Yesterday for a bit of light relief we decided to watch the Who Do You Think You Are episode from a few months ago (here in Oz) featuring Monty Don, famous for the TV series Around the World in 80 Gardens, which I loved. Some comments on the episode were less than enthusiastic but I … More St Saviours, Moorgate: the link between Monty Don and Cass ancestors
Geneabloggers has been running the 2011 Labor Day challenge to celebrate Labor Day in the US last weekend. Where I live Labour Day is celebrated on May Day, the first Monday in May. In other states it’s celebrated on dates in other months. Even though I’m out of kilter time-wise, this challenge looked pretty interesting … More Labour Day: The occupations of my ancestors.
The topic for Week 35 in Amy Coffin’s and Geneablogger’s 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series is: Weddings. Tell us about your wedding. You may also talk about your future wedding, the wedding of a relative or shape this question to fit your own life experience. Having talked a little about my own … More 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History: Week 35: Weddings
Along with the 99 Things Genealogy Aussie style meme, Geniaus has brought this more general topic to our attention. It has nothing to do with genealogy but it will tell readers something about me. Found on Stephen’s Lighthouse, Blog with this invitation “It’s harder and causes more reflection than you’d think. Play if you like. … More 99 Things meme
Geniaus has amended an earlier meme from Becky in May 2009 over at Kinexxions. Geniaus thought it was time to dinkumise it (ie make it ridgey-didge or pure Aussie). This is the Australian version of this 99 Things Genealogy meme. My own feeling is that the National Archives in Washington (#68) escaped being dinkumised (or … More 99 Things Genealogy Meme
If you’ve previously logged into my page and are bewildered today, it’s because I’ve introduced a new look to my blog. For some time I’ve been feeling that my blog is a bit “squashed” and made it harder to read. Hopefully there’s not too much open space now.. Let me know what you think…is it … More Time for a new blog look
The topic for Week 34 in Amy Coffin’s and Geneablogger’s 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series is: Smells. Describe any smells that take you back to childhood. These could be from meals, fragrant gardens, musty basements, or something entirely different. It suddenly occurred to me how much we rely on other people having … More 52 weeks of personal genealogy and history: week 34: smells, good and not-so-good
The topic for Week 33 in Amy Coffin’s and Geneablogger’s 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series is: Nicknames. What was your childhood nickname, and what was the meaning behind it? You can also discuss the nicknames of other family members, both past and present. Well this has to be the easiest topic in … More 52 weeks of personal genealogy & history: Week 33: Nicknames
Buiding on yesterday’s post about using electoral rolls to determine your street’s population, I decided to enter the name and other data into a spreadsheet which could be sorted in different ways. Somewhat to my surprise I found that there is really only one family living in the street with continuous residence from World War … More Street demographics – more on electoral rolls
Findmypast Australia’s blurb tells the researcher that electoral rolls are the nearest record Australians have to census listings and hence are extremely important to local, social and family historians…. Compulsory enrolment was introduced for all federal rolls from 1911 so the 1959 should reflect the adult population (over 21 years) excluding the foreign and indigenous … More The key to learning who lived in your street: Electoral rolls on FMP and WVR
Family history across the seas 