gathering dust

There are many firsts that I could pull out of my research to discuss in this topic, our 'first convict' the 'first person I researched', instead we will go with a different and notable first:   "The first  white  boy born in this colony was born of  black  parents." -  Sir. J. H. Fisher   I have blogged about this little nugget before , and it is of course much disputed as these things are, but I thought it might be interesting to discuss who exactly this white boy of black parents was. William Josiah Black was born on the 2nd of February 1837 'not far from the old gum tree' to William Edwin Black and his wife Mary Ann (nee Bird). The couple had married a few years earlier in 1833 in a recently completed St Dunstan-in-the-West . In September 1836 the couple embarked on the Coromandel bound for Adelaide, South Australia with their 22 month old daughter and William's brothers James and Thomas and their families . The ship arrived in Ho...

I was rather amused to come across this series of correspondence within the Chronicle  and   The Advertiser    and even more amused to find two of my maternal grandmothers branches claiming ownership of this title, one on her mother's side and one on her father's. A nice little anecdote to share with the cousins. THE FIRST BORN, SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MALE. (1901, June 12).  The Advertiser  (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), p. 6. Retrieved February 12, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4842932 THE FIRSTBORN SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MALE. (1901, June 15).  The Advertiser  (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), p. 11. Retrieved February 12, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4843307  The second letter appeared also in in the June 22nd edition of the Chronicle. You can find all the #TroveTuesday posts over at  Branches, Leaves & Pollen  or search the hashtag on twitter  

I mentioned yesterday my desire to map out my family history in some way and to this end, Trove has been a fabulous resource. I've previously used a family notice found in Trove to begin a search of electoral roles and confirm some names , and again the family notices of Trove'd newspapers have turned up some wonderful gems. "Family Notices."  The Advertiser  (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931) 25 Oct 1902: 6. Web. 5 Feb 2013 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4891551> According to this, at the turn of the century, my great (x3) grandparents, Charlotte and Edward Black were living on Pulsford Road in Prospect, South Australia. According to Google Street View, there are still some delightful houses with period features along Pulsford Road. I wonder which one was the Black's! You can find all the #TroveTuesday posts over at  Branches, Leaves & Pollen  or search the hashtag on twitter.