600 Burials

I have been very quiet on the geneablogging scene lately as I have been concentrating on my personal research. 

Since I started researching 35 years ago many things have changed and many new indexes and resources have become available on the internet. My recent efforts have been directed towards killing off and burying the relatives in our family tree, I am slowly looking at those born prior to 1930 and seeking out their Birth, Death, Marriage and burial records.

I use the spreadsheet type view in Family Historian software that allows me to choose which fields I want to display and then sort them by name, date or other element. Viewing this shows me the gaps I need to fill

An excerpt from my database sorted by a surname (hidden) then a death date which shows the gaps 

To support this work I have many popular site tabs open on my menu bar. One of these is FindaGrave where I may have two or more tabs open.

In conjunction with this research I have been creating a Virtual Cemetery of our children's descendants on FindaGrave. When searching this site add extra details to family profiles and I try to link up family members. While on the site I add our biological relations to my cemetery. 

So why am I blogging about this today?

I have reached a milestone as I just managed to inter the 600th biological relation into my Virtual Cemetery. (I had intended celebrating at 500 but forgot.)

My Virtual Cemetery

I hope that some time in the future family members may find this useful. 

From the Archives - There's one in every family!

 Reposting this entry from 29 November 2010.

One of the photos from the original post is missing and some of the links are broken.  Since 2010 there have been three more family baptisms and one funeral at St Mary's. 

Monday, November 29, 2010

"There's one in every family!" or "6 Baptisms, 5 Weddings and a Funeral"

 I have been scratching my head as I wonder who or what to write about for the 100th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.  After much ruminating I am writing about a place significant to our family history. I had previously blogged about St. Mary's in July and, as the Carnival creates an opportunity for my post to reach a wider audience, I am going to embellish and repost for the Carnival.

Our children have all been baptised and married at St Mary the Virgin Anglican Church in Waverley, NSW. The Church has also been the venue for some of our grandchildren's baptisms and the funerals of other family members.

St Mary the Virgin is an historic church in Birrell Street, Waverley . There is a short history of the Church at the Waverley Council website. A book on the history of the Church, Through the archway of the years : St. Mary's Church, Waverley, N.S.W., 1864-1964, can be found in the National Library of Australia. A list of the clergy who have served at St. Mary's can be found on the Church site.

The Church was designed by Edmund Blacket, a prominent Victorian architect and personal friend of the first rector, Stanley Mitchell. Blacket, who became the official Colonial Architect 1849-1854, was responsible for the design of many 19th century sandstone buildings in Sydney including St Andrew's Cathedral. 

St Mary's circa 1900 (Powerhouse collection)

  St Mary's foundation stone was laid on June 6th, 1863 and the Church was dedicated on May 13th, 1864. Additions and modifications have been made to the Church during the past 150 years.  The Church and Organ are listed on the NSW State Heritage Register and the Church on The Register of the National Estate.

1983 St. Mary's Christmas Pageant - Rev Terry Dicks and children including my four as angels and Joseph

In recent times our family has celebrated significant occasions at St. Mary's Anglican Church Waverley. A peek at the tags in my digital family album shows that I have several hundred photographs tagged St Mary's. As well as hatches, matches and dispatches there are photos of social events, confirmations, Christmas pageants and Sunday School events. The picture on the header of this blog is taken at the most recent family wedding at St. Mary's.

1986 - Confirmees

2009 Family Wedding - Rev Beth Spence

2009 Family Christening - Rev Michael Spence

 St Mary's is a happy place as described in a 2004 article in the Anglicans Together Newsletter,  St. Mary's Church, Waverley : High and Happy.

1997 Family Wedding

 More recent news of the Parish is detailed in the snippets below from http://www.stmaryswaverley.org.au/page1/page12/page12.html

St Mary's is a significant place in our family history as so many family events took place in this beautiful Church.

BDM Places - A Rant

I get annoyed when people often incorrectly use the NSW BDM Indexes to provide place names for Birth Death or Marriage events.

In so many trees I find that the Place of an Event is incorrectly recorded as the Place of Registration (the registry where the event was recorded). If I don't have a second reliable source (like a certificate) for an NSW event I record the place accurately as NSW, Australia.

Just because a birth was registered in Sydney does not mean that the event occurred in Sydney. My Grandfather died in hospital Darlinghurst but his death was registered in Rockdale close to Brighton-le-sands where the family lived. Aunt Jane's death was registered in Sydney but I know she died at Waverley. My Grandparents were married at Lavender Bay but their marriage was registered at St Leonards. My Maternal Grandmother was born at Thompson's Creek but her birth was registered at Rockley.

