gathering dust

I have to admit, I am more than a little ambivalent about Ancestry.com public trees. *Puts on Curmudgeon Hat*  They are, I am afraid, possibly the most significant source of the proliferation of lazy research in the genealogy world not to mention all the circular reasoning and just plain wrongness that is spread by the mindless copying that occurs. *Takes off Curmudgeon Hat* That said, I have found relatives by following those shaky leaves to other people's public trees. This has made me feel a little guilty about not having a public tree of my own. You see to date, the trees I have kept on Ancestry are ones that I call 'Kitchen Sinks,' those working trees where I put all the people that may or may not be related or I've ever come across in my research to see what shakes loose. I do this to make use of the automated searching capabilities programmed into the website. It is not what I would consider as good genealogy. It is a research tool only. My 'proper'...

Yesterday was Remembrance day or Armistice day, commemorating the end of the First World War. I have a quite a few soldiers in my tree one of whom is Reginald Faithful Muffett, the youngest brother of my Great Grandfather James. Rex was a member of the 6th Light Horse and his service included time at Gallipoli. He was also a conscientious correspondent writing often to his brothers and sisters. One such letter was extracted in the  Goulburn Evening Penny Post. "LETTERS FROM THE FRONT."  Goulburn Evening Penny Post  (NSW : 1881 - 1940) 21 Aug 1915: 2 Edition: EVENING. Web. 12 Nov 2013 < http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article98846448 > You can find all the #TroveTuesday posts over at  Branches, Leaves & Pollen  or search the hashtag on twitter

Lest We Forget

The search for the elusive John Green  continues. Following from Anne Young 's guidance and advice, I've been chasing convict John Green's. There are a just a few listed in the State Records Convict index. [Do I get an award for understatement?]  Given that Thomas, a likely son of John was born in 1825 in England any John Green's transported between 1824-33 when the family made their way out became a likely suspect. 11 suitable candidates were identified. After dismissing those who were way to young, married to other people or Irish, 3 were left. The John Green born in 1786, tried in Gloucester and sent out in 1826 on the  England  seemed a good match. But turns out he was a bit of a gaol bird over here as well and as such was pretty traceable in his exploits around the Hunter Valley. On to the maybe but not likely list he goes.   2 left. Introducing Candidate #1 : John Green #1 was born in Bedfordshire c. 1791. Married with 2 Girls and 2 boys...

I'm sure you've all heard the axiom "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Setting aside the utter ridiculousness of that statement in general, in genealogy you often do the same thing over and over and get different results. I, for example, have a series of names I run through various search engines every couple of months and today one has borne fruit. Ancestry.com spat out a Gaol Entrance record for John Phillip Gail, for this incident  that I have mentioned before . I now have a country of birth, Germany and an arrival year, 1829 and a ship, the Medway. If only he was actually named on the passenger list .

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.