Ancestor Search

Oops! Got that wrong!

2012-02-07T14:06:00.000+11:00

Have just had an email from a lady pointing out a glaring mistake in my tree. Well, it is glaring now that I look into it closely. Many years ago, before using the computer and internet for my search (i.e. I did it the old fashioned way - trawling through microfiche, hopefully making contact with fellow researchers through lists in magazines and journals etc.) I made contact with several people who were researching the family of James DANIELS and his wife Mary RILEY, from the Hunter Valley region of NSW. This was my late first husband's family. A son, Edward DANIELS, married a Sarah Sophia MOORE - and it is from this union that my husband was descended. One of the DANIELS / MOORE children was a Sarah Ana Young DANIELS and each researcher had her married to a George MacLENNAN. Over the years I added to this line with relevant registration numbers, spouses and children etc. One correspondent very kindly sent me a scan of a photograph of Sarah Ana Young MacLENNAN, nee DANIELS.
Surprise! Surprise! I got an email from a lady this week, querying my inclusion of the marriage of Sarah Ana Young DANIELS to George MacLENNAN. She is a descendant of the DANIELS / MacLENNAN marriage. She included a copy of the Marriage Certificate, which clearly shows that the mother of the bride, Sarah Ann DANIELS, was Ann COLLIER, and the father of the bride was James DANIELS. A copy of Sarah MacLENNAN's death registration which I received years ago shows that her parents were - James DANIELS and Ann COLLIER. At the time I remember thinking the Ann COLLIER must have been a mistake. I never noticed that the father should have been Edward, not James. Nor apparently had any other researcher. My biggest surprise though, was that the woman who pointed out the error was the same woman from whom I'd received information and the photograph many years ago.
It is now quite clear that Sarah Ana Young DANIELS should never have been linked with George MacLENNAN. She seems to have disappeared off the map though, as no-one has been able to locate anything other than her birth registration.
One researcher has another theory - that Sarah Ana Young DANIELS is actually Elizabeth Young DANIELS. The only reference I can find for Elizabeth Young DANIEL is a marriage to George MITCHELL in Narrabri in 1877. There is also a Death Registration for an Elizabeth Young MITCHELL in 1936 - with parents James and Sophia. If she is of the same family her parents should be Edward and Sarah. I suppose it IS possible that the parents have been incorrectly reported and that the informant got Edward confused with his father James, and gave the mother's seond name rather than her first. It is certainly strange that both DANIEL(S) girls have the middle name of Young - it would suggest a connection, but exactly what is unknown.

Just Found Another Rellie!

2012-01-05T11:19:00.003+11:00

Rees JONES, Mayor of Cardiff 1880

Wow! I have just received an email from a descendant of my great grandfather. I knew my great grandparents (William Luther JONES and Eliza DIXON) had four children, one being my grandmother Christina Ruby JONES. I never knew Christina because she died in 1947, 6 years before I was born. I did know her sister Edith Marion CHISHOLM, nee JONES, known as May. When I was growing up we visited Aunty May and Uncle Tom quite often. They lived at Warrandyte. They had no children together, although Uncle Tom had a daughter from his first marriage. We used to see Thelma occasionally too. My great grandparents also had two sons - Cyril Rees, known as Rees, and Henry Herbert Rex, known as Harry. Recently I have been in contact with a descendant of Rees. Now I have been contacted by a descendant of Henry. The lovely thing is that this lady, Val, has transcripts of letters written to William Luther JONES by his mother. There are four letters! They mention his wife Eliza, and the children. On one occasion she sent £100 for Xmas presents for the children. Given Willie's addiction to gambling I wonder if the children ever received those Christmas presents. The letters mention a number of people I have come across in my research, but they also mention names I've never heard. Who is "Doll" for instance? Obviously someone in the family as she was to be consulted about how the house should be decorated, having similar tastes to Mary. Thank you Val, for sharing this wonderful insight into my great great grandmother. I am still none the wiser as to how Val has seen my work. Her name isn't familiar as a contact from Ancestry, nor Genes Reunited. I did ask her how she had seen my work, but she didn't enlighten me. Apparently she has a small photocopy of a photo of Mary JONES, nee COOK.
Added 6.1.2012 - Val found my work through a Google Search - Yay for the Internet!

Advent Calendar - Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T14:31:00.000+11:00

How did you, your family or your ancestors spend Christmas Eve?

There are a number of things about Christmas Eve that I remember vividly. We always sang Christmas Carols around the Christmas Tree before we went to bed on Christmas Eve. Of course there was also the obligatory shortbread and glass of milk left out for Santa, and a carrot for the reindeer.
As I got older we used to go to the local Carols by Candlelight service at the football ground. This was always held on Christmas Eve. It was good old-fashioned community singing, where everybody joined in with the (usually) Salvation Army choir and band. As a teenager I remember that we went to the carols, then returned home and sat up with our neighbours and waited till midnight, then we opened our Christmas presents!
I also went to Midnight service at Church on many Christmas Eves. This was always a special service which I really enjoyed. My grandmother often took me to Midnight service at her Church.

