Dead and Buried ... at last

Thanks to a Findagrave hint from Ancestry I have finally been able to bury Robert's 3 x great grandfather, James Clark/e who had emigrated from Waddesdon to New South Wales in the 1840s. James and his family settled in the Waterloo area in Sydney.

On and off for nearly 40 years I had tried to kill off James and his wife Mary Ann Allen but because of the common nature of their names I probably hadn't tried hard enough. 

The hint offered me this snippet.

1886 'CORONER'S INQUEST.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 4 May, p. 5. , viewed 06 Jan 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13638050

There were enough clues in this article to set me off on a chase. I found a death entry in the NSW Registry's Online Death Index which listed the correct names I had for James parents. I have ordered a copy of this certificate. 

I then decided to look for a James Clarke on the Rookwood site (a popular Sydney Cemetery at that time)  and found his record there with the location of his plot.  This looked promising.

Rookwood Burial Record

What was even better was the information contained in the Other Information Section of the entry.

Other information on Rookwood entry

A quick click on the link to Mary Ann's Rookwood record and then her entry in the NSW Registry's Online Death Index confirmed that James' wife Mary Ann Allen was resting with him at Rookwood. I have also ordered her death record and hope to visit Rookwood shortly to see if there is a headstone in place and intact.  

Further digging in Trove returned more hits that confirmed I had the right James Clark/e. 

1886 'Brevities.', Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931), 1 May, p. 4. , viewed 06 Jan 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article107291056

1886 'THE DAY'S DOINGS.', Globe (Sydney, NSW : 1885 - 1886), 3 May, p. 4. (FIRST EDITION and EVENING), viewed 06 Jan 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article102560570

Perhaps I should spend more time following up those hundreds of  Ancestry hints that are sitting in my account!

Jottings, Journeys, Joy - A Big Footprint

I run hot and cold with my personal blog jillballau: Jottings, Journeys, Joy. 

This morning I had to enlist the help of that blog's archive on Trove to find out when I had actually written my first post. Over the years, I have added some predated posts to the blog and integrated the posts from another earlier Men at Work blog into it.

After a a bit of digging I found my first post was on 4th July 2012. Here is what I said:

Do I really need another Blog? Am I suffering from Blogarrhoea?

I don't need another blog but ...........my active blogs Geniaus and Android Genealogy are targetted towards my friends in genealogy. Sometimes I'd like to post about my travels, the books I've read, the things that bug me and the performances I've seen. Sometimes I'd just like to share a photo that doesn't fit in with the theme of my Men at Work blog. I don't want to clog up my genimates blog feeds with off topic posts that could be regarded as spam.  

When I am travelling I publish a few photos and updates to Facebook and when something tickles my fancy I write about it there too. Aggregating these Facebook items in one stream is not easy.

Recently I have been following and enjoying Jackie van Bergen's new blog, Jax Trax. As a genealogist I see the value of leaving a personal blog like Jackie's as a resource for future generations. Jackie's blog has been the catalyst for my decision to pollute the blogisphere with yet another blog.

Look out blogisphere here comes jillballau.

The current Covid lockdown has given me time to evaluate  jillballau which is not very popular in the blogisphere. Firstly I thought about my purpose, I have realised that, while the visits and comments from friends and strangers may massage my ego, my purpose was stated succinctly in that first post where I said "I see the value of leaving a personal blog like Jackie's as a resource for future generations".

I have recommitted to that purpose. It is important to me that I leave a big footprint behind for the generations of the future. I am honoured that jillballau is preserved in The Australian Web Archive on Trove so I know what I post will be preserved. 

Back in June I wrote a post Unloved in which I promised to give my neglected blog some attention. I have been plugging away over the past few weeks giving it some much needed attention.

Among the things I have done is modify the static pages on the blog by adding pages for my travel map and books read which had previously been in widgets in the sidebar. I have renamed all the sexist "Men at Work" tags to "Workers". I have changed and added many other tags and selected some popular tags, that reflect the main themes of the blog, for a Topics widget on the home page. I have gone back through my 4 Terabytes of photos and found many of the folders of resized photos previously shared on FaceBook which I am cheekily sharing in predated posts to preserve the chronological nature of the blog. 

The blog is rich in images with many posts having 20+ images and few words, my pictures tell many stories. I have tried various tweaks to get the posts to load faster without success. Hopefully with better internet speeds in the future this will be fixed.

