As it would be rather rude of me to ask my genimates to respond to this challenge without doing so myself I thought I had better get a move on. I realise how onerous this challenge can be so I applaud all who have taken the time to participate.
1. An elusive ancestor I found was unfortunately they are all still in hiding.
2. A great newspaper article I found was... this is difficult as every time I return to Trove I find something new about one of my ancestors because Trove keeps on adding new titles to its collections.
I have been unable to pinpoint when my Pusell Great-Grandparents moved from Burraga to Cobar. Just one sentence in a new to me article on Trove from 1903 quotes someone talking about an incident in Burraga. The chap said "I got up and went to Mr. Jas. Pusell's, about a quarter of a mile away. Mrs, Pusell came out and struck a match and looked at me." This seemingly unimportant statement is geneagold to me as it gives me a contemporary source for my ancestors' location.
3. A geneajourney I took was as I'm rather greedy I took several geneajourneys to conferences in the US, UK and Australia this year.
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| I love catching up with the Geneabloggers at Rootstech in Salt Lake CIty |
We changed our itinerary at the last minute to visit Yorkshire in June when I found a new record on Ancestry that sent us chasing down some of Mr GeniAus' ancestors.
4. I located an important record. Following on from the discovery mentioned in qn. 3 I made contact with Rev Hilary Smith from the Fulneck Moravian Archives who smartly replied with information on the Midgley ancestors. We made arrangements to visit Fulneck and view the amazing records there. We received a royal welcome at the Fulneck village where we were given tours of the Museum, village and archives.
4. I located an important record. Following on from the discovery mentioned in qn. 3 I made contact with Rev Hilary Smith from the Fulneck Moravian Archives who smartly replied with information on the Midgley ancestors. We made arrangements to visit Fulneck and view the amazing records there. We received a royal welcome at the Fulneck village where we were given tours of the Museum, village and archives.
Rev. Hilary had laid out on a table in the vestry a collection of original records that contained mentions of the Midgley ancestors.
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| Original records in the Fulneck Archives |
As if this wasn't enough we visited the Fulneck Cemetery and found the grave marker for one of Mr GeniAus' direct ancestors. We were also give directions to the Gomersal Moravian Cemetery where we found a grave marker for another direct ancestor.
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| Elizabeth Midgley nee Birkby Grave Marker in Gomersal Moravian Cemetery |
5. A newly found family member shared a photo of Mr GeniAus Great-Grandparents, William Henry Parkinson and Martha Jane Midgley.
6. A geneasurprise I received was contact through my website from a living Kealy cousin in Waterford, Ireland. A descendant of Patrick Kealy and Katherine Bowe he is keen to meet up when we next go to Ireland. I wonder if he would like to do a DNA test. My shout of course. It pays to have your genealogy posted on the web.
7. My 2019 social media post that I was particularly proud of was... Number 10 - the New arrival, https://geniaus.blogspot.com/2019/10/number-10-new-arrival.html, in which I tried to document the history of our searches for clocks mad by James Gowans and son.
6. A geneasurprise I received was contact through my website from a living Kealy cousin in Waterford, Ireland. A descendant of Patrick Kealy and Katherine Bowe he is keen to meet up when we next go to Ireland. I wonder if he would like to do a DNA test. My shout of course. It pays to have your genealogy posted on the web.
7. My 2019 social media post that I was particularly proud of was... Number 10 - the New arrival, https://geniaus.blogspot.com/2019/10/number-10-new-arrival.html, in which I tried to document the history of our searches for clocks mad by James Gowans and son.
8. I made a new genimate who... I have made several new genimates this year. Highlighting one of them just one of them would be very difficult.
9. A new piece of technology or skill I mastered was the The GotoWebinar Dashboard. As I am now hosting some of the webinars for The Society of Australian Genealogists I had to learn how to launch, monitor, produce and save the webinar recordings.
10. I joined the committee of my local Family History Group as President. One of the first things I did was set up a Facebook Page for them here, https://www.facebook.com/lmfhg/.
11. A genealogy education session or event from which I learnt something new was Of all the events I attended I learnt the most from DNA Downunder in Sydney. The standout speaker was Blaine Bettinger. Catching up with so many geneabloggers and genimates was an added bonus.
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| There were so many genimates at DNA Downunder in Sydney |
12. A blog post that taught me something new was I am always learning something new from genimates' blogs. The last thing I mastered with the help of Jonny Perl's blog post, https://dnapainter.com/blog/cluster-auto-painter-unravel-your-dna-test-results/, was the Cluster Auto Painter tool.
13. A DNA discovery I made was that, five years after doing my first DNA test and attending countless presentations I am finally gaining an understanding of what it is all about. As someone who never studied science I have been on a deep learning curve.
14. I taught a genimate how to I hope that I managed to teach something to a few of the genies who attended the presentations and webinars I delivered.
14. I taught a genimate how to I hope that I managed to teach something to a few of the genies who attended the presentations and webinars I delivered.
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| Panel Presentation with Kirsty Gray and Janet Few at THE Genealogy Show |
15. A brick wall I demolished was ... my sledgehammer isn't too sharp so, while I added a couple of generations to Mr GeniAus' tree I didn't even put a crack in any of my brickwalls.
16. A great site I visited was... it had to be the Fulneck Moravian Settlement near Pudsey in Yorkshire. Even if you have no ties to the Moravian Church the village is still worth a visit. The original buildings which mostly stand unaltered date from the mid 18th century.
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| Entrance to the Fulneck Moravian Settlement |
17. A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was I had to look at my Librarything account for an answer to this one. Murder, Misadventure and Miserable Ends: Tales from a Colonial Coroner's Court was not strictly genealogy but it was a valuable read as it gave me an insight into the early history of the colony of New South Wales and the grisly activities of the Coroner's Office.
18. It was exciting to finally meet so many UK and Irish genimates in the flesh at two events I attended in the UK, THE Genealogy Show and Rootstech London. These events gave me an opportunity to press the flesh with people I had previously only known online. BTW I'll be back in Birmingham in June to present three talks at THE Genealogy Show.
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| Catching up with Genimates, Robert and Nathan at THE Genealogy Show |
19. I am excited for 2020 because... There is so much family information hiding out there for me to find. Actually this last stanza of Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" describes this well:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
20. Another positive I would like to share is ... my geneactivities continue to enrich my life. Thank you to all my genimates for your support and generosity.
3 comments:
You’ve had a busy year for sure with lots of wins but those brick walls keep being persistent don’t they? You reminded me of a tech skill I (kind of) learned when I gave two webinars for the Society of Australian Genealogists.
Jill You've had a very busy year of genealogy travel, but the Fulneck adventure, I think, would have been my favorite visit. My favorite of your answers, though, was #1 - they are all still in hiding. :)
Oh Jill - what a full and happy year you have had genealogy wise. You have given me yet another book to add to my leaning tower of Pisa and I loved the Robert Frost poem. Miles to go before we sleep indeed !
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