52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: Week 49: Historic national event

The topic for Week 49 in Amy Coffin’s and Geneablogger’s 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series is: Historical Events. Describe a memorable national historical event from your childhood. How old were you and how did you process this event? How did it affect your family? My first thoughts turned to large-scale events then … More 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: Week 49: Historic national event

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories 2011: 1st December: The Christmas Tree

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 you have a real tree or was it artificial? How big was the tree? Who decorated the tree? What types of Christmas trees did your ancestors … More Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories 2011: 1st December: The Christmas Tree

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

52 weeks of personal genealogy and history: Week 46: Politics not one of my favourite things

The topic for Week 46 in Amy Coffin’s and Geneablogger’s 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series is: Politics. What are your childhood memories of politics? Were your parents active in politics? What political events and elections do you remember from your youth? If I was to go all Julie Andrews in Sound of Music, … More 52 weeks of personal genealogy and history: Week 46: Politics not one of my favourite things

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

Down the rabbit hole with McCorkindales and the tragedy of the steamer Pearl.

Monday’s task was to try to find my grandmother’s niece, Ida McCorkindale and siblings, in the newly released Commonwealth Electoral Rolls on Ancestry. I’ve looked at ERs before for her and her siblings with limited results and I was optimistic that with the wider range nation-wide she’d turn up. This time was both a win … More Down the rabbit hole with McCorkindales and the tragedy of the steamer Pearl.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History: Week 44: primary school, church, nuns and migrants

The topic for Week 44 in Amy Coffin’s and Geneablogger’s 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series is: Elementary (Primary) School. Describe your grammar/elementary/primary school (or schools). Were they big or small? Are any of these schools still in existence today? If so, how have they changed since you went there? This is going to … More 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History: Week 44: primary school, church, nuns and migrants