Category Archives: family histories

The value of a letter

Posted on by October 15, 2017

Many years ago I was given a copy of a letter my great-great-grandmother had written to my great-grandmother in December,1886. Such a wealth of information was found in that letter. My great-great-grandmother Mary Ann Sawtell lived in Kangaloon, New South Wales, while my great-grandmother Elizabeth Perrett lived in Laidley, Queensland.In the letter Mary Ann talks about many of the residents living in and around Kangaloon. In fact forty two people are mentioned in the letter. Could we write a letter … Continue reading

Victorian curiosities emerge in data clean-up

Posted on by October 9, 2017

I have recently purchased the upgrade of Legacy from v8 to v9, but haven’t yet installed it, pending a clean-up of the data in Legacy 8. Cleaning up data involves refreshing my memory of what I’ve already got, whether it’s been incorporated into Legacy and, more importantly, what does it all mean. When I’m researching, I use A4 notebooks to make written notes, save images either directly to my computer or to a USB, depending upon where I am. In … Continue reading

Brawl at the Female Factory, Parramatta

Posted on by October 2, 2017

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

Amelia’s Story

Posted on by September 25, 2017

No review of the business and industrial activities of Wynnum and district would be complete which did not include Irvine’s, with their large emporium on the corner of Bay Terrace and Charlotte Street. They have been active in Wynnum Central for over half a century, and indeed their name has become inseparable from that of the district. Their contribution to the growth and development of this centre can be gauged in some measure from their own extraordinary expansion and steady … Continue reading

The Tale of a Bridge

Posted on by September 17, 2017

Driving into Gympie along Brisbane Road, you cross over Pengelly’s Bridge. This bridge with its predecessors makes for a fascinating tale. When I was nine my family moved to a property of four acres, bordered on two sides by Deep Creek, and then fronted the main road which went over Pengelly’s bridge as it is now. However, on the north-eastern corner of the property bordered by Deep Creek were the remains of previous bridges. This was always a fascination for … Continue reading