Part of the worldwide genealogy/family history community
FamNet eNewsletter September 2021
ISSN 2253-4040
Quote: “Just like our ancestors, we too will fall out of living memory and be forgotten. It will take a future genealogist to find us again. Make it a good find.” - Stephen Robert Kuta
Contents
Do you want to receive this newsletter every month?
How to keep busy during
Lockdown
DNA Testing for Family History
Finding your way through a forest of STRS and SNPS
Digging Into Historical
Records
Taita Public Hall Cash Book – Cash donors June 1922
More Famous New Zealanders You have Probably Never Heard Of
HInemoa Lucy Rosieur (1910-1940)
From our Libraries and
Museums
Whangarei Family History
Computer Group
Waitara Districts History
& Families Research Group.
Various Articles Worth
Reading
Improvements to NZ BDM website
To Unsubscribe,
Change your Email Address, or Manage your Personal Information
Editorial
Hello
fellow hermits.
Greetings and welcome to another issue of the FamNet newsletter.
We live in interesting times again!!!! Time doesn’t fly as fast as outside Lockdown. I miss my coffee sessions with Allan and the others I have from time to time.
That has reminded me of the fact that I attended the genealogy event at the Fickling Centre. I attended some good lectures that stimulated me to take up my Scottish research again. Anne Sherman’s column below suggests that attending genealogy functions are good for your research. Well, this event was for me.
I realised how old I am when I noticed that a large percentage of the attendees were unknown to me. I enjoyed talking to those newbies and was reminded of that special pleasure of new finds and the urgency to find out more that drives newbies onto addiction.
The one thing that was noticeable was the angst that members of NZ Society of Genealogists are suffering due to the financial troubles that organisation is experiencing. Most were looking for somebody to blame. I avoided any discussion. But that society needs urgent positive input to help it survive. Negativity will ensure the death of the society. The society is needed.
Anyway, the coffee was good. The organisers need to be congratulated and they should be encouraged to repeat the event next year.
Anyway, back to reality. Once again, we have an interesting newsletter. The articles are varied. The jokes are funny although they are not the main reason for reading the newsletter.
I hope this month’s issue occupies some of your time and you find something valuable.
Peter Nash
Do you want to receive this newsletter every month?
This newsletter is free. There are not many free newsletters of this length in New Zealand. I am biased but it should be an interesting read.
To subscribe is easy too. Go on - don't misspell it as I have, twice already. https://www.famnet.org.nz/
The front page is lovely, but click on [Newsletters]. A page opens showing you a list of all the past newsletters, you can click the link to read one that you’re interested in.
Like the front page, the newsletters page has a place where you can log on or register. It’s in the top right-hand corner. Put your email here and click [Continue]. If you aren’t already on our mailing list, there will be a message “Email not in database” and a button [New User] appears. Click this and follow the dialog to register. It’s free and easy. You should receive a copy every month until you unsubscribe.
Robert has assured me that he will not send begging letters to your email - apparently, he has enough money at the moment. You will not have to put in your credit card number. You will not be charged a subscription.
Tell other genealogists so they can enjoy the newsletters too.
Regards
Regular Contributors
From the Developer
Ensuring
FamNet’s Future
Readers may recall my column from September 2019, in which I discussed a potential long term future for FamNet. I promote FamNet as “Not just where you go to look up stuff, but a repository, a place where you can safely save your story and share it with your friends and family. For this to be true I need to have a way to ensure that it, or at least its data, survives me when the inevitable happens. I had run into some technical difficulties with Plan A, personal immortality, but it seemed that I had a very satisfactory Plan B, in which FamilySearch took over FamNet’s data, preserving it and making it available through FamilySearch. In 2019 I asked you to comment on this and there was NO adverse comment. So we looked forward to working out how to make this happen, and we emailed the contacts in Salt Lake City to set up a test system with which we could experiment. We needed to be able to upload a family tree INCLUDING the scrapbook data – attached pictures, documents, etc. It would simply not work if we had to upload the tree data and then manually upload each scrapbook item, and so we planned on writing a program to upload the data including data. Anybody who’s written computer programs knows that you have to have a test system where you can try out your first program, then reset and try again, and keep trying until finally version 73.8 works correctly. But then there was a deafening silence from SLC.
I tried to find alternatives to FamilySearch, but without success. But fortunately Mike Higgens, my local FamilySearch contact, didn’t give up, and yesterday (31st August) he chaired a Teams meeting at which he, I, and Peter Stirk (a friend who will be doing much of the programming for this) were on screens in New Zealand talking to three people in SLC. So this project is now alive again! And especially exciting for us, one of the people that we were talking to was proposing that FamilySearch “pivot” in directions that make it especially compatible with FamNet. He was very interested in looking at the way that FamNet manages privacy, and the linkage between trees. Who knows, we might even have an influence on the future design of FamilySearch, as we look at ways to accommodate the features of FamNet that still make it unique.
