I’m back – with a book.

Other writing has kept me away from this blog. I’ve been working on a collaborative project with Kensington Palace, trying my hand at a piece of historical fiction.

My short story, Educating Peter, was based on an episode in the life of Peter the ‘Wild Boy’, a well-known character in the 1720s. It was one of thirteen to be published recently in an anthology of creative writing inspired by a visit to the Palace, Stories from Kensington Palace. It’s been not so much a learning curve as a learning vertical take-off, but I’ve enjoyed it enormously.

Stories from Kensington Palace – back cover

If you’d like to find out more, I’ve written about it on the Other Projects page of this blog.

I’ll be going back to genealogy next time I post. See you then!

I’m thrilled, humbled and surprised to find this blog, A Rebel Hand, on Inside History Magazine‘ s newly-published list of 50 top genealogy blogs.

Inside History Magazine front cover

Thrilled, because who wouldn’t be?  It’s a huge honour, coming from the must-read magazine for anyone interested in Australian or New Zealand history and genealogy. And the list was drawn up with the help of Jill Ball, alias Geniaus, whose name and expertise is known throughout the genealogy blogosphere.

Humbled? Just have a look at the blogs and bloggers on the list. If you’re anything like me, you’ll quickly start nodding like one of those toy dogs people had in their cars. “There’s one of my favourites, and another one, and another…” Which is why I was…

Surprised to see A Rebel Hand among their number. Why? See above. These are some of the most informative, authoritative and entertaining blogs I’ve ever read (and come back to again and again). And I haven’t posted as much as I’d like to lately (sorry, blog). So I’m extremely…

Grateful to Cassie, Jill and the tweeps¹ and plussers² who put this awards list together. And to the bloggers, on and off this awards list, who make my genealogy journey rewarding – and fun.

50 blogs you need to read

The Top 50 Blog Awards are also published in the current (July/August 2013) issue of Inside History Magazine. And if you fancy a peek inside, here it is! You’ll probably recognise a lot of the contributors’ names.

I’ve just got one reservation – Inside History’s own blog can’t be on the top 50 list, obviously. But it’s definitely up there at the top for me.

A quick aside: the genealogy blogging world had a lively conversation over Christmas and the New Year about posting or linking to some awards which looked like link-bait to many people. So I didn’t mention a couple which generous fellow bloggers had nominated me for. But this award couldn’t be from more reputable people. So thank you all!

What are your own top genealogy blogs? Do comment (below) and have your say.

¹ People who tweet on Twitter

² Members of Google+ (or are they ‘plusers’? The interweb doesn’t seem sure)

To mark one year since my mother’s death, I’m posting a Wordless Wednesday picture.

The ‘girl announcer’

This is the original photo, published in various Australian newspapers and captioned ‘A Girl Announcer’s Confessions’. Because it’s Wordless Wednesday I can’t tell you any more. But come back soon to find out what the secret is…

Did you hear about National Family History Week in Australia last year? Well, the country-wide programme of family history events has been extended to the whole of August for 2013. New Zealand is holding its own sister event, too.

If you’d like to take part, look at the events listed on the right here, state by state. If you aren’t already involved, here are some ways to join in, and Shauna Hicks has drawn up another list of family history society things to do here, one for every day in the month. Overseas Aussie genealogists like me can get inspiration from Shauna, NFHM’s voluntary national coordinator, in her genealogy research suggestions here. And you can visit the Family History Month Facebook page.

Marriage certificate of Thomas Delaney and Mary Maude Wilson, my great-grandparents (copy)

Genealogy and family history are huge in Australia, and I can understand why. My own Aussie ancestors intrigue me, as you’ll have guessed if you’re a reader of the A Rebel Hand blog, website or book.

So I’m going to start the month with my own Australian family history list: details of the ancestors I’m researching and the ones I’ll be looking at in the future. Ancestry members can see the Delaney family tree here (.com.au) and here (.co.uk). If you’re a relative, do comment below or use this form – I’d love to hear from you.

The Delaney side:

• Nicholas Delaney (c 1772 – 3.9.1834) and his wife, Elizabeth Bayly [Bayley, Bailey] (c 1892 – ?)
• Their son Thomas Delaney (11.2.1812 – 10.1.1871) and his wife, Lucy Simpson (18.11.1818 – 20.1.1880)
• Lucy’s parents, John Simpson (c 1777 – ?) and Sarah Marshall [Simpson] (c 1796 – 10.12.1838)
• Thomas and Lucy’s son, Thomas Delaney (25.6.1851 – after 1932), and his wife, Mary Maude Wilson (10.12.1855 – 2.5.1932)
• Mary’s parents, Thomas Robert Sandon Wilson (dates unknown) and Sarah Emma Henley [Dicks?] (1827 – 25.10.1910)

The Winter side:

• Eleanor Ann Edith Richards (28.2.1871 – ?) and her husband, Thomas Henry Winter (7.4.1863 – ?)
• Eleanor’s parents, Rebecca Harrington (c 1841 – ?.12.1884) and her husband, James Thomas Richards (c 1815 – 24.2.1896)
• The Harringtons of Hackney, Bethnal Green or Tower Hamlets and the Richards and Wickings of Deptford
• Thomas Winter’s parents, John Winter (1830 – 6.3.1875) and Ann Graham (c 1841 – 14.7.1878)
• The Winters and Hogarths of Westmorland and the Grahams and Bells of Cumberland and Co Durham

NFHM has some impressive sponsors, and I’m looking forward to posts, tweets and messages from people who organise or attend events this August.

You’re still here after that long list? Great! As a thank-you, here’s a link to some (mostly free) Australian history ebooks. With thanks to the Inside History team, who inspired me to search Open Library.

I apologise to anyone expecting the answer to ‘what does she confess?‘ Naughty Trove broke before I finished it (and naughty me should have written it earlier). So please come back next Trove Tuesday!

