Following the suggestion of Geniaus, and facing a very quiet New Year's Eve at my parents, I put together the following - definitely my last blog post for the year:
1. An elusive
ancestor I found was: not really an elusive ancestor but rather an elusive part
of an ancestor’s life – his music. We have always known that my grandmother’s
maternal grandfather was a composer but never been able to find any of his
music until Music Australia shared their collection with Trove. My
siblings and I all play (or have played) musical instruments, as do most of the next generation, so
this was a really exciting find for us.
2. A precious family
photo I found was/were: so many photos since starting my blog. It has prompted mum
and to a smaller extent, her sister, to show and share so many old photos that
have been hidden away in boxes in the cupboard.
3. An ancestor's
grave I found was: I didn’t find any direct ancestors’ graves but found lots who
were linked to my ancestors in St Just in Cornwall. The best part of this was
Mr Jax (who usually yawns at the mention of genealogy) tramping through the
long grass to take photos of headstones! (I did ‘let’ him play golf afterwards
though).
4. An important vital
record I found was: too many to think of – they are all important, providing
proof and links to the next generation.
5. A newly found
family member who shared: a distant cousin in Auckland through a family tree
online (from 2001) via a very roundabout way and very lucky that all the
‘linking people’ were still alive. She has the Garrett family bible and is
going to photocopy parts of it for me until I can visit.
6. A geneasurprise I
received was: discovering that the cousin mentioned above had oil paintings of
two of my 4xgreat grandparents that she was generous enough to photograph and
email. We had never seen photos or portraits of these ancestors before. One is
in my blog A Beautiful Lady and the other I haven’t written about yet.
7. My 2012 blog post
that I was particularly proud of was/were: my Trove Tuesday blogs – what a great
prompt to keep me going when life got busy, and I only missed a couple right at
the end (near Christmas) – will try to keep it up in 2013, thanks Amy.
8. My 2012 blog post
that received a large number of hits or comments was: 484 hits for my post on theanniversary of the battle of Fromelles about my visit to the cemetery and
memorials, and about my ancestor who was one of the identified casualties.
9. A new piece of software
I mastered was: not sure if I’ve really ‘mastered’ it yet, but Bento on my
iPad, taking photos of mum’s memorabilia straight into it and filling in the
(modified) template recording the rest of the details.
10. A social media tool I
enjoyed using for genealogy was: blogging – I started blogging this year. I
started with a travel blog (including some ancestral sites) so I would get in
the habit of writing regularly. I converted to a geneablog about a month after
returning home and really enjoy the reactions and input from family, the
encouraging comments from fellow geneabloggers, and all the interesting blogs I have discovered.
11. A genealogy
conference/seminar/webinar from which I learnt something new was: the congress
in Adelaide, the first really large genealogy event I have been to, and not the
last.
12. I am proud of the
presentation I gave at/to: not being really fond of presenting, I quite like running hands on Trove workshops at our local society – helping people discover
this amazing resource, and everyone goes home finding something unexpected.
13. A journal/magazine
article I had published was: nothing major but regularly submit items for our
Society newsletter.
14. I taught a friend how
to: taught my Dad to Skype so he and Mum can keep in better contact with me
(and others) – this has led to all sorts of genealogical discoveries.
15. A genealogy book that
taught me something new was: In Tasmania by Nicholas Shakespeare, not finished
it yet but it covers a lot of early Tasmanian history alongside the author’s
quest to discover his ancestors after finding old letters saved by his
grandmother.
16. A great
repository/archive/library I visited was: the amazing Dutch Resistance Museum in
Amsterdam where I learnt more about what my parents in law and their families
lived through in WWII. Learnt so much I haven’t been able to get my head around
it all to write a post.
17. A new genealogy/history
book I enjoyed was: Inside History magazine – so easy to read anywhere on my iPad.
18. It was exciting to
finally meet: my husband’s cousins in Maastricht, Netherlands and to see his
aunt and uncle again after many years.
19. A geneadventure I
enjoyed was/were: numerous and included:
a) walking around Oatlands
in Tasmania where one of my convict ancestors spent time in the jail and
building the Heritage Highway.
b) walking around Bath and
finding the house that my 3xgreat grandfather lived in with his mother in 1851
(Census) just before he came to Australia.
c) booking a day tour in
Cornwall and finding that the only mine we were to visit was the one my
ancestors worked in.
d) sitting in a pub in
Padstow, Cornwall and having my husband crack up laughing when he pointed out
that “everyone in this pub has your nose”!
20. Another positive I
would like to share is: this has made me realise how many subjects I have for
future blogs, …
…and, volunteers are
wonderful – they keep societies going in a variety of ways, giving their time,
their knowledge and their friendship.
Happy New Year everyone!
I only just found your post, Jackie.
ReplyDeleteYou have made great strides this year and because you are so modest you haven't mentioned your wonderful work as the new President of the Ku-ring-gai Historical Society
Hi Jackie
ReplyDeleteI'm a descendant of the Austen and Purvis families. I might just have a little more information for you on the Garretts. I can't find a contact address for you - you can email me at genealogy@dunning.plus.com
I really enjoyed reading this, especially question 19! And how excited you must have been to find portraits of your ancestors. My great-great-grandmother's brother (John CAMPBELL) was a pioneer of Gippsland, and I was amazed when I found portraits of John and his wife in a historical museum at Sale.
ReplyDeleteI must try the Bento tip. Pleased you found the portraits. We had some that went down on a ship heading from Australia to China in the early 1900s.
ReplyDelete