Announcing the winner - VGA Virtual Conference free registration

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The Virtual Genealogical Association is a global organisation for the 21st century that fulfils the needs of family historians:

• whose circumstances make it difficult to attend local genealogical society meetings
• who prefer online presentations, special interest groups (SIGs), conferences, and socializing
• with an interest in connecting, networking, and mentoring with global genealogists.

The Association's virtual conference will be held from November 1-3, 2019! 

As the Convenor of the New South Wales Chapter of of the Association I had a FREE Registration Code for the conference to share with one of my genimates.

I randomly chose a winner from those folk who had entered my competition and was pleased to see that a fellow Australian, Michelle Nichols was the winner. Congratulations to Michelle; when I asked her if she would accept the prize she said "Yes please!!!! Very pleased to hear this news."

If you still wish to be a winner then you can register for this event. See below

Speakers include Judy G Russell and Blaine Bettinger from the US,  Fiona Brooker from New Zealand, Ursula Krause from Germany, Audrey Collins from the UK and Helen Smith from Australia. 

Australians who may be sleeping while the live sessions are broadcast will not miss out on any of the sessions. Attendees will have access to recordings & handouts for all sessions for 6 months following the event - watch any time, any place, on any device. 

Closed captioning via Rev.com will be added to all sessions and made available to attendees within 7 days of the event. 

Cost is reasonable at $US59 for VGA members & $US79 for non-members. 

Details at https://virtualgenealogy.org/2019-vga-conference/.

SAG at Hawkesbury

I had a pleasant time at the Society of Australian Genealogists event in the Hawkesbury last Saturday.

Michelle Nichols

When I arrived early at Windsor Library Danielle Lautrec, Education Officer from SAG, was in attendance and ready with her clipboard to welcome attendees. When the Library opened at 9am we all trooped in to be welcomed by Michelle Nichols, Hawkesbury Local Studies Librarian and font of local knowledge. Our group of a dozen plus (I didn't count) settled into one of the library's comfortable meeting rooms.

Danielle introduced herself and asked us to share our Hawkesbury connections. I think only one attendee didn't have Hawkesbury connections. After this round table Michelle entertained us with her  talk on early history of the Hawkesbury which gave us lots of information to add colour to names and dates in our family trees. Although I had heard this talk before I still learnt lots as Michelle tailors her talks to each audience she addresses.

Following the history Michelle discussed the resources in the local studies collection at Windsor. It is a well-stocked collection with many genealogy resources for people researching in New South Wales and beyond. After this intro we adjourned to the local history area to do some personal research. The local history section at Windsor is in a bright and comfortable corner of the library and is a pleasant environment in which to work.

The Local Studies Area at Hawkesbury Library, Windsor

At 12:30pm some of the group adjourned to the historic Macquarie Arms Hotel for sustenance and a chat. After we had refuelled Danielle took us on a visit to the adjacent Hawkesbury Regional Museum. Both the Hawkesbury Library and Museum are housed in spacious, modern buildings. The Council is to be commended on its support of local heritage and history.

This was a fab format for a SAG event. Thanks to Danielle for looking after the group and Michelle for the presentations and guidance.

I hope SAG organises more regional visits in the future. I would love to do a similar visit to Camden where my Curry ancestors were early inhabitants.

The way to my heart

I'm a bit of a bibliophile who tries to be sensible and not spend too much on books so I love receiving bookish gifts. Today I was really spoilt.

As a thank you for my presentation at Hawkesbury Family History Group I was presented with some pretty flowers and a shiny black bag that contained two recently published books, a historical society journal on Hawkesbury Personalities and an FHG newsletter.  This gift chosen by the Group Coordinator,  Michelle Nichols, was so appropriate for a booklover.

When I delved into the bag I was reminded that speaker gifts were a topic of conversation at the recent  member forum at NSW and ACT Association of Family History Societies Conference. Delegates were discussing options of gifts for presenters other than the usual bottle of wine or box of chocolates. A few suggestions were bandied around, someone suggested pens made from special timbers , others suggested petrol vouchers or gift vouchers.