Carols By Candlelight - Myer Music Bowl c 1980

Another annual event on Christmas Eve was the Carols By Candelight held at the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne. As far as I can remember we never went to the Music Bowl, but we always tried to watch it on television if we were at home, and especially when we were at my grandmothers. She sang in a choir called "The Argus Singers", and they were part of a massed choir that sang at the Music Bowl Carols. Again, it used to be a night of good comunity singing - now it is a showcase for modern day 'artists' who quite often massacre the traditional carols and / or sing 'new' Christmas songs that just don't have the same feel to them.

Advent Calendar - Christmas At School

2011-12-16T03:14:00.005+11:00

I remember that we always celebrated Christmas at Primary School - making Christmas decorations, Christmas cards, various other Christmas themed activities. I also remember we used to sing lots of Christmas songs. I only remember one Christmas pageant (for want of a better word). It was when I was in Grade 1, so I had been at school for just one year, and all the Infant classes were crammed into two rooms which opened up with concertina doors between them. We all sang Christmas Carols and there were probably some children dressed up for a Nativity performance.
At Sunday School I remember dressing up for various Nativity performances too.

When I became a teacher myself I loved Christmas in the classroom. From 1st December it was fair game. I always drew a large Santa picture on the blackboard, and all our activities (where possible) were Christmas based. None of the big schools I was teaching at had Christmas Concerts, but both small rural schoos did. My favourites where the ones at my first rural school - because there were only two full time teachers and 30 or so children we went all out. Even some of the parents put on acts. The annual Christmas Concert was a big attraction for the whole community - everyone came.

At the end of the festivities the children all chanted for Santa to pay a visit, which he always did armed with a small gift for each child.

A wonderful country supper was then enjoyed by all.

Advent Calendar - Holiday Happenings

2011-12-16T02:40:00.002+11:00

Often times December to mid-January birthdays and anniversaries get over shadowed by the Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year holidays. So we’re going to shine a spotlight on those family members and ancestors this time around. Select one or more December to mid-January birthdays and/or anniversaries on your family tree. Write a short tribute to or memory of those birthday guys and gals and write a toast to the anniversary couples.

Lindsay George Arnold GOOD DCM

Beryl GOOD, nee WALSH

December / January Birthdays and Anniversaries? Do they come in any other months? Our first grandchild, Avalon May CROMB, was born on December 4th - she has just turned 15 (now 16). Where have the years gone? Our daughter-in-law Janine Maree ROBERTS (nee GIRI) had her birthday on December 13th. My grandmother Beryl GOOD nee WALSH was born on 5th December 1903 and died on 2nd August 1996. My grandfather Lindsay George Arnold GOOD was born on 13th January 1897 and died on 14th January 1965. My husband's birthday is January 3rd. My step-daughter Karen Lynette CROMB, nee ROBERTS, has her birthday on 26th December. I was first married on 5th January 1974, and my second marriage was on 17th January 1998. All in all December / January are full of holiday happenings for our family.

(First published December 2010)

Advent Calendar - Fruit Cake, Friend or Foe?

2011-12-14T16:41:00.001+11:00

A decorated cake - but not quite like mine

Did you like fruitcake? Did your family receive fruitcakes? Have you ever re-gifted fruitcake? Have you ever devised creative uses for fruitcake?

Over the years I have decorated a number of fruit cakes for Christmas. Usually I would make the fruit cake a week or so before Christmas and although it was tradition to put almond icing on the cake no-one really liked almond icing so I would just use royal icing. Then I would paint a santa picture on the icing using food colouring. Usually we had all had so much to eat by the time we got to the Christmas cake that no-one felt like eating fruit cake. I haven't got any photos on my creations. And I haven't decorated a cake for a number of years.
(First published 2010)

Advent Calendar - Christmas Cookies

2011-12-08T18:09:00.006+11:00

Did your family or ancestors make Christmas Cookies? How did you help? Did you have a favorite cookie?

I don't recall that my grandmother made any cookies especially for Christmas, but my mother has always made shortbread. As I was growing up I seem to recall that the shortbread was mainly at Christmas, but nowadays Mum makes it all year. She still uses the same recipe she used when I was little.

Here is her recipe:

Ingredients: Butter – 8 ozs (250 gms)

Plain Flour – 10½ ozs (330 gms)

Icing Sugar – 3½ ozs (110 gms)

Cornflour – 2 ozs (65 gms)

Vanilla – ½ tsp (a dribble!)

