tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23709245537279293982024-03-13T17:17:17.719+10:00Ancestor EnvyA record of some of the joys and frustration in piecing together family history.Bob McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14003807527131487216noreply@blogger.comBlogger139125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-40650931754153099522021-08-08T16:50:00.000+10:002021-08-08T16:50:50.006+10:00Genealife in Lockdown - A wasted(?) week<p>Alex Daw has challenged fellow geneabloggers to write about their lockdown experiences in a series of blog posts on Sundays during National Family History Month in Australia. Read more at <a href="https://familytreefrog.blogspot.com/2021/07/genealife-in-lockdown-nfhm-blogging.html">https://familytreefrog.blogspot.com/2021/07/genealife-in-lockdown-nfhm-blogging.html</a>. </p>
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<p>Well, that was very different week! Sunday August 1 was meant to be the day that our "short sharp" lockdown ended but on Saturday morning came the announcement that restrictions would be extended for a further week.</p>
<p>Day 1 would surely be business as usual. My recurring task is to finalise the Tween-meeting Newsletter for our local family history group ready for email distribution on Monday morning. But when the lockdown began on Friday, I had begun that job early and it was already completed. Time for a quick scroll through <a href="https://t.co/zBPUEHTJNy">Twitter where an historical photo from Queensland State Archives</a> caught my eye. This is a regular feature that usually attracts little more than a cursory glance, but (with time on my hands) I switched to the big screen and examined the South Brisbane streetscape at full magnification.</p>
<p>A few hours later, I had contributed three reply Tweets and a Facebook comment! Not (only) because I am a very inefficient (some say reluctant) user of "the socials"; but because I had found so many fascinating rabbit holes to explore. War-time rent controls on a private hotel, the historical location of a brewery, the alignment of tram tracks and the challenge of deciphering the (unlit) second layer of a neon advertisement meant that I had easily filled what might have been wasted hours. I guess that is what is meant by the "opportunity cost" of a habit - the experiences that we miss when choosing to focus on getting jobs done.</p>
<p>The second day of my lockdown week began with a slightly guilty feeling. Not only was I breakfasting "late" but the joyous glow from simply rambling through historical sources without a goal in sight persisted. Clearly I needed to get down to proper "work".</p>
<p>And the spur was the realisation that a lockdown (extended once) could become even longer. If we were not released as scheduled on the 8th, what would become of our <a href="https://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/libraries/Events/Researching-Your-Family-Home-ST">Family History Group meeting with a guest presenter on the 10th</a>? We had seen the impact of an extended period without interactions in 2020 and were determined to provide continuity. The thought of delivering <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL67dgAAMMaz_ZaZ-VYn5bahwiA3GTfbk-">a livestream session (as we had done last year)</a> flickered briefly but was replaced with the (less stressful) option of pre-recording segments that could be uploaded to YouTube when (if) the face-to-face meeting could not proceed.</p>
<p>By Monday evening, the outline of a worthwhile program had been established and the individual components were beginning to come together. But once I added the third scratch to the wall on Tuesday morning, the time to complete the necessary work seemed to stretch endlessly before me and any sense of urgency evaporated into it. Surely it would be more efficient to spend a few minutes developing a template in a new piece of software for a standard process for creating each 5 minute video segment than to simply blunder around making one (or even three) in an ad hoc manner.</p>
<p>At the end of Tuesday, I had adaptations of several very promising checklist templates but none of them were exactly what I had imagined. Surely, the breakthrough would come early on day 4, or I could simply start recording the first video.</p>
<p>Upon awakening, my first thought was the shock that I did not know what day of the week it was. Where was I meant to be? Then I remembered, my scheduled visit to Miegunyah House Museum to continue cataloguing the 70 year collection of "family files" was not deemed to be essential work that justified leaving my home. So there was ample opportunity to recover from the effects of my procrastination research into process enhancement of the previous day. By nightfall, there were rough cuts of two segments in the (digital) can and solid progress on a third. I had reluctantly decided that the best form of template for production would not be produced a priori but rather arise inductively from the experience of competing the task repeatedly.</p>
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<p>Thursday dawned (figuratively speaking) with a repeat of that feeling of dread that I had missed an appointment the details of which I could not remember. (Is this a reported effect of lockdown in chronic workaholics?) My scheduled role as a guide at the House Museum for a group of primary students completing a unit on 19th century domestic arrangements had, of course, been wiped from my diary (and their's). I wonder who was the more disappointed?</p>
<p>However, the full day was now available to finalise (or at least make substantial progress on) the recorded replacement for next week's meeting. I soon learned that I was not the only one considering the risk of enforced cancellation. A staff member from the library that generously hosts our gatherings wondered whether (if our speaker agreed) a Zoom meeting would be an appropriate substitute. Of course it was far preferable to my plan, so the professionals took on the organisation of setting up the event and advising prospective attendees. And I now had a day free.</p>
<p>A colleague who phoned wondering "if I had a moment" to talk through some potential confusion about (incomplete) names on passenger lists probably was not expecting our conversation to be quite so extended; but I relished the opportunity the work things through at some length. After a coffee, I remembered that last time I was at Miegunyah (it seemed so long ago) I had scanned some hand-written letters to be transcribed. Some cleaning up in image-manipulation software would make that process both easier and more reliable. The afternoon passed quickly.</p>
<p>Friday was not just the sixth day of my week in lockdown, it was the day that I had been most looking forward to getting out. I had arranged to visit the premises of <a href= "https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/things-to-see-and-do/council-venues-and-precincts/libraries/facilities-services/brisbane-city-archives">Brisbane City Council Archives</a> (for the first time) to extend my searches beyond what I had been able to do online. The date had been chosen to be my fun day for research after two work days on Wednesday and Thursday. Now it was just another 8 to 10 empty hours to be filled.</p>
<p>The day did not start well. Even the QSA photo Tweets did not stir me. Perhaps some blog browsing would spark enthusiasm. Which is how I came across Alex's suggestion for an NFHM blogging challenge. My first thought was that I had nothing to say on that theme, but I did read through a couple of couple of contributions from others. At that point, I was distracted by the realisation that I had been confined to barracks for ever a week and not once had I thought of catching up on a recorded webinar, such as Helen Smith's Burying the body in England (soon to disappear behind the paywall).</p>
<p>Saturday ought to have been my rostered duty as a House Guide and server of afternoon teas to <a ref="https://www.miegunyah.org/">visitors to Miegunyah</a> but that too was impossible under the lockdown restrictions. Perhaps it would be worth devoting a few moments to reflecting on the week that was, just to see whether I could contrive some sort of a blog post!</p>
<h3>Postscript:</h3>
<p>Even after this was written, it almost did not make it on-line when I realised that it revealed that with 168 hours of potentially uninterrupted time available, I had not devoted a single minute to research into my own family history. That surely disqualified it from inclusion under the Genealife banner. But if I did not publish, then what would I have to show for the week!Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com1Brisbane QLD, Australia-27.4704528 153.0260341-55.780686636178842 117.8697841 0.83978103617884514 -171.8177159tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-71136807903773783362021-05-17T08:06:00.001+10:002021-05-17T08:06:18.577+10:00Outrage is a great motivator<p>My statistical history as a blogger is not a pretty sight. There have been periods where my level of activity was enthusiatic (perhaps even manic); but there were even longer times when "desultory" would be a kind description of my engagement with the platform. But Google has found a fool-proof way to stir me into renewed action.</p>
<p>At 10:17 on Saturday 15 May, I received an email indicating that a post originally published on 4 March 2021 had been reviewed and determined to have "violated our malware and viruses policy". It was then deleted. 50% of my output for the calendar year was gone at the stroke of a (digital) bureaucratic pen!</p>
<p>Naturally, I had not kept a copy of the post because such responsibility was a characteristic of the former me who managed his blogging schedule studiously. So a detailed review of the (now invisible) text to identify the offending material was ought of the question. On the other hand, I had little difficulty recalling the general content of the post. It was one of two grumpy-old-man reviews excoriating My Heritage for the less than stellar quality of the predicted family relationships that they insisted on emailing me.</p>
<p>It was at this point that paranoia and conspiracy theories kicked in. Surely it could not be that my humble rants had so enraged the corporate behemoth <em>My Heritage</em> that it sought the assistance of its fellow on-line Titan to silence me? Of course not.</p>
<p>While I wondered how to seek redress, a second email arrived (at 21:10 Sat 15 May) advising that the post had been re-evaluated and was now "reinstated" at its original URL. Except, when I clicked through, it was not available for viewing. The page loaded with a message advising the post did not exist. Perhaps it would take a few minutes to appear.</p>
<p> 30 hours later, I was still unable to see the post that had apparently caused such offence against the good-governance standards of the community. Clearly, I need to intervene but all the information that I had received from Blogger came from a "no reply" address. Eventually I found the <a href="https://support.google.com/blogger/community?hl=en">Blogger Support Community</a>, where the trending topics (headed Error Messages and Accessing my Blog) suggested that I was not alone.</p>
<p>A stream of posts complained of receiving the very same unwarranted deletion notice and a Platinum Product Expert (sic) responded "your posts may have been removed in error. Blogger is aware of the issue, and is working on a fix." A little further down the conversation trail was the revelation that the purportedly reinstated posts "will be drafts, so you have to republish them".</p>
<p>I have now finished repairing the damage wrought by Blogger's artificial intelligence. When I hit Publish, my output for 2021 to date will actually exceed that of the whole of 2020. Oh for the heady days of 2012, or even 2013.</p>
<p>I really must find a way to recapture the enthusiasm that once saw me commited to regular posts that in turn drove me to undertake the type of focussed investigation that would generate good post fodder. I cannot continue to rely on big corporations making me suffiently angry to switch into keyboard warrior mode in order to be productive. (Blogger please note.)</p>Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-19101405711906343932021-03-04T17:02:00.041+10:002021-05-17T07:05:33.451+10:00Can I help you with that?<p>I think it is wonderful that <a href="https://www.myheritage.com/" target="_blank">My Heritage</a> (and others who extract annual subscriptions from family history researchers) seek new and exciting uses of information technology to reveal previously undiscovered insights that will justify the expense. But the sad reality is that occasionally the cutting edge of technology can leave scars.</p>
<p>Today I received another exciting revelation of a "new" <a href="https://education.myheritage.com/article/the-theory-of-family-relativity-for-dna-matches/" target="_blank">Theory of Family Relativity</a>. Sadly, its chain of reasoning depends upon the same invalid assumption (that my great-grandmother who migrated to Australia in 1881 was recorded in the UK 1891 Census, presented with 27% confidence) as<a href="https://ancestor-envy.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-theory-is-meant-to-explain-something.html" target="_blank"> the previous effort</a>. Feeling that it would be unfair to damn a whole program on the basis of two tiny misteps (well technically, the same misstep twice), I resolved to review all twelve offerings.</p>
<p>Only three of the other ten "theories" included that same logical break (but one of those did offer three internal options, all of which fell at the same obstacle). That is, 41% of the output of this program (in my case) is invalidated by exactly the same flawed reasoning.</p>
<p>Five other theories each relied upon a match for Jane in an earlier census (although not a correct match) to bridge back to a parent who was apparently buried in the United States (although he definitely died in Australia). For those keeping score, that leaves two "theories" (16%) that match connections that I had already made through old-fashioned document analysis.</p>
<p>No doubt the experience of others will differ. I felt terribly guilty about having not drawn these shortcomings to the attention of My Heritage when the first message arrived; in order to save them the time, expense and embarassment of continuing to rely upon false reasoning.</p>
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<figure>
<img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="745"
src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaYUy0WI9WaAyovNeCcIiniGFnGswGFa6i77Yo28pR2iSQaeEfTbv2yHNrAKjxpvScKG3Hq8RSA3Me1pWL48OEy4W8GTF9D8Y082DTnan9ZadUUc_aKB960darTa_JT_IwHlCDztWZjsg/s320/simply+ignore.png"/>
<figcaption>… simply ignore any theory that you consider incorrect.<sup>1</sup> </figcaption>
</figure></a></div>
<p>Even in My Heritage does not care (although "perhaps" their view will change), I still feel that the blame for this mess rests with me. If I had uploaded a more comprehensive tree, their algorithm could select different starting points and hence have the opportunity to make different errors instead of repeating the same nonsense over and over. There is surely a minimum level of data below which the type of extrapolation being undertaken has a very high probability of error. Since I have not met that threshold, I ought not be entitled to these high-level services.</p>
