Families being researched

Branches of the Tree

List of families and associations 

Deb's side - Craig, Truss, Campbell, and Slater 

Selwyn's side - Richards, Chippendale, Jones, Thompson 

 A number of families who have married into a branch above have been followed also.

As previously stated in an earlier post under this page, I have used an online computer program: 'ancestry.com.au' to enter and store information. I also have a number of binders for hard copy of information found. I have started over the past couple of years to add source information and image / story media to verify and confirm the information previously added.

I have come across a pile of 'Order of Service' pamphlets from family and friends who have passed away and Peter Craig (Dad) and I have discussed these folk and where they fit into the life of Peter and Pam Craig. The information gained was added to my parent's profiles on this computer program (2023) - a fascinating exercise that drew forth a number of interesting snippets - Peter (Dad) could give me almost a 3 generation family tree of many of these people.

CQFHA Newsletter Submission 2019 Book Review

Branches of the Tree

Book Review: article for Association journal ‘Genie-ologist’

In February 2019, I had an opportunity to tour Port Arthur Tasmania and it was there that I purchased a booklet called ‘Caught in the Act: Unusual Offenses of Port Arthur Convicts’. The booklet was first printed in 1996 and reprinted another three times, the last being 2017. The 49 page booklet was compiled by Phillip Hilton and Susan Hood, and published by Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority.

The booklet began life in a project (the Port Arthur Research Project) to count the number of convicts who were at Port Arthur between 1830 to 1877 (Lt Governor Arthur 1824 started a records system), and to list the unusual offenses and consequences detailed in conduct records.

81 convict names are listed alphabetically – ages, where given, ranging from 12 to 60 years; majority of ages, where given, were in the 19 to 26 years age group. Most of the detail stated that the convicts were given 7 years transportation (or multiples thereof) for their crimes tried and convicted in the United Kingdom (England / Ireland / Scotland). The oldest convict named was 60 years old and lived to 84 years – an uncommon occurrence. Several names indicate the person described had several misconduct items and consequences ascribed to them – this time period indicated that solitary confinement and bread and water, or the application of the Cat-of-Nine tails (saw a replica – nasty piece of work), and / or wearing of chains during hard labour were common punishments. I was able to hold a pair of shackles and they were heavy.

From the booklet, 54 ships transported the 81 listed convicts to Van Diemen’s Land, between 1815 to 1853. The majority of the listed convicts were transported in the period 1830 to 1852 (55 / 81). The most prolific time periods were 1830, 1842*, 1844 **, and 1852. 16 listed convicts were transported in 1844 on seven ships (Sir Robert Peel, Equestrian, Lord Auckland, Barossa, Lady Franklin, Emily, William Jardine). 9 listed convicts were transported in 1842 on four ships (Candahar, Somersetshire, Susan, Eden).

Within the detail attributed to each listed convict is such things as marriage status, occupation / skills, previous crimes / misdemeanours, physical appearance, character, receipt of Certificate of Freedom.

There were many convicts sent to Port Arthur over the years of its time as a convict settlement and the 81 convicts listed is only a small sample. I found the booklet to be interesting, informative, sad, and a representation of the social activities of the time. There were a number of books available for purchase onsite – no online shop.

The website: portarthur.org.au is good – lots of information

Access to Deb's 60th Birthday posts.

Hello Family and Friends I am very new to posting MS Office Powerpoint presentations to the web so please forgive the unsophisticated enteries I have made. The following posts have been added to my blog as they are too large to email. All follow the same process to access: 1. My Celebration Book 2. Page of Photographs and Slides for the Book 3. Deb's 60th Birthday Lunch with Guests. Hopefully you have clicked on this one first. When the presentation loads. Click on the first slide then click on the button to the right side that says 'Start slideshow' and then click on each slide to progress. Hope you enjoy. Deb

My Celebration Book

Missing from this presentatioan are the family tree pages, the Trivia Quiz and comments pages of the Guests to the lunch.

Page of Photographs and Slides that went into My Celebration Book

Deb's 60th Birthday Lunch with Guests

This post has slides of photographs taken at my party. Sorry about the quality of some of the pictures as I took still frames from a video and did not quite catch a good one.

