Beginning Family History

 I'm busy prepping for this event in National Family History Month at Hornsby Library.

Easter Greetings

 With thanks to all who follow this blog.

Late to the Party

 I've noticed several genimates posting caricatures on social media and, as I have a bit of spare time for play this week, decided to hop on the bandwagon. 

I started with a very simple prompt suggested in a ChatGPT advertisement on Facebook. It was suggested to add a photo of me with the following prompt. "Create a caricature of me based on everything you know about me." 

What came back was a creditable caricature of me but with very thick painted on eyebrows. The image focused on my interests in reading and travel but made no reference to family history. It also had a cat plonked on the desk, I'm a dog girl through and through. 

After asking ChatGPT to recognise my involvement with family history, make a few deletions (cat and eyebrows) and to add a dog like my Paddy plus my GeniAus avatar I was rewarded with the following which I think is quite representative. 

Should I ask ChatGPT to add something else to recognise my obsession for taking thousands of snapshots on my smartphone and camera  as I wander around our world? 

Genearosity - Not Just for Now

This morning I have been throwing a few ideas around and putting them into a Powerpoint for today's Hangout with the SAG - a weekly online get together and chatfest for Members of the Society of Genealogists.

The Hangout reminder on social media

As the host I chose the topic of "Genearosity - Kindness and Consideration in the Genealogy Community." I am hoping that those present will relate stories of when they have been the recipients of kind acts but, in case those online are shy, I have up my sleeve a few slides telling of times when I have experienced genearosity. 

What struck me as I recalled those moments was that this blog was a useful point of reference. Here are links from my blog to some of the events I may mention today.

Cousins Baited  https://geniaus.blogspot.com/2018/10/cousins-baited.html

Giggle and Scrape  https://geniaus.blogspot.com/2016/12/giggle-and-scrape.html

Royal Treatment  https://geniaus.blogspot.com/2019/06/royal-treatment.html  

Surprises in Haddington  https://geniaus.blogspot.com/2023/08/visiting-ann.html

Visiting Ann https://geniaus.blogspot.com/2023/08/visiting-ann.html

I haven't been blogging much lately as I am trying to get both my biological and DNA trees in order. Today's exercise has awakened me to the value of my past posts as a Gifts for the Future. Perhaps I need to do a bit more blogging!

I will remind the attendees today that Genearosity is not just something for the Past and Present. By preserving resources, stories and trees we are performing Genearosity for the Future. 

My last slide for this afternoon

Ten years ago - I got a Guernsey for Congress

Reposted from ten years ago - as I plan for Connections2025 I remember my delight at being included on the program in 2015. 

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

I got a Guernsey!

When the call for papers for AFFHO Congress 2015 closed I was on a river cruise somewhere between Budapest and Bucharest and, although I had prepared some submissions I was distracted from submitting them on time.

I was disappointed that I forgot to put the proposals in but I decided that I would just rock up to Congress and feast on the banquet of opportunities available there. I was thrilled when, some time between my holidays last year, I was approached to be an Official Conference Blogger with Pauleen Cass and Shauna Hicks as it gave me an opportunity to be involved with the event.... because I like being involved. We have endeavoured to drum up some enthusiasm and interest in the event.

It took me about 5 seconds to respond to an invitation I received from Conference Convenor, Kerrie Gray, a couple of weeks ago. After saying YES I realised what a privilege it is to be moderating the very last session at Congress, A Panel : Family history research- why leave home to do it? I got quite a buzz when I saw that my name had been added to the Conference Program. Thank you to whomever put my name forward, I am both humbled and honoured.

I warned Kerrie that I am a bit rough around the edges. However, I know that with the cast of panelists: Josh Taylor from the US, Carole Riley from Australia and David Holman from the UK we will provide you with some lighthearted banter and serious food for thought at the end of four exciting and educative days.

Mr GeniAus who always brings me down to earth reminded  me that many people hit the road before the last session of a conference. It would be fantastic if you could hang around for what I hope will be a fitting finale to the event.

I'll be wearing my Guernsey with pride.

The Thoughtful Ancestor

Earlier this year I was delighted to find that one of my submissions for the Connections2025 Conference had been accepted.