<p>Why not place a warning on each member's tree that is likely to generate erroneous "theories" to give the owner the option to improve the tree to the required minimum or to lose the privilege of receiving (what will almost certainly be) speculative works of family fiction.</p>
<p>As an interim measure I have taken the only path offered and "updated my preferences" to stop the email notifications of each new Theory. I imagine that they will still be generated and attached to my DNA "matches" but at least I can ignore them there and reduce the impact on my blood pressure.</p>
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1 <a href="https://faq.myheritage.com/en/article/what-if-a-theory-of-family-relativity-is-wrong"> https://faq.myheritage.com/en/article/what-if-a-theory-of-family-relativity-is-wrong</a>Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-41122735160300778792021-02-15T21:36:00.000+10:002021-02-15T21:36:11.750+10:00A theory is meant to explain something.<p><strong>My Heritage</strong> has just forwarded me the latest instalment in their fantasy series <i>Theory of Family Relativity</i>™. They boast that they have "found a theory that can explain how one of your DNA Matches is related to you" and inform me (in large bold type) that "R.... R..... is your 4th cousin once removed".</p>
<p>Some epistemologists might be puzzled by the idea that a theory can be "found" rather than being painstakingly constructed. But in this case I am happy to accept that <i>finding a theory</i> (sic) is a convenient shorthand for "cobbling together from a pile of old tat that was lying around the office".</p>
<p>The moment that I clicked the link to View Theory, the merest hint of reality crept into the over-weening confidence of the email message. In type distinctly smaller than the statement of the <del>Assertion</del>Theory of Family Relativity itself, I read "This path is based on one community tree, 3 record collections and 5 MyHeritage family trees, with 20% confidence."</p>
<p>As I scrolled across multiple screens, I realised that this was a Tarzan argument -- leaping from tree to tree with naught but a loincloth to hide one's shame. Each of the eight transitions depends upon the auxiliary hypothesis "so long as these two persona actually represent the same unique individual".</p>
<p>To be fair, My Heritage does not try to hide this essential feature of their case. At each change of source, they have assigned a percentage probability (although they might prefer a more positive term, like confidence or even certainty). Those probabilities range from 92% (that my grandmother in my tree is the same person as someone with identical name and vital dates in another tree) to 20% that R.... R...'s grandfather was reported in the 1891 Census with a different surname, preferred given name and date of birth to those by which he was apparently known to his family.</p>
<p>The complete set of probabilities upon which the chain of the argument depends is {92%, 27%, 27%, 37%, 27%, 100%, 25%, 20%}. I will freely admit that it has been many years since I studied compounding probabilities but I am fairly certain that simply taking the smallest value in the set and assigning that to the complete chain is not how we did it. But that is the only way that I can see by which they could have arrived at the value they quote viz "with 20% confidence".</p>
<p>I did think that a more realistic estimate of P(IF a AND b AND c) might be P(a)*P(b)*P(c); but if the top of the page had read "with 0.0335% confidence" perhaps not everyone would read on.</p>
<p>But set aside the mathematical pedantry, and let's examine the actual genealogical evidence that has been assembled. I am happy to accept that my grandmother has been correctly identified in the second tree, so we shall move on to the next leap - into the 1891 UK Census. I am actually surprised that the quoted proability is as high as 27% given that there were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of young women of Welsh-heritage called Jane Davies. Just why this "theory" should choose one called Sarah Jane as its "match" is somewhat puzzling.<p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkQbIa6AcxH2yM_YQ5cMm9I5RhpMdqG6OH7zKr64xNbACnpUz5HprudNNRnDnh37-JIIxEHHQiZFa1bdS5ti8x3jXX6CmF6gIAgA-1Wl5qMLbW84HhpsHAZvdUtKPgY8EtMfa5rF0GMac/s1178/theory+2.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="243" data-original-width="1178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkQbIa6AcxH2yM_YQ5cMm9I5RhpMdqG6OH7zKr64xNbACnpUz5HprudNNRnDnh37-JIIxEHHQiZFa1bdS5ti8x3jXX6CmF6gIAgA-1Wl5qMLbW84HhpsHAZvdUtKPgY8EtMfa5rF0GMac/s320/theory+2.jpg"/></a></div>
<p>But that point is moot because the probability of Nan who arrived in Queensland aboard the <i>SS Corona in 1884</i> later being recorded living in England in 1891 is actually nil (or a bit less). Since the smallest probability of any individual step in the argument is now zero, the confidence that one can have in the theory as a whole, even by My Heritage's idiosyncratic algorithm, is ZERO.</p>
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<p style="margin-right: 1em;">The revelation that Tarzan's grip on the vine failed at just the second swing took away all my enthusiam for revealing any subsequent nonsense bundled in the Theory.</p> <p style="margin-right: 1em;">I imagine that R... R... has come to the same conclusion as he begins to explore the theory from his end. I do hope that he does not waste too much time because there is nothing for him on this side.</p>Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-16649147340303249492020-05-18T12:59:00.000+10:002020-05-18T12:59:54.541+10:00Military records on Ancestry<div>There are some things that are inextricably associated the commemoration of ANZAC Day. In the world of family history, that includes a new wave of advertisements from Ancestry announcing the availability of "new" Australian military records. Those of us familiar with the holdings of the National Archives of Australia and the Australian War Memorial tend to view these claims with a touch of scepticism. There is rarely anything new available to subscribers that we have not been accessing free from the official repositories for some time. But we live in hope.</div><div><br /></div>On April 23 2020, Ancestry revealed their latest offerings ANZAC Memorial 1914-18 and Australia, WWII Second Australian Imperial Forces and Citizen Military Forces Service Records, 1939-1947. Now that the metaphorical dust of battle has settled, it is time to try to assess their value to researchers.<br /><br /><div>Ancestry describes the first offering in these terms.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote>This database contains <i>The</i> (sic) <i>Anzac Memoria</i>l <font size="1">[1]</font>, a book compiled to commemorate those who served in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) and died in World War I. The contents of this book are varied. Much of the book is comprised of a Roll of Honour, listing nearly 20,000 Australians who died in the war. </blockquote></div><div>While records of nearly 20,000 lost certainly sounds impressive, remember that the AWM puts the national total killed in action or died of wounds at more than 60,000. So a search for a randomly chosen person known to have died will have a 30% chance of success. </div><div><br /></div><div>The original book was published in 1919 by the Returned Sailors' and Soldiers' Imperial League of Australia, New South Wales Branch and understandably is heavily skewed to men born in, or otherwise associated with, New South Wales. So a search in Ancestry for men of the 19th Battalion (raised in NSW) locates 805 of the 874 names recorded on the AWM Roll of Honour. By contrast, the Queensland-sourced 25th Battalion beside whom the 19th fought their last great battle on Mont St Quentin has just 85 of 1026 men known to have fallen<font size="1"> [2]</font> included in the Ancestry collection.</div><div><br /></div><div>While the search facility may be of limited value, Anzac Memorial on Ancestry does offer digitised images of each page in the printed book. So what do you get? If you are familiar with the <a href="https://www.awm.gov.au/advanced-search/people?roll=First%20World%20War%20Nominal%20Roll" target="_blank">Nominal Roll on the AWM site</a>, and imagine removing the details of all men who RTA (Returned to Australia) then you have it - complete with idiosyncratic alphabetisation. Except that less than one-third of the entries are included.</div><div><br /></div><div>So you really might as well ignore the jingoistic blandishments of Ancestry and simply go straight to the Australian War Memorial for ready access to a full record set. Unless of course you are interested in viewing the digital image of the Official Summary of Peace Times (that is how Ancestry has transcribed the reference to the Terms of the Armistice into its Table of Contents)!</div><div><br /></div><div>However the second of the newly-released collections (Australia, WWII Second Australian Imperial Forces and Citizen Military Forces Service Records, 1939-1947) sounds more promising. </div><div><br /></div><div>Ancestry says </div><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote>This collection contains service documents for individuals serving for the AIF (Second Australian Imperial Forces) or CMF (Citizen Military Forces) during WWII.</blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div>I opened the dataset through the card catalogue and tossed in a name from our mother's tree, Noyes (spelling exact). It resulted in just one hit<font size="1"> [3]</font>. </div><blockquote>Name: Percival Reginald Noyes <br />Birth Date: 20 Feb 1916<br />Birth Place: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia<br />Enlistment Place: Brisbane<br />Service Number: Q49493<br />Service Branch: Citizen Military Force<br />Relative Name: Elizabeth Noyes</blockquote><div>Pretty impressive!</div><div><br /></div><div>So for comparison, I went across to NAA and ran a name search for Noyes and sure enough there was the same record <font size="1">[4]</font> </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMdIVhHs4MQnhT0uGquoKWLy1lNL-bowbhw6Crg2FYt45u2Ovn4GDKKbh3MYebwzE9bJk3imLpVqEsdo4n08XqzZma8hc1dXlaCQqZFKTAV5qfyPq4yWibyIcae51-3e0w_U3flDy1CnI/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="133" data-original-width="854" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMdIVhHs4MQnhT0uGquoKWLy1lNL-bowbhw6Crg2FYt45u2Ovn4GDKKbh3MYebwzE9bJk3imLpVqEsdo4n08XqzZma8hc1dXlaCQqZFKTAV5qfyPq4yWibyIcae51-3e0w_U3flDy1CnI/s320/noyes+on+naa.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>but this one took a bit of finding because of the 19 other men named Noyes in the same list.</div><div><br /></div><div>Had I been too restrictive by demanding exact spelling at Ancestry? So run the search again without it and get 5 hits - Percival Noyes, and 4 people called Neuss.</div><div><br /></div><div>Did Ancestry have access only to a subset of the NAA records? Click on Learn more about this database and you will see that Ancestry has based "their" collection on series B883 and B884 at NAA. Whereas of the 20 men named Noyes located in RecordSearch, 8 come from series B883 and the other 12 from B884. </div><div><br /></div><div>It was beginning to look as though it was sheer luck that the one Noyes that Ancestry found was someone that I recognised. Could there be a (lot of) serious transcription errors in their data? So I took a record from the NAA results (B884 NOYES THOMAS GEORGE : Service Number - Q70518 : Date of birth - 23 Jun 1916) <font size="1">[5]</font> and fed it into Ancestry -- <i>Your Search for Thomas George Noyes returned zero good matches</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>It should have been obvious that this collection could not provide comprehensive coverage of WWII service from the number of records it claimed, just 14,405. So does this dataset complement the 1.44 million entries in <i>Australia, World War II Military Service Records, 1939-1945</i> (an ANZAC DAY 2016 offering)? Well there are certainly many more Noyes records in that older collection. But they also include a familiar-looking entry for Percival Reginald Noyes (cited as being drawn from NAA Series B884).</div><div><br /></div><div>What was offered as new Second AIF and CMF record could have been regarded as a minor update to the existing WWII Military Service Records; but would you want to write that advertisement?</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNc0OF785X5yrcsQ0p39COTB6RtBIGpyIMAWPFd2XNDO8JvccxDRd6quPAMVJ64B4bDgOhSOlumsd0jBKmMVckEHV89wxguXPCJIQL3R0HVpRpcz5-nXB342mkcC59ivVVphyI25CN-U/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNc0OF785X5yrcsQ0p39COTB6RtBIGpyIMAWPFd2XNDO8JvccxDRd6quPAMVJ64B4bDgOhSOlumsd0jBKmMVckEHV89wxguXPCJIQL3R0HVpRpcz5-nXB342mkcC59ivVVphyI25CN-U/s320/ancestry+anti-ad.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Oh well, there will be another ANZAC Day "special offer" next April.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b><font size="2">References</font></b></div><div><ol><li><font size="2">The correct title of the book has no definite article. See its catalogue details on Trove <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/22661305" target="_blank">https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/22661305</a></font></li><li><font size="2">Digger History <a href="http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/ww1/1aif/2div/07bde/25th_battalion_aif.htm">http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/ww1/1aif/2div/07bde/25th_battalion_aif.htm</a></font></li><li><font size="2">Ancestry.com. Australia, WWII Second Australian Imperial Forces and Citizen Military Forces Service Records, 1939-1947 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: 2020.</font></li><li><font size="2">NAA: B884, Q49493</font></li><li><font size="2">NAA: B884, Q70518</font></li></ol></div>Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-57712893970420631612020-01-11T14:05:00.000+10:002020-01-11T14:09:12.830+10:00Where did Andrew Petrie live?<p>
<figure style="float: right;">
<img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSEaz0WGOQDF-H0lHRRpkST9g1ZOM0tCIAV9AFPVPJRZVd38p8TXGLSIlkLx6SAdWVhUYV6BTCeDq8RE_dXFF5pKqv2GdQbn_cVlZdcDHMWfnvId8WseiMnAjYOhHh-RjliJbTzItPqec/s320/36883175655_283f88bcf3_q.jpg" width="150" />
<figcaption style="font-size: 80%;">Layout of Brisbane Town <br />Moreton Bay, c 1839<sup>1</sup></figcaption>
</figure>
Brisbane was a very small settlement in the 1840s.</p><p> Everyone knew all of their neigbours and which house belonged to whom. So it seems odd to suggest that there could now be any confusion over the location of the residence of Mr Andrew Petrie, the well-known and much-admired Supervisor of Works in the fledgling outpost of free settlement of the New South Wales Northern Districts.</p><p> But that is apparently the case.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div>
