Yearly Archives: 2024

Writing a Memoir

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Have you thought about writing up the results of your research and producing a family history. How to do this can be quite a daunting prospect and therefore something which many family historians defer. Not everyone has the time or inclination to write a full family history and many explore other ways of recording the family’s story. Some produce books, others create stories around their photo collections, yet others write blog posts, create websites – the options are endless. One … Continue reading

Escaping Famine: Hugh McGovern (1822-1905) and Ann Stevens (1819-1873)

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Life in Ireland was difficult in 1840-41, it was a time leading up to the great famine that peaked in 1845. No doubt wanting to believe the favourable tales and promises made by recruiting agents that a better life was to be found in Australia, Hugh and Ann McGovern made the decision to leave behind the hardships of life in Ireland. Being married, Protestant and able to read and write, they would have been eagerly recruited by ‘bounty’ agents tasked … Continue reading

Serendipity and Genealogy.

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My husband and I went to The National Archives (TNA), Kew, London, several years ago as part of a visit to the United Kingdom. My husband had several documents to review, but I was unsure what I would do. It suddenly struck me I could look for documents on my only convict, Robert Bland. Robert is not my blood relative but married my great-great-grandmother, Ann Porter. I already had the court documents from Scotland, so what else could I find … Continue reading

Unclaimed mail, missing friends and the dead letter office.

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An issue which can torment researchers of pre-21st Century times is the missing letter: the failed communication, the lost opportunity to contact a friend, relative or business. What critical love letter, piece of family news, financial assistance, secrets, or other life-changing messages were lost? Why was it such a problem? What was the fate of the lost messages and parcels? For the 19th and most of the 20th Century, mailed messages, newspapers and goods were a vital link around the … Continue reading

An ordinary man.

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I have always been interested in the “forgotten” people on my family tree, those who were single, or married but left no descendants and those who died young including the many unnamed infants. Those who led ordinary lives and left little behind in the way of possessions or stories to be remembered and passed down. One such person was Albert George Loftus, the brother of my two times great-grandmother Alice Loftus. The Loftus family, John and Mary with their four … Continue reading