L is for ...

family-history-through-the-alphabet

LOVE

The most important word in any Family History.

Love of my family is why I am so passionate about researching my ancestry because I feel those ancestors are the ones we shouldthank for making us who we are today.

We have our ups and downs 

as many families do

I like to think our Love 

will always shine through.

My husband and I have been married for 33 years this November.

We have been blessed with two wonderful children.

My darling daughter has just given me my first grandchild, a gorgeous little boy.

My beloved son envelopes me in huge bear hugs whenever he visits.

My Dad is fit and well and loves to travel.

My dearly loved Mum passed away in April this year.  She was always interested in my family history findings.  Mum was always there for my brother and I in both good times and bad as she was for my children, her cherished grandchildren.  Mum married a wonderful man who I am proud to call my stepfather.

I consider myself very lucky to have known a lot of love from both sets of grandparents. 

My brother, cousin and I with my 2 grandfathers.

My brother and I with our maternal Nana

My brother and I with our paternal grandfather.

Me as a baby with my paternal nana

Many people never get to experience the special love of a grandparent. We were lucky.

I wish I could turn back the clock and hold just once more my loved ones who are no longer here.  Remember to always tell your family that you LOVE them.

 My family history through the alphabet list

K is for ....

Korweinguboora

Family History through the Alphabet 

I reckon my jaw nearly hit the ground the day I asked my mother-in-law how to spell the name of her home town.  

I always thought it was Quinjee-borer.

Well that's how it was pronounced and often shortened to just Quinjee!

The name fascinated me.  Sadly her father had been killed in a buggy accident on his way home from Daylesford.


Daylesford Advocate - September 3rd 1937.

Death of Korweinguboora pioneer:
As a result of an accident early in the week, Mr. W. Riley, a pioneer of Korweinguboora, died in the Daylesford Hospital on Tuesday.  He was 73 years of age.  He was born at Warnambool.
Mr. Riley drove to Daylesford in a buggy on Monday.  On the return journey, as he neared Sailors Falls, the horse shied and swung the buggy against a post.  The vehicle capsized over a steep embankment.  Mr.  Riley was thrown out and rendered unconcious.  A passing motorist was hailed, and Mr. Riley was conveyed to the Daylesford Hospital.
He was admitted suffering from fractured ribs and severe head injuries.  He died 24 hours later without regaining consciousness.
He had lived nearly all his life in the district,  where he was highly esteemed.
The late Mr. Riley, who was 73 years of age on the day of his death, is survived by a widow, two sons and two daughters.
The funeral, which took place on Thursday afternoon, was very largely attended by friends from the Korweinguboora district.
Coffin bearers were Messrs J. and R. Riley (sons), J. and J. Riley, R. Elvis and R. Young (nephews); cord bearers, being Messrs J. Riley (brother), H. Winter (brother in law), W. Mustard (nephew), G. Hodge, G. Howard and J. Dwyer.
Rev Father Hunter officiated at the graveside, and mortuary arrangements were attended to by Mr. R. F. Verey.

http://www.korweinguboora.com/cb_pages/history.php

This wonderful 1936 newspaper article found in Trove summed up how locals felt about their long long town names.

Boomahnoomoonah And Upotipotpon Stay Unchanged. (1936, May 25). Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW : 1888 - 1954), p. 4. Retrieved July 22, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47899450

 My family history through the alphabet list

J is for .......

My contribution to this week's family history through the Alphabet Challenge by Gould 

Justice of the Peace

Found with Judicious searching.  (rolls eyes)

My family history had too many John's, Janes, Jeans, Jessies and James' to choose from so I decided to go with a different J word or two. Quite a few cropped up on this research Journey - Justice of the Peace, Johnsonville, Joy and one or two John's thrown in, all fitted the purpose for this post.

Finding the Justice of the Peace in my family was a Joyous Journey. 

That Journey began when I found the 1880 death notice in Trove of my gg grandfather, John Morgan, late  of the Cross Keys Hotel in Essendon.  John's wife was Alice, maiden name Kelly.

