Category Archives: family histories

Top 5 Technology Skills for Family History

GSQ Blog Posted on by

In the modern age of family history research, digital tools have become essential in uncovering the past. While traditional genealogical methods are still vital, the ability to navigate and use technology has transformed the way we research, record, and share our family histories. In an ever-increasing digital world, it is important that family historians develop skills around how to effectively use these digital tools.  Here are five basic but crucial technology skills that every family historian should master to make … Continue reading

My connection to ‘The Valley’ from the late 1850s.

GSQ Blog Posted on by

I’ve become very interested in the early settlement of Fortitude Valley since discovering I have ancestors who lived there before and after Queensland separated from New South Wales in September 1859. Denis James Guerin, with his wife Margaret, and eight children, moved to Moreton Bay between 1856 and 1857 to take up a job as a weigher with HM Customs. This was quite a change for the Guerins as before leaving Sydney, Denis was the licensee of the Corporation Arms … Continue reading

Broaden your horizons.

GSQ Blog Posted on by

One of the topics I’ve presented to a few societies is “The marriage of family and local history”. By broadening our research focus to our family’s geographic context to the place(s) where they lived, we can learn so much more about their engagement with their local community and the successes and trials of that community. I don’t know about you, but when I drive through a small country town, I wonder how it came to be – what brought it … Continue reading

Birds of a feather flock together at Congress.

GSQ Blog Posted on by

By Jill Ball. As a friendly flock we genies love to gather in person. The high spot on the genealogy calendar for family historians downunder is the triennial Congress or, to give it its proper name, the Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry of the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations Inc. (AFFHO) “The four-day festival of learning and laughing and loving” – Judy G Russell 2018 (11) Next year’s Congress, Connections2025, to be held in Brisbane in March 2025 will … Continue reading

Connecting to a Forgotten Past.

GSQ Blog Posted on by

I’ve always believed that the journey of researching and writing about family history is just as important as the destination, but the research will often take us along unexpected paths. Uniting the current generation with earlier generations about a forgotten past is a worthy undertaking, but the project is often complex and can take a long time. Recently I came across a book, Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History by Margaret Juhae Lee. Margaret, the author, researched her family’s history … Continue reading