Lilian's Tree

 November, the year is flying by. When I thought of this idea, 12 months ago, I didn't have any pre-conceived ideas, other than research questions. That changed when we went away and I changed the idea to question or task. Well it seems to have worked, so here is the November update. This month was my One-Place Study. The Roman Catholic Cemetery, Mummell. I have 64 people on my Master List for the cemetery, 39 of which I have done my research on. I'm thinking of adding another 20 names to the list, as they fall in the public era, except for newspapers.  This month I expanded information on some of the 39, looked at the priests, undertakers and doctors mentioned on the death certificates, to see what I could find. Surprisingly not a lot. I have a query into the Catholic Dioceses, in Canberra about the priests, but think a trip to Goulburn, to the library and Historical Society is on the cards. The list of 39, I hope to publish on the Mummell Cemetery Blog, early next month, wil...

 Well that was a very quick trip across the ditch, but it was wonderful to see everyone. Saturday was great and the talks by Mia Bennett and Fiona Brooker were wonderful, but I'm still wondering how much I took in as I got very tired, very quickly! Talks covered a wide range of topics, with both Fiona and Mia asking what we wanted talks on, and then giving a talk on that theme. Topics like DNA, DNA Tools, AI, Digital Scrapbooking were some of them. If one of them was giving the talk, the other was in the Study Centre helping with queries.  I went for two long walks on Saturday and one before lunch on Sunday. Managed over 20,000 steps for the weekend. Saturday night was a games night, with the team I was on placing 2nd. I hit the sack early as I had had very poor sleep the night before and was tired and crabby. The conference was well run, the venue great, who doesn't like three meals a day, cooked for you and cleaned up afterwards. Lots of lovely chats, with wonderful women. T...

 Having left home on Thursday night, (due to a possible train shut down), I spent the night at the hotel near the airport. Up early and checked in, but the found that the inbound flight was running late and hence the outbound one then ran late as well. Flight was smooth and the hugs when I arrived at the university were wonderful. The evening session was by Mia Bennett 60 Websites in 60 Minuets. I discovered some I didn't know about.  I made it to around 9.00pm when I heard my bed calling.  Missed the earthquake at 6.10am this morning but not by much as I was awake at 6.20am. Breakfast and then a walk with one of the group before research. The internet is interesting as you need a New Zealand mobile phone number, thankful for a good friend, who doesn't mind me using their one. Then she sends it to me. Working on odds 'n' ends has been my research so far today. Will do Fiona Brooker's AI talk later. Lots of wonderful chat, good food and good weather.

 On the 21 November 2010 I wrote my first post, it was very short. Now it's the 21 November 2024 and this is my 812 post. I've just had a very quick scroll through what I've written about, here is a list; Books, Trips, Life in general, Conferences, RootsTech, Congress, Study, Classes I took. I've done three A-Z Blogging Challenges. They are every April and you pick your own theme. I did 2016 and 2021 in the April but in 2018 did it in June as I was busy in April. 12 Ancestors in 12 months was another challenge, I based it on the 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks. There have been Trove Tuesday posts, different themes on different days. National Family History Month, in August, has seen posts. Jill Ball has us looking back each year as to what we have done.  I also used the blog as a way of recording what we did during the Covid-19 pandemic. Interesting to look back on. I also finished the study I wrote about. Had my book published but the second one is still a work in progress. A...

 Well my October research was going to be my One-Place Study but... I did a DNA test at 23andME, in 2020, have a really good match BUT he is a pain to deal with. I asked if I could have his great grandparents names and was told to look at his tree. On 23andMe, they generate the tree and only you can see it. I explained this to him and he went radio silent. Tried again a couple of months later and boy did he blast me. So I left it and continued to do my own digging. Fast forward to October and I went lets find the link. I have a reasonable idea which line he is on and started there. I made contact with a person, who has the same line and we shared information. While I haven't found the exact line, I have eliminated several and made a new connection. I'll give the guy on 23andMe another message, next month as see what happens. This is the chart I drew up showing the line I was working on, and I also noted on it what I wanted to do and then ticked it off, when done. I did discover...

 It is great to see in-person conferences returning and the past weekend I attended the Royal Australian Historical Society's Conference, with the Theme being, Windows into Local History.  Held at the Campbelltown Catholic Club, it was two full days of learning, plus pre-conference drinks, on the Friday night and the Conference dinner on the Saturday night. I stayed at the hotel, next to the venue, which was great. As we arrived, we were given a 'goody' bag and book. The bag contained our program for the two days, information leaflets on places of interest and a note pad and pen. Seating was at round tables, and I joined with a group of friends. The day was divided into sessions, each with a theme and two or three speakers. Session A - Welcome and Keynote Address. Session B - Windows into Local History: Views on Campbelltown's Past. Session C - Windows into Local History: Opening Classrooms to Community Stories. Saturday ended with tours of the local area and dinner. Se...

