February Photo Collage - Fullerton Family

Julie from Anglers Rest has launched the February Photo Collage Festival inspired by Pauleen from Family History Across the Seas and Kristin of Finding Eliza. The challenge is to:

1. Sign Up using the linky at the bottom of Julie's post.
2. Create a collage of your photos.
3. Then each day from 1st February take one of those photos in turn and using the photograph as a visual prompt produce a post with the photograph and the narrative to accompany it.
4. At the end of February you will have used 28 photos and explored the details behind it. You might even have identified some research still to do it!
5. Visited the other participants and made some new blogging friends!

I have decided to incorporate this challenge with the other challenge I am taking on during February - The Family History Writing Challenge - by creating a collage of 28 photographs from my Fullerton family history project.

Below is a collage of 28 photographs related to my Fullerton family history. Many cousins have contributed these photographs to my collection and I do not wish to display all of them on this blog with identifying information (as some feature relatives born after 1900). However, I will use one photograph each day as a prompt to research and write about that person. Where the relative was born before 1900 I will endeavour to post some information to this blog. So, I may not be able to contribute to the February Photo Collage challenge each day during February but I will attempt to contribute on as many days as possible.

Thanks Julie for this great idea!

 

 © 2013. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.

The Family History Writing Challenge

One of the Goals for 2013 that I made at the beginning of this month was:

Make plans for my Fullerton family history book. Use Personal Historian 2 to help organise the story structure.

Writing the history of the Fullerton family has been a goal of mine since I first started researching the family in 2004. Many, many, people have helped me and contributed information over the years, including the 130 descendants who came to the Fullerton reunion in October 2010. It is hard to believe that it is nearly 10 years since I started researching and over two years since the family reunion. I have found myself a little overwhelmed by all the family history data I have collected over those years for the Fullertons and for my other ancestral families. Distractions, other life issues outside of genealogy, and the enormous scale of my disorganisation (which I have written about many times on this blog)  have caused me to procrastinate about the actual task of writing.

I've read the books on writing family histories; I've created a detailed timeline; I've entered all the Fullerton data into my genealogy software with source citations; I've tagged hundreds of articles on Trove; I've even written up a chapter plan - but I still don't have the family history I committed to write. I feel disappointed every time I think of it. I've been trying to chip away little by little at my disorganised data collection for the past two years, and I hope I have had some success. However, there is still a way to go.

I've decided I'm not going to let my ongoing organisation tasks stop me from actually starting to write. All the books I've read make it clear that you should write as you research because that helps you to see the gaps in your research and see where you can 'fill in the holes'. I know there is huge potential for more archival and library research but, to be honest, I have put that part of my genealogy hobby aside for the past two years due in part to my disorganisation, but mostly due to other issues in my life. I want to change that. I want 2013 to be different. I want this to be the year I actually start to meet some of my long term goals.

With all of this in mind, I have decided to take up the 28 Day Family History Writing Challenge from the 1st until the 28th of February this year. I will commit to writing 500 words a day for my Fullerton family history. During February I will blog occasionally to keep you all up-to-date with my progress.

 © 2012. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.

Australia Day 2013 - Earliest Australian Ancestors

Happy Australia Day everyone!

Helen from From Helen V Smith's Keyboard has created the 2013 Australia Day Challenge. The challenge is as follows:

...tell the story of your first Australian ancestors. To make it fair to both the male and female sides of your heritage why not make it two stories? One each on the earliest ancestor on each side? 

I have left it a little late to prepare a detailed post this time. However, I will link to some previous posts on this blog about my earliest Australian ancestors.

My earliest Australian ancestors on my Dad's side of the family are my 3 x Great Grandparents, William Fullerton and Mary (nee Dunne) Fullerton who arrived in Melbourne, Victoria, as assisted immigrants on the Himalaya in 1840. I have already written a lot about the Fullertons on this blog in the past, including the following posts:

• Finding the Fullertons 
• Australia Day 2011 - The earliest documentation for my Australian ancestors

My earliest Australian ancestors on my Mum's side of the family are my 3 x Great Grandparents Edward Randall and Mary Ann (nee Brown) Randall.  Edward, Mary Ann and six children arrived in Adelaide, South Australia on the Princess Royal in June 1848. For more information about the Randall family, please see my post R is for Randall - Family History Through the Alphabet.