Our (Peter Stirk and I) belief is that, even with what we’ve seen so far, the final home for FamNet’s data will be an improvement on FamNet, with everything important preserved. And it will be free to all!
Battling Covid
Our daughter has just sent us this. I hope you like it – it seems appropriate at the moment. Click here if you want to see more of her work.
Telling your story: Index
1. Writing your story as notes, or with Word.
2. Embedding pictures in Word documents.
3. Saving Documents for Web Publication.
5. Sharing your Story: Managing your Family Group
6. On Line Editing: More Facts, Family, GDB Links
7. Comparing and Synchronising Records
9. Merging Trees. Part 1: Why Bother?
10. Merging Trees. Part 2: Adding Records On-Line
11. Merging Trees. Part3. Combining Existing Trees
12. Finding Your Way Around FamNet (Getting Help)
13. FamNet – a Resource for your Grandchildren
14. FamNet’s General Resource Databases
15. Updating
General Resource Databases
16. Privacy
18. Linking trees
20. Uploading Objects to your Database
21. Bulk-uploading Objects. FamNet
resource: Useful Databases
22. Publishing Living Family on Family
Web Sites
23. Have YOU written your family story yet?
24. Editing and Re-arranging your Family Tree On-line.
25. It’s the Stories that Matter
26. Using QR Codes for your Family History
27. What happens to our Family History when we’re gone?
The Nash Rambler
How
to keep busy during Lockdown
This
month’s column will be a true ramble through things genealogical.
Once again I followed everybody into lockdown. I’m a little less apprehensive because I have had my vaccinations but it is still a scary time. I lost the toss and had to do a supermarket buying trip yesterday and I was very apprehensive. I observed some stupid people including one woman who took off her mask inside the supermarket and refused to put it back on. Some other customers surrounded her and forced her out of the store. Meanwhile I was struggling to find the articles on the list. Hopefully I won’t lose the toss next time.
But at least I have plenty of time to research. I can lose hours of time exploring websites that are on the to-do list for exploring. I thank those people who keep proposing new websites for me to explore. Here are some:
1) I have been working on the Waikaraka Cemetery database. As I have mentioned in previous columns I have entered and corrected nearly 21,000 burial entries. I’m now at the stage of updating the monumental Inscriptions. This was last done in the early 1980s. This will necessitate visiting the cemetery on many occasions and getting “down and dirty” among the headstones in an effort to read and record every inscription. Unfortunately, it is too cold and wet to start this and lockdown forbids it.
Being a lateral thinker I looked up the Find A Grave website for this cemetery and found that 38% of the burials that have headstones have been photographed. So I am working my way back through the database and transcribing the photographs if they exist on this website. This has got to be a good way of updating MIs – in a warm computer room!!!!! Thanks must go to the people photographing cemeteries for this website. I appreciate their work.
You may well ask why I’m not attaching photos to my
database but
a)
I’m
not capable of that
b) the database will become too big (I think).
c) copyright issues probably exist
Then I will proceed to the BillionGraves website which seems to have 2547 images for the same cemetery. If I’m very lucky they will have some Find A Grave hasn’t got.
2)
I
attended the genealogy conference last weekend at the Fickling Centre in Mt
Roskill. Once again I had a wonderful time talking to strangers addicted to
this great hobby and again meeting old friends. My editorial says more about
this event.
The lectures I most enjoyed were the four about Scottish research. As a result of these I have explored the website Scottishindexes.com
I have spent some time reading the articles in the Learning Zone which were the basis for the lectures I attended. I’m now much more informed about Kirk Sessions, Paternity, Poor Law Records, Criminal Records and Mental Health records. If you have Scottish ancestry these articles are a “must read”. Then, of course, I entered my names into the search box and hit the button. I don’t know whether to be sad that none of my Scottish ancestors came up or to be happy that none of them were apparently poor, mad, criminal etc.
3)
This
led me to the Scotlands People website.
I have fallen deeply in love with this website. I initially ventured here so
that I could explore the Kirk Session records and have spent many an hour
deeply in the kirk sessions records. Unfortunately there are none from Aberdeen
county yet but I was successful with Banffshire. I enjoyed discovering a few
antenuptial fornication episodes of my ancestral families. Apparently they
couldn’t wait a month or two, or were very fertile. But it is amazing that
admitting the crime, paying the price and all is forgiven. (No further
discussions on religion will take place). This led me into Scottish BDMs and I
purchased a few more to prove that my research done 30 odd years ago was
correct. I always assumed that this was an expensive exercise but it is not as
bad as I assumed.
4)
I
have just got acquainted with the website Online
Genealogy Index which is the subject of an article in Family Tree magazine
– see Section below. Here you can see all the
websites that have data for an individual parish in England, Wales and Isle of
Man that have parish records online. Once again I lost many an hour chasing
records. Have a play.
