My first grandchild was born last year and I spent six weeks with him a month after he was born. He lives in Chicago so while I was there I spent some time thinking about how I could pass on some stories of his Australian family without just giving him a list of relatives with names and dates. One day during my visit, I was in the American Writers Centre on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, which had just opened, reading … Continue reading
By Bob McAllister Many years ago (when I filled most of the time now devoted to family history with a full-time job), I read The Gatton Mystery by James and Desmond Gibney¹. It explored the issues surrounding a still-unsolved horrific triple murder that took place near Gatton on the evening of Boxing Day 1898². One of the authors was a judge and his brother a senior public servant. I recall their book laid out in some detail the events as … Continue reading
Do you know where the Azores are located? It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the North Atlantic, which are an autonomous region of Portugal and located about 1,360 km west of that country. This is about my maternal great great grandfather Joseph Antoney and my paternal great grandfather, Emanuel Vero. What a coincidence, an ancestor from the Azores Islands on both sides of my family but two generations apart. Growing up on a remote group of … Continue reading
Johann George and Maria Barbara Heldt and their children, Peter, Nicholas, Elizabeth and Barbara, arrived in Australia in March 1853 on board The Helene. They were among the numerous German immigrant families who settled in the Clarence River District in Northern New South Wales. Johann and Maria were my 3xgreat grandparents. Their daughter Elizabeth was my 2xgreat grandmother. It was whilst researching my Heldt ancestors, I got “lost” in Trove, as often happens, and came across the tragic story of … Continue reading
Each year 8 March is recognised as International Women’s Day and many countries around the world, including Australia, celebrate Women’s History in March. It is only fitting that at the beginning of March we remember our female ancestors and the lives they led. How did these women contribute to history? Was it something wonderful or totally significant on a national scale or was it something smaller and more at a community level? Very few of us have famous female ancestors … Continue reading
