~ April 2007 ~  

MEETING DATES 2007

Meeting held 2nd Wednesday of the month at 10am in the Tebbutt Room, Windsor Library

INFORMATION

KURRAJONG HEIGHTS CONCERT - Saturday 14 April 2007 6.30pm

THE RIDERLESS HORSE - SONGS, POETRY & STORIES OF WORLD WAR I, giving a rare insight into a young nation's experience at war. Presented by Chloe & Jason Roweth. Also a display of Kurrajong World War 1 photographs (Courtesy of Kurrajong-Comleroy Historical Society Archives) There will be Wine and Cheese from 6.30 pm to 7.30pm & the Concert starts at 7.30pm. Cost: $25 per head, including the wine & cheese, photographic display and the concert.

It is a privilege to have them perform for us in the acoustically near perfect venue of St David's Church. It is in aid of the "Views from the Heights" Newsletter and St David's Church. For more details, and to reserve your seat please contact Kathie McMahon (02) 4567 7105

SCOTTISH CENSUS RECORDS

The 1841 - 1901 census transcripts are now available for Scotland on the Ancestry website. Remember that the Library has a subscription for this database. Bookings at the Library on 4560-4460.

PRE 1900 HUNTER VALLEY PIONEERS DIRECTORY

Submissions invited for a new Hunter Valley Pioneers project. Each family name will have upto one A4 page to tell the story of that family PLUS one photograph relating to that family. The cutoff date for pioneer families who settled in the Hunter Valley is 1900. See map at http://www.huntervalleygenealogy.com/hvmap.htm Submissions are free, and the closing date for submissions is 30th September 2007. The end product will be available on CD/DVD and hopefully available by Christmas 2007. Photographs of places of interest in Newcastle, Maitland & Morpeth will be included. The sale price depends on submissions are received. HOW TO MAKE A SUBMISSION 1 Page = 1 family plus 1 photograph. Text preferably in a Microsoft Word document, include your full name, address & email address. Send as attachment to patmay@huntervalleygenealogy.com (no larger than 250KB) do not send photographs separately. Any queries see http://www.huntervalleygenealogy.com/forum/index.php

From our members - "How I got started on family history?"

Anne Wymark

The idea of starting a family tree had drifted in and out of my mind many times over a number of years, but I never got around to doing anything concrete about it. About 6 years ago I felt the need to begin but had no idea how to get started, so I decided that I would just start interviewing my parents. My parents are 2nd cousins with my mother adopted on one line and my father born on another. My father (who died 6 months ago) was very helpful with information and wonderful stories from his childhood and became my inspiration for pressing on with the tree. Some cousins on another line had already done their particular line and passed on their research. This was wonderful but I had to start from scratch with my own birth line, as the information that they had was completely incorrect. I was then told about another cousin on my Keens line that lived in Victoria – she welcomed me with open arms, helped me with more information and told me about transcription agents.

When I started I knew less than nothing about family tree research but I did know the names of all my grandparents and great grandparents. My McNamaras came from Tipperary in 1841 and settled in the Campbelltown area. My great grandfather Martin is mentioned in Alan Atkinson’s book “Camden”. Martin remarried after my great grandmother died, had another 7 children and they eventually moved to Boorowa where he died as a consequence of being gored by a bull at the age of 79.

I thought I was starting a ‘hobby’ but that idea lasted for about 5 minutes and family tree has become my obsession. The most exciting part has been finding new 2nd and 3rd cousins – a lot of them have been ‘unearthed’ through ads in the Daily Telegraph. Recently I advertised for a particular cousin and he rang me the day the notice was in the paper. The interesting part was that he lives in Brisbane and one of his friends saw the notice and emailed it to him. I have had great success ‘finding’ people & one remarkable story took my search to Far North Queensland only to find a cousin living in North Richmond.

There are a lot of McNamara researchers who are descended from Martin & Margaret McNamara but I am the only one on my line. All the cousins are a very sociable lot with the ‘gift of the gab’. I keep asking questions, as there are not many of the older generation left. I am sure that people get sick of me talking about family tree but I don’t care……….it is the only way to find out all the interesting facts that are hidden away. When I started ‘the tree’ I went with my husband to Big W and bought 2 A4 binders. We remember this day as I said to him “I think this is all I will need, one for your lot and one for mine”. I know I don’t need to explain the joke to anyone. My family names are McNamara, Reid, Conlon, Dooner, Leo (pronounced Layo), Brease (adopted line), Gooley & Bath. My husband’s family names are Wymark, Moran, Everingham, Knott, Clarke and Sykes.

If you would like to submit an item for How I got started on family history? for includion the newsletter, send to the address below or email michelle.nichols@hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au

Surfing the internet……. Sites for family historians

Members with internet access should check out the following interesting sites. The Library has free access to the internet, contact 4560 4460 for bookings at Windsor & 4578 2002 for Richmond bookings.

Roots Television (programs featuring family history) ~ http://www.rootstelevision.com

Directory of London photographers ~ http://www.photlondon.org.uk/directory.htm

Salvation Army’s history ~ http://www1.salvationarmy.org.uk/history

Commonwealth War Graves Commission ~ http://www.cwgc.org

Andrews Pages : Genealogy Index ~ http://www.andrewspages.dial.pipex.com/genindex.htm

Kelly’s DirectoryDerbyshire 1891 ~ http://www.andrewspages.dial.pipex.com/dby/kelly/index.htm

Lancashire Surnames ~ http://www.lancslist.com/

~ Let us know of sites, that you have tried with (or without) success ~