Having been the recipient of all of the above as well as several local history books I have appreciated the vouchers and books most of all. As with many things in life one size doesn't fit all.

What I was trying to get across in my talk today was the idea that we should not only be well-mannered but thoughtful genies as well. In her selection of a gift for me today Michelle demonstrated that thoughtfulness. 

BTW I had a beaut time at the event today and was most appreciative of the lovely comments and interesting family skeletons attendees shared with me after the talk.

The audience at Windsor this morning

Stanmore Shame

After hearing Michelle Nichols talk at Hornsby Shire Family History Group last Wednesday and pondering on the value of photos to family historians Mr GeniAus thought it would be nice to offer some of his collection to his old primary school.

From Marrickville Library website

So last week he phoned Stanmore Public School and asked if they had an archivist. They didn't. Then he asked if there was anyone who looked after the school history and if there was anyone who would be interested in copies of his photos from the 1950s. I listened as he asked a series of questions of the person at the other end of the line and got the feeling there was no interest. I was right.

When he got off the 'phone I could just tell how disappointed Mr GeniAus was. Perhaps the person he spoke with may have been very busy or having a bad day but surely she could have taken his name and number and asked the principal, the teaacher librarian or folk in the staff room if anyone was interested.

We had a little chat and talked about other places that might show more interest. Mr GeniAus phoned the Marrickville Library and asked to speak to the local studies librarian. What a different response he got.  The librarian was definitely interested in the photos and would be delighted to have copies in the local history collection.  Digital copies will be on their way to Marrickville real soon and should find their way into the online collection there.

Kudos to Public Libraries and Librarians.

Chasing my Tail

Since arriving home from our eight week holiday last week I have been flat chat getting our house back in order, catching up with all our descendants and my one ancestor and organising a few events for National Family History Month.

I still have a long list of things to do so, if I haven't responded to your emails please that is on my 'to do" list. I won't take offence if you send me a gentle reminder. I read many of your blog posts while on the hop but apologise for the lack of comments. Thanks for keeping me informed on all the geneanews from Australia.

After the weekend I will be chasing up all the folk who have committed to joining me in the Geneagala Hangouts for National Family History Month.

In the meantime I am basking in the glow of a successful meeting of our FHG today with guest speaker Michelle Nichols. You can read my report here: https://hornsbysfhg.wordpress.com/2015/08/19/michelle-nichols-at-hornsby-shire-fhg/

With Michelle Nichols (Oops - My mother told me it was rude to point)

The next task on my agenda is finalising arrangements for our National Family History Month "Genealogy Clinic" and talk on "Beginning Family History" on Saturday.  You can read about that here: https://hornsbysfhg.wordpress.com/2015/08/16/genealogy-clinic/. Feel free to pop in during the day.

Congress -Speakers Corner

Thanks to my genimate, Michelle Nichols, for taking these photos of my gig on geneablogging in the Ancestry Speakers' corner at AFFHO Congress yesterday. Thanks also to Ben Mercer from Ancestry  for inviting me to speak.

Jackie shares a "Cousin Bait" story

Beading up fellow geneablogger Alex 

My Irish Eyes were Smiling

Guess who I heard speak on Wednesday?

HINT - she was the star turn at the Hawkesbury Family History Group meeting for National Family History Month.

1. She has a wicked, dry sense of humour.
2. She knows her topic inside out.
3. She is a non-boring academic type.
4. She is obsessed with her topic.
5. Perhaps she should have been named Colleen.
6. She is the Chair of the Great Irish Famine Commemoration Committee (GIFCC) which is actively seeking information about Earl Grey’s Irish Workhouse Immigrant women. 

I have heard Dr Perry McIntyre speak on a number of occasions and was privileged to hear her again on Wednesday morning. Perry's topic was "Single female emigration in the 1830s & 1840s". As examples to illustrate her presentation Perry cited Irish examples. Now that was right up my alley as I have a couple of troublesome Irish girls in my tree including my Great-great-grandmother Bridget (Did she swim?) Ryan.