I apologise to the ancestors and DNA matches who I have been ignoring but, as my biological clock is ticking away, I am taking some time to focus on my story. Reliving my jottings and journeys has given me much joy during this lockdown. 

30 Bob for Daphne

 Indulging in some Sunday afternoon newspaper browsing on Trove  I found this mention of my mother-in-law, Daphne Gillespie from 1931. I wonder how she disposed of her 30 bob?

1931 'Advertising', The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), 1 January, p. 6. (LAST RACE EDITION), viewed 18 Jul 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224659981

Trove Tuesday - Found

 I have posted this delightful photo of my mother dancing in Martin Place at the end of World War Two several times over the years and knew that it had originally appeared in a Sydney newspaper.

Mum is in the two-tone shoes.

 

Yesterday I had cause to find the original image and I noted that there was a typed caption pasted on it.

When I teach people how to use Trove I tell them that they can use Trove to date old newspaper clippings by pasting text into the search box. It was time to practice what I preach.

I fired up Trove, selected search in Newspapers & Gazettes category and typed these words from the caption in the search box "Typical of excited Sydney crowds were these crowds who celebrated" then narrowed the results to NSW and 1945.

SUCCESS! How easy was that!

I found the original article with a cropped image of my mother and the revellers with whom she was celebrating. 

1945 'Wild scenes as Australia celebrates surrender news; revellers throng streets', The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), 12 August, p. 3. , viewed 07 Jun 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230453563

Thankyou Trove for sharing and preserving my mother's story.

Real People at Last

 While I have enjoyed communicating and collaborating via Zoom and other online tools during Covid times I have missed interacting with real people in a face-to -face situation.

I finally had a chance to present two face-to -face workshops about the Trove newspaper collection to the members of The Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest Family History Research Group yesterday. The members of this Group are to be congratulated for their fundraising efforts in the local community which resulted in their local newspaper, NOTA, being digitised and added to Trove.  They thought it timely to host some Trove workshops and I was the lucky person who scored this gig.

I had a super day with the participants whose Trove experience ranged from experienced user to a gentleman who said "I only heard about it this week". It is so much easier to engage with people when one is together with them in person. We had two lively sessions (separated by a yummy lunch) with lots of laughter, learning and sharing of tips. I tried a different approach with my talk and, after just a few introductory slides, demonstrated application of my Trove Tips live on the Trove site. This provided a more effective learning experience as I was able to integrate participants' interests into the workshop.

While I enjoyed my time with the members it was a surprise that I received that put the icing on the cake of my day.  

I was seated beside a delightful gentleman who was recounting the story of his Christening; his name didn't ring a bell with me but when he mentioned  his wife's name, Shirley, I looked at him and said "she's my cousin". He responded with a bemused look until I said we share Elizabeth Phipps as an ancestor. We were both flabbergasted that serendipity had thrown us together in Tea Gardens. I had Shirley in my tree but I was unaware of her current whereabouts. I exchanged details with the gentleman and look forward to sharing ancestor stories soon. 

Sadly I forgot to grab a photo with the gentleman before he left but one of the Group members sent me a copy of one that I have cropped, it's a bit fuzzy but captures the moment of our surprise.

ASerendipitous Meeting for GeniAus

2021 #AtoZChallenge T is for ...To minister : the story of War Memorial Hospital, Waverley, 1918-1988

  I've been researching my family history for over thirty years. Along this genealogy journey I have been supported by hundreds of books, many of which I have listed on my Librarything page. 

During the 2021 #AtoZChallenge I will be writing about two of my passions, books and family history. I'll be taking a trip down memory lane and revisiting some of those books that have enriched my genealogy experience.

While this hardcover book, To minister : the story of War Memorial Hospital, Waverley, 1918-1988, would have limited appeal to most people it was a book that I hunted down through secondhand sites. Its lack of popularity is evidenced by the fact that I am the only person with it listed on a Libratything account!

The book is important to me because it is where I started my life's journey having been born at the War Memorial Hospital over 70 years ago.

Copied here is what I wrote in a blog post in 2012 when I took delivery of the book:

"I reported in my Trove Tuesday post last week that I found details of a book, To minister : the story of War Memorial Hospital, Waverley, 1918-1988, about my birthplace, War Memorial Hospital, Waverley on Trove.

