This meme is courtesy of Geniaus.
1. An elusive ancestor I found out more about was James Heeps. When I visited Elmore, Victoria, Australia in January this year I was given two books which gave details of his business and family life in Elmore. I was also able to identify the grave of James and his wife Tamar at the Elmore cemetery from the records held at the Elmore Museum.
Grave of James and Tamar Heeps
2. A precious family photo I found was a postcard sent to me from my cousin Betsy. It is a picture of my Grandma when she was a little girl.
3. An ancestor’s grave I found was – see number one.
4. An important vital record I found was my 2x great grandfather, Heinrich Franz Rudolph Buring’s, christening record.
Heinrich Franz Rudolph Buring Christening
5. A newly found family member, Michael, is sharing precious photos with me. Here is a photo of my 3x great grandmother Tamar Heeps. She is someone I’ve felt close to as I research her life but I never expected to see a photo of her. There were a few tears shed when I received this photo.
Tamar Heeps nee Bodger
Here is the post I wrote about Michael contacting me. https://blog.kyliesgenes.com/2012/08/connecting-cousins/
6. A geneasurprise I received was – see number five.
7. My 2012 blog post that I was particularly proud of was of my 2x great grandfather who I mentioned in question 4.
https://blog.kyliesgenes.com/2012/08/grosvater-buring/
8. My 2012 blog post that received a large number of hits or comments – don’t know
9. A new piece of software I’m mastering is PHPGedView. I like having my own website and I’m getting to know all the ins and outs of PHPGedView.
10. A social media tool I enjoy using for genealogy is Google Plus.
11. A genealogy conference from which I learnt something new was the 2012 Congress here in Adelaide, South Australia.
12. I am proud of the presentation I gave to the Olive Grove group at Croydon United Church.
13. A journal/magazine article I had published – none
14. I taught a friend how to take a screenshot of a web page and save it as a .jpg or .png file.
15. A genealogy book that taught me something new was – Forensic Genealogy by Colleen Fitzpatrick.
16. A great repository/archive/library I visited – I didn’t get to any new libraries this year but in January next year I am going to Canberra, Australia for two weeks and will be spending a lot of time at the National Library and the Archives too.
17. A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was Inside History magazine.
18. It was exciting to finally meet Jill Ball aka Geniaus (who started this meme), Judy Webster, Alona Tester and many others at the Genealogy Congress.
19. A geneadventure I enjoyed was visiting Maryborough, Majorca, and McCallum’s Creek in Victoria, Australia and seeing where my ancestors lived and worked in the gold mines.
McCallums Creek, Victoria, Australia
20. Another positive I would like to share is the camaraderie I feel with other family history researchers and the love and support they showed me when my grandson, Josiah, was sick. Thank you all so much. He’s much better now, his kidneys are no longer inflamed and the blockage is cleared so at this stage he doesn’t require surgery and goes back for another checkup in March 2013.
Josiah
What a great genealogy year you’ve had Kylie! So many discoveries and I’m not surprised that the photo of your 3x great grandmother brought tears. Excellent news that your grandson is doing so much better. I hope you have an excellent year again in 2013.
Thanks Pauleen I’m looking forward to 2013!! 🙂
Congratulations Kylie, you have some great genealogy achievements in 2012. I have lots of family history connections to Elmore too. I hope you have Happy New Year with your family, especially that dear grandson. Best wishes for your genealogy research in 2013.
Thanks Aillin, the books I have on Elmore are “Back To Elmore” Easter 1990, Commemorating the centenary of the Elmore Progress Association 1890 to 1990 and “Garnie’s Corner” Stories of early Elmore as written by Mr Garnet James Lonsdale. I’m happy to look for any references to your ancestors if you’d like. The Elmore Museum is well worth a look and a rummage through their records if you ever get a chance to visit too. All the best for you and your family in 2013. Kylie 🙂
Kylie,
Thank you so much for rising to my geneachallenge. In 2012 you have certainly had some fabulous finds as well as welcoming a new leaf on your family tree.
Meeting up with you and fellow online genimates in person at conferences, seminars etc was also a high spot in my year.
I look forward to hearing of your geneatriumphs in 2013.
Jill
Thanks Jill I enjoy doing the memes when I can. I’m going to Canberra in January so I hope to find lots of info at the National Library, Archives and War Memorial!!!! Kylie 🙂
I love the photo of your grandmother. Do you know where the house is and what it looks like today? Have fun at the National Library.
Hi Sharon, the picture of my Grandma was taken between 1920 and 1924. The address on the post card is Gundawirra, 17 Wellington Rd, North Norwood (Adelaide, South Australia). Wellington Road is now Portrush Road in Adelaide but it’s only a guess that this photo was taken out the front of their house. Have a great 2013, Kylie 🙂
Kylie, the postcard with the photo of your Grandma as a little girl is a real treasure! It was lovely to meet you at the Congress in Adelaide, and I’m so glad you could come to the ‘Genealogists for Families’ team dinner. I hope you enjoy your trip to Canberra. If 2013 goes according to plan, I hope to have some research time there either before or after the NSW and ACT State Conference in September.
Thanks Judy I’m really looking forward to the Canberra trip only two weeks away. Madly trying to prepare all my info and queries for the library and archives.
Maybe you can do a blog post with practical tips for those of us who have yet to do research in Canberra. 🙂
That’s a good idea Judy. It’s been harder preparing for the trip than I thought it would be. All those thoughts of I’d like to look that up at the NAA one day have disappeared. Yesterday I thought of emailing the cousins I’ve been in touch with and seeing if they would like me to look anything up for them also hoping it might jog my memory. I have a list of ww2 soldiers whose records haven’t been digitised yet so I’ll be looking at those and I’ll search on my main tree branches at the archives and the Nat library and go from there.
Great photo in no. 5, Kylie. Although Tamor Heeps is an old lady in this photo, you can still see her young girl looks.
Thanks Maria, being able to put a face to her name has meant so much to me 🙂