Australian Genealogy Journeys

Motivation Monday - Goals for February 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:10:00 +0000

As this is the first Monday in February, it is time to revisit my Motivation Monday goals for January and to create some new goals for February. I will be carrying over many of my January goals into months later on this year as I wont be focussing on my genealogy during February.

My January 2012 were :

Continue saving snapshots (using the Evernote Web Clipper for Google Chrome) of messages I have sent and received through Ancestry.com.au. I will attempt to complete the remaining folders 'Fullerton/Dunne', 'Potter/Preston', 'Ellis/Hehir', 'Randall/Brown', 'OTHER' and also messages in the 'Sent' folder to which I did not receive a reply. All achieved except for 'Sent' folder, so that task will be carried over into February.

Participate each week in the 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy Blogging prompts. I will also consider participating in the 21st Century Organized Family Historian weekly challenges from Michelle at The Turning of Generations and the Beyond the Internet blogging theme from Family History Across the Seas. I participated a couple of times with these blogging prompts but due to family circumstances I had to put blogging aside.

Participate in the Twigs of Yore - Australia Day 2012 - Wealth for Toil blogging challenge on Australia day - January 26th. Did not get to do this.

Move a few more genealogy files from my 'To Sort' folder into relevant surname folders on my hard drive. Did not get to do this

Move a few more photographs from my 'To Sort' folder into folders for the relevant year and month. Did not get to do this

Blog about the decisions I made when I created my research log templates. Did not get to do this

Actually start my new Legacy file beginning with myself and working backwards methodically, recording all sources, attaching relevant source documents and attaching photographs. During January, I aim to do this for just my immediate family and grandparents. The goal this month is just to start, no matter how small! Did not get to do this.

Continue organising my bookshelves on Google Books. At the time of posting, I have 399 books saved in the 'Favorites' bookshelf. During January I will aim to reduce that number to at least 300. Achieved this, I will hold continuing this goal for another month later in the year.

Synchronise my genealogy folders at least once a week. Did twice in the month. I did not really add much to my genealogy folder so I had no need to synchronise the folders more often.

Begin reading Photoshop Elements 10 All-in-One For Dummies. Yes, up to page 146.

Sort and reply to the starred emails in Gmail that I keep neglecting!

Look into the possibility of using DNA in my O'Brien/Breen research. I just recently purchased a 37 marker Y-DNA test for my Dad, so this goal is already in progress. I purchased the the test and received it in the mail.

Correct newspaper text on Trove. Did not get to do this.

Post some more Church photographs to my Australian Church photos on Flickr. Did not get to do this.

Australia Day 2012 – Wealth for Toil

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:38:00 +0000

Because of some recent time constraints due to unanticipated family commitments, I haven't been able to prepare a post for Australia Day 2012.

Shelley from the Twigs of Yore blog created another Australia day blogging challenge for genealogy bloggers. The theme this year was "Wealth for Toil", inspired by a line in Australia's national anthem. Advance Australia Fair.

Shelley says

To participate, choose someone who lived in Australia (preferably one of your ancestors) and tell us how they toiled. Your post should include:

What was their occupation?
What information do you have about the individual’s work, or about the occupation in general?
The story of the person, focussing on their occupation; or
The story of the occupation, using the person as an example.

The occupations of my Australian ancestors included: Farmers, Labourers, Drovers, Butchers, Carpenters, Publicans, Storekeepers, Blacksmiths and Miners. I would like to create a post on this topic at a later date. Until then, happy Australia Day. You can see what other bloggers have been posting for Australia Day at Shelley's blog Twigs of Yore.

My blogging break will have to continue now for some time due to unforeseen family circumstances. I would like to also please ask for prayers for a family member who is unwell. Thanks.

A week off blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:02:00 +0000

I have been unexpectedly called away from my genealogy and blogging world and have been (and will be) spending this week babysitting!

I have just caught up on four days worth of blog posts and alerts via Google Reader and starred several posts to read later.

I hope I will be back blogging in time to participate in the Australia Day blogging challenge and catch up on 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy, 21COFH and Beyond the Internet themed posts!

Until then, happy researching everyone.

21COFH - Develop a Digital Organisational Scheme - Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:39:00 +0000

For 2012, Michelle Goodrum from The Turning of Generations blog has created a series of weekly blogging/organisation challenges under the title of The 21st Century Organized Family Historian. The challenge for Week 1 was to organise holiday greeting cards.

In Week 2, the challenge was to develop a digital organisational scheme; to develop a plan for one or more of the following:

an organizational plan for hard drive.
a naming format for digital files.
the use of "tags" or metadata.

I have previously blogged about task No.1 hard drive organisation. Task No. 3 is one of my Goals for 2012 ("Organise, tag and label the photographs on my computer (digital photos as well as scanned photos and documents"). I would also like to work on task No. 2, a naming format for my digital files.

Task 1 - an organizational plan for hard drive.
I currently have my genealogy information organised on my hard drive using a variation of Lisa Louise Cooke's system described on the Family Tree Magazine YouTube Video 'Organize Your Hard Drive'.

My hard drive organisation starts with a basic folder 'Genealogy' which contains the following folders:

Charts - a place to family charts I have created.
Correspondence - a place to store genealogy correspondence of a general nature.
Databases - a place to store all my genealogy software files e.g. Legacy 7.5 files.
Forms - a place for storing blank genealogy forms.
History Topics and Locations - a place for storing general history, location and repository information which is relevant to more than one of my surnames.
Logs - I have some older attempts at research logs stored in this folder.
OTHER PEOPLES FAMILIES - this is where I store research I have done for other families which are not my own.
Photos - the purpose of this folder is self explanatory, except I have nothing stored in this folder yet as I still have to organise my photos.
Research Resources - a place for storing digital copies of magazine articles etc.
Templates - templates for the surname folders under the 'RECORDS' folder. Each time I need to create a new surname folder I just copy these templates.
Timelines - a place for storing historical timelines.

Under the 'RECORDS' folder you find a folder for each surname I am researching. Where a name is not the name of a direct ancestor I have put the surname of my direct ancestry line next to the surname. For example, below you will see that I have a folder named 'BRADDY - Atkinson', this folder relates to the family of the sister (Elizabeth Braddy nee Atkinson) of my Great Great Grandmother Dorothea Fullerton (nee Atkinson). Where I have two surnames the same I have also used a second surname to identify which branch of the family I mean. For example, I have two Brown families I am researching. The first folder 'BROWN - Randall' relates to the family of my Great Great Great Grandmother Mary Anne Randall (nee Brown). The folder 'BROWN - Fullerton', relates to the family of the Mary Brown nee Fullerton, sister of my Great Great Grandfather, Peter Fullerton.

Inside each surname folder I have the following folders for storing records of different types. I also have shortcut links to related surnames. For example, the screenshot below is from my 'CHAMBERS' folder, so it contains shortcut links to 'MARROWS', 'McCARTHY' and 'RANDALL' folders as they are all related surnames. Later I hope to put shortcut links to relevant location (e.g. Lincolnshire) and history folders as well.

I am not sure how efficiently this hard drive organisation scheme works and I am always interested in the different hard drive organisation schemes other genealogy bloggers are using.

Task 2 - a naming format for digital files.
Michelle at the Turning of Generations blog suggests using the following file naming format:

Surname_FirstName_YYYY-MM-DD_DocumentType_[Locality/Description]

Natalie Cottrill at the ProGenealogists blog has a post Computer Tricks 3 - Naming Electronic Files in which she suggests naming files thus:

[surname (or) maiden surname][first name][middle name][birthyear][date of event or date document created][event or document name]

Both of these systems look like they would work well. When I get around to renaming my genealogy files I think I will use a system which combines both these ideas, for example:

SURNAME_Givenname_YearOfBirth_DocumentType_DocumentYear

CHAMBERS_Thomas_bc1793_DeathCertificate_1858.tif

Task 3 - the use of "tags" or metadata.
This is one of my Goals for 2012 ("Organise, tag and label the photographs on my computer (digital photos as well as scanned photos and documents"). This is something I would like to work on but I don't have time to work on this at the moment. Michelle at The Turning of Generations blog mentions some resources on labelling and metadata which I have bookmarked with Diigo and plan to look at as part of my monthly goals later this year.

Copyright © 2012 Australian Genealogy Journeys.

Someone's Ancestor Sunday - Shanahan

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 04:10:00 +0000

These two carte de visites are among a collection of photographs held by my uncle, most of the photographs in the collection relate to my O'Brien family. "A. Pentreath" mentioned on the back of the photographs is my great aunt Angela Pentreath nee O'Brien (1903-1989). The writing on the back of the photographs mentions that the Shanahans were "near neighbours of Joyces and very old friends". My great grandmother (Angela's mother) was a Joyce, Margaret Mary O'Brien (nee Joyce). The family lived at Pannoobamawm near Tennyson, Victoria, Australia.

Photograph of an unknown woman from O'Brien family photo collection. Possibly J. Shanahan.
This photograph is a Carte de visite. Photographer: Crowther.

Back of photograph of an unknown woman from O'Brien family photo collection.
Photographer: Crowther, Echuca & Deniliquin.
Other handwritten writing on the back of this photograph is shown below.

"J. Shanahan"

"A. Pentreath" - this means the photograph belonged to my great aunt.

"Old friends of Joyces"

Photograph of an unknown man from O'Brien family photo collection. Possibly Jack Shanahan.
This photograph is a Carte de visite. Photographer: Crowther.

Back of photograph of an unknown man from O'Brien family photo collection.
Handwriting on the back says "near neighbours of Joyces & very old friends. A. Pentreath. Jack Shanahan."

