Census Sensibility

Yesterday I submitted my final assignment for the Postgraduate Certificate in Genealogy, Palaeography and Heraldry with the University of Strathclyde. It's been an interesting 9 months, not without struggle, but I am pleased to be done and (although I am waiting on a final mark) I am very proud of what I have achieved. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at the end of 2015 and since July of last year have been dealing with quite severe symptoms of this disease. When I began the PG Cert I did consider whether or not it was a wise decision, given what I was going through and what was likely to come but I decided to give it a go. The support I received from the staff at the University was nothing short of amazing. They were completely understanding, flexible and gave me great advice all along the way. I had a couple of bouts of being in hospital (including one where I got a lumbar puncture which resulted in me not being able to sit or stand for more than 10 minutes at a time f...

Have Swedish family history and not sure how to get started? I share how to get started in this guest blog post for MyCanvas ! Learn common Swedish genealogy words, and tricks to untangling Swedish family names.

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...

The big news today being talked about on social media by pretty much everyone involved in genealogy is the announcement by Ancestry about the end of Family Tree Maker. It's not the most popular of decisions, and as the day progresses the levels of anger are increasing. I was at first surprised by the news. I received the email from Ancestry at around midnight Paris time and spent about 5 minutes wondering what I will do with my genealogical research in the future before I remembered that I actually run two pieces of genealogy-specific software, and have the information in these also saved in other formats (.doc, .xls, etc). I stopped worrying about myself and my own research - knowing I will still be able to save my research if I am working offline (I also use Family Historian ). Roll around to this morning and I find myself thinking about this more (thanks to coffee, the neurons are firing and I can actually form coherent arguments and questions) and the impact of this de...

I like to think of myself as relatively widely read, somewhat intelligent and borderline academic. The reality is I can easily become obsessed by a book/books/journals/articles/other ready-type things, I am probably more smartarse than smart and have delusions of grandeur when it comes to my academic capabilities. I like writing, but I'm not a prolific or fluid author. My writing is a lot like my thoughts - random, haphazard, often long-winded and sometimes very confusing. Editing is difficult because I always want to move onto the next big thing . I'm definitely more of an orator. If you put me in a room in front of hundreds of people and ask me to read something or talk freely on a subject, I'm in my element. Ask me to write a paper of tens of thousands of words and I'll attack it with gusto, but will probably lose steam some point around the 35% mark, get frustrated and end up handing in something that probably could have been a lot better. So, why in the hell am...

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...