Perry's opening slide

Perry explained the options, criteria and processes for single Irish girls who wanted to come to the colonies and illustrated her talk with images of contemporary newspaper ads, paintings and photos. She then explained what happened to the girls from when they came off the boats until they got hitched. The stories and photos she shared of several Earl Grey girls were interesting.  I wish I could find a picture of my girl, Mary Cregan/Cligan/Creigan/Gregson. 

As Chair of the Great Irish Famine Commemoration Committee (GIFCC) Perry is actively seeking information about Earl Grey’s Irish Workhouse Immigrant women; as requested I will be emailing Perry with the scant information I have on Mary Cregan/Cligan/Creigan/Gregson, another of my Great-Great-Grandmothers.

Perry suggested the Atlas of the Great Irish Famine as a useful resource for background information on the famine. She neglected to say that one needs to be a weightlifter to lift this weighty tome!

My revelation for the day came when I asked Perry about how I could access a resource in PRONI that refers to my girl Mary. Apparently our friends at Familysearch have filmed the records and I could order it in to a local centre but I will wait until I go to Salt Lake City for Rootstech in Febraury. It will be something to look forward to.

Should you wish to hear Perry speak on a similar topic she will be talking at The Quarantine Station at North Head later this month. Details here.

Thanks to Jonathan for the happy snap. Perry (left) and me

My super morning was topped off when I had a cup of coffee and nice chat with Jonathan Auld and Michelle Nichols in a nearby cafe. Thanks to Michelle for organising another great talk at Hawkesbury and to Michelle and Jonathan who, knowing about my fetish for geneabling, brought me back a badge from the London "Who do you think you are live" event they attended.

My Big Day Out

There were three genealogy related events in my day yesterday and I traversed quite a bit of the northern part of Sydney to attend them.

https://maps.google.com/

My day started with a 9:15 departure from my home in Galston (E on map) to Hawkesbury Library (B on map) for 10:00am, then I drove for about 50 mins to my next destination, Ku-ring-gai Historical Society (C on map) after spending a few hours there I set out for Hornsby Library (D on map) where I arrived at 6:00pm. I finally reached home around 8:00pm. Google maps estimate that I drove around 98 km. and it was worth every centimeter.

So how did I amuse myself?

Siobhan and her book

At Hawkesbury Library  I attended the monthly meeting of the Hawkesbury Family History Group. The guest speaker was Dr Siobhan Lavelle whose talk was about the 1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains. The content of the talk was different from what I expected but was fascinating; I had expected to hear a straight history of the crossing by Blaxland, Wentworth, and Lawson but Siobhan put a different slant on her talk. She discussed the various celebrations that have been held to mark anniversaries of the crossing and demonstrated, with references to books, newspaper articles, pictures and other resources, the influences that society and members of the explorers' families at various periods had on shaping those celebrations. I was most impressed by Siobhan's presentation; she was a lucid and entertaining speaker with a dry and irreverent sense of humour.

I purchased and look forward to reading a copy of Siobhan's book, 1813 a tale that grew in the telling, that is available from the Royal Australian Historical Society and bookshops in the Blue Mountains.

After chatting with a few fellow group members and Michelle Nichols, the local studies librarian, I popped into my Bambino and headed for Ku-ring-gai Historical Society where I spent a pleasant few hours scanning historical photographs and adding them to the Society database. I also managed to have a chinwag with members of the Preservation Group who were beavering away at various tasks.

Because at talks I habitually sit behind tall gentlemen who block my view of slides on the screens I like to arrive early to snag  a seat near the front of lecture rooms. I arrived 30 minutes early for the talk at Hornsby Library and was able to catch up with Peter Booth, Kim and his wife from Ku-ring-gai Historical Society and Neil Chippendale the local studies librarian. Guest speaker at the Hornsby talk was one of my favourite speakers, Dr Carol Liston, whose topic was "The Links between Local and Family History". Carol was in fine form and gave a great talk.