CQFHA Newsletter Article Submission 2018

Branches of the Tree

Bridging the Past & Future Sydney 2018

15^th Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry

9 – 12 March 2018

International Convention Centre

Darling Harbour Sydney

After my ‘Unlock the Past’ cruise in 2016, I planned and saved madly to attend this Congress (at least once). Am really glad I could achieve attendance. Apparently, it is very uncertain that Congress 2021 will happen as no state has put their hand up to host.

What a blast of a four day Congress – very well organised, coordinated, arranged and any other thesaurus word you can use. I have forwarded via email the last Congress newsletter to the Secretary if anyone is interested; it gives a summary of the Organising Committees thoughts.

The International Convention Centre (not to be confused with another huge building that continues on from ICC: International Exhibition Centre) WAS BIG! On the Friday there was apparently over 4,000 people in the building at various conferences – at least 700 people at the Family History workshops and Congress. The Congress was held on the third floor – thank goodness for lifts and escalators; the wooden stairs were available for the energetic folk. These fixed staircases were gorgeous in pale woods highlighted with gold coloured detail.

This third floor was dedicated to the Family History Congress and held the main lecture hall for welcomes and plenary sessions (up to at least 450 people), 3 smaller lecture rooms, 2 exhibit areas and significant surrounding hall space for more exhibitors and for networking and the Morning Tea breaks which were yummy.

The staff of the ICC were brilliant at restocking food and the water fountains in each lecture room.

They also kept the toilets clean and stocked between breaks – with paper hand towels. Showing my country hick, the water in the toilets’ hand basins was heated!

Handouts of the sessions were available to download from 2 days before Congress or if participants had difficulty doing this then the Organisers had USB sticks with the handouts available for purchase that sold out and more had to be frantically obtained. I downloaded mine to my laptop hard drive – when I get organised will copy to an external hard drive. There are a multitude of links within each lecture.

There was a diverse selection of topics covered: technology – blogs/apps/software hints and tips, Heraldic bookplates and designing, Wars, Obscure record linking, Aboriginal relative research, Trove, First fleet and convict records, New Zealand research, Education records, English/Scottish/Irish records, Legal aspects – copyright, wills/probate records, German research, DNA, Huguenot research, and Maps. There were 6 plenary sessions, 2 sponsor sessions, and 15 sets of concurrent sessions.

I think the main element to the Congress from my perspective was that participants were encouraged to record their own stories as well as verifying and establishing their ancestors as individuals with fascinating histories set within the context of their time and environment.

CQFHA Newsletter Article Submission 2017

Branches of the Tree

“Footsteps In Time” May 2017 Conference Southport Queensland

 I thought the “Unlock the Past” cruise March 2016 would help me get more motivated with compiling my family history information into something more manageable and salvageable. I came away with lots and lots and lots of great strategies and more paper and more resources. Excellent!

Now, at this state family history conference in May 2017, I would have opportunities to gather more resources and more strategies to be even more organised and productive with the stories and items (? Treasures) I have gathered. Yeah?

Wow, what a fabulous weekend of very knowledgeable and well experienced speakers to hear and reflect on their wisdom and RESEARCH outcomes.

The organising committee from the Gold Coast were exceptional in the way they arranged their speakers and venue. The venue was great at the Southport Community Centre though their seats were rather hard on the posterior by the end of each day. Technical electronic glitches aside, speakers were able to continue their presentations and keep to time. Going between venues was a little bewildering for the ‘Out of Towners’: the rain Friday did not help.

The trade display was a source of interest and fascination – the electronic era is well and truly established. Family tree design and publication is well resourced with software packages.

The ‘Pub Crawl’ presentation given during the Saturday Dinner gave me some ideas for a conference from our own Association which I will forward to Marion and Kay.

The main themes I was able to gather were:

·         Be diligent in your research focus – cover as many avenues as you can in gathering information about your person / family – use newspapers, school admissions, hospital / mental health institution admissions, government gazettes, land records, wills and intestacies, obituaries,  church / parish records, ships logs, immigration records, war records, personal journals and correspondence, BMD indices, and any type of index. Many of which are located in our own local Clubrooms.

·         Nanna is not always right – think ‘Chinese whispers’ – think about the time period and social ‘mores’ (scandal) of that time. Those ‘brick walls’ may be originating from this evasion or presentation of this ‘truth’.

