Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun included making a “Heritage Pie” chart for the country of origin (birth place) for these 16 ancestors. [Hint: you could use the chart generator from Kid Zone for this.] [Note: Thank you to Sheri Fenley for the “Heritage Pie” chart idea.] For a bit of light relief I thought I’d bake … More Heritage Pie: a slice or two of ancestral places
Last night most of us slept peacefully in our beds, but ninety-five years ago a fierce and bloody battle was raging in France. That night Australia suffered a truly terrible loss of its young men akin to that at Gallipoli. Among the Australians readying for action on the evening of 19 July 1916 were my … More Battle of Fromelles: In Memoriam L/Cpl James Augustus Gavin KIA
Today is the centenary of International Women’s Day and an appropriate day to honour our female ancestors. I have chosen to highlight the lives of my great-great-grandmother Ellen (Murphy) Gavin and great-grandmother Julia (Gavin) Kunkel as well as an unrelated friend. Their lives were so much harder, and stoic, than ours and I thank … More International Women’s Day – Ellen Gavin, Julia Kunkel and Johanna Gavan
This photo definitely includes my grandfather, Denis Kunkel (second left, second back row) and was found as a backing board behind another picture. I have a theory it is be an extended family photo because of some of the poses and family resemblances-some look very like my father. Or it could be some local society -but … More Wordless Wednesday (not quite) -Brickwall photo
I am delighted and honoured to receive the Ancestor Approved Award from Kim at Footsteps of the Past at http://footstepspast.blogspot.com/. It was a real treat to receive this in an emotional week as I watched from afar as my home town, and others with links to my family’s heritage, were flooded, lives lost, homes demolished … More Ancestor Approved Award
It’s time to list my “families of interest” again: not just those on my own family tree, but those I’ve come to research: KUNKEL: George, son of Adam & Katharina from Dorfprozelten, Bavaria (Bayern), Germany to Australia -mid-C19th. Brickwall is his brother Joseph Philip or Philip Joseph Kunkel who reportedly went to “America”. O’BRIEN: Mary … More Surname Sunday-my “families of interest”
During the holidays I was reading this book by Jan Walker, published by UQ Press back in 1988. It’s been on my “to do” list for some time & I finally got down to reading it. The book was easy to read but also very informative and insightful, adding new information to previous readings I’d … More Book reading: Jondaryan Station: the relationship between pastoral capital and pastoral labour 1840-1890
On Saturday Shauna Hicks gave two very informative and enjoyable family history presentations in Darwin. Shauna apologised for her laryngitis and croaky voice but it didn’t affect the pleasure of listening to someone with such wide experience. Shauna’s talk on asylum records highlighted how these records could help people to find missing ancestors and the … More Comments on Shauna Hicks’s talk on Asylum Records
Family history across the seas 