gathering dust

Last night I was fortunate enough to be a participant in the first GeniAus Hangout on Air , it was a lot of fun and will be a great collaboration and learning resource. One of the questions I got to throw out into the ether was what do you do when you come across an absolute bog standard name, in my case John Green. So what do I know about John Green. John Green is   the father of Louisa Green (b. 21 Jul 1821 - d. 27 Jun 1897) Before he passed away, I was fortunate enough to be in contact with Ken Muffett  who had devoted a lifetime to researching the descendants of Louisa and her husband Charles Robert Muffett in Australia. He had passed along some images of a Family Bible. Muffet Family Bible, from the collection of the late Ken Muffet Someone, and it appears to be a similar hand to that of the Family Register, has kindly written on the death information page. Starting then with the information given about Louisa, there is a Louisa Green christened in Oakley,...

Having worked in the same department as specialists on military history and being, in general, interested in history that makes the news; I was peripherally aware of the Fromelles Project  and the attempts to identify the remains of the soldiers from this WWI battlefield. Today however, it became rather visible to me. An elderly lady I visit received a phone call yesterday asking for her help (via DNA sample) in the possible identification of her Uncle as one of the unknown soldiers. She is rather pleased that he will (if identified) finally have a proper resting place and cannot wait to share this news with the rest of her family. I do hope for her sake that they manage to make a match.  

As a codicil to the post  Burial in the Bush , I offer the poem written by M.L.M in remembrance of the departed Eliza. "Advertising." Goulburn Herald (NSW : 1881 - 1907) 11 Dec 1886: 5. Web. 14 Oct 2013 < http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article99908550 > In Loving Remembrance OF ELIZA MUFFET, Who departed this Life on November 9th 1886; Aged 27 years and 11 months, A life of suffering she bore From infancy till death, But now she is set free from all - A home in heaven she hath, Through all those many years of pain Her loving parents o'er kept A watchful eye, when she awoke And also when she slept. It would be very wrong to grieve, To wish to have her here again, For now we know she's safe above, Where sorrow is unknown. And when our life on earth is done,  We hope to meet her there, And with the angels praises sing - In that bright land no partings are. November 17th.        ...

Was the topic of last nights "I can't get to sleep and my brain insists on being ridiculously chatty even though I am really tired" ramble. So I was pleased that when I googled it this morning bunches of articles came up. XML Data Migration Case Study: GEDCOM GRAMPS XML for Genealogists Since I'm studying for my Masters in Archives & Records, XML is something I've come to be pretty fond of and honestly GEDCOM has always seemed unnecessarily complicated and inflexible. Is it enough however to convince me to change genie software?  At the moment I switch between TMG and Family Historian , TMG for my 'serious' research stuff and Family Historian for when I am showing non-technical, non-historians my research. Cause it's prettier. TMG is for me, by far the better program. But I haven't tried GRAMPS and the open source nature of it does appeal being in general easier to migrate and preserve over a longer period of time than proprietary ...

I did have a different item prepared for today - an article containing a lovely sketch of one of my forebears - however, during one of my general surname searches I came across this essay. ESSAYS, SKETCHES, &c. (1886, November 20).  Goulburn Herald  (NSW : 1881 - 1907), p. 6. Retrieved September 30, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article99903863 Mr & Mrs Robert Muffet are my 3x great-grandparents, their eldest son Charles and his wife Mary Matilda (nee Reader), referred to in the article as Mrs Charles Muffet are my 2x great-grandparents. The funeral is that of their daughter Eliza. There is a published tree of the descendants of [Charles] Robert Muffett & Louisa Muffett [nee Green], a copy of which originally helped to feed my love of family history (I'm on page 72). No mention of Eliza's disability is mentioned. I wonder if it was not known or just conveniently forgot?