Knowing our family history

Back in the 1990's our son was sent for genetic testing with regards to his Autism. Sitting in the specialists office my husband and I realised how little we knew about our family history. As far as we knew back then, my husband was a mix of Dutch Indonesian, Portuguese, Japanese, Austrian and Scottish ancestry while I believed my family were predominately Irish with some Scottish on my mother's side. The specialist actually commented that I had a face like a road map of Ireland!
To us our family trees were tiny saplings with a couple of branches and questionable root systems. I could tell you that one of my Great Great Grandmothers was almost 105 when she died in the 1970's, that a Great Great Grandfather was a hero during the Gundagai floods and found a major gold mine but I couldn't tell you their names or any other details about them. My husband's family was even more of a mystery! The Second World War, civil unrest, death, divorce and discord had all impacted on his family and some of his Grandparents details were all that we knew. We both left the meeting determined to find out more, we would get in touch with family and sort it out in no time at all!
That was the beginning of my journey to know my family history. Today the journey continues and it has become a passion and lifelong research project for me now.

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The Kendall Children.

I started this post a while ago and was going to finally finish and post it yesterday however our four grandchildren came over and I got sidetracked. Our grandchildren range in age now from six down to one; they are so full of life (each of them lights up a room when they enter it) and we feel extremely blessed to have them in our lives. After spending the afternoon researching this post, their arrival made this tragedy even more poignant for me and so I appreciated their company even more than usual and hugged them a bit tighter too! This morning I woke up to a cold, wet and windy Wagga day and the thought of three little girls out in August weather like this, in light weight dresses with no shoes or jumpers impacted on me even more. Those poor babies! One of the girls was found still clasping her doll that she had carried with her over the whole tragic journey. When my husband and I were looking around the Wagga Wagga Monumental Cemetery some time ago we came across a very sad he

Trove Tuesday - The Murder of Patrick McCooey

These articles involve my 5th Great Grandmother Ann Puckeridge (nee Maund) and her son William Puckeridge (my half 4th Great grand Uncle). Ann was born in England and married her first husband Joseph Puckeridge around 1796. There are records of two children being baptised in St Marylebone, Middlesex, England for this couple Sarah (1799-?) and James (1800-?). Their lives took a turn in 1800, when Joseph was sentenced to death for stealing scotch ticking, this sentence was later remitted to transportation for Life. In 1801 Joseph, the convict and Ann his free wife arrived in Australia on board the ship Earl Cornwallis , their English born children's fate is unknown. They went on to have the following children in Australia: William (1802-1877), John (1804-1885), Ann Sawyer nee Puckeridge (1806-1882), Mary Ann (1809-1818), Richard (1812-1881), Joseph (1814-1857) and Henry (1817-1819). Joseph worked as a brickmaker in Australia and died in Sydney in 1818. In 1820 Ann married J

Trove Tuesday - Death of a Centenarian

The year I turned twelve my Great Great Grandmother Flora Ann Worldon nee McDonnell passed away just two months short of her 105th birthday. She was born at the Inn owned by her Father and Uncle at Five Mile Creek, Gundagai in 1875; the ruins of which can be still seen today near the 'Dog on the Tuckerbox' and lived a full and interesting life. Growing up she had always been part of the family folklore. I have always known her to be my oldest ancestor at the time of their death but now it seems that my 5th Great Grandmother Ann Costello nee Hogan at 105 years of age has overtaken her for top ranking. There do seem to be some embellishments and discrepancies in the article however, she had been in Australia for only twenty nine years not over half a century and her immigration files have her birth year c.1798 rather than c.1782 that would be required for her to die in 1887 aged 105, so more research is required for verification of her exact age. Source: DEATH OF A CENT

Tracing Family Branches

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