Lilian's Tree

When we research our ancestors, we look at the certificates and see an address but what does it tell us?  Sometimes useful information, sometimes, not.  It doesn't tell us what the buiding was like, how many rooms, how much it was worth or who owned it. Interesting information, that would make that address more 'real' to us. With the advent of Google Street View, we can often see the street or house mentioned and this gives us something tangable, for our research but that is now, not back then. These past couple of weeks, I have been searching the City of Sydney, Rate Assessment Books and finding descriptions of some of the places my ancestors called home. (link to the City of Sydney website  https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/    look under the Learn tab) Now my great-grandmother, Isabella Mary Ann Jasper, nee Vaughan, was born in the Domain Terrace, in 1847. The Domain Terrace is still in use, today, it runs between the Mitchell Library and the State ...

Way back in October 2013, I took my first DNA test, with FamilyTree DNA and wasn't surprised by the results. In fact I was disappointed, until friends explained that it confirmed my paper trail. Ethnicity Estimate, British Isles    87% Scandinavia    10% Trace                 3% Nothing happened until RootsTech 2017 and a new testing company, LivingDNA, came on the scene. So in May 2017, I again scraped my cheek and sent it of for testing.  Again I wasn't really that surprised with the results. Ethnicity Estimate, Europe             98.8% Central Asia       1.2% February 2018, saw me take a test with MyHeritage, only to find that both FamilyTree DNA and MyHeritage use the same testing company. Something I wish I had known before I tested. My results weren't that different. Ethnicity Estimate, Europe      100%    Thi...

Welcome to a new series of posts, showcasing a selection of books, that I use, with my research. DISCLAIMER. These are my own recommendations. I'm not being paid to showcase them. DICTIONARIES. I know that now days, most thngs can be 'Googled' and meanings found instantly but I'm old fashioned and like my dictionaries. The Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary is used every time I receive a death certificate and can't understand the cause of death. The Oxford Dictionary of Law. I find this invaluable, for deciphering those legal trems, found in will, deeds, etc. The Pocket Oxfor Latin Dictionary.   Again used for wills, deeds, baptism certificates and other documents. My latin hasn't improved but I can now find the meaning easily. I hope I now have some sapientia*. Sapientia - wisdom. Bye for now, Lilian.