Trout Fishing in the ....

Photo courtesy of Picture Queensland

Group of women and girls watching a man fishing on the Maroochy River, Queensland, ca. 1900-1910

Movies....I've seen a few....this post's title is a bit of a pun on Salmon Fishing in the Yemen which was on my to see list until someone unthinkingly told me the ending yesterday....talk about a spoiler!!

Anyway, back to my point.  The photo above is of fishing - not necessarily for trout - and in fact probably not. Why?  Well there is a logic in my meanderings here ...bear with me.  This morning I had the pleasure of attending for the first time the Scottish Interests Group at QFHS.  There was a most interesting presentation on the Scottish Potato Famine - yes, there was a potato famine in Scotland too....this may be one of many reasons that your Scottish ancestors emigrated to Australia or indeed another country.  Here is a link to Professor Tom Devine discussing Scottish migration if you'd like to know more.

Special Interest Groups or SIGs as we call them at QFHS are another great way of finding out more about your family history and helping you knock down brickwalls.  SIGs provide an opportunity for you to meet with other Society members who are researching the same area as you and who might be able to help.  The first part of the meeting today was devoted to a formal presentation and then members were invited to share their success stories and their brickwalls.

Many useful resources are discussed - for example Catch the Moments - the 3rd Australasian Scottish Genealogy Conference Papers were recommended today.  You can find them in the library at P2 22 27. Or you can buy them here. 

There's so much I could tell you but if you are like me you really only learn by doing, which leads me to my next point.  One of our foundation members, Ann Swain together with her husband Tony, runs a workshop every year called The Trout Game.  You may have heard Ann on Thursday nights at 9:30pm on 4BC 1116AM. The idea behind the Trout Game is to open your mind to other types of resources you may not have considered using and so assist you with your brickwalls.  And you don't use computers - can you believe it?????  Yes, we used to be able to do family history before the invention of the computer and still get results!

The Trout Game is on next Sunday 20 May at the QFHS Library Gaythorne in Brisbane from 10am to 4pm.  Cost $5. Cheap as chips I say.  You need to book (07) 3352 5537.  So go on - pick up the phone now. Don't let this one get away!

PS The next Scottish SIG meeting will be held 14 July 10am at the QFHS Library.  Happy Family History Fishing!

Imagine my surprise...

Photo courtesy of Karva Javi on Flickr

I love a good surprise.   The past couple of weeks have been a hive of feverish activity as I struggle to finish my assessment work for Uni, start a new full-time job and stay on top of my commitments to the Research team at the Queensland Family History Society.

I finished my last assignment last night for this Semester's course - Information Service Management and hopped into bed wreathed in that sense of virtuousness which is so short lived when one realizes that one still has two subjects to go before one is finished with literature reviews and the like.

As a special treat I opened my copy of Inside History which arrived in the post that day and which I had been studiously avoiding reading until the assignment was finished.

It looked a great edition from the cover - an article about the Salvation Army Family Tracing Service which I'd only be promoting last weekend at a Library Assistants' Meeting at QFHS.  I was also pleased to see that marvellous Goulds now stocks the FlipPal mobile scanner which I have been lusting after for quite some time.  Inside History has a competition to win one which makes it even more of a good reason to subscribe to the magazine today.  I agreed with Neville Fogg who wrote the star letter to the editor that magazine is to be commended for its covers which are very eye-catching and seductive to family historians/those interested in history.  There was a great article on the team behind the fabulous website Historypin and of course I love their calendar of events around Australia.

So where was the surprise?  Well one of the articles was about 50 Blogs you need to follow and I was pleased to see Twigs of Yore and The Tree of Me and Shauna Hicks blog and Judy Webster's blog but imagine my surprise when I saw the baby of the bunch - THIS VERY BLOG - in the list.  A big thank you to Jill Ball and the Inside History team for plucking this little blog from the mire of anonymity and popping it into the limelight surrounded by such legends.  We are very chuffed and very excited.

May is turning into a very good month indeed!

Margaret McLoughlin - Sodwalls/Bathurst

Margaret McLoughlin Communion Memento

"Where does the time go?" I ask myself on numerous occasions, as no doubt, do you...

Do you remember your first Communion?

I remember mine...but only because it was relatively recent i.e. as an adult in my mid thirties.  Crikey!  That's nearly twenty years ago now....

Anyway, back to Margaret McLoughlin's first communion.  

The picture above shows a rather quaint treasure that I inherited from my mother.  I'm not quite sure how she came about it but it is kept in a drawer of her old desk with a bunch of photos and other stuff I have accumulated over the years.  

I am intrigued by it because it shows the date of her death.  

I have so many questions about this.  Who created this memento?  I suspect Margaret.  Maybe a grown-up helped her with the lettering.  Who filled it in after she died?  Is this usual?  Who kept it?  Probably her poor parents who then probably passed it on to one of her siblings.