Enniscorthy Castle (GNU Free Documentation License)

This weekend (August 3 – 4, 2013) the Irish rebels (cheers!) and the redcoats (boo!) have been recruiting, drilling, camping and fighting around Vinegar Hill in County Wexford.

They’ve been re-enacting the last full battle of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the end of the story for most of the United Irishmen and their allies. It’s very likely that my 3x great grandfather, Nicholas Delaney, was one of the men standing with a pike against the cavalry, swords, muskets and bayonets of the regular army on that day.

I’ve enjoyed reading the posts and tweets from Knights and Rebels, the organisers of the re-enactment and the people who run Co Wexford’s historic sites, Vinegar Hill, Enniscorthy Castle and the National 1798 Rebellion Centre nearby.

Sadly I can’t be there (that seems like this month’s theme) and so I’m missing not just the spectacle but the chance to talk to other people interested in the history of the 1798 Rebellion – and the music. I remember Vinegar Hill well from our research trips to Ireland and a bare, spooky place it still is.

Vinegar Hill – view from Enniscorthy. (via Wikipedia)

So just to make my own contribution from across the water here’s an extract from A Rebel Hand: Nicholas Delaney of 1798, the book my mother and I wrote about our Irish ancestor and the times he lived in (pp 27-28). I’ve edited it so this post won’t be too long.

Now there was no hope for any action but a last stand at Vinegar Hill. Government soldiers moved nearer as the last of the [insurgents from the] northern division, exhausted from their two-day march, reached the rebel camp…

Many of the women there had accompanied their men, whether to care for them or out of fear for their own and their children’s safety… Some of the women… took up arms and fought alongside their male relatives.

That night, as [Miles] Byrne wrote, ‘The thousands of little fires to be seen in the fields and plain all around the hill, where our people were preparing to get something to eat and to pass the night, afforded plenty of light and presented at the same time the appearance of a vast camp…’

‘Defence of the rebels at Vinegar Hill’ (George Cruikshank) via Wikipedia

It was early in the dawn of the 21st when [British forces' commander General Gerard] Lake‘s troops moved to annihilate the United Irish on Vinegar Hill. The rebels were ‘bombarded by cannon ball, grape-shot, musket ball, as thickly as a shower of hail-stone’. Heavily armed government forces against exhausted men, women and children, often with few or no weapons or ammunition; defeat was inevitable for the insurgents despite their ‘bravery and intrepidity… for nearly two hours, until our ammunition was expended’.

It is a mark of the willpower of the cornered rebels that this battle is still the one [from 1798] remembered by most Irish people – and by the American and Australian diaspora.

After their victory, Lake allowed his men to carry out extreme reprisals, ‘an orgy of looting and rape’, while the defeated forces’ hospital and its patients were put to the torch.

Major-General John Moore, the future hero of the Peninsular War, was the only one who made any attempt to restrain his troops…

Many defeated rebels slipped away… to the comparative safety of the Wicklow Mountains, to begin the guerilla campaign that the northern rebels were to keep going into the next century.

All quotations in the extract above are taken from the Memoirs of Miles (or Myles) Byrne of Monaseed, a valuable source from an eye-witness at the battle, which is available free online. For similar books about 1798 and Ireland, look here.

OK, I admit, I was naughty when I posted that ‘Wordless Wednesday’ picture. I kept wordless shtum about who the ‘girl announcer’ was, though many of you guessed…

But I did promise to reveal all on Trove Tuesday, so – ta-daaaaaa -

Here she is!

Yes, it’s my Mum, youngest announcer and first ‘girl cadet’ at the ABC

I was thrilled to find this article about young Patricia Delaney in the Muswellbrook Chronicle of Friday, 18th February, 1944 and in other local newspapers across NSW and Victoria. It must have been syndicated.

I must say that my mother’s ‘confessions’ about life at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation are quite tame, but that’s papers for you, always looking for a sensational headline.

It’s wonderful to come across this piece, thanks to the genealogists’ treasure that is Trove. Although her words would have been tidied up for the published interview, I can hear her voice when I read this article, as if nearly 70 years had melted away. I think I can also hear her comments about being called a ‘girl announcer’, too, though it was a big achievement to be a female cadet at the ABC at the time.

This is a precious find for me. Thank you, National Library of Australia.

Today I heard the news that Seamus Heaney, the great and beloved Irish poet, has died.

Seamus Heaney (by Sean O’Connor, via Wikimedia Commons)

A great sadness caught at me and I wondered why. I’d never met him, though I admired him. And then I realised that his words had moved and delighted me so often that the loss of the wordsmith would inevitably touch me. He had opened much of himself to us, his readers, and we had taken him into ourselves.

So as a tribute to him, here’s one of Seamus Heaney’s poems, Requiem for the Croppies, written about the Irish Rebellion of 1798 from the point of view of a croppy, or rebel, like Nicholas Delaney and his comrades.

Requiem for the Croppies

The pockets of our greatcoats full of barley -
No kitchens on the run, no striking camp -
We moved quick and sudden in our own country.
The priest lay behind ditches with the tramp.
A people hardly marching -  on the hike -
We found new tactics happening each day:
We’d cut through reins and rider with the pike
And stampede cattle into infantry,
Then retreat through hedges where cavalry must be thrown.
Until, on Vinegar Hill, the final conclave.
Terraced thousands died, shaking scythes at cannon.
The hillside blushed, soaked in our broken wave.
They buried us without shroud or coffin
And in August the barley grew up out of our grave.

Here’s Seamus talking to Kirsty Wark about the poem and the background to it

And here’s a version set to backing music which you might recognise; it’s Boolavogue

This one is simple and the words speak for themselves

Finally, something Heaney said in 2004: “I can’t think of a case where poems changed the world, but what they do is they change people’s understanding of what’s going on in the world.”

Thank you, Seamus. Rest in peace.

It’s the end of Australia’s National Family History Month. I started it with a post and I’ll end it with one, too – my answers to Jill Ball’s Bloggers’ Geneameme from her well-known and well-respected blog, Geniaus. I haven’t answered all Jill’s questions because that would make this post far too long, but I hope you enjoy it.

