War and the impact on a family

 As we reflect at ANZAC day, on our those who have gone to war, today while listening to the local service I reflected and compared the sacrifices made by many.

In recent months we have watched the devastation in Ukraine by Russia, but it is not our soldiers who have gone to assist. I understand this, as it would mean a World War, but Australians in the medical field have. Currently, for example, a mother and daughter((Lab technician and Paramedic) have gone, but they are not alone others are working for Christian Aid Agency - Samaritan's Purse. 

Ukraine: The Aussie medics helping refugees in war-torn Ukraine (nine.com.au)

This is what I began to reflect on, in World War 1 nurses from Australia went to war, they saw the most terrible sights but do we really acknowledge them or the nurses who then volunteered for the other conflicts that came after? Their roles were crucial not only to provide the medical care but also for the positivity that they gave in the gravest of situations to the soldiers. A number of years ago there was an attempt to raise the awareness, but I feel like that has gone.

Then there were the women who worked in the munitions factories, some in important war offices and other factories that kept the countries moving, for many this must have been a strange opportunity in World War 1, given the women's role was in the home! This would again occur in World War 2.

Lastly there are the wives and mothers, those who did what they could from their homes to support their soldiers - making ANZAC biscuits, sending care packages with knitted socks and a note, raising money for the 'cause'.

I do not have any nurses in my family, nor as yet any factory workers, but I do have mothers and wives.

Today I thought I would post about my Great Great Grandmother Emma Ellen Jansen. Born in 1853, a twin, in England she moved to Australia in 1911. 

In World War 1 Emma would have six sons actively in service, and her youngest (not pictured) enlisted but sent home just prior to embarkation, as the army felt she had given enough. Two of her sons fought for England the others for Australia, miraculously six returned home. Leonard (middle right) would be the only one not to return home, dying on 21 Sept 1918.

Some of these sons were married with families, but for now I am just concentrating on the impact for their mother.

Leonard and Richard (middle left) were both ANZACs, I imagine Emma reading the news of the battle and cannot imagine how she felt knowing that they were both there.

John (top left) did not join up for World War 1, he was already in the Dragoon Guards and had been in India and also South Africa for the Boer War.

Robert (top right) had been enlisted in England in the Middlesex Regiment and was a trainer at Bathurst initially before going to the front in the Engineers.

06 Aug 1915 - MRS. EMMA JANSEN, OF ANNANDALE, AND HER SOLDIER SONS. - Trove (nla.gov.au)

During the war, Emma had to wonder every time there was a knock on the door, whether that was someone with bad news. But she did not just sit back and not support the war effort. She raised money (I believe it was for the war effort), using pictures of her sons displayed behind her, on the streets of Sydney with others..she had a sign "I gave these, what will you give". 

By all accounts she was a determined, no fuss woman and this does not surprise me.

The newspaper account in the Daily Telegraph is not entirely accurate however, she was not a widow (her husband was back in England but it appears they were estranged). Her son Laurence was in the British Navy. 

So, when we think of those who died for our freedom, served for our freedom spare a thought for those who 'gave' for our freedom. 

Even today, the families that have been impacted by the 'peace keeping' missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, have given...for some the impact on the family as their soldiers return can be devastating and unfortunately are still not given the support that they need.

Lest we forget!

Technology and being left behind

I have missed blogging, however the difficulty has been not in not having the time nor the lack of things to blog but technology.

My laptop was purchased prior to 2008 and at the time was way ahead of what was available BUT it began not being able to cope with the technology as it could not update to Google Chrome due to the operating system. 

My Toshiba Satellite still functions really well, as long as I do not want to view my blog page, Ancestry items or Find my Past items and most recently, view more than the basic areas of the DNA sites. I can't even get Facebook or Messenger to load properly.

So, I had to wait until my technology was updated - which it now has. But I refuse to part with my trusty Toshiba so it will do all the photo work and word processing (because I really do not like Windows 10) and the new laptop will become the Genealogy computer.

So I have uploaded Family Tree Maker, that I purchased at Rootstech in 2021, and have decided not to sync with Ancestry as I am in the unique position of being able to ensure that all my research has been sourced. So I entered my details and I am going back one step at a time, one generation at a time and looking at what records I have and finding what I need or what I have misplaced. If I do not have the supporting Primary documentation then that is as far as I go...until I find it!