My topic is: The Thoughtful Ancestor: leaving a large footprint for future generations

Image by bobschwenkler from Pixabay

The Synopsis: Researchers spend enormous amounts of time, effort and money on their projects but, if they have not made arrangements before they are dead, the fruits of their labour are likely to end up on a rubbish dump. 

The purpose of this presentation is to make attendees reflect on their practices and to guide them in making decisions to ensure that their work is preserved for future generations. 

In this presentation I hope to cover: Evaluating your collections, Cleaning up your files, Documenting your wishes, Appointing a successor: person or institution, Writing up a clear summary of your collection, Leaving funds for curation.

I'm aiming to make this a practical presentation with many suggestions for leaving a large footprint. In addition to a physical footprint I will mention the emotional legacy we leave for our descendants. 

I feel a serious case of nerves approaching as I strive to put together a talk worthy of the event. When I peruse the program I see that I am in the company of esteemed and experienced presenters.

On my recent return from overseas I created a Powerpoint file to use as a mind map/plan for my presentation. It's time to give up dabbling and get moving as my file is due to be uploaded in less than than a month. I am now in serious research/preparation mode. 

My presentation is after lunch on the last day of the conference so the audience members are likely to be suffering from information overload. I will have to make it light and lively to keep them engaged.

There are a few speakers I would really like to hear at the event but as we are scheduled at the same timeslot I will have to miss Andrew Redfern and David Ryan. I hope there is some audience left for me!

Roll on March. 

A Snow White Dome

When fiddling on my blog today I noticed that, in my header image, I had brown or pepper and salt coloured hair. Nowadays my dome is snow white.  My branding should reflect the person that I am. 

I liked my old image that showed me waving while frolicking in the ocean. I liken my genealogy environment to a body of water where I can swim - a place where I can relax and have fun, play in the shallows or dive deep, it's somewhere that can throw up challenges and surprises. 

When holidaying in Vanuatu earlier this year I was enjoying a swim in a glorious lagoon when Mr Geniaus snapped a photo of me enthusiastically waving and showing my white hair plastered to my head. The image shows me in a happy place as I am when playing in my genealogy world. 

Over I went to Canva where I created a new header using their Blogger Header template. I've uploaded the completed image to the blog. While I may tweak it over the coming days it will remain basically the same until I next fiddle with my branding.  Next task is creating a new header for the Geniaus Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/geniauspage

The new header - created with Canva

Limping along

Back on this day in 2014 I celebrated the sixth birthday of this blog with a post titled Six Years and Going Strong. 

Today this blog is 15 years old. 

My blogging status today would be limping along. While I don't post often or regularly I am still committed to the blogging platform as a means of sharing and preserving family stories and geneanews. 

Sometimes something related to my family history research (that I haven't previously' posted here) pops up in my Facebook memories.   I then add a retrospective post about whatever happened on that day. Today I wrote about an archive visit on this day in 2014.

I always get a thrill when someone contacts me with an enquiry, a correction or further information relating to one of my posts. 

I look forward to several more years limping along at the GeniAus blog.

Accentuate the Positive - Better late than never

I am late to my own challenge! Having been inspired by the resilience and positivity displayed in posts from a bunch of amazing genimates I thought it time to reflect on my 2021. 

1. As a compulsive volunteerer finding the courage to say no to invitations and requests thus giving me time to do my own thing has given great joy. As an amateur I don't set myself lofty goals, I love having the flexibility to follow whims at my leisure. Practising Genealogy without guilt is liberating. 

My geneagoal for 2022 "Have fun and find stuff" will provide continuing joy.

2. The Covid situation gave me an opportunity to engage in many online learning activities from overseas like Rootstech, THE Genealogy Show, and the Scottish Indexes conferences at little or no cost. I was exposed to a host of international speakers that may never visit Australia to present at face-to-face events. 

3. I managed to attend a few-face to-face events at our local family history group of which I am the President. We managed a few events early in 2021 and once again at the end of the year after lockdown. You can't beat connecting with people in person.

4. My main focus this year was on nothing in particular. I don't have any rigid goals; my aim was to enjoy my research, further my knowledge and share some ancestors stories. Genies just want to have fun.