I could go on and on and on.... but you get my drift. Registration Place does not equal the Place of the Event.

Unfortunately many people in their online Public Trees have recorded the places for these events erroneously.

How can we educate our fellow researchers to do the right thing?

Trove Tuesday - Cradle, Altar, Grave

When I posted my recent entry on the Geneadictionary I found more hits than I expected for my search Cradle Altar Grave. Once I added a couple of extra search terms I found what I was seeking for that post. However, I thought some of the other articles I found deserved an airing.

The first article on the list  provides analysis and commentary on statistics from The South Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriage in 1911. The first section of that long article follows, the remainder can be read here.

1912 'CRADLE, ALTAR, AND GRAVE.', Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), 24 August, p. 34. , viewed 04 Dec 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article164777751,

This handsome chap, John Ambrose Plunkett was a Deputy Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. The interviewette that accompanies his portrait can be read here. 

1897 'INTERVIEWETTES.', Quiz and the Lantern (Adelaide, SA : 1890 - 1900), 18 November, p. 4. , viewed 04 Dec 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166956178

It was interesting to read that in 1909 the "child harvest" was the highest ever attained in the Commonwealth and the death rate was the lowest on record.

1910 'Cradle, Altar, and Grave.', The Methodist (Sydney, NSW : 1892 - 1954), 25 June, p. 7. , viewed 04 Dec 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155388246

Funeral Booklets

When I attended a family funeral yesterday both Mr GeniAus and I took a funeral booklet/order of service.

I have been sorting out my huge "to be sorted" pile of ephemera this week and I came across several duplicate funeral books for family members. I really only need one of each for my files. I then remembered the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet where I have a collection of funeral books for unrelated people. I have saved all of the funeral books for services I have attended over the years plus I have been given some by people who are aware of my hoardng and genealogy obsessions.  I realised that these private publications can be a goldmine of genealogical information and wondered  if I should I should share them with the geneacommunity. Some of the earliest booklets I have are quite simple while some of the newer ones are quite sophisticated publications but they all contain genealogical data. One would hope that the people compiling these publications  provide accurate information.

The latest addition to my collection gives birth and death dates for the deceased, the name of the celebrant and the names of those taking part in the service. It is highly likely that some of these people are family members. The booklet also has two pages of photographs of the deceased covering his life span. Some of these booklets give other information like the date and time of the service and details of the burial or cremation.

I am going to gather up my collection of duplicate family booklets and those for unrelated persons and offer them to a genealogy society or library that I hope will index them. I may even offer to index them if the repository provides me with guidelines.

What do you do with the funeral booklets you collect? Please don't toss them - send them to me and I'll add them to my collection.

Trove Tuesday - Adding to the Pusell story

Nearly everyone in Australia with the name of Pusell (and variants) is related to me. We are descendants of the convict James Pusill. 

My Grandmother Ethel Jane Pusell (Bottom right) and siblings

As I hadn't done a simple Trove search for Pusell in a while I thought it time to repeat the search. I was rewarded with a few more snippets about my Pusell cousins. I found all of these in The Lithgow Mercury (NSW : 1898 - 1954)  that must have been digitised since I last did this search. While I was at it I also corrected the text in most of the articles I found.

An obituary confirmed much of the infoormation I had on this family and provided some new leads. As the original article is hard to read I am providing a transcription.

LITHGOW
DEATHS
MRS. J. PUSELL
Particularly well known in Lithgow district where she had lived for many years, Mrs. Eliza Jane Pusell, late of the Pottery Enclosure, passed away last night, in Lithgow hospital, aged 71years.
Deceased had been a patient at the hospital for the past four months and her passing was not unexpected. 

Although of a quiet, home-loving nature, the late Mrs. Pusell had an unusually large circle of friends who will mourn her passing. Born at Bylong, she is sur-vived by her husband, Mr. John James Pusell and one son and four daughters, members of the family being Mr. John James Pusell, Jnr., of Woilon-
gong, Charlotte (Mrs. K. Ross, of Brisbane), Alice (Mrs. B.Hanby, of Auburn), Mary (Mrs.F. Jackson, of Pottery Estate and Lena (Mrs. R. Delaney, of Kurri Kurri),. to whom sym-pathy will be extended.

A resident of the Pottery Estate for many years, deceas-ed did not take an active interest in public affairs, but was a keen conversationalist and was every ready to help in times of trouble. Her value
as a neighbor and friend was held in high regard and she held the esteem of all who knew her.

The funeral has been, set down for tomorrow, being scheduled to leave the funeral parlors of Messrs. Wood and Wood following a service tim-ed to begin at 4 p.m. for in-terment in the Church of Eng-
land portion of Bowenfels cemetery.

