This weeks 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge is Conflict and I’ve decided to talk about the toll that war took on my family. Week 42 – Conflict War is such a destructive process – of lives, culture, freedom. World War I and World War II were the most destructive in modern history. They wreaked havoc on the…
The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge this week is sports. Sport was never a big thing in my childhood – we didn’t tend to watch it or play it. I grew up riding my bike around the neighbourhood or swimming in a mates pool. Our extracurricular activities revolved around music not sport. Dad, did for a time, play rugby.…
The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge this week is Ten. So many ways to interpret this – ten children, the tenth person on your tree, the 10th army unit. I opted to go with ten children. Week 40 – Ten Susan Criddle and David Brand were my second great-grandparents on my mother’s side. Susan was born in…
The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge for Week 39 is On the Farm. Many of our ancestors would have been involved in farming in years gone past and my family were no different. Even those who didn’t live on farms most likely had a few chickens and a veggie patch – I know my paternal grandmother did which became…
This weeks challenge in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is Unusual Source. There are so many resources out there for genealogists to explore. The usual birth, death, marriage, census, immigration, and military records but there is so much left to find. Week 38 – Unusual Source For a long time I have wanted to know more about my…
The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge for Week 37 is Closest to Your Birthday. I trawled through my ancestors to find someone who may share a birthday with me, but alas, was unable to. The closest date I could find was the death of my great-grandfather. Week 37 – Closest to Your Birthday Frederick Charles Newman My…
I have gotten a bit behind on the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge with my UK trip and so now face the daunting task of catching up. The Week 36 challenge is Work to coincide with Labour Day in the USA – in Australia ours is May. I have chosen for this topic to write about a common occupation…
The Week 35, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge is Back to School. Many people will find ancestors who are teachers, sometimes women, as this was an acceptable occupation for them to enter. Today I will talk about two women I know of in my ancestry who were teachers. Week 35 – Back to School Dorcas…
The challenge for Week 34 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks series is Non-Population. I really struggled with what to write about this week – how do I take non-population? What does that even mean? Apparently in the USA, the Census has two parts – the population schedule and the non-population schedule. In Australia, whilst a census has been…
It isn’t unusual for a family to have some sort of legend. Maybe it’s a legend surrounding the family’s arrival in a country or that there’s an ancestral castle waiting to be claimed. Maybe it’s a story about how you’re supposedly related to someone famous. You could explore how you proved or disproved the story. Then there are the “tall…