Tracing Family Branches

My husband ended up ordering an Ancestry DNA kit for me and the results came in yesterday!  I was surprisingly impatient with it all and the longer it took in the analysis phase the more convince I was that it had failed.  The wait which was not really that long at all (Ancestry received my completed DNA kit on September 30th and I had the results online on the 19th October) however did give me time to further evaluate how I would handle surprise relatives or unexpected results, which can and does happen but did not so far in my case.  My husband did however have two unexpected close family connections, we reached out and one replied who was searching for a biological parent after getting unexpected results themselves a couple of years ago.  Together we went through my husbands tree and found the likely connection and last we heard they were having more testing done to establish the exact nature of their relationship. The stress, emotional turmoil and unpredictability of people’s react

My husbands Ancestry DNA test results came back and we were not surprised with the ethnicity estimates.  We know he has a very diverse Ancestry with family members crossing cultural and country boundaries frequently.  So far the results have matched him with 159 4th cousins or closer, most of whom seem to fall in the unknown zones of his family trees unfortunately.  I am looking forward to trying to place the matches in his trees and to unravel everything more over time!  I am now also very curious to do my own DNA test in the near future, especially after hearing that a huge brick wall has recently been knocked down by distant relatives getting theirs done!

Well I may have been procrastinating about exploring my genealogy through DNA but my husband wasn’t! After we talked about it he unbeknownst to me ordered an Ancestry kit (so I was totally surprised when he received it yesterday) completed it last night and has posted it off this morning. It will be very interesting to see his results! His family are a little bit of this and a little bit of that from around the world ethnically, so the ethnicity results should be interesting.  Also at present I have a number of brick walls that I would like to knock down in his trees and it would be wonderful if this helps me to do so 🤞🏻 We are both very aware though that it could just open up Pandora’s box instead and that I might need to scrap elements of my research for his trees and start again due to the results.  Let’s face it people are not always honest or ethical now so why should we expect previous generations to be any different 😮 😉

I had such great intentions to keep my blog updated at least monthly in 2019 but life unfortunately got busy and time started to slip away from me yet again.  This year in particular seems to be going by at an accelerated pace! My daughter has finished her maternity leave recently and returned to full time work, so I have restarted looking after my grandchildren while their parents are at work again.  I have been loving every minute of my time with them and feel truly blessed to get to be a part of their lives in this way.  The four of them are a constant source of wonder, enjoyment and delight and I love them all beyond measure! So with my weekdays rather full now, my research and blog are more of a weekend thing for me and I have been a little sidetracked with that lately.  My son in law got his Ancestry DNA test done a couple of months ago and I found it fascinating to match up the rough tree I had done for him and the results he got back from his test.  I actually happy danced

Today's post involves my 3rd Great Uncle James Alfred Guymer.  James died on the 6th December 1892 at Baw Baw, three days after his wife Hannah Dolphin nee Jones, leaving their daughter Ada an orphan.  His father Alfred Guymer was nominated as his estate administrator.  More information on them can be found here , here , here  and here . Source: PROBATE JURISDICTION. (1893, January 20). New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900), p. 543. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220965002 Transcript: In the Supreme Court of New South Wales. PROBATE JURISDICTION. In the estate of James Alfred Guymer, late of Breadalbane, in the Colony of New South Wales, farmer, deceased, intestate. APPLICATION will be made, after fourteen days from the publication hereof, that administration of the estate of the abovenamed deceased may be granted to Alfred Guymer, the father of the said deceased. DAVIDSON & JOHNSON, Proctors for the Administrator,

Today's post involves my 2nd Great Aunt Bridget Greene nee Stevens husband William James Greene.  He was the son of John and his wife Pamaly Greene nee Curll and was born in Gundagai, New South Wales in 1870.  In 1897 he married Bridget Stevens and together they had seven known children.  Bridget apparently died somewhere around 1915 (see more here ).  William then ended up in Queensland where he married for the second time to a Mary Florence Levy in 1916.  William and Mary had two known children.  William is recorded as being buried at the Wagga Wagga Monumental Cemetery, location Roman Catholic No. 2a, however his grave is unmarked. Source: Family Notices (1931, April 29). Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga, NSW : 1911 - 1954), p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article142770263 Transcript: FUNERAL NOTICE THE Relatives and Friends of MRS. WILLIAM JAMES GREENE and FAMILY, of The Rock, are kindly invited to attend the funeral of her late dearly beloved husband and