Salt - pinch (optional)

Method: Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla. Work flours in until a pliable paste. Flatten out (do NOT roll) to 3/8" (1cm) thickness. Cut into pieces and bake in a moderate oven (180⁰) for 20 – 25 minutes.

Note: To make good shortbread you must knead the dough till it comes clean from your hands.

It is beautiful shortbread! Mum often gives it as a gift to friends and relations.

shortbread

I have used the same recipe to make shortbread at Christmas time, and intend doing so again this year to give some to our neighbours.

Advent Calendar - Holiday Parties

2011-12-07T16:23:00.002+11:00

Did your family throw a holiday party each year? Do you remember attending any holiday parties?

No, we didn't have Christmas Parties that I remember when I was growing up. However, for a number of years my husband and I held a pre-Christmas drinks party. We would invite all the local friends that we had perhaps not seen very often during the year.
For the past couple of years I have not felt well enough to worry about hosting a party, but last year I decided we would give it a go. I sent out invitations early November, for a party in the first week of December, thinking that would get in before most other Christmas Parties. Wrong! Most of the people we invited were unable to come due to prior commitments. Then, of those who did respond in the affirmative, one couple got held up at a grandchild's dance concert on the day and didn't make it, and another couple had a funeral to attend on the day. So this year I decided we weren't going to try to compete with all the other end of year festivities that people seem to be drawn into. I did think of having pre-Christmas in July drinks, but July came and went too quickly for me to do anything but think about it.
Also in recent years there has always been a work Christmas break-up function to attend. These are usually great fun, and often involve a Kris Kringle of one sort or another.

Advent Calendar - Santa Claus

2011-12-06T21:24:00.004+11:00

Did you ever send a letter to Santa? Did you ever visit Santa and “make a list?” Do you still believe in Santa Claus?

My brother and I always wrote a letter to Santa. I don't remember whether Santa ever wrote a letter back! I continued the tradition with my daughter. I still have a couple of letters from Susan to Santa which he must have left lying around. Of course, the letters contained the wish-list. We were also taken to visit Santa in various shops. I don't have photos of me with Santa, but I do have many of my daughter as she paid the mandatory visit to Santa.
When my mother was a child she knew her parents didn't have much money - and the year her friends were starting to doubt the existence of Santa my mother had proof positive that he did exist. When Mum found a beautiful doll under the tree she knew there had to be a Santa because her parents could never have afforded a doll like that.

My parents cleverly got around the problem of multiple Santas, and also how to explain why Santa brought some children very expensive presents while others got less. All of the Santas that we saw at Christmas parties, in the shops etc. were Santa's Helpers. As for the presents, the main present we got was from Mum and Dad, and it was the smaller presents in our stockings that came from Santa.
I remember the year I learned about the secret of Santa - I went snooping looking for presents. I found a case under my parents' bed, full of toys. I told my brother - who promptly told my mother! Mum told me I had spoiled the surprise - yet it had never occurred to me that this meant Mum and Dad "helped" Santa each year. I may have cottoned on when I saw those same toys in our stockings (that's where Santa left the presents from him), but as I'd only had a brief look in the suitcase even that might not have spoiled anything.

I have a wonderful photo of one of our granddaughters - squealing with delight when Santa visited a Christmas party we were attending.
Do I still believe in Santa? Why, of course .........

Advent Calendar - Outdoor Decorations

2011-12-05T14:27:00.001+11:00

Did people in your neighborhood decorate with lights? Did some people really go “all out” when decorating? Any stories involving your ancestors and decorations?

I don't recall that it was the done thing to decorate the outside of the house as I was growing up. About the closest it came to was that many houses had a lighted Christmas Tree in a window facing the street. In fact my brother and I made up a game called, obviously, Christmas Tree - a kind of spotto we played on long car trips at Christmas time. Each time we saw a tree we called out C, or H, or R etc. until we had seen enough trees to spell the words Christmas Tree. First one to spell it was the winner.
Now, we put up some coloured lights outside on the verandah and in trees and the garden, but most of our decorations are inside. Our neigbours however, go all out!
I love travelling around to look at the decorated houses, and we usually do this every year. Some years we have been in Bendigo at or near Christmas time and there are some spectacular street displays there which have been well worth the time and effort to look at them.