 Source: 1953 'LITHGOW DEATHS', Lithgow Mercury (NSW : 1898 - 1954), 6 March, p. 2. (CITY EDITION), viewed 17 Oct 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223420813

From 1926 I have a mystery to solve - I don't know which of the Pusell girls is referred to in this article.

1926 '"Miss Lithgow" Candidates.', Lithgow Mercury (NSW : 1898 - 1954), 31 December, p. 4. , viewed 17 Oct 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224582558

Text Transcription for the above article: 

Miss Pusell, has been nominated by the Lithgow Athletic Club, the members of which are determined to demon-strate they have organising as well as athletic ability. They have several schemes in mind which are calculated to give them a good fighting, fund. Miss Pusell has an engaging personality, and this should stand her in good stead when votes are being sought.

There were details of a fatal accident:

1948 'ANOTHER MOTOR CYCLE TRAGEDY', Lithgow Mercury (NSW : 1898 - 1954), 12 August, p. 2. , viewed 17 Oct 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article219740239

I won't publish the 1948 birth notice I found for a previously unknown cousin of mine as I hope she is still alive and kicking. I have added her to my family history database.

This wedding report gave me further info on family members:

1933 'WRIGHT-PUSELL WEDDING',Lithgow Mercury (NSW : 1898 - 1954), 12 October, p. 4. (TOWN EDITION), viewed 17 Oct 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article219557835

More booty from National Family History Month

Loved seeing this in my inbox this morning. It certainly pays the enter The NFHM competitions.

Last year I blogged about winning the prize of 5 Birth, Death or Marriage Images  from The Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages in National Family History Month. I was absolutely bowled over when I won the same prize this year as I got so much geneavalue from the prizes I won last year.

Prior to August I was chatting to Mr GeniAus about one of our Queensland branches and saying that I'd really like to order a few more Queensland records. Now I can't remember which certificates I wanted. 

I'm donning my thinking cap and searching through the Queenslanders on my database.  In the meantime I thank The Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages for their support of  National Family History Month.

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"?

Many Happy Returns

This is not a birthday post.  Last week I wrote about how I had pulled all of the BDM and other interesting certificates out of my files and was doing some nitpicking. Just this morning I read a post from Canadian genealogist, Lorine, who also extolled the virtues of returning to old records.

It feels like my birthday because I uncovered some clues that lead me to find some facts on direct ancestors  that I had previously missed. I also found a few silly things I had done. In my earlier post I shared some of the things I had found....but wait - there's more.

I found a Marriage Date and Place in Sydney for Patrick Curry and Ellen Moore. This pair claimed to have been married in Limerick, Ireland prior to their transportation to Australia. A visit to the Limerick Church they named and a helpful priest who let me look at the registers did not find such a record. I'm pleased they got Churched in New South Wales.

For nearly 30 years I had thought that my 2x Great-grandmother, Bridget Ryan, was a good swimmer. I can now report that the good swimmer genes don't come from Bridget. She enjoyed the journey to Australia in 1849 with her sister, Ann, on the good ship, British Empire. I had missed the clue on her death certificate that she first went to Victoria and I had believed a newspaper article that said she arrived ea few years earlier.

I killed off Mr GeniAus' 2x great-grandmother, Jane May. Mr GeniAus wasn't half as excited as I was. We have previously visited the cemetery where she is buried, perhaps we need to visit again and diligently check all the headstones.

When I visit some repositories I go crazy taking photos of documents and sometimes, when I get home, I forget to go nitpicking and record all details. I found a couple of Death Certificates whose details I hadn't recorded  lurking in Probate Packets. Perhaps I should fetch less and spend quality time on what I manage to collect.

I got a couple of surprise when I found some certificates misfiled in the wrong folders. That's probably why I found that I had purchased duplicate certificates for some ancestors.

I am sorry to report that I had to do some pruning and lop a branch off my tree. We all make mistakes, I had given some poor woman a couple of extra children.

It wasn't really of any consequence but it was interesting to see that one of Mr GeniAus' ancestors who worked for an undertaker was a witness at the burial of one of my ancestors.

Of course I found the small pile of certificates I had bought in error.  I must hnd these on to a society or site that will make them available to others.

I was wearing my halo after completing this task until this morning when I was on my feet dealing with piles of paper. I found a plastic sleeve that contained 72 more BDMs!

No prizes for guessing that more Nitpicking is on my agenda.