So who was Margaret and how was she related to me?  

Margaret was my great-grand-aunt.  She was one of seven (I think) children born to Patrick McLoughlin and Margaret Flan(n)agan. 

Patrick and Margaret married in Portico Chapel, Eccleston, Prescot, Lancaster England 

15 November 1858. Patrick's father on the marriage certificate is Owen McLoughlin - a labourer.  Patrick and Margaret placed their marks on their marriage certificate.  They could not read or write. 

I haven't found out much about Eccleston but the Gazeteer on Genuki tells me that at the time "The increase of pop. in Eccleston township between 1851 and 1861 arose from the erection of cotton factories."

Annie, Patrick and Margaret's eldest child was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire according to the 1861 Census entry I found for them on FindmyPast.  By then the family were living in Chapelry Birkenhead.  Patrick was a Labourer.  Patrick was 26 and Margaret was 25.  Annie was 18 months old.  There were four families living at 58 St Anns Street then - the Mcloughlins, the Grimes, the Molowneys and the Brogans - 8 adults and four little girls.  The Grimes had two daughters Penelope aged 2 and Bridget aged 4 months.  The Brogan's had a little girl Susan aged 14 months.  All the families were from Ireland.  All the men were labourers.   

 The McLoughlins moved to Australia in the next few years.  We're still a bit fuzzy on the details though they may have come via Brisbane on The Light of the Age in 1864.  The spelling of the name is a bit of a trick.  Sometimes it gets spelled McLaughlin rather than McLoughlin.  

Margaret's other older siblings were Patrick and Mary and John.  The latter, John,  was my great grandather - my grand-father's father.  So maybe John gave the communion memento  to Thomas and Thomas gave it to Barbara who gave it to me.  

Anyway I ordered Margaret's death certificate in the hope that it might shed some light on her life.  It didn't give me terribly much information.  

It took a bit of finding because it was indexed under McLaughlin which is not the way we spell the name.  But we all know about the lack of rules in family history when it comes to spelling.


The certificate confirmed that she did die 21 August 1882.  She was 13 years old and died at home in Russell Street, Bathurst.  She had been suffering from "Morbus Cordis" (heart disease) for 8 months.  She was buried the next day at Bathurst.  The same man who signed her communion memento, Joseph P Byrne, was the same person who officiated at the burial.  Thomas Dempsey and David McSorley witnessed the burial.  Her doctor was Dr T.A. Machattie.  Margaret was born at Sodwalls in New South Wales.  


I had never heard of Sodwalls until I saw her death certificate.  When you google Sodwalls and McLaughlin you also come up with this.  


Now I am kind of interested in this too because I think Clara Jane McLaughlin must be related somehow given that she was born at Sodwalls too - albeit thirteen years earlier.  I am also interested because we lived at Glebe in Toxteth Road when I was in my teens.  Clara was credited with founding Toxteth Park at Glebe and the Convent - St Scholastica's - there.    Clara Jane's father John is described as an Innkeeper.  Sodwalls Inn celebrated its 150th birthday a few years ago. 


I'm also puzzled because Clara Jane's father is said to come from County Mayo whereas Patrick was meant to come from County Sligo.  I need to investigate further.....

Clara was described as having "a large heart and a great fund of common sense, which allied to a remarkable ability in administration, spelt success for everything she touched.'  What a great commendation.


Poor Margaret's heart was not so strong but she will be remembered nonetheless.

Week 9 - Cemeteries - 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy

Week 9 – Cemeteries: Genealogists understand the full value of cemeteries and appreciate them in ways most others can’t see. Share a cemetery or cemetery experience for which you are most thankful. What makes this place special? What does it mean to you and your family history?

Tingalpa Cemetery 2009

Now this was a difficult challenge this week because there are so many cemeteries that I like and have found over the years. Tingalpa Christ Church (Anglican) Cemetery though will always hold a special spot in our heart because it was the location of my first real break-through in family history at a young age.

Thanks to my family history society's Cemetery Room index, I found that my husband's great-grandfather and his wife and their children were buried here.  I remember traipsing all over the cemetery looking for their grave, only to discover that it was the biggest monument in the whole cemetery just about!!

The cemetery looks absolutely beautiful these days which is not something that can be said for all cemeteries I'm afraid.  My sister-in-law Pat and I went traipsing about Balmoral Cemetery last year looking for an ancestor and it was so sad seeing so much destruction and decay in such a large and old (by Australian standards) cemetery.

The Tingalpa Cemetery is beautifully maintained by the hard-working and dedicated Friends of Tingalpa Cemetery Heritage Group.  I think it helps that the cemetery has a cute-as-a-button chapel that can be used for weddings.

The day my sisters-in-law and I went to visit the Cemetery back in 2009 it looked absolutely beautiful.  We thought we were going for a special day but we arrived late - a day late to be precise - silly me - I got the date wrong.  The cemetery was beautifully decorated and looked a picture.