Advent Calendar - Christmas Cards

2011-12-04T14:58:00.001+11:00

Back to the Advent Calendar where I began this blog in earnest - this time for 2011.
The prompt for today:
Did your family send cards? Did your family display the ones they received? Do you still send Christmas cards? Do you have any cards from your ancestors?
My immediate family has always sent Christmas Cards to family and friends. Often, perhaps unfortunately, it is the only contact we have with some friends all year. But at least they know that they are thought of and remembered.
When I was little we would use the cards we received in scrapbooks, or to make cards of our own. We also took the cards to school where they were used to make cards for mum and dad. (Obviously this was done the following year!)
The cards we received were always displayed around the loungeroom. I don't remember any particular tradition regarding Christmas Cards, except that they were always part of Christmas.
Unfortunately I don't have any cards from years gone by - although birthday cards were always kept and pasted into an album. A tradition I continued for my own daughter.
Nowadays I still send cards to family and friends - about 80 each year. I also send (in addition to a 'real' card) an e-card to those friends and family who have internet access. I try to make sure my cards are done and posted in the first week of December. For those we don't have much contact with during the year I also include a letter which reviews our year. Whilst this is done on the computer I personalise them by using mail merge. I have a data document set up with individual names and a section for family specific chat. So everyone gets the main letter, with their names printed at the beginning of the letter, and most have an extra paragraph or two that is specific to that family - perhaps asking about a family member, or commenting on something that is only significant for that family. Therefore, my Christmas letter is as personalised as a mass-produce letter can be.
I also send a card to each of my grandchildren - just for them, rather than them being included in the family card. I know our daughter saved the cards when the girls were younger, but I'm not sure if she still does. I'm not sure whether our daughter-in-law ever kept the cards. Our other daughter has yet to produce any grandchildren, but I'm sure she would keep cards if and when she becomes a mother.
I do keep a record of who I send to, and who sends us cards. Usually the two lists are the same - but there are some people who I send to who never send cards. If someone sends us a card and I haven't sent them one I will do so and add them to my list for next year.
I do keep all handmade cards, and occasionally an especially beautiful card just for sentimental reasons. When I was teaching I used to let the children in my class cut up last year's cards to make cards for their family. I have also used pictures from last year's cards to make gift tags in the current year.
I have strings around the loungeroom walls on which I hang the cards to display them.

On-line Security

2011-10-22T15:40:00.000+11:00

The perennial question! I have spent many hours agonising over this. Should family history details be available to all via the Internet (or for that matter a published book)? Just how great is the risk of identity theft? I would have said I am extremely careful with regard to on-line security - yet my credit card has been 'hacked' twice, or rather, I've had two cards hacked, my original and the replacement less than two months after I got it. I'm not sure how it happened, but I'm sure it has nothing to do with my family history on-line. I believe it is pretty unlikely for someone to stumble upon my wiki without doing a search for specific name that exists in my data - if they know the name they are probably related. As I do not record current addresses I think it highly unlikely that someone could put together a name and birth details etc. from my family history PLUS current addresses and other relevant information and have enough to create a new identity. In many cases for living people I don't even have their birth dates - I seem to know more about my dead relatives than the living ones! As for the risk to credit cards from my data - impossible - the thief would have to have card numbers from other sources and successfully put the two together. And if they have a card number from another source they don't need any info from my family history. I think the biggest threat comes from people accessing the information and adding it to their own as gospel, and perhaps never seeing corrections or additions that I make so that their data may be incorrect. Others may see their information and assume it is all fact.
I have data in three places on the net - GenesReunited, my wiki and Ancestry.com. It is only available to people I approve through GenesReunited - but they can download a GEDCOM of the data making it an easy process to 'steal' my info and add it to their own. Ancestry.com is a Public Member Tree, maybe I should make it Private so only invited people can see it - if they want the info they can easily add it to their own tree, but on a person by person basis, so it is pretty time consuming. The good thing is that Ancestry does not publish data on living people, not even names. The bad thing about that is that it creates a false impression about a family. My wiki is open to all - I did password protect the pages for a while, but then I found that a Google search would show up relevant reports, but not the site itself so visitors wouldn't see my requests to maintain privacy etc. So, after much deliberation I have removed the password. With the wiki it means all info has to be typed in by hand as the reports are in .pdf format, not GEDCOMs, so not an easy task.
There is also the question of obtaining permission from others to use their data. It is virtually impossible to contact every living descendant. I have certainly asked permission from all people who I know have contributed lots of data. But I had a case the other day where someone I had never had contact with, but who was in my tree, contacted me to say she had given the info to one of my many fellow researchers for private use, not wholesale publication. So, to respect her wishes I have privatised the descendants she didn't want on the web. I have also done this for a couple of other major contributors who have asked for details to be kept private. I do not like to publish a database where every living person is listed as Private - it looks so messy. Also, some living people don't object to details being available, and some people want recent generations hidden even if they are deceased. My solution is to make some individuals Private so their places are 'held' but with no names or other details.
I am perfectly happy to share info with fellow researchers - after all we need all the help we can get. That's why I decided to put my work on the internet. It is a convenient way to let relatives who are interested see what I have discovered. But is is also an easy way to share with fellow researchers who may also be able to give me new information - and the web search engines have to be able to see my site in order for new contacts to be made. If I bite the bullet and pay for my wiki site I can make it by invitation only, but search engines won't see it either. However, sharing, and outright pinching data are two different things. If I have been given information by someone I credit them in my sources, and if I've got lots of info from them I acknowledge their assisstance in my wiki General Info pages for each surname. But I know of at least one woman who was given permission to access my GenesReunited Tree - she has 'nicked' the lot (even the branches that are NOTHING to do with her lines) and published it with her own research on her other lines on a web page. To top it off, she has some marriages in the wrong order where there have been multiple marriages. I have contacted her and asked her to modify the data, and to make corrections to some errors that I have discovered in my own data. I also chided her somewhat for not acknowledging the source of her information in any way. Naturally she has refused to respond to my requests, and the errors still remain. I know it is my work because she has my exact wording in several obvious places, such as a place of death as being the Ab....... Invalid Asylum (because I couldn't make out the exact name when I first entered it). Another tree I found on Ancestry.com also obviously comes from my data - don't know where he got it, but again there are some since discovered errors, but when I asked him where he got the info, and asked him to correct the errors he blocked all messages from me and didn't respond.

