Lilian's Tree

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 ...

Rootstech 2022  Back on 2016 I attended my first Rootstech conference and was blown away by the sheer size of it. The immense number of talks, presentations , key note speakers and the vendor hall. I LOVED IT! I made new friends, saw old ones, learnt heaps and then spent the next 10m days exploring parts of Nevada and  California. 2017 saw me back in Salt Lake City and my second Rootstech, this time I paced myself and didn't try and cram everything in. 2018 and 2019 had me getting up very early for the online sessions as I didn't get to attend, in person, those two years, but I still had fun and learnt heaps. 2020 and even though Covid-19  was around, I ventured across the Pacific Ocean, to attend in person. It was wonderful to be hugged by friends, catch-up for a meal and a chat, venture out to Antelope Island and the Spiral Jetty and to walk around Salt Lake City, looking at the beautiful murals. I was even fortunate to be given four DNA kits from four companies as a 't...

2020! Wow, a new decade! There wasn't much to celebrate at the end of 2019 with catastrophic bushfires raging in all states of this wonderful country. The fires continued and more started, lives and homes lost, wildlife and their habitats raised.  So, so sad. We had Master 6 and Miss 4 stay with us for several days and had a 'wild' party on New Years Eve! They were asleep by 9.00pm! I have been reading, with five books finished. These being; Ghost Swifts, Blue Poppies and the Red Star by Nathan Dylan Goodwin. Based on his extended family, it is about a mother's search to find how her son died in World War One. Beautiful story. The Dilemma by B A Paris. This was recommended by a friend and wasn't an author I had read before. I really enjoyed the book. Set over one day it tells of a couple, each hiding a secret about one of their children and the dilemma of telling each other what they know, before a big family event. On Writing by Stephen King. Yes, THE Ste...

After over thirty years researching family history, I think that I have finally cracked how we have Hunter in the Magill names. Family lore had two different stories as to why our surname is Magill; The first one is that Samuel (Hunter), murdered a man called Magill and took the Magill name and high-tailed it out of Ireland. The second one is that he took his mother’s maiden name of Magill and left Ireland because of reasons unknown.   While both of these were interesting, I took them with a grain of salt. Samuel wasn’t above telling ‘stories.’ In February I was in Salt Lake City, home to the BIGGEST FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY in the world and have looked into Samuel’s birth. We know that he was born in County Antrim between 1844-1849. This has been gleaned from family lore and his death certificate. Well before I arrived in Salt Lake City, I found a birth of one Samuel Magill, son of a James Magill and Mary.   I then looked for their marriage and found this...

After over thirty years researching family history, I think that I have finally cracked how we have Hunter in the Magill names. I’m currently in Salt Lake City, home to the BIGGEST FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY in the world and have looked into Samuel’s birth. We know that he was born in County Antrim between 1844-1849. This has been gleaned from family lore and his death certificate. Well before I arrived here I found a birth of one Samuel Magill, son of a James Magill and Mary.   I then looked for their marriage and found this. James Magill m Mary Ann Hunter, 1850.    This sent tingles down my spine. Could this really be the answer? Well… I headed to B2 and the Irish records.   Microfilm number 101313 holds the key.   The record had some words I couldn’t decipher but the important bits were there.     Name                     ...

                                                                  Salt Lake City. As I'm going to Salt lake City, in early February, I thought I'd see what was reported in Australian newspapers.  This article is one of many I found and it doesn't paint the city in a very good light. Bacchus Marsh Express (Vic_1866-1918), Saturday 16 March 1872, p3.     A far cry from the disparaging comments of 1872.                                        ...

    With  Christmas and New Year over, my thoughts are turning towards my trip to Salt Lake City, Utah, For RootsTech. I hope that there will be snow, like last year. It was my first experience of snow and I loved it! I'm really looking forward to catching up with friends I made and also making new ones. This year there will be a large Australian contingent and it will be great to catch-up with them and enjoy the Commonwealth Dinner. There are so many interesting and wonderful sessions, that picking just one for each slot it becoming very hard. Several of the ones on Scotland have caught my eye and there is a new one on Ireland as well. Decisions, decisions, decisions.   I know from last year that some are just promoting a product but that others, with vague titles were fantastic! I'm also working out what I need to research.   It is always good to go to any research facility with a plan and going so far, this is a must. I will be bloggi...

                                                          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...

I'm not getting any kickbacks from these companies but I would recommend them for the different things we did. Salt Lake City. Found these people through a leaflet in our hotel. Amanda did the City Sights one and together we did the Great Salt Lake one. www.saltlakecitytours.org If you want a good Mexican food, Red Iguana2, is the place. www.rediguana.com Las Vegas. The Neon Boneyard, an amazing place to visit. www.neonmuseum.org San Francisco. The City Sightseeing San Francisco, with their four hop-on, hop-off buss are the best. (Paul and I used this company in Europe and the buses were great.) www.citysightseeing.us Red and White Fleet Cruises, have a variety of cruises, wed did the Bridge to Bridge one. Amanda had also used them when they were there in 2013 www.redandwhite.com Pier 39, shops, food and sea lions. Well worth the walk along it. pier39.com Alcatraz tours are best booked well before you get there as there is a limited number of tours across t...

Morning from Salt Lake City, Rootstech is amazing! Wednesday, waking to early and a dodgy shower, I went and registered. Very slick no waiting. Two classes in the afternoon gave me some more research time in the library. If you can't get to Salt Lake City, you can order the microfilm from your local Family History Library. Check at www.familysearch.org for your nearest one. The first class was Your Brick Walls are not as Tall as You Think. Some very useful tips. The second class was 15 Ways for Genealogists to Keep Learning. Things I knew and different ways to use them and things I didn't know. Amanda arrived on Wednesday and we had dinner  the Cheesecake Factory, yum! Thursday and it was snowing as I walked to the conference. 10.00am saw the vendor hall open. Such an array of stalls, mind blowing!  I caught up with several people and bought different things, mindful of my baggage allowance. Subscribed to an internet genealogy magazine. Firs...

I have been very busy, this past week, trying to get things in order, so I can head to Roots Tech, in Utah. I've cooked meals, organised the freezer, sorted out our mail collection, (we have a post office box) and making sure I've got my research in order. I've also started a 365 Quilt Block Challenge, nine blocks made, so I'm on track. We are working on the dark blocks, all 3" in size. The 12 Month Genealogy Do-Over, has started and I've elected to do the go-over part. Revision my previous research, citing sources and double checking my facts. It will be very interesting to do. Wednesday, a very wet Wednesday and I did a webinar on how to research at the Family History Library, in Salt Lake City. So helpful. The biggest thing I have done this week is FINISH my study. While I had it tidy and there were some tubs to sort through, I was leaving that until I got back. Well the rain kept me inside, so it is done, with another bookcase added an...

I've been very busy  packing things into boxes and moving things out of my room. The freezer was the biggest item, so far and it is now in the laundry, my sewing drawers are in my husbands study. All but two shelves are gone and he has removed the brackets for several others, that might not go back up. The room looks so big, it echo's and it seems to be brighter! During all this I've been researching and sewing, trying to get things done before the painter arrives. Below are photos of the room. My research is going to be continued in Salt Lake City, I will need to access microfilm for the details as certificates aren't available for the timeframe I'm looking at. Last weekend I attended the annual conference of The Royal Australian Historical Society, held a Bankstown Sports Club. I had a great time catching up with friends, making new ones and listening to very interesting speakers. Bye for now, Lilian.