Grandma’s Secrets.

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By Geraldine Lee. My grandmother bet on the horses. The evidence was discovered when her failing health and memory dictated a move into full-time care and family members were shocked to find not sheets and towels in the linen cupboard but thousands of betting slips. This sensible good-natured woman gambled? How to explain it? Mid-life crisis? How did anyone not know? I can explain my ignorance, having never opened her linen cupboard. Mamie – the nickname she preferred – was … Continue reading

Remember to Accentuate the Positive – 2020.

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Jill Ball has set a January challenge on GeniAus for a yearly blog to Accentuate the Positive. This is my 2021 effort reflecting on my 2020 year.  The challenge has 20 set points to cover. Remember to Accentuate the Positive An elusive ancestor I found was – Someone I had been searching many years for, an adopted baby. I finally cracked the mystery and managed to track who she had married, when she died and what children she had. A great … Continue reading

Christmas Stories & Traditions around the World.

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Much of the non-personal information in this blog is from a marvellous site I stumbled upon recently. It is by James Cooper, a Christmas loving web designer and titled: WhyChristmas?com  There are many additional countries on his website, so take a look. My thanks to James for giving me permission to use the below information. NORWAY – by James Cooper Christmas Eve is the time when presents are exchanged. The gifts are sometimes brought by Santa Claus (called ‘Julenissen’ in … Continue reading

Killyleagh Siblings – Alexander and Sarah Irvine.

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Alexander Irvine Alexander son of James & Sarah Irvine of Ballytrim was the couple’s 11th and final child born on 4 April 1859 according to the family bible. The two-week-old baby was baptised on 19th April 1859 at 1st Presbyterian Church, Killyleagh, Down and noted as being 14 days old.[1] Alexander travelled to Australia with his aged parents and older brother John Irvine, who had returned to Killyleagh to escort the party on the long journey to Australia in 1888. … Continue reading

Flight from Brisbane to London, May 1939: Alice Walsh.

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Most Australians cannot travel overseas at the moment and even when we can travel, we often complain about the 24 hours it takes to get to Europe. How would we feel about taking nine days to travel from Brisbane to London? I have been sorting through some of my cousins’s old photos and letters after she moved to a nursing home and I came across an eleven page, hand written report entitled Flight from Brisbane to London, May 1939 written … Continue reading