What are the titles and URLs of your genealogy blog/s? A Rebel Hand is my only genealogy blog; the url is http://rebelhand.wordpress.com

Sarah Simpson’s grave (Michael Wood)

Do you have a wonderful “Cousin Bait” blog story? A link to a previous blog post might answer this question. Confession time. This blog was partly started as cousin bait and it’s working slowly but well. I get emails or messages through my Contact Me page from cousins and their partners and it’s always a thrill to ‘meet’ another Delaney or Simpson descendant. Sometimes we start a long email exchange and I learn a lot from them. Generous cousins have sent me photos and documents which have helped me greatly in my research. It’s a brilliant way of sharing information and I love it. Thanks, cousins!

Why did you start blogging? Is there someone who inspired you to start blogging? I was newish to the social media world (except for talking to my group of non-genealogy friends on Facebook) when I started blogging but I wanted to make my website, A Rebel Hand: Nicholas Delaney of 1798 more visible. I also wanted to write about much wider subjects than my Delaney ancestors and to add research that I’d come across after my mother and I finished our book, also called A Rebel Hand. I found inspiration from the Australian and Irish genealogy and history blogs that I enjoyed reading. They were friendly and informative and gave me the spark that said: “I can do that, too!”

Father Murphy centre, Boolavogue

How did you decide on your blog/s title/s? As you’ll have guessed, it was named, with stunning originality, after the website, which was named after the book. But why ‘A Rebel Hand’ anyway? It’s a phrase from the Irish song Boolavogue, and I’ve talked about why I chose it in a couple of earlier posts. Warning: if you like Irish music don’t click on any of the links there. You could lose a good hour and get left with an earworm.

How do you let others know when you have published a new post? I have a ‘subscribe’ button on my blog so some readers know as soon as I hit the ‘publish’ button. I find that different genealogy pals often prefer different social media, so I also post on Facebook and Google+ and tweet. But I don’t leave messages in the Facebook groups I belong to; that would feel like overkill and I don’t find it appropriate for the way I use these groups, which are less newsy and more about helping each other with research.

How long have you been blogging? I’m in my terrible twos as a blogger; I published my first post on 10th November 2010.

What widgets or elements do you consider essential on a genealogy blog? There are two important things I look for (apart from the content) when I visit a blog: information and communication. I like to see a search facility, preferably, or at least a list of categories or tags. I want to know some more about the person or people behind the blog, so I look for an ‘about’ page. A list of families being researched is helpful. As for communication, a subscribe button  means I never miss a post, and G+, Facebook or Twitter buttons let me follow the writer if I like their blog. When I read an inspiring (or funny) post I like to be able to comment. It’s frustrating that I don’t seem to be able to comment on blogger/blogspot – I don’t know why. So I’ll just take the chance to say hi to the geneabloggers who use this platform – it’s not that I don’t like your posts, it’s just that I can’t tell you. And I love getting comments!

Mary Maude Wilson (Delaney) hanging out the washing at Moyne Farm

What is the purpose of your blog/s? Who is your intended audience? I started out writing about the Delaney family and Irish and Australian historical background, because that was what I knew most about. As my research expanded into other convict ancestors I posted about them, too. I’m hoping to connect with and interest people who want to read about Australian history of the convict era and the background to some of those convicts’ lives in Ireland and what is now London. I also hope to reach others with a more general interest in genealogy, though that’s not my unique selling point.

Which of your posts are you particularly proud of? I’m proudest of the ones where I had to make sense of a large number of sources and condense what I’ve read into a short (well, not too long) blog post. So ferreting out the details of Nicholas Delaney’s death and the trial of his suspected murderer gave me a lot of satisfaction, as did making sense of the trial of another convict ancestor, James Thomas Richards. The emotionally-charged issue of convict courtship was another post which got my brain cells fizzing. And in this age of washer-dryers and instant hot water I enjoyed the challenge of understanding what washday was like for my great-great grandmother, Mary Maude Delaney (nee Wilson).

Which of your posts has been the most popular with readers? Ghost stories and murders are always popular. But I had no idea when I posted about the stories (urban myths?) connected with the grave of my 3x great grandmother, Sarah Marshall (aka Simpson) that it would become the most popular thing I’d written. I have a feeling that some ghost-hunters will be disappointed when they land on a genealogy blog, though.

Front cover of the short story book

Do you have any blogs that are not genealogy related? If you wish please share their titles and URLs. I started another one, Writer’s Blog, after having a short story published, but I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve neglected it recently. Though I think it’ll get a lot of input when I begin a writing course in September…

Have you listed your blog/s at Geneabloggers? Definitely! If you’ve got a genealogy blog and you haven’t, go and do it now!

What advice would you give to a new Geneablogger? You don’t need to be Hilary Mantel or Steven King to write a blog well. Post what you’re passionate and knowledgeable about. And if you don’t know a huge lot yet, write about your journey of discovery. Oh, and spellcheck. Read other blogs, get to know the people behind them and you’ll find yourself part of a generous, informative and lively community. I’ve written more about starting geneablogging here. PS: give up any idea of ‘free time’.

The last word: an unexpected outcome of blogging When my mother died last year I was so busy and so full of grief that I stopped blogging for two months. Then I posted about her legacy to me – a love of family history. I knew that genealogy bloggers were great people (see my last answer) but I was deeply touched by the kindness of people who responded to that post. They helped me get back on my researching and blogging feet and broke down some of the loneliness we feel after a loss. Thank you, everyone.

Read all the responses to the Bloggers’ Geneameme here. I’m looking forward to them. Great meme, Jill!

Sometimes a friendly email brings unexpected genealogy bonuses. My Delaney (and Simpson) cousins are generous with their information about our ancestors, and one of the people who helped my mother and me with researching our book, A Rebel Hand: Nicholas Delaney of 1798, got in touch recently about a visit he’d made to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney.