Go To Sleep My Baby

2011-07-23T13:00:00.007+10:00

And of course Billy Blunder reminded me of an even more special song - a lullaby in fact. My mother used to sing it to me when I was little, and I sang it to my daughter and my grandchildren when they were babies. Apparently it is the chorus to a song called "Wyoming". The midi that follows is the whole song, but about a third of the way through it goes to the chorus - and these are the words:
Go to sleep my baby
Close your pretty eyes
Angels up above thee
Watching dearie from above the skies
Great big moon is shining
Stars begin to peep
'Tis time for little picaninnies
To go to sleep

http://parlorsongs.com/content/w/wyoming.mid

Still brings tears to my eyes to hear it. I hope I can sing it to Susan's children one day.

Billy Blunder

2011-07-23T11:44:00.006+10:00

This blog may well turn out to be a bit of a history of my own life, as well as being about my family history journey. Doing some surfing on the net this morning - well, actually, I was looking to update a couple of links on this blog - and I suddenly remembered a song I used to sing when I was in Prep grade at school, and which I subsequently taught to my own infant classes. It was Billy Blunder, although I don't know that I ever knew it by that title - I think we called it Big, Black and Shiny or maybe One Rainy Morning.
Here's the words:
One rainy morning
Without any warning
A large umbrella crossed the street
Big, black and shiny
Covering someone tiny
And all that we could see were two small feet

In and out the traffic
Dodging here and there
That umbrella went with a Don't-Care air
I said in wonder
Who is that down under
Hugging that umbrella like a teddy bear

Apparently there are more verses, and it was actually a road safety song, but these are the only two verses I ever remember singing. Tried to find an audio version, but no can do.

Another exciting discovery

2011-07-20T18:52:00.003+10:00

I didn't make this discovery - rather it was made by Terry Cantwell and the Southern Ocean Exploration team. They discovered, after 76 years, the wreck of "TSS Coramba". This was the ship which foundered with all hands lost on 30th November 1934. My grandfather, John Loring SULLIVAN, lost his life along with 16 other crew members including the Captain.
This newspaper article tells the story.

However, there is more to tell. While we were on holiday I saw, for the first time, a life buoy from the "Coramba" at the Maritime discovery Centre in Portland. Then, on the day the above article was in The Age I actually touched the bell of the "Coramba" at the History Centre in Port Fairy. There was also another life buoy at Port Fairy. These, and the bell, and a derrick, had been washed up on the shore of Phillip Island after the "Coramba" sank.

Exciting find

2011-07-20T18:19:00.003+10:00

While we were on our recent holiday to the Western District we went to the old Wool Store complex in Portland. There was a market, a furniture store, and an antique shop in the complex. As we walked through the main entrance I noticed a large photographic print for sale, hanging on the wall. It was of an old sailing ship, with sails furled, tied to the wharf at Portland. Closer inspection revealed the name of the ship - "Joseph Sims". My heart skipped a beat, because my great grandfather, John Joseph SULLIVAN, had been Master of the "Joseph Sims" (and I later realised my grandfather, John Loring SULLIVAN, had also served on her.) Trouble was, the print was priced at $400, and was somewhat 'fuzzy' because it had been blown up too large. So although I was very tempted we didn't buy it.

When we got home my dear husband began searching the internet for an image of the "Joseph Sims" - lo and behold, after much searching, he found one on the State Library of Victoria site. It was beautiful, and out of copyright. I now have a 20" x 30" print on my wall!