I took a research trip to the Wagga Wagga Monumental Cemetery to see where Laura Stevens (see post here ) was buried.  My efforts to try and confirm that she is my missing relative have thus far not been successful.  The cemetery authorities have no record of her burial in this cemetery (see here ) and there is no marker for her grave there either.  I was informed that that council only took over management of the cemetery in 1969 and prior to that the records were maintained by the various Churches with many records being lost or poorly kept.  Many of the graves in this cemetery are unmarked or in such a state of disrepair that you can no longer determine who is buried in that position. I was not surprised that Laura Stevens grave was unmarked as she was a cook and laundress at Oberne Station, Humula and no family were with her when she died.  The Deputy Coroner had filled out her death certificate with most of her personal details being recorded as not known and she had been buried

Today's obituary is for my 3rd Great Uncle James Alfred Guymer.   James (also known as Fred) was born c.1858 in New South Wales, Australia, the son of my 3rd Great Grandfather Alfred Guymer (see more here ) and his wife Hannah Maria nee Jones. He married my 3rd Great Aunt Hannah Dolphin Jones from my Jones/Quigg line (see more here  and  here ) c.1879 in New South Wales, Australia.  James died on the 6th December 1892 at Baw Baw, New South Wales, three days after his wife Hannah leaving their only known child Ada an orphan (more information on Ada Guymer can be found here ). James was buried on the 7th December 1892 at Thurlow Methodist Church Cemetery, Baw Baw which is also known as Baw Baw Cemetery (see here ). Source: Sad Death. (1892, December 6). Goulburn Evening Penny Post (NSW : 1881 - 1940), p. 2. Retrieved  from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article98477645 Transcript: Sad Death. A DEATH under peculiarly sad circumstances has to be reported.  On Saturday last we

Today's post involves my 3rd Great Grandfather Joseph Dolphin Jones and his appointment to the Public School Board at Eling Forest in 1874.  More posts involving him can be found here . S ource: GOVERNMENT GAZETTE. (1874, September 2). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13347198 Transcript:  GOVERNMENT GAZETTE. THE following notices appear in the Government Gazette published yesterday :- The undermentioned gentlemen have been appointed additional members of the Public School Boards of the Public schools established at the places specified in connection with their names respectively, vis :- Lower Mittagong - Mr. Joseph Wallace  Bowling Alley point - Messrs. William Henry Stephens and Robert Cummings, Liverpool - Messrs. Charles Ambrose Scrivener, Peter Taylor, William Frederick Thomas, and George Stowart, Mitchell's Creek - Mr. Samuel Shumack.  Parkes - Messrs. Henry Harry Cooke, J.P., Alexander Ke

Today's obituary post is for my 3rd Great Aunt Hannah Dolphin Guymer nee Jones.  Hannah was the daughter of Joseph Dolphin Jones and his wife Annie Louisa formerly Mitchell nee Quigg (see more here ).  A post about Hannah's daughter Ada can be found here and one mentioning some of her grandchildren here . Hannah was buried at Thurlow Methodist Church Cemetery, Baw Baw on the 4th December 1892 (see here ). Source: Obituary. (1892, December 5). Goulburn Herald (NSW : 1881 - 1907), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article103405561 Transcript: we have also to record the death of Mrs. Guymer, wife of Mr. James A. Guymer of Baw Baw, who died at her residence on Saturday morning.  The cause of death was inflammation of the lungs supervening on what is believed to have been influenza.  Deceased was thirty-six years of age, and leaves a husband and one child, a girl about thirteen years of age.  The funeral, which was well attended, took place yesterday afternoon,

With Beechworth and its surrounding area featuring prominently in my family history and this past Valentine's Day marking the one hundred and sixty four year since my 4th Great Grandfather murdered my 4th Great Grandmother Catherine Rhall near there (see posts here ,  here , here and  here ) I thought that I would post some of our family photographs from trips we taken there over the years.  While it has changed greatly since the days when James and Catherine and family lived there Beechworth is one of our favourite places and I have so much more exploring and research I want to do there when time allows!  Other posts of mine mentioning Beechworth and surrounds can be found here , here , here  and here .  More information on Beechworth can be found here . Beechworth Beechworth Beechworth Beechworth Beechworth Beechworth Beechworth Beechworth Beechworth Beechworth Beechworth Lake Sambell, Beechworth Lake Sambe