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
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
Text Queensland is a new and exciting innovation which provides a “collection of full-text, searchable, digitised sources on Queensland Colonial and state history”[i]. I learnt about this a few days ago when I read an update on the John Oxley Library blog. This is a wonderful site which will be invaluable to historians of all … More Text Queensland: a gold mine of information
The topic for Week 41 in Amy Coffin’s and Geneablogger’s 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series is: Teachers. Did you have a favourite teacher when you were growing up? What class(es) did this person teach and why did he/she make an impact on your life? Good teachers really do have a pivotal and … More 52 weeks of Personal History and Genealogy: Week 41: Teachers to whom I owe a debt of gratitude
The topic for Week 39 in Amy Coffin’s and Geneablogger’s 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series is: Least Favorite Foods. What was your least favorite food from your childhood? Did your parents make you eat it anyway? Do you still dislike the same food today? How have your tastes changed since your youth? … More 52 weeks of personal genealogy and history: week 39: Least Favourite Food: Smoked cod is yellow and yuk.
The topic for Week 40 in Amy Coffin’s and Geneablogger’s 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series is: Trouble. What happened when you got into trouble as a child? What was punishment like in your home? Once upon a time there was a little girl who had a curl in the middle of her … More 52 weeks of personal genealogy and history: Week 40: Trouble and Punishment in the “olden days”
The topic for Week 38 in Amy Coffin’s and Geneablogger’s 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History series is: Did you have any hobbies as a child? Which ones? My childhood hobbies depended in part on circumstance. Throughout my life reading and books have been my constant leisure time activity. Life just wouldn’t be the … More 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History: Week 38: Hooked on Hobbies: books, shells and photos
Sometimes with family history it’s one small fact that is the key to opening a door. Such was the case with the enclosure documents I’d photographed while visiting the Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (HALS) last year. Despite having the information for nearly a year I hadn’t got round to looking at it in detail … More Sandon, Hertfordshire enclosure and the Kent family
Prompted by a friend’s request I’ve recently been on something of a mission to scan some of the slides from our family’s days in Papua New Guinea. Back in the day we used slides rather than photos and have literally thousands of both family and places. Some time ago I had the “Top 100” travel … More Great tech resources for Family History: Scanners: film, slide and Flip-Pal
Geniaus has set us another meme challenge to test whether we’re tech savvy genealogists. Here is the list with my own responses. I notice there are quite a lot more items I don’t really aspire to, plus some that I might want to do, just not high on my list. I’m not sure frankly how … More The Tech Savvy Genealogist’s Meme
Family history across the seas 