Waiting time

Sitting at my computer waiting for a video to upload I went looking for a monument on the Monument Australia website, It didn't take me long to find what I was seeking so then I started playing around. I noticed that many of the monuments were dedicated to People  and Bing! My inbuilt Genealarm went off. Could this site be a good place to search for people?

In addition to the monuments dedicated to people and looking at a few of the descriptions on other entries I realised that many of them included names. Had I  found a new-to-me genearesource?

One of the tabs on the home page of the site is "Search", so I selected that and went to the Search Page. As many of my genimates know I am doing a surname study for the Curry surname in Australia. I simply entered the word Curry on the Keyword area and hit search.

I was rewarded with quite a few irrelevant hits as the search also returns results where Curry is part of a word so there were many mentions of  Cloncurry and Tuncurry. However hidden among this list were a few mentions of Australian Currys.

There were Currys on several honour rolls and a Memorial Tablet. I'm keen to find out more about Les Curry who is memorialised on a plaque in Bellrive, Tasmania.

Due to the limitations of the Search facility on this site if you have a common name this database will probably not be too useful for your purposes. If your ancestral names are less common you may find some surprises. It behoves us as genealogists to look under every possible rock.

Trove Tuesday - Change of name

This week a genimate changed the name of her blog. I applauded her decision because she changed it from a general title to a title that could refer to any genealogy blog to something that is unique to her.

As that set me thinking. I thought about name changes that may put barriers in the way of our research so as it is Trove Tuesday I went to Trove in search of some examples. Reading these articles gives us an indication of why the name changes were effected.

Did these name changers realise the impact that their actions would have on family historians of the future?

1902 'A Change of Name.', Wagga Wagga Advertiser (NSW : 1875 - 1910), 14 June, p. 6. , viewed 01 Oct 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104063538

1938 'CHANGE OF NAME.', Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 2001), 18 November, p. 4467. , viewed 01 Oct 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225068920

1942 'CHANGE OF NAME OF DEPARTMENT.', Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (National : 1901 - 1973), 19 October, p. 2490. , viewed 01 Oct 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232678464

1905 'CHANGE OF NAME.', The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), 30 March, p. 8. , viewed 01 Oct 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article192239467

1917 'A CHANGE OF NAME.', Gympie Times and Mary River Mining Gazette (Qld. : 1868 - 1919), 14 July, p. 7. , viewed 01 Oct 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article188170479

1949 'CHANGE OF NAME', The Albany Advertiser (WA : 1897 - 1954), 7 November, p. 3. , viewed 01 Oct 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70514043

1937 'HOTEL CHANGE OF NAME', National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW : 1889 - 1954), 29 June, p. 2. , viewed 01 Oct 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article160568469

1911 'CHANGE OF NAME.', Daily Commercial News and Shipping List (Sydney, NSW : 1891 - 1954), 3 April, p. 4. , viewed 01 Oct 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158548306

1947 'TO CHANGE NAME OF KING IS. SCHOOL', Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), 29 November, p. 7. , viewed 01 Oct 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article69033680

The tip that comes from reading these articles is that if you hit a brick wall Search for a name change.

Daphne Edith Williamena Gillespie

If my mother-in-law, Daphne, was still with us she would be 95 years old today. 

Daphne

The following clipping saved in a notebook by Daphne's mother, Eliza Anne Gowans, describes how Daphne got her name.

A New Gig for GeniAus

Not long after it was launched in November 2014 I joined The Surname Society, an online organisation, and soon afterwards registered my CurryAus surname study with them. 

A few weeks ago I was approached by a Committee Member of the Society asking me if I would write " a regular column in our quarterly newsletter", The Surname Scribbler. Naturally I was thrilled to be asked so replied in the affirmative without hesitation. 

As the deadline for the 3rd issue of the Surname Scribbler approaches I am wondering what I have done. Having perused the first two issues of the newsletter (that's a perk of membership) I realise that I am in exalted company, the articles in the first two issues have been well researched and referenced. I anticipate that my column will be on the lighter side, I'll write about my geneajaunts, the geneaevents I attend, the genimates I meet and perhaps share details of my surname study blunders. 

Thanks to the Surname Society Committee for their invitation, I look forward to having a small role in this 21st Century Society.

You can join me in the Society for just £GBP5 per annum - you don't have to register a surname (but there's lots of help and no pressure if you do) and you will get four issues of The Surname Scribbler each year.

And now to write.....

Behind the Name

In my recent post, Gender Issues, I discussed the problems I had in determining the gender of some of the persons in my tree. Jane, one of the people who commented on my post said "Have you come across http://www.behindthename.com it's very handy for those Irish names and the Roman Catholic Priest trick of using Latin versions of names on documents."

www.behindthename.com

I didn't know about that site, thanks, Jane and I guess that some of my readers may not either.

