Time Out - Family Tree Burnout

It is November!!
Five months since I last posted a blog!!  I am not sure where the time has gone, but today I received a gentle shove that has given me the motivation to get back to writing about my family history.

I wonder if other bloggers have experienced the need for a little time out, whether it is due to life commitments or just the need to sit back and reflect a little. 

In May I headed off to England to explore some of our family tree roots in Lancashire, Cambridge and Northumberland.   After linking up with fellow researchers I  spend a month visiting old family haunts, graveyards, churches, libraries, farmhouses and pubs.  We wandered through narrow cobbled streets with old census records, tramped through fields with turn-of-the century maps, ate  picnic lunches while sitting amongst family gravestones, had tea and cake with long lost cousins and sipped on a pint or two in an old family pub.

I gathered and collected hundreds of pictures on my camera and Ipad, bought numerous books on local history and was such a frequent visitor to the Colne Library, that the locals were asking me how to use the computers and if I had a key to the toilet. 

Following my month of research, I headed off to visit family and friends in Europe with my husband and all my research was packed into two large postage boxes and set off by Surface Mail, back to Australia.  On my return home I eagerly awaited the arrival of my “Boxes”.  They finally arrived about 4 weeks ago.   However, the motivation to get back into family research mode didn't arrive with it. I think I was suffering a little from research/travel burn out.

I would be interested to hear from other family historians/bloggers if they have had the same experience and how they motivated themselves to get back into it.

That off my chest, lets get back to writing.

Tuesday’s Tip - Evernote and Family Tree Research

This week I made a concerted effort to familiarise myself with some of the features of the App Evernote.

As most of my family will agree, I am not good at taking my time to read instructions and generally just jump straight in, often missing some of the basic and vital tips.  So this time I, started carefully, by first watching the short introductory video on how to get started http://evernote.com/video/

Then I went to their How to Get Started page  and made my way through each step, testing each application. These steps provided information on installation, creating an account, creating your first entry, adding an images, synchronising with your phone, laptop etc, saving web content.  All pretty basic you might say, however, after a week of playing around with Evernote, I think you need to have it set up properly and understand its applications to really reap the benefits.

I was really impressed with the fact that I could sync with my phone, work and home computer, Ipad, and laptop (yes!! gadget tragic). This means that if I find a interesting article/photo when reading paper on the train, I can take a photo of it with my phone and send to Evernote, or if I am  reading article on Ipad I can send the link with the appropriate "filing tag" for later reference.  Likewise, if I am researching in a library, I can take a photo of article/photo from book or magazine and link to my Evernote account.

My gadgets really came to the fore over the weekend.  I was visiting an Aunt and she had some old family photos and was very loathed to part with them for even a second so that I could scan them. However,  I was able to take a photo of them with my phone and immediately send the pictures to my Evernote account, tagged with the appropriate family names, and a short note of who were in the picture and the approximate date that the picture was taken.

To gain the full benefit I have taken the time to set up NoteBooks (folders) to correspond with the four main branches of my family tree.  Then as I save items, I am tagging them with the Surname within each branch, and description of the item eg "photo", "newspaper article",  "link" , "certificate" etc. 

I have to confirm that my so far my Evernote experience is very positive and I am sure as I become more familiar with it's different applications it will prove to be among my most valuable research tools.

Those Places Thursday - Acacia Farm, Nelligen

Acacia Farm, Clyde River, Nelligen

George and Catherine Lee

"Acacia Farm" has been part of our family history for over 100 years.  The old farmhouse was on the banks of the Clyde River, up stream from the small town of Nelligen, NSW, Australia. My great grandparents George Thomas Lee and his wife Catherine (nee McGregor) moved to the farm in the early 1900's, with their family of nine children.  

My Grandmother Christine Sterland Lee was their seventh child, and she and her siblings would travel by boat down the Clyde River to the small school in Nelligen.

 When I was very young I can remember crossing the Clyde River on the punt at Nelligen (in the days before the bridge was built).  In the Christmas holidays cars would line up for miles waiting for their turn to go across on the Punt.  We would get out of the car and look over the side and watch all the jellyfish in the river. There used to be thousands of them blobbing along in the water as we passed.