<p>In 2019, Queensland State Archives launched a new website, <a href="https://qalbum.archives.qld.gov.au" target="_blank">Q-Album</a><sup>2</sup>, to promote greater public awareness of, and access to, significant records in the collection. Distinguishing it from <a href="http://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/Search/BasicSearch.aspx" target="_blank">ArchiveSearch Catalogue or Image Queensland</a> <sup>3</sup>, Q-Album seeks to place each featured object in a context that enhances understanding and encourages futher exploration. Among other strategies it draws together related material in other repositories (such as the State Library of Queensland and The National Archives, UK).</p>
<p>However the most prominent contextual factor presented to a visitor to the Q-Album site is spatial, usually explemplified by a matching pair of now and then photographs with the "now" image derived from Google StreetView.</p>
<p>
A search on Q-Album for "Andrew Petrie's residence" returns four photographs. Three relate to locations indirectly associated with Petrie, but the fourth is exactly what is required and is labelled as <i>Andrew Petrie's Residence, 1859</i>. On the <a href="https://qalbum.archives.qld.gov.au/qsa/andrew-petries-residence-1859" target="-blank">detailed display page</a><sup>4</sup>, the user is shown that historical image above a contemporary view of of the south-west corner of the Casino (Treasury Building) seen from the end of Victoria Bridge.</p>
<p>This seems incongruous because the caption printed onto the 1859 image clearly describes the location of the dwelling at <i>the spot where Queen and Wharf Streets now junction</i>, that is, on the bank of that section of the river then known as Petrie's Bight. (Since modern mapping practice eschews apostrophes, the current name is rendered as Petrie Bight.) Yet, the modern image shows the junction of Queen Street and Queens Wharf Road on the bank of the Town Reach. As the crow flies, these two locations are more than 1200 metres apart at opposite ends of Queen Street.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixX4cCnWRhuLRRGlH4eLXcdea6rQaXXDpPw_JSNRtRBbCt_qesnp6uTVQsrLm-iVVnf5iRrMzV07BCIvvQ2NlUHfLhTS8cYzGkh1zuDVMmex6YTQ1YSFsERrBt8V9RpvGy1hHPLIgIELs/s1600/osmap+queen+street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="700" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixX4cCnWRhuLRRGlH4eLXcdea6rQaXXDpPw_JSNRtRBbCt_qesnp6uTVQsrLm-iVVnf5iRrMzV07BCIvvQ2NlUHfLhTS8cYzGkh1zuDVMmex6YTQ1YSFsERrBt8V9RpvGy1hHPLIgIELs/s320/osmap+queen+street.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 80%;">Wharf Street or Queens Wharf Road?</span><sup>5</sup></div>
<p>As additional context, Q-Album offers an extract from an 1872 newspaper obituary for Andrew Petrie under the heading News of the Day. Although that provides no indication of where he might have lived, perhaps earlier issues of The Moreton Bay Courier might.</p>
<p>The edition of <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page542487" target="-blank">Saturday 25 March 1854</a><sup>6</sup> described in detail the ceremonial progress into Brisbane of Lieutenant Colonel Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy, described in the article as the Governor-General of Australia although His Excellency's formal title was Governor of New South Wales. FitzRoy had disembarked from HMS Calliope at Newstead, the home of Captain Wickham the Government Resident, and proceeded through the settlement of Fortitude Valley until the river was encountered once again where crowds were assembled at the Kangaroo Point Ferry and at Mr Petries' home to cheer His Excellency. The official party is then described as following the rise of Queen Street into the heart of North Brisbane. Clearly in 1854, Andrew Petrie lived on Petrie's Bight.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19316762" target="_blank">December 1904, The Brisbane Courier</a><sup>7</sup> published extracts from the reminiscences of Tom Petrie (son of Andrew) in which he recalled the family living for a time on the site of what is now the GPO while their home was built <i>on the riverbank with a garden bounded by the saltwater creek from which Creek Street takes its name</i>. That description matches the location shown in Gerler's sketch Brisbane in 1844 which lists the Perie home as the first of 48 named buildings.</p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZSSChwDu5X01NmIn0FFO4BcaWaiCZdE_eMnb61wYULHf14vkq69VcHhrjzIAaXGC2SZOTiKcLleEZ6Kf8PTOpoYzn5VQadQlCPEH3DXOl4MvTmgf0453GkEn3qQPrbUqvbHB6Wt-Dpg/s1600/32794220838_546f795694_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="800" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZSSChwDu5X01NmIn0FFO4BcaWaiCZdE_eMnb61wYULHf14vkq69VcHhrjzIAaXGC2SZOTiKcLleEZ6Kf8PTOpoYzn5VQadQlCPEH3DXOl4MvTmgf0453GkEn3qQPrbUqvbHB6Wt-Dpg/s320/32794220838_546f795694_c.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 80%;">Map of Brisbane, 1844</span><sup>8</sup></div>
<p> Its location at the northern end of Queen Street is unmistakable, although the German artists representation of the town's main boulevard made it appear shorter, wider and straighter than it actually was!</p>
<p>Every historian, and even casual users of the resources of the Queensland State Archives, will welcome initiatives to make those important artefacts more widely known and readily accessible. But "popularisation" carries with it a very real risk that must be managed. Given the tendency of modern school pupils (and their teachers) to "grab an image off the web", it is essential that every record be presented in its correct context.</p> <p>I dread the situation where dozens of school projects (their "relevance" dictated by the highly-publicised Queen's Wharf development) describe how the great pioneer builder and architect, Andrew Petrie, once lived on the site of the Treasury Building!</p>
<p style="font-weight: bold;">References:</p>
<ol>
<li>Queensland State Archives, Digital Image ID 5212 released to Public Domain https://flickr.com/photos/60455048@N02/36883175655</li>
<li>https://qalbum.archives.qld.gov.au</li>
<li>http://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/Search/BasicSearch.aspx</li>
<li>https://qalbum.archives.qld.gov.au/qsa/andrew-petries-residence-1859</li>
<li>https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/-27.46892/153.02616</li>
<li>The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861) 25 March 1854: 2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page542487</li>
<li>"EARLY QUEENSLAND." The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 30 December 1904: 6. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19316762</li>
<li>Map of Brisbane, 1844 State Library of Queensland: hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/108532 released to Public Domain https://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryqueensland/32794220838/in/photostream/</li>
</ol>
Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com2175 Eagle St, Brisbane City QLD 4000, Australia-27.4658624154936 153.03060828626099-27.4710029154936 153.02030878626098 -27.4607219154936 153.040907786261tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-4821970424154431032018-10-25T21:18:00.000+10:002018-10-25T21:18:19.898+10:00Granny was a perjurer<p>It may seem an odd admission for a family historian to make, but I was about ten years old before I recognised that most other kids had more grandparents than I did. It was not just that we did not see my father's parents, it was as though they had never existed. Naturally, as an inquisitive child, I set out to find why and quickly learned that this was another of those "things we don't talk about".</p>
<p>Advance half a century and I was able to show that my paternal grandparents married in Belfast in 1923 and separated approximately three years later. He migrated to north america: she brought their two sons to Queensland. Around the time of her divorce and remarriage in 1938, something happened between mother and son that meant that Dad never spoke a word to her again. Indeed, he tried to not acknowledge her as his next of kin<sup>1</sup> when enlisting in 1941.</p>
<p>Those were the bare facts in the documentary records but (as is often the case) a newspaper can provide the context, the background and the colour that is absent from the official certificates. In my case, it was the <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205450356">report of the divorce proceedings</a> in <em>The Truth</em><sup>2</sup> that revealed so much more. Readers familiar with the reputation of that paper may wonder at my apparent faith in its reporting, but as you will see it was most informative.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvu3X9ZZVkaMK6XRROTyXF3H3tmxR_ZFY7LIHhJVFkZ-JAMCemt1ZxP6eFAZR5LZhhVBUIyxf4zbOrnCpkI4SX8Y1OcaOHotv5caGw4BcAGXoo9b5wuMDDsWJHtpCTnu4izj34RBkDur0/s1600/Report+of+Divorce+1936.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvu3X9ZZVkaMK6XRROTyXF3H3tmxR_ZFY7LIHhJVFkZ-JAMCemt1ZxP6eFAZR5LZhhVBUIyxf4zbOrnCpkI4SX8Y1OcaOHotv5caGw4BcAGXoo9b5wuMDDsWJHtpCTnu4izj34RBkDur0/s320/Report+of+Divorce+1936.jpg" width="320" height="129" data-original-width="371" data-original-height="150" /></a></div>
<p>Christina (my grandmother) presented the facts of her case to show that after a few short years of marriage her husband had migrated to Australia and later sent the passage money for his family to join him. Joyously reunited in August 1928, they lived at Sandgate apparently in domestic bliss until November 1928 when he mysteriously vanished without a trace. From that day hence, she had neither seen nor heard from him.</p>
<p>His Honour was clearly concerned by some minor details, such as the plaintiff's inability to recall where her husband had worked in Sandgate.</p>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"It is a most extraordinary story you are telling me" [Mr Justice Henchmann] remarked to which Mrs McAllister replied "Well it is true".</blockquote>
<p>It is the case that (as in all extravagant fantasy) there are grains or perhaps wisps of truth woven into the tale, but there are even more elements that are demonstrably false.</p>
<p>My grandfather had left Belfast on 13 November 1926 aboard the <em>S S Regina</em> bound not for Brisbane, Australia but for Montreal, Canada<sup>3</sup>. That this person was the correct Robert Joseph McAllister is shown by the notation on the ship's manifest<sup>4</sup> that he intended to be joined (eventually) in his new home by "Mrs C McAllister (wife 24 years) Robt J 2¾ Andrew B 1½".</p>
<p>The cost of the voyage to Brisbane by Christina, Robert, and Andrew aboard the Demosthenes was met not by Mrs McAllister from funds remitted by her husband but by the Queensland Government<sup>5</sup> (and the Salvation Army). In correspondence on her migration file, Christine acknowledged that as a deserted (sic) wife unable to locate her husband in Canada, she needed financial assistance to join her sisters (who had made the journey to Brisbane earlier).</p>
<p>Upon arrival in Queensland, Christina lived not in Sandgate but at Stones Corner<sup>6</sup> - a short walk from her address at the time of the divorce. And she remained in that general locale for the rest of her life.</p>
<p>In short, neither party had ever lived in Sandgate and the "missing" husband had never set foot in the country. But Mrs McAllister wanted her freedom.</p>
<p>There were other extravagant claims in Christina's evidence (possibly incorporated to add <a href="https://www.gsarchive.net/mikado/webopera/mk208d.html">artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative</a>) that seem so absurd as not to warrant investigation. In total, the obvious inconsistencies apparently disturbed the presiding judge who made one last attempt to understand the situation</p>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
... and yet he left you and his children. Was he fond of them?" "He did not take much notice of them" Mrs McAllister answered.</blockquote>
<p>The <em>decree nisi</em> was granted along with an order for the custody of the two boys. In December 1937, Christina remarried and my father (aged 13¾ years) left home.</p>
<p>While it is undeniable that much of the evidence given in the case was false and its reporting sensationalised, that newspaper report answered a very important question for me.</p>
<p>The worst offence that I could commit in the eyes of my father was not to admit to a misdeed. I must always be truthful and "own up" to what I had done. And never, ever try to shift the blame for my actions onto another person.</p>
<p>My father would not want me to associate with any person to whom the terrible label <strong>LIAR</strong> could be attached. <strike>She</strike> Such a person could cause untold hurt to others and should be shunned.</p>
<h5>Sources</h5>
<ol Style="font-size:80%;">
<li>RANR Record of Mobilised Service NAA: A6770, MCALLISTER R J</li>
<li>DISAPPEARED AT HIS SECOND ATTEMPT <em>Truth</em> 31 May 1936: p 12 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205450356></li>
<li>Outgoing Passengers UK BT27/1110/4 Regina </li>
<li>Immigration Records (1925-1935), Canada Robert J McAllister 1926 vol 24 p 116</li>
<li>Queensland State Archives Item ID1120524, Files - immigrant McAllister, Christina</li>
<li>Queensland, Australia, Electoral Rolls 1934 Christina McAllister Griffith, Buranda</li>
</ol>Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-52614623429584102702018-08-05T20:28:00.000+10:002018-08-05T20:28:03.074+10:00Genetic Genealogy is different<p>It has been more than a year since I received notification of the results of my Autosomal-DNA (Family Finder) test. In all that time, I have not really engaged with the data it provides. I have carried out all the mechanical tasks - provided lists of family surnames and places, downloaded the raw data file, created a direct line GEDCOM, and uploaded all these to the appropriate comparison sites. </p>
<p>But I have never really set out to find what I can learn from this rich new source. At first, there were other pressing tasks that needed to be cleared away before I could devote the time that this new area of investigation demands. Then more and more activities were assigned a higher priority than a study of my DNA. All the while, the number of suggestions for further investigation grew and grew. Finally, I have had to admit that I have been avoiding the task. What was it that I was hiding from?</p>
<p>I am sure that I not concerned by what I might find; the block is far more deep-seated than that. When I investigate a branch of my family, I am seeking great, great ... grandparents but this new tool offers me nothing but cousins. Instead of ancestors, it presents me with potential research collaborators. When the bulk of my research involves people who are (let's be blunt) dead and unthreatening, the promise (or threat) of genetic genealogy is lots of contacts who are very much alive and may want to "share" or even "catch up".</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj56XJSlYNouhTXUsrKBrY9y-jmLlJzk2yJN_b-iGzzz9koB-e43yB74IsqBuQ2o88b5DQTyn_Jf-qb3XK8NeWiuXXRAIJs-Loa7LQbVa8wrIAJzuKEWB7fYna8L442dg2A23CjC5WUHaM/s1600/don-adams-tv-promo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj56XJSlYNouhTXUsrKBrY9y-jmLlJzk2yJN_b-iGzzz9koB-e43yB74IsqBuQ2o88b5DQTyn_Jf-qb3XK8NeWiuXXRAIJs-Loa7LQbVa8wrIAJzuKEWB7fYna8L442dg2A23CjC5WUHaM/s200/don-adams-tv-promo.jpg" width="151" height="200" data-original-width="236" data-original-height="313" /></a></div>