Are you related to the Shanahan family? If so, please contact me by email [ausgenjourneys at gmail.com] and I can send you high resolution copies of these photographs.

Paid Online Genealogy Tools - 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy - Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:43:00 +0000

Week 2 – Paid Online Genealogy Tools: Which paid genealogy tool do you appreciate the most? What special features put it at the top of your list? How can it help others with their genealogy research?

I have subscriptions to a few paid online genealogy tools (Ancestry.com.au, Findmypast.com.au, Findmypast.co.uk). I know they are available through many libraries and genealogy societies, but as I don't have a drivers license or public transport close at hand, having a subscription from home is a convenience for which I am very grateful.

My Ancestry.com.au subscription is a UK Heritage Plus Package which gives access to Australian, Irish and UK related records. I have, on occasion, purchased 10 pay-per-view 14-day credits so I could access records from USA and Canada. I find the collections on Ancestry.com.au are very useful, particularly the Australian Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, the UK Census Collection and the London Collections. I also appreciate the family tree builder and the ability to attach records to specific people within family trees, member connect activity feed (which shows when other subscribers attach the same records to their family trees), the surname and location based message boards and the ability to contact other subscribers through messages.

A subscription to FindMyPast Australasia is great for accessing digitised copies of more unusual Australian and New Zealand sources such as Government Gazettes, Police Gazettes, Electoral Rolls and Directories.

I have usually only used PayAsYouGo credits on FindMyPast UK but recently took out a 6 month subscription. The collections of most interest to me there are parish records collections and the military records, particularly the British Army Service Records 1760-1915.

There are two other paid online genealogy tools I would like to highlight.

Irish Family History Foundation - This site is useful for searching the collections of parish register transcripts from various County Genealogy Centres across Ireland. Credits are rather expensive compared to other sites and you don't get as much for your money, but the ability to search and access these records online is better than no access at all. I have found many useful and interesting records through this web site, for which I am very grateful. However, I am looking forward to the day when the digitised parish registers from the National Library of Ireland are available to access online free. Then I can do all my Irish research from here in Australia. That way when I finally get to visit Ireland someday I will be able to spend lots more time looking at the landscape and buildings, Churches and graveyards.

UK National Archives Documents Online - I have used this site to purchase digital copies of PCC Wills in the past. I know it can also be accessed through some genealogy societies libraries (such as the Genealogical Society of Victoria). This saves having to pay £3.50 for each document downloaded. According to this news item, Documents Online and the National Archives Catalogue will be soon become part of the Discovery service, which is currently in beta mode.

So which paid genealogy tool do I appreciate the most? I am going to say Ancestry.com.au because it gives access to such a vast amount of data and digitised records, and because it provides features such as the family tree builder and the ability to attach records to relevant people in your family tree as you find them.

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2012) that invite genealogists and others to discuss resources in the genealogy community including websites, applications, libraries, archives, genealogical societies and more.

Copyright © 2012 Australian Genealogy Journeys.

Beyond the Internet Week 1: Church interiors

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:23:00 +0000

Over at the Family History Across the Seas blog, Pauleen recently posted Beyond the Internet Week 1: Church interiors. I thought this was a great theme and asked Pauleen (@cassbmob) via Twitter if I could participate. She kindly replied 'By all means join in with the beyond Internet theme'.

The topic for the first post was Church interiors. Pauleen asks:

Have you looked at your family’s churches to see if there are clues about your angels in the architecture? Stained glass windows, bells, donated items, plaques or kneelers might provide valuable clues.

Yes I have looked a some of the Churches my family attended, but I know there are a few more Churches I should look at. I have previously posted about how one of the Stations of the Cross in a local Church was donated by my Great Great Grandfather, Michael O'Brien.

I have a collection of photographs from the interior of various Churches I have visited, including photographs of many stained glass windows showing the names of the donor or memorial.
After going through my collection I have decided to share my photographs from St Patrick's Catholic Church, Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia. I hope these will be useful for someone's family history.

Motivation Monday - Goals for January 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:51:00 +0000

Tessa at The Keough Corner blog recently posted Motivation Monday - January 2012 Goals in which she resolved 'to use the Motivation Monday meme to publish my resolutions/goals on the first Monday of each month during 2012'. This is a great idea. While the first Monday of this month has already passed, I would still like to use this Motivation Monday post to decide which of my Goals for 2012 I will attempt during January. I will then give a report on the first Monday in February and see how many I actually achieved, while setting more goals for February. This should be a great way to motivate myself to achieve the goals I set for this year.

During January 2012 my goals are:

Participate in the Twigs of Yore - Australia Day 2012 - Wealth for Toil blogging challenge on Australia day - January 26th.

Move a few more genealogy files from my 'To Sort' folder into relevant surname folders on my hard drive.

Move a few more photographs from my 'To Sort' folder into folders for the relevant year and month.

Blog about the decisions I made when I created my research log templates.

Continue organising my bookshelves on Google Books. At the time of posting, I have 399 books saved in the 'Favorites' bookshelf. During January I will aim to reduce that number to at least 300.

Synchronise my genealogy folders at least once a week.

Begin reading Photoshop Elements 10 All-in-One For Dummies.

Sort and reply to the starred emails in Gmail that I keep neglecting!

Look into the possibility of using DNA in my O'Brien/Breen research. I just recently purchased a 37 marker Y-DNA test for my Dad, so this goal is already in progress.

Correct newspaper text on Trove.

Post some more Church photographs to my Australian Church photos on Flickr.

Someone's Ancestor Sunday - Harrison

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 05:47:00 +0000

This photo postcard is among a collection of photographs held by my uncle, most of the photographs in the collection relate to my O'Brien family.

Update: I have identified this photograph, thanks to a public tree on Ancestry. I have now sent a copy of this photograph to a relative of the woman and child shown.

Photograph of mother and child.
This photograph is a Photo Postcard.

The back of the photo postcard. The message reads: "To Angie with love from little Mona Harrison".
Angie is possibly my great aunt Angela O'Brien (1903-1989) from Tennyson, Victoria, Australia.

I hope this photograph may be useful for someone's family history.

National Year of Reading 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 03:31:00 +0000

Other Australian genealogy blogs (including Geniaus, The Tree of Me and From Helen V. Smith's Keyboard) have already mentioned that 2012 is the National Year of Reading in here in Australia.

Over at Geniaus on 1 January, Jill Ball suggested some ideas for things that genealogists could do to recognise the National Year of Reading (see her blog post for the full list). Some of the ideas I liked and hope to participate in are:

Review your favourite genealogy books on your blog (I will try to do this on my blog this year)

Maintain a genealogy reading log - either online at Librarything or in a journal (I have my genealogy book collection online at Librarything where I am ausgenjourneys. I can see there are many books in my genealogy/history collection that I have not yet read. I must make that another goal for this year! I have recently been reading a few novels instead.)

Create a geneameme about reading and genealogy (this is a great idea, I would participate!)

Write that genealogy book that's been evolving inside you (The book about my Fullerton ancestors - I'll get there)

Compile and publish online or elsewhere a list of your genealogy top ten books (perhaps another task for a later blog post!)

Happy reading and researching everyone!

Copyright © 2012 Australian Genealogy Journeys.

Blogs - 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy - Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:58:00 +0000

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2012) that invite genealogists and others to discuss resources in the genealogy community including websites, applications, libraries, archives, genealogical societies and more.

Week 1 – Blogs: Blogging is a great way for genealogists to share information with family members, potential cousins and each other. For which blog are you most thankful? Is it one of the earliest blogs you read, or a current one? What is special about the blog and why should others read it?

To chose just one blog I am most thankful for is a very difficult task. According to Google Reader I have 237 current subscriptions (this includes RSS feeds of Alerts from Google, Ancestry and Trove as well as subscriptions to blogs). My subscriptions are arranged in various folders (see left).

According to Google Reader's 'Trends' page:

"From your 237 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 1,372 items,clicked 2 items, starred 21 items, and emailed 0 items.Since March 25, 2010 you have read a total of 53,925 items." Phew! In most cases, however, 'read' probably meant 'skimmed' or 'browsed'.

Because I can't choose just one, I have to say that I am most thankful for GeneaBloggers for introducing me to all kinds of genealogy blogs.

I will chose one or two blogs from some of my folders in Google Reader to highlight.

Australian Genealogy News Blogs - Genealogy & History News

Australian Genealogy Personal Blogs - Geniaus and Family History Across the Seas. (Many other wonderful Australian blogs are listed at Unlock the Past's Australian Genealogy & History Blogs)

Australian Repository News Blogs - Family Matters - State Library of Victoria

Genealogy Technology News Blogs - FamilySearch TechTips

Ireland Genealogy News Blogs - Irish Genealogy News

UK Genealogy News Blogs - British GENES (GEnealogy News and EventS)

UK Genealogy Personal Blogs - The Family Recorder

US Genealogy Personal Blogs - Marian's Roots and Rambles

You can find many more blogs to follow through GeneaBloggers or through Unlock the Past's Australian Genealogy & History Blogs.

Goals for 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:38:00 +0000

1. Organsation
See the following blog posts for more about my ongoing organisation goals.

Let's start at the beginning...Why I need to be organised and make research goals 23 May 2010.

Unlearning what I have learned 30 May 2010.

Sorting Saturday - Revisiting my organisation goals 12 February 2011.

