Wednesday 11 April 2012 

Nine members attended our second meeting for this year with one apology. New members are welcome.

Firstly, we had a look at some interesting websites as follows: -

Mocavo
mocavo.com. This new genealogy source can help you find sites where Google fails and is targeted toward finding a surname from its 6 billion odd database. Basic searches are free but if you pay for a subscription you are offered much more, however you can register as a user to get past the first page. Well worth a look for an initial search.

Family Tree Circles
familytreecircles.com. The following is an excerpt from their website.
FamilyTreeCircles provides a quick and easy way to get started with publishing your research, just like a blog. But there's no blog software to setup. Just create an account on FamilyTreeCircles and write your first post in a matter of minutes. After signing up and looking around a bit, you can post your family stories, research queries, and other genealogy information. Posting your information is as simple as typing an email. The more you post, the more you'll help others, and others can help you.
Your posts will be seen immediately by our active and helpful community of genealogy researchers. You'll be notified whenever someone responds to one of your posts, whether that happens today, tomorrow, or months from now. Months, even years, after you publish information about what you're researching and who you're looking for, that one person who has the answers may come across your post while doing their own research. Long after you have posted them, your journals are working for you. FamilyTreeCircles is free. There are no hidden charges.

Genies Downunder
geniesdownunder.com.au. We looked at this site last meeing but further into this site are Tools and Tricks which provides you with additional links to interesting websites.

Photobook
Next, Marilyn gave us a most interesting and informative account of her experiences in compiling a family photobook and has provided us with her comments.

• After many years of compiling information on one side of the family I decided the time was right to look for a way of displaying some of my research. I wanted to present the material in such a way as to give a sense of what life was like for my ancestors as well as imparting information about “who was who” and showing the major events in their lives.
  
• By chance I had a discount voucher for a photobook so I assembled all my material and research. Although normally used to display holiday or family celebrations I thought that a photobook could also work for genealogy purposes. The company I used was called Photobooksrus. Their website is photobooksrus.com.au. They provided a very good service and a quality product. There are many other online and retail companies who offer a similar service often at discounted prices. Google “photobooks Australia” and you will get an extensive listing and current deals available.
  
• The process of creating the photobook was straightforward. I downloaded the programme from the company's website onto my computer. Certificates, documents and printed photographs were scanned and saved onto my computer also. After selecting the style of book and number of pages I simply dragged the scanned images onto page after page either using templates or just arranging them wherever I wanted to. Text boxes were added as needed. To add interest I included a family tree diagram using names and photos, a timeline and snippets of news from the era covered. I also added details of the origin of family surnames and facts about certain places.
  
• Once Once completed the programme created a file of all the pages and stepped me through uploading it to the company's website. The printed book arrived by post a week or so later.
  
• I was extremely pleased with the quality of the printed book and would happily recommend a photobook as an ideal method of displaying the results of your research. An added bonus is that the scans of the old photographs and documents provide an excellent way of preserving copies for the future.
  
• An alternative to a full photobook may be to create a 12 month calendar using your old photographs. This may prove a good way to capture the attention of the younger generation. Perhaps a mix and match with current family photos alongside their ancestors. A great conversation starter about different fashions, lifestyle etc.
  
• I also suggest that you use a company which allows you to download the programme onto your computer rather than having to work online at their website.

.................................... JWS   

 Wednesday 14 March 2012 

Ten members attended our second meeting for this year. New members are welcome.

Genies Down Under
We started by listening to the March podcast by Maria Northcote titled Graphics Stuff for Genies: using images in your family history research. These new free podcasts are presented monthly by Maria Northcote and are described as being , ‘packed with tips, tricks, tools & traps, along with plenty of helpful links and resources to help you find information about your family history. You'll also find stories of genie adventures and nifty tips to inspire you and help you on your way – especially for researchers with an interest in Australian family history.’
Maria Northcote also comments on what you will get from her podcasts–
‘By listening to this podcast, you'll save yourself time and money, gather up some handy advice and get some help to make headway in finding out about your own family's interesting past. And one more important thing — rather than just collecting names and dates during your family history research, this podcast will focus on some nifty little techniques that can help you to get to know your ancestors a little better, by reading between the lines of old documents and looking beyond the faces in old photographs. Listen to a one-minute promo about the podcast.’