<p>I have failed to find a school report that explicitly stated "Robert does not play well with others" but it would have been a fair description of my loner behaviour. Traditional genealogy provides a perfect match for my character flaws.</p><p> When an acquaintance asks mockingly "Are you one of those people still at your desk as late evening turns to early morning with no company other than your database, piles of old paper and half a mug of cold coffee?", I can only emulate Agent 86 in my response. </p>
<p>I understand that family research can be enriched by selective collaboration. I am happy to help others with their work. I enjoy giving assistance and believe that I am quite good at it. But there is a world of difference between offering advice to others and having them "help me".</p>
<p>The mathematics is inexorable. My 2xgreat grandfather will have (at least) several hundred descendants and some dozens of them are probably investigating details of his life. But in a document-based world, they are each working in their own bubbles making egregious errors or astonishing breakthroughs that have no impact on my work. I am free to retain complete control over what I do and what I uncover (or not). Like a toddler placing pudgy hands over his eyes, I could declare "You cannot see me."</p>
<p>But genetic genealogy changes all that. I have invited the people that I have been ignoring into my inbox. The game has changed and I need to find ways to deal with that. I must make time to really look into all those possible connections. Soon.</p>
<p>What if there is another bossy, opinionated control-freak out there with fixed ideas on how <em>we</em> should research <em>our</em> family tree? Do you think that sort of thing could be driven by factors inherited from a shared ancestor? </p> Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-74187461168225913932018-07-16T12:34:00.000+10:002018-07-16T12:34:34.906+10:00The Lost (fictional) Ancestor<p>Family history researchers spend a lot of time reading. Original records, collections of transcriptions, and indexes all clamour for our attention; or even space on our desks. Can we really find room for fictional genealogy? (Not public Ancestry trees, but tales about researching.)</p>
<p>Yet, there is a burgeoning sub-genre of popular fiction that has been dubbed genealogical mysteries. I thought that the collection on the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/genealogy-mystery" target="_blank">Goodreads shelf</a> was comprehensive until I came across the enormous list maintained by Jule Cahill Tarr at <a href="http://genealogy.julietarr.com/blog/genealogical-fiction/" target="_blank">Julie's Genealogy & History Hub</a>.</p>
<p>Clearly, there was a huge market for these books but I had never been enthused. A few years ago, I dipped into works featuring <a href="http://www.steve-robinson.me/" target="_blank">Jefferson Tayte</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Jimmy-Fox-Author-530448967022648/" target="_blank">Nick Herald</a> without any great passion. When a colleague commented on how much she enjoyed such works, I wondered whether it was the basic proposition or the US background that I had found unappealing. Which is how I came to encounter Morton Farrier.</p>
<p>Nathan Dylan Goodwin describes how he "... came up with the idea of a genealogist who has to solve a crime in the past, using genealogical research methodology, but who ironically knows little about his own past" in his (very) occasional blog <a href="http://theforensicgenealogist.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-origins-of-mr-morton-farrier.html" target="_blank">The Forensic Genealogist</a>. Since Morton lives in Rye on the Sussex coast, his (predominantly) UK-based research experience might strike that chord his american counterparts had missed.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjExj7wU30w_zCXHh5_nw_XcicidswTMwIZsbFzu2SPPQFARpqFKVj43nG_jL9e6OK0F6x6ZXz70rjpL4D7-QbxmkTl_YQ_SAPvMmlJzfPEHV3Fk00UAzfla4tCzJ9lpfZ4qgRyZS2XdQ/s1600/lost+ancestor+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjExj7wU30w_zCXHh5_nw_XcicidswTMwIZsbFzu2SPPQFARpqFKVj43nG_jL9e6OK0F6x6ZXz70rjpL4D7-QbxmkTl_YQ_SAPvMmlJzfPEHV3Fk00UAzfla4tCzJ9lpfZ4qgRyZS2XdQ/s1600/lost+ancestor+cover.jpg" data-original-width="187" data-original-height="281" /></a></div>
<p>I selected <em>The Lost Ancestor</em> (the second of a series of (currently) seven titles) which opened with Morton being engaged to locate a "missing" grand-aunt for a rich client with a terminal illness (thereby ensuring that cost was no object for the investigation but time was definitely constrained). But this was not a conventional brick wall despite the apparently prosaic nature of the brief. Of course, Morton is blissfully unaware of the threat he was to face; but if the case were straight-forward, why was the subtitle of the book <em>A Genealogical Crime Mystery</em>?</p>
<p>The structure of the narrative is split between events from 1911 to 1925 interspersed with descriptions of the research task in the present. Which is the source of some unease for me. The (historical) mystery or thriller elements are clearly designed to lead me to leap to conclusions about whodunit that will then be shown to be completely unjustified in the following modern-day segment. But the researcher would never have drawn that incorrect inference (not only because of his professional caution, but) because the eavesdropper lurking behind a door left slightly ajar would have left no documentary record and so is utterly irrelevant (and invisible) to the research process.</p>
<p>There is another element essential to the formula of this genre. The target ancestor was not simply "lost" and there is a living person prepared to go to any lengths to ensure that her true fate is never revealed. This allows Morton to employ some modern gumshoe techniques (spiced with just a little family history expertise) to save himself from a similar fate. This is not a complication that most of us need ever consider in developing a research plan. Although I am not sure how I would react if, while I was desperately seeking the identity of a mystery hitman stalking me, my associate reported: "I've spent the rest of the time digging around the Findmypast website, but nothing so far".</p>
<p>Despite these quibbles, I enjoyed the book enough to finish it in four days. I cannot claim that it ever took me away from real work (on actual family histories) but I was happy to forego my daily (mental-agility) routine of Crosswords and Sudoku for the period.</p>
<p> It is certainly not great literature but there is something appealing about the familiar ordinariness of his securing a locker at the archives, searching the catalogue and requesting a bundle of papers. (Although no staff member of any archive that I frequent would ever be as uncooperative as the dreadful Deidre from "The Keep"!) Do I have sufficient empathy with Morton Farrier to delve into more of the series? Well, I am ambivalent about his next cold case but now that he has learned that Aunt Margaret was actually his birth mother, we need to find his father. Don't we?</p> Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-42556593692986145372018-07-02T11:59:00.000+10:002018-07-02T11:59:39.095+10:00If the name fits<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigmBTWY8yy9BBDpwW8jwXC1Q7eBkGNU1AMdoKh_RoJDdZvOVBzyO_0RZXQEk2-ryqVrH2nkV8H5_V0eMsJpKFoHxY62JJxbDrsv8FcbEjsI9Qrkme4mQhGe_I3EaABWmEPBR_wQapV0Ck/s1600/marie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigmBTWY8yy9BBDpwW8jwXC1Q7eBkGNU1AMdoKh_RoJDdZvOVBzyO_0RZXQEk2-ryqVrH2nkV8H5_V0eMsJpKFoHxY62JJxbDrsv8FcbEjsI9Qrkme4mQhGe_I3EaABWmEPBR_wQapV0Ck/s200/marie.jpg" width="200" height="200" data-original-width="211" data-original-height="211" /></a></div>
<p>There are many different ways in which our given names are decided. Some prospective parents spend months poring over books and magazine articles devoted to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthroponymy" target="_blank">anthroponomy</a>. Others wait for inspiration to strike after the birth: "As soon as I held her for the first time, I just knew she was a Marie".</p>
<p>The decision-making method of most interest to family historians is the practice of following <a href="https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/traditional-scottish-naming-patterns-2115646700.html" target="_blank">a traditional naming pattern</a>: "This is my fourth son, so he is named for my eldest brother". If you are researching a family who adopt this method and an expected name is "missing" from your search results, then you have a good idea of whom you are looking for.</p>
<p>The best known of these patterns are found in thousands of families within a particular culture now spread across the globe. Sometimes you may detect a pattern with limited applicability that proves equally useful in guiding your research.</p>
<p>Arthur Chandler, gamekeeper of Beckenham in Kent, and his wife Jane Taylor had a large family (at least by modern standards). Some online trees listed as many as 12 children for the couple. I was able to account for five of them in the civil registrations of birth and they were confirmed by the details of the 1851 Census. Pre-1837 baptismal records added four more documented children.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkNd3Rt8bp177N3PboJXKNEeH7PfK_JSBMvB9OcCNowuZdZyZYuIGI4UUYLa7ifjPKr4QCz3bLRAZihrjySSY0JWeHAgK3coQimnH6QJppnu7AOURT26CLvXpsEEYc2bdb-5aMt3b2BeA/s1600/51+census.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkNd3Rt8bp177N3PboJXKNEeH7PfK_JSBMvB9OcCNowuZdZyZYuIGI4UUYLa7ifjPKr4QCz3bLRAZihrjySSY0JWeHAgK3coQimnH6QJppnu7AOURT26CLvXpsEEYc2bdb-5aMt3b2BeA/s200/51+census.JPG" width="200" height="160" data-original-width="468" data-original-height="375" /></a></div><p> <br/>As I contemplated the list of known children and those yet to be found, a pattern in the names suddenly became glaringly apparent. Arthur and Jane had named their children Arthur, Asenath, Alfred, Andrew, Amelia, Antoinette, Amy, Angelina and Alice.</p>
<p> Might this explain my inability to find evidence for their purported siblings Joseph, Caroline and Bob?</p>
<p><br/>It was a straight-forward task to establish that the births supposed to have occurred in 1851 (Caroline) and 1853 (Bob) did not involve Jane Chandler (or take place anywhere in England, for that matter). Perhaps these were added to the family by international "cuckoo" researchers dropping their ancestor into the nest of any UK family of the same name to establish their immigrant origins - a type of retrospective informal adoption?</p>
<p>The status of Joseph is more challenging. In the 1841 Census he is listed after Arthur and Janet with the surname "do", but without any indication of a family relationship (a feature not introduced until 1851). His stated age (15) would mean that he was born some years before the marriage of his putative "parents". Might he be an ex-nuptial child of Jane or a pre-nuptial child of the couple who was named by Jane's parents (and so missed receiving an A-name from Arthur)? On the other hand, Joseph might be a nephew or cousin of Arthur residing with them at the time of the census. I said that a naming pattern could guide your research not find all the answers!</p>
<p>In case you are wondering how the children felt about their names; Arthur junior had thirteen children (born in Surrey and then in New South Wales) and he named them Arthur, Amos, Alma, Andrew, Abraham ... you see the pattern. Young Alice (who came to Queensland) was a rebel with a not a single A-name among her five children despite (or perhaps, because of) the fact that their French father Gustave Collin also had the names Antoine and Alexandre.</p>Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-43045295903886594162018-06-23T13:30:00.000+10:002018-06-23T13:30:26.451+10:00The only constant is change<p>I am trying to love the new <a href="https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au/" target="_blank">Family History Research Service</a> launched by the Queensland Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages on June 6. After all, I don't want to be labelled a grumpy old man who wants everything to stay just the way it "always" has been. So I am trying, but gee they make it difficult.</p>
<p>Let's begin by acknowledging that the new search facility has brought some wonderful new features. How could anyone complain about immediate access to the full date of an event without the need for fiddly <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010027713001911" target="_blank">split-half search techniques</a>? And we all appreciate the opportunity to purchase images of the original source documents as an alternative to the register entry (for the same price) with the possible bonus of additional correspondence at no extra charge.</p>
<p>And how about the new global search facility? Well, let's examine that for a moment. I often use our 2<small>x</small>great grandfather Thomas Henry Suddaby as a test subject. His name is rare enough that it almost always produces a manageable set of results. Now when I used the "old" search engine, I was limited to a single given name but a search for the birth <em>Suddaby, Thomas</em> produced two records (that for my target and one for his son with similar but not identical given names). Similarly, I located two death records (father and son) and two marriages (one for the target and the other for his daughter marrying a man with the same given name as her father).</p>
<p>With the new improved tool, a simultaneous search across all three datasets for <em>Thomas Suddaby</em> returned 221907 hits. Editing the search term to <em>Thomas Henry Suddaby</em> (additional given names are an added feature of the new service) increased the number to 405391. Does anyone remember when we were advised to "widen your search by entering fewer fields, and less exact information"? Now it seems that the opposite is true.</p>
<p>Fortunately for those appalled by those numbers, in the last few days an enhancement has been made offering the option to "Show only exact matches on names". When that was applied to my search the number of hits dropped to a mere 404932.</p>
<p>Perhaps, the simultaneous search is an unfair comparison. When I limit the new search to one event type at a time (as in the "old" system), it returns 127803 births, 90504 marriages and 186625 deaths. At least, it is consistent.</p>
<p>Of course, the quantity of hits is not the only (or even the most important) criterion of a search procedure. How relevant are the results returned? In each case, at least the first dozen results for each event referred to known members of the family of T H Suddaby and that was true of 58% of the first 50 entries in the aggregated search. But 47 of them <bold>were not the records I was searching for</bold>!</p>