Organisation goals achieved in 2011

Organise my Bookmarks. In March I posted Sorting Saturday - Bookmarks - Part 1 and Sorting Saturday - Bookmarks - Part 2 in which I mentioned I was trying out several different online social bookmarking sites. I eventually decided on Diigo. You can see my public Diigo bookmarks here.
Sort out all my emails, stored across several old email addresses, into one account on Gmail. I have achieved this. As well as transferring all emails from several different older email addresses I have started saving web snapshots (using the Evernote Web Clipper for Google Chrome) of messages I received through GenesReunited and other web sites and then sending the snapshots from Evernote to my all-purpose Gmail address where I save them with relevant tags (year, surname etc.). My aim is to have all my genealogy correspondence stored in one place for easier retrieval, organisation and backup. I am still investigating the use of Evernote.
In February 2011 my organisation goals included sorting out my Twitter account (I dealt with this in Sorting Saturday - Twitter), sorting out the blogs I follow with Google Reader (see Sorting Saturday - Google Reader - Folders) and creating lists on Facebook so I can categorise my news feed (see Sorting Saturday - Facebook). Given the dynamic nature of social media web sites most the methods for organisation I mentioned in these posts are now defunct. Organising is now much easier on each site. At the moment I am not a regular daily social media user, but I do try to check every couple of days to see whats new in my news streams on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Organising the people I am following on lists has made my use of these web sites much for efficient. I have also started using the TweetDeck app for Google Chrome.

Organisation goals in progress and ongoing

Organise a new family history folder arrangement on my computer hard drive. In November 2010 I posted Hard drive organisation for Genealogists and Family Historians in which I mentioned and linked to articles/blogs regarding methods others were using to organise their genealogy research on their computer hard drive. I have mostly finished this organisation task, but still have a few files in a 'to sort' folder.
Organise, tag and label the photographs on my computer (digital photos as well as scanned photos and documents). I am progressing with this goal. I recently used free software Duplicate Cleaner and Auslogics Duplicate File Finder to locate and remove exact duplicate files in the photograph folders on my computer. Once I have all photographs arranged in folders as I want, I hope to beginning adding tag keywords to the files metadata with relevant names, places, events etc.
Set up template spreadsheets to record all research and correspondence. I wrote a short blog post about research logs in January 2011 (Beginners: Research Logs in Family History) and I have since set up templates, but I have not yet begun to implement them.
Start my new Legacy file beginning with myself and working backwards methodically, recording all sources, attaching relevant source documents and attaching photographs. I haven't started my new Legacy file yet, but I hope to do so very soon.
Organise my Bookshelves on Google Books. Before Google Books created 'bookshelves' I used keywords/tags to categorise books which mentioned surnames and locations in which I was interested. Then one say Google changed to all of my tags were changed to bookshelves, which in my opinion were a lot less user friendly. I have started to go through each book and bookmark each on Diigo with tags/keywords instead of adding each book to numerous Google Book bookselves.
Create a computer back-up routine. I have started to do this. I have been using GoodSync to synchronise my genealogy folder on my laptop computer and my external hard drive.

Organisation goals 'to do'

Create research goals and detailed plans.

Begin using Google Calendar to schedule specific times and dates for tasks related to these 2012 goals.
Sort out all the items I have saved in my Ancestry Shoebox and all the 'maybe' information I have saved in several 'working' Ancestry Family Trees.
Photograph/scan all the family history material I have storied in hardcopy in folders.
Work out what to do with my collection of genealogy magazines, books and CDs.
Sort out the 'family history box' - the general place I put family history related clippings from newspapers etc.

2. Education

Reacquaint myself with the features of the various genealogy software products I have on my computer (Legacy 7.5, RootsMagic 4, Family Tree Maker 2012, Family Historian and Personal Historian 2)

Learn to use all the features of Adobe Photoshop Elements 10.

Continue learning more about professional Genealogy and Family History through blogs, web sites, books and journals.

Improve my time-management skills.

3. Correspondence

Try to reply to emails and message board posts in a more timely manner.

4. Writing

Try to write on my blog at least once or twice a week.
Try to participate in more of Geneabloggers daily blogging prompts and my own invention Someone's Ancestor Sunday.
Try to participate in Amy Coffin's /Geneabloggers' 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy Blogging prompts.
Continue with plans for my Fullerton family history book. Use Personal Historian 2 to help organise the story structure.

5. Research

Look into the possibility of using DNA in my O'Brien/Breen research.
Continue researching the various Hehir families who came to Australia and are likely related to my ancestor Susan Hehir.
I want to do more research in libraries, archives and cemeteries this year - I miss that as I have not been able to do much of it within the last few years.
Newspaper research on Trove and at the library.

6. Giving Back

Join the local family history group with my Mum.
Continue participating in the Genealogists for Families Project on Kiva.
Contribute text corrections more often on Trove and contribute interesting articles to the 'Genealogy Bloggers' group on Trove forums.

And because I don't have enough genealogy goals already...

I hope to add many more Church photographs to my Australian Church photos on Flickr.

During 2011 I participated in a few genealogy blogging memes (Meme: The Tech-Savvy Genealogist, Beyond the Internet Geneameme, The Ancestors' Geneameme, 99 Things Genealogy Meme - Australian). These have helped me identify a few others things I would like to achieve. The following are some I believe I could try to achieve during 2012.

Buy an Android Smartphone and use it for genealogy research. I'm looking forward to following Jill Ball's new blog Android Genealogy.
Contribute to a genealogy blog carnival.
Visit all my great grandparents and great great grandparents grave sites.
Look up local government rate books and valuation records for my ancestors.
Look up land records for my ancestors (I have done this before but not for all ancestors)
Consistently cite my sources.
Reunite someone with precious family photographs or artifacts.
Locate any document within my research files within a few minutes.

Looking back at 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:55:00 +0000

Inspired by GeneaBloggers Open Thread Thursday question ("What Are Your Genealogy Goals and Resolutions for 2012?") and the many blog responses from other Aussie and overseas Geneabloggers, I have decided to create a few of my own genealogy goals for this new year. Before doing so, I will take a look back at 2011. In my next blog post I will write about my goals for 2012.

Looking back at 2011

I did not post to my blog as much as I hope, neither did I keep up with genealogy correspondence as well as I should have. This year I will do better!

Like many genealogists have mentioned on their blogs, I hope I have given time to living family members this past year.

Altogether I made 72 posts on this blog during 2011.

December (4 posts)
November (1 post)
October (6 posts)
September (2 posts)
June (5 posts)
May (3 posts)
April (11 posts)
March (16 posts)
February (12 posts)
January (12 posts)

Memes
Meme: The Tech-Savvy Genealogist
Beyond the Internet Geneameme
The Ancestors' Geneameme
99 Things Genealogy Meme - Australian

Blogging Prompts
Sunday's Obituary (1 post)
Someone's Ancestor Sunday (19 posts) (my own invention, see New Blogging Theme - Someone's Ancestor Sunday)
Mappy Monday (1 post)
Tombstone Tuesday (2 posts)
Those Places Thursday
Follow Friday (1 post)
Sorting Saturday (6 posts)
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (1 post)
52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History (7 posts)

I didn't participate every week for this blogging prompt, but I did participate seven times:
Winter - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week 2
Radio/Television - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week 6
Technology - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week 8
Sounds - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week 9
Disasters - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week 10
Movies - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week 12
Books – 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week 23

Blogging Challenges
Australia Day 2011 - The earliest documentation for my Australian ancestors
Waitangi Day 2011 - My Ancestors Gold Rush to New Zealand - Gilmore, Fullerton, Joyce, Mulhall
Women's History Month participated on 3 days.
St. Patrick's Day - My Irish Ancestors
ANZAC Day - WWI Soldiers from my family tree who gave their lives - Lest we forget

Series of Blog Posts
My Genealogy Web Footprint

Ideas I had and want to follow up later
Trove uncovers a treasure (and a idea for Trove genealogy bloggers)
Australian Church photos on Flickr
New Blogging Theme - Someone's Ancestor Sunday

In 2011 I joined the Genealogists for Families Project on Kiva.

I mostly concentrated on organising my existing research in 2011. The task is still large and ongoing but I will get there.

Happy New Year everyone, may 2012 be a happy, safe and blessed year for you and all your loved ones, and may you have many breakthroughs in your genealogy research.

Copyright © 2012 Australian Genealogy Journeys. Word art created at Tagxedo.

My Genealogy Web Footprint - Part 5 - Elsewhere on the web

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:13:00 +0000

In this, Part 5 (and last part) of My Genealogy Web Footprint blog post series, I will look at posts I have made to forums, message boards and other pages elsewhere on the web.

On 7 July 2005 I posted this message on the Stanford in the Vale - Villages Reunited web page:

Hi, I am tracing my family history. I am interested in the names MATTHEWS, HEADING, HUNSDON and HIGGINS in Stanford in the Vale, Goosey and Hatford. I am also interested in these and other names in other villages around Wantage, and elsewhere in Oxfordshire/Berkshire. I would love to hear from anyone who has an interest in these names. I would also like to hear from anyone who may be able to look at the graveyards in these villages for me. I live in Australia.

Some corrections: I am still interested in the names Matthews, Heading and Hunston in Standford in the Vale and Goosey, but I now doubt that I have any connection to the Higgins family of Hatford.

I know I posted messages to the Your Family Tree Forum in about 2005/2006. When I first decided to create this blog post series I collected all the URLs including ones for my posts to this forum, however, in the time since my user profile and posts appear to have disappeared.

I have an old profile on Fold3 (formerly Footnote.com) which mentions some of my Gilmore connections in the US. I created this account through an old email address which I can no longer access.

I have a profile on GenealogyWise.

I was featured on the GeniMates blog.

