Lilian's Tree

Since 7 January 2013,  I have been slowly working my way through the 40 subjects for my Australian Certificate in Genealogical Studies. Yesterday I FINISHED!  To say I'm thrilled is an understatement. I still have to wait for the official word that I have passed my last two subjects and have met all the requirements, but I feel like celebrating!. If you are thinking about further study have a look at The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. http://www.genealogicalstudies.com/   They have a comprehensive range of courses across a wide range of areas. There are compulsory subjects in every certificate and a good choice of electives. Now I'm finished, I've looked at other subjects that I am interested in, plus maybe another certificate. My options are open and I wont decide, just yet. I have also been studying through UTAS, with their Diploma of Family History, http://www.utas.edu.au/courses/cale/courses/r2h-diploma-of-family-history    They off...

After over thirty years researching family history, I think that I have finally cracked how we have Hunter in the Magill names. Family lore had two different stories as to why our surname is Magill; The first one is that Samuel (Hunter), murdered a man called Magill and took the Magill name and high-tailed it out of Ireland. The second one is that he took his mother’s maiden name of Magill and left Ireland because of reasons unknown.   While both of these were interesting, I took them with a grain of salt. Samuel wasn’t above telling ‘stories.’ In February I was in Salt Lake City, home to the BIGGEST FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY in the world and have looked into Samuel’s birth. We know that he was born in County Antrim between 1844-1849. This has been gleaned from family lore and his death certificate. Well before I arrived in Salt Lake City, I found a birth of one Samuel Magill, son of a James Magill and Mary.   I then looked for their marriage and found this...

I know some of my friends think that I'm strange as I iron things and one of the things I iron is the humble hankie. This got me thinking about where the hankie came from and I did a search of Wikipedia, to find out. A handkerchief / ˈ h æ ŋ k ər tʃ ɪ f / (also called a hanky or, historically, a handkercher ) is a form of a kerchief , typically a hemmed square of thin fabric or paper which can be carried in the pocket or handbag , and which is intended for personal hygiene purposes such as wiping one's hands or face, or blowing one's nose . A handkerchief is also sometimes used as a purely decorative accessory in a suit pocket, it is then called a pocket square . It is also an important accessory in many folkdances in many regions like the Balkans and the Middle East ; an example of a folkdance using handkerchiefs is Kalamatianos . Origin Before people used the word handkerchief, the word kerchief alone was common. This term came from two French words: couvri...

After a wonderful weekend away I came home to find my husband had been ill, all weekend, from there life has taken some interesting turns and things haven't been done. This blog is one of them. Paul started spiking seriously high temperatures, 40+C, shakes etc. trips to the doctors, scans and blood tests ended up with his admittance to hospital, Tuesday, last week. The cause is a very nasty bacteria, Klebsiella pneuomoniae in his blood stream. No idea how he got it but it seems to be responding to the treatment. Please keep us in your prayers as I feel it could be a long recovery. Bye for now, Lilian.