<p>The new service has achieved this (admittedly impressive) feat of identifying records with an incidental relationship to the actual search being conducted by the introduction of "fuzzy" search algorithms. If I were a novice researcher making my first search with a single isolated name, I might be very excited to be presented with details of more than 20 other related people spread across three generations. As a grizzled veteran looking for a specific piece of information, my response is frustration rather than joy.</p>
<p>Perhaps when I find the switch to turn off, or even to moderate, the "fuzziness" of the search then I will come to love the new service. Grumpy old men will have the tool with which <s>we</s> they are familiar and the beginners will have immediate access to a flood of names and dates to maintain their burgeoning interest.</p>
<p>The page called <a href="https://www.qld.gov.au/law/births-deaths-marriages-and-divorces/family-history-research/information-and-how-to-access-and-order-records/hints-and-tips" target="_blank">Searching our historical records—hints and tips</a> will surely explain how to regain some sensible measure of control over the process. Sadly, it does not. On the other hand, it does offer fascinating insights into the use of wildcards and sorting your results. Which is rather depressing because these were important features of the old system that have been disabled (lost|stolen|destroyed depending upon your current level of frustration). Never mind, in a short time, the help page will be <s>crippled</s>edited to correspond to the limitations of the search tool. Then a whole generation of genealogists will grow up not knowing what a price has been paid for the "improvements" we now enjoy.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEHrRUxt_RF0FG2yypPMQR-p2HENb7eInD9zvwLSdH4k8VO22fgbqTmYLvzCtWWDmZB7nD1DXusEkvf5CmrUgW5znF1coLNalU6mSNC0eeu6MN2252ZdvMb8SZRnxcol7JDYwuSmx-Ep0/s1600/g+o+man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEHrRUxt_RF0FG2yypPMQR-p2HENb7eInD9zvwLSdH4k8VO22fgbqTmYLvzCtWWDmZB7nD1DXusEkvf5CmrUgW5znF1coLNalU6mSNC0eeu6MN2252ZdvMb8SZRnxcol7JDYwuSmx-Ep0/s320/g+o+man.jpg" width="163" height="320" data-original-width="121" data-original-height="237" /></a></div>
<p>But I really do not want to be seen as the old codger who pines for "the good old days". A positive response to my predicament would be to see how much of the functionality of the old site I can reconstruct in other tools. Clearly the first step is to copy the results returned from the web page into a spreadsheet for local manipulation.</p>
<p>Did I happen to mention that the format in which results are displayed has also been enhanced within the new service? That old-fashioned tabular presentation has been jettisoned in favour of something that scales nicely on small screen devices. Of course, making the list nice to read on a phone does mean the items cannot be pasted easily into a spreadsheet ...</p>
<p>I <bold>am trying</bold> to love the new Family History Research Service. I am, really. I don't want to be a whinger. But gee they make it difficult.</p>
Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-68011124659913995652018-06-05T13:09:00.000+10:002018-06-05T13:09:10.570+10:00Who can I believe?<p>Thomas Bryce, the son of David Bryce Esq, was at his father's home in Glasgow on Sunday 7 April 1861 (census night)<sup>1</sup>. And he was definitely in Brisbane, Queensland on Tuesday 18 September 1866<sup>2</sup> (the day of <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1274492" target="_blank">his wedding with Janet Menzies</a>). The timing and method by which he was transported between these two points in space-time are less clear.</p>
<p>There is no entry in the <a href="https://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/arts/heritage/archives/immigration" target="_blank">QSA Immigration Indices</a> that might plausibly describe his journey. That is not really surprising because the period 1860-67 is almost certainly the one with the least complete coverage of immigration records.</p>
<p>The report of Thomas's death in The Brisbane Courier of 8 January 1912<sup>3</sup> is quite definite concerning his entry into Queensland. "He started his career as an accountant in his native city, but left there in 1862 in the ship <i>Golden City</i>, and came to Queensland in search of health." Murphy's Law would have predicted as much because the Golden City is fabled among researchers for its association with missing records. (Can't find your ancestor's arrival in the 1860s, put down "via the Golden City".)</p>
<p>Fortunately, although not recorded at QSA, the 1862-63 voyage of the Golden City was the subject of <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/14227998" target="_blank">one of the series of booklets <i>They Came Direct</i></a> compiled by Eileen Johnson<sup>4</sup>. But that transcription contains no reference to Thomas Bryce, 20-year-old accountant from Glasgow. On the other hand, there is an entry for a 20-year-old Scottish labourer who apparently joined the vessel at Queenstown (the port in Cork, Ireland) named Thomas Boyce. The full transcription of the passenger list also includes a Mrs Boyce and two (unnamed) infant children travelling in the cabin.</P>
<p>Could there be a family connection between these passengers that has nothing to do with "my" Thomas? Or having encountered the name Boyce at the top of the list, were the transcribers predisposed to interpret a later, similar but indistinct name as being the same? If the male passenger was actually Thomas Bryce, why would an accountant travel to Ireland (rather than London) to join the ship and then list his occupation as "labourer".</p>
<p>The Queensland Family History Society has recently completed an extensive project to transcribe passenger lists held by the National Archives for which there is no corresponding Queensland State Archives record. They are published on CD as the Queensland Customs House Shipping lists. And the arrival of the Golden City is included in the volume covering 1852-1885<sup>5</sup>.</p>
<p>That (independent) QFHS transcription includes an entry for Thomas Bryce 20-year-old Scottish labourer who boarded the vessel in London. Clearly, this reading is closer to what I was expecting but the discrepancy concerning his occupation remains. I really have no basis to decide that one or the other is correct, particularly given the conflict over where he boarded the ship.</p>
<p>The original paper record that underpins both transcriptions was held in the Brisbane collection of the National Archives of Australia and formed part of the set of early shipping records in delicate condition transferred to microfilm for ease of public access. But the passage of time saw that base film stock subject to "vinegary decay" and this required a further transfer of the information to a stable format. Roll 1 of Series J715 is now an enormous file of 1327 digital "frames" that can be viewed online<sup>6</sup>. There is no index but the images are arranged approximately in date order of departure from the UK.</p>
<p>The voyage of the Golden City (departing London on 3 December 1862 and then Queenstown on 13 December 1862, arriving in Moreton Bay 5 March 1863) is recorded in frames 314 to 328. On frame 318, can be seen a passenger name B?yce that has apparently been over-written at some point. I cannot determine if a letter "o" has been replaced with an "r" or vice versa. I cannot even definitively rule out some other combinations.<p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBG-Dq3WbKlWvKUFjzsDoBBsTmzkG_KeR24RjYpxzHopufA_t-cjiuNrBhdaP-IiKVjDTg4F0bZYbWvRNn4qpZhhmSGRmpa5EQcdbOdPJF6HXUpphIV3Tnr_wGAosStGvDp8ISKSyrr04/s1600/boyce-bryce.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBG-Dq3WbKlWvKUFjzsDoBBsTmzkG_KeR24RjYpxzHopufA_t-cjiuNrBhdaP-IiKVjDTg4F0bZYbWvRNn4qpZhhmSGRmpa5EQcdbOdPJF6HXUpphIV3Tnr_wGAosStGvDp8ISKSyrr04/s200/boyce-bryce.jpg" width="200" height="38" data-original-width="320" data-original-height="60" /></a></div>
<p> If a reader was expecting "Boyce", she would find it. On the other hand, someone expecting the name "Bryce" would certainly recognise that. This clearly is the entry of interest.</p>
<p>Upon a wider examination, it is plain that Thomas's occupation was not actually recorded as "labourer". A ditto mark was placed against his name, apparently referencing the last full word recorded above, which was "labourer". However, it is possible that when more than dozen young single men boarded in quick succession and the first few were labourers, the shipping clerk recorded them all as the same. It is not necessarily true that Thomas claimed to be a labourer, he may have simply failed to correct an error (if he was aware of it).</p>
<p>Which leaves the question of where he boarded the vessel. The people around Thomas in the list are all of Irish nationality but their names are on the document created in London on 3 December. Those people who did board in Queenstown (a week later) were recorded on a separate paper form with a different heading and distinct signature block.</p>
<p>The claim that Boyce/Bryce boarded in Ireland apparently arises from a marginal notation (Queenstown) added in another hand beside the the names of the group of Irish nationals (and Thomas). Perhaps a later user of the list assumed that the original was incorrect and that the Irishmen "must" have been listed on the wrong page. However, the statistical summary made on the last page at the time the list was created shows that there were a small number of Irish citizens boarded at the first port (London) before the much larger group a week later.</p>
<p>So when it comes to deciding how Thomas Bryce travelled to Queensland, who can I believe. My conclusion is that the reporter for the Courier got it absolutely right (which is not a claim that I would make lightly today). He got his information from the best available source and there is nothing in the (extant copies of the) original documents to contradict what he was told.</p>
<p>Transcription is not a straight-forward task. Every line interpreted involves dozens of decisions based not only on the marks on the paper but also the context in which they were originally made and then read. I can take issue with the interpretations made in the case of one man about whom I had additional information not available to the previous transcribers. There were hundreds of other passengers on that voyage for whom I have no basis to disagree with the published transcript. The overall value of the transcriptions should not be questioned.</p>
<p>Respect the work of transcribers but trust the evidence of your own eyes informed by all the background you have on the individual you are researching. Ask yourself, not only is that reading <u>possible</u> but also is it <u>plausible</u> given everything else I know about the person concerned.</p>
<h3>References</h3>
<ol>
<li>1861 Census of Scotland, Glasgow, enumeration district (ED) 52, page 28, Thomas Bryce; digital images, Scotlands People.</li>
<li>"Family Notices" <i>The Brisbane Courier</i> 20 September 1866: 4. {http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1274492}</li>
<li>"PERSONAL." <i>The Brisbane Courier</i> 8 January 1912: 9. {http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19724675}
</li>
<li>Johnson, Eileen <i>Golden City", 1863: Immigration vessels to Queensland</i> Self published 2003 ISBN 1 875790 63 2</li>
<li>QFHS <i>Queensland Customs House Shipping 1852-1885: Passengers and Crew</i> Published 2014 ISBN 978-1-921171-32-1</li>
<li><i>Ships passengers lists - Brisbane - inwards - 4 August 1852 to 13 December 1870</i> NAA: J715, ROLL 1 Item barcode 32722213</li>
</ol>Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-77095655281387168312018-05-26T16:22:00.000+10:002018-05-26T16:22:17.507+10:00Baa baa<p>The UK tabloid press gave <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6286680/meghan-markle-dad-thomas-heart-attack-royal-wedding-attending/">lots of coverage to the behaviour of some of the more "interesting" in-laws</a> acquired by a certain retired army officer through his recent marriage. That reflects the fascination for all of us in discovering the outrageous, the slightly scandalous or even the downright despicable actions of the black sheep romping in the far-flung family pastures.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJZst-fG_2WYim0cyStqunYFARNvks6KHBDYm3TNy-TXFoDobXyUW52K5tA6lIuFVAo9NlONNxu6zXousXTp_hV-lg_d5lPsaxYboYzwbMS-j0qWy0HYlGgToaxN_aXqzLZSpFHQ0cp9U/s1600/ibssglogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJZst-fG_2WYim0cyStqunYFARNvks6KHBDYm3TNy-TXFoDobXyUW52K5tA6lIuFVAo9NlONNxu6zXousXTp_hV-lg_d5lPsaxYboYzwbMS-j0qWy0HYlGgToaxN_aXqzLZSpFHQ0cp9U/s320/ibssglogo.jpg" width="144" height="151" data-original-width="180" data-original-height="176" /></a></div><p> Yet if that black sheep is one of "ours", the excitement of exploring the dim recesses of the documents is tempered by the ever-present worry "Who must I be careful not to tell?". No-one wants to spend an entire family reunion being berated for besmirching the family honour with the revelations, or concocting vile lies, or (possibly) both. Which is why helping someone else to explore their family history offers such wonderful opportunities for the guilty pleasure of "just being open and honest".</p>
<p> We may well think it about a member our own family, but would we ever say aloud:
<ul>
<li>Oh, you assumed when I said his parents were married, that I meant to each other.</li>
<li>For that year where you cannot find a Census Record, have you looked into prisons?</li>
<li> Well, one cause of long-delayed demobilisation was treatment for a serious STD.</li>
<li> No, "had in his possession" does not always mean "was the owner of".</li>
<li> With so many marriages for one man, you may need to consider the possibility that some were simultaneous.</li>
<li> Perhaps all these "transcriptions errors" concerning the same person suggest that she was not always truthful when dealing with authority figures.</li></ul>
</p>