5)
Now
that I’m in lockdown I’ll be exploring all the goodies the Auckland Library
have online – see below.
Hopefully this will give you some lost hours of internet exploration.
Good luck and please keep safe.
DNA Testing for Family History
From the editor: Gail has written quite a series on DNA Testing. You will see them all on the FAMNET website and they are a must-read, particularly if you are considering or have had a test done. They are easy to read and not too technical. Click Index so far to see these articles
Finding
your
way through a forest of STRS and SNPS
Part 1 of a 2 part series
At the recent Auckland Expo, I gave a talk on YDNA testing. I was considering the value of STR testing and SNP testing and what the results could mean to a genealogist.
This appeared to be well received and it dawned on me that perhaps Famnet readers might get something out of this.
Acknowledgement and thanks go to
https://learn.familytreedna.com/myftdna-user-guide/ (the FTDNA Learning Centre)
and to
https://dna-explained.com/ (Roberta Estes)
and to
https://isogg.org/tree/ (Ray Banks)
and to
http://scaledinnovation.com/gg/snpTracker.html (Rob Spencer)
and to
https://www.genetichomeland.com/Default.asp
When a male begins testing his Y chromosome with FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA), he usually begins with a Y37 or a Y111 test.
The first two tests in the graphic are part of the STR testing (as are Y12, Y25 and Y67).
STRs are useful genealogically, (especially Y111) as it aids in determining with whom the tester matches within a recent timeframe, of say, the past 1,000 years or so. (Assuming someone else in his patrilineal family also takes such a test).
It is these STR results you see in a YDNA chart in a Surname project (or a Geographic or a Haplogroup project) in the FTDNA data base.
We do not yet see the Big Y STR results in these charts but they are available in the tester’s FTDNA account.
So what exactly is an STR?
An STR is the abbreviation for Short Tandem Repeat.
You might say it is a genetic stutter, or the copy machine getting stuck.
In the example below, we have a short tandem repeat that is 4 segments in length meaning that CT is inserted 4 times more. To translate, if this was marker DYS390 (and it is NOT), you can see why the male would have a value of 5, meaning 5 repeats of CT at that position.
|
|
The following graphic is a small extract from a surname project showing the STR results.
Notice all the values over on the right-hand side? These are the STR results found at each position tested on the Y chromosome.
Notice the Column headings? And their background colours? These have meanings (explained below).
DYS390 is 7 columns over to the right. The men in this graphic all have a value of 24.
Notice all the different surnames? Yet they all have the same progenitor.
Each column heading represents a position on the Y chromosome.
D stands for DNA; Y stands for Y chromosome; S stands for a unique segment and the number is the unique identifier of that position.
The segments consist of nucleotides and their sequences.
Your DNA when represented on paper looks like a string of beads; each bead representing one of the nucleotides.
A = Adenine; C = Cytosine; G = Guanine; T = Thymine
It is the repetition of the sequences that give rise to the STR values that you see on a YDNA chart in a project and it is these values when compared, give rise to the GD (Genetic Distance) between testers.
GD does not mean Generations – it is the difference between values across the spectrum tested.
But what is all this actually telling a genealogist?
Every man who has his Y chromosome tested receives genetic information about his biological father’s direct male line.
That is: him ➤ his father ➤ his grandfather ➤ his great grandfather ➤ his great great grandfather ➤ ➤ ➤ and so on back for hundreds of years.
This is because the STRs, although mutations will occur, remain essentially unchanged through all the generations in that father to father etc line.
This means a match at Y111 with a GD (Genetic Difference) of 0 shows a very close relationship. (e.g. Brothers, or fathers and sons, or uncles and nephews etc.).
The higher the GD value, the more distant the relationship, UNLESS there is another reason for the mutation.
Compare the previous chart with this one - another small extract from the same Surname project – but it is known as a Colorised YDNA chart
In this chart, you cannot see the column showing the place of ‘origination’, but you can see the MIN MAX and MODE.
You can also see which markers are different – made possible by the Min Max mode.
Each colour represents a different distance to the MODE of markers.
It is the comparison of STR values that can tell us if the two male testers are from the same (or a different) biological patrilineal family.
This will be continued, next month…
Gail Riddell
Digging Into Historical
Records
Taita Public Hall Cash Book – Cash donors June 1922
In June 1922 the best amenities in
the Taita district of the Hutt Valley that were suitable for social functions
were the school and the odd barn. Furthermore, they were without power, gas,
water, or sewage facilities. Richard Bartosh (1868-1942), born in Austria,
initiated an informal meeting for the purpose of discussing the best means of
erecting a Public Hall suitable for the residents of Taita. This was held on 07
June 1922, and it was decided to approach Job Charles Mabey (1858-1952) for the
site on which to erect the Hall. At a second meeting, held two days later, it
was reported that a ¼ of an acre had been secured from Mr Mabey. One of the
motions passed at the meeting was “that a few influential residents be
approached with a view of heading the subscription list before the general
canvass of the district took place.” By the end of a third meeting, held on 17
June, over £500 had been promised in support. [1]
The first few pages of the Cash Book record the amounts of money received and from whom. By the end of the month 112 contributors had donated £502 10s. In today’s money this was about $52,000. [2] About 40% of the donors contributed 84% of the funds.
|
Amount subscribed |
£25 |
£20 |
£10 |
£5 |
< £5 |
Totals |
|
Number of donors |
4 |
1 |
20 |
20 |
67 |
112 |
|
Value |
£100 |
£20 |
£200 |
£100 |
£82 10s |
£502 10s |
|
Age of Contributors |
Number of Donors |
Value of Contributions |
Average per Donor |
|
In their 90s |
1 |
£20 |
£20 |
|
80s |
0 |
- |
- |
|
70s |
5 |
£28 |
£5 6s |
|
60s |
8 |
£73 |
£9 2s 6d |
|
50s |
11 |
£41 4s 6d |
£3 14s 9d |
|
40s |
23 |
£132 5s |
£5 15s |
|
30s |
14 |
£40 3s |
£2 17s 5d |
|
20s |
9 |
£27 15s |
£3 9s 5d |
|
Teenagers |
1 |
5s |
5s |
|
Unknown |
30 |
£86 5s 6d |
£2 17s 7d |
|
Businesses |
10 |
£53 12s |
£5 7s 2d |
The dataset is incomplete in that a positive identification has been made for 72 of the 102 individuals.
Of these the oldest contributor at 92 years of age was Reuben King (1830-1929) who had previously spent sixty years travelling regularly in his market gardener’s cart from Taita to Wellington and back. [3] The only teenager to contribute, at 19yrs, was Frederick James Gorrie (1903-1978), the eldest son of Frederick Joseph Gorrie (1879-1941) who contributed £5. The latter, a gardener, had been living in the Taita district for at least 17 years. [4]
Regarding countries of birth: New Zealand (34), England (21), Scotland (5), Australia (2), Ireland (2), Italy (2), Austria (1), Channel Islands (1) and unknown(4). Of the New Zealanders, 21 were born in the Wellington District including 12 born in the Hutt Valley communities. Of the rest: Unknown (5), Otago (3), Christchurch (1), Featherston (1), Otaki (1), Picton (1), Woodville (1).
Alfred Wallace Walters (1858-1933) was born at St Saviour’s, Isle of Jersey and for 25 years he oversaw Quaker Mason’s Garden at Taita. [5] His youngest son, Philip, married Ivy, the daughter of Reuben King; and his son-in-law, Victor Jubilee Pemberton (1887-1960), contributed £5.
Frank Borra (1875-1948) and Frank Ferretti (1885-1974) represented the well-established Italian market gardener community. [6] Of the 32 recorded occupations there were 28 farmers, 19 gardeners and one Horologiographer (a maker of clocks, watches, or dials). The latter was Lower Hutt born Frederick Jenness (1883-1944) of Belmont Road. [7]
The Cash Book provides a reflection of the Taita community at the time and the hall that was built after the initial fundraising is now the Avalon Public Hall at 14 Mabey Road, Lower Hutt. [8] Upcoming plans for celebrating the centenary over the weekend of 14-16 October 2022 include a display at the Hall and a book of some sort outlining its history. Any contributions towards these ends would be very welcome.
From the Editor: To see the full list of Donors go to Dawn’s website and find it. While you are there explore the site
https://www.nzpictures.co.nz/AvalonPublicHall-1922InitialDonors.pdf
[1] Minute Book of the Taita Hall Committee 1922-1931
[2] Reserve Bank of New Zealand Inflation – value of £500 in the 2nd quarter of 1922
https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/monetary-policy/inflation-calculator
[3] Evening Post 24 June 1929 Obituary for Reuben King
[4] 1905-1906 Hutt Electoral Roll
[5] Evening Post 26 Dec 1933 Obituary for Alfred Walters
[6] Alla Fine Del Mondo – To the Ends of the Earth by Paul Elenio (1995)
[7] 1922 Hutt Electoral Roll
[8] Facebook Page: Avalon Public Hall
Pandora Research
Chinese Corner
|
Sam Chiew Lain and
his Tomb Report Written By Heather Bauchop - Report Completed 31-Aug-2004
Lawrence Chinese Graves Historic Area, Lawrence Cemetery. Copyright: NZ Historic Places Trust. Taken By: Chris Jacomb. |
Anne
Sherman
Keeping
up to date
One
thing that is common across most professions and occupations is the need to
keep your skills and knowledge up to date. Lawyers need to know about new
legislation, medics about new treatments and mechanics about new technology
etc., but what about genealogists? Do we need to update our own skills and
knowledge? After all the past never changes – does it? Of course we
do.
The basics of genealogical research may stay relatively the same, so some researchers who rely on experience alone will use that as their argument against attending courses etc. The majority, I would hope, however will see the importance of continuing professional development (CPD). Their training may range from reading relevant books, attending presentations at genealogy shows or taking courses at institutions or local archives centres.
One of the main things I learnt whilst studying for my Post Graduate Diploma in Genealogical, Heraldic and Palaeographic studies was how many subjects are encompassed within genealogy. It is not just the three areas mentioned in the Diploma course title, but many other areas. Research in England and Wales differs to research in Scotland or Ireland due to different local and national government systems, and a variety of different resources they have available. Similarly, research in other countries including America, Australia and those who had been part of the British Empire will also differ. Just as countries have different records, so do different eras and religions. The most commonly used records of England and Wales date from the Victorian period, however Georgian through to Medieval periods require different approaches. Religions outside of the Church of England, such as Methodist, Catholic and Jewish all require different knowledge and skills. In addition, DNA technology, heraldry, palaeography (reading old handwriting), Latin, and historical legal & social issues, currencies, and weights & measures, are all areas any genealogist will come across in their work. No one, no matter how experienced they are, can truthfully profess to be an expert in all aspects of genealogical research, just as a doctor is not an expert in all medical ailments and procedures.
The common phrase “use it or lose it” also applies. No matter how in-depth you have learnt something – if you do not consistently use that knowledge you will start to forget aspects of it. This is why refreshing and updating your knowledge is important.
All researchers have their own specialisms, which may be specific geographical areas (mine is East Yorkshire), time periods, religions, DNA, probate research etc. or reading and transcribing documents. No researcher should rely on that specialism alone as many clients’ ancestries will inevitably cross into other areas. Over the years my client research projects have involved migrations to and from a variety of different countries, and a range of religions. The people I have researched have been criminals, police officers, inventors, homosexuals, suffragettes or deaf. They have ranged from workhouse inhabitants to the wealthy elite, with occupations including agricultural labourers, military personnel, religious ministers, lifeboat men and doctors to name a few. I have a good understanding of most of these areas – but only because I have done the research when I come across something I have not researched before.
It is important that all genealogists continue to learn and refresh their knowledge and skills, as we never know where the research will take us. For this reason, I attend several family history shows or conferences (currently held online) to listen to the huge range of lectures and presentations they have on offer.
More Famous New Zealanders You have Probably Never Heard Of
HInemoa Lucy Rosieur (1910-1940)
Hinemoa Lucy ROSIEUR was born on the
12 April 1910 at Mangonui in Northland to John Henry and Mary Christina
Rosieur née ARNOLD. John Rosieur’s grandmother was Pourewa (Margaret) who had
married Charles COSSILL in 1836 in Waimate, Bay of Islands
After attending school in Mangonui, the family moved to Old Mill Road, Auckland and Hinemoa became a student of the Tait-Morris School of Music. During the early 1920s Hinemoa performed at social gatherings and fundraising events and passed examinations of the Associated Board of the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music, London. She appeared regularly on the 1YA Auckland afternoon concerts on the wireless.
In 1934 Hinemoa won the New Zealand scholarship to attend the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. The judge said “Miss Rosieur had a very fine dramatic soprano voice. The range was good and the voice had full and musical tone, while she also sang with intelligence and feeling.”[1] Others who showed considerable promise, were Miss Sybil Phillipps and Mr C O James, of Auckland, Miss Ruby Sutherland, of Hamilton, and Mr J McCall, of Waihi. While in Melbourne, Hinemoa won the Sun Centenary Aria Contest with Ritorna Vincitor from Verdi’s Aida. Described as singing with “…opulent but well regulated volume and dramatic apprehension. There is excellent compass to this voice, a little disturbed in its use of the vibrato, but exceedingly expressive in it's mezza-vocce. The singer's second choice, The Suidicio, from Ponchielli's La Gioconda, enabled her to express herself with an appealing blend of its dramatic import and its air of resignation."[2] In 1935 she won the Melba Scholarship which had been made under the terms of Dame Nellie Melba’s will. The Australian Women’s Weekly wondered if she would be the ‘New Melba’.
In late 1938, Hinemoa moved to London and recorded for the BBC Empire Broadcasting Programme. When war broke out she commenced nursing at the Maida Vale Hospital, London and was known as ‘the singing nurse’. She also continued her musical studies and in April 1940 was one of the artists who performed in front of the Duchess of Kent in a fundraising all-New Zealand matinee. Besides art, which was auctioned, songs were performed by members of the New Zealand anti-tank unit, and staff of New Zealand House gave hakas, led by Tawera Moana. The orchestra played a specially-written overture by Douglas Lilburn and other artists were Eileen Driscoll, Hubert Carta, Arnold Trowell, Kathleen Levi, Dennis Dowling and Stella Murray.
On the night of 13 September 1940 Hinemoa, who was living at 175 Adelaide Road, Belsize Park, was killed during bombing raid. Buckingham Palace was hit on the same night and it was after this raid that the Queen remarked "I am glad we have been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face".
Hinemoa Rosieur,
aged 27 is buried in a Commonwealth War Graves plot at the Hampstead
Metropolitan Borough Cemetery.
|
|
Bomb damage in Hampstead by the end of the Second World War, 1945 – showing Adelaide Road
https://www.hampsteadheath.net/during-the-wars
[1] NEW ZEALAND HERALD, VOLUME LXXI, ISSUE 21714, 1 FEBRUARY 1934, PAGE 3
[2] AUCKLAND STAR, VOLUME LXV, ISSUE 255, 27 OCTOBER 1934, PAGE 16
Wairarapa Wanderings
Adele
is taking a well-earned break this month
12 Neich’s Lane
Clareville 5713
Guest Contributors
Ken Morris
Ken is taking a break this month.
Diane Wilson
The
Wilson Collection Website
Goodness me how
the time rolls along so quickly. It does not seem so long ago since the last
Famnet was being published
We seem on track
for the new release of the additional indexes for the Wilson Collection. I
could blame Covid for our lateness, and that would be partially right, but to
be more truthful I wanted to complete a run of newspapers. I was thrilled to
index a new issue in Papers Past of the Wairoa Bell. Not a paper with a huge
following and indeed one that had not crossed my path. Lo and behold there was
a magnificent write up of my grandparent’s wedding in Helensville. I always
thought my grandmother’s brother gave her away as her father had died but no,
her grandfather was in charge. I cannot urge you enough to look at the Papers
Past wedding reports. Even those with one line often tell a story.
When the update
happens, and it will be sometime very near the 1st September, Covid willing, we
will then have over 288,000 marriage records annotated with a clue to finding
the marriage place and some death notice indexes, as well as some shipping
lists and other interesting speciality lists. Thank you to Christine Clement
who has shared some of her work.
We have no budget
for advertising so please do spread the word of the Wilson Collection index.
The various groups on Facebook have been excellent in spreading the news and
word of mouth is the main source of communication. As the place of marriage is
the focus of our work now, if you have such information and are willing to
share, please be in touch.
I do not make any
money from the index. It is free so that anyone can afford to have the benefit
of hours and hours of indexing done by so many flying fingers (and some slow
one-finger-at-a-time like me).
Keep safe
Graeme Jury
My Brick
Wall
Part of what stimulated my interest in genealogy was a desire to find the identity of my great grandfather and this is the story of how I have gone about it.
I was pretty green when I started out, but after going down the genealogical path I discovered that this was a forbidden topic in the family, to the extent that my grandfather would not even apply for a job where his birth certificate was required and would not acknowledge his mother at all. I sure wish that he was around now so that I could have a chat to him about his mother. The poor kid was 14 years old at the time she became pregnant and probably didn’t even know what it was about. Just to make things worse, her mother and younger brother were drowned the year before, crossing the Rangitikei river, and her father had to keep working at the sawmill to put food on the table leaving the kids to fend for themselves as best they could. A recipe for disaster.
My grandfather was born in 1875 and no father’s name appeared on his birth certificate. When he married, his grandfather and deceased (drowned) grandmother were recorded on the marriage certificate as his parents. On his death certificate his real mother’s name was recorded and again his grandfather’s name was used as the father’s name. Granddad’s mother married happily and Granddad lived with her and her husband and subsequently some siblings. He was recorded in a newspaper clip as his mother’s husband’s stepson but shame and bitterness drove him away from a really decent and happy family. It must be remembered how destructive it was to be taunted as a bastard in that time period and how screwed up a kid can become over it.
I did a pretty thorough genealogical research, BMD certificates, trawled through Papers Past, the Wises Street Maps, interviewed cousins, tracked down descendants of his step siblings, travelled around the country to meet them but never a clue who his father might have been. Ultimately I came to the conclusion that DNA matching was my only chance. What a learning curve that was! Before taking any tests, I read Gail Riddell’s series of articles as many times as it took to understand what I was reading – which was quite a few – but at the end I felt confident to splash out on tests. I started with an autosomal at FTDNA as I knew that, when I could afford it, I would do a Y-DNA plus an MtDNA test and my sample would be in the bank so to speak. I uploaded to GEDmatch and My Heritage without establishing a subscription and was just able to sneak in to 23andMe before they closed non subscription uploads. I then did a test with Ancestry and subscribed to them and to My Heritage. I could hear the pipes playing over in the hills as I paid for this lot but there is little point in half-doing the job.
