What is this blog about?
Welcome to my home, my family history and genealogy blog. Here, you’ll discover practical guidance for researching your family tree and connecting with both living relatives and historical ancestors.
Whether you’re starting from scratch or revisiting an existing family tree, this blog will help you:
- Navigate the exciting journey of genealogical discovery
- Build comprehensive family connections
- Verify existing research and uncover new branches
Family history research is surprisingly straightforward once you begin. It often starts with a simple spark of curiosity—that lightbulb moment when you realise you want to understand your family heritage and discover where you came from.
My own genealogical journey began with this same curiosity, and through sharing my experiences and research methods, I hope to inspire and guide you on your own path of discovery.
Every family has stories waiting to be uncovered. Your ancestors’ lives, struggles, and triumphs are part of your heritage, and this blog will show you how to piece together those fascinating family narratives.
Beyond simply collecting names and dates, I’ll guide you through the art of storytelling—bringing your ancestors to life by adding historical context to their stories. This approach transforms dry genealogical data into vivid family histories that truly honour your heritage.
Ready to begin? Let’s embark on this rewarding journey of family discovery together.
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Mysteries.
Every family has its mysteries. No matter who you are, someone of importance or run of the mill genealogist, like me. As we research and delve deeper into our ancestors, we discover anomalies. These anomalies will vary with each discovery. Anomalies. Part of this process requires a lot of patience and detective work. What are these… Read more
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Convergence.
During the COVID epidemic, I began a Family History Diploma with the University of Tasmania (UTAS) – Annotate a map in a unit: “Place, Image, Object”. I thought this would be fairly easy. Why? I knew all my direct ancestors lived in one place. Little did I realise the impact of seeing this displayed as… Read more
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Beyond 101.
Why go beyond collecting the basics, names, dates and places? In my early days of research, I was interested in adding names to my tree. Online you may have come across trees with over 10,000 or even 100,000 people. I really cannot even think about that amount of people. I ask the question first, why?… Read more
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A Genealogical Odyssey.
Where do I start? What jumps into my mind is the 1969 song, “Where Do You Go to My Lovely” by Peter Sarstedt, especially the last two lines of the chorus: “Tell me the thoughts that surround you,I want to look inside your head, yes I do.” Dreams. Little did I realise back at that… Read more
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Tales & Tallies.
A quick review of Helpers & Hearts, it was an eventful week, with sadness, surprises and the helpful library staff who helped me out. It sure was a pleasure and a welcoming environment. Saturday. My last morning was as expected – packing for the return journey. I checked out of my accommodation. My flight wasn’t… Read more
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Helpers & Hearts.
During the week prior to my travels, I had been in contact with TransLink as trackwork was planned over the day I was traveling! A slight change to the schedule, car journey to the station, train ride # 1, bus, train ride # 2, flight, and then a taxi. (What a story – it’s not worth… Read more
Ancestor Family 