gathering dust

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

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

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

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

My first introduction to you was a baptism record from Wellingham, Norfolk in 1806. I was rather excited as I had just found your parents marriage and finding you, the sister of my first Muffett in Australia was an added bonus. I was a little confused when I later ran into you in East Dereham, Norfolk being baptised again six years later. But researching what 'publicbly baptized' could mean I decided that yes, this was your christening - the one with family and friends - and being around 20 kms from your original appearance was happy with my reasoning. But last night, last night you threw me a doozy. Another baptism, 6 November 1808 at St John the Evangelist, Smith Square in Westminster of a Jane daughter of Robert & Sarah M*ffet also born the 6th of November 1806? Is this you as well? Your brother does claim to have been born in London and when he informed the registry of your younger brother's death he stated that he too was London born. Their c

I am trying to pin down my 4th great grandparents, Mary Clifford and John Green. They are ongoing vexations and I've written a little about my searches previously .  Right now I am trying to track down Mary's death which I am assuming occurs sometime after her arrival in the colony in 1833 and John's death in 1868. Thirty-nine Mary Green's died in the colony between those years. Some can be immediately crossed out given their age listings but that still leaves a lot of Mary's to seek out and discount. She's not listed in the family bible, on John's death certificate or Louisa's marriage certificate. I'm waiting on Louisa's death certificate and trying to track down the death of the other daughter Ann. Their son Thomas died in Tassie as a convict so he is no help in this instance. This may take awhile.

If every there was a reason to not ignore the non-related associates when researching your family history... In my research they serve up the juiciest stories. A few weeks ago I was following a lead on my maternal side for my 5th great grandmother Mary Ann Gunther (b. 1815 d.1903), the baptisms of her and her siblings in the Wesleyan Church in 1821, when I noticed an seemingly associated record and as I am want to do, followed the breadcrumbs. It seems that Mary Ann's father Ebenezer Brown Gunther's (b. 1785 d. 1827) second wife - Charlotte von Escher - was a widow. Nothing terribly unusual, but google, fabulous google, threw up this fabulous tidbit for her first husband from the Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser : INSOLVENT DEBTORS' COURT, April 23. EXTRAORDINARY CASE. General John Maximilian Von Escher was opposed by Mr. ANDREWS and Mr. ADOLPHUS, for three creditors. The prisoner, examined by Mr. Andrews, staled, that he had come to England in February, 181

I've posted about this before  but another couple of hours following published family trees of the Royal and famous has turned up another gem. Robert the Bruce is not only my 22nd Great Grandfather  x 2, but he is also my 23rd Great Grandfather. It goes like this: Me, My Mother, Her Mother, VM Tulloch, daughter of LW Tulloch, son of LT Tulloch, son of John Tulloch, son of Ann Elizabeth Sutherland, daughter of Anderina Jamieson, daughter of Ann Tarrell Fordyce, daughter of Andrew Fordyce, son of Hugh Fordyce, son of Andrew Fordyce, son of Alexander Fordyce, son of Margaret Bruce, daughter of Elizabeth Gray, daughter of Marion Ogilvy, daughter of Helen Sinclair, daughter of Henry Sinclair, son of William Sinclair, son of Elizabeth Douglas, daughter of Margaret Stewart, daughter of  Robert III of Scotland, son of Robert II of Scotland, son of Majorie Bruce, daughter of King Robert I of Scotland (Robert the Bruce) So the point of pedigree collapse betw

I've just been a little busy what with my new job and all. Yes that's right, I started a new job at the end of March working for a transcription company who does court reporting etc, and I love it. Generally it is only a part time role but there was a big project I was assigned to so for five weeks I left home at 7:30 in the morning and got home at 8:30 at night completely exhausted. Weekends I slept, or this last weekend, threw myself head first in to getting the project done by Monday as it was due on the 1st. What has this got to do with genealogy, history or research you ask? Well it has had some flow on effects: Disposable income. I've ordered my AncestryDNA kit and have been splashing out on BDM transcriptions. I've also brought a lot of books because, well I like books.  A renewed interest in legal proceedings and associated records. Perfect timing considering the release of all those juicy criminal records on FindMyPast this month. I'm learning a l

The recent announcement that Ancestry 's DNA genealogy testing service is expanding to Australia is one I am kind of excited about. I have been contemplating genetic genealogy for a while and I will admit to a significant amount of curiosity and a desire to share my 'genea-map' with my 'genetic map.' Although there are websites that will create a map of ancestors for you from your gedcom files, I have been using Google maps' custom maps function to create my own. Below is a rough map of the earliest spots I have traced family lines. Genetic genealogy may be able to tell me whether the overwhelming Englishness is as it seems. I can't wait to pester everyone for cheek swabs.

"WORE DUNGAREE SUIT AND BOWYANGS."  News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954) 26 May 1936: 3. Web. 3 Mar 2015 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132204484> Yes I had to google it and then had a "huh, so that is what they are called" moment. Laurence Thomas Tulloch is my gg great grandfather on my maternal side. He arrived in Australia as crew on the City of Adelaide   in 1882.

My system works pretty well. Most of the time. But with the more information I collect on collateral lines and associated individuals it is getting a little unwieldy. I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water. I like my system. But it needs rejigging and perhaps some compromising as to the creation of sub-folders. I'm not a fan of having too many sub-folders. This is my primary genealogy folder, the hold all if you will.  Files are organised into family lines - my maternal grandfather and grandmother, my paternal grandfather and grandmother, my other half's maternal and paternal lines - I use folder colorizer  as an immediate visual aid and an underscore to keep them at the top. The TBS file is kind of embarrasing, shorthand for To Be Sorted. The stuff I have been lazy about filing correctly. The Excel files are the lists of books from the State Library, and various uni and local libraries; and State Record NSW files that I want to follow up on my

One of the big topics in genealogy across the web this year has been the Genealogy do-over . While I am not participating, I have - like many others - decided that it is a good idea to do some general housekeeping and making sure that my research is up to snuff. I am generally pretty good at recording sources and such due to all those years in an academic environment so I am adding detail. Well attempting to. I keep running into a persistent problem. Genealogy Software .  It just doesn't do what I want and need it to. Whether this is a function of the adherence to the dinosaur that is GEDCOM or the direct familial relationship model of genealogy I don't know. But it frustrates the crap out of me. I know I am not the only one, Tony Procter over at Parallax View  and Louis Kessler of Behold Genealogy  have written some marvelous posts on the subject. So want is it exactly I want my genealogy software to do? I want it to look beyond familial relationships . I'm a big pr

Yes, yes, I am aware that it is now 16 days into 2015 but the truth is between finishing my Masters, getting the results - I passed of course - Christmas, New Year and the beginning of this week; I kind of just collapsed. In a heap. And did a whole lot of nothing. Well, if nothing is defined as eating too much, drinking too much and reading a whole lot of novels. But thanks to Janelle, over at Janelle's Family Tree Addiction , I was back into the swing of things by the 13th. You see Janelle was lovely enough to organise a day trip and tour of the State Records Office at Kingswood. So spurred into productivity I preordered 4 probate packs but didn't think about what further I might want to look at. One can only be so organised when one is still off in the land of novels and general laziness. The tour of the archives lasted about an hour and was a brilliant look at the masses of buildings, shelvings and infrastructure needed to house the State Archives and the Government Doc