I didn't know there were any members of his family in New Zealand so I Jumped into Papers Past (NZ newspaper archives) and oh what Joy!!

Again in Papers Past I found a treasure trove (oops) of information.  The information revealed itself little by little.  I only had a birth year for John and Alice Morgan's son Alexander so you can imagine my Joy again when I put "Alexander Morgan and Essendon" in the Papers past search bar and up came the following.

New Zealand Evening Post 3 October 1904 

Another J surfaced when it was found that Alexander, at that time, was living in the town of Johnsonville near Wellington.

With assistance from a very helpful lady, Lucy, in one of my favourite genealogy sites Rootschat   further searching using the keywords, Kelly, Ohariu Valley, Essendon etc revealed the newspaper notice proving the relationship and showing that Alice's brother was in fact Thomas Kelly and that he was a J.P.

Again a search using Ohariu produced the JP information.

Wanganui Herald on 14th Dec 1892

And finally the obituary notice for Thomas Kelly produced a wealth of information.

My Joyous Journey certainly didn't end there.  Many months later, after doing a google search for her great grandfather, Alexander Morgan. I was contacted by a cousin!  Her google search had produced the long thread detailing my search and findings in the Rootschat site. 

I had all but given up hope of ever finding other cousins who were researching this same family.  And she had photos!!

Meet my Mr Thomas Kelly - J.P, and his wife .......................................................................         

Juliana

 My family history through the alphabet list

Illuminating Blogger Award

I was absolutely thrilled to bits when I checked my email this morning and found that I had been given the Illuminating Blogger Award by one of my favourite bloggers, Catherine Crout-Habel  of “Seeking Susan ~ Meeting Marie ~ Finding Family” @ http://caiteile.com 
Catherine you've really made my day, thanks so much.


I thought I'd try blogging 6 months ago and I'm loving it.  I'm not a very confident writer but I am very passionate about my family history and, as Catherine said in her post, rather than see my family members eyes glaze over whenever I mentioned it I thought I'd start a blog.  
When and if they ever do become interested, it will be there for them.
   
It has been really wonderful to "meet" and learn from other bloggers and people who share my passion for genealogy.


The last couple of months have been an emotional roller coaster ride and I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like. My dear mum, passed away in April.  She enjoyed my genealogy findings and was such a huge help whenever I had questions.   I miss her so much.
Then in June our daughter gave birth to a beautiful little baby boy, my first grandchild and I am besotted.  As they live 3 hours drive away and we have a 7 day a week business it takes time and planning to visit.  
A grandchild gives me even more reason to keep recording the family stories.


One random thing about me :-
I was born prematurely in 1958 weighing only 4lbs and wasn't expected to live so consider myself pretty lucky to be here.

**********

Now my task is to nominate another 6 other bloggers for this award.

There are so many I enjoy reading that it'll be really hard to choose but here goes and thank you all:

Dance Skeletons - Fi has a wonderful sense of humour that shines through in her writing. Many times she has brightened my day with a good chuckle as well as sharing great genealogy links and resources. 

Geniaus - Jill's energy and passion for technology relating to genealogy is inspirational.  She shares a wealth of knowledge both in her blogs and her live tweets from genealogy events.

The Empire Called and I Answered - Lenore's work on a commemorative online database of the WW1 volunteers of Essendon and Flemington is impressive.  She has worked tirelessly for many years compiling information about these areas of Melbourne and I will always be grateful for her help and advice when I began my search for my families there.

Western District Families - Merron finds and shares some great genealogy resources and information on her Western District Families, one of which I have a slight connection to.   

Lots of local knowledge.

Tracking Down the Family - Jennifer grew up in the same home town as I did and even though we must have crossed paths many times "way back then" we have only just now connected through our genealogy blogs.  I enjoy reading and can relate to her stories.

Lorri's Life - Even though her blog is not "genea" related we "met" through my genealogy postings pre-blog when Lorri phoned me with an interest in writing a story based on one of my ancestors.  I enjoy the fresh way that Lorri writes about her life in Melbourne with her young family, her Italian heritage, cooking and planting/growing tips.

