By using the Lost Cousins service I wrote about in my last blog post I’m finding gaps in my research.  This has been a really helpful process to identify these gaps which I didn’t realise existed previously.  Now I can make a list of them and work on filling them in.  There are families who aren’t present in census’ I would expect them to be in and individuals too.

I’m working on being a bit more organised in my research this year which is hard for me but I want to do it.  I need to buy some plastic sleeves and some more drop in files for my archive box, well now that I think about it I might need more than one archive box also!!!  🙂  I thought that by creating my family tree online I would have less paper records etc but I don’t think so.

I came across Lost Cousins a while ago, subscribed to their newsletter but didn’t use their website.  I started using their site over the holidays and am already in touch with a new cousin and have new information to add to my tree!!!

It took me a little while to understand the Lost Cousins service and the premise behind what they’re doing.  It is completely different from any other genealogy service I’d used before.  It is definitely best to read their ‘howto’ first.  You input details of your ancestors who appear in the following census’

• England and Wales 1841
• US 1880
• Canada 1881
• Scotland 1881
• England and Wales 1881
• England and Wales 1911
• Ireland 1911

and the Lost Cousins service matches your data with other site users.  As I said I’ve made one useful contact already and I haven’t finished inputting all my data.  It’s easy to use once you get the hang of it.  The newsletter is well worth getting too!

I love this song and this version of it is great!  My previous post is about my great, great grandparents John and Catherine Reid.  They lived for a long time in Galston, Ayr, Scotland.  They were involved in mining iron ore and coal.  I don’t know if John was a blacksmith for the town or the mine however his son Andrew was a Pit Justice Man when he was only fourteen.  From what I’ve read the pit justice man weighed the buckets of iron ore to make sure that the miners were being paid the correct amount for their work.

William and Elizabeth Willison, nee Reid, (my great grandparents) lived with John and Catherine when they married and William worked as a Coal Pit Bottomer in Galston before coming to South Australia.

I hope everyone’s had a good Christmas, mine was lovely, spent with family and friends. 

Using www.ancestry.com.au for my tree each person has a profile page and there are several tree views as well.  I find this great to use for recording all the data for individuals but I also wanted to be able to see a whole family’s details and movements combined.  I’ve been working on a timeline for one particular family in my tree.  It’s helped me place all the members of the family in their correct places throughout time and it’s highlighted what I don’t know about each of the family members too.   The timeline is of my great, great grandparents John and Catherine Reid nee Burnet and their family.  I’ve uploaded it to Google Docs if anyone wants to have a look at it.  Does anyone else use timelines to help them with their research?

While I was working on this family I found both John and Catherine’s death registrations on Scotland’s People.  Catherine’s parents are listed as William Burnet and Christina Sim.  John’s parents are listed as James Reid and Christina Syme.  I’m wondering if this was a mistake or if these are two different people or the same person.  Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to clear this up.  I haven’t been able to find birth records for either John or Catherine.

Thanks to Michael for the comment on my previous post, I hadn’t heard of this event.

The National Archives of Australia has a free event, Shake Your Family Tree
on 25 February 2011 in each capital city.  There are programs for each city available for download on their site.

In Adelaide there will be, “Ask The Experts”, access RecordSearch, State Records, State Library, SA Genealogy & Heraldry Society, and a seminar “Unexpected discoveries in the Archives – learn more about family history resources in the National Archives” with Sara King.

I’m looking forward to attending this event!

From the Gould Genealogy blog:

The UK’s first ever Start Your Family Tree Week will be launched on December 26. It’s Britian’s first ever family history awareness campaign, and is supported by Find My Past, Genes Reunited, the Society of Genealogists, the Federation of Family History Societies, Eneclann, My-History, Pen and Sword Books, Your Family Tree Magazine and BBC Who Do You Think You Are Magazine, Family Tree Magazine and Martha Lane Fox.

This follows results of a survey showing that 42% of the population have started researching their ancestors. The week is designed to make the most of the internet to discover family history.

From Boxing Day 2010 right through to New Year’s Day there’ll be special offers and activities available every day, including free getting started guides, printable charts, discounts, competitions, and lots more.

I think this is a great idea and I’d like to see Australia take this up too!  We can all encourage our friends and family to start researching their family history!!

If you’re not researching your family you can start by writing down your personal details – date of birth, marriage, children and then go on to your siblings, parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles.  Just put in as much as you know.  You can download a pedigree chart to start recording, use an online family tree like ancestry.com.au or download a free family tree software program for your computer.  As it says in the above article there will be free getting started guides and printable charts available from various genealogy vendors.  It’s worth reading the whole article and following the links to help you get started with your family tree.  If you do decide to start your own family tree I’d love it if you’d leave me a comment!  Also if you have any questions I’ll try and answer them too!!  🙂  All the best in your research!!!