Trove Tuesday - Birth Certificates

 I came across an article on birth certificates when researching a completely different topic on Trove. That took me off on a tangent where I did a simple search for "Birth Certificates". I was rewarded with many hits some of which discussed issues like illegitimacy and  inaccurate enlistment ages  that affected my family.

1898 'WALKING BIRTH CERTIFICATES.', The Clarence River Advocate (NSW : 1898 - 1949), 8 April, p. 4. , viewed 05 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120225711 

1918 'BIRTH CERTIFICATES DEMANDED.', Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), 13 May, p. 5. , viewed 05 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92919794


 
1925 'LOANED BIRTH CERTIFICATES.', North West Champion (Moree, NSW : 1915 - 1954), 3 August, p. 2. , viewed 05 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article181564526

1934 'FREE BIRTH CERTIFICATES', The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), 27 November, p. 12. (FINAL EXTRA), viewed 05 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230163214 

1944 'Birth certificates were shockers', The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), 22 October, p. 4. (SUPPLEMENT TO THE MAGAZINE), viewed 05 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229274429

1938 'Father was a Female.', Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), 10 November, p. 7. , viewed 05 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169395810

The Ancestral Places Geneameme

Thanks to my genimate, Alona, for coming up with the The Ancestral Places Geneameme Challenge.

I'm late to the party but I've had a ball. It was so much fun that I might prepare one for Mr Geniaus'ancestors too.

I have enjoyed this exercise immensely as it has forced me to focus on my direct ancestors instead of engaging in Tangential Genealogy. It has made me realise that while it's a good idea to search laterally and apply the FAN Principle it is vitally important to fully research and document the lives of our direct ancestors. It's a while since I have concentrated on these lads and lasses.

Here comes a resolution - I am going to spend dedicated time over the next few months (in between travelling) looking at the records of each of my direct ancestors and adding to their stories.

Sometimes we need to have a focus - thanks again Alona for forcing me to focus.

A
Aberdeen, Scotland (Duncan)

B
Ballyfoyle, Tipperary, Ireland (Bowe, Kealy)
Bathurst, NSW, Australia (Hayward, Pusell, Tucker, Westbrook)
Brighton-le-sands, NSW, Australia (Curry)
Broadmeadow, Victoria, Australia (Duncan)
Burraga, NSW, Australia (Pusell, Tucker)
Burragorang, NSW, Australia (Curry)
Byrock, NSW, Australia (Duncan, Magick)

C 
Camden, NSW, Australia (Curry)
Canowindra, NSW Australia (Curry, Tierney)
Carcoar, NSW, Australia (Aspinall, Molloy)
Carrawa, NSW, Australia (Aspinall)
Cawdor, NSW, Australia (Curry)
Clare, Ireland (Moore)
Cobar, NSW, Australia (Duncan, Magick, Pusell)
Cobbity, NSW, Australia (Curry, Tucker)
Cobbora, NSW, Australia (Hayward, Magick)
Concord, NSW, Australia (Molloy)
Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia (Hayward, Sergeant)
Cowpastures, NSW, Australia (Curry)
Cowra, NSW, Australia (Curry)

D
Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia (Curry)Datchet, Buckinghamshire, England (Eyers, Tucker)
Denison Town, NSW, Australia (Magick)
Diamond Valley, NSW, Australia (Homer)
Down, Ireland (Maxwell)
Dungog, NSW, Australia (Kealy, Tierney)
Dunns Plains, NSW, Australia (Pusell)

E
Enniskillen, Fermanagh, Ireland (Cregan/Criggan)

G
Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland (Maxwell)
Glen Logan,, NSW, Australia (Curry)

H
Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia (Duncan)
Holborn, London, England (Fitchett)

I
Ireland (Gleeson, Harrington, McKeon, Wade)

K
Kensington, NSW, Australia (Curry, Duncan)
Kilbeggan, Westmeath, Ireland (Ryan)
Kildery, Kilkenny, Ireland (Kealy)
Kilkenny, Ireland (Bowe, Byrne, Connolly)
Kirkconnell, NSW, Australia (Pusell)

L
Liverpool, Lancashire, England (Pusell/Pusill)
Liverpool, NSW, Australia (Hayward)
London, England (Phipps, Westbrook)
Long Swamp, NSW, Australia (Aspinall)
Longbottom,NSW,Australia (Molloy)

M 
Maitland, NSW, Australia (Kealy)
Malabar, NSW, Australia, (Curry)
Mandurama, NSW, Australia (Molloy)
Marylebone, London, England (Phipps)
Meath, Ireland (Molloy)
Mooney Ponds, Victoria, Australia (Duncan)
Mountain Run, NSW, Australia (Aspinall)

N 
Narromine, NSW, Australia (Duncan)

O
Oxfordshire, England (Hayward)

P
Parramatta, NSW, Australia (Moore)
Penrith, NSW, Australia (Tucker)
Potts Point, NSW, Australia (curry)