Someone had added this information about the Daw family though I am intrigued by their ability to give a death date for Robert James Daw as I have never been able to find out what happened to him.

We were also impressed by the Gode family plaque.  The Godes are related to the Daws by marriage.  Thomas Daw's brother Edward married Alice Sophia Gode after whom Robert's Aunt Alice is named.

Here are some links to other posts about other cemeteries that I have visited over the years.

Last but not least here is my advice for what it is worth for visiting cemeteries:

1. Take water
2. Take a hat
3. Wear sunscreen
4. Make sure you have the phone number for the sexton/local Council so you can call them on your mobile to check position of graves as they are often unmarked.
5. Make sure your mobile phone is fully charged!
6. Take your camera and make sure you have spare batteries or it is fully charged
7. Take a companion to help you look for the grave
8. Reward yourself with lunch afterwards  - it is thirsty work
9. Don't forget to stop and take in the view and reflect..
10. Support local heritage groups to maintain the cemetery

Genealogy Libraries - 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy

Week 8 – Genealogy Libraries: Genealogy libraries (and dedicated departments in regular libraries) are true treasures in the family history community.  Tell us about your favourite genealogy library. What or who makes it special?

Well you probably know what I’m going to say already but yes, the QFHS library at Gaythorne is my favourite Genealogy library.

And yes, my experience is very narrow, I realise. 

I wish I could astound you with facts and figures about the collection but they are not at my fingertips.

Suffice it to say, that I find it pretty hard to beat.

You can find the library here.

Amongst thousands of records, researchers also have access to:

Ancestry (Library Edition) Emerald Ancestors FindMyPast – Australasia FindMyPast – UK FindMyPast – Ireland The Genealogist World Vital Records

You can search the catalogue here.

The LDS Film Service is available here too.  Don't forget that you can order books etc from the LDS catalogue if they have been microfilmed.  Search the LDS Catalogue here....

There is a Cemetery Room, a Map Room, a Computer Room and a nice big tea and meeting room.

The noise of the trains going past the back door can be a bit of a surprise if you are not used to it but that just means it's close to public transport doesn't it? :)

And it can get very hot in summer, if you aren’t sitting in the air-conditioned computer room.

But they are just about the only drawbacks.

The wonderful members, hard-working management committee and library-assistants make up for that ten-fold.   

As do the extensive resources.  I am particularly fond of the journal collection and the books.

To find out what's on click here.

Check out these photos of when the library re-opened after relocating to Gaythorne from Albion nearly seven years ago.  What a happy bunch we are!

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy

Week 7 – Historical Documents: Which historical document in your possession are you happy to have? How did you acquire this item? What does it reveal about your ancestors?

I’m a bit bamboozled by this challenge in that I don’t think I have any historical documents really.  Original ones that is....I have lots of copies of historical documents.

Perhaps we need to define historical document…I’m assuming we are talking about a primary source.  My History teacher in High School Rowena Danziger hammered in the importance of primary sources as opposed to secondary sources.  My rather ham-fisted attempt to explain the difference is that a primary source would be one written at the time by someone with first hand knowledge of the event.  I guess we’re talking diaries and letters.

But wait….I do have some….my mother’s letters. 

And I am happy to have them.  They are a mix of handwritten and typed letters dating back to 1983.  She was an excellent correspondent.  One day, when my children are interested, the letters might give them an insight into what kind of person she was….funny, stylish and caring to name a few qualities....

My biggest concern is that I am probably not looking after them as well as I could be.   

There is all sorts of great advice on the net these days. Library of Congress and State Library of Queensland have preservation advice.

So perhaps the best plan of action for me with these is to

1. Keep them out of heat/light
2. Store them flat
3. Store them in acid-free file folders
4. Scan them!

Have you got any other suggestions?

Family Heirlooms – 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy

Week 6 – Family Heirlooms: For which family heirloom are you most thankful? How did you acquire this treasure and what does it mean to you and your family?

We have a few family heirlooms for which we are very grateful.  The photo above for example is of some of the Daw pioneers: namely William Doig Duncan and Rose (nee Gorrian) with their daughter Alice Cecilia Hinde (my husband's great grandmother).  

We also have the family bible as pictured above.

I really treasure a scrap book that my father kept of our trip overseas when I was very young as it contains beautiful pen and ink drawings of the places we visited and all the usual ephemera such as menus, napkins, and cabin baggage tickets - not to mention photos...

 Beautiful no?

But the heirloom I treasure the most and that I can't pick up and run out the door with in the event of a fire is my mother's desk.  

You can barely see the poor thing as it groans under the weight of all that family history!!!

Thank you Aunty Denise for insisting that I get it put on the back of a truck and sent up from Sydney to Brisbane after my mother died.  

You were right.  

It is a beautiful desk which she lovingly restored herself and it comforts me every day to sit here.

We miss her this day and every day.