Back in December 2011 I asked a question: Did Nicholas build the oldest bridge in Australia? Evidence suggests that the Macquarie Culvert, in the Botanic Gardens, is indeed the oldest surviving bridge. True, it’s a small bridge, part of Mrs Macquarie’s Drive, the road Nicholas and his gang of labourers built around the Government Domain in 1816. But it’s still there, nearly 200 years later, and regarded as ‘significant’.

The bridge – Macquarie Culvert (Jeff Farrar, 2013)

The trouble was, I couldn’t get hold of any pictures to show the bridge after its recent restoration. Then an email arrived from my Delaney cousin Jeff Farrar with some photos of his visit to the Botanic Gardens. “I thought you might enjoy this,” he wrote. Enjoy? I nearly jumped out of my chair with happiness. Jeff kindly gave me permission to post his pictures, so… here are some of them! It goes without saying they are all copyright to him. And wonderfully atmospheric.

Thank you, Jeff!

Macquarie Culvert, further away (Jeff Farrar, 2013)

For information about the Macquarie Culvert’s historical context see Wong, Anna, Colonial Sanitation, Urban Planning and Social Reform in Sydney in Australasian Historical Archaeology, 17, 1999, pp 66-7 (pp 9-10 of PDF)

Another view of Macquarie Culvert (Jeff Farrar, 2013)

I was stunned, honoured and thrilled to find my name (my real one, Frances Owen) on the list of nominations for Genealogy Rockstars 2013, hosted by the excellent John Reid. Thank you! If you’d like to see the true megastars I’m privileged to be listed with, and/or vote, Anglo-Celtic Connections tells you how. But be quick! Polls close on Sunday.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney (Jeff Farrar, 2013)

Christmas is a time for memories – making new ones as well as revisiting the past.

Walking along the street today and looking at the decorated trees in people’s windows, I found remembered images of Christmas Eve and the day itself washing over me.

Old family Christmas decorations

My family dressed the tree on the 24th, with the old glass decorations that seemed to have been around for ever. First the lights had to be draped around, which meant checking every bulb because if one wasn’t working, none of them would light. Then carefully we’d hang up the fragile ornaments. Finally, the old tradition of picking the pine needles out of our clothes and hair…

Late next morning we’d gather round the lit tree for a glass of champagne while we opened our presents. Then it was all hands ready to lay the table and finish getting Christmas dinner ready. One of my jobs was making the gravy, stirring flour into the turkey juices and adding water and perhaps a dash of wine. It had to be done at the last minute but I couldn’t rush it or there would be lumps and then the gravy would need to be strained.

Chocolate brownies – yum! (via Wikipedia)

These memories are warm and happy and also sad, because this will be my second Christmas without my mother and the first without my partner, who died in the spring. I’m breaking with tradition completely and not having a roast dinner. Instead I’ve got some treats – smoked salmon, watercress, double chocolate brownies and not a sprout in sight. I’ve got a whole week off and I intend to relax. Oh, and catch up with my genealogy research, including (I hope) this poor neglected blog.

I’ve kept up one tradition, though; coffee on Christmas Eve with a close friend. We’ve been lucky enough to be able to support each other through a tough year. So here’s to friends, near and far, in a coffee bar on in cyberspace -

Merry Christmas!

It’s New Year’s Eve, a time when people drink too much look back on the past year and assess their achievements – and the things that didn’t quite go to plan.

And it’s too easy for many of us to remember what they meant to do but, for very good reasons, didn’t. That’s why I love Jill Ball (aka Geniaus)’s Accentuate the Positive geneameme, which she started a year ago. I took part in the first one and found it a great way to acknowledge the year’s successes and move into the new year with a warm glow that has nothing to do with a glass of something or the radiator I’m snuggled up to as I type.

Jumping for joy (by Cat from Sevilla, Spain, via Wikimedia Commons)

So here are my positive answers to Jill’s statements/questions for 2013:

1.  An elusive ancestor I found was: Well, I think I’ve found him – he’s in there somewhere. I’m hunting down a great-grandfather who is currently the brick wall in my Owen line. He was born on Anglesey (Ynys Môn) in or around 1847 and his name was Griffith Owen. The trouble is that a lot of boys born in the 1840s on that island were called… Griffith Owen or Owens.

I’ve just put together a data comparison spreadsheet with all the Griffiths on it and I’ve already eliminated some, but there’s a lot more detective work to be done. The positive thing is that I feel much nearer to pinning him down than I felt a fortnight ago. He’s given me so much trouble that it’s going to be a huge genealogy happy dance day when I find him.

Grandmothers and cousins

2.  A precious family photo I found was: I didn’t find this photo; my cousin Sheila gave it to me at my mother’s celebration party in July. It was such a thrill!

It shows my Mamgu  (grandmother, in Welsh) on the right and her cousin ‘Auntie’ Mary, Sheila’s Mamgu, on the left. I was delighted – it brought back many happy memories of my childhood. Cousins can be so generous. Thank you, Sheila!

3.  An ancestor’s grave I found was: None this year, though we recently chose a headstone for my mother’s.

4.  An important vital record I found was: The apprentice binding for my 2x great grandfather, James Thomas Richards (1815 – 1896), waterman of Deptford and later of Newgate, the Leviathan prison hulk, the Royal Sovereign convict ship (1835) and Sydney.

The Guildhall, City of London (via Wikipedia)

I went to the Guildhall Library in the City of London, where the Watermen and Lightermen’s Company records are held. The very friendly and helpful staff told me that I could only see the apprentice binding books 1688-1908 (Ms 6289) on microfilm because so many people wanted to look up their watermen ancestors that the originals had to be kept back to preserve them. I was slightly disappointed – but thrilled to see the film of the almost 200-year-old record of James being bound apprentice to his father.