Waiting to catch Punt to cross the Clyde River, Nelligen

Dad used to tell stories of when he lived there with his grandmother (Catherine Lee) after his father, Malcolm Shepherd died following a logging accident. He described how they would row the boat down the river  to Nelligen for supplies and catch the tide on the way back to the farm. I can remember visiting there as a little girl with my dad and Pop. My Nan's brother Uncle Jordie lived there at the time. We walked down to the paddock towards The Point where there was a nice little sandy beach. Uncle Jordie was growing turnips and I remember he pulled out a couple and gave to me to give to Nan to make soup. The lushness of the farm made a big impression on me as at that time our family lived on a sheep station in the far west near Broken Hill.

The "farm" as everyone called it, was often the meeting place for family get togethers. Everyone would roll up with huge baskets of food and drink.  The big black kettle would be put over the small open fire in the old kitchen that my great grandmother used to cook in.  It was constantly kept on the boil to keep up with the copious quantities of tea that were made. The adults would sit around in the front garden, surrounded by huge old blue hydrangeas plants,  swapping stories  of days gone by, while all the kids would run wild, playing hide-and-seek etc. There were always strict rules not to go on parts of the old veranda, as the floorboards were rotten. At the back of the farm house there where huge old fruit trees and an outside loo and shed that was covered in a choco vine that had certainly got out of hand. Lots of great hiding places!!

After lunch, and more cups of tea, if we were lucky everyone would go up to the beach at The Point for a swim while the men folk tried their hand at fishing.  I  clearly remember spending time with my Nan using a stick with a short line and hook and bread  to catch little fish for bait. It was great fun. The farm has now been sold, but I do believe the old ruins of the original farm house are still there.

Follow Friday - An accumulation of my weekly research

As I research my family tree and information for my blogs I find that each week I discover new and interesting resources. I save these links into my Delicious Account as described in by blog "Delicious and Genealogy - A Great Family Tree Research Tool" .   To follow on from this I though it would be a good idea to share my weekly discoveries with other family tree researchers by posting a weekly summary of the sites that I have stumbled upon over the past week.  So here goes!!  I hope you find some useful information or resources in my first of my weekly, "Follow Friday - An accumulation of my weekly research" posts. I would also like to encourage other researchers to share related sites that they have come across in their research.

The focus of my research this week has been on the life of Women in Broken Hill, are a number of sites that I have found both interesting and useful as I search for more background information on my maternal grandmother Edna Hazel Palin who was born in Broken Hill.

 

Unbroken Spirit : Women in Broken Hill :

http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/bh/bh-home.html

This site includes some great pages with a history of women, and stories of influential women and a wonderful collection of old photos. 

History of the Trades Hall Broken Hill 

http://www.brokenhilltradeshall.com/history.htm

Broken Hill City Library Archive Service

http://www.bhlibrary.org.au/archives.html

Broken Hill Cemetery

http://www.brokenhill.net.au/Cem.php

  

The Australian Women's History Forum

http://www.womenshistory.com.au/default.asp 

The Australian Women's Register

 http://www.womenaustralia.info/index.html

History of Broken Hill - ABC Series

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/01/21/3118060.htm?site=brokenhill

Interviewing your Family

As I put together notes for my next blog on The Other Half of My Tree - stories of my female ancestors I found I needed to find out a little more about my maternal grandmother. "I know what I'll do, I thought, I will give my mum a call.  She should be able to help me with this."

Forgetting that my mother, who is now 80, may not have a clear memory of her childhood years, I rattled a number of my questions over the phone to her.  "Oh Di,  I can't remember was her response".  I really had approached this the wrong way. " Don't worry Mum,  think about it a bit and I will talk to when I next visit".

I realised that I needed to be more considerate of her age and plan the "interview" more carefully if I was  to discover more about my mother's childhood.  Going back to basics, I started to develop an "Interview Plan" or some points that would help when interviewing family about their past.

These are the set of Points I thought I should consider

1. Notification  - Make sure you notify the person you want to interview of your intentions.  Fit in with their availability.  Either call or write a letter asking if they would prefer to meet, talk on the phone or correspond by mail.

2.  Background - Provide the relative that you want to interview with some details of your research so far.

3.  Be Considerate and Patient - Remember that the relative you wish to interview may not share your enthusiasm for researching the family tree.  Take time to develop a relationship of trust and if the relative is not comfortable with the interview, consider using a gatekeeper, e.g. a younger trusted member of the family or friend who will make them feel more at ease.

