Yearly Archives: 2016

The importance of checking variations in the spelling of names.

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I joined the Genealogical Society of Queensland just over 2 years ago and immediately started attending all the information sessions and seminars that were on offer. Numerous times I heard the advice, “ Be sure to consider variations on the spelling of names.” I took this advice and considered different spelling for the tricky surnames like RAILL ( Real, Reale, Rail, Raile) and Conor (Connor, Connors, Coner, O’Connor). However, I made one very serious mistake. I did not look at … Continue reading

A place in the sun

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Sweltering through the heatwave that recently descended on Brisbane, made me extremely grateful for the benefits of air conditioning. I started to wonder, not for the first time, how early migrants to Australia coped with the heat and humidity. Without electricity, they didn’t even have the benefits of fans, let alone air conditioning. Their clothing was designed more for colder climates than hot ones – think how you’d survive.   Rainbow over Currumbin, Qld I remember when I first arrived … Continue reading

Mapping Your Family History

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It is said a picture can tell a thousand words and this is never more true than when you are talking about maps.  You can use maps to plot where your ancestors were born, their migration routes to another country or even within a country over time. Did your family stay in one location for generations or did they disperse  around the country or even around the world? Maybe your ancestor served in the military. You could plot the movements … Continue reading

Short on time?

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By Tiggy Johnson.   I’m always wondering whether I can use a short period of time effectively for genealogy, so I was pretty happy to see this article come up during the week. You may have already seen it if you keep an eye on GSQ’s Facebook page.   Mostly, I’m keen to use time during my lunch break at work effectively so, as much as I like the idea of the writer’s first tip – scanning and labelling photographs … Continue reading

Pitfalls in Researching a Very Old Ancestor

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Location of Lorenzago di Cadore Amongst the trickiest part of researching a family tree that extends back many generations is the temptation to read history backwards. One of my earliest ancestors, Oliviero DeMichiel (1535-1568) lived in the village of Lorenzago in the foothills of the Dolomite Mountains of northeastern Italy. As I tried to write about Oliviero’s daily life my 21st Century assumptions about society (education, sanitation, transport, art and culture, technology, etc) kept getting in the way. I could catalogue … Continue reading