5 January 2017

Accentuate the positive 2016

christmas offerings 1894
Christmas offerings 1894 - Sts John and Paul Church, Tarlee, SA
scanned by CRGalvin from original 6 Sept 2016
The year has passed and postings here have been infrequent, however prompted by Jill to Accentuate the Positive I look back at 2016 and find I have much to be positive about in my genealogy endeavours throughout the year.

An elusive ancestor I found was my husband’s unknown grandmother Louisa May Lawson via Trove Government Gazettes where she was granted Letters of Administration in the estate of his grandfather. This led me to acquiring those records through NSW Archives.

A precious family photo was given to me by my brother  - a photo of Smyth household at Alma Plains showing gt-grandmother Hanora Horgan and my father as a small boy. Post to come in 2017.

Ancestor's graves  - I had the opportunity to photograph several in Pinkerton Plains and Navan cemeteries in South Australia.

An important vital record I found was – probate files for my husband’s grandfather which included copies of birth certificates for his children.

A newly found genimate shared – records of Walmsleys and Tonsons some of my husband's ancestors. Thank you Jenny Scammell.

A geneasurprise I received was being able to view some early church records with details of contributions made by members of a parish on various occasions.

Some new pieces of software I mastered wereOpen Live Writer for blog posts. and Google Photoscan for digitisation of photos.

A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was – Facebook in particular South Australia Genealogy and the Australian History Bloggers group.

I am pleased with the presentation - I gave at Noosaville library on Internet resources for family historians during Family History month in August.

I taught some friends -  how to use Google Keep for extracting text from images.

A genealogy book that taught me something new - Organize your Genealogy by Drew Smith.

A great archive I visited  - I made my first visit to State Records of South Australia, Cavan where I found school enrolment records for my father at Alma South School.. Helpful staff with a clean well –equipped quiet research area. I must also mention the Riverton History Centre where helpful volunteers directed me to some fascinating finds.

A new genealogy based story  I enjoyed was Kindred by Steve Robinson. Read to find out whether or not he discovers the identity of his father.

It was exciting to finally meet up again with siblings and a wide range of nieces and nephews and their children at a family wedding in September.

Another positive I would like to share is the feedback and encouragement I have received from my siblings re my explorations of our common ancestors.
Thanks Jill for the prompt to look back at achievements through the past year.

6 comments:

  1. Your family is fortunate to have someone with your skills as their family historian. You've had a fab year, geneayear Carmel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jill, your prompt reminded me to get writing. No use accumulating the information then failing to share it.

      Delete
    2. As I sit here faffing about. I need to write too.

      Delete
  2. Isn't it exciting when a probate file has certificates for other members of the family! I've had similar finds in land selection files and Colonial Secretary's Office correspondence too (but mainly for my clients - I haven't had as much luck with my own relatives).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was certainly a bonus as both birth certificates were inside the 100 year privacy quarantine.

      Delete
    2. Oh wow, that makes it even more exciting!

      Delete

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