Census Sensibility

Some months ago I posted about the mystery in my family of my grandfather who discovered he was adopted when he was in his 60s. As a genealogist, I had been researching his birth family to no avail for a number of years. I finally had a breakthrough last year when I found evidence of his (alleged) birth father's subsequent marriage, children and so on. After being in touch with my (alleged) great-grandfather's descendant, Paul, for some time, he finally did an Ancestry DNA test and we've been waiting for the results to come through. It's been quite a nervous wait - what if I was wrong? I was in a business meeting the other day and got onto the topic of DNA testing and genealogy with the client. I decided to show them my research and also my DNA test results (I am always  happy to talk about genealogy, especially if there's a chance I can give someone else the bug). Logging into Ancestry DNA I saw there was a new match and that this match was listed as being a p...

One hundred years and ten days ago, my great, great uncle Olaf Milford Johanson enlisted for service abroad with the Australian Imperial Force. He enlisted at Claremont in the state of Tasmania, which is 26km from the town of Cambridge, where he lived. Both towns are now suburbs of Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. He was 21 (and 1/2, by his own hand) on the date of enlistment and, thanks to the records I have, I know he was 5'9"/1m75cm tall, weighed 193lbs/86kgs and had brown hair and light brown eyes (like me!). Under "Distinctive Marks", the following is written: "Tattoo Heart cross and anchor on right forearm. Anchor & ribbon on front of left forearm. Anchor on back of left wrist." It comes as no surprise that next to "Profession or Calling" he has written "Sailor". Olaf was assigned the service number 3483 and initially served in the 11th Reinforcements of the 12th Batallion. (The 12th Batallion were originally r...

This is the first part in a multi-part blog series about DNA testing and genealogy. After 20+ years of genealogical research, I like to think I know my family history pretty well. As an Aussie, I am a big of a genealogical mongrel, or as my nan used to refer to her dog, Cindy, a “bitsa” as in “bits of this and bits of that”. It’s pretty simple, really: Lots of Scots Lots of Irish Lots of English A smattering of Swedes Four convicts So I was relatively certain of the results of any genealogical DNA test I would do. I imagined it would look something like this: Source: Ancestry.com When I decided to try the Ancestry DNA test, I was a bit put off by the fact that I’d need to gob into a test tube. Someone as classy and sophisticated as me simply does not spit, regardless of the scientific results. But for the sake of science, history, genealogy and my own bloody curiosity I built a bridge and got over this particular wave of discomfort. (This is proof that I am a...

(This post is a follow-on from this one) The prospect of phoning someone you are potentially related to and announcing that their grandfather had an illegitimate child is, to say the least, rather daunting. I sat in my living room, phone in hand, papers strewn around me, rehearsing what I would say. "Hi, so uhmmm, I think we're related". No, no. That's too blunt and too vague. "What do you know about your grandfather's activities before he married your grandmother?" Ugh, too clinical and cold. "So did you know your grandfather went and got some girl knocked up?" Ugh, no, no no no no no. "I'm really not trying to ruffle feathers, but the evidence I have strongly points to your grandfather having been with a woman called Catherine Robertson before his marriage and, as a result, being the birth father of my  grandfather". Yes, that's as good as it gets. Geoffrey Hartley Crawford (R) with his (adoptive) parents Henry and ...

I have a big family. If I count my parents, step-parents, half-brother and sister, my step-brothers and sister, their partners ( and  their children) plus my grandparents then we're up to twenty-two people. Add cousins, uncles, second cousins and the like (and their children, partners, etc), and we're inching close to one hundred people. Most of my large extended family is on my father's side as my mother is an only child. Born in 1953 to Geoff and Anita Crawford, she didn't encounter a large family until she married my father. I've not asked her how she dealt with that, but knowing my mum, she took it in her stride, rolling her eyes at all the quirks that come with large families. Her parents also came from small families. My grandmother, Anita, was also an only child and my grandfather, Geoff, had one sister. She has cousins, who I never knew as they lived in Queensland as we in Victoria, but all in all - small family was the way of the Crawfords. In the 1...

A much-loved go-to pseudo insult of Australians by the English is "convict" or, if they're feeling particularly nasty, "crim". I am here to declare once and for all - calling us "convict" is not insulting. In fact, we love it. No, really, we absolutely loooooooooove our collective convict heritage and, as a genealogist, there is nothing better than finding a convict in my family tree or the tree of someone for whom I am doing research. The BBC series Banished  has rekindled an interest in the plight of convicts sent to Australia, a place which is often referred to in the series as a "godforsaken corner of the world". This is just unfair. Sure, they landed at Botany Bay (original name Stingray Harbour , but changed out of respect to Steve Irwin [1] ) but it's not the fault of Captain Arthur Phillip that he chose to land in what would become Sydney. Had he simply persevered further south, he would have been able to land in what would b...

Oh look another genealogy blog. What's different about this one? For the moment, not much, it's quite empty. Unlike my family tree. A couple of thousand people (including extended family) and counting. In October I will begin postgraduate studies with the University of Strathclyde in Genealogy, Palaeography and Heraldry. As I move from being an amateur genealogist to (hopefully) a professional genealogist, I would like to document my experience. While I feel I have a lot of experience in researching family history, as my studies progress I am certain that my methodology and understanding of documents and processes will change. Hopefully, it will make for interesting reading. So, why does a customer support manager with 15+ years professional experience decide to change career so extremely? Well, as with all (good) stories - Once upon a time... When I was 14 years old, I snuck into my grandmother's bedroom, rooted around under her bed, and withdrew an old tattere...