 My September research was to read the War Diaries for the unit my Dad served in. Well I am but they make for hard reading, that I have to leave them and only read in small batches. This is going to continue for the rest of the year. I have both the Unit Diary and Charles Bean's diary as well. The Unit Diary is very factual, while the Bean one give you the whole picture. I decided that I needed to some fun research, so picked my grandparents line and looked for any new information on the branches. Did a death search on the various sites and found some new deaths. Also did a Ryerson search for the death/funeral notices and had some success there as well. September also saw me start a seven week writing course with The Novel Guys. I'm finding it very helpful as we are given homework, which is reviewed by Nathan and the group and feed-back is given. The only downside is that it's from England and while 8.00pm UK time is good for them, it's 5.00am here for me. Luckily for m...

I am a Friend of the State Library of New South Wales, and each quarter receive their journal Open Book. The articles are always interesting, and I love the regular one, The library that made me. The guest writer talks about their favourite library or what library means to them. I find these articles interesting and turn to them first. It also had me thinking about the libraries that ‘made’ me, so here is my story. I don’t remember a time when I couldn’t read and as such many libraries have been in my life. I remember the mobile library, from Rockdale turning up at my school, Althestane Public School, Arncliffe and being ushered into this long, narrow truck, with shelves on both sides and being told what section I could borrow from. The joy a selecting a book to read. Then we moved and the next two libraries were the school library at Jannali Public School. I remember reading The Little Bookroom by Eleanor Farjon. There is a bookshop of that name in Fitzroy, Victoria. It was i...

PROVENANCE: n. place of origin, source.* Back in February my research was centred around the SIGRIST family and trying to locate any family in Germany.  This wasn't successful, for several reasons, but DNA has given us some leads. When I was doing this research I had photocopies of what appeared to be pages from a note book, but while I thought is was Fred Sigrist's, I couldn't prove it. Well... yesterday I was going through family stuff, in a drawer and found a small, green booklet. On opening it there were lists of names, a map of a garden, AND the information that I have on the photo copies. I can now prove the provenance of the copies I have, thrilled. Yes, the booklet was Fred's and in it is a sweet notation, " started keeping company with Elsie 17.3.09"   Fred and Elsie married 5 April 1919. The cover. The sweet notation. One of the pages. (* Collins Australian Gem, English Dictionary, 1981.)

 This month I set my research tasks on my husband's side, looking at the Bird, Kidney and Ironside branches on his maternal side. I had found a blue hanging folder in the filing cabinet and started my research there. I was very surprised as I found that in both 2021 and 2023 I had already done research on these lines.  So glad I had dated the work or I wouldn't have know how old it was. Sorting that folder and recording what certificates I had gave me very good picture of what I had and what I needed to do. Paul's aunt had obtained several certificates and I spent time trying to figure out where the people fitted into the tree. The result was, they didn't, so I removed the certificates from the family folder and they are now in the research folder, with notes about them. Paul's 3x great-grandfather was James Ironside, father of the artist, Adelaide Ironside, through his first wife, Martha Redman. This tangent had been sorted, so I was able to concentrate on the chil...

 I've been busy designing new business cards with my new logo.  I wanted to update from the angel I had used since I stated to something a bit more modern. I've gone with a tree, in purple. So I've gone from this; To this,  This is the business card; I've still stuck with the same colour scheme, on the website but the new logo is in place.

 Back in 2018 I joined the MyHeritage family tree website and did my DNA with them. It's a good site and I have found very useful information and made good DNA connections. There was a problem, when I accepted a tree and ended up with people I didn't know and wasn't connected to. This resulted in me having to remove individuals, one by one and I now no longer accept people's trees. The ability to colour photos is useful as is the ability to group DNA matches and both have been used, with interesting results. Yesterday, (12/08) I had a big new DNA match and got excited, as you do. 739.6cM and a name I knew BUT and here is the problem. MyHeritage has listed her as my 1st cousin but she is my half-niece. I know this for a fact, I watched her grow up. She isn't a cousin. I contacted MyHeritage asking if I could change the relationship as it was wrong and below is their reply. I understand that the probable relationship that is shown for one of your DNA-matches is not co...

 After my last post about the Tunk's Family and the mysterious son, I can now give an update. The death certificate arrived while I was away and confirmed my suspicion that George Jnr's birth was a transcription error. My family now have three daughters and a son. All sorted. You can read the previous post here,  July   

 July's research was going really well and then I decided to expand the branches I was researching.  I originally started the month looking for more information on the family of Mary Ann Abberton and John McLaughlin. They had six children, Sarah, Elizabeth, John, Eveline, Stanley and Francis.  Francis caused the first problem, when several trees had him as a her! Francis is the masculine form and Frances is the female form. Francis is very much a male. His marriage also gave me some confusion as there were two Francis McLaughlin's married between 1923 and 1925. Much digging and the purchase of a death certificate gave me the correct marriage, 1925. Sarah was next to cause problems, she married a SMITH and according to some people died in 1906. Well thankfully for me Sarah married Oswald Smith and I was able to trace them. The death was for a different Sarah Smith, I'm still looking for my one. The other children were easy to research and I've been able to add more lines...

 In my  June  post about my research, I mentioned that I was waiting for a reply from the Australian War Memorial. The reply came yesterday with the names of the places he was posted to and links to the War Diaries. I now have some reading to do. This months research is going well and I'm just waiting on a couple of transcriptions to shed some light on a couple of people. More to come.

 July, the year is half over. So re-reading my January post,  Good Bye 2023  has made me reflect and review the last six months. Had a wonderful week in the City with Mikayla. We explored the city, used the ferry to get around, went to a musical and enjoyed each others company. My photo a day is going well but sometimes I'm at a loss as to what to post. I take heaps of photos but then I look and think they are all similar, but I've stuck with it. I'm using Story Graph for my reading challenge but find that it doesn't have some of the books I've read or am reading and I have to enter them myself. Went to Goodreads as well and it picks up on what I'm reading on Kindle.  54 books, so far. My monthly research plan is working but I've had to change some of the questions to tasks, as a better fit to that month's research. Finding answers and information, so it is helpful. 25th April saw us leave for our 2024 Road Trip. 28 days through the north-west of New Sou...

 This month I looked at my father's World War 1 Army Records. I'm trying  to locate where he was stationed, with the view of finding War Diaries etc. I'm not having much luck deciphering the handwriting on some of the documents, so I have sent of a request to the Australian War Memorial, for some help. I'm still waiting to hear back from their request centre. Watch this space!

 This year Paul and I did a trip through the north-west of New South Wales.  We had 11 stops, Maitland, Scone, Tamworth, Armidale, Glen Innes, Inverell, Moree, Coonabarabran, Gilgrandra, Mudgee and Katoomba. A BIG loop! There were plenty of side trips, visiting friends, looking at Silo Art, Water Tower Art and Big Things and cemeteries. We discovered new and wonderful places, meet friendly people, visited delicious bakeries, country pubs and quaint coffee shops. Some of the highlights were,  the Burning Mountain hike at Scone. A Grade 3 hike, it was challenging but we had a wonderful time doing it. Treated ourselves to Chinese for lunch afterwards. The Australian Standing Stones at Glen Innes. Visiting a working cotton farm and pecan farm at Moree were interesting. The Warrumbungle National Park and  the Siding Spring Observatory at Coonabarabran were amazing, especially walking around the outside edge of the telescope! We also discovered the Capertee Valley, the sec...

 Yes, I know it's June but time has flown by. The end of April saw us leave for Roadtrip 2024, 28 days through country New South Wales. 11 main stops, many side trips and 3,057kms, saw us back home 22 May. Now how could I research while away, you ask? I didn't! May was my month to travel to cemeteries and take photos of family graves, and when home add them to my family tree program, Brother's Keeper. I had used FindAGrave and the Australian Cemeteries Index to check the location of the graves I needed and I had notes on what I wanted to photograph all packed to go. Tamworth and it's two cemeteries was the first place to stop. A lovely lady in the first cemetery printed maps of, showing the location of the graves. So much easier as it was raining and I could just jump out, take the photo and jump back in. The second cemetery as more challenging and I didn't find the grave I wanted. Moonbie cemetery was next and here were the family graves, I needed. It is a beautifu...

 My April research has been on my husband's Paternal side, focusing on Edith Pearl Amelia Millar's line. It goes like this; Hubby, Patrick MAGILL, Edith Pearl Amelia MILLAR, (her maternal line goes back to John NICHOLS, Scarborough,   First Fleet), Ralph MILLAR,   and his parents James MILLAR   and Marion BROWN.    Ralph and his wife, Amelia Jane HUGHES  had six children; Marion b 1880, Henry b 1882,  Florence b 1884, Edith b 1885, Ruby b 1889 and Constance b 1892. I have search for and found marriages and on some lines children for all of the six children.  While researching Ralph I made and interesting discovery about his parents, James and Marion. (It pays to re-read documents.) Their marriage has James listed as Free and Marion as Bond. Using their death certificates I worked out the possible years of arrival and looking a several data bases found that they were both convicts. James arrived in 1828 on the Speke. Marion and...

