Monthly Archives: February 2020

Tracing your female ancestors.

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I have recently given talks at GSQ and Brisbane City Council libraries on “Finding Grandma – tracing the female line.” It can be a challenge to discover a female ancestor’s individual identity; in the 18th and 19th centuries women were generally recorded as “wife of …” or “daughter of …” in a wide range of records. Socially, this situation existed as recently as the Second World War. How many times when doing our research have we come across a baptism record, … Continue reading

In praise of reading ‘Guides’

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Example: U.K. Census Records After being side-tracked for far too long I finally got around to researching my Phillips/Dunning English line. I had all the birth, deaths and marriage material that I needed to begin, so looked to see what the U.K. Census records had to offer in fleshing out these ancestors. I decided to read the ‘Guide’, you know the adage ‘read the instructions’, this is found on the U.K. National Archives website, https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/census-records/ What a treasure of information. … Continue reading

A Question for Great Grandfather James Dickson

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By Lyndall Maag It started with a note, a small, white piece of what looked like scrap paper, with handwriting that seemed slightly familiar but we couldn’t quite place.  The note was a short recollection of my great grandfather’s life, telling us of family interaction in Scotland and the people he met on the voyage out to Australia.  Most tellingly, this short, seemingly innocuous document, called into question his maternity. I had heard stories of my great grandfather James’ parentage … Continue reading

The Irvines – from whence they came.

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  My Irvine ancestors set out from Killyleagh, a beautiful village in County Down, situated on the shores of Strangford Lough. This story aims to tell you a little about the history of the area and the senior members of the family. Although the village was settled in the 12th century, it was in 1602 that the Scots-Irish influence began. At this time the Gaelic chieftain Con O’Neill of Clandeboye owned much of North Down, including Killyleagh. O’Neill had sent … Continue reading