Week two of the National Family History Month weekly blog challenge set by Alex Daw takes your ancestor’s occupations as the theme. For me, that has to be farming or shearing – my cousin Billy and I were the first of our family to be neither shearers nor farmers. Continue reading
Some time ago, I read an amusing fictional account “The Census Taker Cometh”[1] describing the travails of census enumerators calling at a German immigrant household in Illinois over a 60-year period and concluding with the question “Ever wondered why some census entries look like creative accounting?” This reminded me of my own experiences providing me with an opportunity to impart a personal story about my involvement in the 1971 Census of Population and Housing. I did not get that far at the time but now I am rising to Alex Daw’s weekly blog challenge for National Family History Month. Continue reading
I decided long ago to publish in 2015 what I have discovered about the World War I veterans in my family trees. Slowly I have worked towards this objective over the past couple of years and now suddenly time is upon me. There were many more to find than I ever anticipated and I am sure I have not found them all.
As a child I knew that a few of my family were involved in World War I and of course, due to Anzac Day observances, knew something of Gallipoli and the Western Front. My interest then, being an aviation buff, was primarily about the Second World War and I read copiously everything I could my hands on, not to mention Commando and War comics. I also worked for time, as a teenager, on the farm of Brigadier Arnold Potts where both wars were often the subject of dinner conversation.
Generally I have not gone further than the second cousin relationship but there are some, those on the twigs of the trees, I have included simply because I found the story or connection interesting in the family history research sense. Some of the discoveries have caused me to be side tracked – like an Australian born relative serving in the German Army in World War I – see Delving into Diversions and Deviations.
As Family Historians we are urged to stay focussed and stick to the research plan that we should have already worked out. But we delve into the diversions and deviations that frequently appear in our quest – searching the internet and books for time and place material, tracking who else lived in the street and what was their trade in the 1861 census and, if you are an Ancestry member, getting inundated with tips that seem totally irrelevant. No – Mary Ann Carey was born in Brisbane, Queensland not Delaware, Ohio! Along the way however, there is always something to pique the interest and the grass often seems greener in someone else’s family tree! In this manner, I discovered an Australian citizen serving in the German Army in World War I. Continue reading
This a first and last post.
The first being is this is a first time experience writing a post on the fly from a hotel room on iPad. The last because I am determined to become a better writer and this is the last post without an adequate writing structure. You see – I have comer under the spell of Carol Baxter, author of Writing INTERESTING Family Histories, among many other publications. Continue reading
I decided long ago to publish in 2015 what I have discovered about the World War I veterans in my family trees. Slowly I have worked towards this objective over the past couple of years and now suddenly time is upon me. There was much more to be found than I ever anticipated and I am sure I have not found them all. Continue reading
Here we are and it’s mid-November already with only three Blog entries for the year and this will be the first since June – not the best of efforts! Yes, Neville Jones Services has been busy and but a lot time was expended on watching AFL! Continue reading
In recent times the National Library of Australia has digitised and made available through its Trove project the newspaper The Great Southern Herald. This newspaper was, and still is today, published in Katanning just 26 miles from my home town of Kojonup. This is a fantastic development Continue reading
In my story of Oct 2012 “The ‘Young Thief’ was my Second Great Grandmother” I referred to Richard Norrish as a Private in the 51st Regiment. He was of course in the 96th (‘Manchester’) Regiment which relieved the last detachment of the 51st in 1847.
A more serious error was made in “Elva Trevelion – An Untold Story from Trove” (Jul 2014). Referring to the 1934 postcard of the RMS Orford and the Australian Test Cricket team as the “Invincibles” was wrong. The Australian team earned this sobriquet in 1948, not 1934. Before I was a family history tragic, I was a cricket tragic! Unforgiveable!
Elva Trevelion – An Untold Story from Trove
This is a story about a story that, it seems, has never been properly told and an example of the value of Trove. Most family history researchers understand what a treasure Trove is – Trove being the project of the National Library of Australia to digitise the newspapers of Australia. Trawling Trove – yes, the alliterations will flow – often produces unexpected treasures. Some time ago, I recorded from Ancestry the passenger list references for my 3rd cousin (once removed) Elva May Trevelion in my Jones-Sexton tree. At the time, I merely noted that it was interesting that she was on a passenger liner during World War II. Then much later, searching family notices for the Trevelion family attributions and citations, I came across a death notice referring to Elva as being overseas. Recalling the earlier passenger list record, I set out to find more and came across a story about Elva Trevelion having served as a nurse aboard troopships. What a story! But – with an unsatisfactory ending as it seems a wonderful tale has been washed away in the tides of quite recent history. Hopefully, out there somewhere is another Trevelion descendant who has been able to put down the story of Elva in a more intimate and informed manner than I am able to here. Continue reading
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