I keep my family tree in a program called Gramps which I find is just brilliant and saved my tree as a gedcom which I uploaded to everything I could, particularly FTDNA, WikiTree, My Heritage and Ancestry and made absolutely sure that I linked my DNA test to my tree feeling that I was now well set up to find a match that didn’t fit any of my other g grandparents. After wasting hours going through hundreds of records I came to the realization that I didn’t really know what I was doing where this kind of search was going to take some real analysis and I needed to work with the relevant matches so I re-read Gail’s articles and bought a book by Blaine Bettinger and found how to be more systematic.
Below are the cM I would expect if I could match with each person. These values are taken from the brilliant research by Blaine Bettinger et al and published as a chart titled “The Shared cM Project”.
Great Grandfather 881 cm; Grandfather 1766 cM; Parent 3487 cM; Sibling 2629 cM
With reference to my g grandfather (881 cM)
His child (1/2 G aunt/G Uncle) 432 cM
Their child (Half 1C1R) 226 cM
Their child (Half 2C) 117 cM
Their child (Half 2C1R) 73 cM – I would expect these people to be around 50 years old
Their child (Half 2C2R) 61 cM
In addition my g grandfather’s siblings could be a possible chance of a match.
Sibling (GG Uncle/Aunt) 440 cM
Their g grandchild (3C) 74 – my generation - would be in their 70’s to 80’s
Their child (3C1R) 48
Realistically I am looking at people in the 48 to 74 cM range who could be alive today and have tested, which is further compromised by all the figures quoted being the centre of a range which for example in the case of my g grandfather would be 464 to 1486 with 881 being the usual value. Now it looks as if I could reasonably expect descendants of my g grandfather to be in the range 30 to 100 cM. Bear in mind that 30 cM is getting very close to the area where biological coincidence rather than genetic inheritance could be producing the match so errors could creep in here.
My likely living matches would be half 2nd cousins once removed, or maybe twice removed, and they would carry a similar DNA match to my full 3rd to 5th cousins. Now I don’t know how many matches you have at this level, but it sure made my eyes water when I saw how many I had. Surely I must have a lead here but what a lot of work to go through this lot! Never-the-less into the fray. Remember that I had trees on many sites so I decided to leave GEDmatch alone for now as most of the people from there will have uploaded from the mainstream testers, so I chose to begin with Ancestry.
I figured that by using shared matches I could cut the potential candidates in half by assigning them to either of my parents as appropriate and then discarding one line. There was about 1,000 to go through at 50 per evening and I’m still doing it, but generally it was very cut and dried deciding if they were ancestors of my father or mother as I didn’t have an endogamous relationship in there (I think) although there are some that I can’t link to either parent. Next from the relevant parent I filtered the matches and went through them again looking for the paternal matches and guess what I found – nothing much. Oh well I still have My heritage, 23andMe and FTDNA to go so maybe in there is an answer but I am getting the feeling that I may not find anything although I have not finished Ancestry yet.
There are some 4th to 5th cousin matches which should produce a common ancestor at ggg grandfather level but they don’t. I have built my tree out to 8 generations apart from my missing ggrandfather’s line and nothing matches. These need chasing up so it’s not over yet but I expect to take most of my life to process these obscure possibilities. I guess many of you readers are saying “So what! This is what is called a brick wall – enjoy yours”.
An
Invitation to Contribute:
I have a number of people that contribute occasional articles. These appear irregularly if and when the authors send them to me. I use them to bulk up each month's newsletter. The more we have the more "rests "I can give my much-appreciated regular columnists.
This is a way that a person can get some of their writing published. Of course, we are all writing up our research results, aren't we? I have always said that every genealogist is an expert in some small piece of history, resources or research methods.
We circulate this newsletter to about 7,000 subscribers worldwide but is read by many more as it is passed on to other readers and LDS research centres. Every month I get feedback on my poor attempts at writing and I have now made many "new friends", albeit digital ones. In a few months I hope to meet a few when I waddle along to a few conferences and meetings in England and Scotland. I have even had a few very helpful assistances in my research.
Why don't you contribute an article?
My basic requirements:
1) The column must be in English
2) The column should be no longer than about 1,200 words
3) The article should be emailed to me in a Word document format
4) The subject should be genealogical or historical in nature
Do not be afraid about your "perceived" bad English. The article will be edited, in a friendly manner, by me and then Robert. Then all columnists and a few valuable proof-readers get to read the newsletter before it is emailed out. You’ll be paid $0 for your article, which is on the same scale that Robert and I pay ourselves for editing and publishing the newsletter.
