Lilian's Tree

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 ...

Today, being the second Thursday of the month, is Writing Group Day. Now into our fourth year, this group of like minded people are close. (new comers are made very welcome) Today was tinged with sadness as our oldest member, Ben Price, aged 98, passed away in April. Ben would travel by public transport, with his walker to make our meetings. Two years ago, when he was 96, I photographed him with our youngest member, aged just 9months. He told such wonderful stories of his ancestors, that we enjoyed. He continued to live on his own, cooking his meals until the end. His death notice read, 'Not ready yet!'. We will miss you Ben. Ben's Order of Service. Ann Beaumont and Sue Stenning. Sue is the "boss" of the group. Our speaker today was Ann Beaumont. In a previous life she was a journalist in all three areas, print, radio and television. She covered such things as the Vietnam War and the break up of the former Yugoslavia and was also a member of t...

The second Thursday of each month is writing group, in at the Society of Australian Genealogists, (SAG) and this is usually followed by lunch at a local cafe. Today was different, as there was another seminar on, in the afternoon. Writing Group was great with 14 members presenting a short talk on a chosen topic. The group is very talented and we were treated to a wonderful selection of topics. The group went for lunch but two of us had booked the afternoon session. Crime and Punishment presented by John Cann, from NSW Archives. Taking us on a journey from 1788 to today, John gave us an overview of what types of records, we could access. While he mentioned two paid sites, most of his talk centred around TROVE and the NSW Archives. Showing us copies of actual documents, he explained what was NOT online and how a visit to the Archives would be useful. If you think you might have a person, with a 'shady' past, have a look at these two sites. www.records.nsw.go...

Today Sue had organised Jeffery Madsen to give a talk on, Creating Maps in Family Stories. While I haven't used maps in stories, they are something I use frequently.  He explained what a map was, why we would use a map and what is the map showing the reader.  Jeffery also explained that by using different types of maps, the reader is able to see the location of a particular place. Sources of maps, copyright and attribution were also covered. We were then given a lesson in how to put maps into our word document. How to manipulate them and how to organise the text. Something for me to play with. It was a very useful and informative talk, from a gentleman, who loves maps. Bye, Lilian

Some things never change! I have spent time re-reading all my posts from when I started and thought that I was repeating myself. I'm still trying to keep my filing cabinet tidy, my family history group is still going strong and the SAG writing group has grown. I also still have more questions than answers on some of my branches, but that is what family research is all about. I looked at Thomas McEntee's site geneabloggers.com and like the hints he gives on how to write up your blog. Going to try his hint for each day and see how I go. Bye for now, Lilian

                                                           Friday, I can see the  weekend!  Tomorrow is Valentines Day BUT it is also Library Lovers Day. With libraries suffering cutbacks,    why not visit your local library and see what is on offer. Apart from books, magazines and CD's my local library offers computer classes, free use of computers, story time for all ages and craft groups. Go on, visit, you will be surprised. Yesterday my Writing Group, through SAG, started back. We had been set a task of writing a very short piece on any of the 15 topics listed. It had to be about someone on our family tree. I didn't take part as I couldn't fit any of mine int...

Where did the rest of November go? Last week my husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary, with a lovey dinner out. On Saturday, last, I went into town to SAG and attended the talk, by Kerrie Farmer on Scottish resources on-line. Kerrie's talks are always wonderful and I came away inspired to tackle my Scottish problems. Today I have a talk on Griffiths Valuations and tomorrow, Writing Group. The Writing Group, is a newly formed group of 'budding' writers.  Most of us attend a workshop, last August/September, in at SAG, on how to write up your family story. We liked it so much that we asked if we could form a group and are now in our second month. We have the time-slot until June next year, when it will be re-assessed, so come and join us. We help each other out, with problems, ideas, support and feedback. Next year I'm presenting a talk on how to do Indexes and then one on Appendices. We email each other ideas for topics and then those with the knowledge o...