The Kunkel family in Australia or Bavaria
Food and festivities go together like the proverbial horse and cart. How many of our memories are associated with the pleasures of family and friends coming together to celebrate an event and inevitably a spread of culinary treats is involved? There’s a reason why we’re missing these gatherings during the pandemic as they bring us … More Food and Festivities
I have been spending happy hours chasing down stories about ancestors and other emigrants from the village of Dorfprozelten in this site for Bavarian newspapers: digiPress – Das Zeitungsportal der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek At least some of my discoveries are ones I’ve previously found by searching Google Books (yes, not newspapers) where you’ll find digital versions … More Finding the Fass in Bavarian papers
It’s funny how when writing about ancestors in the past, it seems easy to be objective and base stories on discovered facts. When writing about more recent people and events, the concern is a lack of objectivity. Having said that, I’ll continue with the story of Dad’s working life which will inevitably be from my … More A numbertaker? Say what?!
Today is the 10th anniversary of my father’s death. His death went unremarked in the wider world as he was always a loner and never cultivated a friendship circle but of course for me it was a sadly memorable event. In most ways those 10 years seem a long time ago, so much has happened … More Remembering Norman Kunkel
One hundred years ago today my grandfather, Denis Joseph Kunkel, was at sea en route to England thence to the war in France. He had volunteered with his younger brother, James Edward, on 22 October 1917[1] probably as part of a push at the time to recruit qualified railway workers to work on the lines … More Grandad goes to war: Remembrance Day 2017
We’re not long home from a week of genealogy indulgence…what’s not to like about genie-adventures? Especially when they take you on a road trip! First up was two days at the Unlock the Past Roadshow in Brisbane with Scottish/Irish guru Chris Paton, German expert, Dirk Weissleder and local speakers. Learning new strategies and sources for … More Genea-learning and touring
In Week 2 of Family Tree Frog’s NFHM Blogging Challenge, Alex asks us if there were secrets in our families, or were there tales of the Depression. However, as this week’s book, Careful He Might Hear You, focuses on an orphan and what happens when his aunt comes to take care of him, my thoughts … More The orphaned Kunkel children
My geminate Shelley from Twigs of Yore blog has been giving us all lessons in how to graph or group our Ancestry DNA matches. She’s done a great job of simplifying each step so it’s hard to make mistakes (but it occasionally happens, due to user-error). In following this process I was lucky on a … More Graphing DNA
Trawling through my digitised photos at the weekend, I came upon this one which I’d quite forgotten. It is my paternal grandmother in her wedding attire. Doesn’t she look simply elegant? She was a professional dressmaker, working for Finney Isles store in Brisbane CBD, so I imagine she made the dress herself. I also love … More Wedding Wednesday: Denis & Kit
This week’s Sepia Saturday theme was a “gimme”. I’ve had this photo strip for ages but have never used it because I felt it made my grandfather look a little gormless. However it’s a perfect match this week, so here is Dinny strolling through Brisbane city probably in the 1920s or 1930s (the car would … More Sepia Saturday: Strolling in the City
Family history across the seas 