4. Be Prepared - Before the interview, ascertain the important pieces of information you would like to find out.  A good idea, if you have a long list of questions, would be to focus on 2-3 questions at a time and pace the interview over 2-3 sessions.

5.  Photos, Newspaper cuttings - take a collection of photos, newspaper cuttings, old cards etc with you to the interview, these will help to get the conversation flowing and also help trigger family memories.

6. Record Conversation - if the family member is happy for you to record the conversation, then you can  give full attention to your relative rather than being distracted by taking notes.

7.  Listen - take the time to listen to your relative, don't rush them or contradict what they have to say.  Allow them the freedom to explore their memories.  Don't worry if they get sidetracked from the information you are particularly interested in.  These wanderings from the topic may provide you with some interesting and vital information that you didn't even dream of discovering.

8. Be Sensitive - remember that these stories are personal and sometimes close to home, so don't pressure your relative to disclose stories that they are not comfortable talking about.

9. Group Interviews - an alternative method of interviewing could be gathering 2-3 relatives together for the one interview.  By sharing stories between them, they could spark memories and a more lively discussion on the family history.

10. Notes and a Thank You Note - make a copy of your notes/recording and show or send these to the person you have interviewed  with a thank you note.  Not only does this confirm your respect and thanks to the relative you have interviewed, it allows them to review what they have said.  These notes will give them the option to correct or make adjustments to what they have said and more importantly, may trigger more memories about your family.


With these points in mind, I pulled together some photos and newspaper cuttings (that I had found in TROVE).  Then I called my mother and eased slowly into the conversation about family, suggesting that she put some of her memories on paper to show me when I visited on the following weekend.  When I visited her, she had prepared a short story (about two pages) on what she could remember about her mother, then we sat and went through all the photos and I asked her strategic questions about friends, family outings, occupations etc.  This approach was far more successful than my first off-the-cuff telephone call.

I would be most interested to hear other tips from other family researchers on how they interview their family members.  

Australian Women’s Archive Project



Women assaulting Strike Breakers in Broken Hill



One of the things that I enjoy most when researching my family tree, is that nearly every day I discover a new resource, blog or web page that leads me to discover whole new dimension in understanding our past and identity.    I have recently started another blog, "The Other Half of My Family Tree: stories of my female ancestors" in which I plan to write stories about the women in my family tree. 

 

Dust Storms in Broken Hill



As most genealogical researchers  know, due to a number of factors, it is harder to find information on our grandmothers and great aunts than it is to research our male ancestors.  Yesterday, I was searching the Internet for a story on my maternal grandmother Edna Palin, (1910-1957) when I came across a new web site. 

 I was looking up “women’s history, Broken Hill” and  came across the Web Page “Unbroken Spirit, Women in Broken Hill.  Imagine my delight! This site is dedicated to telling the story of the women from the mining city of Broken Hill, the city that I, my mother, my grandmother were born in.  The women of Broken Hill lived in one of the harshest environments imaginable.  They lived through dust storms, droughts, extreme temperatures and a volatile political environment that saw years of strikes and picket lines. Yet they managed to raise their families, support their husbands, establish health care, schools, and even theatre groups.    

Women's Memorial - Broken Hill

Along with a large collection of images from these times, the site provides a list of Women in Broken Hill.  This list includes the story and details of Dr Franziska Schlink (1910-1965)  who not only was  my mother and grandmother’s doctor, but was the doctor present at my birth at the Broken Hill Base Hospital.  Dr Schlink’s story is fascinating, and I must write a story on her at a later stage.

As I found my way around the “Unbroken Spirit, Women in Broken Hill” web page I discovered that it was linked to the Australian Women’s Archive Project.  How had I not come across this before??

 For anyone who is looking to research and gain a better understanding of the legacy and history of Australian Women this is a wonderful resource.  The purpose of this Project is to preserve The History of Australian Women as outlined by the site.

“Records about women provide the basis of all the work of the Australian Women's Archive Project. To ensure records are available in the future, AWAP promotes the keeping and care of personal records and encourages individuals and organisations to deposit records appropriately in available archives and libraries.”

I hope my new discovery is of help to other family tree researchers and perhaps you will consider contributing to the evergrowing resources of the Australian Women's Archive Project.