<p> At the same time, we must be scrupulously honest in researching and recording the transgressions of our own ancestors. For there will come a day when you gather your children around you for the bitter-sweet revelation, "In your family, there are an adulterer, an unmarried mother, a deserter, a thief and a lunatic; but ... there all on your mother's side!"<p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>Disclaimer: The precise attribution of characteristics to my wife's ancestors in the above post may have been <strike>slightly</strike> exaggerated for dramatic effect.</p>Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-4102231591715939142016-09-15T20:45:00.000+10:002016-09-15T20:45:39.361+10:00What do you think they did?<p>A few weeks ago the Ireland XO site posted an interesting piece on the theme <a href="http://www.irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/news/ireland-xo-insight-what-did-your-ancestors-do" target="_blank">what did your ancestors do?</a> I was amused to read of some of the more outlandish job titles. I do not have a<em> flax scutcher</em> in my tree: my lot seemed to be predominantly <em>linen lappers</em>. </p> <p>But I was disappointed not to find any mention of the job title that has been puzzling me lately. Our 2xgreat grandfather Andrew Burton was described in 1905 as a "coal trimmer". In 1890, Andrew had been a stonemason. Was this new trade a highly specialised craft that drew on his expertise working with stone to ensure that the fuel fed into a furnace was neat, or at least uniform in size?</p> <p>It turns out that at the turn of the twentieth century, coal trimmer was a well-recognised (and very important) maritime occupation with a very misleading name. They should have been called ship trimmers. A ship might steam out of harbour looking very seaworthy with its bunkers loaded with coal. But if all the coal stored on the port side of the vessel was fed into the boilers before any was taken from the starboard side, the ship would become very unstable and could easily roll over and sink in even a mild sea.</p> <p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nKfHyLb6V1w/V9p7Vyw_7OI/AAAAAAAAISA/7EWj4bDv810/s1600-h/black%252520gang%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img title="black gang" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 12px 0px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="black gang" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JCRIjLagJX0/V9p7WQkdp8I/AAAAAAAAISE/PT6vmNqofuU/black%252520gang_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="left" height="148"></a>In order to keep the vessel on an even keel, also called "in trim", a group of men were occupied around the clock redistributing coal within the hull to ensure that all the forces remained in balance. Despite the disastrous consequences of any failure in their work, the coal trimmers were regarded as being less skilled than firemen or stokers (fellow members of the Black Gang) and were among the lowest paid on the ship for working in the most difficult conditions.</p> <p>So Andrew was not making fine technical adjustments to fuel quality in a new high-technology environment, as I had optimistically imagined. He was shovelling tons of rock in near pitch black and choking dust alongside the boilers that could make the metal bulkhead glow red. </p> <p>When he listened to the preaching at the Salvation Army Citadel on the torments of hell awaiting the unrepentant, Andrew Burton must have understood quite literally what was being described. </p>Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com1Belfast, UK54.597285000000007 -5.930119999999988154.450095000000005 -6.2528434999999885 54.744475000000008 -5.6073964999999877tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-88918391291842312862016-09-07T14:47:00.000+10:002016-09-07T14:47:09.336+10:00Drawing aside a veil<p>In a recent <a href="http://ancestor-envy.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/desperately-seeking-cornelia.html" target="_blank">post concerning the apparent break-up of a family revealed in the 1911 Census</a>, I noted that even though Cornelia Wilkins (nee Medwell) declared in 1925 that she was widowed, her husband Thomas was recorded in the 1939 Register<sup>1 </sup>as being very much alive. </p> <p>At the time, I chose not to reveal that Thomas was not living alone at 69 Russell Street, Peterborough or that his housemate described her occupation as “unpaid domestic duties”. My reasoning was that an association more than thirty years after the event was probably not relevant to the separation and that any further investigation could be seen as being driven by little more than salacious interest.</p> <p>But how many genealogical blunders have been driven by an untested assumption that some line of inquiry was not relevant? And as for my delicate sensibilities; surely most family history research is socially-approved snooping into matters that our ancestors intended should never see the light of day. </p> <p>So with any ethical qualms pushed aside, I sought more details on Miss Florence Marston (born 30 Jan 1876).Did she have a long term association with Peterborough that could reveal an earlier connection with Thomas?</p> <p>Fortunately, Florence had never married and it was quick and easy to demonstrate that she had indeed been born in 1876 in the town where she was resident in 1939; and where she would die on 27 July 1947. But these few markers on her life journey would (if taken in isolation) be quite misleading. Before 1870, the Marston family had no connection to Northamptonshire, much less the town of Peterborough. Florence’s father, William, had abandoned his ancestors’ traditional occupation (as agricultural labourers in Leicestershire)<sup>2</sup> and embraced new technology by joining the railways which involved a more mobile lifestyle.<br clear="all"><br clear="all"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ies_U0iWGkA/V8-a4sfuJPI/AAAAAAAAIQE/cf5CvOfRgWA/s1600-h/peterborough_east_old6%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Peterborough East Station (undated)" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_9-j7ddi424/V8-a5Epr-GI/AAAAAAAAIQI/yIcKdmN2-8Y/peterborough_east_old6_thumb%25255B9%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="left" height="145"></a>Florence was born in Peterborough (as were two younger brothers) because her father was posted there as the Station Master. When he was appointed to a new post at Hugglescote on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charnwood_Forest_Railway" target="_blank">Charnwood Forest Railway</a>, his family moved with him. Both the 1901 and 1911 Censuses<sup>3</sup> show that Florence was not in the area when Thomas and Cornelia married or when they (apparently) separated.<br clear="all">While the 1939 Register does provide a snapshot of domestic arrangements at one point in time, it does not reveal their duration. The 1911 Census showed that Thomas had been living at Russel Street with his brother (and mother) then and Electoral Registers show that his occupation was continuous. Indeed the Electoral Register for the P C of Northamptonshire, Peterborough Division shows three voters (Thomas Wilkins, John Wilkins, and Miss Florence Marston) at the house in Russell Street in 1930. When John died<sup>4</sup> in 1934, Thomas and Florence apparently continued to occupy the home. </p> <p>However, there is one compelling piece of evidence that their arrangement was not a de facto marriage. When probate was granted<sup>5</sup> on Florence’s Last Will and Testament in 1947, her property passed to two brothers (described as railway officials). In the following year, Thomas’s Will left £2000 to a retired Solicitors Clerk, despite the fact that he had a widow and two sons (one of whom lived less than 15 kilometres away).</p> <p>The preponderance of evidence apparently supports the initial notion that the lady with whom Thomas shared a home in 1939 was most unlikely to have had any connection to his relationship with Cornelia. But one curious feature continues to nag at me. In 1911, Florence Marston’s occupation was listed as a dressmaker working on her own account from her parent’s home, which is consistent with her description as an apprentice dressmaker in Peterborough in 1891. But there was another young woman learning the same trade at that place and time — Cornelia Medwell.</p> <p>A novelist might consider the possibility that these two young apprentices were acquainted (perhaps even trained under the same lady) before one moved away and the other married. When Florence had cause to return to the area 30 years later (after the death of the parents she had cared for), she sought out her old friend but was shocked to find her gone and her children dispersed. But she remembered the young man who had become Cornelia’s husband and when they met …</p> <p>A writer of fiction has a licence to speculate in that way, As a responsible family historian, I could not possibly do so.</p> <div style="font-size: smaller"> <p><strong>References</strong></p> <ol> <li>1939 Register Ref: RG101/6292I/004/11 Letter Code: RQAY <li>1871 England, Wales & Scotland Census Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire RG10 3267 131 page 36 <li>1911 Census RG14PN16771 RG78PN1041 RD365 SD3 ED2 SN203 piece 16771 <li>England & Wales deaths 1837-2007 1934 Peterborough Volume 3B Page 201 <li>Probate Calendars of England & Wales 1858-1957 1947 Page 559 </li></ol></div>Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com0Peterborough, UK52.569498499999987 -0.2405298999999558952.41513599999999 -0.56325339999995583 52.723860999999985 0.082193600000044109tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-60449482432391415482016-08-29T14:18:00.000+10:002016-08-29T14:18:46.494+10:00Love a sunburnt country?<p>It is a sad but inevitable fact that in a nation of immigrants, there will be some of us who are simply not genetically-predisposed to thrive in this wide brown land. When the head gardener sets me the task of arranging pot plants by their tolerance of heat and light, I always leave a space between dappled sunlight and full shade. I know my place.</p> <p>Each summer in the 1950s, as my playmates progressed through the various shades of tanning that were assumed to signify glowing good health, I alternated between cooked crab cerise and peeled prawn pink. It is amazing how quickly a child can learn to ignore the question “Why are you so white?” Sometimes a helpful friend would offer the explanation. “He can’t help it. His father came from Scotland”. </p> <p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7FWu9MwVDmY/V8O2l2hqzzI/AAAAAAAAINw/69D1DVVxBCc/s1600-h/two%252520gen%25255B48%25255D.jpg"><img title="two gen" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; display: inline" alt="two gen" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-D6WYIHuRGyQ/V8O2mVpYWdI/AAAAAAAAIN0/WLUnqVT9IXc/two%252520gen_thumb%25255B46%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="136" align="left" height="200"></a>In fact he was wrong on two grounds. Dad was born in Northern Ireland, although the distinction is probably moot in this context. More significant is that my father displayed the phenotype combination known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Irish" target="_blank">black Irish</a> (often incorrectly attributed to the impact of the Spanish Armada). His hair and beard were jet, eyes dark, and the usual description of his complexion was swarthy. </p> <p>My Belfast-born father had no trouble passing as a man of Mediterranean or even Middle Eastern heritage. It clearly ran in the family, because his Uncle Bill was much in demand when came time for <a href="http://www.scotland.org/features/hogmanay-top-facts" target="_blank">first footing</a>. </p> <p>So I cannot blame my Celtic forebears. Which leaves the Germans to bear the responsibility for my <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3267121/" target="_blank">integumentary mismatch</a>. A photograph of my mother in her mid-teens with a thick blonde plait wound around her head above piercing blue eyes could have been the archetypal image of young Aryan womanhood. It seems that I have inherited many of the ancient north European adaptations to low light conditions for which I have no need. Thanks Mum.</p> <p>I feel no shame in this ancestor-blaming, because of the certainty that in generations to come I will be subject to exactly the same. Fortunately, none of my children have been irredeemably freckled. The toddler much admired for delicate copper ringlets falling across a forehead like the finest semi-translucent alabaster now sports a tangled mass of red curls flowing down to a spectacular full beard without any apparent psychological damage. But lurking in their genome is that <a href="https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/neanderthal/" target="_blank">4% contribution from our Neanderthal forebears</a>, ready to be passed on. I know that all of my descendants will need to be well acquainted with the <a href="http://www.cancer.org.au/preventing-cancer/sun-protection/preventing-skin-cancer/spf50sunscreen.html" target="_blank">notion of SPF</a>.</p> <p>Despite all this, I do have a special place in the Australian landscape. I love the experience of standing in a gully deep within a tropical rainforest. Let the Blue Quandong and the Turpentine Tree soar upwards and jostle for the sunlight if they must, the ferns and I are perfectly happy down here where it is cool and moist and Shady!</p>Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-48413068944064977842016-08-21T21:44:00.000+10:002016-08-21T21:57:20.919+10:00A battle with the AIF<p>The prompt for this (third) week of the NFHM Blogging Challenge refers to some of the significant battles of two World Wars that will be remembered during this month. But, not all of the battles that took place in 1916 and have shaped our family histories across generations were military actions. There were personal battles, bureaucratic battles and domestic battles taking place on the Home Front that were to prove equally influential.</p>
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<p>On the 19th of August 1915, Recruiting Train 3 returned to Brisbane<sup>1</sup> via the North Coast Line after a final major rally at Gympie intended to attract new recruits for the Expeditionary Force.</p><p> In the next few weeks, Queenslanders began to get an inkling of the tragedy occurring in Turkey. On 7 September, the Brisbane Courier carried a small item<sup>2</sup> referring to heavy Australian losses that hinted at (what we now know as) the disastrous attack on Hill 60 (Kaiajik Aghala) without any explicit reference.</p>
<p>So it was not surprising that by the middle of September 1915 there would be a surge in the number of men presenting themselves at Victoria Barracks eager "to do their bit" One might not have expected to see Alfred Edward Noyes among them. He was no youthful bushman in search of adventure but a 33-year-old former timber-getter tending a small fruit farm at Palmwoods to support his wife Emily and their six surviving children.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, on 18 September 1915, Alfred swore that he would "well and truly serve our Sovereign Lord the King in the Australian Imperial Force from [that day] until the end of the war" and Dr. Cameron of the Army Medical Corp declared him fit do so (although he noted a "large scar on the front of his right leg"). The group of new recruits was assigned to A Company, 7th Depot Battalion at Enoggera for their basic training<sup>3</sup>.</p>
<p>Alfred's first few months in the Army must have been unexceptional. The only entry on his record concerns a 5/- fine for a bout of drunkenness to celebrate the New Year. The same period was much harder for Emily. As she wrote in a letter to confirm a meeting with an Army Chaplain, "<i>all his interests on the farm are going to rack and ruin [...] the man he left to look after it has cleared out [...] I have five young children that prevents me from doing anything</i>". She apparently felt it would be too much to add that the twins had celebrated their first birthday after Alfred enlisted and that Doreen (apparently not counted among the "young" children) was not yet 11.</p>
