Category Archives: family secrets

Connecting to a Forgotten Past.

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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

What about you?

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                As family historians, we avidly search for details about our ancestors from records about their births, deaths and marriages, immigration documents, electoral rolls and census records etc, and then pad out the details of their lives using various other documents and newspaper articles. If we’re lucky there will be family tales passed down through the generations or someone may even have a collection of photos that they are willing to share. Hopefully … Continue reading

Grandma’s Secrets.

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My grandmother bet on the horses. The evidence was discovered when her failing health and memory dictated a move into full-time care and family members were shocked to find not sheets and towels in the linen cupboard but thousands of betting slips. This sensible good-natured woman gambled? How to explain it? Mid-life crisis? How did anyone not know? I can explain my ignorance, having never opened her linen cupboard. Mamie – the nickname she preferred – was born at a … Continue reading

Edith Matilda and her sisters

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I remember my great grandmother, Edith Caller (rhymes with “valour”), as a happy, snowy-white haired lady who seemed to chuckle a lot; I’d say she was jolly. To me, she was “Nanny Caller” who lived in an old timber house set on a large block in Putney, on the Parramatta River. There was an extensive vegetable garden, an array of fruit trees and still plenty of room for ballgames and chasings during family gatherings. We always felt very safe and … Continue reading

Finally finding a black sheep!

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I have several ancestors in my family who could be considered troublemakers or ne’er-do wells; the problem is deciding who would be the one to write about for this blog post. It must be William Nelson McCann, aka William McCann Neilson, he is fascinating, but I need to sort through the pile of newspaper clippings I have on William to write coherently. William Nelson McCann (my 2nd great-granduncle) was born on 27 September 1837 in Launceston, Tasmania, the son of … Continue reading