Angus Shepherd - A Story from TROVE

Horse teams carting goods from  Nellingen to Braidwood, crossing Currajong Creek

 In my last blog I wrote about how I have found TROVE to be one of the most valuable research tools for Australian Family Tree Researchers. Today, I would like to share with you one of my most recent finds.  Angus John Shepherd  (1889-1971) was my Grandfather, Malcolm Michael Shepherd's (1892-1932)  brother.  Their family came from the Araluen, Braidwood district and had been carriers between this district and Nelligen for a couple of generations.

 This area has a long and colourful history, of life on the gold mines, bushrangers and rural settlement.  I was searching TROVE, using the names of towns to try and find more about the times and social conditions that my ancestors lived in when I came across this article.  You can only imagine my excitemen. I was actually reading an article written about my great uncle which so vividly describes he and his partner being caught in a very serious flood and being lucky to escape with their lives. The loss of his team and merchandise most probably had considerable effect on the lively hood of his family.

 The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 30 March, p. 10
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/28120545

FLOODS. HAVOC IN THE BRAIDWOOD DISTRICT.

SENSATIONAL ESCAPES BRAIDWOOD, Thursday.

Reports from the district lying  between the top of Clyde Mountain and Nelligen show that much damaged was done by the rain. Roads have been washed out feet deep in a number pf places, while the bridges over Ryan's Creek, two culverts and a footbridge have been practically washed away. Fencing hasgone in all directions. In addition to which a number ot stock perished in tho flood. The rainfall was easily the heaviest in the memory of the oldest inhabitant. lt was estimated up to Friday that over 2C inches had fallen. There has been further rain since. 

Two carriers, John Rogers and Angus Shepherd, plying between Nelligen and Braidwood,had an exciting experience. They camped on their usual camping ground close to Ryan's Creek, with their teams. They occupied an old hut, and were awakened in the middle of the night by feeling water entering the bunks. The creek had completely overflowed its banks. The water was several feet deep in the house, and the men escaped through the window. The teams were also surrounded by water. To remove the horses was out of the question, and the men had to run for their lives. Three of Roger's horses were carried away by the flood waters and drowned; also one of Shepherd's. All the loading on the waggons was washed off, although it included some heavy articles of merchandise. It is estimated that over £300 worth of goods was on the waggons, including a lot of rum and other spirits for local publicans. The full extent of the loss is not yet known. The place is entirely cut off from communication.

J. E. Anderson and family had a narrow escape. Anderson has a sawmill at Currowan. The flood water rose with such rapidity that in a short space of time there was over two feet of water in their house, running strongly. Meanwhile the rain was pouring down in torrents. Anderson took his wife on his back and waded waist high to the side of the hill. A man named Backhouse, who happened to be in the house, carried Anderson's little daughter to some high ground. Where they had to remain until daylight.

In the Braidwood district comparatively little damage was done, beyond the destruction of fencing and roads. The latter were cut up in a frightful manner; also many culverts damaged. The shire council has decided to approach tho Government for a Special grant to assist in repairing the damage, the work being altogether beyond its financial capacity.

The flood at Araluen was the highest on record. 130 more points fell on Friday night, and close on an inch on Saturday morning. 

1914 'FLOODS.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 30 March, p. 10, viewed 17 June, 2012, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28120545 

Angus not only survived this incident, two years later he enlisted into the 33 Battalion (Service No. 2898) which fought in Belgium in WWI.  On his return he married and lived and worked in the Nelligen - Bateman Bay district for the rest of his life.

TROVE

In my last blog I spoke about the joys of assisting a friend into making the first steps towards researching her family history and how we used TROVE to search for some more details on her great great grandfather. Over the past few years I think I would have to rate TROVE as one of my most valuable research tools.

The National Library of Australia has developed TROVE as a free search engine that gives us access to a variety of collections in Australia and some overseas collections that relate to Australia.  These collections include Australian Newspapers, photos, articles, maps and books. No matter what your are researching, whether it be your family history, social conditions of a certain era, history of occupations, CWA recipies or sporting history as a few examples,  with just one click on trove.nla.gov.au you are able to find the most amazing collection of related material. The huge bonus to all researchers is that this information is free and accessible to all.