<p>On 20 January 1916, the recruits were deemed ready to be assigned to their eventual unit for final training before departure. Alfred was included in the 17th Reinforcements for the famed 9th Battalion with whom he moved to Exhibition Camp at Bowen Hills. Given the need to ensure that the available weapons and ammunition went to the troops at the Front, much of basic training in 1915 was undertaken with broomstick "rifles". At Exhibition Camp, Alfred was issued with a real SMLE service weapon which would reveal a flaw in his readiness for embarkation. Not only was Private Noyes unable to fire the rifle successfully, he could barely handle it. His difficulty was attributed to a "stiff wrist".</p>
<p>Meanwhile Emily was continuing her campaign to have her husband sent home. She wrote that "<i>An examination of his arm and leg should convince anyone that he is not fit for active service</i>". It seems that the interests of an angry wife and a frustrated company commander coincided and, on the 8th of February, a Medical Board was convened to determine whether Alfred should be discharged as medically unfit.</p>
<p>When questioned, he freely acknowledged that a log had fallen on him at Killarney in 1902 crushing his right side. He had since had two operations on his right arm but the wrist was still twisted. The official medical examination identified "<i>atrophy of right forearm ... deformity of wrist ... loss of bone ... adhesions between ulna and radius preventing rotation</i>". The professional opinion of the Board members was that this represented a 50% reduction in the man's capacity for earning a full livelihood in the general labour market.</p>
<p>On 21 February 1916, Alfred Noyes' war ended. He was discharged and caught a train back to Palmwoods to tend his pineapples (and to extend his family when young Edward Alfred was born in the following January).</p>
<p>It seems probable that even after her husband's return, Emily continued to be responsible for most of the heavy work. Eldest daughter Doreen had strong recollections of "looking after the little ones" while her mother undertook farm work that possibly contributed to her early death at just 39 years old in 1927.</p>
<p>It was not just on the Western Front, that there were extended battles from which no real winner would emerge.</p>
<div style="font-size:smaller">
<p>References:</p>
<ol>
<li>Queensland State Archives: Police Commissioner's Office; 16865 Correspondence 1861-1987; 2041776, Correspondence about advertising and arrangements for the Recruiting Train (1268M 50); digital image; <http://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au>; accessed 19 August 2016</li>
<li> 1915 'THE DARDANELLES.', The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), 7 September, p. 7. , viewed 21 Aug 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20068160</li>
<li>National Archives of Australia: Australian Military Forces; B2455, First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920; 7999844, NOYES ALFRED EDWARD; digital image; <http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/>; accessed 19 August 2016</li>
</ol>
</div>Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com3Palmwoods QLD 4555, Australia-26.6934789 152.95592250000004-26.7502249 152.87524150000004 -26.6367329 153.03660350000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-13009151023873861022016-08-14T15:53:00.000+10:002016-08-21T21:57:46.496+10:00An uncommon working man<p>When the <a href="http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/government/dissent/display/92920-shearers-strike-monument" target="_blank">Shearer's Strike Monument</a> was dedicated at Winton in August 1891, Thomas Henry Suddaby was beginning his last term at Bundaberg Central School. Many of his classmates must have been contemplating an uncertain future seeking employment in difficult economic times in Queensland, but Tom's path was to be different.</p>
<p>In January 1892, he would be one of just twenty privileged boys who began their secondary education at the Maryborough Grammar School. By the turn of the new century, his life showed many features one might expect of a stereotypical ex-grammar boy. He was an enthusiastic rugby player, a member of the Wide Bay Regiment, and a competitive shooter who had taken Supreme Court action to finalise the affairs of his late father and uncle.</p>
<p>But appearances can be deceiving. The property that had funded his schooling was gone and he was the father of a (growing) young family. Tom earned his living by hauling cargo in and out of the holds of ships on the Maryborough wharves.</p>
<p>One of the responses to the Shearers Strike had been a heightened understanding of the need for working men to organise and to bargain collectively. Wharf labourers were no exception to this trend and unions were formed in most major ports. <i>Eadie's Illustrated Bundaberg Almanac</i> of 1911 advised that the Waterside Workers Union met every second Thursday in their rooms in Targo Street (beside the Co-op Butchers). Among the office-bearers of the Union, T Suddaby is listed as both Vice-President and Auditor.</p>
<p>In that listing, the local union actually described itself as the Federated Waterside Workers' Union of Australia in recognition of an accelerating trend for site-based workers groups to join together in a single nation-wide body. That was formalised in October 1912 when W M Hughes organised the first Federal Conference of the WWF in Melbourne. The official photograph<sup>1</sup> shows Hughes sitting in the centre beside the Prime Minister (Andrew Fisher) who had given a major address. Many of the other delegates are identified as Members of the House of Representatives or Senators, but there were a few active "wharf labourers" in the group. Sitting on the ground in front of Fisher was the Maryborough delegate, T H Suddaby (holding his panama hat).</p>
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<p>In addition to his union positions, Tom had also been an office bearer in the local Labor Party Branch within the electorate held by Fisher. One can only speculate on the future career that he may have dreamed of. But circumstances were to change dramatically.</p>
<p>In the midst of the Galipolli Campaign (September 1915), Fisher suddenly resigned as Prime Minister and Hughes (by then his deputy) was chosen to replace him. Under the new leadership, the Labor Party continued what many ordinary members saw as the move away from some of the traditional principles espoused since 1891. The real value of wages (their purchasing power) had fallen by 10% in the first year of the war and that slide continued during 1916. Like most of his rank-and-file colleagues, Tom's commitment to the Empire had to be balanced against the need to support his family.</p>
<p>When every attempt to secure improved wages or to prevent the loss of existing conditions was described as "disloyalty" to the boys on the Western Front, it is little wonder that industrial disputation grew. Tensions between unionists and the men they had thought of as their "representatives" in Parliament were exacerbated when Hughes launched his long campaign to have conscripts sent to the battlefield to replace the terrible losses being suffered. After the first referendum was defeated amid tumult within the Labor party (particularly in Queensland), the Waterside Workers Federation expelled the Prime Minister from the very body whose formation he had overseen. Since he was then technically ineligible to serve as a Labor parliamentarian, Hughes led his followers from caucus in November 1916 to set up a “National Labor” government for a few months (before combining with the Liberal Party as the Nationalist Party).</p>
<p>That set the scene for a year of political and industrial turmoil in 1917 as a growing war-weariness, economic hardship, and opposition to conscription combined in a deep sense of frustration that often boiled over. Although it is common to refer to the industrial action in New South Wales (and then Victoria) in August and September of 1917 as The Great Strike, it was only the most obvious of very many actions that had begun with the rail workers in North Queensland at the beginning of the year.</p>
<p>The Waterside Workers were seen as key players in such an environment. Their central role in the movement of goods and their renowned discipline meant that they were frequently called upon to take action to support other embattled workers. Their own capacity to earn enough to keep their own families was often compromised by disputes in which they had no direct economic stake (other than solidarity).</p>
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<p>We cannot know who (if anyone) stood beside Tom and Jane in Bundaberg Cemetery in April 1917, but he surely must have wondered what if anything had changed since 1891.</p> <p>What price must the workers be prepared to pay in their struggle?</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: smaller;">
<ol>
<li>Australian National University Open Research Library Waterside Workers Federation of Australia collection http://hdl.handle.net/1885/7351</li>
<li>"Australia, Queensland Cemetery Records, 1802-1990," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVB4-GPXX : 9 March 2015), Annie Suddaby, 21 Apr 1917; citing Burial, Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia, private collection of Jim and Alison Rogers, Bargara; FHL microfilm 1,514,762. </li>
</ol>
</div>Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com5Maryborough QLD 4650, Australia-25.5232627 152.69706359999998-25.6378797 152.53570209999998 -25.4086457 152.85842509999998tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-53057645612154012872016-08-08T13:11:00.000+10:002016-08-21T21:58:31.815+10:00Desperately seeking Cornelia<p>The <a href="http://familytreefrog.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/nfhm-blogging-challenge-week-1.html" target="_blank">NFHM Blogging Challenge</a> for the first week asked "What extraordinary things have you discovered about your family history in census records?"; but, as is so often the case, what we discover are more mysteries and challenges.</p>
<p>Mine seemed such a simple question: <em> Where was Cornelia Wilkins (born Cornelia Medwell on 23 February 1877 in Glinton, Northants) on 2 April 1911?</em> And the answer apparently flowing from the Census data was "Nowhere!"</p>
<p>In her 2014 book <a href="http://www.jliddington.org.uk/1911-census.html" target="_blank"><i>Vanishing for the Vote</i></a>, Jill Liddington describes the campaign of civil disobedience advocated by some suffragettes who argued that if they were not permitted the vote, why should they submit to being counted. But the evidence that is revealed by the Census documents that I have located suggests that the reasons behind Cornelia's absence were more complex and more disturbing than political activism.</p>
<p>Cornelia Medwell had married Thomas Edward Wilkins in the second quarter of 1899 and they appear (as expected) in the 1901 Census<sup>1</sup> as a new household residing at 12 Russell Street Peterborough. On that return, neither of them list an occupation although we know (from 1891) that Thomas was a woodworker and Cornelia had been a dressmaker before her marriage.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.peterboroughimages.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/russellstreet1907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.peterboroughimages.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/russellstreet1907.jpg" width="320" height="197" /></a></div>
<p><br/><small>Russell Street c.1905 </br> Looking towards the distant junction with Lincoln Road with cabinet makers “Whittle” operating from premises on the mid-left. <br/><br/>From collection <a href="http://www.peterboroughimages.co.uk/" target="_blank">Peterborough Images</a>. <br/><br/> Believed to be copyright expired.</small></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>
<p>The couple had two sons John Haydn Wilkins (born 21 October 1905) and Leslie Medwell Wilkins (born 6 December 1907). So the little family should not prove difficult to locate in the 1911 census.</p>
<ul>
<li>Thomas Wilkins was recorded as living with his mother and brother at 69 Russell Street<sup>2</sup>.</li>
<li>John Wilkins was living in the Farm Cottage of Thorpe Hall<sup>3</sup> with his grandparents (Aurelius and Ann Medwell) and a female relative named Cornelia, not his mother but a cousin.</li>
<li>Leslie Wilkins is recorded as a "nurse child" in the household of Wallace and Margaret Cattell at nearby Northborough<sup>4</sup> where Cornelia Medwell was a boarder. This is not the boys' mother but a grand-aunt (the sister of Aurelius).</li>
</ul>
<p>Of 34-year-old Cornelia born in Gilston, there is simply no trace. She is apparently not living in another town (or county) nor confined in an institution, unless it is under a totally different persona. And, of course, no record of her death.</p>
<p>What makes this puzzle so infuriating (and intriguing) is that we know Cornelia Wilkins died here in Queensland in 1952 while living in the home of her son John.</p>
<p>In 1924, when John applied to migrate to Queensland as a "farm lad" to boost our agricultural workforce, he was living at Fig Tree Cottage at Dogsthorpe. Approval for him to travel (since he was not yet 21) was given by his mother of the same address (once again). A little more than a year later, John remitted the £20 fare to bring his mother to join him in Australia. She was still living at Fig Tree Cottage, listed her occupation as "housekeeper to parents, recently deceased" and her marital status as "married (widowed)".</p>
<p>While it was certainly true that Aurelius and Ann had passed away, Cornelia was a little premature with respect to her husband Thomas. His death in Peterborough was not recorded until the first quarter of 1948. In fact, the 1939 Register shows he was resident at 69 Russell Street; the same address as recorded in the 1911 Census.</p>
<p>The 1939 Register also shows his son Leslie resident in Peterborough in the same household as Wallace Cattell, but by that time he is listed as Leslie M W Cattell. It was the Cattell surname that Leslie used when he married in the next year and until his death in 1972.</p>
<p>One can only conclude that something happened between 1907 and 1911 that shattered the family of Thomas and Cornelia Wilkins with long-lasting consequences. The documents preserved in the 1911 Census provide tantalising glimpses but no definitive answers as to what happened.</p>
<p>Our grandmother (a daughter of John) lived in the same house as her grandmother throughout her teenage years. Audrey and her siblings knew their Nan well. But whatever had happened all those years ago was not something to be discussed in front of the children.</p>
<p>So we must look for more documents that may cast light on new questions concerning the whereabouts of Cornelia. When did she return to Peterborough? Where was she on 19 June 1921? How many sleeps till I can access that next Census <http://www.1921census.org.uk/>?</p>
<div>
<p>Census references</p>
<ol>
<li> (1901) RG13 Piece 1464 Folio 18 Page 27</li>
<li> (1911) RG14PN8686 RG78PN450 RD170 SD2 ED20 SN122</li>
<li> (1911) RG14PN8699 RG78PN450 RD170 SD2 ED33 SN9</li>
<li> (1911) RG14PN8710 RG78PN451 RD170 SD3 ED4 SN45 </li>
