Lilian's Tree

 This week Alex Daw has asked us to celebrate what we have done, this month Study. Finished my DNA subject with the National Institute for Genealogy. Third month of Essential Speaker Skills, through Family History Academy. Attended. Afternoon tea at Government House, Sydney, to celebrate the 90th birthday of the Society of Australian Genealogists. Hangouts and talks with the Society of Australian Genealogists. Talking Family History, with Fiona and Michelle. Co-ordinated the Writers Group, with the Society of Australian Genealogists. Co-taught a class, at the research centre and co-ordinated the Australian Interest Group, via Zoom for Botany Bay Family History Society. Research . One of my half-sisters married a G.I., so I've spent time researching him and found some really useful information. Added that I had verified my research, on two Ancestry trees. Went through my hints and  DNA matches on both Ancestry and My Heritage. (Also did this for the three DNA kits I manage.) Ex...

  Tips. My main tip for breaking down brick walls is perseverance! It took me thirty years to break mine. Go back over old records or data sets to see if anything new has been added, that might help in breaking down the wall. This leads to my next tip; Date your work. I do this so I know the last time I worked on it, downloaded a document, or added to my tree. You know instantly if it is old work or new. Write down where you found a document etc. or where you have searched. Reply to emails or website messages. File it straight away, be it paper files or computer files. You will then be able to find it again. But my best tip is ENJOY yourself on this genealogical journey. It can be fun, frustrating and enriching.

Week 2, Travel. Well travel has been a bit light on since Covid-19 'travelled' the world, stopping us from travelling, so I've selected different photos, each with a story themselves. Callan Park. While this looks like a beautiful building, it was once a lunatic asylum. Here for several years, before being sent to Newcastle, my great-grandmother, Mary Ann GALBRAITH, nee GRANT resided. Suffering from what we would now call depression, caused by the sudden death, (overseas) of her husband, leaving her with a shop to run and two boys to look after. It became to much for her. A birthday treat, in 2017 of a 4-WD drive wilderness trip in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, saw me asking the driver if we could stop at Hartley Cemetery and search for several graves. He thought it was fun and so we stopped at two cemeteries and found Hubby's ancestors graves. Berrara, just out of Sussex Inlet on the NSW South Coast, a place that we would holiday at, most years when the children ...

Alex Daw has set us another great challenge for Family History Month. Week 1. Who do I think is the most respected or impressive member of my family tree? This is this week’s prompt but I’m taking a slightly different tack and going with an ancestor named August.   My great-grandfather, August Frederick Conrad JASPER was born, not in August to be given that as a name but in December! 3 December 1846, to be exact, in Heidenoldendorf, Germany. His parents were Toens Simon Herman Christoph JASPER and Wilhelmine Friederike KESSEMEIER. August was baptised on 13 December 1846 and then nothing about him until he arrives in South Australia on 29 March 1876, on the Dilbhur, having left London on 29 December 1875. Listed as a brickmaker, aged 29 years. Looking at the passenger list he and one other were listed as brickmakers. He again proves to be elusive, with nothing until a small newspaper article in 1880, where he has taken his employer a Mr Sampson to court for back wages ...

 August is National Family History Month and this year I thought that I'd have a look at my ancestors occupations. I've gone back to my 2x Great Grandparents. While I have gaps, (and so far I've been unable to find the occupations), it is interesting that it's not until my grandparents that I have the occupation of the women listed.  Some like Ann Cameron, my 2x great grandmother is listed as an old age pensioner, on her death certificate. Likewise Isabella Vaughan, my great grandmother is given as living privately, when she re-married. What did your ancestors do? Name 2xGreat Grandparents Occupation        Thomas Abberton 1790-1829 Farmer Bridget Halleran 1800 Matthew Torpy 1799-1833 Farmer Bridget Good 1816 George Nicolls   Elizabeth Drew   Michael Enright   ...