My interest in the surname Pickis is mentioned on the Norfolk Surnames List.

I contributed a few Wills to the Oxfordshire Family History Society Transcribed Wills collection (these are not all necessarily my relatives).

Charlotte Heading of Oxford
Thomas Heading of Oxford
Elizabeth Heading of Sunningwell
Thomas Heading of Grove
Richard Kersey of Stadhampton
James Preston of Oxford (my 5 x Great Grandfather)
Joseph Frederick of Bampton
Thomas Hutton of Holwell
Edward Hutton of Oxford (my 5 x Great Grandfather)

As I find any other places across the web where my genealogy interests are mentioned, I will post them here.

My Genealogy Web Footprint - Part 4 - Rootschat

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:29:00 +0000

In this, Part 4 of My Genealogy Web Footprint blog post series, I will look at posts I made to the forums at RootsChat.com between 2005 and 2010.

2005
1841 Census Lookup - PURVIS posted Monday 31 October 2005. A lookup request. This post relates to my 3 x Great Grandmother, Catherine Helen Pickis, of London, and her aunt and uncle James and Dorothy Purvis of South Shields, Durham. At this stage I believe Dorothy (maiden name not yet known) was possibly a sister of Catherine's mother Elizabeth (maiden name not yet known). This is a brick wall I still need to break down.
Bridport Parish Registers - DAVEY/DAVY posted Monday 31 October 2005. A lookup request. Regarding the family of my 3 x Great Grandmother Mary Anne Davey. I have since been able to find what I believe to me Mary's sister Susan's baptism on the Dorset records available on Ancestry.com.au.

2006
Rotherfield Greys PRs Lookup Request - HUTTON posted Monday 30 January 2006. A lookup request. This post regards my search for the marriage of 5 x Great Grandparents Edward Hutton and Mary.
Oxford Baptisms - HUTTON posted Wednesday 22 February 2006. A lookup request. This post regards my search for the family of 5 x Great Grandparents Edward Hutton and Mary.
HEADING family - Wantage & Oxford posted Wednesday 22 February 2006. This post regards my search for the family of my 4 x Great Grandmother, Elizabeth Heading.
Bampton PRs Lookup Please- HUTTON posted Saturday 25 February 2006. A lookup request. This post regards my search for the marriage of 5 x Great Grandparents Edward Hutton and Mary.
MARROWS/MARRAS/MARRIS - Middle Rasen - CHAMBERS posted Friday 03 March 2006. This post regards my search for my 3 x Great Grandmother Maria Chambers nee Marrows, who, according to later census records, was born in Middle Rasen, Lincolnshire about 1789.
East Ilsley PRs Lookup Please - MATHEW posted Thursday 09 March 2006. A lookup request. This post regards for search for the origins of the Matthews family of Goosey, Berkshire.
Burial lookup please - DAVEY - Bridport St. Mary posted Wednesday 26 July 2006. A lookup request. This post regards my search for the burial of my possibel 4 x Great Grandmother.
Baptism Lookup Please - DAVEY - Poole St. James posted Wednesday 26 July 2006. A lookup request. This post regards my search for the baptism of my 3 x Great Grandmother Mary Anne Davey.
PICKIS - Marriage abt 1822 posted Sunday 06 August 2006. A lookup request. This post regards my continuing search for the marriage of my 4 x Great Grandparents Robert Paul Pickis and Elizabeth (maiden name unknown).
Question about Pallot's Marriage Index posted Saturday 02 September 2006. This post regards a question I had about an index card I found on Pallot's Marriage Index on Ancestry.
Marriage Lookups Please - ATKINSON/CRISP & PURVIS posted Saturday 02 September 2006. A lookup request. This post regards my search for the marriages of my 4 x Great Grandparents John Atkinson and Eleanor/Ellen Crisp and James Purvis and Dorothy (maiden name unknown), the aunt and uncle of my 3 x Great Grandmother, Catherine Helen Pickis.
West Berkshire Wills Beneficiaries Index - Lookup Please posted Tuesday 19 September 2006. A lookup request. This post regards my search for Heading ancestors from Berkshire.
Link: Wiltshire and Swindon Archive Catalogue - Wills Search posted Friday 29 December 2006. I had been waiting for the Wiltshire and Swindon Archives to release their Wills index so I could look up some of my Heading ancestors from Berkshire. When I realised the records were online I had to share the news with others, hoping to give something small back to the RootsChat community (even if it was just a link) so that I was not just taking through lookup requests.

2007
Newnham Murren - PRs Lookup - HUTTON posted Friday 27 April 2007.
A lookup request. This post regards my continuing search for my Hutton ancestors.
'DeRenzie Percival' or 'Percival DeRenzie' posted Thursday 27 December 2007.As mentioned in Part 3 of this blog post series, this post also regards my search for the origins of the unusual name Derenzie Percival, which occurs in my Fullerton family.
FULLERTON Thomas, 58th Regt., 1828, Naas, Co. Kildare, IRE posted Thursday 27 December 2007. This post regards a possible lead I was following up regarding other people with the name Fullerton from County Kildare, Ireland. I now don't believe this soldier has anything to do with my Fullerton/Fullard ancestors.

2008
Post-1858 Probate Index Lookup Please - HUTTON posted Monday 21 January 2008. A lookup request. This post regards my search for the reference to the Will for John Hutton, the brother of my 4 x Great Grandmother Mary Hutton.

Gascoigne, Oxfordshire, 17th Century posted Tuesday 22 January 2008. This post regards my search for the Gascoigne family, my possible 17th century ancestors.
College Servants, Oxford posted Tuesday 22 January 2008. This post regards some questions I had regarding College servants from Oxford. My 5 x Great Grandfather, James Preston, was a servant at Worcester College, Oxford, as was his son Joseph Preston.
Fullard/Folliard/Fuller/Fullerton and variations, 1800s posted Friday 23 May 2008. This post regards my search for my Fullerton/Fullard/Fuller/Folliard ancestors from County Kildare, Ireland.

2010
Naas Gaol, Prisoner for Tithe Arrears 1838 posted Tuesday 11 May 2010. This post regards my search for Peter Folliard of Naas. My 3 x Great Grandfather, William Fullerton, named his eldest son (my 2 x Great Grandfather) Peter. I am researching a possible connection between my William Fullerton/Fullard and the Folliard family of Naas. I found references to Peter Folliard's 1838 tithe arrears arrest in the digitised British Parliamentary Papers and in the digitised Dublin Freeman's Journal newspaper. Unfortunately, the records for Naas Gaol now available on FindMyPast.ie only cover the years 1859-1881.

In Part 5 I will share posts I have made elsewhere on the web (not Genforum, Rootsweb, Ancestry or Rootschat) regarding my genealogy research.

My Genealogy Web Footprint - Part 3 - Ancestry Message Boards

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 03:41:00 +0000

In Part 1 of My Genealogy Web Footprint post series, I listed posts I made to Genforum in 2003 and 2004. In Part 2, I listed posts I made on Rootsweb Mailing Lists between 2004 and 2008. In this, Part 3 of My Genealogy Web Footprint series, I will be looking at messages I have posted on Ancestry's Message Boards from 2003 onward.

Please Note: There are some inaccuracies in these posts as some of them were made in my earliest months of genealogy research. I hope to post more accurate information on this blog in later posts dedicated to each of my ancestral surnames.

Carew / Hayes
Carew, Hayes Cappaghwhite,Co.Tipperary from the Tipperary Message Board posted 24 February 2003.
Re: carew from co.tipperary ireland from the Carew Message Board  posted 6 June 2003.
Re: Carews in Australia from Carew Message Board posted 8 June 2003.

Davey / Davy / Smith
Davy/Davey of Nymet Tracey, Devon, England from the Davey Message Board posted 27 June 2003. Also posted on the Davy Message Board. My Davey/Davy ancestors were from Nymet Tracey, but my ancestor Mary Anne was not the daughter of Robert Davey and Mary Mallet. Her father was Robert Davey, however. At this stage I believe her mother was Elizabeth Dell, but I have to do a little more research to verify that.
Thomas Smith,abt. 1808, Bishopsteignton, Devon, England m. Mary Ann Davey from the Smith Message Board posted 27 June 2003.

Fullerton/ Fuller /Fullard/ Folliard and related families
William Fullerton, 1817, Co. Kildare, Ireland from the Fullerton Message Board posted 20 February 2003.
Fullerton/Dunne, County Kildare from the Kildare Message Board posted 24 February 2003.
Gerald Thomas Fenelon - Australia from the Fenelon Message Board posted 5 November 2004.
DeRENZIE/ FULLERTON/ DUNNE Ireland from the Derenzy Message Board posted 28 December 2005. I now don't think there was any relationship between the Derenzie family and my Fullertons or Dunnes. I now believe Derenzie Percival Fullerton was probably named after a colleague of James Fullerton's, Derenzie Percy Brett Wilson, who was a descendant of the Irish Derenzie family. As for the family story of a soldier and the "Spanish war", I hope to post more about that on my blog at a later date.
Folliard/Fullard/Fuller/Fullerton and variations, County Kildare, Ireland, 1800s from Folliard Message Board posted 23 May 2008.
Folliard/FullardFuller/Fullerton, County Kildare, Ireland, 1800s from the Folliard Message Board posted 23 May 2008. I also posted the same message to the Fullard Message Board, Fuller Message Board, Fullerton Message Board and Kildare Message Board.
Re: SEERY-Kildare from the Seery Message Board posted 4 November 2010. I made this post while I was researching some other Folliard families in the Clane/Naas area of County Kildare.

