As regular readers of this blog will be aware, I wasn’t born in Brisbane, let alone in Australia. At times, I do dip my toes into Australian records, however, and have gradually been picking up more knowledge. As well as my regular activities with GSQ, I also belong to a genealogy group that meets monthly. We take it in turns to set a challenge for the following month and some of these challenges have been awesome in opening our eyes … Continue reading
Parish records are the main source for information when your UK family history research extends back beyond the period covered by civil registration which started in England and Wales in July 1837 and the census which was conducted on 6 June 1841. Parish records can often be a rich source of information, but sometimes it’s a major challenge to find the actual parish where your ancestors were baptised or married. Maps are an invaluable resource in situating their lives within … Continue reading
I sat down to start writing this blog post after the whirl of Christmas and Boxing Day was over. I’ve been thinking about the two trips I’m planning for this year: the AFFHO Congress in Sydney in March and the Unlock the Past Cruise to Alaska in September. My main activity over the past few weeks, however, has been to write up a family history for my dad’s ancestry, which has been somewhat on the backburner for several years. I wanted to … Continue reading
Over the years, I have been gathering photos of places where I have lived as a means of documenting significant periods in my life. I can record changes in my life experiences as I’ve moved from my parents’ home to student accommodation to the rental market to private home ownership. I have also adopted this strategy in relation to as many of my ancestors as possible. Since the majority of these lived in England, I have relied greatly on online … Continue reading
The way in which you justify your conclusions concerning a branch of your family tree has much in common with a formalmathematical proof. Each one depends upon assembling demonstrated (and defensible) facts and then proceeding from them via a path of inexorable logic to an inevitable conclusion. But they share far more than that. Both a genealogical argument and a mathematical proof are deliberately structured to obscure the false starts, blind alleys and mistaken identifications that make each subject … Continue reading