You can easily register as a user by going to this site https://trove.nla.gov.au/signup.  As you delve into the records you are able to tag articles of interest under you membership for later reference. Much of the TROVE content is digital and comes from libraries, cultural and educational institutions all around Australia.
When a researcher searches the site they are taken straight to the source, giving them immediate access to the information they are looking for.
As I look on family tree research as not only the collecting of the dates of birth deaths and marriages but also the collecting of family stories I find Trove to be one of the most valuable tools in my family research. There have been many occasions when I have used it to check a story that has been passed down in the family.  Often the discovery of a birth or death notice will provide that long searched for link to other members of the family or a place of birth.  However, what I find most exciting is that you are able to access stories about the towns and the times that your ancestors lived in, and some of the historical events that they lived through. 

Try your luck with TROVE.  The possibilities are endless.  Some of the areas I would suggest looking in are advertisements for sales of properties, family events, probate notices, court cases, obituaries, WWI and WWII notices or the names of towns that your families lived in. Small snippets from these types of searches have provided me with a rich source of information on where my ancestors came from, their occupations, life styles and important events in their lives.

TROVE also provides family tree researchers with the opportunity to share their discoveries and look for other researchers with similar interests on their forum.  If you are interested in using this resource it is very easy to register at this site  http://trove.nla.gov.au/forum/faq.php

I hope you find this resource as rich and rewarding as I have and please share your TROVING stories.

Happy Troving

Sorting Family Tree Digital Files

An integral part of storing your files/photos should be, if possible, making digital copies of all your documents and photos.  To assist me with this I enlisted the aid of my (sometimes willing) husband. We had invested in a good flat bed scanner about a year ago and have found it an invaluable resource. As I sorted all the documents and photos into Family Groups, Steve scanned the documents, ready for me to later label and sort into folders.

There are a number of good reasons for making digital copies which include:

• Security:  in case of loss due to water damage, fire or misplacement of a document
• Online Resources:  for attaching to your online family tree or blog, an easy way to back up your research.
• Sharing: for sharing with other family tree researchers 
• Time Management:  it is a good way to have all your files at your finger tips, you are able to check out details quickly and without fuss.  It is much easier than going through folders, boxes etc for the hard copy for the record.

The  dilemma again arises on how to file them so they can be easily found. 

Trying to stick to my KISS philosophy, this is the method I have chosen.
As each document, photo or newspaper cutting is scanned I name the file with DC, BC, MC, newspaper, census etc, then the surname, christian name, and date if known.  eg.  Death Certificate for my grandfather would have the file name:  DC.Shepherd, Malcolm Michael 25.06.1932. 

Of course the system you use is a personal choice and you need to choose your own approach and make it consistent for all your files.

The next step is to set up your files within your Family Tree Digital File.  I have chosen to organise my digital files in the same manner as I set up the files for the hard copies.  (see my previous blog , Time to Go Shopping.  All the folders on the computer corresponded with original files of photos and documents. i.e,. Four main folders  in the names of grandparents eg. Shepherd, Herbert, Smith, and Hewson  (see diagram above).

 

Once these files are set up I set up a file within each of these folders for the family groups of my great grand parents.

 eg:  Hewson is divided into Hewson and Keable and Shepherd is divided into Shepherd and Lee.

Then within each of these folders set up files for the documents for that section of your family group, eg: Births, Deaths, Marriages, Newspaper Articles, Military etc. 

 See the diagram to the right as an example of how your folder setup could look.

Again these folders are a personal choice and will correspond to the type of documents you have to store.

One final note:  Yes this is quite a daunting task! However if you take the time to set up a workable system and slowly work your way through your collection of data, you will be rewarded with a manageable collection of family tree files that can be easily accessed and shared with other researchers.

Also, as you discover new information or others share photos or documents with you, they are easily filed away.

If you find this system of use let me know, or if you have any suggestions to improve my system I would love to hear from you.

Time to go Shopping!!!

In my last blog I described the early how I had started to tackle the paper pile that represented my family tree research over the past 15-20 years.  This blog celebrates the fact that I have moved on from the four boxes marked “Hewson”, “Smith”, “Shepherd” and “Herbert”  and now have a fully functioning storage system for all my documents, photos etc.  .

This step started with a visit to the local office supplies shop, where I purchased folders, binders, photo boxes , sticky labels, protective plastic sleeves, folder dividers and alphabetical filing cards for the photo boxes. You will note these were all colour coordinated to fit with our spare room décor, much to my husband’s amusement. 