Then I got the film of the apprentice affidavit books 1759-1897 (Ms 6291) and wound… and wound… and finally found him lurking on a faded, blotchy page, half in the gutter (possibly appropriate, as you’ll see). Now I had confirmation of the date and place of his baptism and the day his apprenticeship began.

I’ll be going back to see what else I can find out about him at the Guildhall. It’s a small but fascinating library next to a beautiful old building, a London jewel.

5.  A newly found family member: A re-discovered family member this year – Shae Honess, who’d been very helpful to my mother and me when we were writing our book, A Rebel Hand: Nicholas Delaney of 1798.

We were both taking part in one of Inside History Magazine‘s Q and A sessions on Facebook and realised we knew each other. It was a wonderful surprise! If you haven’t visited their Facebook page do drop in. You’re bound to find something interesting and there’s a great bunch of genealogy people there. Thanks, Cassie and Ben!

6.  A geneasurprise I received was: Finding the house in Hackney where my 2x great grandmother Rebecca Harrington (c 1841 – 1884) lived with her parents when the 1851 census was taken. I’m hoping to write more about this soon, so I won’t go into details now, but amazingly enough it’s still standing.

The Old Bailey or Central Criminal Court (via Wikipedia)

7.   My 2013 blog post that I was particularly proud of was: The thief up the chimney. I wrote it as part of the celebrations for the tenth anniversary of Old Bailey Online, the “fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London’s central criminal court.” It’s a very impressive resource.

In this post I used OBO’s transcription of James Thomas Richards’ (yes, him again) slightly confusing trial for larceny, held on April 6th, 1835 at the Central Criminal Court. This post involved several Deptford pubs, some old maps, the online equivalent of highlighter pens and, eventually, a chimney. I enjoyed researching it immensely and it was a departure for me to write in response to a non-genealogy online event.

8.   My 2013 blog post that received a large number of hits or comments was: Welsh Newspapers Online – read all about it. I was lucky enough to visit the National Library of Wales stall at Who Do You Think You Are? Live in February 2013 and attended a seminar about their work in setting up Welsh Newspapers Online, an important resource for genealogists, historians and many more. The fact that it was my most-viewed post of 2013 shows that plenty of other people have been fired up by Welsh Newspapers Online, too.

Android logo

9.  A new piece of software I mastered was: If an operating system counts as software, it’s Android on my new Nexus 7 tablet. I wouldn’t say I’ve mastered it, in fact it’s shown me who’s the boss many times, but I’m getting there.

I’ve also learned to use PagePlus, the desktop publishing software. My first publication was put together in a rush, and I found that having used QuarkXPress and Photoshop/GIMP was a lifesaver. I’ve since gone on a course and found much easier ways to do things than the ones I ‘invented’ on the hoof…

10. A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was: Twitter. I’ve been on it much more than Facebook or Google+ in 2014. This is partly because I use it as a news feed for genealogy, history and family history (and increasingly writing) information and exchanging ideas. It’s also less time-consuming than scrolling down a long timeline on G+ or Facebook.

I’ve just started watching Jill Ball aka Geniaus‘ Google+ Hangouts on Air. Maybe one day I’ll actually be one of the ‘panel’ of contributors instead of an observer/commenter.

Well, this is already a long post and I’ve still got 10 more positives to go so, like last year, I’ll stop here and come back with answers 11-20 next time. Until then -

Happy 2014 to you!

Happy New Year!

Broken wall by Mick Garratt, geograph.org.uk

It’s 2014! A fresh new year in which I hope to pull a few more bricks from those genealogy walls as well as finding out more about the historical background to my ancestors’ lives in Australia and the British Isles.

This is the second part of my response to Geniaus’s Accentuate the Positive 2013 geneameme. You can see the first 10 replies here.

And it’s straight into an exciting development in 2013:

11. A genealogy conference/seminar/webinar from which I learnt something new was: when I went to my first Who Do You Think You Are? Live at Olympia in London. The queue to get in snaked round the building and, standing in the cold, I thought: with all these people will I ever get into the workshops I want to? Will it all be endless queueing?

And yes, it is vast, and yes, huge numbers of people go. But I did get to the sessions I’d earmarked (here are this year’s) and learned a lot, especially about Irish, London and Yorkshire research and about records before 1837 – and met some great people.

Sydney regatta

13. A journal/magazine article I had published was: Hmm, this one’s trickier, because as far as I know it hasn’t been published yet. I wrote James and the Silver Cup, the story of how my 2x great-grandfather, James Thomas Richards, won second prize in a prestigious rowing race at a Sydney regatta in 1853, for a Federation of Family History Societies competition. To my astonishment, I too won second prize.

I won’t go into the details here because I don’t want to make this post too long, but part of my prize – presented at WDYTYA? Live – was having the article published in the My Heritage newsletter. I agreed not to publish it here before then, but so far I haven’t seen it. I must chase them up.

However I did have a short story published this year and it had a historical flavour.

14. I taught a friend how to: think about engaging potential readers of his website by using social media and blogging.

As I’ve learned myself, we can’t just set up a static website and hope that people will stumble upon it. We have to let them know what we’re doing, and then when (we hope) they see something they want to talk to us about, we have to make it easy for them to do that.

Interactive

And that’s one of the joys of the net these days; how interactive it can be. I love connecting with other people who share my interests. Some have become friends. And it’s a thrill when I comment on something a person I respect has said and they answer. We’re all connected – celebrate it!

Emma Jolly’s book

15. A genealogy book that taught me something new was: Tracing Your Ancestors Using the Census by Emma Jolly (Pen & Sword, 2013). This comprehensive guide covers the history of censuses in the UK and Ireland, but for me the chapters on each individual census from 1841 to 1911 are genealogy gold.

I’ve only just started reading it and already I know a lot more about the 1841 census and the traps for unwary researchers. I’m hoping Emma’s book will help me untangle the many Griffith Owens I wrote about in my last post and find the thread that leads me to ‘mine’.