R
Randwick, NSW, Australia, (Curry)
Richmond, NSW, Australia (Magick, Phipps, Westbrook)
Rockley, NSW, Australia (Homer)
Roscrea, Tipperary, Ireland (Tierney)

S 
Shoreditch, London, England (Harris, Phipps)
South Creek, NSW, Australia (Tucker)
Southwark, Surrey, England (Phipps)
Sussex, England (Homer)
Sydney, NSW, Australia (Molloy, Westbrook)

T
Templemore, Tipperary, Ireland (D'Arcy, Tierney)
Thompsons Creek, NSW, Australia (Pusell)
Tipperary, Ireland (Wade)
Trunkey, NSW, Australia (Pusell)

V
Victoria, Australia (Connolly, Molloy, Ryan)

W
Wahroonga, NSW, Australia (Curry)
Warrington, Lancashire, England (Pusell, Rothwell)
Wigan, Lancashire, England (Aspinal)
Williams River, NSW, Australia (Tierney)
Windsor, NSW, Australia (Phipps,Westbrook)
Wongajong, NSW, Australia (Curry)

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.

Trove Tuesday - A Broken Resolution

I returned from the Unlock the Past Genealogy Cruise all fired up.  During the cruise I spent a lot of time poring over my database on Family Historian and realising how much of my early work was unsourced.

I made a commitment to go through my database and to start adding sources where they were missing, I would not look for additional information to add to my database until I'd made a reasonable effort with this task. I proceeded to look at my Australian family groups one at a time and start by adding birth, death and marriage references. All was going swimmingly until I was forced to indulge in a bit of tangential genealogy while going through my Kealy cousins. It struck me that many of their BDM events were registered in Dungog NSW and that I hadn't yet done a Trove fishing trip using the terms Kealy and Dungog. 

I have a set of searches I regularly do on Trove to see what I can find out about the ancestors by combining a surname with the name of the country towns in which people of that name lived. I hadn't done Kealy because that is my Great-Grandmother's maiden name and I have concentrated on the Grandparents' names.  Silly Me.

Pauleen Cass in her talk on the cruise told us to cast our nets wide and I sat there and nodded thinking "that's what I do". Well after I strayed and did my "Kealy Dungog" search I realised that I hadn't spread my net out far enough. Trove came up trumps once again by serving up a host of articles about the Kealy family some of which mentioned my direct ancestors. I had a picnic downloading articles to read and dissect for family facts.

Cast your net wide

My father used often speak of his Uncle Herb who "had the pub at Byron Bay that burnt down in suspicious circumstances". There were many references in Trove to Herb and his visits to Dungog but as some of the articles are not yet on Trove but are coming soon I will have to wait until I get an email from them to tell me they are available.

I will have to wait to read this article about Uncle Herb

So just four days after the cruise I broke my resolve and it's all the fault of Trove. 

Family History Through the Alphabet – X is for … keep it open

This morning I am in Monte Carlo looking out at one of the hairpin bends for the Monaco Grand Prix and playing catchup on my ABC posts. My pace doesn't match that of those speedy vehicles that will roar past my balcony at race time but I anticipate that I may reach my finish line some time next week.

On most computers there is a little x icon in the top right hand window of  most windows and applications you open (if you use a fruity device it is on the left). Don't close it - take a little while to linger longer.

Engage in a little Tangential Genealogy. Keep that window or app open and eXplore a little. You just never know what treasures you may uncover if you dig down through the layers of that website or app.

You could even find a sledge hammer to knock down a brickwall.

A Tangential Genealogist

Source:  http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/go-fly-off-at-a-tangent

In a post on Google+ recently  Kathy Reed and Susan Clark were talking about the temptation to go off on tangents when doing genealogy research.


It's true confessions time - I am a tangential genealogist. When I told her recently that I was going to spend a few hours at our State Library one of my very interested non/genealogy friends (a rare bird) asked how I go about my research. This caused me to reflect on my practice. Now, when I am planning a trip to a distant city or repository I am the model of organisation. I refer to my research planning spreadsheet (yes I have one), work out some goals for my trip, check catalogues and, where possible, pre-order resources.


When I just have a few spare hours I practice Tangential Genealogy, so my answer to my friend was "I don't know, I haven't a plan." I told her that I may start to look at a database that I can't access from home and probably get sidetracked when I come across someone or something interesting. I may decide to look at a particular surname in my database and methodically go through the people one by one checking on facts (!) I added years ago and adding sources where applicable. My last effort with this took me as far as someone with a given name starting with C, I found something juicy so the poor D-Zs  were ditched as I set off on a chase. I may just browse the shelves in the library until I come across an unfamiliar resource (as I did last week) and thumb through its pages to see if I could find something relevant to my research (and I found a few gems). I may see a name in my database and, like I did this morning, put it into Google to see what I could find. This morning I found a treasure written in November, 2011 for someone I hadn't researched for a few years. 


While I am very serious about my family history research the bottom line is that is is my hobby. I like to have fun so, when I tire of a task or get a whiff of a scandal I may go off on a tangent.  


I make no apology for being a Tangential Genealogist.