Hehir
O'Hare/Hehier/O'Heir etc. Killaloe from the Clare Message Board posted 4 February 2003. This must have been one of my earliest posts. It should have read Killow, not Killaloe, and definitely shouldn't have said County Kerry that was a typo.
Re: Hehir Australia search from the Hehir Message Board posted 8 February 2003.
Re: Hello from Ireland from the Hehir Message Board posted 30 April 2011.

Joyce / Guinane
Joyce, Guinane, Co. Galway from the Galway Message Board posted 20 February 2003.
William Guinane & Mary Hogan, Co. Galway(?), Ireland from Guinan Message Board posted 21 June 2003.
Re: Catherine Guinane's children from Guinan Message Board posted 25 June 2003.
Death dates from Guinan Message Board posted 25 June 2003.

Judd
JUDDs of Margaret Roding area, Essex, England from the Judd Message Board posted 21 July 2003.

Kinealy / Colbert
Kinealy of Cloyne, County Cork, Ireland from the Keneally Message Board posted 24 April 2003.
Kinealy etc. of Cloyne, County Cork, Ireland from the Kennelly Message Board posted 24 April 2003.
Re: KENNEALY and BRENNAN from the Cork Message Board posted 24 April 2003.
I have more accurate information about these families which I will post to this blog at a later date.

Mannix / Bowler
Re: Bowler from the Kerry Message Board posted 29 Jan 2003. This seems to have been posted in reply to someone else's post, but the other messages in the thread don't seem to relate.
Mary Anne Bowler m. Michael Mannix abt. 1842, County Kerry, Ireland from the Bowler Message Board posted 24 June 2003.
Re: Bowler County Kerry from the Bowler Message Board  posted 24 June 2003.
Michael Mannix m. Mary Anne Bowler abt. 1842, County Kerry, Ireland from Mannix Message Board posted 24 June 2003.
McCarthy / Duggan
James McCarthy M. Mary Duggan c. 1800 from Kerry Message Board posted 29 January 2003.
Mary Duggan m. James McCarthy bef. 1801, County Kerry, Ireland from Duggan Message Board posted 24 June 2003.
James McCarthy m. Mary Duggan bef. 1801, County Kerry, Ireland from McCarthy Message Board  posted 24 June 2003.

McAllister
Family of Sam McAllister died 1799, Battle of Derrynamuck, County Wicklow from the Dublin Message Board posted 29 May 2003.
Sam McAllister, Battle of Derrynamuck, 1799 from the McAllister Message Board posted 29 May 2003.
Mary McAllister & brother Sam McAllister, N. Ireland from the McAllister Message Board posted 29 May 2003.
Mary McAllister & brother Sam McAllister from the Antrim Message Board, posted 16 June 2003.
McAllister, Dublin from the Dublin Message Board posted 16 June 2003.

Mulhall / Coghlan
Mulhall, Coghlan, County Westmeath from the Westmeath Message Board  posted 24 February 2003.
Coghlans of County Westmeath, Ireland from the Coghlan Message Board posted 24 February 2003.
Mulhalls of County Westmeath, Ireland from the Mulhall Message Board posted 24 February 2003.

O'Brien / Breen / Finnegan
O'Brien Co. Armagh from the Armagh Message Board posted 20 February 2003.
Finnegan, O'Brien Co. Armagh from the Armagh Message Board posted 20 February 2003.
Re: O'BrienClan.com from the Armagh Message Board posted 2 May 2003.
Breen,Meigh, County Armagh, Ireland from the Breen Message Board posted 30 May 2003.
Breen/O'Brien, Kenny, Carr from the Armagh Message Board posted 10 August 2003.

Pickis
Pickis/Piickes etc. from the London Message Board. This post relates to my Pickis ancestors from London. I posted the first message to this thread on 4 August 2003 (and accidentally put two i's in the name Pickes!).

Pickis/Pickes etc., Norwich, Norfolk from the Norfolk Message Board posted 5 June 2003. Again this relates to my Pickis family. Was Paul Pickis who married Elizabeth Blows (on 23 February 1794 at St Luke's, Finsbury, Middlesex) the same Paul Pickis who was baptised in St . Peter Southgate, Norwich, Norfolk in 1761? I still need to find the answer.

Peacock / Pettit
Peacocks of Essex, England from the Peacock Message Board posted 21 July 2003.

Potter / Preston/ Heading / Hutton
Potter, George Augustus b. abt. 1817 from the London Message Board. I first posted to this thread on 21 July 2003 and later posted a correction on 23 May 2008. This post relates to my Great Great Great Grandfather, George Augustus Potter (1816-1891).
The following posts also relate to my Potter ancestors:
Potter, Preston, Hutton, Heading from the Oxfordshire Message Board, posted 21 July 2003.
Potter, George Augustus b. abt. 1817 (Oxfordshire, London & Australia) from the Potter Message Board posted 21 July 2003.
Preston/Heading from the Preston Message Board posted 21 July 2003.
Heading - Berkshire & Oxfordshire from the Heading Message Board posted 9 February 2005.

In Part 4 of My Genealogy Web Footprint I will be looking at posts I have made to RootsChat.

Copyright © 2011 Australian Genealogy Journeys.

Happy Christmas from Australian Genealogy Journeys

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 02:23:00 +0000

Public domain from Wikimedia Commons

To all my relatives near and far, to my fellow genealogy enthusiasts, to all my blog followers everywhere, to everyone, may you all have a safe, happy and holy Christmas and New Year.

This Christmas, please consider joining the Genealogists for Families project on Kiva and help to make a difference in many people's lives.

From the Genealogists for Families project site: "You do NOT need to be involved in genealogy to join - you only need to care! Invite your family and friends to be a part of this team...Through Kiva, a non-profit organisation working with microfinance institutions, we make $25 loans that enable borrowers without access to traditional banks to expand their small businesses, support their families, save for the future and raise themselves out of poverty. When the loan is repaid, we can withdraw the money or lend it again. By repeatedly lending the same $25 we can make a difference to many people's lives."

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

To the left is a photograph titled 'The Immigrants first Christmas in Queensland' which I found via the State Library of Queensland's collection on Wikimedia Commons. As genealogists we often have to face the reality of poverty in the lives of our ancestors. I believe this often gives genealogists an understanding and empathy for people around the world who still live in poverty today. Genealogists for Families is a great way for genealogists and friends across the world to join together to help alleviate poverty. Please consider joining Kiva.

At the time of posting, Genealogists for Families has 103 members who together have contributed 210 loans worth a total of US$5,875. You can also learn more about the project at the Genealogists for Families Project blog.

Happy Christmas and God bless,

My Genealogy Web Footprint - Part 2 - Rootsweb Mailing Lists

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 03:53:00 +0000

In Part 1 of My Genealogy Web Footprint post series, I listed posts I made to Genforum in 2003 and 2004. In Part 2, I will list some of the posts I made on Rootsweb Mailing Lists. An archive of these mailing list posts can be searched at Rootsweb Mailing List Archives Search. The Advanced Search allows you to search specially by the email address of the poster, which is useful if you remember what email address you were using at the time.

The following were the results I found when I searched for my own posts dating between 2004 and 2008:

2004

New to the list from AUS-QLD-WESTERN-L Archives 12 Aug 2004. This post relates to my Fullerton ancestors, particularly to my Great Great Grandfather Peter (1840-1924) and his brother James (1843-1889). James spent time as a station manager at Retreat Station on the Barcoo River in Western Queensland from the late 1870s until 1887.

Fullerton family - Elphinstone, Inglewood from AUS-VIC-GOLDFIELDS-L Archives 23 Aug 2004. Again, this post relates to my Fullerton ancestors. Note: I now know that Mary Fullerton was buried at the Castlemaine Cemetery, Campbells Creek and I know the location of William Fullerton's block of land at Elphinstone.

Mary Ann BROWN d.1935, and FULLERTON family from AUS-MELBOURNE-L Archives
2 Sep 2004. Again, this post relates to my Fullerton ancestors, specifically to my search for the death record of Mary Ann Brown (nee Fullerton). I couldn't find her death in 1935 in the Victorian records because she died in New South Wales.

SMITH, "Ring of Bells" ,Teignmouth from DEVON-L Archives 16 Sep 2004. 1861 Census Lookup Please - Teignmouth from DEVON-L Archives 18 Oct 2004. These two posts relate to my Smith ancestors from Teignmouth, Devon, England.

2005
ATKINSON, John - Kangaroo Flat & ATKINSON, Joshua - Guilford from AUS-VIC-GOLDFIELDS-L Archives 22 Jan 2005.| This post relates to the families of John and Joshua Atkinson, brothers of my 3 x Great Grandfather James Atkinson (1830-1902).

Wattle Flat from AUS-VIC-HEATHCOTE-L Archives 17 Feb 2005. Re: Wattle Flat from AUS-VIC-HEATHCOTE-L Archives 19 Feb 2005. These posts relate to my search for a place called 'Wattle Flat' near Heathcote, Victoria. While I have many direct ancestors from Heathcote, at that time I was looking for the Parkin family, who are the ancestors of a relative of mine.

Preston - Smythesdale & Ballarat from AUS-VIC-GOLDFIELDS-L Archives 29 Jun 2005. Re: Preston - Smythesdale & Ballarat from AUS-VIC-GOLDFIELDS-L Archives 3 Jul 2005. These posts relate to my search for the family of James Preston and his wife Abi Mowser. James (1825-1901) was the brother of my 3 x Great Grandmother, Amelia Preston (later Potter).