As I look towards a 'big' birthday,  Judy G Russell  in her blog post, The passing of time , got me thinking about my six closest ancestors and how old they were when they died. 1998 was the first time I passed the age of  my paternal grandmother, Louisa Abberton, nee Nicolls. Louisa died in childbirth, not uncommon for the time, sadly the baby boy also died. 2002 was the next time and it was my maternal grandmother Evelyn Galbraith nee Jasper. Evelyn had delivered her 10th child when she succumbed to a pre-existing illness. The baby boy lived. 2003 and it was my paternal grandfather Thomas Abberton.   TB claimed his life, again not that uncommon, he left seven children orphaned. 2017 was the year I passed my dad,   Matthew Abberton.  That leaves just two, my maternal grandfather   Arthur Galbraith he was 81yrs and 41 days when he passed. Still a long way off. Then my mum, Lilian Abberton, nee Galbraith, she was 95yrs and 228 days. Aimin...

 On  Sunday, I spent three lovely hours wandering Rookwood Cemetery, with 15 other members of the Society of Australian Genealogists and Geoff, who belongs to the Friends of Rookwood  and the Society as well. Geoff is a font of knowledge and showed us the graves of such notables as, John and James Toohey, who started Tooheys Brewery in 1869. W.C Penfold, stationers, and next to him, John Fairfax, the newspaper family. David Scott Mitchell, of the Mitchell Library in Sydney. The grave of Bridget Catherine Jensen is marked by this ornate headstone. I have found many In Memoriam notices by searching Trove, but the family its self are proving interesting to find. (More on what I find, later. I'm having fun.) Now when I see a headstone with an interesting note on it, like the one below, I have to search for what happened. Joseph Leeds death was a tragic accident. Joseph was a prominent businessman, with his offices in Camden House 418 George Street, Sydney. (This is between wh...

 As a genealogist I can leave mysteries alone, a mention of something has me looking for information, to find out more and well with this 'connection,' I couldn't leave it alone. With my two previous posts,  Nicolls/Nicholls   and  Connection  I thought I had it sorted, well no. Looking at Christina Nicolls  and her age had me thinking that Richard Henry Daly,   couldn't be her son, could he? I did a search on Ancestry for Richard and found three different years of birth, 1920, 1924 and 1926.  Given that Christina was born in 1875 (10273/1875), she would have been 45, 49 or 51 years old when Richard was born.   While it was a push, she could have had Richard in 1920, but searching didn't give me any births of a Richard to a Christina in 1920, using the New South Wales, Birth Death and marriages site, (NSW BDM). I then got Christina's death certificate, (03867/1956) and with careful checking found all the children, listed, except Dai...

  In my two previous posts, Sorting out Henrys and Ann(e)s and My Interesting Nicolls/Nicholls Line , I’ve talked about Henry and his first wife Elizabeth. This post will expand them some more. In the original post I mention that on Henry’s death certificate, (4257/1866) it states 6 males and 2 females living. Having added Henry George to the tree, I now have 5 males and 1 female, living. One male and one female from his second marriage, the others from the first marriage. Searching has given me a possible male, born 1840 and a female, born 1854 but I’m still looking for the full details and will leave them alone. Adding Henry George to the tree, gave me a new line to follow, to expand what I already knew. I had found seven children, this now expanded to 12, with 11 being alive when he died in 1912, a son pre-deceased him. So, Henry and Anne, having married in 1863 (1900/1863), have Sarah Ann b1864, William Joseph b 1866, Henry George b 1868, d 1880, Elizabeth Jane b 1871,...

 Back in January 2021, as we were settling into another year of Covid 19, I did a post on the confusion between two sets of Henry and Ann Nicolls/Nicholls. You can read about that here, as it will help with what is to come,  Soring out Henrys and Ann(e)s Fast forward to February 2024 and RootsTech, or more specifically Relatives at RootsTech.This is a fun thing that FamilySearch does, using your family tree and others, to find connections. You do have to have a FamilySearch account and have some form of a tree as well. Over the years that Relatives at RootsTech has been going I've always   had all   of my matches on my maternal side. Imagine my delight when I discovered that of my 96 ancestors, 95 were maternal and one was paternal.   Now I will say that my top matches on  maternal side are known to me, so they don't  have me rushing to do more research. The suggested match was a 2nd cousin twice removed, okay close but not  real cl...

