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

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: 24th December – Christmas Eve

How did you, your family or your ancestors spend Christmas Eve? Christmas Eve is an interesting day because depending on which day it falls can affect what happens for much of the day. Unless Christmas was on a Sunday, Christmas Eve has usually been spent at work and as this was a peak admin workload … More Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: 24th December – Christmas Eve

Advent calendar of Christmas Memories: 11 December 2011: Christmas traditions from Bavaria in Queensland

Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers is encouraging us to celebrate the 2011 Christmas season with a series of posts called the Advent Calendar of Memories. This is today’s entry. Did your immigrant ancestors have holiday traditions from their native country which they retained or perhaps abandoned? I’ve already spoken about my Melvin and McCorkindale ancestors and … More Advent calendar of Christmas Memories: 11 December 2011: Christmas traditions from Bavaria in Queensland

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History: Week 48: Thanksgiving for family history blessings

Having been following the 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series devised by Amy Coffin’s and Geneabloggers, I was initially disappointed to read that Week 48’s topic was Thanksgiving, with the questions of: What was on your family’s Thanksgiving table? Do you serve the same dishes now as your family served in the past? … More 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History: Week 48: Thanksgiving for family history blessings

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

Third Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge to honour my father: The Trains by Judith Wright

Geniaus has brought to my attention, the Third Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge initiated by Bill West. Bill has challenged genealogists world-wide to source a poem or music which is relevant to their family’s history as follows: 1. Find a poem by a local poet, famous or obscure, from the region one of your ancestors … More Third Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge to honour my father: The Trains by Judith Wright

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

Remembrance Day: honouring the Australian-born Diggers with German ancestry

A couple of my family’s fallen Diggers, James Augustus Gavin and William Rudolph (Robert) Kunkel, were remembered in earlier posts. Today I want to focus on the service of the Australian Diggers in World War I who were descendants of the mid-19thcentury Dorfprozelten immigrants, five of whom gave their lives and another 17 served in … More Remembrance Day: honouring the Australian-born Diggers with German ancestry

Personalising electoral roll searches: surprises found and caution needed

Shelley over at Twigs of Yore blog has recently posted about Ancestry’s expanded Australian electoral rolls. Her points made me sit up and think, because frankly I’ve not bothered to look for the people for whom I “know” the details (including myself). This has been a bit silly given I’ve posted about the great uses … More Personalising electoral roll searches: surprises found and caution needed

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