It is also enabling me to look with fresh eyes on information I collected many years ago but was unable to research further. For example, I have been able to look up my Grandfather's baby brother's burial at Rookwood on their deceased search and now know where he is buried.

The other advantage is that I have been able to set up folders for each person, so that relevant documents can be scanned and stored there. Giving a lot of consideration to how this system would work I decided to set up Surname folders and then sub folders within for each person. For females I have named their folders under their maiden name and put their married name in brackets. In some cases they have two names in brackets as they married twice. So far this system seems to be working well.

I need to get busy with scanning documents too as many I only have a paper copy for. This will be a lot of work but will organise all my files. (I hope anyway).

While I haven't been blogging, I have been on Twitter!

The 1921 Census has been released...so I will have something to blog about on that shortly!

Norfolk Island - Walking in the footsteps of the past

We often hear from conference speakers or speakers who come to our societies that you need to put your ancestors lives in context. To put flesh on their bones. We research documents, read newspaper accounts of the day, look at the advertisements in the papers to see what life was like, read books about the era, read journals of people who were alive at the time. If we are lucky we visit areas they lived in, even though they can be much changed from what they were.

For many years now I have believed that to put my ancestors lives into context for three sets of my grandparents meant that I needed to physically go to Norfolk Island.
Why did I think that? 

Well some background on my ancestors
I am descended from First Fleeters - two female convicts, one seaman, one marine they were involved during the first settlement at Norfolk Island, they were married there and one set of these grandparents gave birth to my next generation grandmother on Norfolk Island.
I am also descended from a soldier who was on Norfolk Island for the second settlement with his wife and family, they also had a daughter on Norfolk Island who would be my next generation grandparent.
So as you can see - I had reason to go!
In 2019 I decided to share this trip with my husband and youngest daughter and organised it for two weeks I did not want to experience it on my own.
The timing - 230th Anniversary of the Sirius shipwreck - I organised for the first week to do the week long tour with Cathy Dunn ( http://www.australianhistoryresearch.info/, ) while my husband and daughter could do their own thing. The three of us organised to do things together on the times I was free during week one. Week Two was planned for us to explore and enjoy.

We left Sydney Airport on March 13th (Covid 19 was not quite a huge deal, this would change within 4 days), as we descended and landed on Norfolk Island I burst into tears - yes this was more of an emotional journey than I had realised - I had finally made it! I also felt like I had arrived home and this feeling was one that got stronger daily and even now on my return to the mainland, my heart is yearning for that dot in the ocean.

We were picked up and taken to our accommodation Seaview- we had a stunning view of Phillip Island from our windows. This was heaven! It became even better when we worked out we were just up the road from Kingston.







Week 1 Began with meet and greet and dinner as tour participants arrived from Brisbane and Sydney, I even had a cousin arrive that I did not know about! 

Then Monday we had a Cyclone, who could have planned that! We were safe in our accommodation but my mind wandered to what it must have been like for my ancestors to weather a storm like that without a sound building to live in and to be so close to the sea - terrifying.


For the rest of the week, I attended the Sirius Week events culminating in a wonderful luncheon event down in Kingston to mark the 230th Anniversary of it being shipwrecked. This occured within view of where the Sirius lay on the reef!

During this week I had walked around Kingston on my own, soaking in the views, walking in their footsteps, imagining life here for the first & second settlements. (Both very different from the other)

I was seeing the view that they would have seen, that is context!



Kingston is a World Heritage Site, contains four museums and a research centre. It is a place that time has stopped enough, for it to not be a stretch for your imagination to put yourself back into their time. Forget the buildings that were built and just see the land, imagine the arrival of the first ship passengers, imagine them watching goods being transported from the Sirius to shore prior to it sinking.

 Then skip forward to the second settlement time, imagine people in the buildings, soldiers walking around, good and bad Commandants. I went into the buildings, looked out the windows at the different views, views that they would have seen.
Yes, this putting your ancestors lives in context really did need the trip here, I could not have felt/imagined the space and view and feelings of Kingston had I not stood and walked there.

Week 2 arrived - time for the family adventure to begin, but still on the hunt for ancestor footsteps.