·         DNA testing is a tool for identifying links – plan on doing y DNA (male lineage, Surname) & m DNA (mitochondrial, mother to children) & a DNA (autosomal, alleles from parents) Confused – yep. If you planned on using your superannuation for travelling around Australia and / or the world visiting rellies you found doing family history research AND doing DNA testing – the superannuation bucket needs to be rather large. Recommendation is to get the oldest living rellie you have tested with all three tests and then have any cousin of any distinction tested also (second, third, fourth, immediate, removed, etc.). $ $ $ I personally think DNA testing is to prove we are all related – reassuring or terrifying thought; thinking Manchester concert bombing, Mafia, Hitler, Moses, Mother Teresa and Ghandi.

·         Have your list of questions ready or submitted prior to visiting research venues such as State Archives / State Library – will facilitate time management for both yourself and the venue whose staff are only too happy to assist. Objective is a more successful outcome for time and money.

·         Family History Associations are repositories of vast amounts of information. Members of such organisations research and gather stories and histories usually for themselves and their families – I am lead to believe that the Associations and their members’ stories and histories should be promoted far and wide to establish networks and publications that facilitate a greater ‘family’ knowledge pool. I am starting to see a pattern here – hmmm?

Thankfully, the Conference organisers stored the majority of presentations on a USB stick that was given to all paid participants of the Conference – there were only a couple of paper based handouts.

Personally, I need to win the Lotto and retire from my current work to focus more intensively on my current passion of researching my Family History.

Had a wonderful weekend with Kay, Marion, Nola, Carmel and Margaret at the Conference.  Learnt a lot. Now I am waiting for Sydney March 2018 for the International Congress.

Use of local association

Branches of the Tree

CQFHA = Central Queensland Family History Association inc.

Screenshot of Home page of website: cqfamilyhistory.org.au

There are many online resources for researching family history though the CQFHA repository has resources that may not be easily accessible through this avenue. It is not necessary to have computer skills to find information.

I was asked to develop a resource for the CQFHA and the 'Guide to Repository For Promotional Events: September 2018' was compiled. Its table of contents describes many of the collections within the Repository from which to conduct such research. A team of volunteers enthusiastically and diligently spend many hours providing background effort in cataloguing and indexing the resources of the Association.

•Introduction

•Clubroom opening hours

•Diagram: Collections within building
•Library and catalogue
•Calibre resource access
•School records
•‘Dead End’: Cemetery and burial records
•People Movement Resources
•Scrapbooks
•Queensland Government gazettes
•Computer indices
•Microfiche resources
•Microfilm resources
•Journals
•Maps
•Physical tour of Repository
•Projects development and assistance
•Events program
•Family history research tips

 

•INFORMATION SHEETS

 

The Association publishes a journal 4 times a year & we swap journals with other societies so we have journals from other places in Qld, other states of Australia, many countries in Great Britain as well as other countries. The Association also purchases some journals such as Family Tree Magazine.

Association Journal – ‘The CQ Genie-ologist’: distribution frequency – quarterly: March, June, September, December; contribution is encouraged.

Electronic newsletter – ‘Alerts and Updates’ most Fridays & ‘Backup Alert’  Current email address required!

Website – member access: contact web@cqfamilyhistory.org.au

The Association is affiliated with many local, state, national and international bodies for the purpose of family history research. People (members or non) can use an avenue from the website to request research on a person or persons of interest. There is a fee attached. Please comment on the website or facebook page about your experience in using same.

CQFHA Newsletter Article 2016

Branches of the Tree

Being a novice participant in “Unlock the Past” conferences and sea cruises I saved madly to give these adventures a go.

 What a delightful seven days!

My cabin mate was Judith Rowarth who I had not had the pleasure of meeting whilst she lived in Rocky. In the extremely small space of our twin share cabin with ensuite I found Judith easy to get along with.

I hope Judith writes up her life story as she is a very interesting lady.

 Overall the preparation, presentation and support of the “Unlock the Past” conference was confident and competent – Alan Phillips working diligently to copy the ebooks he promoted during the voyage onto USB drives - still waiting on the emailed handouts though – my notes need the basics to make sense now! Being able to peruse the resource booklets was a bonus – many thanks to those authors for their time and generosity in compiling these documents – several  of the conference speakers were authors.