Potter, Preston, Heading, Hutton etc. New List Member Interests from OXFORDSHIRE-L Archives 6 Jul 2005. This was an introductory post I made when I joined the Oxfordshire mailing list. It lists the surnames and places I was searching for in Oxfordshire, England. Some of these surnames are still relevant, others were lines I was following which later turned out not to be relevant.

Heading, Matthews, Taylor, Hunsdon - New list member interests from BERKSHIRE-L Archives 13 Jul 2005. This was an introductory post I made when I joined the Berkshire mailing list. It lists the surnames and places I was searching for in Berkshire, England. Again, some of these surnames are still relevant, while others were lines I was following which later turned out not to be relevant.

Guildford & Vaughan Cemeteries from AUS-VIC-GOLDFIELDS-L Archives 13 Jul 2005. Re: Guildford & Vaughan Cemeteries from AUS-VIC-GOLDFIELDS-L Archives 17 Jul 2005.These posts relate to my search for the family of Joshua Atkinson, the brother of my 3 x Great Grandfather James Atkinson (1830-1902).

MANLEY Family, Erleigh/Earley Court, Sonning from BERKSHIRE-L Archives 26 Jul 2005.This post relates to my search to find the relationship between the Matthews family and Manley/Pryce families.

Re: Stonehenge from AUS-QLD-WESTERN-L Archives 28 Jul 2005. This post was just to help another mailing list recipient find the location of a western Queensland area.

Elphinstone from AUS-VIC-GOLDFIELDS-L Archives 2 Aug 2005. This post relates to my Fullerton ancestors again, specifically to the question of where Mary Fullerton was buried in 1858. I later found out that Mary was buried at the Castlemaine Cemetery, Campbells Creek.

Burke and Wills Expedition from AUS-VIC-GOLDFIELDS-L Archives 12 Oct 2005. This post relates to the story that my Great Great Grandfather Peter Fullerton (1840-1924) rode along with the Burke and Wills Expedition in 1860. Another Fullerton descendant recently co-edited a book regarding the scientific legacy of the Burke and Wills expedition and he was keeping an eye out for Peter's name in any source documents relating to the expedition. I think this may be one of those family stories that will remain just that, a story.

GASCOIGNE - Bampton/Burford/Taynton from OXFORDSHIRE-L Archives 9 Nov 2005. Re: GASCOIGNE - Bampton/Burford/Taynton from OXFORDSHIRE-L Archives 12 Nov 2005.These posts relate to my search for the Gascoigne family. I believe Elizabeth Gascoigne and William Matthews whom I mention in these posts were my 8 x Great Grandparents. I have digitised copies of many Wills for members of the Gascoigne family which I downloaded from The UK National Archives DocumentsOnline in 2005. However, it looks I was repeating lots of earlier research, as this transcription of a 1951 document on Julian Rawes family history web site shows: History of the Frederick and Whitaker Families associated with Bampton Manor in Oxfordshire. I am very glad these people all liked to mention their distant cousins in their Wills!

2007

Re: [HEATHCOTE] wattle flat from AUS-VIC-HEATHCOTE-L Archives
29 Oct 2007. This thank you post related to previous posts I made from 2005 regarding Wattle Flat near Heathcote, Victoria.

2008

[GEELONG] Co. Kildare passengers on the Himalaya 1840 - Welsh, Campbell, Fullerton etc. from AUS-VIC-GEELONG-DISTRICT-L Archives 7 Sep 2008. I posted this message to the Geelong district mailing list while I was researching for an assignment as part of the Graduate Diploma of Local, Family and Applied History through the University of New England. I did not make it to Geelong to research, but I was very grateful for the assistance of Susie Zada and other staff at the Genealogical Society of Victoria library, which I did manage to visit on one occasion. I was also grateful for correspondence I had online with descendants of the other Kildare emigrants.

In Part 3 of My Genealogy Web Footprint I will be looking at posts I have made to Ancestry's Message Boards.

Copyright © 2011 Australian Genealogy Journeys.

My Genealogy Web Footprint - Part 1 - Genforum

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 05:00:00 +0000

Often when searching the web for ancestors I come across my own message board, forum, or mailing list posts from the last eight years of my family history research.

As part of my ongoing organisation goal, I have decided to do a series of posts on this blog where I will collect all these references across the web in one place. I have decided to call this series of posts 'My Genealogy Web Footprint'.

I will begin Part 1 by looking at all my old posts on Genforum. They date from the years 2003 and 2004. This was very early in my genealogy journey, which is sometimes a little obvious in my posts.

My Genforum Posting History

Melbourne, Australia Genealogy Forum

BROWN, FULLERTON, HOUGHTON, WEBBER, AUSTIN, COURT 25 May 2004.
This post relates to the family of Mary Brown (nee Fullerton), sister of my Great Great Granfather Peter Fullerton. I need to make some corrections to the post I made in 2004: (1) John needs to be removed as a possible Fullerton child. There was no John as far as I know - I was following a false lead. Thomas was correct though. (2) Brown descendants surnames do not include Sullivan and Baker and the locations of interest do not include Beechworth. I had accidentally mixed up two cousins with identical names! This was before I had any contact with descendants of this family and fortunately a marriage certificate I purchased helped me realise my mistake.

Victoria, Australia Genealogy Forum

BROWN, Ballarat East & Melbourne 25 May 2004.
This post was the same as the one above which was posted on the Melbourne forum.

Bayer Family Genealogy Forum

Re: BAYER Adam b 1863 GER to IND to KS 25 August 2003
This post relates to a family I was searching for on the Internet for some close relatives with USA ancestors.

Breen Family Genealogy Forum

Hugh Breen m. Mary McDonald / Mary Breen m. Michael Kenny, Co, Armagh, Ireland 31 May 2003. This post relates to a brother (Hugh) and sister (Mary) of my Great Great Grandfather Michael O'Brien. You can read more about my O'Brien/Breen family here.
Some corrections: I don't think the Kenny/Leathem marriage that I mention is relevant.

Bright Family Genealogy Forum

Sarah BRIGHT, born abt. 1734, Essex, England 28 July 2003.
This post relates to my 6 x Great Grandmother Sarah Pettit (nee Bright), my earliest known direct maternal ancestor. Back in 2003 I was just starting my family history journey. Much of the information regarding my Essex connections had come from a family history published by a cousin. At that stage of my research I was madly searching the IGI (International Genealogical Index) on the FamilySearch web site and coming up with all sorts of results. I know now that wasn't real research as I was not verifying information by viewing the original documents. I have since verified some of these IGI records for my Essex families through the digitised parish registers available on the web site of the Essex Records Office. Not all Essex parishes are available online digital images but, lucky for me, St Edmund's Abbess Roding is among those available. There is still lots of research potential in my Essex families (Bright, Brown, Clinton, Flack, Judd, Peacock, Pettit, Randall, Simson) but I am leaving that for a later date.

Chambers Family Genealogy Forum

Re: Any Chambers roots in Lincolnshire 27 July 2003.
This post relates to my Chambers ancestors from Lincolnshire, England. George Chambers, baptised 5 Jan 1834 Bracebridge Heath, Lincolnshire, was my Great Great Grandfather. Some corrections: This post has a lot of IGI material which has not been verified against original records. Also, I now have better birth year estimates for Thomas Chambers and Maria Marrows. Thomas Chambers was born about 1793 (aged 65 when he died in 1858) and Maria Marrows was born about 1788/89 in Middle Rasen, Lincolnshire (aged 79 when she died in 1867, birthplace from Census records). Like my Essex families, there is plenty more scope for research in my Chambers branch. I would especially like to explore the Lincs to the Past web site in more detail. Another item for my to-do list!

Dunn Family Genealogy Forum

Re: Frederick Pidgeon Dunn Victoria Australia 9 March 2004.
This was one of those 'possible leads' I followed which turned out not to be relevant.

Gehlen Family Genealogy Forum

Re: Gehlen 19 August 2003
Again, this post relates to a family I was searching for on the Internet for some close relatives with USA ancestors.

Kerry, Ireland Genealogy Forum

Re: MANNIX family--killarney 27 July 2003.
This post relates to my Great Great Grandmother Cathrine McCarthy (nee Mannix). I have had some success recently searching for Church records related to her family via Irishgenealogy.ie

Judd Family Genealogy Forum

JUDDs of Margaret Roding area, Essex, England 27 July 2003.
This post is very short and general and relates to my Judd ancestors who all lived in the parish of Margaret Roding, Essex.

Kenny Family Genealogy Forum

Mary O'Brien/Breen m. Michael Kenny, County Armagh, Ireland 31 May 2003.
This post is practically identical to the one I posted on the Breen Family Genealogy Forum (as mentioned above), it looks like I posted them on the same day too.

McAllister Family Genealogy Forum

Re: James Maylen/Maybury McAllister of Antrim 29 May 2003.
This post relates to the family story that Sam McAllister (who was killed at this cottage in the Battle of Derrynamuck, Wicklow in December 1799, helping Michael Dwyer to escape) was a brother of my 4 x Great Grandmother Mary Breen (nee McAllister).

O'Brien Family Genealogy Forum

Re: Owen O'Brien from Massachusetts 21 July 2003.
Re: Patrick O'Brien-Ireland to Liverpool 9 May 2003.
Re: O'brien of Co. Armagh 9 May 2003.
Re: Alice O'Brien Armagh Ireland 1854 9 May 2003.
Re: ARMAGH TO FRONTENAC COUNTY ONTARIO 9 May 2003.
Re: O'Briens, County Armagh, N. Ireland 5 May 2003.
Re: O'Briens, County Armagh, N. Ireland 5 May 2003.
O'Briens, County Armagh, N. Ireland 5 May 2003.
Re: From N.Ire to Victoria County, Ontario 5 May 2003.
O'Briens, Ireland 5 May 2003.
Re: Owen O'Brien from Massachusetts 5 May 2003.