My wiki

2011-07-20T17:47:00.004+10:00

(click on the image to go to the wiki)

The other family thing that has kept me busy is my wiki. I was looking for a way to easily share information with fellow researchers. I decided on a wiki. I'm rather proud of my Branches and Twigs. It is so simple to update, if a little time consuming. But I am learning shortcuts all the time.
Originally I password protected the pages so I could maintain some control over who saw the content. But I have, after much deliberation and soul searching, removed the password. Several reasons - my main concern was that people might misuse the information if it was open to anyone and everyone. But then I discovered that a Google search would return the actual documents from the wiki (rather than the wiki page itself) which effectively by-passed the password requirement. And there was nothing to stop someone who had been given the password from misusing the info, or claiming the research as their own. I have had this happen when I gave a lady access to my tree on GenesReunited - she copied the lot into her own tree and put it onto her website with nary a mention of where she got the information. Worse still, she has refused to respond to my messages to her. At least with the wiki everything would have to be hand entered, as I don't add GEDCOMS, only pdf documents and web pages. Also, I have been contacted by several previously unknown fellow descendants and by making the wiki too private I would miss these opportunities. I have told all fellow researchers that if they want anyone privatised I can do that on an individual basis, rather than supressing details for living people as that makes the resulting reports very clumsy and quite useless. Most people are happy to see where they fit into the descendants. Also, I never add current addresses or phone numbers (except my own) so it is only names and dates that could potentially be used for identifying purposes - and perhaps surprisingly I have more unknown birthdates for living people than I do for those gone before. Hope I'm not being naive, but I think I have made the right decision to remove the password. I am still contemplating paying for my wiki so I can make it that only members can look at it - but apparently that also prevents search engines 'seeing' my wiki so I wouldn't get hits from people who don't already know about the wiki. A real problem to know what to do for the best.

It's been a while

2011-07-20T17:26:00.003+10:00

Well, I started this blog in response to a post (somewhere) about family Christmas memories. But I haven't touched it since. Thought it was about time I did. I have certainly been involved with family history research this year - so much so that I am beginning to suspect my husband is right and I have developed RSI in my right arm. Something is certainly giving me curry, and I hate the thought it might be the computing, meaning I should cease and desist for a while.
I have really got into Ancestry.com.au lately. I've been a member for a few years, but really only used it as a source for information. I hadn't uploaded a family tree. But then I became intrigued by the adverts promoting the notion of 'hints' so, as the ad said - I typed in a few names and up popped a little leaf....! I soon made connection with lots of other trees which contained the same people I was researching, and in many instances I was able to add new people to my tree.
But I also found a) it was too easy to become a name collector - I was adding people so remotely connected it wasn't funny - did I really want these people in my tree, did I need them? I'm still in two minds, because they ARE connected. But b) I was also finding obvious errors - even in families of which I had no direct knowledge. But certain facts just didn't 'jell'. And there were lots of cases where people had obviously added the information from a 'hint' without really reviewing what they were adding. For instance,my great grandfather was shown in a couple of trees as having a total of four wives - one (correct) married in England and then moving to, and having children in, Australia. But at the same time as the Australian children were being born he was supposedly in Canada, marrying (at different times for each) three other women, and having children, in Canada, with them. A jet-setting bigamist in the late 1800s - I don't think so! There are many other cases where the wrong place of death or birth has been recorded - the real event might have been in Newcastle, England, but a hint has shown Newcastle, USA, or because someone of the same name died in the same year but in a different country they have assumed it is the same person. I fear for the future of online genealogy when these sort of mistakes are being perpetrated and more worryingly perpetuated as people add incorrect and unchecked information to their own trees. The internet is a blessing for family historians in so many ways, but it is also a trap for the unwary. Thank goodness Ancestry.com.au allows Comments to be added to individuals in trees so at least others can be alerted to the errors.

Advent Calendar Grab Bag - Christmas Day Memory

2011-01-02T16:21:00.004+11:00

Every Christmas morning for years I listened to "The Small One" as told by Bing Crosby on the radio. There was a presenter called Peter Evans who played the story every year without fail - perhaps it was actually on Christmas Eve morning. But it was certainly much looked forward to every year.

Click on this YouTube video to hear the magic words.

Advent Calendar Christmas Eves

2010-12-24T17:39:00.002+11:00

When I was quite little we would spend Christmas Eve singing carols around the Christmas Tree, make sure we had left a piece of shortbread and a glass of milk for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer, put our stockings under the tree and then hopped in to bed to sleep soundly awaiting the morning.
As I got older we would often go to a midnight church service. But another Christmas Eve event was the local Carols by Candlelight (see Christmas Music post) at the football oval. This was community singing of carols, led by the Salvation Army band, with participants holding lighted candles. Carols by Candlelight evenings are still held in most Australian communities these days, but not often on Christmas Eve - although the original event in Melbourne is to this day held on Christmas Eve.
Of course the Christmas Tree lights were always, and are still, left on all night so Santa can see his way.

