Lilian's Tree

 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...

 SAVE THE DATE. Have you registered for RootsTech? It all happens  3-5 March. This is USA time, so check where you live. It's free and there is lost of fun things happening. RootsTech   follow this link to join me and over 500,000 others. There is also this link  Connect   To Relatives at RootsTech. This is the page you get, sign in with your FamilySearch account and play. Last year I had heaps of  relations but none very close. This year, (so far) I have eight. The top one I have shared information with, for several years but the second one is new. I've contacted her, fingers crossed. Why not join in the fun?

            The Elusive George Galbraith I'm having fun trying to find George, he has me searching through Ancestry, FindMyPast, FamilySearch and Scotland's People looking for any hint as to who he belongs to. Last Sunday I mentioned Agnes Galbraith and looking into her cause of death, well I found her death. Agnes died of Consumption on 17 November 1867 at the age of 25 years. Okay, she is now ruled out, fully. I have also contacted Find A Grave asked if someone is able to check the inscription, in regards to George. I hope I get a reply. I've found more information and records relating to Janet Galbraith. She is on the 1881 Scottish Census, at her mother's residence, with Thomas Gray and George Galbraith.   Had I found him? Nope, Janet and Robert named their son George Galbraith Gray. (big sigh as I thought I'd found him.)  In all Janet and Robert Gray had eight children, not just the two I thought, last week. They are; Robert b 1863 S...

I have come to the conclusion that six hours sleep does not make for a happy camper! Having turned the light of at 11.30pm and having the alarm sound at 6.30am is not good but as a good genealogist, I bravely soldiered on, until 3.45pm when I had to call it quits. But I digress. Another beautiful morning greeted the 600 attendees, 300+ who had partied the night before, as we made our way to the ICC, for Day 3. Martyn, thought that a sing-a-long would be one way to wake us up, this was greeted with groans and laughter, but sing we did. Paul Milner was this morning's speaker on English Research -Eighteenth Century Sources and Indexes. This is my time frame, so I paid attention and tried to absorb what Paul was saying. Very intersting and useful. Another delicious morning tea was waiting for us after this session and a chance to again have interesting conversations or view the vendor stands. Again the choices for the concurrent sessions were excellent and I chose to listen to ...

Feeling very sleepy but the day is young, so well... The second session was preceded by a Rootstech Rewind, featuring Tan Lee from 2015,  a Vietnamese-Australian telecommunications entrepreneur, is a co-Founder of  Emotiv . She was named the 1998  Young Australian of the Year . Her talk was about her life journey,  it was very moving. Beautiful. I then settled down to watch Understanding DNA Testing for Genealogy, with Jim Brewster, from Family Tree DNA.  While it was good and I learnt new things about my FamilyTreeDNA results, which might be helpful, it did get technical . Sorry to see that the room wasn't full again. Jim Brewster My third session of the day is with Amy Johnson Crow and Curt B. Witcher on 'How not to leave your genealogy behind.'  They both spoke about how we leave our genealogy, for future generations.  Amy asked, 'Who knows your password?' For genealogy, photos, etc. She mentioned Legacy Contacts. Where you set-up ...

I know I have posted about FamilySearch, several times and that it is a really good and free genealogy website to use.  BUT have you looked at their Wiki? https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/ I had heard other people mention wiki and didn't take any notice, until today.  I am starting the research for my second book and wanted information on Scotland. Thought, 'I'll give the FamilySearch Wiki a try.'  WOW! It has heaps of information on a wide range of topics, with links to follow and detailed information. I browsed the pages, clicking on links, discovered heaps, book marked several pages, for future reference and though, 'why haven't I looked at this before?'  I use Wikipedia but will now go to FamilySearch, first as I think it will be of more use, with my genealogy. Give it a try. Have a browse. It's FREE. Bye for now, Lilian.

   Going back into the library, who should I run into but Thomas MacEntee, Geneablogger extraordinaire. We are standing in front of the brand new Salt Lake Discovery Centre. So after more research, I went and had a play. You are given an iPad, log in with your FamilySearch account, (free and you don't have to be LDS to have one). Take the iPad and dock it to any of the screens, in any of the areas and play. If you have a FamilySearch tree, the details of what is on it comes up. In another area, you can do a timeline and if you have entered photos, they come up.   The centre is amazing, there is so much to see and do. The downside is for us from downunder, there isn't one in Australia.   Here am I standing at the top of Snowbird! Taken in then Discovery Centre and emailed to me.   Bye for now, Lilian.

                                       Stuck on what to write? Not sure where to begin? These two blogs, below are from FamilySearch and have some good ideas for getting started. (I hope the link works, if not cut and paste into your address bar.)  FamilySearch blogs are interesting and cover all different topics, well worth a look. https://familysearch.org/blog Define your dash is aimed at getting you to write YOUR personal story. We concentrate on the past and often forget to write our story. This blog aims to get you started and leads onto the next one;   52 Stories Weekly Questions . Aimed at giving you starting points for writing, this blog is divided into 12 sections, each with a set of questions. Headings cover such things as Goals & Achievements to Holida...

