Category Archives: genealogy research

In praise of reading ‘Guides’

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Example: U.K. Census Records After being side-tracked for far too long I finally got around to researching my Phillips/Dunning English line. I had all the birth, deaths and marriage material that I needed to begin, so looked to see what the U.K. Census records had to offer in fleshing out these ancestors. I decided to read the ‘Guide’, you know the adage ‘read the instructions’, this is found on the U.K. National Archives website, https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/census-records/ What a treasure of information. … Continue reading

As Time Goes By

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It is 2020 and already half-way through January. The change of year brings many wonderful things, not just Christmas and family gatherings and way too much food. Did you talk to your family about their stories? Maybe get a family member to take a DNA test? But the present giving is not over yet, as the change of year also brings new index releases. Queensland now has birth indexes to the end of 1920, marriages to the end of 1945 … Continue reading

Beware Junk Genealogy – Don’t Rely on Research of Others…Validate Sources!

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Lately I received an email questioning the validity of my family tree, based on a belief that a photograph of my paternal great-grandmother Ida Parker was in fact a photo of a woman named Mary, the emailer’s great-grandmother; the evidence for this assertion was having been told (as a child) that the photograph was great-grandmother Mary. Upon seeing the photograph in my family tree the emailer felt compelled to enlighten me.  And to claim a new branch of her family … Continue reading

Short on time?

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I’m always wondering whether I can use a short period of time effectively for genealogy, so I was pretty happy to see this article come up during the week. You may have already seen it if you keep an eye on GSQ’s Facebook page.   Mostly, I’m keen to use time during my lunch break at work effectively so, as much as I like the idea of the writer’s first tip – scanning and labelling photographs (or documents) – this … Continue reading

Timelines – the interest and pleasure they can give

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Just over a year ago, only a few months after I had joined the Genealogical Society of Queensland, I attended an Information Session on Timelines that was held at GSQ. At the time I was new to my family search and was deeply engrossed in obtaining birth, death and marriage certificates and was satisfied enough just to place each ancestor in the context of  where they had been born or died or who was married to whom and where they … Continue reading