Nitpicking

I had previously talked about my intention of going through all the BDMs (vital records) in my possession and going over them with a fine tooth comb. It's proving to be an illuminating exercise.

I had pulled all of the copies I have out of their plastic sleeves with the intention of scanning them and then placing the copies (which have cost me several $$$) into acid-free sleeves and folders. Last week as I was researching the Irish ancestors I thought I'd see what I could dig up on them but then I decided to have a rest from the Irish and go through all my certs.

What have I discovered?

* Certificates that I didn't even know I had and from which I had entered no information into my database. I am carefully examining them and adding info to my Family Historian database. I am also noting in the notes field for the source if I actually hold a copy of the record in question.

* I realised that one of the certificates I had wasn't for the right person so had to lop another branch off my tree. Since I purchased that certificate I had found other evidence that refuted what was in the certificate. It pays to revisit.

* I found several factual errors on certificates. Further evidence gathered since I procured the certificates shows them to be wrong. It pays to use multiple sources.

* I am finding familiar names as witnesses to BDM events now that I revisit the certificates. The knowledge of families I have gathered over the years has made it easy for me to recognise these names. Knowledge gained over years of research helps one make valuable connections.

* I've been doing some fact checking on other sites as I go along and it's interesting to see how many folk have copied my stuff (including typos) into their online trees.

* By using the clues contained in online trees as I go through my certificates I have made some valuable discoveries. I managed to finally kill off Mr GeniAus' 2x great-grandmother the other night because someone had provided a source in their online tree.

* I have found something new on just about each certificate I have put under the virtual microscope.

* As a result of this activity many of the previously unsourced events in my database now have sources.

We are often reminded of the value of doing such an exercise. I can thoroughly recommend putting your research on hold  while you go nitpicking through the  records you have to hand.

More Records to Milk

Yesterday, as part of my GeniAus database cleanup campaign, I extracted many of the original BDM certificate copies I have purchased over the years from their unhealthy plastic sleeves in ordinary old plastic binders.

A cow in Solovski Russia is like my certificates - Ready to be milked dry

I scanned them (from A-G surnames - plenty more to do) and looked over them with fresh eyes. I milked many more facts from them than I had when I initially procured them. While I had them in my hands I added to my database informants and witnesses of various BDM events and the names of priests and ministers who had performed the ceremonies. It was amazing how many witness names I now recognised that I hadn't when I first looked at these documents. There were lots of in-laws, cousins, aunts and uncles at the events. Thankfully Family Historian software allows one to add witnesses to events (a feature missing in many genealogy software packages).

In some cases I hadn't even noted in my database that I had a copy of these documents in my possession (ie sources were missing), I put that right too. My next task is to rename and file those digital images into their folders on my external hard drive (then back them up to a second) and then purchase some archival quality sleeves and folders in which the keep my original hard copies. As Qantas will let me bring lots of luggage home from Rootstech in February I'll put these on my shopping list for when I am in Salt Lake City.

Last week I blogged about the prize of 5 Birth, Death or Marriage Images from The Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages I won in the National Family History Month draw. Today four of the five I requested arrived by email with an apology that my fifth request was not available as an image but I can choose another. How efficient is all that?

I chose death certificates as I thought they would give me information on three generations and perhaps lead me to some living cousins .... and from a quick scan at the info contained in them I think my chances are pretty high. Our Australian certificates allow for the recording of lots of information and my four new ones have lots to tell me.

I'm off now - to do some more milking.

Some leads coming my way?

Back in National Family History Month I was the winner of not one but two prizes in the Prize Draw. I am most grateful to all of the sponsors for their support of this event.

One of my prizes was 5 Birth, Death or Marriage Images  from The Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages. I was rather excited to win this as a few ancestors escaped to the Sunshine State and I don't know much about them. This prize is worth more than the $100 value to me.

I decided to order Death records as I thought I would get the most value from them. After a lot of deliberation and index searching I selected five people, three from my side of the family and three from Mr GeniAus' family. I have asked for records for a great-aunt and two first cousins once removed. On Mr Geniaus' side I've requested a first cousin once removed and a first cousin 3 times removed. I find the Queensland interface for searching more user friendly than the NSW one so my selection process was a pleasant activity.

Images ordered

I am hoping that I have spent my prize wisely and that the results lead me to find some new cousins.

My prize email from the The Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages says that I will have my images within four weeks - I can't wait.

Killing them off

Although I didn't take part in the Genealogy Do-over this year I made a concerted effort to go through my database and look for unsourced or unsupported assertions, sources in the notes field (from an earlier sotware program) , missing BDM data, typos and other odds and ends. The closer the relative is to me the more effort I put into adding to their records. If it's  somethone like a fourth cousin's husband I give him less attention. I am pleased to report that I have amended and added to hundreds of my records  but I still have quite a way to go.

