Lilian's Tree

After all the wonderful sessions, on Thursday, we all rolled-up for Friday and Saturday's sessions, determined to miss nothing. There wasn't enough time between dinner and bed for us to 'play' with what we had been shown and I do think that sleep was an after thought, for some people. The rain, forcast, for Sydney arrived and we were reaching for umbrellas and dodging puddles, on our way into the venue. Friday and Blaine stared the day discussing, "Ethical and legal consideration for DNA evidence."  Blaine discussed naming a beneficiary, for our DNA tests, when we are gone. To always read the terms and conditions of every test, we take. To give information to those, we want to test, for us. How ot impart senstive information, we find. Ethics is something we all should be aware of and consider carefully. My next session was with Shelly Crawford, from ConnectedDNA. She mentioned other tools you can use to look at clusters but, really I think her pro...

A few weeks ago I asked Helen to answer some DNA questions, for me, here are her answers. Thank you, Helen. 1)        How many years have you be doing genealogy research and why did you start? I have been researching for 32 years. I had always had an interest as my father was English but I started research in earnest to stop my mother plaintively complaining that she never knew her grandfather (due to a family split which is a whole another story!).   I found out one thing then another and was hooked! 2)        When did you first use DNA, in your research and why? I did my first DNA test in the days when blood was required. Then did a mitochondrial test with Ancestry which while interesting did not help me much. It was not until autosomal testing started that I found DNA to be a useful genealogical tool for me personally though I had been trying to entice some Quested males to do a YDNA test for my ...

After fours days of watching Rootstech sessions, you might be forgiven if you thought that I had gone a bit, 'crazy!' But no, I haven't. You might also wonder what a parrot has to do with genealogy, well... Yesterday Helen Smith and Judy G Russell, genealogists, arrived, for #Congress_2018 and Jennie Fairs and I took them out, to Symbio Zoo, just south of Sydney at Helensburg.  https://symbiozoo.com.au/ This little zoo is home to a wonderful array of Australian native animal and birds. We had cuddles with a koala, fed a kangaroo and a paddy melon, (small wallaby), saw a sleepy wombat and Tasmanian Devil. Then there were the birds, beautiful native birds. Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos, Sulpher Crested Cockatoos, Gang Gangs, Finches of various types, Tawney Frogmouths and two pairs of  Eclectus Parrots. It was one of males that wanted to play peek-a-boo.                                  ...

Well Rootstech started in Salt Lake City, on Wednesday 28 February 2018 at 9.30am, after registration. BUT for us Aussies, it was 3.30am Sydney time 1 March 2018. Myself and several others, Helen Smith, Pauleen Cass, Jennie Fairs and Alona Tester, to name some, oppted to stay DownUnder and miss the fun and snow. [insert a very sad face, here. :(  ] Cost is a huge factor for us Aussies, when we travel but this year we have our own #Congress2018  or to give it it's correct title the    15th Australasian Congress On Genealogy and Heraldry.    Not on the same scale as Rootstech, it is still the biggest one held her in Australia, every three years and we have choosen to attend that.  But I digress, more on Congress, in other posts. The organisers of Rootstech have selected 19 different sessions, from lectures to the general sessions, to be lived streamed. Great if you live in the USA but not so good for us. Alarms are being set for either 3.00am, to h...

Woken, again by the laughter of kookaburras, I looked out the window to see that the river was shrouded in a soft mist, making sunrise softer. After such a beautiful start to the day, we settled into the downstairs lounge for Helen Smith's talk about FindMyPast and how to access their record sets. Again this is a site I subscribe to and Helen explained some very useful things, that I didn't know about. Then Michelle Patient gave a wonderful talk on DNA, condensing a two day talk into about 21/2 hours and she gave us a link to a handout. While my head was spinning, with the complexity of how DNA works, Michelle's talk did make it easier to understand and I'm going to take a closer look at my results. Michelle recommended Blaine T Bettinger's book, The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy, (on my to read pile). I got my copy from SAG but you can get it from Amazon in both book and Kindle forms. The book has three sections, G...