5. A new piece of technology or skill I mastered was Airtable, a very easy to use relational database that has the look and feel of a spreadsheet. I can't say that I've mastered this platform but I've used it for a number of tasks including the management of my DNA kits and connections.

6. A geneasurprise I received was on Roberts side of the family when I connected via DNA with a young genealogist in the UK who is a Ball descendant. Robert was thrilled when this new connection shared a family report written by her grandmother and a copy of the first photo we have seen of  James Ball, Roberts 2xgreat grandfather. 

7.  A Facebook Group that helped me was each of those that provided me with an answer at the point of need. When I need an answer immediately I often find guidance in Facebook groups or on YouTube.

8. My 2021 social media post that I was particularly proud of was the series of posts I managed to complete for  the 2021 #AtoZChallenge where I wrote about two of my passions, books and family history. It was a trip down memory lane where I revisited some of those books that have enriched my genealogy experience.

9.  A new (to me) genealogy/history book I enjoyed was With hearts and hands and voices : the centenary history of the Sacred Heart Parish, Hamilton 1884-1984. It wasn't a great book but it gave me
something I had been seeking for years, a photo of my 3 x great uncle and pioneer priest, Michael Harrington Ryan.

10. I was impressed by the way so many genies have used zoom to be connected, educated entertained.  It is so inspiring to see how people who had not been previously familiar with  technology embraced online learning. 

11.  A great journal or newspaper article I found was a range of short articles I found on British Newspaper Archive. When I researched my 10 convict ancestors 30+ years ago finding information on them in newspapers of the day was a daunting task I didn't undertake. As I was preparing a talk on resources for Australian convicts in 2021 I easily found mention of seven of my ancestors in newspapers of the day. My favourite was the report of John Tucker's unsuccessful attempt to break out of Ayslesbury gaol.  

12. I got the most value from several subscriptions, I am in the fortunate position to have subs to the Big Three subscription databases. I like Ancestry for its synching with RootsMagic; MyHeritage for exploring DNA matches and FindMyPast for newspapers. That's a mean question, it's like asking who is your favourite child.

13. I progressed my DNA research by attending Veronica Williams' Analysing your DNA Results using chromosome analysis course at the SAG, I was certainly challenged by the content and, as a result, I have taken the plunge and have started using GDAT to analyse my  matches. Once I get a handle on this I will start using GDAT  for the other kits I manage.

14. I taught several genimates to use various software packages, applications and databases in online presentations, group sessions and one-on-one zoom calls.

15.  A blog post that taught me something new were several from Carmel Galvin. Her series on the AJCP on the for the 2021 #AtoZChallenge is an excellent learning resource. Her Use your voice for family stories made me look at the Blogger Android app again. I have used that app to compose this post.

16. A DNA discovery I made was an answer to problem a relative seeking an unknown sibling sought help for ten years ago. Sadly I found the answer via DNA just 2 months after this relative passed away. I was able to confirm with a descendant of the sibling from a document I held that DNA doesn't lie.

17. A newly found family member (a descendant of the unknown sibling mentioned above) shared details of his family line. This traditional data is so useful for identifying DNA matches.

18. I finally found James Gowans aka James the Clock, one of my favourite ancestors,  here six feet under in Stirling, Scotland by doing a simple search on FindaGrave. An added bonus was that James was resting not alone but with several other family members under a handsome monument that memorialised even more family members. Task for 2022 - search FindaGrave for all family members I haven't yet killed off or buried.

19. Because I haven't been able to spend my travel budget I splashed out and purchased  a new, comfortable office chair, a sub to Airtable and most recently a new smartphone on which I am voice typing this post.  This phone has such a good camera that it may make the camera I bought last year obsolete. Although I have three different scanners I am finding this phone useful for scanning on the run; I won't need to pack my Flip-Pal in my gadget bag any longer.

20. Another positive I would like to share is that I am continually blown over by the genearosity of those in the genealogy community. I especially thank those who have invested time in responding to this geneameme; I am inspired by your progress and achievements. 

Lofty goals?

Over the past few days I have read several blog posts from genimates in which they outline lists of lofty goals for this new geneayear. While I admire these genies for their commitment and organisational skills I won't be joining them.