Advent Calendar Christmas Music

2010-12-20T11:22:00.008+11:00

I have two specific memories of music at Christmas time. In our capital city, Melbourne, a tradition was begun in 1938 of Carols by Candlelight. In a public outdoor ampitheatre a large combined choir and solo artists would sing carols. The audience sat on the grass and held lighted candles. My grandmother was part of the combined choir for many years when I was a little girl, and whilst I don't remember attending the actual carols we always watched it on television. Sadly the tradition has become "glorified" over the years and instead of being a good old-fashioned community sing-a-long the carols have become a major production with popular artists often ruining the lovely old carols and singing songs no-one knows. I still watch it each year though. The tradition was copied in many towns and in my hometown it was held on Christmas Eve at the local football ground. We would go to the carols, sing our hearts out and then go home and wait for Santa to arrive.
My second memory is of singing carols around our own Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. Just the four of us, but we did it every year before we went to bed.
And of course once it gets to December 1st I give myself permission to play Christmas carols. I must have at least 30 Christmas CDs, and have to be restrained from buying more each year. I just love them! My favourite carol is "Silent Night" and I think my favourite group singing carols is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. But I have a lot of favourite solo artists too - and Elvis singing duets (remixed) with various artists is also special.
Click on the controls here to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "Silent Night".

Advent Calendar Christmas Stockings

2010-12-19T12:55:00.002+11:00

Check out my entry for December 9 Grab Bag - Christmas Stockings. I jumped the gun!

Advent Calendar Holiday Memories

2010-12-16T11:27:00.003+11:00

December / January Birthdays and Anniversaries? Do they come in any other months? Our first grandchild, Avalon May CROMB, was born on December 4th - she has just turned 15. Where have the years gone? Our daughter-in-law Janine Maree ROBERTS (nee GIRI) had her birthday on December 13th. My grandmother Beryl GOOD nee WALSH was born on 5th December 1903 and died on 2nd August 1996. My grandfather Lindsay George Arnold GOOD was born on 13th January 1897 and died on 14th January 1965. My husband's birthday is January 3rd. My step-daughter Karen Lynette CROMB, nee ROBERTS, has her birthday on 26th December. I was first married on 5th January 1974, and my second marriage was on 17th January 1998. All in all December / January are full of holiday happenings for our family.

Advent Calendar Fruit Cake Friend or Foe

2010-12-14T18:38:00.002+11:00

Over the years I have decorated a number of fruit cakes for Christmas. Usually I would make the fruit cake a week or so before Christmas and although it was tradition to put almond icing on the cake no-one really liked almond icing so I would use put royal icing. Then I would paint a santa picture on the icing using food colouring. Usually we had all had so much to eat by the time we got to the Christmas cake that no-one felt like eating fruit cake. I haven't got any photos on my creations. And I haven't decorated a cake for a number of years.

Advent Calendar Christmas Gifts

2010-12-10T10:04:00.003+11:00

Christmas Gifts were either from Santa Claus or from our parents. The presents from Santa were small, miscellaneous gifts with the larger presents from our parents. That way we knew it was a question of whether our parents could afford a present rather than whether Santa could or couldn't bring us what we wanted.
I remember the year I learned the secret about Santa - I had discovered some presents in my parents' room and told my younger brother. He decided to dob me in and told my mum I had been snooping. Mum told me I had spoiled the secret, but in actual fact it had never occurred to me that finding the gifts meant Santa was a fantasy. Perhaps I would have realised on Christmas morning!

Advent Calendar Grab Bag - Christmas Stockings

2010-12-09T16:16:00.002+11:00

When I was very young (not sure just how old) my aunt gave my brother and me a Christmas Stocking each. They were quite large, and were made of red mesh fabric. We used the stockings each year for the presents we received from Santa. When my own daughter was born in 1976 I made her a red fabric stocking and painted a picture of Santa, and her name, on the front. She still displays this stocking despite being 34 years old! When my step-children (both older than my own daughter) presented us with grandchildren I made each of them (a total of 5) a stocking - also painted with a Santa picture and their name. These are also hung each year. The oldest grandchild has just turned 15!

Advent Calendar Christmas Cookies

2010-12-08T17:48:00.002+11:00

My Mum makes the most yummy shortbread - all year round! But it was originally made at Christmas time and forms one of my earliest memories of Christmas. She also makes fruit mince pies which are very nice. Don't remember any other specific Christmas cookies as such.

Advent Calendar Santa Claus

2010-12-06T11:23:00.002+11:00

It was Santa Claus who brought the presents that were left in our Christmas stockings. Our 'main' presents came from Mum and Dad. Thus there was never any need to explain why Santa couldn't bring us something we had asked for as we knew it was Mum and Dad who had to be able to afford the bigger gift whereas Santa brought us the smaller 'stocking fillers'. Our stockings were left under the Christmas tree and we children were under strict instructions that we weren't to enter the lounge room until we had Mum and Dad with us - we were allowed to get up fairly early though! We always left some shortbread and a glass of milk for Santa, and a carrot for the reindeer.