Colonial Secretary's Papers 1788-1825
Ancestry now has the Colonial Secretary''s Papers 1788-1825 (indexed and digitised copies of the records) available on its website which can be viewed free of charge. The State Records Authority of NSW has a non–exclusive agreement with Ancestry which means that researchers do not have to have a subscription to Ancestry to search or view the records.
The records can be searched at Ancestry You will need to complete a guest registration in order to search and view the records but access is free. You can also view the records online in the State Records reading room or at the SAG.

Heritage Festival 14–26 April 2012 — Theme Innovation and Invention
As a contribution to the Heritage Festival, the Hurstville City Library and Gallery situated at 14 MacMahon Street will have a display of Imaginative Inventions on Saturday 21April from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm. On Sunday 22 April an illustrated talk on Ingeneous Inventions and Disastrous Designs will be given from 3pm to 4pm. Bookings are essential for both events on 02 9330 6444.
To read more about the Festival and any updates Statewide go to National Trust

.................................... JWS   

 Wednesday 8 February 2012 

Eleven members attended our first meeting for this year including one new member.

An introduction to RootsChat.com was well received by all and presented by Fred. RootsChat.com is an easy to use messaging forum for researching your family history with an accent on the British Isles and Ireland. The service is entirely free for the benefit of all. You can share image files, request restoration of old photographs and colouring, check for family connections and confirmation of dates or just insert an appropriate lookup request. The possibility of breaking down that brick wall could be realized so why not take part by just clicking on the EnterRootsChat button at the top of their website at rootschat.com Do keep us informed of any remarkable findings you get by viewing or participating in this website.

.................................... JWS   

 Wednesday 9 November 2011 

Nine members attended our eighth and final meeting for this year including one new member and two apologies.
We started by hearing episode No. 1 of 3 podcasts suggested by Fred titled "Genies Downunder".
These new free podcasts are presented monthly by Maria Northcote and are described as being , " packed with tips, tricks, tools & traps, along with plenty of helpful links and resources to help you find information about your family history. You'll also find stories of genie adventures and nifty tips to inspire you and help you on your way - especially for researchers with an interest in Australian family history".
The website is geniesdownunder.com.au
Topics Include:
Episode 1 – You're a long time dead: Cemetery stuff for Genies.
Episode 2 – Free stuff for Genies: It fell off the back of a truck
Episode 3 – Heirloom stuff for genies: Old stuff around the house

Next, John presented a Power Point update on Writing and Publishing Your Family History with comments on changes to the ISBN numbering system.

.................................... JWS   

 Wednesday 12 October 2011 

Nine members attended our seventh meeting for this year including one new member and two apologies.

We started with a follow up review of Shirley B's progress in researching her family connections who arrived in Australia on the maiden voyage of the Underley in 1867 (see September report). Shirley applied to the State Library of Victoria and obtained a copy of a diary written by Robert Beckett a passenger with his family onboard the Underley's maiden voyage which took 74 days to Australia carrying 250 passengers and 50 crew. It is only after obtaining personal information like Robert Beckett's diary that one can gain an appreciation of the conditions under which emigrants like these had to endure on their voyage to Australia probably to enjoy a better life.

Next we took advantage of an offer from ancestry.com which is listed below. These offers, when they appear, still need you to be registered with a password. Although the period of free viewing has expired a description of the content for each collection is given for your information.
October 1st - US Social Security Death Index
October 2nd - Ireland, Griffith's Valuation, 1848-1864
October 3rd - California Marriage Index, 1960-1985
October 4th - Bavaria, Germany, WWI Personnel Rosters, 1914-1918
October 5th - 1920 US Federal Census
October 6th - Australian Electoral Rolls, 1903-1954
October 7th - Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997
October 8th - Sweden, Births from the Swedish Death Index, 1947-2006
October 9th - US WW I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
October 10th - England & Wales, Birth Index, 1916-2005
October 11th - Historical Newspapers, Birth, Marriage & Death Announcements, 1851-2003
October 12th - Quebec Vital and Church Records, 1621-1967
October 13th - 1930 US Federal Census
October 14th - 1901 England Census
October 15th - US Obituary Collection

.................................... JWS   

 Wednesday 14 September 2011 

Eight members attended our sixth meeting for this year with three apologies.