From our Libraries and
Museums
We are offering a forum to our libraries and museums to publicise their events, and to contribute articles to this newsletter that may be of interest to our readers. Auckland Libraries makes good use of this free service, let’s see if other libraries and museums take up this offer.
For readers of this newsletter: please bring this to the attention of your local libraries etc, and encourage them to participate.
Auckland Libraries
Nga mihi | Kind regards
SEONAID
Seonaid (Shona) Lewis RLIANZA | Family History Librarian
Central Auckland Research Centre, Central City Library
Heritage and Research
Auckland Libraries - Nga Whare Matauranga o Tamaki Makarau
Ph 09 890 2411| Extn (46) 2411 | Fax 09 307 7741
Auckland Libraries, Level 2, Central City Library, 44 - 46 Lorne Street, Auckland
Visit our website: www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz
@Kintalk on Twitter / Auckland Research Centre on Facebook
Group News
Whangarei Family History
Computer Group
Contacts:
Wayne:
(09) 437 2881 wayne@bydand.co.nz
Pat: (09) 437 0692 whangareifamilyhistorygroup@gmail.com
Venues
Thursday evening venue is 6 Augusta Place, Whau Valley. Call Wayne or Pat or;
email Whangareifamilyhistorygroup@gmail.com, if you need directions.
Saturday meetings are held in the SeniorNet rooms in James Street.
The rooms are upstairs in the Arcade leading to Orr’s Pharmacy and Tiffany’s Café, Start time 9.30 till finished before 1.30pm.
Waikanae
Family History Group
Contacts: Email: wfhg2012@gmail.com
Venue: Meets every 4th Thursday morning at the Waikanae Chartered Club, 8 Elizabeth Street Waikanae, just over the Railway Crossing from 9.30am to 12 -12.30pm, every month from January to November.
Research days: at the Waikanae Public Library, 10am to 12 noon on second Wednesday of each month.
Waitara
Districts History & Families Research Group
The
contact details of this group are:
Waitara Districts History & Families Research Group
Rose Cottage 33 Memorial Place
WAITARA 4320
Tel: 06 – 754 – 3212
waitarahistory.genealogy@xtra.co.nz
President:- Rona Hooson
Vice President:- Doree Smith
Secretary:- Trish Smart
Treasurer:- Marilyn O’Lander
office:-067543212
News
and Views
|
|
|
Various
Articles Worth Reading
From the Editor: Because of space restrictions and copyright issues I cannot put the complete articles in this newsletter so here are some URLs that are worth looking at:
Now is the time to explore some websites that could be valuable but definitely will use up Lockdown time.
Family Tree Magazine UK https://www.family-tree.co.uk/
Who Do you Think You Are Magazine https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/
NZ Archives website-research guides https://archives.govt.nz/search-the-archive/researching/research-guides
Paperspast website https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers
Have you explored the Magazine and Journals section (which includes my favourite ones – The Police Gazettes) or the Parliamentary Papers?
FamilySearch website https://www.familysearch.org/en/
Don’t forget to sign in or create an account. Have a play around. Click on Search than Research Wiki than go into a region eg NZ and see what is there. Also click on search then catalogue, enter New Zealand in the box and see what’s available to search e.g. probates.
Genuki https://www.genuki.org.uk/
Have you explored this site?
Cyndi’s List https://www.cyndislist.com/
In conclusion
Book Reviews
Help wanted
Letters to the Editor
Improvements to NZ BDM website
From the Editor: I have included this letter not because he is praising my last column, but because he is asking for additional useful addons for the NZ BDM website. Maybe they could also look at mother’s maiden name for birth records, and the Irish system where all historic records are free to view (this is a particular hobby horse of mine).
Wonderful
information about accuracy of records, where you expect to find good accuracy.
I find that one major difficulty with Death information historically can be
that the informants don't know enough about their flesh and blood. Weird
spelling, inaccurate dates and ages ..
It would be great if BDM found some way of linking Death records to Birth
records, so it would be easy to check consistency of names, correctness of
birth dates/ages.
I wonder if
this has been considered?
Many thanks
George
Advertising with FamNet
Every now and then we get requests to put an advertisement in the newsletter. I have therefore created a new section which will appear from time to time. Advertisements will be included only at the Editor's discretion and will be of a genealogical nature.
If your organisation is not a group subscriber then there will be a charge for advertising events and services, which must be paid for before publication. Charges start at $NZ25 for a basic flier, and increase for more elaborate presentations. Like everyone else we need funds to help keep FamNet going. Fees are very minimal. If your organisation paid a yearly subscription you can have all the advertising you want all year round in the Group News section. Your group could be anywhere in the world, not just in New Zealand. The editor will continue to exercise discretion for free events.
A Bit of Light Relief
The oldest computer can be traced back to Adam and Eve.
Surprise! Surprise!
It was an Apple. But with extremely limited memory.
Just 1 byte. Then everything crashed.
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