Last week I responded to a tweet from Daniel Horowitz who asked about goals for 2022 and, with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, I replied "Have fun". 

On reflection I realise that while fun is an element of my goal I needed to qualify the fun so my goal is now "Have fun and find stuff". 

I just finished writing the President's newsletter report for my local family history group, a committed mob of amateur genies like me.  

I wrote "Many genies on social media have been setting ambitious and rigid geneagoals for the coming year and I applaud them for their commitment. I have decided to take a loose approach with one goal to “Have fun and find stuff”. Family history is a hobby for me, I don’t want to put pressure on  myself by setting lofty goals. I need to have the flexibility to change direction and go off on tangents when I find something new and interesting."

As a fan of rabbit holes, BSOs and Tangential Genealogy I don't want to have lofty goals hanging over my head, I'm opting to hang loose and follow whims. I want to track down that new DNA match when it automagically appears on my desktop. I want to help that friend who reaches out for help in starting her genealogy journey. I want to feel free to put a project aside when it starts to bore me and go on to something else until some BSO ignites my interest once more. 

I may end up with gaping holes in my research and too many projects on the go but that doesn't bother me, I need to leave some holes for future researchers to fill! I'll revel in the feast the serendipitous finds in my carefree approach reveals. 

Am I alone in my approach or are there other Genies who just want to have fun? 

Genies having fun at Rootstech London.

Listed

 Thanks to genimate Nathan Dylan Goodwin on Twitter for alerting me to this list.

https://blog.feedspot.com/genealogy_blogs/

I was thrilled to find that among the Australian blogs on the list is this GeniAus blog which has scraped into the list at position 59 in spite of a dearth of posts in recent times. 

2008-2021: Posts from the Past

Thirteen years ago on this day I wrote the following here" http://geniaus.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-add-yet-another-blog-to-crowded.html.

Why add yet another blog to the crowded blogosphere?

I thought I would like a place to share progress, reflections and resources as I solve my genealogical jigsaw so here goes - another blog is born.

I've been researching the family on and off for the last 20 years and, with retirement looming, hope to finally get organised and solve some of my mysteries.

____________________________________________________________________________
 

So here I am 13 years later reflecting on my life as a geneablogger. 

My original purpose to share progress, reflections and resources as I solve my genealogical jigsaw remains but my posts are fewer as I now use other platforms, currently Facebook and Twitter, to share short newsbites. Although I don't post so often I am committed to blogging as a means of recording family stories, reflections and opinions.

As my blog is preserved in The Australian Web Archive at Trove Australia I can indulge in a trip down memory lane and view posts from the past. Please join me as I meander down memory lane.

The header image is missing from this capture. If I remember correctly it included a photo of a family wedding.

From 2017 those lovely green notices have disappeared from the results of my Trove searches, maybe I worked some magic to make it disappear!

I also note that the header on my blog is the same one I still use - perhaps it is time for new branding. That's one of the advantages of blogging - it is a dynamic platform that one can adjust to reflect current times and trends.

Housework time at Geniaus.net

I remember somewhere, sometime saying that I intended to update my website GeniAus Family Site every month or so. It seems that my good intentions flew out the window. I just checked to see when I had last updated the site and it was back in February.

GeniAus Family Site

Ever since we went into our latest Covid lockdown a website update has been on my gunna list but I keep saying I'll do it tomorrow. During the lockdown I have been hatching, matching, and dispatching many ancestors.  I hadn't looked at some of my research from last century since last century and, in that period, many new records have come online and several elderly cousins have left this mortal earth. 

When I did my early research I was grateful to find one source for each event but I have learnt that is not enough. Events need to be corroborated by multiple sources of quality. Lockdown has given me time to go back, update records and seek new sources.

Each day I think I'll update the website now but then I say "I'll just check a few more records and upload tomorrow."  I could have gone on like this until Christmas. When I wanted to share a link to the record of a family member who had recently passed away I realised that I needed to upload a gedcom containing the death date of that person to make the record appear on the GeniAus Family website.  (Records of living people are not in the public domain on my site.) All of a sudden I had a pressing need for an immediate upload.

