A little bit of Majick

Over the years some of my ancestors have given me grief because of the varied spellings of their surnames in records.

One such chap is my 2xGreat Grandfather, James Magick (born Westbrook). When looking for my Magick ancestors I have found them recorded as Madgwick, Magic, Maquirk, Maguirk, Madgick, Mogick and other variations. Although I have been able to find evidence of James' death  in a cemetery record and in a Coroner's report I hadn't found a death registration for him. When I was researching him nearly thirty years ago I put this down to the fact that his death occurred out in the bush and that no one bothered to record it.

Yesterday as I was trying to sort out my FTDNA matches I went over to Ancestry to see if one of my matches  had a tree there.... and he did.  And what did I find? This person had a reference to a death entry for James under the surname Majick. How had I not thought of this spelling????

Off to the NSW BDM Online Indexes I went and found:

I probably would have found it if I was starting my research now as I would have done a wildcard surname search for James in the NSW Online BDM index but back in the days of microfiche this was not available.

I think I need to search again more creatively for all those other ancestors for whom I couldn't find BDM records years ago.

As the entry for James indicated that a copy of his registration was Readily Available I ordered it and opted for email delivery. And Guess what? While I have been typing up this post I got these messages:

How's that for efficiency from a government department? Majick?

After 30 odd years I have the official record of James' death in my hands. How can anyone ever say "I've done my family history"?

Answer to a Facebook Message

I recently got this message in my Facebook stream:

"Hi Jill! Happy Easter!Have you done any blog posts or instructions about how to start a one name study? A man in Vic &  I have *Surname* from County Clare &  we're keen to start a study, but not sure where to start. Thanks".

Well, I have started a Surname study, CurryAus, but even though I am a beginner I have some ideas to share. I thought it would be easiest to do this in a video where I can share my screen so here goes.

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.....

Currys Downunder

My maiden name is Curry, I am descended from an Irish convict,  Patrick Curry, who was transported to the colony of New South Wales in 1825. In addition to collecting information on Paddy's descendants downunder I have gathered quite a few references to unrelated Currys.

Some Australian Currys 1970

Since joining The Surname Society recently I have registered a surname study for the Curry Surname in Australia. As I have never seriously undertaken a surname study before I am on my L plates, I have taken on board advice that has been shared in the Society's forums and information on the Guild of One-Name Studies site (I'm a member there too).

How will I go about this?

• I have opened a new project in my Family Historian software into which I have imported my Australian Currys. Several Society members already use  Family Historian for their Surname studies so there is much help available.
• I will add any new Curry references I fins to this project.
• I have set up a Wordpress blog through which I will share Curry stories, trivia and news as wll as reports on my research. This blog which is currently private will be launched early in 2015.
• I already have 8,000+ Curry references in an Excel spreadsheet. I am currently massaging this data so that I can use Colin's free XL to Ged utility to convert the data in the spreadsheet to a gedcom file that I can import into my Family Historian project.
• I will set up a few Google alerts that will hopefully retrieve some Curry news from the web. I will have to put some thoughts into crafting these so that I don't get lots of news about Indian cuisine.
• I will search the various databases at my disposal to find Currys.
• I will see what Mr Google can find for me on the web.
• I will promote my study on social media so that others will be aware of  the study. The hashtag will be #CurryAus and the URL of my blog will contain CurryAus.
• I will use Evernote as a tool to keep track of the blog and its posts.
• Apart from that I will just learn as I go.

If you have any Australian Currys in your tree or among your friends and neighbours I'd love to hear about them. 

I just spent $AU9.35

Quite a few years ago I had a website called Too Hot to Handle: a cyberhome for Australian Currys.

It was a pretty ugly and basic site on which had over 8,000 references to Currys, not necessarily related to me, but who were descended from Australians who shared my maiden name - Curry. I took the site down about ten years ago but kept a copy of  the site and all associated files and spreadsheets.

My old website

I have always wanted to carry on with this surname study but felt that I could not undertake a worldwide study on Curry, a name that is relatively common. I joined the Guild of One-Name Studies thinking that I would register another less common name in my tree for a world wide study (and I might still do that) as I couldn't register my Curry interest with their current guidelines..

