Motivated by Joan from Roots’n’Leaves, who’s been doing Sunday Synopsis posts, I’ve resolved to keep a daily research log of just what trails and research crumbs I’m following. It’s all too easy to get caught up chasing a research rabbit down a hole. My hope is that this will keep me focused and less prone … More A research resolution: keeping track of the day’s research
Last week I posted a geneameme called “Beyond the Internet”. I thought it would be interesting to see whether off-line resources are still being used by family historians and whether we still see value in them. I was delighted to see people engaging with this geneameme…it was so interesting seeing people’s discoveries in the records. Some … More Beyond the internet – the responses
The other afternoon I was reading The Northern Miner newspaper from Charters Towers, an old mining town in North Queensland where one branch of my family had lived for some decades. I had ordered the microfilm in on an inter-library loan from the National Library of Australia to follow up some information on a friend’s … More Reading The Northern Miner: human tragedy and stories
Following on my posts about the changes in family history over the past 25 years I thought it would be good to look at family history resources beyond the internet and how we use them today. I’ve built up a list of 60 resources or activities that take our research beyond the digitised records (much … More Beyond the Internet Geneameme
Are there any family historians who aren’t addicted to cemeteries? While many people find them depressing or scary, we seem to relish browsing the stones, or when short of time, launching a search mission worthy of the military. For some reason my husband always finds “my” stones in any given cemetery, no matter how we … More Tombstone Tuesday: the rewards of outback cemeteries: Winton, Queensland
Over the last week Darwin has had some fantastic storms complete with thunder, lightning and very heavy rains….a harbinger of the Wet Season to come. This morning it was pelting down outside and blowing several metres under the roofline and through the doors. The plants love it, and will thrive from the bursts of rain … More Relief from the Build Up and a reminder of the Wet
The topic for Week 42 in Amy Coffin’s and Geneablogger’s 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series is: Favorite School Subject. What was your favorite subject in school and why? Was it also your best subject? There are times when school seems so long ago and far away. When we’re in school everything about it … More 52 weeks of personal genealogy and history: week 42: favourite school subject(s)
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
As I mentioned in Part 1, research in the “bad old/good old” days was very different. We’d probably all riot now if we were deprived of internet access to digitised records, Scotlandspeople, Findmypast, Ancestry, World Vital Records etc etc. We’ve all got used to the ready access to such a wide array of resources, many … More 25 years of Family History: reflection and celebration: Part 2
As I lay awake the other night the penny dropped that I had started my family history research in Sept/Oct 1986 so it’s currently the 25th anniversary of my family history trail. This “hobby” quickly became a fascination and then an obsession for me. It has kept me interested through all these years, reinvigorated and … More 25 years of Family History: reflection and celebration: Part 1
Family history across the seas 