From the Archives - 21st Century Christmas Greetings

First posted on this blog on 21 December 2011. Definitely worth sharing again.

The Digital Story of the Nativity

From the archives: The Earliest Social Network Ever Discovered

I first published this post on 23rd May 2011. Even more pertinent today now there are more free image sharing options available. 

Trove Tuesday - Family Trees

 A couple of these snippets would not be deemed politically correct these days!

1942 'FAMILY TREE', Molong Express and Western District Advertiser (NSW : 1887 - 1954), 21 February, p. 16. , viewed 29 Dec 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140101792

1948 'FAMILY TREE', Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954), 8 February, p. 17. (Sporting Section), viewed 29 Dec 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59461279

1953 'FAMILY TREE', The World's News (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 1955), 24 January, p. 29. , viewed 29 Dec 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131642636

1938 'FAMILY TREE', The Maitland Daily Mercury (NSW : 1894 - 1939), 13 June, p. 2. , viewed 29 Dec 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131271493

An instruction for my executors

Spotted at a genealogy conference.

Trove Tuesday - Family History

Found while I was lost in Trove.

1899 'FAMILY HISTORY.', The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), 29 March, p. 2. (The Mercury Supplement), viewed 10 Mar 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9444617

Hiding in the Downloads

I'm clearing out my downloads folder and finding quite a few treasures including a few vital records I hadn't filed into ancestors' folders.

Don't know if I have posted this previously but it's one of a few fun things I found that I had created with Photofunia.

Family Traits

I snapped a pic of this comic strip that I spotted in a newspaper on a recent trip to Canberra.

Trove Tuesday - The Dead Centre of Town

As out kids grew up they had to endure many "Dad jokes" as we drove around the countryside. The most well-worn one was "That's the Dead Centre of Town" uttered whenever we passed a cemetery.

I wondered if there was any cemetery humour buried in Trove.

1909 'Humour', Great Southern Herald (Katanning, WA : 1901 - 1954), 20 January, p. 1. (SUPPLEMENT TO THE GREAT SOUTHERN HERALD), viewed 08 Oct 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146148099

1903 'HUMOUR.', The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser (NSW : 1856 - 1861; 1863 - 1889; 1891 - 1954), 18 December, p. 2. , viewed 08 Oct 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article191964568

1893 'Humour.', Glen Innes Examiner and General Advertiser (NSW : 1874 - 1908), 14 February, p. 3. , viewed 08 Oct 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article217785836

1896 'HUMOUR', The Hay Standard and Advertiser for Balranald, Wentworth, Maude...(Hay, NSW : 1871 - 1873; 1880 - 1881; 1890 - 1900), 5 August, p. 5. , viewed 08 Oct 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article144646240

Having reviewed these snippets and several others  I found on Trove I don't think that Mr GeniAus' jokes were that bad after all.

Trove Tuesday - Granny's Genealogy

1909 'Granny's Genealogy', Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954), 7 February, p. 2. (THIRD SECTION), viewed 28 Jul 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57590352

NFHM Blogging Challenge - Week 1 - Sense and the Census

I have found lots of valuable information and leads over the 25 odd years I have been consulting various censuses. Some of my ancestors were illiterate and some were cheeky so I wonder if the information recorded by and about them in various censuses is accurate.  Some of the census collectors may have not have been the sharpest tool in the shed.

There are many and varied spellings for family names, there are women's ages that are not consistent from census to census, some occupations that didn't ring true and there were claims to marriages that hadn't happened. My ancestors may have also had difficulty understanding the questions asked.

Although they are valuable genealogical resources I take some of the information recorded about my ancestors with a grain of salt and try to verify elsewhere the facts(!) recorded on census documents.

Taking a look at Trove today I discovered several articles that discussed responses to various censuses. The examples below demonstrate how easy it is for both intentional and unintentional errors to be made on census returns.

1934 'SIDELIGHT ON THE CENSUS',Kalgoorlie Miner (WA : 1895 - 1950), 2 August, p. 7. , viewed 07 Aug 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article95019035

1901 'Humour.', The Canowindra Star (NSW : 1900 - 1902), 18 October, p. 6. , viewed 07 Aug 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article143912400


1921 'CENSUS HUMOUR.', The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), 26 April, p. 12. , viewed 07 Aug 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article177034052

Trove Tuesday - Family History

Family History in 1905

1905 'FAMILY HISTORY.', The World's News (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 1955), 15 April, p. 18. , viewed 16 May 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136666379

Trove Tuesday - Family

1947 'CARTOON PARADE', News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), 30 August, p. 2. , viewed 09 May 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article127059442

Trove Tuesday - Irish Ancestors

My task for the month of May is to revisit and research the Irish branch of my tree. Hopefully I can demolish a few walls along the way.

As I have a couple of Irish convict ancestors I enjoyed reading this par I found on Trove this morning.

1897 'HIS ANCESTORS.', The Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1942), 29 May, p. 3. , viewed 26 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104404964

Trove Tuesday - Anonymous?

When I am selecting posts to share in my weekly GeniAus Gems post on this blog one of the first things I do is to try and establish who has written whichever post I am recommending. This is sometimes quite difficult to ascertain.

During my training as a librarian years ago we were warned about Anonymous works and were counselled to approach these with a degree of scepticism. We were taught was that, during the process of evaluating a work, we had to establish the authority of the person who was the author of that work. When I am reading blogs I'm surprised at how difficult some bloggers make it for me to discover their identuty.

 I know there are some reasons like child protection, witness protection programs etc for people to remain anonymous but I don't think all the anonymous bloggers I come across are in this category.

Do you like to know who has written what you are reading?

As it's Trove Tuesday I decided to see what articles about Anonymous I could find on Trove so here goes.

1935 'Anonymous.', The Australian Worker (Sydney, NSW : 1913 - 1950), 20 March, p. 19. , viewed 05 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146008427

1923 'ANONYMOUS.', Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong, NSW : 1856 - 1950), 9 November, p. 2. , viewed 05 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article133023171

1918 'ANONYMOUS CONTRIBUTIONS.',Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 - 1949), 4 September, p. 2. , viewed 05 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article191058997

1903 'ANONYMOUS.', The World's News (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 1955), 6 June, p. 23. , viewed 05 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128458994

Trove Tuesday - Family Skeletons

I found on Trove a page of cartoons from 1952. Here is one of them.

1952 'FAMILY RECORDS.', The Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), 20 September, p. 1 Supplement: SUNDAY MAGAZINE, viewed 12 October, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57565343

Trove Tuesday - A Genfunny

As this week's contribution I'm sharing a Genfunny from 1905.

1905 'GENEALOGY.', The World's News (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 1955), 29 April, p. 4, viewed 12 October, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136666574

I've done it again

When using the mobile Blogger app to publish a quick blog post I sometimes make a silly mistake and publish to the wrong blog. Yesterday I did it again and published to my personal blog.

Will I ever learn that I must take more care when posting from my bed late at night?

It was just a lighthearted observation that I will repost below.

Sponsors

Just came across this tissue pack that was among the delegate goodies in a conference bag earlier this year.

What does it say about the demographic of genies when a funeral director is a conference sponsor?

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.

Goldilocks

My son posted this to me on Facebook recently. I thought it was quite funny so am sharing.
It's good to see he's interested in my activities.

What's the difference between Goldilocks and a genealogist?
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A genealogist is interested in forebears.

Courtesy of Mr Geniaus

Mr Geniaus likes to check out the cartoons and comics in the Sunday papers. He found this one for me in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph.