How time flies when you are having fun!!

Wow, its September 24th already. I cannot believe that I have not had time to do a post since the last one. Have been working and then off to Melbourne to the Victorian Archive Centre to search for Wills in the Public Record Office. I found the most wonderful letter from my great great great grandmother Martha Buck, written shortly after her husband Adam died in 1895. It seems that they had a family meeting to see what should be done. It was agreed by all that she remain in the house and that her sons would work the land. How odd to think of them discussing things such as these back then but really they were no different to what we are now. They valued their possessions however little they were, be it a piece of clothing or a pocketwatch. These things seem so trivial to us but they meant the world to them. We live in a time where money and how much of it you have, seems to rule our lives, yet our ancestors led a much harder lifestyle but on the whole were far more contented than we are today.

Following that I headed to the State Library where I was looking at newspaper articles. Once again I found something special, an obituary from a great great great uncle which described how the family moved to Laang and cleared the land so that they could make a living for themselves.

Just for one day I wish I could travel back in time and ask all those pesky questions of my ancestors that I cannot find answers to, I wish.......

Local Resources

Have had a wonderful time last Thursday looking for my ancestors. We started off by meeting up at the Panmure Cemetery where the rain went away for a short while and the sun popped up to enable us to take some photos for our book. Then onto the Terang Family History Group's wonderful research library. So many things to look through and so much information to work my way through now that I am back home. One resource that I have not seen anywhere else before was a series of folders with funeral programmes in them. A truly wonderful resource. It was sad though to see that so many familiar faces have passed on. The beauty of these programmes is that most these days have a photo of the deceased printed on them. Burial and school records also got a close scrutiny. This was followed up by a quick trip home to spend the night with the folks before heading to a dynamic Professional Development session on Dyslexia and the ways in which we can assist students in classrooms to make their learning easier and less stressful. I learned so much about what can be done to help, most worthwhile.

On the way home I managed a short stop at the Hexham Cemetery and then onto the Caramut Cemetery where I almost got blown away. Luckily the rain held off although it was hard to hold the camera steady. I am sure the sheep at Caramut thought I was completely mad, they enjoyed watching me battle the elements though....

Wills

Have been checking out some old wills online via the Public Record Office of Victoria website. Pre 1925 wills are all online and can be viewed straight away. Well done to the PRO for making them accessible as you can glean a lot of detail from a will. One of my wills was for an ancestor William Reed Board who's only possession was a gold pocket watch that he willed to a grandchild. Another was for a prominent ancestor named John Clark who was the original treasurer for the Comm-na-feinne society (the highland society) in Geelong. He wrote many articles for the Geelong Advertiser and was an inspector with the Leigh Shire for many years and at the same time was the post master for Teesdale. There is a portrait of John that still hangs on the wall of the current shire (but I cannot recall exactly what is called at the moment.) So family researchers please don't forget Shire Offices as a good resource for family photos and information about those who served as councillors or employees. From this photo I have been able to identify John in a couple of other photos that I already had but didn't know it.

Happy Fathers Day

First let me begin by saying Happy Fathers Day to everyone out there celebrating this important day.....Been busy once again working out family connections in Ireland. The 1901 and 1911 Irish census are available online for free (yipee!). Whilst they are truly wonderful as they record each families details, one per page so you cannot mix them up, it is a truly sad thing that the census' prior to 1901 mostly have been destroyed. If only I could have had the 1851, 1861 and 1871 census when my great great great great great grandparents were alive and living in Cargans, Tandragee, Armagh then we could have sorted out who belonged with whom a lot earlier. As it is some of my Redpath relations were still alive in 1901 and this has helped to sort out a few families. But the elusive Bennett relations of that time and place continue to elude me. The earlier census' were destroyed, some due to fire, others due to pulping during war time. Small fragments of the 1841 and 1851 census do survive as when applying for the pension these census' were used to verify details. Unfortunately none of my lot took this course and thus their details are lost. Hopefully I will find somewhere in the near future a source that will give me the answers that I seek.....