Sentimental Sunday - Family Gathering

This weekend has been very productive, with the confirmation of the date and venue for the Shepherd, Carraige, Lee Family Gathering to be held on the 4th October, 2015.  The family gathering is for anyone who is connected to the descendants of Christina Lee and her two husbands Malcolm Michael Shepherd and Lionel Carraige.  Family names include, Lee, Shepherd, Carraige, McGregor, McDonald, McPherson, Weston, Webb, Rixon and Davidson.

These families were among the earliest settlers in the Araluen, Braidwood, Nelligen, Bateman's Bay, Milton and Ulladulla districts of Southern New South Wales.

The next few months will be spent connecting with as many family members as possible, collecting family photos and stories and finalising arrangements for the day.  A learning process for us all :).

If you think you are connect to these families or know someone who is, please leave me a message on this blog and I will arrange to send you the details.

Sentimental Sunday - 56 Wason Street Milton

56 Wason Street, Milton

My childhood memories of visiting my Nanna, Christina Carriage (Shepherd, nee Lee) and Pop, Lionel Carriage are filled with memories of playing in her yard under the huge Magnolia Tree, performing concerts with my cousins on her front veranda, climbing the well on the side of her house, picking plums from her fruit trees and snuggling up in her cosy kitchen, warmed by the huge combustion stove and reading the books and magazines from the corner bookshelf.

Milton is a small dairy town on the south coast of NSW, and my father spent most of his childhood living in Wason Street, in this house and prior to that one a few doors up the street. I was recently delight to rediscover an old post card that my Aunty Nancy had sent me with a picture of Waston Street around 1912-1914.

Wason Street Milton - circa 1912-1914

On the back of the card she writes about living in Wason Street, mentioning the Magnolia Tree, which can be seen in the distance.  The house that my Nanna lived in is not there anymore, having been replaced by a new much larger home, however, the beautiful old Magnolia tree still stands guard in the front yard.  

At the bottom of the street in this picture you can see the Methodist Church.  This was the church that I where I was christened and the church that I would go to with my Nanna when I was visiting as a small child.  My Aunty Nancy who send me this post card was married in this church as well. 

Wordless Wednesday: Christina Carriage and Hazel Herbert

My Grandmothers: Hazel Herbert (nee Palin) and Christina Carriage (nee Lee)

In my blog The Other Half of My Family Tree - stories of my female ancestors, a project in which I aim to tell stories of the women in my family tree, I have so far written about both my grandmothers, Edna Hazel Palin and Christina Sterland Lee.  Last night while I was searching through an old album of my fathers for photos for the final chapter on the story on Edna Hazel Palin, I found the picture above.  It is a rare picture of both my Grandmothers, which must have been taken around the time my parents were married and Hazel and Roy Herbert (my mothers parents) came all the way from Broken Hill to Milton on the coast of NSW to visit my fathers mother, Christina and step father,  Lionel Carriage.  Such a great find!!! I had to share it on Wordless Wednesday.