 © 2013. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.

Trove Tuesday - Catherine McCarthy Obituary

Obituary.
We regret to chronicle the death of Mrs Catherine M'Carthy, which sad event occurred at her residence, Heathcote, last Saturday morning at the advanced age of 70 years, the immediate cause of death being pneumonia. The deceased lady, who was widely and respectfully known, was a colonist of 52 years, the whole of which time she resided at Commissioner's Flat, having come to Heathcote in the sixties. She was a native of County Kerry, Ireland, and came to Australia in the sailing vessel, the Champion, as a young woman, being married in Melbourne. Five sons and three daughters are left to mourn their sad loss, being Mrs Murphy (Seymour), Mrs E. Ryan (Heathcote), and Messrs Edward, Patrick, John and Dennis (Heathcote) and James (Leeton, N S. Wales). The funeral, which was largely attended, took place to the Heathcote cemetery on Sunday afternoon. The last sad rites at the graveside were conducted by the Rev. Father Bellaseni, and the mortuary arrangements were carried out by Messrs Perry Bros.

Source: 1917 'Obituary.', The McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser(Heathcote, Vic. : 1863 - 1918), 5 July, p. 3, viewed 22 January, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74699084

For more information about my Great Great Grandmother, Catherine McCarthy (nee Mannix) (1842-1917), please see my Family History Through the Alphabet X is for X as in Mannix post.

 © 2013. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.

Regarding Blog Awards

Blogging Genealogy: Blog Awards & SEO - BloggingGenealogy.com
Caroline Pointer has very recently posted an interesting post at her Blogging Genealogy blog regarding the negative  hidden search engine optimisation effects of blog awards.

I have recently been honoured by fellow geneabloggers with two blog awards: the Blog of the Year 2012 award (of which I blogged about yesterday) and the Wonderful Team Readership award (for which I was composing a post). These awards were really appreciated.
However, Caroline's post has confirmed some  uneasiness I felt about the system of blog awards.

I really appreciate the nominations I received for these blog awards and the bloggers I nominated were chosen because I genuinely enjoyed their blogs and wanted to acknowledge them on my blog. With this in mind I will soon create a 'blogs I follow' post acknowledging and linking to many of the blogs I read and enjoy.

Thanks to all my blog followers, especially those who nominated my blog for the blog awards. I really appreciate all of my readers and fellow geneabloggers.

Blog of the Year 2012 Award

The Blog of the Year 2012 Award.
With Thanks to Catherine of Seeking Susan ~ Meeting Marie ~ Finding Family

I was honoured to be nominated for the Blog of the Year 2012 Award by Catherine of Seeking Susan ~ Meeting Marie ~ Finding Family. Many thanks Catherine for this honour.

The rules for accepting the Blog of the Year 2012 Award are as follows:

1. Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award

2. Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.

3. Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award –http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/ and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)

4. Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them

5. If you choose, you can now join our Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience

6. As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars… For further information on collecting stars, just click on the link provided in Rule 3.

These are the rules, however I am going to bend rule 6 a little by saying there is no need to link back to my blog, my nominations are the same regardless.

 

I would like to nominate the following blogs for the Blog of the Year 2012 Award. I know for some of these great blogs this will mean an extra star for their award banner.

• Pauleen at Family History Across the Seas. Pauleen writes consistent high quality informative blog posts and her efforts in 2012 with the Beyond the Internet Series deserve special mention.  
• Jill at Geniaus.  Jill's blog consistently gives timely and useful information about the applications of social media and technology in genealogy, she also writes often of her journeys to archives and other repositories and of her attendance and participation at genealogy conferences such as RootsTech.
• Alona at Gould Genealogy & History News. This is the best blog to follow for timely and useful genealogy news. Alona was also the person responsible for the successful Family History Through the Alphabet challenge.
• Sharn at FamilyHistory4U. Sharn's posts are high quality and thoroughly researched. 
• Merron at Western District Families. Many of Merron's quality posts are obviously the result of many hours research on her own and other families of the Western District of Victoria, Australia.
• Michele at Ancestoring's Ask a Genealogist. Michele is a professional genealogist and her posts address genealogy methodology and answers to blog readers genealogy questions.
• Michelle at The Turning of Generations. In 2012 Michelle created the Twenty First Century Organized Family Historian (21COFH) blog series. I have saved many of her useful 21COFH posts as reference for my own genealogy organisation goals. 

Congratulations and thank you to all the bloggers behind these great blogs. 

Thank you again to Catherine of Seeking Susan ~ Meeting Marie ~ Finding Family for nominating my blog. It is a honour, thanks. 

Please see Regarding Blog Awards for some information I discovered the day after posting this award.

 © 2013. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.

Motivation Monday - Goals for January 2013

My goals for December 2012 were:

1. Reacquaint myself with the features of the various genealogy software products I have on my computer (Legacy 7.5, RootsMagic 4, Family Tree Maker 2012, Family Historian and Personal Historian 2). Achieved partially. During December I read up to page 35 (of 238 pages) of the PDF copy of Getting the Most From Family Historian 5. I will continue with this goal in January. 
2. Finish reading at least one genealogy book. Achieved. During December I read The Surnames Handbook by Debbie Kennett. 
3. Crop, rename and tag photographs (with tags for names, places, events etc.) from my Photos folder. During December I will aim to do this for all photographs from the folders for the years 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. Not achieved. I worked on tagging photographs from the year 2000 during December, but I also spent time scanning my siblings albums of pre-digital photographs from 1997 to 2001. 

My goals for January 2013 are:

1. I will continue with scanning several of my siblings pre-digital camera photograph albums, before I begin tagging all my photographs. I am, however, making a resolution to tag all my 2013 photographs as I add them to my computer. I am looking forward to the day I can find the photographs I am looking for with a simple tag search! (Goals for 2013 Organisation Goal)
2. Read up to at least page 98 of Getting the Most From Family Historian 5. (Goals for 2013 Education Goal)
3. Check through my Starred items in Gmail, and reply to any overdue emails. (Goals for 2013 Correspondence Goal)
4. Correct the text of 5-10 articles tagged at Trove and then post at least one Trove Tuesday post to this blog. (Goals for 2013 Writing, Research and 'Giving Back' Goal)
5. Check for any new matches at FamilyTreeDNA. Write another Genetic Genealogy Journey blog post. (Goals for 2013 Research Goal)

 © 2013. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.

Goals for 2013

Goals achieved in 2012 (from my Goals for 2012)

• Organise a new family history folder arrangement on my computer hard drive. In 2012 I finished organising my genealogy files from a 'to sort' folder into a Genealogy folder arrangement on my hard drive (as described in January 2012 in my 21COFH Week 2 post).
• Organise my Bookshelves on Google Books. 
• Sort out all the items I have saved in my Ancestry Shoebox.
• Learn to use all the features of Adobe Photoshop Elements 10.
• Buy an Android Smartphone and use it for genealogy research.

1. Organsation

Organisation goals in progress in 2012 and ongoing in 2013

• Organise, tag and label the photographs on my computer (digital photos as well as scanned photos and documents). I am progressing with this goal. In 2013, I hope to continue adding tag keywords to the files metadata with relevant names, places, events etc.
• Set up template spreadsheets to record all research and correspondence. I have  set up templates, but I have not yet started to implement them. 
• Start my new Legacy file beginning with myself and working backwards methodically, recording all sources, attaching relevant source documents and attaching photographs. I started this new file during 2012 and I hope to continue with this goal in 2013.