This week I learnt of the launch of the new Surname Society that had been mooted on social media, when I read their press release and visited their website I was impressed by how much work the committee had done prior to launching the Society. I like the way that the group is using social media and hangouts to connect with members around the globe and that its committtee is international.  When I saw the names behind the Society I knew that it was in good hands so tonight I coughed up  $AU9.35 or Five GBP to join. Within a minute I had received an activation code  to enter the Members' area on the site which I have yet to explore.

As the requirements to register a surname with this group are not as prescriptive as those of the Guild I think I will resurrect my Australian Curry study and register it with The Surname Society.

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? 

Surname Saturday Meme: Names, Places and Most Wanted Faces

On his Destination Austin Family Blog Thomas MacEntee has revived Craig Manson of GeneaBlogie's meme from 2009. Thomas says " Why so? Well this meme actually helps the genealogy blogger create "surname bait" for other researchers to find out on Google and other search engines."


Busy weekends are not the best time for responding to Saturday challenges. It's a quiet Monday morning in Sydney so I now have time to devote to this task. What it has done is to make me reflect on my direct ancestors, it is too long since I revisited my research on them in an ordered manner. I have spent most of my time recently on my husband's and grandchildren's lines. It is now time to take a look at new resources to see if I can find any new leads on my Irish ancestors and many convicts.


The instructions for this meme are very simple (although they are US centric) but we foreigners will have to adjust them slightly to include Country, state or county or whatever is most appropriate to the lands of our forefathers.  Here goes:


How The Meme Works

To participate, do the following at your own blog and post a link  in the comments of Thomas' post:

1. List your surnames in alphabetical order as follows:

[SURNAME]: State/Province (county/subdivision), date range
as in:

AUSTIN surname: New York (Jefferson County, Lewis County, St. Lawrence County), 1830-present; Rhode Island (Kent County, Washington County), 1638-1830

2. At the end, list your Most Wanted Ancestor with details!

Geniaus' Names, Places and Most Wanted Faces


Following are the surnames of my Great-Great Grandparents


ASPINALL surname:  England (Lancashire, Wigan) 1819-1838; Australia (New South Wales, Bathurst area) 1838-1883 


BOWE surname:  Ireland (Kilkenny) 1821-


CONNOLLY: surname: Ireland (Kilkenny) 1826-, Australia (New South Wales) 1850-


CREGAN surname:  Ireland (Fermanagh, Eniskillen) 1832-


CURRY surname:  Ireland (Limerick County) 1800-1825, Australia (New South Wales, Camden) 1825-present, Australia (New South Wales, Canowindra) 1900-1950.


D'ARCY surname:  Ireland (Tipperary, Templemore) 1790-, Australia (New South Wales, Dungog) 1840-


DUNCAN surname: Scotland (Aberdeen) 1800-, Australia (Victoria, Melbourne) 1851-, Australia (New South Wales, Byrock and Cobar)  1890-


HAYWARD surname: England (Oxfordshire) 1798- , Australia (New South Wales) 1817-


HOMER surname: England (Lancashire, Manchester) 1804-, Australia (New South Wales) 1820-,


KEALY surname: Ireland (Kilkenny, Ballyfoyle) 1785-, Australia (New South Wales, Maitland) 1864-


MAGICK surname: Australia (New South Wales) 1826-


MOLLOY surname:  Ireland (Meath) 1800-, Australia (New South Wales) 1852- 


PUSELL surname: England (Lancashire, Liverpool) 1820-, Australia (New South Wales) 1837-


RYAN surname: Ireland (Westmeath County, Kilbeggan) 1800-present, Australia (New South Wales, Camden) 1850,


TIERNEY surname: Ireland (Tipperary, Roscrea) 1790-, Australia (New South Wales, Dungog and Sydney) 1840-


TUCKER surname: England (Buckinghamshire, Datchet) 1770-, Australia (New South Wales) 1825-

Most Wanted Ancestor

Geniaus is a greedy girl I cannot choose just one ancestor, I want to find them all.