I located a few copies of the book on Abe Books and ordered one from Jo's Books, Gerringong. The book, that was in excellent condition, arrived within a few days and I am thrilled with it. Written by a former Matron of the hospital, Betty Green, it tells the story of the hospital from the planning stages through to 1988. The book is illustrated with floorplans, maps, copies of documents and photos and gives an excellent overview of the Hospital's activities and history. The stories about the people associated with the hospital add warmth to the cold facts presented through the work.

Gingerly I showed my purchase to Mr Geniaus (he doesn't share my love of book buying) who spent quite a while thumbing through the book. He saw photos of quite a few local identities that reminded him of stories associated with them (he would be a good subject for oral history interviews about Waverley personalities). Mr Geniaus was quite impressed  with the book which he has picked up a few more times during the week.

What makes the book an excellent genealogical resource are the lists of names it contains that include Members of the Council/Board of the hospital, Matrons, Student Nurses, Pupil Nurse Aids and Doctors associated with the hospital.

I have yet to read the book from cover to cover but I know that I will enjoy it."

Thanks to Trove, a resource that leads one to more than newspaper articles, for directing me to this book.

K is for ...Kilbegnet (Ireland) to Trunkey (N.S.W.)

 I've been researching my family history for over thirty years. Along this genealogy journey I have been supported by hundreds of books, many of which I have listed on my Librarything page. 

During the 2021 #AtoZChallenge I will be writing about two of my passions, books and family history. I'll be taking a trip down memory lane and revisiting some of those books that have enriched my genealogy experience.

I can't remember much about this book, Kilbegnet (Ireland) to Trunkey (N.S.W.) : the story of Hugh and Mary Carney and their Australian descendants, that I viewed at The National Library of Australia back in 2010. As I gave it a 3/5 star rating it must have a decent enough book. 

In this book I found mention of some of my cousins, as my Great-Great Aunt, Margaret Aspinall had married a Carney descendant. 

Why am I highlighting this book? I chose it to represent the many family histories I have consulted during my family history journey. From seeking out and looking in these books I have found many clues to help me build my family tree. However, I always treat what I find as clues and seek out reliable sources to validate them and turn them into facts. One cannot underestimate the value of these works.

To locate similar works relating to your ancestors you can do a search for "Familyname Family" in the Books and Libraries category on Trove or in any library catalogue. 

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

Trove Tuesday - A New Fad

 Looks like this new fad from 1896 has endured!

1896 'The Family Tree Fad.', The Western Champion and General Advertiser for the Central-Western Districts (Barcaldine, Qld. : 1892 - 1922), 4 February, p. 16. , viewed 29 Dec 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article79763036

Trove Tuesday - Oak Vale

The relationship to me is complicated but Lynn Izard who wrote the following letter is the daughter of George who was was previously married to my Great-grandmother, Catherine Molloy. 

Having just discovered that George and Catherine had a daughter, Mary Isabella Ellen Mary Izard, in  Mitttagong in 1901 I took to Trove with a simple search "Izard Mittagong" to see what I could find on the family. I haven't looked at the Izzard/Izard branch since 2011 so was pleased to be rewarded with many hits which I need to follow up.

I particularly enjoyed reading this letter to a Children's page from Lynn as it describes the area in which my Great-grandmother would have lived with George prior to her death on 1904.  

1924 'GUMBLOSSOM'S WEEKLY CHAT.', Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1932), 23 October, p. 46. , viewed 22 Sep 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article123251444

Remembering Thomas

Back in March I was correcting some text on Trove and came across this article so I scheduled it to appear on Thomas' anniversary. Thomas Osborne died 72 years ago on 31 August 1948.

1948 'SWALLOWED DENTAL PLATE', Goulburn Evening Post (NSW : 1940 - 1954), 31 August, p. 1. (Daily and Evening), viewed 26 Mar 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article103720405

A Particularly Amiable Man

One day I hope to write the story of my 3xGreat-Uncle, Michael Harrington Ryan, elder brother of my Great-Great Grandmother, Bridget Ryan.  

In the interim, as well as references from books and journals found in archives, I have a Private List on Trove where I keep details of newspaper articles that mention Michael. This list currently has 161 references that provide a reasonable timeline of this pioneer priest's appointments and movements. However until today, when I decided to venture away from the Newspaper and Gazette Category on Trove, I didn't know much about Michael's character. 