 Carol Baxter as keynote speaker was dynamic and she presented information in an easy manner – stimulated my imagination to visualise stories of my various ancestors that I could write up if necessary. The resource books I purchased will definitely help with this activity. I can understand how her books of ‘True Crime Historical Nonfiction’ are lucrative and noted as readable.

Rosemary and Eric Kopitke were extremely approachable and deeply knowledgeable about indices and finding those German ancestors. From other participants and my own interview with Eric, he listened actively to the issue then burst forth with email addresses and possible avenues of search that will be greatly helpful. Rosemary with calm good humour provided insight into the ways and means of using indices and maintaining an attitude of credibility and analysis. Those ‘Research Help Zones’ given by the speakers , were appreciated by all who were able to attend – well worth making the appointment.

 The sessions Rosemary provided on aspects of several commonly used websites was fantastic – several I had heard of but really had no idea were such repositories of useful stuff.

 Helen Smith assertively kept all on track during the sessions and then with humour and authority reinforced the central essentials of family history research of accuracy and substantial background to the facts of information. I found the legal boundaries within her sessions very enlightening.

Keeping the sensitive and sensibility of skeletons surfacing. Identifying the impact of certain information and when and how to discuss and with whom, especially if more information is wanted. Timely reinforcement for someone like me who has a problem with ‘foot and mouth’ syndrome.

 The use of maps to assist in locating and guiding searches as given by Eric and Helen, awesome, as another avenue of thought and presentation of family life story. Those changing county / shire boundaries now make sense and where to find old maps – gold!

Judy Webster provided valuable direction in the search of those elusive ancestors who may have donned cloaks of invisibility for various reasons – illegitimacy, starting a new life, escaping circumstances, dodging responsibilities. Find those ‘Police Gazettes’.

Chris Wright answered several questions I had on software programs in regard to Picasa – thank you. Chris also taught me to use another software program I had on my computer though did not know for what it was good (EverNote -> OneNote).

In summary, the points of note I took away from the conference were:

·         Search widely and have a number of citations in support of identity

·         Search widely within a family group for information – all siblings of all members

·         Search widely from around the globe – widen boundaries

·         Search widely from environmental, social, political and cultural avenues

·         Search widely from as many websites as can find – keywords: family, history, ancestors, genealogy, ancestry, heritage, past, search, find

·         Thoroughly use local resources – family, library, CQFH

·         Keep an open mind!

Overall, I am reassured I have many years of adventure ahead with making my ancestors and descendant family members into human and comprehensive beings.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed the cruise experience I do feel I am a land based person – will scout out elite exotic resorts for future family history conferences. I heard that the next Congress is being held in Sydney in March 2018.

Have started saving for this event already.

 Chose that person of interest and bring to life again.

Overview to Family History category

Branches of the Tree

Compiled from a 'Forward' written for Family Folders March 2008.

I started collecting information on my family history in the 1970s, initially from discussions with my Grandmothers. I asked them to tell me about their parents and siblings and it is from these conversations that the collection of information grew.

According to the directions of family history organisations I have accessed over the years, there is no such thing as wrong information when collecting family history - the memories, recollections, perceptions, and interpretations people state are theirs alone. This concept applies to the written record as the 'clerk' who recorded a person's details for the document may not have heard clearly or been able to write clearly or had their handwriting interpreted correctly / accurately. This viewpoint also needs caution as the information does need a factual basis as well and the researcher does need a sensitive and diplomatic presentation on occasion.

Another concept to keep in mind, is that, the events that occurred in the past may have a different societal and possibly cultural significance to the same event today - that is, keep an open mind.

I have collected this information from many different sources, and they are;

• conversations with family and friends of family
• birth, marriage and death certificates
• newspaper clippings of births, marriage and deaths
• shared investigations with other family historians, of whom I am extremely grateful and appreciative of the time and money they would have spent gathering their information and their generosity in sharing
• 'Order of Services' of family who have deceased
• family history websites
• researching texts and journals held in libraries
• visiting / contacting cemetery administrations and obtaining lists of graves

You will find that I have tried to consistently record my source as much as possible against entries, to help with verifying the recorded information.

Many hours and several dollars have been spent gathering this information.
I hope you enjoy and are intrigued with the characters you find within, as I have.

In future posts I will list the families on who I have a focus. I will also list websites that have been of benefit.