Category Archives: family histories

Every picture tells a story

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They say that every picture tells a story. My picture, the only one I have of my grandfather and his sisters, and its associated story was one of those featured at the February Writing Group meeting. The simple caption ´Arthur Stirland, front centre, with sisters Edith and Emily, with their respective husbands Albert Hall and Joseph Evans – taken c. 1915-1919‘ does not do justice to the narrative that I wrote: My paternal grandfather, Arthur Stirland, sits front and centre … Continue reading

Finding my grandmother Lizzie

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My previous post was about my dad, Joe Stirland. One of the images included in that post was my mum and dad’s wedding photo from August 1946 (see my post of 21 September 2020). I had copied this photo from my mother’s collection on one of my trips back to England. As is typical of group wedding photos, the groom’s parents are placed on ‘his’ side, whereas the bride’s parents are placed on ‘her’ side. When the post was being … Continue reading

Walter’s Happy Memories.

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By Lee English. This is a tale, partly in his own words of my Uncle Walter. As my husband and I walked into the room, we heard, ” Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday, dear Walter, Happy Birthday to me. I’m 91 today, I’m 91 today, hip-hip-hooray.”  Uncle Walter was doing what he loves best – singing. Uncle Walter lives in a retirement village in Nerang, SE Queensland, where he has become a firm favourite with the other residents and … Continue reading

Living with a Family Historian.

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By Peter Cass. Wos’it like, then, eh? Wos’it really like? Living with a Family Historian (FH), that is. (Dropping poor Michael Caine imitation.) Herewith some reflections and anecdotes, probably somewhat muddled because they include events from Pauleen’s (aka the FH in question) pursuit of her family history, far more sporadic forays into mine, and the involvement of our daughters. For Pauleen, the journey began in the mid-1980s, with an enquiry at the Genealogical Society of Queensland stand in an Historical … Continue reading

Genealogy in COVID 19 Times Was Amazing and Never Boring.

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By Shauna Hicks. Since 16 March I have been mostly at home except for food shopping and medical appointments. There has been some reading, cleaning, and gardening but mostly I have had the luxury of spending more time on my own family history. I have tidied up paper files, sorted and tried to identify family photographs, cleaned up computer files and directories, worked through DNA matches, undertaken some new research on various sites and completed some serious writing of stories … Continue reading