Associate names and places

This series of posts focuses on an A-Z theme for April in 2025. I have chosen events that occurred On This Day in April of years in the past. These events are recorded in my genealogy database.

A - Associate Names and Places

Many of my relatives lived and died in a small area within South Australia. When researching family history, one way to bring ancestors to life is by connecting their names to the places they lived. Streets, towns, and landmarks that may seem ordinary today were once the backdrop of their daily lives, shaping their experiences and stories. Here we have Minnie from Freeling, and Margaret who lived in Riverton and was buried in the local Catholic cemetery.

Lower mid-north, South Australia

On this day - April 1

Birth 1922 - Minnie Patricia MEANEY 2nd cousin once removed 

Minnie was the eleventh child born to Catherine Peters and Thomas John Meaney near Freeling in South Australia. Freeling in 1922 was still a small town with the surrounding farms growing mainly cereal crops, wheat, oats and barley.

On October 24, 1946 at age 24 she married Michael Collins. 

MEANEY—COLLINS.—The marriage of Minnie Patricia, youngest daughter of Mr. T. J. and the late Mrs. Meaney, of Freeling, to Michael Francis, youngest son of Mrs. E. and the late Mr. D. Collins, of Mallala, will be solemnised with Nuptial Mass at St. Peter and Paul's Church, North Adelaide on Thursday October 24, at 3 pm.

1946 'Family Notices', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), 24 October, p. 16   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35762902 

Death 1992 - Death: Margaret Mary CALLERY 1st cousin once removed

Margaret Mary Callery was the second child of five born to Catherine Smyth and John Callery in Riverton in December 1901. Her mother died of acute meningitis before her ninth birthday leaving John with five young children. The youngest was only five months old. 

When Margaret’s eldest sister Ann became a nun in 1924 it would have been up to Margaret as the next eldest daughter to take responsibility for the household. Her brother Edward married in 1926 then her father died in 1928. By 1941 her two younger sisters had married Shanahan brothers. 

In 1950 when she was 48 she married Donald Bascombe. They were to have 34 years together.

CALLERY — BASCOMBE. — The marriage of Margaret Mary Callery, second daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Callery, of Riverton, to Donald Allan Bascombe, second son of Mrs. and the late Mr. James Bascombe, of Streaky Bay, will be solemnised at Sacred Heart Church, Hindmarsh, on April 17, at 9 a.m. Reception at Berkley Hotel.

1950 'Family Notices', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), 8 April, p. 24.  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50201944

Donald died in 1984. After her death on 1 April 1992, she was buried alongside him in the Navan Cemetery near Riverton.

Tombstone in Navan Catholic Cemetery

The Callery Family

This post first appeared on earlieryears.blogspot.com by CRGalvin

Using AI on a wedding report

I recently read this most interesting article by Steve Little about extracting details from text using AI https://asheancestors.org/2023/03/20/ai-and-genealogy-using-chatgpt-to-glean-info-from-obits-articles-and-announcements/

I copied Steve’s instructions then added the text from a marriage report found in Trove. 

Thomas William Meaney in this report lived from 1895 until 1957. His marriage to Nora Silvy as detailed below took place on the 7 August 1929. He is my second cousin once removed. Thomas and Nora are buried in the St John’s cemetery in South Australia.

Instructions to ChatGPT

Assume the role of an expert, professional genealogist. Consider the genealogically relevant information that might appear in a wedding announcement. Below is the OCR text (correct for spelling) of an announcement. I would like to know about the stated relationships between people in the text. When you can with certainty, state the relationship between two people in the article. in a markdown table use the form PERSON ONE : PERSON TWO : RELATIONSHIP : INFORMATION. (Where INFORMATION is the quoted text in the article describing the relationship between the two people.

At St. Rose's Church, Kapunda, the wedding was celebrated of Miss Nora Silvy, third daughter of Mrs. and the late Mr. J. Silvy, and Mr. Thomas Meaney, eldest son of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Meaney, of Freeling. The bride, who entered the church on the arm of Mr. William Silvy, her eldest brother, wore a frock of white crepe de chine trimmed with silver lace, her veil was worn cap fashion, trimmed with orange blossom, and she carried a bouquet of white and pink flowers with white streamers. Miss Mary Meaney (niece of the bride) was bridesmaid in a blue crepe de chine frock, with silver buckle, and posy on shoulder. She wore a silver head band, and carried a bouquet of blue and pink flowers and blue streamers. Father Bede officiated, and also played the wedding march. Mr. Lawrence Silvy (brother of the bride was best man. Mrs. Silvy (mother of the bride) wore a black coat and skirt with black hat to match. The bride and bridegroom left the church for the residence of the bride's sister (Mrs. J. Meaney) where the wedding breakfast was held. The toast of the bride, bridegroom, and bridesmaid and best man was proposed by Mr. N. Roberts, and the cake was cut by the bridegroom left the church for the residence of the bride's sister (Mrs. J. Meaney) where the wedding breakfast was held. The toast of the bride, bridegroom, and bridesmaid and best man was proposed by Mr. N. Roberts, and the cake was cut by the bride.

ChatGPT output

Person One	Person Two	Relationship	Information
Nora Silvy	J. Silvy (father)	Daughter	"Miss Nora Silvy, third daughter of Mrs. and the late Mr. J. Silvy"
Nora Silvy	Mrs. Silvy (mother)	Daughter	"Miss Nora Silvy, third daughter of Mrs. and the late Mr. J. Silvy"
Thomas Meaney	John Meaney (father)	Son	"Mr. Thomas Meaney, eldest son of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Meaney"
Thomas Meaney	Mrs. John Meaney (mother)	Son	"Mr. Thomas Meaney, eldest son of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Meaney"
William Silvy	Nora Silvy	Brother	"The bride, who entered the church on the arm of Mr. William Silvy, her eldest brother"
Mary Meaney	Nora Silvy	Niece	"Miss Mary Meaney (niece of the bride) was bridesmaid"
Lawrence Silvy	Nora Silvy	Brother	"Mr. Lawrence Silvy (brother of the bride was best man)"
J. Meaney	Nora Silvy	Sister-in-law	"The bride and bridegroom left the church for the residence of the bride's sister (Mrs. J. Meaney)"

From the given text, we can determine the following relationships:

• Nora Silvy is the daughter of J. Silvy and Mrs. Silvy.
• Thomas Meaney is the son of John Meaney and Mrs. John Meaney.
• William Silvy is the eldest brother of Nora Silvy.
• Mary Meaney is the niece of Nora Silvy.
• Lawrence Silvy is the brother of Nora Silvy.
• J. Meaney is the sister-in-law of Nora Silvy, as she is the wife of Nora's brother Thomas Meaney.

My thoughts

 The results clearly explain the relationships between the folks listed, however the text in red is an incorrect interpretation as the information highlighted in the table clearly states that Mrs J Meaney is the bride’s sister.

This was an interesting exercise for me but a reminder for me too, to always check the output of any AI tool or indeed any genealogical source. 

With AI tools already being used by the large genealogical record companies, it will indeed be interesting to observe how AI tools find their way into the everyday family historian’s toolbox. 

Gravestone of Thomas and Nora Meaney

This post first appeared on earlieryears.blogspot.com by CRGalvin