</ol>
</div>Robert McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16212808189905735320noreply@blogger.com5Longthorpe, Peterborough PE3, UK52.568126 -0.2906110000000126127.0460915 -41.599205000000012 78.0901605 41.017982999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-72819421782093812132015-03-01T14:00:00.000+10:002015-03-01T14:00:29.166+10:00Great or Grand<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lQqfBGxWkH5G8b7FKnTrdYI0GV7l-FydMoeJh35vKaHPBsivlSZjnxNM33EQVTboEn8tO8JJvxKXw-ZwpNaLnZqKga8Nn5iqN1kQAAG4Yr1sR-AAILFlNimS7MSy69xgefqGhU9rj7I/s1600/outing+with+aunt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lQqfBGxWkH5G8b7FKnTrdYI0GV7l-FydMoeJh35vKaHPBsivlSZjnxNM33EQVTboEn8tO8JJvxKXw-ZwpNaLnZqKga8Nn5iqN1kQAAG4Yr1sR-AAILFlNimS7MSy69xgefqGhU9rj7I/s200/outing+with+aunt.jpg" /></a></div>
<p>When I was a small boy, I used the term <em>Aunt</em> when speaking to, or about, my mother's sister and my father's mother's sisters and several other ladies (apparently unrelated to me but) well known to my parents.</p>
<p>I assumed it was another one of those terms of respect for adults that you learned to use through practice and occasional reproof.</p>
<p>The idea that there might be formal rules for allocating this honorific across generations simply did not occur to me. So when I had children, they referred to my (actual biologically-related) aunt as their aunt.</p>
<p> We did not even consider the use of any generation-indicating prefix.</p>
<p>Thirty years on, my son's children know that they have many aunts including my daughter, my sister and my mother's sister. As a genealogist, that now seems just a little untidy and potentially confusing. So the <a href="http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2015/02/25/great-versus-grand/" target="_blank" >recent article by Judy G Russell</a> on the apparent inconsistency in referring to a pair of sisters as grandmother but great aunt struck a chord.</p>
<p>I happened to mention this to the 2<span style="font-size:smaller">x</span>great aunt of my grandchildren (that is, my aunt). She had no particular opinion on the relative genealogical efficiency of the choice, but did observe wistfully that it might have been nice to be called "grandaunt".</p>
<p>What a shame that this conversation came more than thirty years too late. What may seem to be mere technical terms can carry surprising personal significance within families.</p>
<p>I need to remember to assure Aunt Joan that whatever we call her, she has done (and continues to do) a GRAND job.</p>Bob McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14003807527131487216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-4388291397492112962015-01-31T13:19:00.000+10:002015-01-31T13:19:25.101+10:00Relevance is relative<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<img border="0" src="http://www.gen-ebooks.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/u/t/utp0281-2_1_.jpg" width="100" /></a></div>
<p>I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to hear <a href="https://plus.google.com/115827270838772296896" target="_blank">Chris Paton</a> speak when he was in Australia in February 2014; and I am an avid reader of his books. But even I baulked at the extended treatment at the beginning of <a href="http://www.gould.com.au/Discover-Scottish-Church-Records-p/utp0281.htm" target="_blank">Discover Scottish church records</a> of the web of schisms and reunions in the non-conformist churches.</p>
<p>As I flipped over to find "something more useful", I pitied any poor researcher who actually needed to work through that section because he had family involved in one of those sects.</p>
<p>I think the relevant expression is don't speak too soon.</p>
<p>Close examination of the registration details for the wedding of (2<span style="font-size:smaller">x</span>great grandparents) Andrew Burton and Agnes Cameron on 28 October 1887, show that the ceremony was conducted by William B Gardiner according to the forms of the <strong>Original Secession Church</strong>.</p>
<p>So I am now elbow deep in the arcane distinctions between episcopalians and presbyterians, burghers and anti-burghers and the auld and new lichts.</p>
<p>I apologise Chris. I should never have doubted you. At least I remembered whose book it was that I had not read properly.</p>Bob McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14003807527131487216noreply@blogger.com0Pollokshaws, Glasgow, Glasgow, Glasgow City G43, UK55.819074 -4.301122899999995827.8074735 -45.609716899999995 83.8306745 37.007471100000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-28436316949685710892015-01-23T14:47:00.000+10:002015-01-23T14:47:00.033+10:00Could Andrew Burton read and write?<P>On the occasion of his wedding to Agnes Cameron (on 28 October 1887), our 2<span style="font-size:smaller">x</span>great grandfather Andrew "signed" the documents by making his mark. Younger brother James and John Renfrew counter-signed to confirm that the groom was who he claimed to be. The Registrar, Mr Barrowman, duly recorded this in the Statutory Register. This was a distinct role for James apart from being a witness to the ceremony as a whole, which duty he shared with Agnes's sister Isabella (as recorded in another part of the Register).</P>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkWb1MQ2Wvh4Twa0ul8gRlRhsg7nIGOUkMnHBz_W0q4UsycDJjF537U1e4unkMW7gAKmiP8DsL0MH8XvdbmQ9Hxtbz1AofvhcsFUITCN6q0CJwsKeQ6r2YXtN4ngj92vI6vsK6x6R5zLo/s1600/Andrew+signature+1887.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkWb1MQ2Wvh4Twa0ul8gRlRhsg7nIGOUkMnHBz_W0q4UsycDJjF537U1e4unkMW7gAKmiP8DsL0MH8XvdbmQ9Hxtbz1AofvhcsFUITCN6q0CJwsKeQ6r2YXtN4ngj92vI6vsK6x6R5zLo/s320/Andrew+signature+1887.jpg" /></a></div>
<P>Universal literacy is a relatively modern idea but Andrew's status is puzzling. He grew up in Ireland in the 1870s (when their school system was regarded as a model for the colonies in Australia) and moved to Scotland which also was justifiably proud of its educational provision. Apparently James, just 4 years younger, was able to read and write effectively. What could be the reason for Andrew's inability to sign his own name?</P>
<P>The situation is complicated when the birth records of Andrew's children are considered. The 1889 entry in the Register for Sarah Anderson Cameron Burton (also overseen by Mr Barrowman) includes a signature, apparently made by the father. The 1893 entry for eldest son Robert (once again recorded by Mr Barrowman) includes the very same signature.</P>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRPXjfyEslc7HQfueoOlvwe4Aw3-WbJy_vdmB_X2HBmLxpnvz15M-wfRotmiqGjIZaiwKUDO-naFWXBnJuXxs9VXXy-FSQzaVe4YK2lEg3KSZVQlnUuaG8huTqiU_snSsn8LDeXtCmuoo/s1600/Andrew+signature+1893.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRPXjfyEslc7HQfueoOlvwe4Aw3-WbJy_vdmB_X2HBmLxpnvz15M-wfRotmiqGjIZaiwKUDO-naFWXBnJuXxs9VXXy-FSQzaVe4YK2lEg3KSZVQlnUuaG8huTqiU_snSsn8LDeXtCmuoo/s320/Andrew+signature+1893.jpg" /></a></div>
<P>It is not a stylish hand, but the penmanship is consistent and serviceable. (It is possible to think of one or two modern descendants whose handwriting is no better!) Had Andrew learned to read and write in the years following his marriage or at least been trained to make a more sophisticated "mark" that would avoid embarrassment in a society where literacy was expected?</P>
<P>An alternative explanation might be that Andrew's action on his wedding day was the result of a temporary condition. Might he have injured his fingers while working in the quarry so that he was unable to control the pen? Or was he suffering from another ailment on that day that impaired his faculties? Was it significant that the ceremony was conducted at the bride's home (42 Rosendale Road) rather than in the kirk?</P>
<P>The absence of conclusive evidence is often a source of frustration for family historians. On the other hand, it does leave room for speculations that are imaginative, amusing or outrageous (according to your point of view). </P>Bob McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14003807527131487216noreply@blogger.com0Pollokshaws, Glasgow, Glasgow, Glasgow City G43, UK55.819074 -4.301122899999995827.8074735 -45.609716899999995 83.8306745 37.007471100000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-73532320460725884362015-01-12T07:30:00.000+10:002015-01-23T14:47:13.555+10:00Demand to see it with your own eyes<P>In a recent post, I wrote that <a href="http://ancestor-envy.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/money-well-spent.html">"Naturally, locating the relevant census records took a matter of moments with the correct names."</a> That might have been a slight exaggeration.</P>
<P>There was no difficulty in finding the 1871 Census which showed Agnes Cameron (our 2<span style="font-size:smaller">x</span>great grandmother), her parents (John and Sarah) and older sister (Isabella) all living at Rosendale Road, Eastwood (along with two brothers and an apparently-unrelated boarder). </P>
<P>The 1881 record was not quite so easy to interpret. The transcription offered by FindMyPast shows that all the expected children were living at Rossendale (sic) Road and the boarder's room seems to have been taken over by two more youngsters (Robert and Sarah). But their mother Sarah is missing and John is listed as a <strong>44 year-old widowed female head of the house</strong>! Clearly there was something amiss.</P>
<P>There was no alternative but to pass a few more <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bawbee" target="_blank">bawbees</a> to ScotlandsPeople to be able to examine the image for myself. Once again, the expense was well justified.</P>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ZyUFKt57pezr1yvIrqtFx2QKzvpphxKEVF_UH-Zz6TzBt2Rr_cyldwJSJP496JMjgqYkuShRFtpybCzhyaSck-EIfjMA5IY2FV9fhZLUAVOus-N2zJAn9oPoTlcAznB1lVfZTRTpTAM/s1600/Mrs+John+Cameron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ZyUFKt57pezr1yvIrqtFx2QKzvpphxKEVF_UH-Zz6TzBt2Rr_cyldwJSJP496JMjgqYkuShRFtpybCzhyaSck-EIfjMA5IY2FV9fhZLUAVOus-N2zJAn9oPoTlcAznB1lVfZTRTpTAM/s320/Mrs+John+Cameron.jpg" /></a></div>
<P>The document shows that Sarah was alive and well. She had been widowed but chose to continue to describe herself as Mrs John Cameron. The modern indexer knew full well that prefixes such as Mrs have no place in a Census and omitted it without comment. It was a pity that the enumerator in 1881 was not so diligent in ensuring that each person was identified by their own given name.</P>
<P>So the 1881 Census confirmed that the annotation "dec" against the bride parents' names on the 1887 marriage register referred to her father John not Sarah. Although it does suggest that Sarah aged a little after his death. (She was 30 in 1871 but 44 in 1881, almost exactly John's age.) That expands the margin of error concerning her true date of birth but is less troubling than the uncertainty over its location. In 1871, John stated that his wife had been born in Ireland, but ten years later Sarah gave Lennoxtown in Stirlingshire as her place of origin.</P>
<P>Each new document diligently examined clears away a little of the mist obscuring our past and then throws up new questions requiring fresh evidence. Now where did I put my purse … ? </P>Bob McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14003807527131487216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-25103991277054720842015-01-07T12:00:00.000+10:002015-01-07T12:00:03.699+10:00Money well spent<p>We know that money cannot buy happiness but, judiciously applied to the purchase of just the right certificate, it can dispel a whole lot of family history gloom.</p>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm8lehQnuGafI5slKmTkC1aBXSOrjFfGYwvj5xPSumOA2KhXHqHoA7vQ3Ivday9zg-duysXfG5GprOTCX2kimOPFRkohQUoELSi70irjiwrYvfa7tEYfJzjkvckCzNWfCtJNEbC0B0TfY/s1600/5016057934774272.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm8lehQnuGafI5slKmTkC1aBXSOrjFfGYwvj5xPSumOA2KhXHqHoA7vQ3Ivday9zg-duysXfG5GprOTCX2kimOPFRkohQUoELSi70irjiwrYvfa7tEYfJzjkvckCzNWfCtJNEbC0B0TfY/s1600/5016057934774272.png" height="115" width="180" /></a>
<p>When our 2<span style="font-size: smaller;">x</span>great grand grandmother Agnes Burton died in Queensland in 1937, her parents were recorded as John Cameron and <i>Agnes Anderson</i>. </p><p>There was no reason to doubt this information since Agnes had at least four adult daughters living in close proximity who would have collaborated on the task of registering her death.</p>
<p>Confidence in the veracity of these claims has been shaken by an extended period of trawling through transcriptions of Scottish censuses without locating one plausible candidate for this Cameron household. There was just one course of action left. I hesitantly opened my (digital) purse and paid <a href="http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/" target="_blank">ScotlandsPeople</a> to view the record of the marriage of Agnes to Andrew Burton. This revealed the bride's parents to be John Cameron and <i>Sarah Anderson</i>!</p>
<p>Naturally, locating the relevant census records took a matter of moments with the correct names. And then the implications of the new information began to flow. The full name of Aunt Sally (Sarah Anderson Cameron Burton) now made perfect sense and reminded me not to forget the naming convention when facing a Scots brick wall. Was this further indirect evidence that Sally's younger sisters may not have known their grandmother? Did Agnes Cox simply assume that, because her name was Agnes and her mother was Agnes, her grandmother was also?</p>
<p>Family historians need a healthy streak of scepticism. We must remember that it is most important to bring it into play precisely when there seems "no reason to doubt". Trust no-one and examine the documents. It might be £1.20 well spent.</p>Bob McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14003807527131487216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2370924553727929398.post-82072850577964578972013-10-08T17:01:00.001+10:002013-10-08T17:01:55.672+10:00How old were they?<P>The great German-American physicist, Albert Einstein, is generally given credit for realising that the passage of time is not a fixed property of our universe. But I believe that there may be evidence of a prior Welsh discovery that time passing can be perceived differently by different observers.</P>
<P>Consider these data taken from the Census Forms completed by the residents of 64 Vale Road, Rhyl.</P>
<table width="300" align="center">
<tr>
<th rowspan="2"width="60%" style="text-align: left;">Name</th><th colspan="2">Age at Census</th></tr>
<tr style="text-align: left;"><th width="40%">1901</th><th width="40%">1911</th></tr>
<tr><td>Jane Davies</td><td>55 </td><td>60 </td></tr>
<tr><td>John Davies</td><td>29 </td><td>36 </td></tr>
<tr><td>Susy Davies</td><td>33 </td><td>40 </td></tr>
<tr><td>Maggie Davies</td><td>7 </td><td>16 </td></tr>
<tr><td>Jennie Davies</td><td>7 months</td><td>10 </td></tr>
</table>
<P>Perhaps the most basic statement of the principle of special relativity should be — <em><strong>the older you are, bach, the more slowly you age</strong></em>. </P>Bob McAllisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14003807527131487216noreply@blogger.com1