I discovered that Aoife is female: 
Means "beauty" from the Gaelic word aoibh. In Irish legend Aoife was a warrior princess. In war against her sister Scathach, she was defeated in single combat by the heroCúchulainn. Eventually she was reconciled with her sister and became the lover of Cúchulainn. This name is sometimes used as a Gaelic form of EVE or EVA. http://www.behindthename.com/name/aoife

The other two Irish names I was unsure of, Caoimhe and Eimear, were also female but Ezoma and Shearin were not in the list.

I'm off to my Family Historian database to do a bit of gender assignment.

Gender Issues

I recently found that I had quite a few people with unassigned genders in my Family Historian database. I spent a bit of time looking at their records and assigning a gender to some of them. Now this was easy for the Toms, Dicks and Harrys and the Marys, Myrtles and Annies but I struck a bit of a problem with some of the names.

I solved some of my issues by searching for marriage records, Palma's second name found on an electoral roll was Louise. There were the Irish names like Aoife, Caoimhe and Eimear,  unisex names like Bailey, Dallas and Kerry and some names I have never encountered like Ezoma and Shearin. Is the Chris recorded in a parent's death notice a son or daughter? What about the people for whom I only have initials?

Looks as though I have a bit of research ahead of me before I assign a gender to some of these distant cousins.

What's in a Name?

I have been chuffed to discover that some of our younger generation have consulted the family tree in addition to books of baby names when considering names for their new bubs.

Whether by coincidence or design I was delighted when  family names have been bestowed on some of our grandchildren. My eldest granddaughter bears the name of her great-grandmother, my husband's name and his father's name have been used as middle names, my mother's surname has been used as a forename and two grandsons have their maternal grandfathers' names as middle names.  My baby granddaughter has the same name as her paternal great-grandmother and maternal great-great-grandmother.

Because of the confusion that can arise from having two people in the same house with the same name I would not let my husband bestow his name on our sons. He did, however, manage to get his and his father's names used as the boys' second names. It was a coincidence that our youngest daughter bears the name of a few female ancestors on both sides of the family.

When I was teaching I always felt sorry for those poor kids whose parents had given them unique names or popular names with unique spellings. I now realise that these parents must have been genealogists wanting to make them easy to find for future descendants researching their ancestry.

I notice today the Swinburne University are seeking Australians to answer an online survey: "What's in a name?" where they ask about  "How did you name your children? What does your surname mean to you?"  


If you have some spare time how about helping the researchers out? 

Name Change

My mother-in-law, Daphne Gillespie, used to tell the story of how her name was changed at baptism frrom Freda to Daphne; a notation on her birth certificate bears this out.

Whilst browsing through a notebook belonging to her mother, Eliza Ann Gowans,  that I have as the family bowerbird  I came across a newspaper clipping about this event pasted neatly on a page. As the other items in this book are from 1930 and 1931 I surmise it was from that time.  Unfortunately I cannot identify the newspaper.

It is one of a number of clippings of pars that Eliza under her nom-de-plume, Elms, had pasted in the notebook. Eliza earned three shillings and sixpence for sharing the story of baby Freda's name change.

Genealogy Blog - John, Bill And Tom Are Most Popular Names Of Past 170 Years - GeneaNet

What happened to Tom, Dick and Harry??

Genealogy Blog - John, Bill And Tom Are Most Popular Names Of Past 170 Years - GeneaNet

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New South Wales: What's in a name?

New South Wales: What's in a name?

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A Grandparent by any Name

This post on the ABC Newcastle blog "A grandparent by any name" started me thinking of the names we, in our family, have given to grandparents.

Mr Geniaus and I are known to our grandchildren as BobBob and Gummy. Gummy is the word our first toddler grandchild started calling me and it has stuck. I love being Gummy as it is a unique name that is very special as it was coined by one of the descendants.

My mother who was Grandma Elsie to my children is happy to be called Elsie by the greatgrandchildren. I called my own grandparents Nanna D and Nanna C so when my children were born we changed to Grandma for my Mum so there would be no confusion. My great-grandmother who was long gone before my children were born was known as Granny P.

Last night we were discussing Grandparent names with friends who had Barbie and Pa Jim and Nana and Grandfather as names for their children's grandparents. I am wondering what other names genealogists have in their families for grandparents.

Cul De Sac — Gocomics.com: Comics, editorial cartoons, email comics, comic strips

Cul De Sac — Gocomics.com: Comics, editorial cartoons, email comics, comic strips

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Names can be confusing!

National Trust Names

Do you know where your surname comes from, or how many people you share it with?

The National Trust Names site enables users to search the database and to trace the geography and history of their family names from the United Kingdom. As the site only records names with at least 100 people on the Electoral Register for 1998 it is not comprehensive. I was unable to find listings for Pusell or Magick. The site promises to add more names in he future.