52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy: Week 5 Life experiences: Finding Mary O’Brien

Amy Coffin of the We Tree blog, in conjunction with Geneabloggers, has a new series of weekly blogging prompts for 2012 and the theme is 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy.  Week 5’s topic is Life Experiences: Sometimes the challenges in life provide the best learning experiences. Can you find an example of this in your own family tree? … More 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy: Week 5 Life experiences: Finding Mary O’Brien

Beyond the Internet Week 1: Church interiors

On his Graceland album, Paul Simon sings of “angels in the architecture”, a phrase that has always resonated with me. But have you considered that perhaps church architecture and interiors are also a source of references to your ancestral angels. Where possible most of us try to locate and photograph the churches of significance to our … More Beyond the Internet Week 1: Church interiors

Thoughts on “Farewell My Children” by Dr Richard Reid: Irish migration to Australia 1848-1870

If you have Irish ancestry in Australia, there’s a good chance that at some point you’ve referred to an index of Irish Assisted Immigrants to New South Wales (NSW) 1848-1870, available in most family history libraries around Australia.  I doubt I was alone in thinking, when I first used the index, that this was another … More Thoughts on “Farewell My Children” by Dr Richard Reid: Irish migration to Australia 1848-1870

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (on Monday): Thanksgiving for family history blessings

Randy Seaver at Genea-musings set this week’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun exercise: a special Thanksgiving Edition. In Australia we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but that’s no reason why we shouldn’t give thanks for the wonderful people and information we encounter in our family history searching. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to: 1)  … More Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (on Monday): Thanksgiving for family history blessings

Surname Saturday meme: Names, Places and Most Wanted Faces

Geneabloggers set this Surname Saturday meme last Saturday but with family commitments last weekend and coming in late, I decided to wait until this week.  This meme is a revival of an old topic by Craig Manson of Geneablogie. How The Meme Works To participate, do the following at your own blog and post a link … More Surname Saturday meme: Names, Places and Most Wanted Faces

My “Most Wanted” family member: who was James Sherry?

Geniaus raised the Saturday challenged initiated by Thomas McEntee On his Destination Austin Family Blog, which in turn revived Craig Manson of GeneaBlogie‘s meme from 2009. For today I’m going to focus on my “most wanted” family member and leave the surnames to Surname Saturday. Ever since I started family history all those years ago, one ancestor has provided me … More My “Most Wanted” family member: who was James Sherry?

First sighting of my elusive Gavin family in Dublin, Ireland…alleluia!

For years I’ve been trying to locate something, anything about one of my families while they were still in Ireland. Despite evidence on their shipping records, their death certificates, obituaries etc, the Irish lives of Denis Gavin and his wife Ellen nee Murphy have remained elusive. The daughter who arrived with them on the Fortune … More First sighting of my elusive Gavin family in Dublin, Ireland…alleluia!

The Ancestors’ Geneameme challenge from Geniaus

Geniaus has set us another challenge with The Ancestors’ Geneameme. This is my response to the challenge. 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 … More The Ancestors’ Geneameme challenge from Geniaus