One of my grandfathers had been given a 60 acre land grant (one of the first) so we headed off to find it, lucky for us the grant paperwork was very specific with geographical landmarks and the map also clearly defined it with the boundary being a stream. We drove around and worked out where we thought it was and then ventured back a couple of days later to explore it properly. I walked on it, photographed it, took video from it. It is not all a flat piece of land it is quite steep in places, but he made his farm work here!                                                          

I hugged a great big Norfolk Island Pine because I knew it would have seen them! I imagined their daughter playing under it when it would've been a deal smaller!
I did not walk the entire 60 acres, but enough of the land to feel connected! To imagine them looking out of their home at the ocean, their daughter running around playing.
While we were on Norfolk Island a ship came in with supplies for the island and offloaded at Cascade Bay, now this is an event! 
It takes skill. It involves four boats to offload and forklifts on the boat at sea and at the pier a crane, forklifts and trucks. So the three of us headed up to watch for a while. Whilst watching the boat I put myself in the grandmother's shoes who had been on the Sirius when it offloaded her and her son onto the island...it is not an easy place to come ashore, then it is up a huge hill (would have been very difficult in a long dress) and then realising that they walked to Kingston...we had driven on a road and it took us between 5-10 minutes, not flat road, hilly road and it has been cleared somewhat. How tiring this journey must have been for her and her young child. How daunting on arrival!
Just to view this, to put myself into her shoes and imagine what she must have thought - worth the trip. Definitely enabled me to put her story into context, that just looking at photographs of the area never would have done.

During the remainder of our time we did a few more walks, drove around a bit more and spent time snorkeling in Emily Bay. 

                                                                            

I wondered how they had felt, when they left, were they sad to say goodbye? Excited for the journey ahead and what awaited them in the colony of New South Wales?
As we prepared to leave and head back to NSW we were filled with dread/fear at what we were returning to, since leaving change had happened, the state was in lockdown, people were working from home, schools were encouraging students to work from home. We wanted to stay, Norfolk Island felt safe...did they have similar feelings?

2020 What a year ahead

Well we are nearing the end of January, it has been a terrible time in Australia with the bushfires, loss of homes, businesses, history, wildlife and life. It is a tale we will be telling for a long time, I would encourage those of you affected in these areas to take the time to write about your experiences, not only for the benefit of dealing with it, but as a living history for the future. Moment/s recorded for the future. Even if you were not directly affected, take some time to write about the sky that was just smoke and no blue for weeks, what you saw on television, how it impacted you - these are the tales that we should pass down to our children, grandchildren....years gone by we would have had a bard compose a song about it!
https://img.rasset.ie/00134669-800.jpg

As we begin this week it is new beginnings for our family...our youngest embarks on the first year of high school. For us our last child to begin this journey. I know that as a parent I certainly have reflected a lot over these holidays on what that means to me, to the family and how my journey in life now enters a new phase.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could just slow that clock down for a little while. On the upside, it should give me more blogging time and research time!

This year will see us embark on one of my bucket list adventures when we head to Norfolk Island to visit the place where 3 of my great grandmothers were born. It will also allow us to relax and enjoy a simple life for two weeks!
https://www.norfolkisland.com.au/

In September, Newcastle Family History Society Inc. and Maitland and Beyond Family History Inc.will host the 36th Annual Conference of the NSW & ACT Association of Family History Societies from 11-13 September 2020 at WESTS New Lambton Newcastle NSW. To keep up to date with what is going on go to the website https://ridingthewavesofhistory.com.au/ and subscribe to the Newsletter. There are a lot of interesting speakers planned on a variety of topics! Places will be limited so be ready to register and pay!!
It is exciting for me as after going to a number of conferences over the past few years, this time I am involved in organising it. 

I am lucky that last year I attended a talk organised by Newcastle Family History Society, joined up on the night and have been welcomed by everyone there. It is lovely to belong to somewhere that you feel valued.