With half an hour up my sleeve I decided to try my luck in the Magazines and Newsletters Category on Trove so I entered this term, "michael harrington ryan",in the search box and was rewarded with two hits.

My Search

The first of these articles (which are instantly available online) only confirmed that Michael had worked at Mayfield. 

The article from 1933, written by W.E.D. (an ex-pupil of St Mary's School), gives a insight into the character of Michael Harrington Ryan when he worked at St. Mary's Church, Newcastle. It is a nugget of Geneagold. 

2016, The Newcastle and Maitland Catholic Sentinel : the official organ of the diocese of Maitland National Library of Australia, Canberra viewed 20 August 2020 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-305925577

My next task is to search in this publication using variants of Michael's name in case there are more mentions of him. I was just so thrilled to find this article that I had to share it immediately.

Trove Tuesday - Cause of Death!

I had no intention of  publishing a Trove Tuesday post this week until I came across this article which I was correcting as part of a project for my local area.

I hope those of my grandchildren who are not too fond of study don't read this post and note the cause of death.   

1899 'CATHERINE HILL BAY.', The Maitland Daily Mercury (NSW : 1894 - 1939), 14 November, p. 5. , viewed 28 Jul 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article126338209

From the Archives - July 26 2010

This post is as pertinent today as when I wrote it ten years ago

Monday, July 26, 2010

10 things I can’t live without to support my genealogy addiction

Via My Family History Research, Genealogy Leftovers and Elyse's Genealogy Blog came notification of this meme created by Elyse. "The goal is to write a list of ten things related to genealogy that you can't do without."

Whilst I am a technology addict, I recognise that without people there is no point to genealogy.
Here is the Geniaus list:

1. My Ancestors  who provide the Births, Deaths and Marriages that provide the scaffold for my research and the juicy stories, feded old photos and interesting anecdotes that add interest to that scaffold.

2. My Family and Descendants who provide a purpose for my research. I am trying to record our history for future generations.

3. My Patient Husband who turns a blind to the dust on the furniture and pile of ironing that waits for me as I ignore these for my genealogy habit.

There is no particular order to the remainder of this list - as my needs change so does the importance of the persons detailed from here on.

3. The many Distant Cousins who have contacted me via online forums and the Geniaus website to say hello, offer corrections to my sometimes inaccurate date and generously share photos, certificates and stories.

4. Generous Volunteers who over the years have done lookups for me and given guidance when I have visited genealogical societies throughout the world.

5. Staff of Libraries and Archives Offices who have patiently assisted me with my research.

6. People who read and comment on my blog and website and send compliments via email and Twitter give me positive reinfocement that  encourages me to keep solving my genealogical jigsaw.

7. Volunteer Indexers eg those who do work for Ryerson and FamilySearch and those who index  cemeteries and photograph headstones provide me with  the means to access to many valuable and appropriate resources.

8. My Online Genie Friends who, through a range of tools such as blogs, twitter, wave, provide blogging ideas, encouragement, links to great new resources,great stories and encouragement. 

9. Decision Makers at The National Library of Australia who have a commitment to providing important Australian Resources in an online format. Trove is the most amazing free online resource for genealogical research.

10. The many Registered Members of Trove who are making corrections to the scanned text to better improve access by other users. Whilst I have only corrected 890 rows of text there are  4 volunteers who have done over 4000,000 rows each and are headling for the half million.

Trove Tuesday - Birthdays

As today is my birthday I ventured over to Trove to see who else shared my birthday. Following is a random selection of the articles I found.

1926 'BIRTHDAY GREETINGS.', Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), 10 July, p. 8. , viewed 07 Jul 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169229911

1975 '"MY HOLLYWOOD"', The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), 27 August, p. 71. , viewed 07 Jul 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55186023

1906 'MR J. CHAMBERLAIN.', Zeehan and Dundas Herald (Tas. : 1890 - 1922), 9 July, p. 3. , viewed 07 Jul 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83349727

1898 'LACROSSE NOTES.', Quiz and the Lantern (Adelaide, SA : 1890 - 1900), 4 August, p. 8. , viewed 07 Jul 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166444228

A Decade of Digging

My poster girl moment at The National Library of Australia's digital launch (watch the full launch here) of the revamped Trove Australia lasted for 24 seconds as a video of me declaring my love for our national treasure was played. 