16. A great repository/archive/library I visited was: The Guildhall Library, which I mentioned last time. If you’re interested in researching apprentices or City [of London] Livery Companies it’s the place to go.

Most of the Guildhall’s manuscript collection has been moved to the London Metropolitan Archives, but they have a wonderful library of printed books covering all aspects of life in London and hold regular exhibitions highlighting some of their collection.

Derek Parker’s book

17. A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was: Governor Macquarie by Derek Parker (Woodslane Press, 2010). Crissouli, a lovely Aussie genealogy pal who is a must-read for Irish family history, especially Co Clare, sent it to me with the exciting news that my ancestor gets a (brief) mention on page 164.

And there it is, the extract from Lachlan Macquarie‘s journal for 13 June 1816 which mentions my 3x great-grandfather, Nicholas Delaney, the inspiration for this blog and my own book, A Rebel Hand. Nicholas, overseer of a road gang building  Mrs Macquarie’s Drive, finished the Governor’s wife’s pet project on her birthday and was well rewarded with rum for his good timing.

I’ve got a soft spot for Macquarie, a man before his time unappreciated by the British authorities and the Australian establishment, and it was a treat to find out more about this intriguing man. Thank you, Chris!

Rebecca Probert’s book

18. It was exciting to finally meet: Chris Paton, whose British GENES blog is a must-read for UK and Irish genealogy. We had a chat and he’s just as clever and amusing as you’d think he’d be. It was a delight to meet Anne Powers, a long-time cyber-friend and author of A Parcel of Ribbons, the Jamaican genealogy blog and book.

I also had chats with Rebecca Probert, the oracle for marriage law, and Beryl Evans of the National Library of Wales, both of whom were helpful, friendly people. I hope to meet some more bloggers and professionals this year.

19. A geneadventure I enjoyed was: Who Do You Think You Are? Live must qualify as my biggest adventure this year, though sleuthing for my 3x great-grandmother’s house in Hackney (see my last post) comes a close second.

20. Another positive I would like to share is: the huge surprise and great honour of A Rebel Hand being named one of ‘the 50 genealogy blogs you need to read’ in Inside History’s second Annual Genealogy Blog Awards. Anyone interested in Australian and New Zealand history and genealogy will know this excellent magazine and to be recognised by them alongside some of my geneablogging hero(in)es was stunning. Thank you, Cassie and Jill.

Well, looking back over 2013 it wasn’t a bad year, genealogy-wise anyway. Thanks again to GeniAus for the inspiration and for the happy memories writing this has brought back.

It’s an exciting day for me today. My first blog post on a new, collaborative blog was published.

Worldwide Genealogy blog

Worldwide Genealogy is a fresh way of looking at genealogy, history and local history. Julie Goucher, who you may know from Anglers Rest and her many other online presences, started it “in the spirit of all things genealogical and historical [to] produce a blog, written daily by someone different everyday from across the globe”.

So far in its two-week-long life there have been posts from genealogists and family historians from England, Scotland, Wales, Australia and the United States.

There’s still room for you to sign up for a monthly post or an occasional piece – find out how to contribute here.

Or you could just pop in and comment.

It’s all about collaboration, being social, and sharing – something geneabloggers do naturally, it seems to me.

Thank you, Julie, for starting Worldwide Genealogy and for doing me the honour of asking me to post on the 14th of each month. And thanks to everyone else who helped set it up and who’s joining in.

I do love the genealogy online community. People help one another, collaborate, chat and set up memes and challenges.

Here’s the latest geneachallenge  – it’s for Australia Day, from that bonza blogger Pauleen Cass of Family history across the seas. Pauleen writes:

The geneameme comes in two parts: one to test whether your family is ridgey-didge and the second to show us how Australia runs in your veins.

Well, if you’re a regular visitor here (thank you!) you’ll know the first part is a doddle, but the second is a true challenge! Why? Read on and you’ll see. And if you stick around to the end there’s a special Australia Day announcement. Here we go:

CLIMBING YOUR FAMILY’S GUM TREE

My first ancestor to arrive in Australia was: Nicholas Delaney, an Irish rebel from the Wicklow/Wexford borders, convicted for murder in the Rebellion of 1798. He arrived in Port Jackson in 1802 on the Atlas II.

I have Australian Royalty: I’ve found four convicts so far: as well as Nicholas Delaney, my 3x great grandfather, there were Sarah Marshall (Friendship) and John Simpson (Ocean II), who arrived in 1818, and James Thomas Richards, whose voyage on the Royal Sovereign ended in 1836.

I’m an Aussie mongrel, my ancestors came to Oz from: England and Ireland, as far as I know. There are a few mysteries like Elizabeth Bayly and (Thomas) Robert Sandon Wilson. Thomas’s name could be Scottish or English, and Elizabeth could have come from anywhere in these islands.

Convict ship (Lady Penrhyn) Wikimedia Commons

Did any of your ancestors arrive under their own financial steam? As far as I know, most of them either got a free one-way ticket (ahem) or were assisted immigrants. The only two who might have paid their passage were Elizabeth and Thomas/Robert, my mystery ancestors. I’d love to know how they arrived.

How many ancestors came as singles? Seven: Nicholas and Elizabeth, John and Sarah, James Thomas and his wife Rebecca Harrington. The elusive Thomas/Robert is so slippery I have no idea.

How many came as couples? None.

How many came as family groups? Sarah Emma Henley, old mystery man’s wife, came with her family. John Winter, from Westmorland, and Ann Graham, from County Durham, who later married each other, did too.

Did one person lead the way and others follow? There may be a link between the Winters and the Grahams but it’s very speculative so I’ll say no.

What’s the longest journey they took to get here? That depends. In terms of distance, Nicholas’s voyage from Wicklow to Cork, then via Rio de Janeiro to Sydney Cove, is probably the greatest. But for time, it has to be Sarah Marshall’s journey on the Friendship, which took 195 days. I’ll be writing a lot more about the trip on this mis-named ship soon. Stay tuned!