Organisation goals 'to do' in 2013 (recycled from 2012)

• Photograph/scan all the family history material I have storied in hardcopy in folders. 
• Work out what to do with my collection of genealogy magazines, books and CDs. 
• Sort out the 'family history box' - the general place I put family history related clippings from newspapers etc. 

2. Education 
Education goals in progress in 2012 and ongoing in 2013

• Reacquaint myself with the features of the various genealogy software products I have on my computer (Legacy 7.5, RootsMagic 4, Family Tree Maker 2012, Family Historian and Personal Historian 2)

3. Correspondence and Writing Goals (Recycled from 2012)

• Try to reply to emails and message board posts in a more timely manner. This is a very important goal for me. I am quite behind in correspondence and I apologise to anyone whom I have not yet been able to send information to. I will try to get back to you very soon. 
• Try to write on my blog at least once or twice a week. I hope to post many more Trove Tuesday posts in 2013. 
• Make plans for my Fullerton family history book. Use Personal Historian 2 to help organise the story structure.

4. Research

Research goals in progress in 2012 and ongoing in 2013

• Look into the possibility of using DNA in my O'Brien/Breen research. I progressed on this goal in 2012 and I hope to continue exploring genetic genealogy in 2013. 
• Continue researching the various Hehir families who came to Australia and are likely related to my ancestor Susan Hehir. 
• Newspaper research on Trove and at the library.

Research goals 'to do' in 2013 (recycled from 2012)

• Do more offline research in libraries, archives and cemeteries.
• Visit more of my ancestors grave sites. 
• Visit relatives to scan photograph albums. 
• Develop research plans and begin using my research logs.

5. Giving Back

Giving Back Goals in progress in 2012 and ongoing in 2013

• Continue participating in the Genealogists for Families Project on Kiva.
• Contribute text corrections more often on Trove.
• Add many more Church photographs to my Australian Church photos on Flickr.

Giving Back Goals 'to do' in 2013 (recycled from 2012)

• Join the local family history group. 

My most important goal in 2013 is to keep focused and discipline myself to organise what I already have and contact the people I have neglected to contact. I need to organise and use the family history data I already have and not acquire more without definite plans or written research objectives - no matter how tempting it may be to go off on a tangent and search the web...not this year. 

I will be continuing with my Motivation Monday posts on the first Monday of each month this year to help me keep focused and motivated. 

Happy New Year everyone and I wish you all success with all your goals for genealogy research and your life outside of genealogy in 2013. God bless.

 © 2013. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html. Clip art from Open Clip Art Library.

Accentuate the Positive 2012 Geneameme

Jill at Geniaus has created another great geneameme, Accentuate the Positive 2012 Geneameme. Here is my contribution. 

An elusive ancestor I found was Elizabeth Pickis (nee Bond), my 4 x great grandmother. Until I found a marriage reference on FindMyPast in early 2012 I had not known Elizabeth's maiden surname, nor where she came from. I know now that she came from Tynemouth, Northumberland, England, the daughter of John Bond and Mary Patterson. There are ample opportunities to research her family further when I have some time. Please see my posts B is for...Bond and L is for London.

An important vital record I found was the marriage of my 4 x great grandparents Robert Paul Pickis and Elizabeth Bond in 1822 in the parish of All Hallows Barking, London, England. I found this marriage on an index at FindMyPast. I still have to verify this information via the actual primary source however, but Pickis is such a rare surname I feel confident I have the correct record.

A geneasurprise I received was the results for my tests with FamilyTreeDNA.

My 2012 blog posts that I was particularly proud of were all my posts from the Family History Through the Alphabet challenge, as well as my Trove Tuesday posts.

My 2012 blog posts that received a large number of hits or comments were Tech Tuesday - Galaxy Nexus Features (most hits) and Mothers Day - The mothers in my family tree (most comments).

A new piece of software I mastered was Adobe Photoshop Elements 10.

A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was this blog.

A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was Debbie Kennett's The Surnames Handbook.

It was exciting to finally meet another new nephew in April 2012.

Happy New Year!

 © 2013. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.