We started with a review of a case study for Shirley B's relatives with the limited information written in the cover of a family book that they came to Australia on the Underley or Underlay in 1867.
A first look for the Underley or Underlay in Ian Nicholson's Log of Log's Volume 1 listed the Underl(e)y as a new iron clipper ship leaving Liverpool on the 22 December 1866. Diary extracts by Robert Beckett (Dec – Mar) were also listed as being available from Latrobe Library Victoria, Ref: MS 9576/74.
A search of the website ‘Mariners and Shipping in Australian Waters’ for a passenger list included a voyage of the Underley from London to Sydney 1871. However, no listing was given for a port of call to Sydney during 1867.
A search of The London Times listed the Underlay (note spelling) as sailing from Liverpool for Melbourne on the 22 December 1866. This then could be our ship of interest. Next a Google of Underley – brought up a website listing ship wrecks . This site is the world largest online database containing 108,390 wrecks, 18,330 images, 1143 maritime charts, 17,730 ship owners and builders. The website wrecksite.eu listed details of the Underley which ran aground (wrecked) on 22 September 1871 on its return voyage from Sydney.
Another website titled ‘Through Mighty Ships’ gave a detailed description of the Underley being the largest sailing ship of its time to become a total loss. Bound for Melbourne with 30 passengers and a general cargo of cotton goods, machinery and gunpowder valued at £30,000, this iron full-rigged sailing ship built in 1866 was wrecked at Liscombe on the Isle of Wight during a violent SE gale on 22 September 1871. All ship's crew and all passengers but one survived. References were also given for further research and a follow up to the abovementioned diary of the voyage of interest to Australia in 1886-7 by Robert Beckett. Shirley B is now contacting the State Library of Victoria to obtain a copy of Robert Beckett's diary to add to her family history information.

Fred explained the introduction of Webinars by SAG (Society of Australian Genealogists). A Webinar is an online seminar - you can view and listen to as a presentation on a particular topic and if desired participate by asking questions, all done through your computer. To participate, a speaker set, broadband connection and email address are required and to ask questions a headset and microphone connection also. Webinars are set for specific time slots and attract a fee so bookings are essential and sessions last about one hour. All information is obtainable on SAG under the ‘Events’ tab.

Robin forwarded information on a website giving a comprehensive treatment on the usage and interpretation of each entry English BMD Certificates along with any alterations that may have happened over time with examples. Log into English BMD Certificate Information

Finally we continued viewing Allan Murrins excellent presentation on early church records for New South Wales. New South Wales Early Church Records 1788-1886

.................................... JWS   

 Wednesday 10 August 2011 

Eight members attended our fifth meeting for this year with two apologies.

We started with a presentation by Jan Gow on a Case Study using English Records which can be viewed at FamilySearch under free courses.
Jan Gow’s presentation titled St Serendipity on Duty demonstrated that one can be fortunate to discover an ancestor purely by accident if you just keep looking. Explore every avenue and keep up to date with additions to key websites such as FamilySearch, Ancestry, FindMyPast, FreeBMD and others.
Next, John presented a Power Point presentation on Problems and Pitfalls in Genealogy. Recording information without confirming the source from primary records where possible can lead to many misconceptions of family relationships and can lead one down the so called ‘garden path’. He drew examples from his own experience from two families in New Zealand having the same surname claiming relationship to his family.

.................................... JWS   

 Wednesday 8 June 2011 

Eight members attended our fourth meeting for this year with three apologies.

We started our group with a short discussion on writing up your family history and the guidelines for preparing and publishing all your good work will be the subject of a future meeting.
Next we logged into the new front page of FamilySearch once again and viewed the Australian genealogy course on BMD's presented by Allan Murrin. When in the new front page go to very bottom left hand corner of the page and under Learn then to Free Courses and you will have a choice of Beginners, Australian, English, German, Irish, Italian, New Zealand, Polish, Russian, United States of America courses and other allied subjects. Remember you must be on broadband to enjoy the courses.