One of the things I have been trying to find are death and burial dates for many of the people in my GeniAus database using The Ryerson Index, Ancestry, FMP, Heaven Address, Google and online cemetery databases.. Realising that many people drop off their perches before they hit 90 I have been looking for deaths for anyone who would be over 80 if they are still kicking. I feel quite guilty when I am trying to  Kill someone off  in my database.  

A few weeks ago I came across an elderly cousin of my Mum's who is in her late eighties; she is very sprightly and sharp as a tack. When I was chatting with her I felt quite guilty as I had recently been searching all over the place for a record of her death.

Do you get an attack of the guilts when trying to assign relatives to agrave?

Heaven Address

Sometimes as I am practising Tangential Genealogy I find some great new stuff.

Occasionally when I search for an ancestor's name on Google I am directed to the Heaven Address site where I might find death and funeral details, sometimes there are tributes posted by family and friends and sometimes there is a collection of photos of the deceased. Until I returned this week the  only entries I found at this site were only for deaths in recent years.

On its home page Heaven Address claims to be "the respectful online memorial community to honour and celebrate the lives of your loved ones." One can join Heaven Address but there is no need to do this to search its database.

What I found this week, when I decided to search Heaven Address for the surname Curry for my CurryAus Surname study, were some old records back to the 1920s. In fact I found enough information to help me reconstruct a few Curry families.

I was under the impression that only funeral directors contributed to this database but it appears that  a small group of cemeteries and crematoria are adding records with maps and GPS coordinates of graves. This must be fairly new as many records, such as William Curry's (below) indicate that they have not yet been inscribed.

I found records from several Australian States. You can see the full list of Australian cemeteries and crematoria that are contributing records here: https://www.heavenaddress.com/partner/view/cem/AU

NSW Cemeteries contributing to Heaven Address.

This is a very useful database to add to your Genealogy Toolbox especially if you are undertaking a surname study.

When Irish Eyes are Smiling

Even if my eyes are only about 62% Irish they are smiling tonight.

I discovered yesterday that the Irish Civil BDM Registration Indexes are online here :  http://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/civil-search.jsp and haven't I been having a field day for the last few hours. Online are the indexed records of Irish Births, Deaths and Marriages from 1864 and of non-Catholic marriages from 1845 including the Indexed records of Civil Partnerships from 2010 onwards.

Irish Civil Records Search Screen

Several years ago, on a visit to Ireland, a cousin of my Dad's gave me details of some second and third cousins on my Kealy from Kilkenny line but she had no sources for any of the information she gave me. I put the information in my family tree and a couple of people contacted me with further information. I found a few more details in online trees but had nothing that a pedantic genealogist would class as a source.

So here I am ploughing through the indexes and adding sources to my Kealys. Most of the information I was given was correct but where I just had years I have dates as some of the index entries give full dates. Many of the index records for births give the Mother's maiden name so I can be confident that I am referencing the right entries.

Once I finish this task I will think about purchasing some certificates but now it's back to work.

It's not a Happy Dance I'm doing tonight but an Irish Jig.

Lifelink

Instead of writing a blog post about Lifelink a new resource for New South Wales I decided to do a Google Hangout in which I demonstrated the product and made some comments about it.

When I viewed the video I discovered that the quality was not too good with the video cutting in and out and some parts of the audio being unclear. I am still posting it as it may be useful for someone and it may engender some conversation.

Khoo connections

I was impressed when visiting a family association temple in Kuala Lumpur to see that they had, in big books,   family records for the clan going back 1,000 years.

There was a summary of their genealogy on display.

Special on NSW BDM Transcriptions

Sydney Transcription Agent, Marilyn Rowan, has forwarded this notice announcing discounted BDM transcriptions tomorrow, 25th May.

May 2013

SUPER SATURDAY THIS WEEKEND!

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

22836 BDM Certificates available

Gordon Beach has announced that there are now 22,836 BDM certificates available through his website Australian BDM Certificates. 

AUS BDM Home Paage

Congratulations, Gordon, on your great work for the Australian Genealogy Community.

NSW Historical BDM Indexes Offline

If you were going to look for NSW BDMs on the weekend you may have to change your mind.

This notice has been posted on The NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages website - www.bdm.nsw.gov.au

"Break in service :- Computer system maintenance is planned from midnight Friday 21:09:12 to 7:00am Monday 24:09:12 AEST. Please accept our apologies during this time for a break in service to the entire website, including Family History online."