gathering dust

I have mentioned before that the Sinclair branch of my family tree has links to a certain iconic Australian biscuit maker , but it seems that same branch also has links to another iconic Australian . Samuel Robert Sinclair b.1882 d. 1964 - the (half) nephew of Monica Sinclair, the first wife of William Arnott - a Blacksmith at Bermagui was the inspiration for this logo Well, at least according to a footnote in this book . So there you go, Arnotts & Tooheys. Biscuits & Beer.

On the train home from work tonight I checked my email and was happy to see that the NAA had finally completed digitisation of the Naturalisation papers I requested. When I got in I immediately fed the cat (I value my life too much to not feed her straight away) and then grabbed my laptop.  Happy became grinning stupidly. Then ringing my mother at quarter to nine at night to inform her that grandpa doesn't really look like her grandpa. Which she knew. But anyway. A nice chat later I've hung up and looked at my grandpa (her dad's) papers.  Yep. Back on the phone. "Grandpa's mum's name is Francesca Josephina and she was Maltese"  Sometimes, it is the little things that make you ridiculously happy. Like working out your Mum was kind of named for her grandmother :)

I will admit that everything fell to the wayside last year when I found myself working full time with a 3hr round trip daily commute. I love my job but doesn't leave much time for anything other than sleep and housework on the weekends. So with a week or so off at the end of December/beginning of January I was looking forward to settling in and getting some prime genealogy and crafting time in. If I have a limited number of days to devote to research I really want the most bang for my buck. Now this is Shetland . Current population: 25,000ish. Historic population: about the same. The biggest island; that's Mainland . The one directly above it; that's Yell . Current population: 800ish. Historic population: 1000 in a good year.  Yep; having had generations of ancestors born and raised in Yell - or more specifically North Yell - is like shooting fish in a barrel. 2 days, 240 scotlandspeople credits and not a single miss.  Ok. I admit I didn't go into the ...

In yesterday's post I mentioned that the daughters of Jane Clifton and Frederick Charles Brown were were raised by their father's relatives on his maternal side, including someone known as 'Grandma Fibbins.' I'm not sure exactly who Grandma Fibbins is. Well, I know what she looks like. This is Gran Fibbins and Ethel Brown/Clifton. And this is Gran Fibbins and Dorothy May Brown/Clifton. But who exactly is Gran Fibbins? Frederick Charles Brown (b. 1861 d. 1936) was the son of John Brown (b. c1814 d. 1881) and Mary Ann Fibbins (b. c1835 d. 1901). The daughters depicted in these photos were born in 1890 and 1897 respectively. So Gran Fibbins is not Mary Ann, likewise Mary Ann's mother Sarah Ann Watkins (b. c1814 d. 1890) is ruled out. A postcard sent to Ethel from her sister Lola (b. 1893) shows that Ethel at least was living with David Fibbins, either her great uncle or his son. (Lola is marked with the x) If only we could make out a date...

I've mentioned before what a great resource Trove is for fleshing out those little anecdotes my family is so fond of dropping into random conversation. The not married couple in this case was my paternal grandmother's grandparents Jane Clifton and Frederick Charles Brown. Now it was Nana who told me they weren't married but she didn't know the whole story - and it's a good'un. Frederick Brown and Jane Clifton never married because Frederick Brown was already married to Jane Hollege. A rather shotgun affair in 1878, which resulted in 4 children and desertion within the next 5 years. The divorce takes just a little longer. "47 YEARS."  Evening News  (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931) 26 Mar 1930: 10. Web. 22 Sep 2015 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article125975218>. Jane Clifton meanwhile had had two children (father unknown - son registered to her parents as she was only 15, daughter born 3 years later died the same year) prior to her taking up w...

After I got my AncestryDNA results my mother was so excited that she ordered her kit straight away. Well her results are in and SURPRISE I wasn't switched at birth (no chance of that really with how much we look like each other but it does ruin my dreams of being a fairy princess) and her DNA mapping is really interesting. It makes me want to bail up my grandpa and make him spit into a tube, so without further ado - AncestryDNA:  FamilyTreeDNA: I really do want to know more about my grandfather's side of the family now other than a vague mention of his mother having Romany heritage. 

My AncestryDNA results are in and one of the things I have been looking forward to is comparing what my DNA map looks like compared to my genea-map. My genea map, plotted using google maps and the earliest ancestors I have been able to trace looks like this: My AncestryDNA map: And not being satisfied with that I transferred the raw data to FamilyTreeDNA to have a squizz: So overwhelmingly European is the not unexpected results then.