Did anyone make a two-step emigration via another place? No, just the usual stops for food and water on the way.

Which state(s)/colony did your ancestors arrive? All New South Wales

Did they settle and remain in one state/colony? Yes, they stuck to NSW.

Blue Mountains, JWC Adam

Did they stay in one town or move around? The Delaney/Simpson side moved further west. My Delaneys crossed the Blue Mountains to settle near Little Hartley. The Richards and Winters stayed around Sydney.

Do you have any First Australians in your tree? No.

Were any self-employed? Many of them were.

What occupations or industries did your earliest ancestors work in? Farming, roadbuilding, running a ferry and a pub. There was a tailor, a gold inspector, servants, miners and watermen. And a heck of a lot of housework and looking after large families – well, that’s work, too.

Does anyone in the family still follow that occupation? Only the housework. But much less of it, thank goodness.

Did any of your ancestors leave Australia and go “home”? Yes, my grandparents. That’s why the next part of the challenge is going to be a bit thin…

NOW IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU

What’s your State of Origin? Er, well, London. The UK one. It’s almost a state on its own.

Do you still live there? Yes, though I’ve lived in other places, too.

Where was your favourite Aussie holiday place as a child? I always wanted to go to Sydney. It sounded so exciting.

Any special place you like to holiday now? If only!

Moyne Farm (© Patricia Owen 2002)

Share your favourite spot in Oz: Moyne Farm, near Little Hartley, is dearest to my heart because it was the family home for a century.

Any great Aussie adventure you’ve had? Mine is all in books and online. I think that finding my ancestors, writing this blog and getting to know lots of great Aussie genealogists and historians has been a wonderful adventure.

What’s on your Australian holiday bucket list? Can I say everywhere? Oh, OK. Well, Sydney is a must. Not just because it’s Sydney – it’s got family ties for me, and all those museums and records to look at. Hartley Vale, because of Moyne, and the Blue Mountains. Anywhere my rellies are. And I’d love to meet some of my genealogy pals as well.

How do you celebrate Australia Day? Writing Australia Day challenges. They’re always a joy. Thanks again, Pauleen, for this year’s!

Here are my previous Australia Day posts:

• 2011: The trial of Nicholas Delaney (earliest document)
• 2012: Wealth for Toil (work one of our ancestors did)
• 2013: My first Australian ancestor

PS: I promised you some Australia Day news. First, Ancestry is offering free access to its Australian records until Monday 27th.

The second is more bittersweet. You may have heard that Lesley Uebel, much loved and respected creator of the Claim a Convict site and administrator of the Port Jackson convicts and Hawkesbury mailing lists, died on Monday, 20 January.

Her work lives on, though. Michelle Nichols has taken on the herding-cats job of keeping the PJ listers in order, and she and Jonathan Auld have worked long and hard to refresh and relaunch Claim a Convict, which opened at its new home on Australia Day. It’s looking good.

Fitting tributes to a splendid woman. Thank you, Jonathan and Michelle, and Colin and Coralie too. And most of all, thank you, Lesley.

Do you spring clean?

And, yes, I know that my Aussie mates will be muttering “it’s autumn!” But here there are crocuses peeping out and I’m getting that hopeful feeling. Mind you, it’s not too late for a frost, and the weather’s been crazy this year…

That looks much cleaner! via Wikimedia Commons

I’d been feeling for a while that this blog’s header was looking cluttered and tired, so I’ve spruced it up. It looks much cleaner to me. What do you think?

The new image is a watercolour, A View of the Cove and Part of Sydney, New South Wales, taken from Dawe’s Point, by Joseph Lycett, painted in about 1818. It’s one of the images in the Wallis album, which was acquired by the State Library of New South Wales in October 2011.

I’ve also changed the header for my website, A Rebel Hand: Nicholas Delaney of 1798, which is more focused on the book my mum and I wrote about our first Australian ancestor, and for my Twitter account.

And now I’d better get on with writing my post for the Worldwide Genealogy blog. It’ll be published on February 14th. St Valentine’s Day. Hmm, I wonder what to write about this time?

Are there any other ways you think I can improve this blog? Please leave a comment below.

View of Sydney Cove from Dawes Point by Joseph Lycett. Creative Commons CC BY-SA via Wikimedia; © State Library of New South Wales. Please click the links for full accreditation.

I’ve been working on something big – and very tricky. Chipping away at a big brick wall, and I’ll be back to report when I’ve got something more useful to say.

So in the meantime, here are some interesting developments in the genealogy world – specifically, to do with Irish and Australian genealogy.

IRISH GENEALOGY NEWS UPDATE

If you’ve ever looked at Irish genealogy, you’ll know that it’s famous for being hard work. This is, to a large extent, because census records before 1901 were destroyed – deliberately by government order for the years 1861-91, and in the notorious fire at the Public Record Office in Dublin in 1922 for the 1821-51 records.

But some fragments of the four earliest censuses survived. And they are now available to search, free, online.

Bashing that brick wall (CC, via gwsr.com)

When they are described as ‘fragments’, that’s really what they are, so though they’re worth checking, the chances are that they may not solve your Irish genealogy puzzles.

I didn’t find any clues to my Nicholas Delaney or his family, or to the elusive Julia Harrington, formerly Russell, nee Cannell or Gamin (thanks, Julia, you knew how to make it easy for your 3x great-granddaughter). But you might get better results.

The online release of these records was made possible through a partnership between findmypast, the National Archives of Ireland, and FamilySearch.org. Appropriately, you can now find them at the National Archives’ website and at findmypast.ie. Both free.

Good luck with your search! You can find out more about the census fragments at the Irish Times‘s Irish Ancestors census page.

AUSTRALIAN CONVICT NEWS UPDATE

I’ve recently filled in my ancestors’ details at two exciting new convict websites, the revived Claim A Convict and the new Australian Female Convict Database.