  Why 21 November? Well that is my the date I started my blog and I have 390 posts now. Will I make it? Don’t know, watch this space.   Today I’m taking it easy as I’ve had a very sore ankle for ages and am finding it hard to walk on it. Annoyed because I prefer to walk, even though I have a car. We aren’t far from the shops, parking is difficult, so it makes sense to walk. Didn’t today.  Been searching Ancestry, FindMyPast, FamilySearch, Trove and the Ryerson Index for any interesting additions or new records. I've had a few interesting bits pop-up and they will give me some fun searching further. Might even become blog posts. So what have I been doing, since we arrived home from Adelaide? Last weekend was a genealogy weekend, (see the blog for what I did), this week we had James overnight and had a delightful time. He is  growing so quickly and his speech is developing, into very complex sentences. Wow! He loves playing Lego, with Granddad and also ...

                                                          SEARCHING. As a genealogist I am always searching, Searching for lost 'important' pieces of paper, lost photos, you know how it is. When I got back from the USA, I couldn't find my pincushion and spent a great deal of time searching for that. Found it on the flatbed of my sewing machine! I also plan most of  my searches. In Salt Lake City is the Family History Library. Run by the Latter Days Saints, (Mormons), it is wonderful but to far to go, without a search plan.  Well before I left Sydney I searched online, at FamilySearch.org  for my ancestors. Having 'found' them I made detailed notes of what I needed to view, either book...

Now I'm home I can really blog about RootsTech and add photos. While I did solve some of the storage problems on my iPad, I bought a Kindle, there still wasn't enough space for all the photos I wanted to show. My last post, about RootsTech ended with Thursday, this one will be the rest of it. Friday and I had three more sessions, plus plenty of time to catch-up with friends and shop. My first session was German History Made Eas(ier) by Richard Walker. While he had based his talk on German ancestry in America, the points he raised work equally for us here in Australia. As with all research, Richard's first point was to start with what you know.  His course notes set out how to research this and gave lists of useful websites.  This was an amazing talk and I wish I'd heard it BEFORE I started my German research. My next session was in the afternoon and was one of the best I've heard on Family Search. Robert Kehrer presented Finding Elusive Records. This has gi...

I 'played' on FamilySearch.org last night and if I've got it right, I've found my 5xgreatgrandfather. Did a bit of a happy dance, actually spun round and round on my chair. I will look at the records, in Salt Lake City, in February, to confirm it. FamilySearch.org is done by the Mormans and is a really useful site. I have also ordered film, to view at my local stake.  Have a look, you might just find that missing piece. Bye for now, Lilian

What, if any, family tree program do you use?  How do you find it?  Do you have your tree online, and with who?  Is there any problems with having it online? I use Brothers Keeper by John Steed and find it really good. Having the paid version gives me access to different report types and they are useful. It is the only program I use and I'm looking for one I can use for clients, as I don't want to mix families. Brothers Keeper allows you to split data bases, so I could use it, at a pinch.   I have tried My Heritage and am now getting bugged to update etc. I also, ages ago, put a small section of the tree on Ancestry, but took it down as I wasn't sure about them. FamilySearch has provision to have your tree with them and I'm considering it, so feedback would be great. Any ideas would be most welcome. Bye for now, Lilian.

I've been spending time browsing around in FamilySearch,     https//familysearch.org     and found this section.  The Apps are divided into five different groups; Find Ancestors (36), Family tree software (27), Photos and Stories (45), Charts and Tree Views (27) and Tree analysing (33). Number in brackets are how many in each group. They are for both android and ios, with  a brief description of each one. I looked at some interesting podcasts, that I'll consider downloading. If using your iPad or Tablet is how you do your family research, have a look. Bye for now, Lilian.

How many of us read other peoples blogs? I have several that I read and find that they are a wonderful way to get to know others.  The blog I'm going to review here is from FamilySearch. Now before you go, "not them, Again!" When was the last time you really had a good 'play' on their site? It is free and very useful. Go on, have a look. FamilySearch Blog is like most blogs, with frequent posts and what I like about it is that you don't have to scroll through every blog to find the one that you want to visit, again.   there are 18 different categories for you to read. I like going into What's New at FamilySearch and Tech Tips. These help me know what is new and solve any small problems I might have with searching. So go and read a different blog and enjoy. Bye for now, Lilian

http://www.angielucas.com/yeahwrite/2015/06/5-writing-tips-interesting-personal-stories.html I found this link on the FamilySearch Facebook page and thought that it was interesting. While the tips relate to scrapbooking, they are useful for story writing too.   I know I need to really get into writing up what I know about various family members but I keep doing other things instead. Bye for now, Lilian.

I've just spent some time searching on  Family Search, with some success. Now to order the films to view. For those who haven't used Family  Search, give it a try. It is run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is really good. They have classes you can take and heaps of other things to read through. It has been revamped and is so much easier to use (I think). I just type into the search field what I know or do a broad one and then narrow it. here is the link   http://familysearch.org     well worth a good look. Have fun!

When I opened my curtains, at the hotel, on Saturday I was greeted by these. I love watching them and will one day have a ride. It was a good start to a great day! Day 2 of the conference was for those registered only and there was a lot for us to do. The keynote address, by Dr David Headon,  was on how the design of Canberra came about. Really informative. Morning tea, scones, jam & cream, were next, followed by Family History Trivia. What does John Farnham's song, Age of Reason have to do with family history?  What is the first life event mentioned in the song? (answer below) Chris Boyack talked about how to construct your family tree, using FamilySearch. I like using FamilySearch and have had some good results. Cora Num gave a talk about Research tools for the Digital Age.  Different ways to collect and store information. She stressed several times the importance of doing back-ups. After lunch there were four different talks, with your choi...