What I found interesting in Carol's talk was that she covered some of the same themes that Joshua Taylor had addressed in his talk last Saturday particularly the importance of Place in family history research.

Thanks to  Michelle and Neil, two of my local history heroes, for organising these great Family History Month events.

Fishing Trip

There wasn't a drop of water in sight when I went on a very pleasant fishing trip today. 

After the meeting of the Hawkesbury Family History Group (and that's another fab story) I went down to the Hawkesbury Library carpark and was able to score one of the 4 hour parking spots so I moved the Bambino and went back to the library to do some fishing.

What this library has is a great collection of BOOKS, not just about the Hawkesbury Region but about genealogy in New South Wales. These books are in a light and airy section of the library and are organised according to Dewey (which makes this old librarian feel immediately comfortable). Michelle Nichols, The Local Studies Librarian at Hawkesbury is to be congratulated on the breadth and quality of the collection.

 As this was an unplanned visit I embarked on little fishing trip. I browsed the shelves book by book. I  even found a few books pertinent to my family research that are not in the collection of the National Library of Australia (Legal Deposit not working?).

Local Studies Area - Hawkesbury Library

Local Studies Area - Hawkesbury Library

This trip resulted in a very tasty haul as I found mentions of direct ancestors and distant family members in some of the books in the collection. I found two titles that I must own - so now the search is on for these books. I'll be returning to Hawkesbury for another fishing trip.

I'd love to own this book

 Whilst it is not good genealogical research practice to go on aimless fishing trips they can prove to be quite fruitful.

Head out to Hawkesbury

It isn't a bad drive outside of peak hour to Hawkesbury Library at Windsor although it's on the outer fringe of Sydney. Once one arrives at the library free parking can be found under the building.

I venture out there on the second Wednesday of the month to attend the meetings of the Hawkesbury Family History Group. This group is a support and information group for family historians co-ordinated by the Hawkesbury City Library Service. Anyone interested is invited to attend the meetings.

I was just putting the dates for the remainder of the year's meetings in my calendar when, looking at the list of guest speakers, I realised what are worthy crop they are.  If you would like to hear Carol Liston on "Accessing Land Titles Records", Vicki Eldridge on "Teacher and School History Records" or Angela Phippen on "Wises Post Office Directories" consider joining me at the Hawkesbury meetings; details can be found here.

In addition to the regular meetings the library hosts Family History Classes with Michelle Nichols, Local Studies Librarian. Some of these are free and some are $10. Bookings for these are essential; details can be found here on the library site.

I'm heading for Windsor on Wednesday this week to hear Julie and John Sword speak about "Family: the first century" history of the Sword family. For me it's a pleasant 30 minute cross-country drive through Sydney's beautiful semi-rural areas.

Noeline Kyle at Hawkesbury FHG

I have been a regular visitor to the meetings of the Hawkesbury Family History Group this year and have enjoyed the varied program of talks organised by Michelle Nichols.


Michelle just posted this reminder on the [AUS-GEN-EVENTS] elist. I am sorry I won't be around to hear Noeline speak at Hawkesbury this month as I enjoyed her sessions at Mosman earlier this year. It would be well worth the trip to Windsor to hear Neoline speak. There is parking available in the carpark under the library.


"The next Hawkesbury Family History Group meeting is Wednesday 14 December & the topic is 'Remembering, Recording & Writing Your Family Stories' with historian/author Dr Noeline Kyle. 


Would you like to write a family story that others will want to read, which is clearly set out, authentic & easy to read. Would you like to learn how to utilise strategies to begin organising your text into a credible, readable & appealing family story? 


Anyone interested is welcome to attend, no need to book just come along - it's free and starts at 10am at Hawkesbury Library, Deerubbin Centre, 300 George Street, Windsor. This will be the final meeting for the group for 2011 and the next meeting will be held 8 February 2012."

A Boring and Unbalanced Diet

To recognise the "EAT History" theme of last week's NSW History Week Michelle Nichols chose a food related topic for her lecture at The Hawkesbury Family History Group meeting today.