At Claim A Convict I added Nicholas Delaney, Sarah Marshall, her (common law?) husband John Simpson, and James Thomas Richards. And I also added Sarah to the Australian Female Convict Database. She’s my only woman convict, as far as I know.

If you’ve got convict ancestors, I recommend these sites very highly. Go and check whether  your convict is listed, and if they aren’t – why not add them?

Convict pair (via Wikimedia)

Both sites are young and developing all the time. Jonathan Auld of Claim A Convict has just announced that a new feature has been added – the opportunity to add a biography to your convict’s record.

There’s a 4,000 character limit, which is much more generous than the previous 200-character research notes allowed.

I also love the fact that both websites have extra resources to help us find out about our naughtier ancestors.

A big thank you to Jonathan and Michelle from Claim A Convict (and of course to the late Lesley Uebel, who began it all and was such an inspiration to many).

And another big thank you to Kim and Kristy of the Australian Female Convict Database. As they say: ‘Australian Female Convicts are under-represented as a group in historical collections.  The aim of this database is to provide future researchers with a simple collection of evidence, fully referenced, and collated into a consistent format for free download.’

And who wouldn’t like that?

Are there any gaps in convict research you’d like to see filled?

 © Frances Owen and A Rebel Hand, 2010-2014

Researching genealogy on a tight budget? Family bills leaving little cash for family history? I know the feeling. Which is why I’m starting the Shoestring Genealogist, an occasional series of posts to help those of us looking for ancestors – on a shoestring.

Oh no! No money left for genealogy!

These posts might refer to short-term offers, like today’s, so act quickly!

I’ll continue to tweet genealogy news flashes as well – come and say ‘hi’ at @ARebelHand. And if you don’t use Twitter for genealogy, I’ve written a short post about it at Worldwide Genealogy this month.

The Lost Cousins newsletter is well worth subscribing to (and it’s free). The latest one has an offer for four months’ subscription to the UK version of Ancestry for £20. If you’re interested, be quick – the offer ends on Sunday 22 June.

NB: at the time of posting, Ancestry is still down following a cyber attack. UPDATE: Normal service almost restored except for FTM sync and search and Rootsweb, they say.

Send for… The Shoestring Genealogist!

You could combine this with Find My Past UK‘s offer of one month for £1, advertised as a break from wall-to-wall World Cup. Using both could help ferret out a shy ancestor hiding in the UK records (and many of us have a few of those!).

And talking of FMP, the company announced yesterday (17.6.2014) that it has acquired Origins.net. This site contains ‘unusual, hard-to-find, older records’ including many for Ireland and London as well as the National Wills Index. Its founder, Ian Galbraith, says: “All of the records currently on Origins will over time be made available on FMP and we’d like to reassure you that you will still be able to enjoy researching your family history with Origins.”

Reminder: do read the small print, or you could find yourself continuing to subscribe at the normal rate. And, of course, not everything is online – or even online at these sites.

Have you got any tips for shoestring genealogists?

All content, including images, © A Rebel Hand 2014

Are you researching Australian genealogy? Here’s a fabby freebie for you – Ancestry is offering free access to Aussie records this weekend until 11.59pm AEST on Sunday,  13 July 2014. That’s GMT (UTC) plus 10 hours. Here’s a handy site to check time zones around the world.

To search the records, look here. And here’s a screenshot of the goodies on offer:

Ancestry’s free Australian records – this weekend only

Thank you, Ancestry.com.au! And thank you, Judy Webster and Alona Tester, for sharing the news on Google+.

Happy ancestor hunting!

I’ve been enjoying using my £1 Find My Past subscription (did you see the offer in an earlier Shoestring Genealogist post?) to search the British Newspaper Archive online. I’ve already found some great articles, and I’ll be writing more about what I’ve dug up later on.

Read all about it! Photo: Bobbie Johnson http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_tabloids_-_July_5_2011.jpg

But if you missed the FMP offer and you still have a spare £1 knocking around, you can get a month’s subscription to the British Newspaper Archive for exactly one quid.

The offer’s open until 23.59 GMT on Sunday 20 July.

You’ll have to log in, or register if it’s your first time at the site, but that’s free and obliges you to nothing.

Then go to this link and use the offer code SUMMERSALE. Click the ‘apply code’ button and choose the one month subscription, which you’ll notice changes to £1.

But wait! If you don’t want your sub renewed after a month at the usual price of £9.95,  go to ‘My account’ in the menu bar at the top, click on ‘Personal details’ (or choose ‘Edit details’ from the drop-down menu) and scroll down to make sure ‘Auto-renew my subscription’ is not ticked.

Happy reading!

It’s August, so it’s National Family History Month in Australia and New Zealand. I’m looking forward to lots of great genealogy blog posts and social media snippets. (Tip: if you’re a Twitter genie like me, look for the hashtags #NFHM2014 or #NZHM14.)

Yum, Aussie genealogy events!

Being on the wrong side of the puddle, I can’t take part in person, which is a shame. Have a look at the events on the NFHM home page (at the top left). There’s so much to choose from.

But wait a minute… what’s this? Online Events? Now that’s for me! Webinars, and a Hangout on Air with GeniAus, aka Jill Ball, on Monday , 4 August (will I be at work? Never mind, I’ll catch up later).

And there’s Shauna Hicks’s great idea, 31 Genealogy Activities for Researchers during National Family History Month. You can choose as many – or few – activities as you want, in whatever order you like. I’m tempted by no 19, ‘have another look at that brick wall – construct a time line of known facts and relook at everything.’ A fresh look is probably just what’s needed.

Shauna’s got suggestions for genealogy and family history societies, as well.

In fact, there’s no reason why those of us who are passionate about Australian genealogy but find ourselves on the wrong continent need to miss too much (except the events) if we use a bit of imagination.

So it’s a big hats off to the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations, who got the whole idea up and running in 2006, when it was just a week long.

And, as ever, thank you to Shauna Hicks, the co-ordinator of NFHM.

Are you going to join in NFHM 2014?