.................................... JWS   

 Wednesday 11 May 2011 

Seven members attended our third meeting for this year with two apologies.

Numbers were down this month presumably due to inclement weather conditions. However, we made a start on learning to navigate the digitized newspapers now available through the National Library of Australia (NLA) to help us put ‘meat on the bones’ of that elusive forebear in our family research. NLA has online a search facility called TROVE. This site will allow you to access across a number of databases for a person, place or topic listed under books, pictures, photos, music, videos, maps, diaries, letters, archived websites (1996 to present day) and of course historic newspapers which span the years 1803 - 1954. To considerably reduce the effort spent chasing relevant information of times gone by, this facility is a ‘must have’. To use TROVE, go directly to www.trove.nla.gov.au and enter your search term in the search box provided or via the NLA website at www.nla.gov.au and follow the link too TROVE. If you get stuck with say printing an article there is a good help facility on the site. As an example if we are researching say, A B Patterson but more commonly Banjo Patterson the Australian poet extraordinaire, just type “Banjo Patterson” in inverted commas to avoid getting a spurious number of results and of course restricting your search to the Australian content. We then get a possible 15 books, 26 photos, 1160 newspaper entries etc. to look up. So in a very short time a list for searching is available in addition to a link to other websites found on the left hand side of the screen.
We also took a look at two overseas newspapers namely The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985 and the 17-18 Century Burney Collection available online from the State Library NSW. To access these at home you will need to register with the State Library and obtain a Readers Ticket and Password. Having done this go to the home page www.sl.nsw.gov.au and then to Using the Library — Search Our Collections — Electronic Resources from which you can browse the available databases by selection from the alphabetical list of which many are freely available for public viewing. However, those only available to registered readers can go to the Access From Home tab on the left hand side of the screen, select the archive database say The Times Digital Archive and Log In with your Name, Card Number, and Password. You can do a keyword search and add a specific date range to all newspapers of your choice, so good hunting.

.................................... JWS   

 Wednesday 9 March 2011 

10 members attended our second meeting for this year with one apology.

FamilySearch
The new version of FamilySearch.org was the subject of our meeting with 'hands on' practice at navigating this site and investigating the major changes with a set of exercises.
It soon became evident that adjusting to the new version would require some practice as the search facility allows for the viewing of more information with improved accuracy as a result of its design. As more scanned documents and additional lessons keep coming on line frequent access is recommended so to coin a phrase 'just keep looking' but remember, the old Home Page is still available and will be replaced eventually.

.................................... JWS   

 Wednesday 9 February 2011 

11 members attended our first meeting for this year with one apology.

Biographical Database of Australia (BDA)
This database will comprise all the baptism, marriage, burial and cemetery records, all convict, muster/census, land and other colonial records, all biographies from contemporary publications pertaining to each state and include recent genealogical and historical publications, and link all references to individuals together. Indeed a very ambitious project undertaking by Malcolm Sainty, AM and Keith Johnson, AM of the Society of Australian Genealogists (SAG) and editors of the Genealogical Research Directory for the past 27 years.
The BDA is a non-profit project and will be available on the internet which will allow for updating of biographies as required and hyperlinking between related individuals as deemed appropriate, a full description of which is included in Descent The Journal of the Society of Australian Genealogists, Sept 2010 V40 Pt3 page 125.
When the BDA comes online this year you will be able to subscribe, a discount being offered for foundation members. Contributions of family biographies of deceased Australian ancestors is welcomed but will be vetted by editorial staff before publication, the General Editor of the whole project being Carol Baxter.

Familysearch.org
A new version of familysearch is now underway and it is intended at our next meeting to have a further 'hands on ' practice at navigating this site and investigate the major changes. However the previous familysearch.org is still available from the Home page but will be replaced eventually.

.................................... JWS   

Click for Notes on previous meetings of the Genealogy Interest Group.