These are various posts regarding my O'Brien/Breen family. Many of these were posted very early in my family history journey.

Peacock Family Genealogy Forum

Re: PEACOCK in Essex Co., England 28 July 2003.
This post relates to the family of my 5 x Great Grandparents Peter Peacock and Ann Pettit. Again, there is a lot of IGI information here, and lots of potential for further research.

Pettit Family Genealogy Forum

Re: Pettitts from Essex,ENG 1500s-1700s 28 July 2003.
This post is basically the same as the post mentioned above from the Bright Family Genealogy Forum.This post relates to the family of my 6 x Great Grandparents Francis Pettit and Sarah Bright.

Pickess Family Genealogy Forum

Pickis/Pickes etc., Norwich, Norfolk & London 3 August 2003.
I just noticed some of the interesting replies to this post which I haven't seen before! This post relates to my Pickis ancestors. Catherine Helen Pickis was my 3 x Great Grandmother. She was born in 1824 in London and was baptised on 26 September 1824 in the parish of All Hallows the Great, the daughter of Robert Paul Pickis and his wife Elizabeth (I haven't found out her maiden name yet!).

Randall Family Genealogy Forum

Randalls of Essex, England 28 July 2003.
This post relates to the family of my 4 x Great Grandparents, Edward Randall and Elizabeth Judd, of Margaret Roding, Essex, England. Again, there is a lot of IGI information here and still lots of verification work to do in the future.

Tangney Family Genealogy Forum

Tangney/Cronin/McCarthy County Kerry, Ireland 2 September 2003.
This post relates to the family of my 3 x Great Grandmother, Honora McCarthy (nee Tangney), who was, according to information from Australian certificates, born about 1806 in County Kerry, Ireland. Her parents names were Patrick Tangney and Julia Cronin. Honora married John McCarthy on 26 February 1832 in the Catholic parish of Firies, County Kerry. A transcript of the record of their marriage can be seen here at Irishgenealogy.ie. There is much potential for further research through that useful web site.

In Part 2 of My Genealogy Web Footprint series, I will explore some of my posts to Rootsweb Mailing Lists.

Beyond the Internet Geneameme

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:29:00 +0000

Pauleen at the Family history across the seas blog has created a Geneameme which focuses on genealogy resources beyond the Internet.

Here is my contribution to the Beyond the Internet Geneameme.

Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
You are encouraged to add extra comments in brackets after each item

Looked at microfiche for BDM indexes which go beyond the online search dates. (for Queensland before they were online)

Talked to elderly relatives about your family history.

Obtained old family photos from relatives.

Have at least one certificate (birth/death/marr) for each great-grandparent.

Have at least one certificate (birth/death/marr) for each great-great-grandparent.

Seen/held a baptism or marriage document in a church, church archive or microfilm.

Seen your ancestor’s name in some other form of church record eg kirk session, communion rolls.

Used any microfilm from an LDS family history centre for your research. Parish register for the Catholic parish of Clane, County Kildare, Ireland.

Researched using a microfilm other than a parish register (LDS family history centre/other). e.g. Ships passenger lists at the Public Record Office Victoria, Irish tithe records at the State Library of Victoria.

Used cemetery burial records to learn more about your relative’s burial. I researched records for my local cemetery (where several of my ancestors are buried) as part of an assignment for the Graduate Diploma in Local Family and Applied History through the University of New England.

Used funeral director’s registers to learn more about your relative’s burial. Sort of, I have obtained prints of indexed funeral directors records from the Bendigo Family History Group's excellent Database compiled by volunteers.

Visited all your great-grandparents’ grave sites. Some, not all.

Visited all your great-great-grandparents’ grave sites. Some, not all.

Recorded the details on your ancestors’ gravestones and photographed them. But not all ancestors, lots more cemeteries to visit and gravestones to photograph.

Obtained a great-grandparent’s will/probate documents. Some, not all.

Obtained a great-great grandparent’s will/probate documents. Some, not all.

Found a death certificate among will documents.

Followed up in the official records, something found on the internet.

Obtained a copy of your immigrant ancestors’ original shipping records. Some, not all.

Found an immigration nomination record for your immigrant ancestor.

Found old images of your ancestor’s place of origin (online or other).

Read all/part of a local history for your ancestor’s place of residence.

Read all/part of a local history for your ancestor’s place of origin.

Read your ancestor’s school admission records.

Researched the school history for your grandparents.

Read a court case involving an ancestor (online newspapers don’t count for this).

Read about an ancestor’s divorce case in the archives.

Have seen an ancestor’s war medals.

Have an ancestor’s military record (not a digitised copy eg WWII).

Read a war diary or equivalent for an ancestor’s battle.

Seen an ancestor’s/relative’s war grave.

Read all/part of the history of an ancestor’s military unit (battalion/ship etc).

Seen your ancestor’s name on an original land map. Do maps on microfiche count?

Found land selection documents for your immigrant ancestor/s.

Found other land documents for your ancestor (home/abroad)

Located land maps or equivalent for your ancestor’s place of origin.

Used contemporaneous gazetteers or directories to learn about your ancestors’ places.

Found your ancestor’s name in a Post Office directory of the time.

Used local government sewerage maps (yes, seriously!) for an ancestor’s street.

Read an inquest report for an ancestor/relative (online/archives).

Read an ancestor’s/relative’s hospital admission. Again thanks to the Bendigo Family History Group's excellent Database.

Researched a company file if your family owned a business.

Looked up any of your ancestor’s local government rate books or valuation records.

Researched occupation records for your ancestor/s (railway, police, teacher etc).

Researched an ancestor’s adoption.

Researched an ancestor’s insolvency.

Found a convict ancestor’s passport or certificate of freedom. (I haven't found any convicts yet, though I know there were lots of convicts who share my Irish surnames and I'm sure some of them were probably related to my gold rush ancestors!)

Found a convict ancestor’s shipping record.

Found an ancestor’s gaol admission register.

Found a licencing record for an ancestor (brands, publican, etc). Only in indexes so far, I still need to get to the archives to look at original records.

Found an ancestor’s mining lease/licence.

Found an ancestor’s name on a petition to government.

Read your ancestor’s citizenship document.

Read about your ancestor in an undigitised regional newspaper.

Visited a local history library/museum relevant to your family.

Looked up your ancestor’s name in the Old Age Pension records.

Researched your ancestor or relative in Benevolent Asylum/Workhouse records.

Researched an ancestor’s/relative’s mental health records.

Looked for your family in a genealogical publication of any sort (but not online remember).

Contributed family information to a genealogical publication.

So many things still to do! Happy researching everyone!

Tombstone Tuesday - Illabo Cemetery

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:30:00 +0000

I had previously seen this little country cemetery through the windows of the Melbourne-Sydney CountryLink XPT Train. When I went to Sydney earlier this year to visit close relatives, I made a note on my iPod touch which simply read 'Illabo Cemetery'.

In September, my parents and I made a journey to Canberra by car, again to see close relatives. We decided to take a scenic route and see some of the country we usually see through the window of the express train - Junee, Cootamundra, Murrumburrah-Harden etc. We stopped to take photographs of many Churches on our journey and we also decided to stop for a couple of minutes at the Illabo Cemetery. The Illabo Cemetery is located just off the Olympic Hwy, 1 km west of Illabo. Illabo is between Junee and Cootamundra.

I took a selection of photographs of the gravestones at the Illabo Cemetery, though my photographs are not great quality. I did not find any surnames from my family tree but I thought there must have been some reason why I stopped to photograph gravestones at that cemetery. Therefore I am placing the photographs here for other genealogists. I hope they are useful for someone's family history.

Illabo Cemetery Photographs on Picasa Web Albums.

We ended our stop at the Illabo Cemetery by having the privilege of seeing a Superb Parrot (a threatened species) in a gum tree just near the last group of graves I photographed.

From Illabo Cemetery

Trove uncovers a treasure (and a idea for Trove genealogy bloggers)

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 04:23:00 +0000

It is always a great idea to 're-search' the National Library of Australia's Trove search portal for your ancestors' names in digitised newspapers. As more titles are added to those already digitised, and as more text corrections are made, new search matches are appearing all the time. I can see I need to set up a few more RSS feeds for search terms related to my ancestors if I don't want to miss new search results!

Here is a treasure from the Sydney newspaper Empire, 27 March 1855, which I uncovered on Trove over the weekend.

1855 'Advertising.', Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875), 27 March, p. 1, viewed 15 October, 2011, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60181069

SUSAN HEHIR.- If this should meet the eye of Susan Hehir, of Killoo, County Clare, Ireland, who left Ireland for Melbourne, per Ship Honora, February 1854, she will hear of her sister Bridget Hehir, by addressing a Letter to J. N. MORCOM, Bohrarra, near Maitland, New South Wales.

Until now we did not know on which ship my Great Great Grandmother (Susan Ellis nee Hehir) arrived in Australia. But now the question is, what was the ship Honora which "left Ireland for Melbourne...February 1854"? So far I can't find any information about a ship called the Honora online via PROV Passenger Lists or through Trove or a Google search. I have tried spelling variations of the name Honora, without success. I have also searched the PROV Passenger Lists index for all ships beginning with H which arrived in Melbourne (with passengers) in the first six months of 1854. Any suggestions where I could look next? I can see some offline research at the library might be necessary here.