Yesterday was a wonderful day. I managed to combine three things I really enjoy, quilting, genealogy and my book. I had spoken to the printer on Tuesday and he was overnight express  posting the proof copy to me, so I was waiting at the post office at 9.00am to collect it. Feeling nervous, it took me several goes to unwrap it from it's procetive wrap. Thick card cover, smooth glossy paper, it is wonderful to hold something I've written. I hope that my cousins like their copies.   Next was registering for Congress, in March 2018. Early bird registrations opened, yesterday and with the eagerness of us genealogists, we crashed the site! I managed to register around 10.00am and have booked the Meet 'n' Great on the Friday and the dinner on the Saturday. I am so looking forward to catching-up with Judy G Russell, Helen Smith, Pauleen Cass, Shauna Hicks, Jill Ball and many, many others, as well as meeting new people, that I don't know if I will have enough time!...

Well I made it, my 400th post on my Blogiversary. Starting this blog on 21 November 2010 I wrote; I'm new to this but want to share family information and meet other family members.  Looking for the names of Abberton, Magill, Sigrist.  These are just some of the names I'm researching. Will post more once I'm settled in. Well I don't think I'm 'new' to this any more! I'm still searching for the same surnames, with a few more thrown into the mix. I have caught up with some cousins, found new ones but the biggest thing has been meeting fellow Bloggers. Jill Ball, has helped me re-design the blog and given encouragement. Thank you so much. Friendships with Helen Smith, Alona Tester, Fran Kitto, Pauline Cass, to name just a few, inspire me to lift my blogging game.  Wearing Blogger beads, at various conferences, creates new opportunities to talk about blogging and meet new people. I have learnt to do new things, too, adding my first photo on 2...

The day started very well, with a delicious hot chocolate and wonderful company. The genealogy family is very welcoming. I had only met Helen, before the conference and was Facebook friends with Fran and Lee-Ann. I meet so many other lovely people and enjoyed interesting conversations. Helen, Lilian, Fran, Lee-Ann, kick starting our day! The exhibition hall, during the day. A group of Geneabloggers. You can tell us by our blogger beads. They are great conversation starters. Thanks Alona, for handling them out. Another view of the hall. My name tag and ribbons. The stamp you can see is from the craft market, that was in the next building. $5 for all day, so I had a look and caught up with some friends. My blogger beads. My purchases. Will make for interesting reading. So, apart from coffee, craft fair and shopping, what did I do? I went to an informative talk, by Ben Hollister about German name changes, both personal and place names. Some of this w...

After a brisk walk to the convention centre, I finally woke up. Bit cool out, this morning. A Chinese Proverb says, "When the winds of change blow, some build walls, others build windmills." Something to ponder. Do you build walls or windmills? Joshua Taylor, started the day with a wonderful keynote address on Connecting Across Past, Present and Future. He spoke of his holidays, with is grandma, who got him  interested in family history. His comment, 'the past is full of adventure,' resonated with me. He also reminded us to cite our sources. Wills was next, with Jenny Joyce. While I had done Irish wills, Jenny's talk covered England and Wales. It really re-enforced what I had learnt in my course. Paul Miliner gave an interesting talk on Scottish maps and gazetteers. I should now be able to locate my ancestors place of residence. Irish Census and Census Subistitutes by David Rencher, finished off the morning sessions. This talk expanded my knowledge on ...

I've a busy day today with five sessions and two keynote addresses. Joshua Taylor starts the day with, his keynote address on Connecting Across Past, Present and Future. Then my sessions start with Jenny Joyce covering Wills from England and Ireland. Then onto Scotland, with Paul Milner. Ireland is next with David Rencher followed by lunch and then Richard Reid's keynote address. My afternoon is Scotland with John Blackwood and the Helen Smith talks on Friendly societies. A good way to end the day. Going to get breakfast and call my darling husband.  More later today, much to busy during the day to blog, will fill in details tonight. Bye for now, Lilian