no convict direct ancestors that I know of...but my ex-London-policeman 3 x great grandfather got a fine for handcuffing some drunk policemen in his pub on the Victorian goldfields and marching them to the police station...)
34.  Have an ancestor who was a victim of crime (I have found a newspaper article through Trove which mentions how my 3 x great grandfather's horse was stolen. I have also found a notice in the Victorian Police Gazette on Findmypast.com.au about another 3 x great grandfather who had some cows stolen). 
35.  Have shared an ancestor's story online or in a magazine (I had a short article published in the Genealogical Society of Victoria's journal Ancestor earlier this year regarding my Fullerton ancestors.)
36.  Have published a family history online or in print 
37.  Have visited an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries
38.  Still have an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries in the family 
39.  Have a  family bible from the 19th Century (I do have copies of pages from a 19th Century Bible).
40.  Have a pre-19th century family bible 

Copyright © 2011 Australian Genealogy Journeys. Clip art from Open Clip Art Library. 

Australian Church photos on Flickr

Australian Churches, a set on Flickr.

I have just started a set of photos on my Flickr account called 'Australian Churches'. I hope to progressively add more photographs of churches from different areas across Victoria and New South Wales (and other states if I travel there!).

Other places you can find photographs of Australia Churches include:
Flickr Group - Churches & Cathedrals - Australia & New Zealand
Flickr Group - Australian Churches and Places of Worship
Australasia Church Albums
Picture Australia


I admit there is a bit of a bias towards photographs of Catholic Churches in my collection so far but I certainly hope to add photographs of Churches of other denominations too!!

Copyright © 2011 Australian Genealogy Journeys.