Author Archives: Sue Bell

Looking for a letter: Elizabeth Hardwicke’s (née Chapman) letter to her daughter Maria

GSQ Blog Posted on by

Do many of us who are doing genealogy research think, as we are searching Trove or gazing at microfilm to find that missing link, that one way we may find the answer is to write our story and put it out there on a blog and see whether some distant relative suddenly presents the answer? Sounds far fetched doesn’t it? I certainly thought so when I started to contribute to this blog. Perhaps I was naive because I thought you … Continue reading

Sisters of Charity at the Female Factory, Parramatta

GSQ Blog Posted on by

They have been so sadly tormented by the mosquitoes, especially Mrs Cater, and Mrs O’Brien suffered no little. Yesterday was a most oppressive day on account of the heat. [1] Mrs Cator and Mrs O’Brien were two of five Irish Sisters of Charity who arrived in Sydney from Ireland on the last day of 1838 and After residing some weeks in Sydney, they established themselves in a house founded for them in Parramatta, that they might be able to attend … Continue reading

Correcting family myths: Great Uncle Ossie and Lulu

GSQ Blog Posted on by

I remember when I was young my father would often joke with my friend’s mother about some scandal that had involved both our families long ago (although as I was to find out it was not so long ago!).  I remembered these conversations when I noticed a small piece in a 2002 edition of the Runcorn Record, a now defunct publication put out by the Queensland State Archives. Unfortunately, my father had died by then, so as usual I was … Continue reading

Brawl at the Female Factory, Parramatta

GSQ Blog Posted on by

I find one of the most intriguing things about family history is when you discover records containing words spoken by people living at the time. In the research I have been doing on my great-great-grandfather and grandmother, Thomas and Sarah Bell, who were keeper and matron at the Female Factory at Parramatta during the 1830s and 1840s, I have not only found letters written by them and about them but also, in rare cases, the words of convict women who … Continue reading

Francis Jack Needham – life in India

GSQ Blog Posted on by

What makes people interested in genealogy and family history? Do they want to find out where they came from and what sort of lives their ancestors lived? Are they interested in where their ancestors fitted into Australian or local history? Or is there some artefact which has been passed down through generations of their family which sparks the initial interest and makes them want to find out more about its owner? Personally I find that a name, an address on … Continue reading