**********

If you’ve been nominated and choose to accept my nomination … the rules of the award are straightforward:

1. The nominee should visit the award site (http://foodstoriesblog.com/illuminating-blogger-award/) and leave a comment indicating that they have been nominated and by whom. (This step is so important because it’s the only way that we can create a blogroll of award winners).
2. The Nominee should thank the person that nominated them by posting & including a link to their blog.
3. The Nominee should include a courtesy link back to the official award site (http://foodstoriesblog.com/illuminating-blogger-award/) in their blog post.
4. Share one random thing about yourself in your blog post.
5. Select at least five other bloggers that you enjoy reading their illuminating, informative posts and nominate them for the award. Many people indicate that they wish they could nominate more so please feel free to nominate all your favorites.
6. Notify your nominees by leaving a comment on their blog, including a link to the award site (http://foodstoriesblog.com/illuminating-blogger-award/).

I is for ......

Irish research

Irish research has always frustrated me but thankfully so much more is now becoming available online.

The biggest problem I've had with my Irish ancestry is common surnames and the fact that Australian records usually only give county names not townlands.  

The only way I found the name of the townland for my great great grandmother was because one of her brothers went on from Australia to New Zealand.  His New Zealand death certificate gave both county and townland names.

One of my favourite online resources for Irish research is 

Ireland Genealogy Project &
Ireland Genealogy Project Archives

http://www.igp-web.com/

And for the month of July the Irish Family History Foundation is introducing a change to its system for viewing pages of search results to allow you to view more search result pages. 

There are also some great new Facebook groups for specific Irish Counties genealogy.  

These are closed groups so you need to ask to join.  

There are docs that you can add your surname interests to and everyone is very helpful and friendly.

Thanks to Christina Hunt the following is a list of Irish counties with a Facebook page.

Cavan

https://www.facebook.com/groups/cavangenealogy/

Clare

https://www.facebook.com/groups/countyclare/

Cork

https://www.facebook.com/groups/corkgenealogicalsociety/

Dublin

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dublingenealogy/

Limerick

https://www.facebook.com/groups/limerickgenealogy/

Longford

https://www.facebook.com/groups/longford/

Tipperary

https://www.facebook.com/groups/tipperary/

Wexford

https://www.facebook.com/groups/countywexford/

Wicklow

https://www.facebook.com/groups/wicklow/

 "Family History Through the Alphabet challenge" introduced by Gould 

 My family history through the alphabet list

H is for .......

Handskum and Hart families in Hollywell-cum-Needingworth, Huntingdonshire.

Hoo knows what the correct spelling of Handskum is?

In  Hollingwell-cum-Needingworth, Huntingdonshire, England on the 31st of January 1721 my 6th great grandparents, Thomas Hart and Mary Handskum were married.

They named their son Handskum but in the church records it was spelt Hanscomb.

Handskum/Hanscomb Hart didn't appear to name a son Hanscomb (not according to the records anyway) but his son Peter Hart had a son whom he named Hanscom.

This Hanscom Hart married Hannah (Dunchely or Dunklin) in Huntingdonshire on the 14th of July 1817.  They also used the family name for a son born in 1830 but somehow/somewhere the H was dropped - perhaps the Vicar needed a Hearing aid - and Hanscom became Anscum.  Poor little Anscum died that same year.

His elder brother Peter Hart was my great great grandfather.  I think Peter swam to Australia.
He married Agnes Mason at Talbot, Victoria in 1870.

Peter and Agnes also named a son Hanscom Hart.  This Hanscom was born in Echuca, Victoria in 1887.

My Mum once told me that she remembers her grandmother, Margaret (nee Hart) always dropped the H from Hanscom when talking about her brother so it came out as Anscom.

If it wasn't for all the use of this unusual name back through the generations I would probably never have been able to trace my Harts and Handskums/Hanscombs/Hanscoms/Anscoms back so far.

This post is part of Gould's Family History through the Alphabet Challenge

 My family history through the alphabet list