So today, 7 months since my last update, I have spent a few minutes exporting a gedcom from my Family Historian software and uploading it to my website ( TNG software hosted by Simply Hosting). If I had remembered where I had saved my login details for the site this should only take around five minutes! Sadly it took me much longer to retrieve those details. Once I was at the host's site I also made a full backup of my website that I will store on an external hard drive. 

A few statistics from the GeniAus Family site today.

I am constantly making edits and additions to my Family Historian database so I will try to remember a monthly website upload (reminder now in calendar). I wonder if I will manage.

From the Archives - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. What sort of genealogist am I?

Ten years ago on this day in 2011 I penned the following post which I am resahring here. I don't think I have changed much. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Randy Seaver's latest edition of Saturday Night Fun reminded me of a post that I wanted to go back and read. Because I forgot to star it in my RSS reader I had trouble finding it. Thanks to Randy for directing me to The Stardust and Roots Blog where I found  "Sears Catalog of Genealogists".

In this humourous post Bart Brenner categorises genealogists. I had a few chuckles as I read through the post and worked out where I and my GeniMates belonged. I encourage other genies to read, enjoy and reflect on this post.

The categories Bart listed were:

1)  Albert Einstein model (the academician)
2)  Marian the Librarian model (the archivist)
3)  Indiana Jones model (the archaeologist)
4)  Margaret Mead model (the cultural anthropologist)
5)  Frank Buck model (the hunter and tamer)
6)  Amelia Earhart model (the test pilot)
7)  Ambrose Monk model (the hoarder)
8)  Cinderella model (the fairy princess)
9)  Steve Jobs model (the technogeek)

I imagine that others would share the difficulty I had in filing myself neatly into one of Bart's boxes. I am affected by the environment and my moods so my approach on a particular day will vary according to these influences.

I am significantly a Steve Jobs model with a big touch of Margaret Mead. My messy overcrowded house indicates I have a strong dose of Ambrose Monk in my makeup.

How about you?

See you at THE Genealogy Show

 It's only five days until I take to the stage at THE Genealogy Show. I am thrilled to be in the company of so many renowned speakers on THE Show program.

My first presentation, Genealogy Research with Facebook,  is scheduled for 2:00am on the 25th June in the UK but will air at the convenient time of 11am for my genimates on Australian Eastern Standard time. 

London, United Kingdom*

BST (UTC +1) 

Fri, 25 Jun 2021

2:00 am

Sydney, Australia

AEST (UTC +10) 

Fri, 25 Jun 2021

11:00 am

 

My second gig, Managing Frugally: An Alphabet Of Tips & Tools For Family Historians, is scheduled for 10pm on the 26th June in the UK and will air at 7am on Sunday the 27th August for those on Australian Eastern Standard time. 

London, United Kingdom*

BST (UTC +1) 

Sat, 26 Jun 2021

10:00 pm

Sydney, Australia

AEST (UTC +10) 

Sun, 27 Jun 2021

7:00 am

 

Don't worry if these times aren't convenient for you as the recordings will be available on demand for the 30 days of THE Show. 

If you haven't already done so grab your tickets here:  https://www.thegenealogyshowlive.com/register/the-genealogy-show/

Following this Blog

 Until today people could sign up to follow this blog by email. Unfortunately the service that managed this function, Feedburner owned by Google will be discontinued in July. 

Feedburner advised that I download my list of subscribers and I have done so. It was surprising to see I had over 1500 subscribers but on examining the email addresses I think many of them are bots and not real people.... but there are a few real people who are ACTIVE followers.

I have added a new icon to this blog that will allow anyone who wants to keep following by email. To subscribe to the new service, follow.it , please click on the green FOLLOW Icon at the top the left hand column of the GeniAus blog.

1. Click on this icon

Having clicked on that icon you should be directed to this URL: https://follow.it/geniaus?action=followPub where you will be required to enter your email address then click on Follow.

2. Enter your email address and select Follow

You will then be directed to confirm your subscription using the email account with which you subscribed.

3. Confirm your subscription.

Hopefully this process will deliver a notification to your email address whenever a new post is published on the GeniAus blog.

Genialogy

It's time to put the I into genealogy.