The GOONS at Hawkesbury

Karen Rogers

Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine were nowhere in sight when the GOONS came to The Hawkesbury Family History Group today.

 Karen Rogers, the NSW/ACT regional representative for the GOONS (The Guild of One-Name Studies) in Australia talked about surnames, their history and distribution and one-name studies at the meeting this morning.

After hearing Karen explain that a one-name study is a project researching one surname and all the people who have held it in the world I realised that my idea for researching the Curry surname in Australia did not fit the criteria for a study as a member of  "The Guild of One-Name Studies". I'll put my excel spreadsheets in mothballs and if I ever get around to doing the Currys I will go it alone.

We learnt that here are over 2,000 members studying around 7,850 surnames worldwide. One can check online to see if there is a study underway for one's family names. Karen explained the requirements  for those conducting studies; a great deal of research and preparation is needed before a study is accepted and then a considerable amount of work is required of  a study coordinator who has certain responsibilities such as becoming the world expert on a surname, ongoing research and answering queries within three weeks.

The seven aspects of a study are:

• Data collection
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Publicising the study
• Responding to enquiries
• Publication of results
• Preserving the study

Karen suggested that one needed to be a bit obsessive to conduct a study but that medium size studies are a lot of fun. She said that "after a while people in your study become your family".

Karen also explained that one does not have to conduct a study to join The Guild of One-Name Studies. One can join as an ordinary member and reap the benefits that membership of the society brings.

It's taken me a while to get around to attending a meeting at this society, I was pleased that I chose today to visit. I found Karen's talk fascinating and wished that she would have had more time to further explore the information on her slides.

Harveys (and variants) in Australia

If you have some Harveys (or Harvie, Harvy, Herve, Hervey) you may be interested in this list extracted from the Australian Vital Records Index on the Harvey Genealogist site.

One Man, Two Names, Three Families, and More | Ancestry Magazine

Genealogy can be complicated but persistence pays off.

One Man, Two Names, Three Families, and More | Ancestry Magazine

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Publish Post

This

What's in a surname?

Kimberley Powell reports on the 10 most common Australian surnames in use today.

Smith and Jones are still in the Top 10 while Nguyen "the most common surname in Vietnam, but is actually of Chinese origin, meaning "musical instrument." comes in a number 7.

Name shame causes Cock shrinkage but Wang is on the rise | The Australian

Name shame causes Cock shrinkage but Wang is on the rise | The Australian

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Story about the history of surnames has humourous reader comments.

If you’re enough lucky to be Irish... You’re lucky enough!

I must be lucky as all the ancestors on my father's side are Irish and there are a couple on my mother's side.

Going back through my pedigree the surnames I find are:
Bowe Connolly Cregan Curry D'arcy Gleeson Harrington Kealy Molloy Moore Ryan Tierney Wade.

Of these names I find the D'arcy, a French sounding name, intriguing. From this site I learn that "In Ireland the surname is of dual derivation, being either Norman-French as above, and originally followers of Strongbow, earl of Pembroke, who invaded Ireland in 1169, or as an anglicized form of the native Gaelic "O'Dorchaidhe", meaning a descendant of the dark one."

The earliest D'arcy ancestor I have located was John D'arcy from Templemore, Tipperary who was born in the late 1700's. He was married to married Mary Wade and had at least 5 daughters: Mary b 1814, Eliza b 1816, Bridget b 1820, Margaret b 1821 and Ellen b 1826.

John had died some time before 1839 when my 2nd great-grandmother Eliza b 1816 and her husband, Denis Tierney, emigrated to Australia on the ship "China". Eliza's sisters Bridget and Margaret also settled in Australia.

My grandmother claimed that the famous Australian fighter Les D'arcy, who came from Maitland, NSW near her home town of Dungog was her cousin. I would love to be able to find evidence to support her claim.

The luck of the Irish may assist me to one day find out more about my D'arcy ancestors.

This post was written for the 13th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture: "Irish Names"

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.