 The next step was to make up folders for each of the following: Births, Deaths, Marriages, Newspaper Cuttings, Census, Research Notes and Miscellaneous (for the odd things that didn’t seem to fit into the other folders).  In each folder I put in dividers for each of the Family Branches and filed all relevant documentation into each folder.  For example my grandmother on the Shepherd side’s death certificate, funeral notice, photo of her grave stone and family thank you card were all filed in the Deaths Folder in the Section for Shepherd.

All photos are now filed in “Family” boxes in Alphabetical order (SURNAME, Christian name) and any photos that are too large for the photo’s boxes I have filed into a photo folder .  I have to admit as I packed the “colour coordinated” boxes into the shelving, along with all my family research books I felt quite pleased with my progress.  It was now time to sort the conglomeration of digital files that lived on my computer, lap top and a number of usb sticks.

Filing and Storing Original Documents - Keeping that Pile under control

If you are like me, the amount of time that you have to spend on your family tree research is limited.  This means that it is important to develop a filing/storage system that is straight forward, and doesn't consume to much of your valuable research time. I think it is important that you choose a filing system that suits you and works for you.  You are the person who has to work with it.

Operation Paper Control was on!!!!

 

What an adventure!!!  When I had allotted the amount of time I would take to do this I had not considered the time I would waste being side tracked by the little bits of information I rediscovered in  letters, on the back of photos and in notes I had taken. Having a deadline kept me reasonably focused and I resisted the temptation to wander too far from the task at hand.

Much to my husbands delight, I finally sorted all the documentation into the four "Family" boxes!!   He  now had space to watch the footy in peace.  The next step was to work my way through each "Family" Box. sorting the information into documentation that supported "Birth", Death" and Marriages", Census, Newspaper articles, photos. 

 Initially, I sat on the floor of our lounge Room with four boxes marked "Shepherd", "Herbert", "Smith" and "Hewson".  These were the four main branches of our family tree.  Legs crossed, sneezing from all the dust, I slowly made my way through the boxes of documents, photos, notes, letters, newspaper cuttings  and other bits and pieces that I had collected over the last 15-20 years.   I then proceeded to sort all the information I had collected into these four boxes. 

Approaching your family tree research in an organised manner

Yes this is part of what had accumulated in my spare room, not to mention the collection of scanned documents that were in numerous files on our computer and my lap top. I am sure there are many family researchers who, like me, find it hard to keep up with the large amount of information, photos and documents that they have accumulated.

It was around 2007 I decided it was time to really sort out this mess. At this time I was studying at University and one of the subjects I was doing that semester was Project Management. Our first Assignment was to identify a project we would like to put into action over a period of 2 months. We had to develop a plan, put it into action and report back to our lecturer and class on its success. So using the guidelines and lecture notes from our Project Management Course I set out, with great determination, to put some order into my family tree research. (I do believe my husband was even more enthused at the thought of having the spare room or family office functioning in a more ordered manner).

The first step in the process was to identify what my were my main objectives. (sooooo important to have something that is dooable). So after some careful thinking I came up with the following objectives.

1. Develop an on-line family tree, that can be accessed by family members and family researchers and can be used as a basis for future research.

2. Establish a physical filing system for the storage of family tree records (birth, death and marriage certificates, photos, newspaper cuttings, personal accounts, letters etc.).

3. Develop an filing system on my computer for the storage of all scanned documents that is logical and easy to maintain.

I look forward to sharing the different stages of this project and appreciate any feedback or suggestions on how to make the process even smoother and more efficient.

The Family Tree Grows

In the late 1980’s our family moved and all my family tree research was packed into boxes to be shipped off to our new home.  Over the next 10-15 years, though I still kept my eyes and ears open for new family information, I didn't have time for any serious research and so these boxes virtually, stayed sealed.  With two young boys starting school, and a family business, there wasn't a lot of spare hours for digging around our family tree roots.

It was interesting though, I had unofficially become the keeper of the family history.   Members of the family would forward on anything they thought I might be interested in.  Also when another member of the family started to delve into the family history, they would be referred to me.  So during this time, my boxes of family memorabilia grew, and gathered dust in our spare room. 