Advent Calendar Holiday Foods

2010-12-02T12:22:00.003+11:00

Every year in my memory we have ha a special Christmas Pudding. My mother always made it, with great tradition attached - everyone in the house at the time had to stir the mixture and make a wish. The pudding was always made about October, and was cooked in a calico pudding cloth. It was cooked in a big pan of boiling water for at least 4 hours on the day it was made, and then another 2 hours on Christmas Day. Silver coins (threepences, sixpences and one shillings) were added to the mixture before it was tied up in the cloth. When Australia changed to decimal currency our coins had less silver content and it wasn't safe to cook the new coins, so for some years we poked the coins in after the pudding had been dished up. Eventually I obtained a stash of old coins which were cooked in the pudding and then exchanged for 'real' money.
I first made this pudding when I was 14, after my parents had split up and Mum hadn't made the pudding. For the next few years my grandmother made a pudding for the family of each of her children. When she was no longer able to do it I took on the task for our branch of the family.
But the story of this particular pudding began long before my memories of it. I was originally given a handwritten copy of the recipe by my grandmother. When she died I inherited her old cookbooks, including one which I have every reason to believe belonged to her mother. It was a Methodist Ladies Recipe Book from 1906. There, in black and white was the exact same recipe, much used because it was very bespattered. I believe my great grandmother first made the pudding for her family. My grandmother certainly made it for her family. Then my mother made it for us. I made it for a number of years and now I have passed the role of pudding maker on to my daughter as my illness means I am unable to do it myself.
Here's the recipe!

Christmas Pudding Recipe

Cream 1lb. fresh butter with 1lb. sifted sugar, add 8 well-beaten eggs, and stir until the mixture is quite smooth. Have the following dry ingredients ready :- 1lb. raisins, 1lb. currants, ½ lb. sultanas, ¼ lb chopped almonds, ½ lb. finely cut lemon peel, 1lb. flour, ½lb. breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon mixed spice, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ salt spoon of salt. Add these to the butter, sugar and eggs, and stir well until thoroughly mixed. A gill of brandy may be added. Boil for 8 hours.

[Points to remember: 1lb. = 454g ½ lb. = 227g ¼ lb. = 113g

Add the beaten eggs slowly – so the mixture doesn’t curdle, but it isn’t a catastrophe if it does.

Add the brandy to the fruit to soak over night.

Mix the flour into the fruit before adding to the egg and sugar mix.

No need for ½ lb. lemon peel – just a reasonable amount, or use some mixed peel, again, probably don’t need ½ lb.

Flour is Plain Flour.

Mixed Spice, not All Spice.

Good pinch of salt – you won’t have a salt spoon.

Everyone in the housed on the day you make it must stir the mixture and make a wish.

Must boil the pudding cloths (calico) before use – every time even if you re-use the cloths from year to year. Easier to just buy new cloths each year though. Throw out water used to boil cloth as it will have size in it from calico processing.

Flour the wet pudding cloth before adding the mixture – more rather than less is better. This keeps the water out of the pudding, but it also helps make the nice crust on the outside of the pudding.

Make two or three puddings from the mixture. Try to keep reasonably the same sizes.

Tie with string – nice and tight.

Water must be boiling when you put puddings into pot. Must stay boiling. If adding water it must be boiling water. Boil for 4 hours.

Hang puddings in laundry or somewhere where the air can get at it.

Check cloth occasionally as it is drying out to make sure it isn’t going mouldy around the tied up bit.

Boil again for at least two hours on Christmas Day – put into boiling water.

Advent Calendar Christmas Tree

2010-12-01T15:45:00.003+11:00

As a child we had real Christmas trees - but whilst I loved the smell of the needles I was always disappointed in the shape of the tree. As a teenager we graduated to a silver imitation tree with a perfect shape! The tree was always decorated by Mum, me and my brother with decorations that we retained from year to year - in fact I still use a few and I'm now 57! I still use an artificial tree now, and each year I add one new decoration to my collection. I have given each of my five grandchildren a new decoration every year since they were born.
I don't remember any particular traditions with the trimming of the tree - except we put it up early in December. After I was married I put the tree up on the first weekend in December each year. Unfortunately ill-health means I can no longer trim my own tree, so my daughter has been pressed into service to decorate it for me for the past two years.

In the Beginning

2006-04-27T14:20:00.000+10:00

As a child I was always fascinated by stories of my forebears.
My great grandmother had been born in Swan Reach. In 1984 I moved from Melbourne to East Gippsland. I began to search for my origins in the area.
I was soon hooked - and afflicted by genealogyitis!
My search has now extended world-wide. My use of computers and the internet has enabled me to link up with distant relatives I wouldn't know of in ordinary circumstances.