In her well researched paper "Dining in the 19th Century" Michelle discussed the food eaten at various times during  the century. In the early part of the century the food was scarce, the diet boring and unbalanced and the people malnourished, she gave examples of the rations given to convicts, women and children in the early days of the colony. The main activities at this time were milling, baking, brewing and salting. As the colony grew local crops and herds of stock were developed and diets improved..

Michelle described the development of kitchens and food technology through the century using historic images on her slides. She shared some recipes, some of which like roasted and preserved emu sounded quite unappetising. Michelle used Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, the 1864 Colonial Cookbook and recipes published in early newspapers to give us an idea of what would be in a mid to late19th century menu.

I learnt a lot from Michelle's talk. Most importantly it caused me to reflect on the challenges my earliest convict ancestors would have faced and added to my knowledge of the conditions under which they lived.

Exciting news for People with ancestors in the Hawkesbury, NSW area

Congratulations to Michelle Nichols, Local Studies Librarian and the powers that be at Hawkesbury Library Service for sponsoring this project that will be so valuable to those of us with early connections in this area. Michelle posted the following on the AUS-NSW-HILLS-HAWKESBURY-HUNTER-VALLEY Rootsweb Mailing List.

"I just wanted to inform the HHHV list of the exciting project that Hawkesbury Library has been working on over the past year.

We have sponsored the digitisation of the Hawkesbury newspapers and these will become part of the Australian Historical Digitised Newspapers on Trove at http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper The titles that will be included are as follows:

Australian Windsor,Richmond & Hawkesbury Advertiser 1873 - 1896
Hawkesbury Advocate 1899 - 1900
Hawkesbury chronicle & farmers advocate 1881 - 1888    
Hawkesbury Courier 1844 - 1846    
Hawkesbury Herald 1902 - 1945
Windsor Express & Richmond Advertiser 1843 - 1844  
Windsor & Richmond Gazette 1888 - 1915?  

The content has been processed for Optical Character Recognition (OCR) with the content starting to appear on Trove and you will see the articles now being indexed with this message "This article is part way through the digitisation process. It will be available when the page it is part of passes the final quality control check. This is likely to be within the next 1-28 days."

We hope to find the fund$ to digistise additional images of the Windsor & Richmond Gazette 1915 + in the not so distant future."
 

James RICHARDS and Mary Ann EATON reunion at Richmond, NSW

From time to time I read about family reunions that are about to take place.  I read about the forthcoming James RICHARDS and Mary Ann EATON reunion in a Rootsweb (aus-nsw-hills-hawkesbury-hunter-valley) Mailing List post from Michelle Nichols.  I hope that she doesn't mind my giving it an extra bit of publicity.

Following are the details from Michelle's post:

"I have been advised that there will be a family reunion for the descendants of James RICHARDS and Mary Ann EATON reunion to be held at Richmond Primary School in Windsor Street Richmond on Sunday 21 November 11am-3pm. James Richard c1782-1859 was a convict who arrived on the 'Indian' 1810. He married in 1816 Mary Ann Eaton 1800-1889 who was the daughter of convict parents, William & Jane. Mary Richards also married Isaac Cornwell.  Connected names include Eaton, Williams, Eather, Cornwell, Buckton and Durham"

Hawkesbury Family History Fair - The Speakers

When I arrived at the fair at 9:00 am I did not know whether I would stay for an hour or two or the  whole day. After perusing the program I decided on taking the day option as there were a number of engaging speakers in the lineup and some of the topics were of particular interest to me.

HFHF Program

After racing up the street to raid an ATM for spending money I parked myself in the front row of the Tebutt room to hear Lindsay Allen from State Records discuss Family history resources for the Macquarie period. In deference to the range of  interests and experience in the audience Lindsay prefaced his short Macquarie talk with an overview of the history, business and resources of State Records and gave pointers to genealogists who may wish to use those resources for research.

Lindsay Allen makes a point

Allen then showed some screenshots from and discussed The Lachlan Macquarie Digital Gallery that  "celebrates Macquarie by featuring iconic documents (together with transcriptions with some interpretation) from the wealth of Macquarie related material in our collection."