It was almost 15 years later when both my boys had left home and we had moved home again that I finally started to find the time to start digging back into the mysteries of my family tree.  By this time there were numerous online genealogy sites such Ancestry, Genes United and My Heritage. Initially I took a starter package with Genes United. I signed up and was hooked.  I started pulling out all the notes, old pictures  etc and entering the data into my family tree. We invested in a scanner and my poor dear husband scored the task of scanning the reams of photos and certificates.

The feedback that I received from my on-line tree was phenomenal.  I couldn't wait for the next instalment of "hot matches" to come through, so I could make contact with others researching similar trees. I was starting to acquire a large address book of family tree contacts and it was great to be able to share stories, documents and photos.  Over the next few years I invested in a couple of on-line genealogy site memberships, trying them out to see which I found the best.  Now I do my main research and record keeping on Ancestry, but have a number of other memberships with other On Line Family Research sites as I find that some offer advantages that others don't and it also widens my access to other researchers. A word of caution, memberships can become expensive so be careful to look for the option that best meets your needs and budget. 

However, despite my joy at the influx of new information on my family history, a dilemma was developing.  The more information, pictures and documents I collected the harder it was to keep it in order.  I needed to find a way to put all the information into logical order!!  this was not an easy task and I hope to share this learning experience with you in later blogs.  

Gathering information for your family tree

I guess I have always been interested in history, and studied modern and ancient history at school.  This fascination  with the “times before me” was transferred to an ever growing interest in my family background and the people who came before me.  To begin with I was attracted by the puzzle of putting everyone in their place, with dates of birth, marriage and death. However, this has now evolved and I find I want to know more about the people,  the events they experienced and the times they lived through.

If you are planning to start putting together your family history you have to be prepared to become  a gather and collector of all different types of memorabilia.  Some items you will have to search high and low for and others will just land in your lap.  When I was first married and my two sons were very small, I started to be serious about researching our family roots.  This was in a time without Internet. All research had to be done in library’s, local museums, cemeteries, archives and more importantly by rummaging in many dusty boxes and suitcases that had been stored under beds or storage rooms. I wrote with great enthusiasm to many relatives telling them of my plan to put together our family history. Many of these letters went unanswered.  However, luckily  there were others in my family that were happy to share stories, old photos and letters and contacts with other family links.

The process of gathering information was much slower than it is today.  All communication was by post or phone and the building of the family tree was a much slower process.    Though I must confess, it was much easier to keep up with.  I don’t know what other family tree researchers feel, but my experience is that now it is impossible to keep up with the flow of information and resources  that are available to us today. (Mind you I wouldn’t want to change this, I love that you can search a name and instantly find when they were born, where they lived etc).

I believe that the things I learnt when I first started researching the family tree (a lot by trial and error) were valuable, and more importantly a lot of the information that I gathered during these early years have opened new family links more recently.  For example, recently I was reading through some notes that I had made when visiting my great Aunt in 1986.  She had mentioned that one of her Aunts had died in a fire.  Using the wonderful resource that we now have for Australian research I did a search on TROVE, and was able to find an article that gave the date of her death and the name of her husband and children.  From this little note that I had made many years ago, I was able to fill in a number of gaps in our family history.

If you are thinking of looking into your family tree here is a list of  some things that will help you find those important clues that will assist you along the way.

1. Letters - provide a lot of information, e.g. date, residence, family events, occupations  and general family history.

2. Diaries – if you are able to find an old diary or log book of an ancestor this is a wonderful bonus. They can provide so much information about the life and times of that family member.

3. Postcards, birthday or Christmas cards- can provide residential address, names of other members of the family and information on what they were doing at that time of history. 

4.  Old receipts -  provide names, dates and add to the story of the person.

5. Memorial Cards - these generally will give you birth and death date and sometimes family members.

6. Photos – look on the back for any notes that may give you clues

7.  Newspaper cuttings -  even if you are not able to see the link with your family, there must have been a reason they were cut out, so keep them.  Something might come up later that explains the importance of the cutting.

8. Christening certificates, school awards, note books – all add to the information about an individual.

9. Stories - write down or record stories from family members.  Don’t put this off.  There are so many of my older relatives that I wish I had made time to talk to.

10.  Establish links with others researching same family or connections with your family. This can be done through the Internet, online genealogy sites or just writing to family members.

11. Historical societies in towns where ancestors are a great source and may have old newspapers, photos, maps etc.  A lot of Historical Societies have books published on their area which are a mine of information about the times that our ancestors lived in.

.

.