I was honoured to receive an invitation from a PR company inviting me to participate in the launch. They wrote several weeks ago  "We're looking to gather short 20 second vox pops from a range of Trove users giving a quick snapshot of why they love Trove and what they use it for.....The library recommended that we get in touch with you to see if you'd be keen to participate." As am not shy about sharing my love for Trove I replied YES immediately. I don't know why I got a chance to be part of this event but I was absolutely thrilled to be asked. I was chuffed to represent the army of amateur genealogists whose daily activities include digging on Trove.

In my clip I mentioned fishing for ancestors on Trove and getting a small bite or a big haul of ancestor stories to add to my personal history. To suppport that analogy I selected, as a background for my clip, Lake Macquarie which is known for its many great fishing spots. In conclusion I said that my reason for loving Trove was because it breathes life into my ancestors. 

My Clip recorded at  Lake Macquarie

My relationship with Trove goes back to before its birth in 2009 when I would use the Picture Australia and historic newspaper collections from The National Library of Australia. The first instance I can find of myself promoting Trove was in a blog post in February 2010 when I said "I am a regular user of this site, the information found there adds some flavour to the rather dry facts in my family tree. I have found birth and death notices, sickly sweet in memoriams, saucy divorce proceedings and articles that give places and times to ancestors." I followed that with "I exhort those who use Trove to consider adding to the treasure there by correcting lines of text in articles you read."

From ten years of digging in Trove I have 190 blog posts in which I have mentioned Trove, I have given many presentations to genealogy groups and at conferences in which I sing Trove's praises. I have created many lists and tagged articles but my record at correcting text is not outstanding. When I am not travelling I am a regular Trove user.

As I have only scratched the surface of the treasure there I look forward to many more years of Digging on Trove.

Trove Tuesday - June 2nd

As I sit at my desk looking out the window on this dismal day I am wondering what sort of weather my ancestors were experiencing on this day one hundred years ago.

My dismal outlook

My maternal grandparents, newlyweds Frank and Ethel Duncan were in Cobar, NSW. As Frank was a farmer at his property, Elsinore, he would have welcomed this rain as Cobar is regularly drought stricken. 

1920 'USEFUL RAIN. WESTERN AREAS BENEFIT.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 2 June, p. 11. , viewed 02 Jun 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15892413

My paternal Grandparents, Thomas and Mary Curry, who lived on the farm Tom managed were parents of two young boys. Tom cared for a property which grew crops and raised sheep on the river flats of the Belabula River outside Canowindra.

I wasn't surprised when my searches could find a weather report for Canowindra but was concerned when I couldn't find one for the close larger town of  Cowra. I returned to the article that mentioned Cobar and saw that it listed  many country areas so I read through the post and found details for  Cowra. They could not be found because the OCR had read them as  and COWR *. I then took the time to correct the text for all places in the article that the OCR had incorrectly read.

1920 'USEFUL RAIN. WESTERN AREAS BENEFIT.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 2 June, p. 11. , viewed 02 Jun 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15892413

No doubt my four grandparents would have been pleased with the dismal weather facing them.

Trove Tuesday - Aunty Mary

My Aunty Mary would have been ninety-seven yesterday. I have many fond memories of Mary Aileen Curry (1923-2014) but one of my favourites is when I was flower girl at her wedding to Edward Corbett in 1957. I was so honoured to be part of this occasion and took this role seriously but, as the event did not make the local press, I have to rely on my memories and photographs.

Jill and Mary, April 1957

Trove has given me a few insights into Aunty Mary's earlier life.

1926 'Spencer.', The Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954), 18 February, p. 3. , viewed 26 May 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article161110901

This short snip reports on the first major challenge young Mary faced. She just took this disability in her stride and forged ahead with a happy and successful life.

1937 'DIOCESE OF BATHURST', National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW : 1889 - 1954), 28 January, p. 4. , viewed 26 May 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article160351086

The Currys were a Catholic family, until I found this snip, I thought that the name of the school that Mary and her siblings attended was different from the one cited in this article. I was obviously getting confused with the name of their Parish Church. The results above are for religious knowledge exams in the Diocese of Bathurst.

1938 'DIOCESE OF BATHURST', National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW : 1889 - 1954), 19 January, p. 6. , viewed 26 May 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article160703622

.