Allen then went on to talk about the history and value of The Colonial Secretary's Records and outlined Convict Records that are available to family historians. Allen was a knowledgeable, competent and engaging speaker. He regularly travels around the state giving presentations - details of upcoming talks can be found on the Activities pages of State Records.

Cathy McHardy

The delightful Cathy McHardy, a librarian from Hawkesbury City Library was stunned when the  audience for her talk in the Charles Harpur Room overflowed into the library. Cathy connected with her audience with  a well-structured and pertinent talk on "Searching Land Titles" in NSW. My understanding of this tricky topic was greatly enhanced. Cathy provided attendees with a wonderful handout that will be one of my treasured resources and so useful when I journey into the Lands Department to research family properties.

As the descendant of a couple of Hawkesbury convicts I was  pleased to stay put in the Charles Harpur Room for a talk by Hawkesbury Local Studies Librarian, Michelle Nichols on Researching Hawkesbury Families. By the time she gave this talk poor Michelle, who had been running from room to room all day fielding questions and solving problems, appeared a little flummoxed. Michelle rose to the occasion and gave an interesting talk illustrated by slides with pertinent illustrations of the area. I was encouraged to visit the Local Studies area of the library where I found files on my ancestors in the library's collection. As I had my digital camera on hand I was quickly able to copy relevant documents before taking off to the next talk.

Heather Garnsey

 In a tweet from the next talk I attended I said "Heather Garnsey talking at a rate of knots with loads of fab info at the Hawkesbury Family History Fair". Heather, Executive Officer from The Society of Australian Genealogists spoke on "10 websites you can't live without as a genealogist." Pint-sized Heather who could barely see over the lectern, delivered her talk with enthusiasm. It was obvious from the whispered comments of some audience members around me that what they were hearing from Heather was quite new to them. I loved Heather's talk and delivery style but would probably replace one of her choices!

Heather's Top Ten Sites

Bruce Fairhall

I have been a user of TMG (The Master Genealogist) software for over ten years but am still a novice user. As Bruce Fairhall said in his presentation "Introduction to The Master Genealogist (TMG)" this is a package that can be used "straight from the box" but it is also a very powerful piece of software that is eminently customisable. I was glad that I stayed around for Bruce's presentation that confirmed that I am a novice user. Bruce, who is passionate and enthusiastic about the product gave a live demonstration (much more effective than using screenshots) of a TMG database. I was most impressed by the modifications Bruce has made to the program. Bruce spoke of the TMG Sydney user group that has its regular meetings at SAG. Although I subscribe to the TMG Sydney blog their Yahoo Group and am a fan on Facebook I have not yet attended a face to face meeting. Bruce, you have inspired me to come along.

I had a great day at the fair and would be interested to hear reports of others' fair experiences. I hope to see some reports in the blogosphere or on mailing lists soon.
 

They only asked for a gold coin donation....

....and it was the best value I have had for $2 in many a day.

I took a cross country drive to the Hawkesbury Family History Fair at Windsor today. I will blog further about this event after the weekend but initially I want to thank The Hawkesbury Family History Group and The Hawkesbury City Council especially Michelle Nichols and the stunning library staff  together with the fair exhibitors for organising such a splendid event.

After my big day out I am on a genealogy high.

T H A N K  Y O U

Hawkesbury Genealogy

In a recent post on the aus-nsw-hills-hawkesbury-hunter-valley@rootsweb.com listserv Michelle Nichols asks:

"Is their anyone out there that has a family story they would like to circulate and publish?

As the editor of the Hawkesbury Family History Group journal which is published quarterly, I am always looking for short stories, snippets, articles to publish about Hawkesbury families. It is a good way to get your family research into the news, as the journal is distributed to over 200 organisations and members. Items about reunions and also queries are also welcome. Material can be sent via an attachment or in the body of an email to michelle_nichols@hotmail.com Free copy of the journal is provided to contributors. The journal is published March, June, September and December and articles are required the month before."

I am scratching my head for something to write about.