What’s in my genealogy library?

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Talk to any family historian and they will list the must-haves books in their genealogy library. Some have over 10000 books sitting on shelves while others may have a smaller collection which is regularly culled! Favourite reads nominated by genealogists will be many and varied but it is highly likely that there will also be some overlap. I don’t have thousands of books but I do have a collection which has been accumulated over many years. Some are books which … Continue reading

Edith Matilda and her sisters

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I remember my great grandmother, Edith Caller (rhymes with “valour”), as a happy, snowy-white haired lady who seemed to chuckle a lot; I’d say she was jolly. To me, she was “Nanny Caller” who lived in an old timber house set on a large block in Putney, on the Parramatta River. There was an extensive vegetable garden, an array of fruit trees and still plenty of room for ballgames and chasings during family gatherings. We always felt very safe and … Continue reading

Finding the Hook – keeping your readers interested

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Every piece of family history needs a hook to hang the story on and the focus of the August Writing Group meeting was to develop and share ways of ‘finding the hook’. Group members were invited to write an account of a moment in their family history that would likely hook readers and keep them interested. The writing style was open to members to choose whatever was appropriate for their story, be this historical non-fiction, creative non-fiction, or historical fiction. … Continue reading

We’re all related and quite possibly mad too: Counting ancestors!

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This article was published in Generation Vol 7, No 1 (September) 1984 – thirty-five years ago.  At this time, GSQ was based at Stones Corner and the President was Mr David Larkin. A single membership cost $20 while a family one could be had for the princely sum of $25. This article illustrates the numerical challenges in researching all of our ancestors. TO ALL FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCHERS AND OTHERS by Jim Rogers Dear Fellow Sufferer, I now don’t care when … Continue reading

A chance discovery!

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My paternal side of the family is Jones from Wales. I struggled over many years to obtain information but failed. In 2006 I made a trip to Wales and obtained the birth certificate of my great grandfather and while there did some research on the family which progressed me along. On returning to home, I still found it difficult to move further back until a chance discovery in an immigration record of the youngest child, Enoch Jones, which opened up … Continue reading