Twelve months later the tables had turned with Uncle Tom scoring 81 in the religious knowledge exams. I know that Aunty Mary left school after her third year of secondary education. I wonder where she worked between then and 1942. There is mention in Trove of a Nurse M. Curry at Canowindra in 1939, perhaps that was Mary.

1942 'About People', The Forbes Advocate (NSW : 1911 - 1954), 13 October, p. 2. , viewed 26 May 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article219510430

Mary used to talk about working in Forbes but I didn't know when this started and for whom she worked.

1942 'About People', The Forbes Advocate (NSW : 1911 - 1954), 24 December, p. 2. , viewed 26 May 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article219516509

1945 'About People', The Forbes Advocate (NSW : 1911 - 1954), 5 January, p. 2. , viewed 26 May 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article218691812

I remember this story as Aunty Mary told me that my Dad sent her money to hep buy replacement clothing which may have been hard to come by in the war years. 

1945 'Advertising', The Forbes Advocate (NSW : 1911 - 1954), 5 January, p. 5. , viewed 26 May 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article218691823

So Mary was working with Goldsborough Mort before she moved to Sydney.

1945 'About People', The Forbes Advocate (NSW : 1911 - 1954), 26 January, p. 4. , viewed 26 May 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article218694258

I didn't know that Mary was a VAD volunteer during World War Two. 

1948 'About People', The Forbes Advocate (NSW : 1911 - 1954), 12 March, p. 2. , viewed 26 May 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article218418670

With her younger sister, Kathleen, Mary moved to Sydney to work at Goldsborough Mort, this article tells me it was by 1948. As there was a post-war shortage of rental accommodation in Sydney Mary and Kath, who lived in Springfield Avenue, vacated their flat so that after I was born my parents could have a place of their own for our family. 

1948 'About People', The Forbes Advocate (NSW : 1911 - 1954), 3 February, p. 6. , viewed 26 May 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article218415232

 No doubt Mary enjoyed this opportunity to return to Forbes and catch up with friends.

I previously blogged about Aunty Mary here: https://geniaus.blogspot.com/2014/07/vale-aunty-mary.html

Those of us who have relatives from rural areas are fortunate that local newspapers that are digitised on Trove give us glimpses into their lives. 

A Reference from Macarthur

Read to the end of this article and you will know why I felt like dancing.

My ancestor Patrick "Paddy" Curry has been the subject of a number of my blog posts. The last time I told Paddy's story was here in 2016.

In a recent weekly members' Hang Out with SAG  on Zoom the theme was emigration so I decided to share Paddy's interview on "The Advantages of Emigration" with Caroline Chisholm. Prior to the Hangout I set up my browser with several websites so that I could share my screen and show the interview during the hangout. 

After I reread the interview in the Sydney Morning Herald I gave some thought to the original source of the article "Douglas Jerrold's Paper" and realised that I had never followed that up.

1848 'Advertising', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 8 June, p. 3. , viewed 17 Mar 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12902254

After a little bit of googling I discovered an article about Jerrold on the Victorian Web. He was "a boy with minimal schooling from a lower middle-class family raised in a dockyard town in Kent goes up to London, where, after an apprenticeship as a journalist, he emerges in the 1830s as one of the country's most popular writers."

Listed on the page of Jerrold's works on the site I found that Jerrold edited "Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper, 1846-1848" and that fitted the timeframe for the original article. I popped that title into Google and, hey presto, found a link to a record in the catalogue of the National Library of Australia.

NLA Catalogue Record

I was on a roll. I found my NLA Library Card and logged into their site from the link on the catalogue record which took me straight to the digitised paper in the Gale collection. I did a search for Caroline Chisholm and found three articles. One of these was the one I was seeking. In addition to the article that was published in the Sydney Morning Herald the original contained the following introduction written by Caroline Chisholm. 

Gale Document Number  

GALE|FRNYPS256237397

"I have a great respect for him, have always found him most trustworthy, honest and punctual."

Any tenant would love to hear a reference like that from his landlord! 

On reading that sentence from one of the McArthurs I was elated. This was my best geneafind of the year. Being able to share it with my genimates from SAG on the day I found it was a bonus.

Paddy was a convict but like so many fellow convicts he was a victim of his times. My great (x3) grandfather, Paddy,  was a good man