Recently I realised that I am spending too much time on genealogy related activities and not enough time on my own family history, projects and interests. I am trying to change from being a "girl who can't say no" to one who weighs up and evaluates opportunities before rushing in like a "bull at a gate". 

I've made a start by declining some speaking invitations, resigning from a couple of teams and knocking back an offer of paid work.

I have created a new term Genialogy to remind us that we must give ourselves, our ancestors and our  descendants a generous chunk of our geneatime.

It's a balancing act

Are you going to embrace Genialogy with me?

A Few Days in the Geneacave

 My focus recently has been on living family. The twelve grandchildren have been on school and university holidays so we have been spending time at the beach, playing games, having too much fast food and reminiscing with them. One granddaughter introduced me to the Duolingo App for French, we had so many giggles as I progressed through the first few levels. I am continuing with this just a few minutes a day. It's amazing how much I remember of my schoolgirl French from over 50 years ago.

Family Fun

After a busy weekend we find ourselves with a relatively quiet week. 

I have retreated to my geneacave to catch up on several commitments on my list. I am feeling rather virtuous as I am avoiding temptation and sticking to those things I must do. 

Yesterday I tried to catch up on emails and messages on social media. If I have failed to respond to you, please give me a gentle reminder.

I am preparing a presentation on my ancestor Elizabeth Phipps for the Hawkesbury Family History Group. Yesterday I spent half a day going over research done years ago and checking databases to see if I could discover any new facts to add to her story. As I need to update my website on the internet I devoted time to looking at some of Elizabeth's hundreds of descendants and finding dates and sources for their entries. I found several new third and fourth cousins to add to my database.

Today I have written my weekly blog post for our Local Family History Group at Lake Macquarie and followed that up with three short articles for their quarterly journal. I must admit that I cheated a bit and repurposed and updated a few posts from the GeniAus blog for the journal. I have so much material on this blog that it's a shame to let it languish in the archives.

I also need to write the January newsletter for the Lake Mac Group but needed a change of focus.

My next task was to think of The SAG and its Hang Out for members on Friday this week. I prepared an image using Canva for promotion of this regular members only event. Canva makes it so easy to create images that look reasonable.

Fuelled with a coffee (thanks Mr GeniAus) I am readyto prepost some comments to the prompts for tonights #ANZAncestryTime session using Tweetdeck.  With my poor keyboarding skills I find it less stressful to join the conversation early, then I can focus on responding to others' posts.

Last task of the day will be to take a look at a guest blog post about Librarything that I am preparing for a genealogy society.

My day will end with a dinner with one of our daughters. Waiting for me when she goes home is an interesting book, Joan makes history by Kate Greville. 

Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2020 - GeniAus

 It is gratifying to see how many fellow genies have responded to this year's Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2020. I will post a compilation with links to all those posts next week.

I have been mulling over my year and wondering if I can put a positive spin on 2020. I'll give it my best shot

BTW. I invite you to take part in this activity by responding to the following statements/questions in a blog post. Write as much or as little as you want and complete as many statements as you wish. If you wish to take part and don't have a blog email me your responses and I will post them here on the GeniAus blog.

Once you have done so please share your post's link in a comment on this post or to me via email to jillballau@gmail.com. I will, later in January, compile a list of links to your contributions here on this blog.

Remember to Accentuate the Positive 
(Please delete the items that are not relevant to your situation.)

1.  An elusive ancestor I found was... All of my elusive ancestors are still in hiding but I have had quite a deal of success in locating distant cousins. It is so important when one is trying to identify DNA matches that one has as complete a tree as possible with branches extending every which way. Previously genealogists looked down on those who built large trees with little detail but now in the 21st century we realise  the value of this practice. 

2.  A great newspaper article I found was ... A whole series of articles. In April 2020 I participated in the 2020 #AtoZChallenge in which I shared stories about my maternal grandmother's paternal family. I found many articles from the ordinary to sensational that shed light on members of that family. I posted all of these articles on my blog in April 2020 starting with A is for Artie 

3. A geneajourney I planned but didn't take was ...  The Genealogy Show at which I was to present three talks was postponed until 2021. Although we had three overseas excursions planned I didn't have any trips planned that focussed solely on genealogy but I had planned hitting a few repositories when we had a week in London. We had also planned a tour commencing in Edinburgh that would have given me a chance to visit the archives there.