 As I mentioned in my  Previous Post  I've been pruning ancestors. This month is it the Cameron branch. On my tree I have Ann Cameron, baptised 21 October 1827, to Alexander Cameron (1799-1879) and Ann Lamond (c1799-1885), or so I thought.  Alexander did marry Ann Lamond but AFTER, Anne b 1827 was born.  Now there is nothing wrong with that except Ann L ISN'T Ann C's mother.  READ ALL THE INFORMATION ON OUR DOCUMENTS. I'll get back to the marriage, after this. On Anne C's death certificate* NO parents are listed, likewise on her marriage certificate*. I do have her baptismal  certificate* and it states that Alexander Cameron had is daughter Ann baptised on 21 October 1827, in the Parish of Lochbroom. (No mothers were listed on Old Parochial Registers. The indexes on Scotland's People are being updated to include the mother's name.) Searching Scotland's People I find four other children for Alexander from 1822 to 1830, all in Lochbroom BUT the mother is...

 Back in 2021, I wrote a post about a challenge Fiona Brooker set us, you can read about it here.  Challenge Well this year I'm selecting a family a month to research in depth and correct any mistakes. WELL... I've been pruning some people who weren't who I thought they were and it's only just March! It pays to really look at the information on certificates, document etc. and the verify what they say.  More later.

  Last week Jill Ball did a guest post for the Genealogical Society of Queensland, called An ABC Journey Through Books, you can read it here,  Books   I have read or used some of the books Jill mentioned and recommend them to you.  I liked the idea, so have done my own, with a twist with some of the letters. A to Z Book List, with a Genealogy Theme.                                                     A – Atlases, for the many places we study, i.e. England, Germany, Ireland. B – Born in the English Colony of New South Wales by Dr Craig James Smee. Seven books covering the time period from 1788 to 1830, with births, deaths and marriages. C – City of Light by Ian R Lobsey. About Tamworth in New South Wales. D – Dictionaries. I have many from medical, Latin, Law, Old trades, titles & occupations, Surnames, ...

 Just a short post to say that I am in the process of developing a new talk, on the City of Sydney Archives. This site is very interesting and I would love to share the details with your society. I can do in person or via Zoom.

 I went looking for some family graves, at Rookwood Cemetery, this morning and as one does, I found an interesting one and have done some research on this poor person.        George HALSE, died 8 September 1900. George was injured in an explosion on Spectacle Island, in the ordnance depot.. Now I hadn't heard about this island, so that was my first search, using Google Maps. Spectacle Island is situated in Sydney Harbour, near Cockatoo Island.  You can read about the island here,  Spectacle Island But I was more concerned about George and onto Trove I went and the articles paint a gruesome picture. This article tells what happened.  Daily Telegraph, Monday 10 September 1900, Page 6. This article is the inquest. Evening News, Tuesday 11 September 1900, Page 4. George is buried in the Royal Navy Section, Rookwood, DD_Zone B/#/568, far from is birth place in England.

  I my previous blog post, Theory , I speculated that the parents of Margaret Kidston NICOL, were John NICOL and Janet GRAY. Well… The spelling of NICOL has been consistent in the documents I have found but some trees and documents have had the spelling NICHOL. I search using both spellings.   Research Question. Who are the parents of Margaret Kidston NICOL born 1820? What I found. Well scrap the year of birth. I really should stick to what is in front of me and really review the documents. Like: ALL the census records, on Scotland’s People, from 1851 through to 1891 have Margaret’s place of birth as being Gargunnock, Stirlingshire, with her age range being from 36 in 1851 to 76 in 1891. Making a year of birth being 1816. Her 1893 death certificate has her age as 79, and no place of birth. Making the year of birth as 1816.   I found a birth for Margaret NICHOL, daughter of John NICHOL and Margaret ROBERTSON in 1816 in Stirling. On Margaret’s marri...

  https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/guides/research-guides/forenames#Forenames%20and%20naming%20patterns   The spelling of NICOL has been consistent in the documents I have found but some trees have had the spelling NICHOL. I search using both spellings.   Research Question. Who are the parents of Margaret Kidston NICOL born 1820?   Information. 1)    Death Certificate: Statutory Deaths, 578/00 0179, parents given as William NICOL and Jane HARGRAVES. 2)    The Morrison Family Tree on Ancestry by lbowman222, (a distant cousin), has the parents as Henry NICHOL and Catherine BRINGING. Theory. Margaret’s parents are John NICOL and Janet GRAY. Working it out. 1)    Using Scotland’s People, I searched for the marriage of William NICOL and Jane HARGRAVES in a 15-year period from 1805 to 1820, there were no results. I then searched for the birth of Margaret, with the above parents, using the same timeframe, there wer...