Thanks to all the people who help to digitise these newspapers, and to all the volunteers who help with text correction. Trove is an invaluable resource!

Here is an idea I just came up with today. Please let me know your thoughts.

There are certain types of articles in the digitised newspapers on Trove that potentially have value to genealogists - Birth, Death and Marriage Notices, Missing Friends, Ships Passenger Lists etc. (I have personally also found stock reports useful for finding references to my cattle droving ancestors!) However, many genealogically significant articles are still not searchable as they need text correction. I have a couple of Trove accounts and have been contributing text corrections every so often since 2008, but I would like to contribute more and I'm looking for a structured way of achieving this.

A little while ago I created the 'Genealogy Bloggers' group on Trove forums. I am ashamed to admit I actually did not get to look at the group again until today. Thank you very much to six fellow Genealogy bloggers for joining the group!

So this is my idea:

If, while searching Trove for our own ancestors, we come across a genealogically significant newspaper article (ie. an article with lots of names) which needs text correction, and we don't have time to correct the text at that moment, we could add the article to a particular public list or tag it with a particular public tag.
When we genealogy bloggers have a few spare minutes we could select an article from the list/tag that has not yet been corrected and correct it.
Alternatively, we could add the article URL to a discussion on the Genealogy Bloggers group on Trove forum, or we could tweet a link to the article with a particular Twitter hash tag. Or perhaps we could use features of another social bookmarking site such as a collaborative group on Diigo? Or perhaps we could create a circle on Google+ for this purpose? It's a matter of finding the best way to share this information with fellow genealogy bloggers so we can collaborate. Which way is it?

I'd love to know what others think of these ideas. Maybe someone is already doing this somewhere else? Please share your thoughts. Thanks.

The Ancestors' Geneameme

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 08:20:00 +0000

Geniaus has created another genealogy themed meme - The Ancestors' Geneameme. Here is my contribution.

The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type

Which of these apply to you?

Can name my 16 great-great-grandparents

Can name over 50 direct ancestors

Have photographs or portraits of my 8 great-grandparents

Have an ancestor who was married more than three times (not more than three times, but two of my Great Great Great Grandfathers married three times).

Have an ancestor who was a bigamist (Not a direct ancestor)

Met all four of my grandparents (My Grandpa died when I was two, my Grandad died twelve years before I was born).

Met one or more of my great-grandparents

Named a child after an ancestor

Bear an ancestor's given name/s

Have an ancestor from Great Britain or Ireland (all of them as far as I can prove, I'm just waiting for evidence of that Spanish ancestor to turn up!)

Have an ancestor from Asia

Have an ancestor from Continental Europe

Have an ancestor from Africa

Have an ancestor who was an agricultural labourer (lots of them!)

Have an ancestor who had large land holdings (haven't yet verified my connection to a landed gentry family in England. My Great Grandfather once owned a station property on the Nullabor Plain in Western Australia with his brothers...I don't think it lasted very long and they didn't live there as far as I know. My 3 x Great Uncle had a station property in Far North Queensland)

Have an ancestor who was a holy man - minister, priest, rabbi (several Catholic priests in my family tree, brothers of my great grandmother.)

Have an ancestor who was a midwife

Have an ancestor who was an author

Have an ancestor with the surname Smith, Murphy or Jones (Smith and Jones, I haven't found a direct ancestor named Murphy...yet!)

Have an ancestor with the surname Wong, Kim, Suzuki or Ng

Have an ancestor with a surname beginning with X

Have an ancestor with a forename beginnining with Z

Have an ancestor born on 25th December (My Grandad was born on Christmas eve)

Have an ancestor born on New Year's Day

Have blue blood in your family lines (maybe if I verify that landed gentry connection in England)

Have a parent who was born in a country different from my country of birth

Have a grandparent who was born in a country different from my country of birth

Can trace a direct family line back to the eighteenth century

Can trace a direct family line back to the seventeenth century or earlier

Have seen copies of the signatures of some of my great-grandparents

Have ancestors who signed their marriage certificate with an X

Have a grandparent or earlier ancestor who went to university (...does a 4 x great grandfather who was a servant at an Oxford college count? If I can verify a family line in England I could potentially have some University educated ancestors from the 17th century. Other than that, members of my parents generation and my generation are the first people in my family tree to have the opportunity to be educated at university, for which I am very grateful.)

Have an ancestor who was convicted of a criminal offence (no convict direct ancestors that I know of...but my ex-London-policeman 3 x great grandfather got a fine for handcuffing some drunk policemen in his pub on the Victorian goldfields and marching them to the police station...)

Have an ancestor who was a victim of crime (I have found a newspaper article through Trove which mentions how my 3 x great grandfather's horse was stolen. I have also found a notice in the Victorian Police Gazette on Findmypast.com.au about another 3 x great grandfather who had some cows stolen).

Have shared an ancestor's story online or in a magazine (I had a short article published in the Genealogical Society of Victoria's journal Ancestor earlier this year regarding my Fullerton ancestors.)

Have published a family history online or in print

Have visited an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries

Still have an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries in the family

Have a family bible from the 19th Century (I do have copies of pages from a 19th Century Bible).

Have a pre-19th century family bible

Australian Church photos on Flickr

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 06:44:00 +0000

Australian Churches, a set on Flickr.

I have just started a set of photos on my Flickr account called 'Australian Churches'. I hope to progressively add more photographs of churches from different areas across Victoria and New South Wales (and other states if I travel there!).

Other places you can find photographs of Australia Churches include:
Flickr Group - Churches & Cathedrals - Australia & New Zealand
Flickr Group - Australian Churches and Places of Worship
Australasia Church Albums
Picture Australia

I admit there is a bit of a bias towards photographs of Catholic Churches in my collection so far but I certainly hope to add photographs of Churches of other denominations too!!

Meme: The Tech-Savvy Genealogist

noreply@blogger.com (Aillin) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 12:59:00 +0000

I have decided to join in the Tech-Savvy Genealogist Meme. The Meme was first created by Geniaus.

The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type

Things you would like to do or find: italicize (colour optional)

Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type

Which of these apply to you?

Own an Android or Windows tablet or an iPad

Use a tablet or iPad for genealogy related purposes

Have used Skype to for genealogy purposes

Have used a camera to capture images in a library/archives/ancestor's home

Use a genealogy software program on your computer to manage your family tree [I use Legacy Family Tree mostly, but I also have Family Tree Maker 2010, RootsMagic and Family Historian installed on my laptop computer]

Have a Twitter account

Tweet daily [only tweet occasionally at the moment...too many other things happening]

Have a genealogy blog

Have more then one genealogy blog [but I have been sadly neglecting Australian Genealogy News, I really need to give it a new look and new posts]

Have lectured/presented to a genealogy group on a technology topic

Currently an active member of Genealogy Wise [I am a member but I don't get to check it regularly]

Have a Facebook Account

Have connected with genealogists via Facebook

Maintain a genealogy related Facebook Page

Maintain a blog or website for a genealogy society

Have submitted text corrections online to Ancestry, Trove or a similar site

Have registered a domain name

Post regularly to Google+ [would like to try Google+...]

Have a blog listed on Geneabloggers

Have transcribed/indexed records for FamilySearch or a similar project

Own a Flip-Pal or hand-held scanner [I own a Canon CanoScan LiDE 500F which is somewhat portable - it is fairly lightweight and powered through a USB port]

Can code a webpage in .html [I have been a bit lazy about this lately and have been using the WYSIWYG editor available in Blogger. I know it often creates messy HTML code. Eventually (soon) I want to get back into HTML coding (I have been catching up lately reading about HTML5) as I coded webpages with HTML often during high school and University]

Own a smartphone [I hope I can buy an Android smartphone some time in the future, I have read so much about them on other blogs and my brother has shown me the fancy things his Android phone can do]

Have a personal subscription to one or more paid genealogy databases

Use a digital voice recorder to record genealogy lectures

Have contributed to a genealogy blog carnival

Use Chrome as a Browser [my favourite browser]

Have participated in a genealogy webinar

Have taken a DNA test for genealogy purposes

Have a personal genealogy website [I have tried several times but never been happy with any site I have created, hopefully someday!]

Have found mention of an ancestor in an online newspaper archive

Have tweeted during a genealogy lecture

Have scanned your hardcopy genealogy files [some of them, I still have a lot of Mum's files stored in binders that need to be scanned and sorted]

Use an RSS Reader to follow genealogy news and blogs [Google Reader]

Have uploaded a gedcom file to a site like Geni, MyHeritage or Ancestry [but I always set my files to private because many of them are 'working' and 'unverified' and I don't want to spread unverified information through online trees]

Own a netbook

Use a computer/tablet/smartphone to take genealogy lecture notes

Have a profile on LinkedIn that mentions your genealogy habit

Have developed a genealogy software program, app or widget [this is something I would like to do in the future. For one assignment in my IT degree I created a very simple Java program to record genealogy to-do items. Like HTML, programming with Java or other programming languages is something I am hoping to get back into in the future]

Have listened to a genealogy podcast online

Have downloaded genealogy podcasts for later listening

Backup your files to a portable hard drive

Have a copy of your genealogy files stored offsite [absolutely need to do this]

Know about Rootstech

Have listened to a Blogtalk radio session about genealogy

Use Dropbox, SugarSync or other service to save documents in the cloud

Schedule regular email backups [I've working on sorting and backing-up all my emails recently]

Have contributed to the Familysearch Wiki

Have scanned and tagged your genealogy photographs [many of them but I have a few more to do and I definitely need to reorganise the ones I have already scanned]

Have published a genealogy book in an online/digital format