4.  I located an important record ... when I went beyond Trove and followed a reference at the bottom of a Trove article. I wrote about that here A Reference from Macarthur

5.  A newly found family member shared ... a virtual pair of secateurs. As a result of a comment on one of my #AtoZChallenge posts a new cousin pointed out a foreign branch in my tree which I excised and replaced with the correct branch.

6.  A geneasurprise I received was ... These are not in my hands yet but they are now with a family member. When my Aunt Kath died several years ago her step-family promised to give us Kath's collection of family slides and photos. Kath had a decent camera when I was a child and took many slides of family members before she married later in life. I can't wait to collect and digitise this collection. Thanks to Jo for returning these photos to our family.

7.   My 2020 social media post that I was particularly proud of was ... The first blog post I wrote for our local Family History Group, Entering the Blogisphere. Although this was an introductory post it marked an exciting venture for our Lake Macquarie Family History Group. I am so proud of the 44 posts I have written for that blog so far and thrilled that community members are reading the snippets of local history I share while learning about the existence of our Group. While few people comment on the blog we have had over 3.000 visits in just six months.

8.   I made a new genimate who... through the wonderful Friday Hang Outs hosted by SAG on zoom I got to meet many fellow members of this Society. Although I am a longterm member of this Group I hadn't communicated directly with many members. I have a  host of new genimates thanks to this initiative.

9.  A new piece of technology or skill I mastered was... It just has to be Zoom. We were fortunate in Lake Macquarie that an anonymous member donated a subscription to zoom so that we were able to maintain our program of meetings through 2020.

10. I joined... several new Facebook groups and followed more Facebook pages. I also found a few new cousins had public pages on Facebook - not a positive for them to share so carelessly but a positive for me as they give details of BMDs and other genealogical information. 

11. A genealogy education session or event from which I learnt something new was... Heather Garnsey's presentation The Triangle of Care. (A recording of this webinar may be available through SAG.)

12. A blog post that taught me something new was ... I always learn something from the techie posts Carmel Galvin posts on her Carmel's Corner Blog. I won't nominate one - you should read them all.

13. A DNA discovery I made was... Thanks to my double first cousin, Jane, who shared her spit I have identified many new 3rd and 4th cousins. Jane had tested for me with FTDNA years ago but our results from there have not been spectacular. This new test with Ancestry has delivered the goods.

14. I taught a genimate how to... hopefully the presentations I gave during 2020 taught someone, somewhere, something. I particularly enjoyed using Zoom to give one on one assistance to genimates with various applications.

15. A brick wall I demolished was ... The sledge hammer took a well earned rest this year.

16. A great site I visited was... I managed only one on site visit this year. Mr GeniAus and I had a successful excursion to NSW State Archives & Records. I was fearful of going out during the pandemic but I had a need to access a document for a presentation I was preparing for the SAG Irish Day. Thanks to the staff  I felt safe during my time at the site. I was made most welcome by Emily Hanna on the enquiries desk and one of the volunteers Judy.  (The male who took over from Emily on the desk needed a dose of positivity and a course in customer relations.)

17. A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was... From Distress to Deliverence by Stephen Gow is well written, well researched and beautifully presented. I blogged about it here https://geniaus.blogspot.com/2020/10/from-distress-to-deliverance.html

18. Zoom gave me an opportunity to... connect, communicate, learn and love.

19. I am excited for 2021 because... I live in Australia where Covid19 is well under control and we live in relative safety. We should be vaccinated  during the year and hopefully we will be able to attend geneaevents in person real soon.

20. Other positives I would like to share are.. I was gobsmacked and humbled when I received an invitation from Trove to participate in the launch of the new Trove. I shared the story here in A Decade of Digging. 

I have always been a bit of a bibliophile but my reading has dropped off over the years, Covid19 gave me time and an opportunity to return to reading in earnest. I am delighted that I was able to read 149 books during 2020. See them here on my Librarything Account. 

Finally 2020 was a difficult year as I had surgery in January that kept me off my feet for many months and Covid came along. Access to genimates,family history resources and activities during 2020 turned what could have been an annus horribilis into a very positive geneayear.