Lilian's Tree

I was channel surfing, this afternoon and came across as show called "Finding Your Roots", on SBS 1. This episode was on Kyra Sedgwick and her husband Kevin Bacon. The show jumped between both of them and also the broader history of the eras. The presenter also spoke with Kyra's Dad and Uncle. The spiel was that "using traditional genealogy and DNA, they would find your roots". It was different and has got me curious enough to watch it next Saturday. Anybody else watch it? What did you think?

I'm going to throw this out there and see if anyone has some suggestions. The area I live in doesn't have a family history group, it has a local history group and that is all. While I'm a member of the local history group it isn't my cup of tea and I won't renew my membership. I do belong to a couple of other groups that I really enjoy. What I'm thinking about is starting a family history group in my area and would like ideas on how to make this happen etc. It won't be until the New Year and I am going to talk to the local/family history librarian at the library as well. Things like; How to organise speakers?  Weekly/fortnightly/ monthly? Fees? Newsletter?

Doing research into the history of my house I've contacted various archives. New South Wales Archives at Kingswood and National Archives of Australia (NAA) are the two main ones and both have been very helpful. In July I contacted the National Archives and requested some documents be assessed and then released. NAA has a 90 day policy whereby they try to assess the request and get them items to you, for a fee. Late last month, September, I also requested the Naturalisation documents for the same people, a wait but not 90 days.  On Wednesday, 88 days into the waiting period I received an email stating that my first request couldn't be met, in the time frame, but they were working on it and would make contact, when it was done. I made a quick phone call and verified this. Back to waiting. Yesterday I had a 'parcel' notice in my post office box and collected a large envelope from NAA. What is going on here???  I opened it and found the Naturalisation documents, tha...

I've been researching the history of my home and as such have been trying to find anyone who knew the previous owners. As they were Latvian I sent an email to the Latvian Society and had a reply. The person in the email knew someone and she would pass my details on, but the person was overseas. This has been ongoing now for about three months. Two weeks ago said person contacted me and let me know that she had passed the details on. Today the phone rang and it was a lady. This lady was the little girl, who moved into the house in 1952. We talked for nearly an hour and she has expressed a wish to visit and is also going to look for old photographs. Her story is both sad and happy and I'm thrilled to now know some of it. It was really interesting as we share some common childhood memories, even with a 12 year age difference. Now to re-write the story I've started or at least add to what is written.

What a busy weekend! Both yesterday and today I attended Baby Showers. Yesterday was for a friends daughter and todays was for my daughter. Both girls are due around the same time and having grown up together, seeing them both pregnant is wonderful. Will let you know what they have. I spent part of yesterday doing assignments, for my genealogy course. Now I only have the exams to do for both of them and they will be finished. More subjects to do, before I finish the course. I did take some time today to look at roots Ireland.ie website and renewed my subscription. It has census and census substitute records, Griffith's valuation and passenger lists, just to name some. I did find a couple of possible leads that I will have to follow through. I'm going to head to bed and read. I have a copy of Ian Maxwell's book How to Trace your Irish Ancestors, that I'm going to browse through. Might reinforce what I've just studied in one of my subjects.

I've just got home after a lovely lunch with a girlfriend and her family and it is just so HOT! My car thermometer registered 37degrees and the verandah on 35degrees. The wind has started to pick up and the humidity is down to 12. I hope that there are no fires. Lunch was lovely and Lorraine and Emma had made  Baby Bundle for my daughter. It is a doughnut filled with washers, singlets, wraps, toys and that is what I can see. Such a lovely thought. I've been doing assignments and not really touching my family stuff. Ever get times like that? I am learning lots of useful information but have to find the time to apply it.  I did do a quick bit, yesterday before I sent of a bundle of family group sheets, to a cousin but that is the first in awhile. Hope you are cool, where ever you are.

There has been a discussion on Facebook about a new Australian family tree magazine, called Family Tree Tracker. It is a glossy magazine, of 114 pages, along the lines of some of the UK ones but with Australian content.  It is divided into 7 Chapters and each chapter as a wide range of topics in it. Genealogy 101 includes Starting Points, Join a Society and Getting Organised. The Software section has reviews of 21 different family tree programs. Real Life takes a look at the Australian version of "Who Do You Think You Are?"  Detective Work had me interested with such headings as 10 Clues and Secrets and Lies. Well worth a read, before you ask those awkward questions.  Past, Present, Future has an interesting article called "Aussie Snapshot 21st Century, Who are Aussies Today?" It takes you through the different generations and what defines them. It also includes an A to Z of How to speak "Stralyan".  Archival Survival takes a look at p...

I have been researching the history of my house, trying to find someone who knew the family or even a family member. Well to day, in my emails was a reply from a third party. She has given me, with permission, both a phone number and an email address  of the girl, who grew up in the house. Excited and nervous as I work out how to contact her.