Finally, I want to note that it is my mother's 80th birthday today, not that she looks or acts like it, people are a bit surprised when she tells them her age. Born in 1940 she has lived through World War II (doesn't remember it of course), saw the moon landing, our currency change, phones change from operator assisted calls all the way through to iphones. She doesn't totally embrace technology but she knows how to facetime and use a mobile phone. She is fascinated with google maps and is willing to try to learn how to use it and a few other features of her ipad.
She was a stay at home mum and always had the washing up done and dinner on the table. Got up before my father to make his breakfast and then to see him off to work, before getting us up and ready for school. She did all the washing, ironing and putting away. She made our beds and was there for us. We have a great relationship, we talk, go shopping and are at the other end of the phone for each other. She is a great Grandma to the grandchildren.
She is an amazing woman. Always there for others. In recent years she has become more interested in family history than she was (mainly because I've been able to research her lines and it was information she had not know). 
Happy 80th Mum!

Day Two DNA Down Under

Another great day with great information.

From Blaine Bettinger
Genetic Genealogy Ethics
Be proactive not reactive - Educate
Genetic Genealogical Standards.com @ 10/1/15
These are meant as a guideline
Test DNA with consent, preferably in writing and keep a record. Ensure the test taker knows what the test is and talk about what if unexpected results are found.


Shared matches and genetic networks
Group and sub group matches using ancestry dots.

Advanced third party tools
Gedmatch: Tier 1 🛠
Segment search - begin without altering any fields
IMPORTANT...chromosome browsers squish maternal and paternal chromosome results together so only shows one chromosome where there is actually two.
Triangulation can take up to 45mins to run.
Lazarus attempts to recreate dead persons DNA
Phasing - separates DNA into maternal and paternal based on your DNA.
The mapS phasing tool - creates kit for gedmatch for dead people 


From Louise Coakley
Items are now being tested to get DNA from those in the past eg, aerograms, stamps, hair. While currently expensive it is worthwhile to put these items away to test in the future.

The day ended with a great panel discussion on various ethical type scenarios.
Looking forward to day three.

Louise Coakley

Jennie Fairs & Shauna Hicks

Pauleen Cass & Sharn White

Panel: Kerry Farmer; Michelle Patient; Helen Smith;
Brad Argent; Blaine Bettinger; Louise Coakley

Day One DNA Down Under

And so it begins...
What a great start to a three day conference.
Blaine Bettinger is very easy to listen to and his talks very informative!
What little things did I learn?
1.Ethnicity results think of as Biogeographical Estimate due to changes in borders over times.
2. Ethnicity can be quickly lost from the Dna as it is passed down in smaller amounts each generation.
3. Denture adhesive can destroy a DNA testing sample so avoid for 24hrs prior to testing.
4. Working out matching segments can mean you can identify segments by ancestor and use DNA painter to record.
5. Build research trees for your DNA matches but keep them private and unsearchable and clearly identified as Research trees or Q&D tress (Quick and dirty)
6. Always make notes in the notes field in your DNA results so you don't keep rediscovering the same thing.
7. We should be trying to disprove what we think we know, our theories/hypothesis to avoid confirmation bias.
8. If you have more than one kit (your  gedmatch it may be worth paying the $usd 10 for a months access to create a super kit as once done this will stay and you can compare your combined DNA to others
9. DNA painter is a new tool you can upload a gedcom file and use.
10. Identify people you match with using surname triangulation, reverse search pictures from profile pics, wikitree searches, searching Facebook,Twitter,Instagram etc ..
So that's my 10 points from the day!
Looking forward to Day 2.

DNA Downunder - It's almost time

I am really looking forward to DNA Downunder Sydney, hoping to unravel the mysteries of DNA for family history so I know what my results are showing me! I believe you can still attend some of the day sessions in Sydney here is the link https://www.dnadownunder.com/sydney/ 

By all accounts the other states have really enjoyed the talks and they were only for one day!!

Stay tuned I will update what I discover!

In the meantime
Head on over to Geniaus' blog post to read all about the Virtual Genealogical Association Conference,that is to be held November 1st - November 3rd. Best thing is you can attend from the comfort of your home! Click on the link: http://geniaus.blogspot.com/2019/08/virtual-genealogical-association-free.html

Are you aware of these records that are available?The Register of Cases of Bubonic Plague 1900-1908 is available now to the public to view.
https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/magazine/bubonic-plague

The webiste home to Irish historic BMD of the GRO. These records now join the indexes that were available. 
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/