Oct 162015
 
Myrtle Doris Weeks abt 1935

Myrtle Doris Weeks was born on the 17th October 1917 at the Brisbane General Hospital to Violet (nee Rollason) and Rupert George Weeks. She was the second daughter, the first being Gladys Evelyn Weeks born 1913.

Rupert & Violet Weeks, Toowong Cemetery

Sadly 29 July 1921, her father Rupert died of tuberculosis, the scourge of society until the advent of the vaccine and treatments. 




Myrtle and Gladys attended Kelvin Grove school the second generation of their family to do so. 

Myrtle enjoyed writing, winning an encouragement award in the Brisbane Courier Children’s day essay competition in 1927 and another in the RSPCA Essay wards in 1930.

The three Weeks women were not well off but were better off than many as Rupert had taken advantage of a Government scheme to allow people on lower incomes to purchase homes. 

Myrtle had met William George Busby in 1930 at the Church for Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints at Wooloongabba which she attended with her grandmother Lucy Rollason. Myrtle’s mother Violet did not want her younger daughter to marry as she felt it would be better if Myrtle would remain and look after her in her later life. Perhaps this fear of being alone was a result of being widowed so young.

It took a  number of years, turning 21, pre-empting the wedding vows and having war declared but Myrtle did indeed manage to marry her Bill on the 11 September 1939. Bill went off to war.

Violet their only child was born in January 1940.
 

May 1946 Violet, Myrtle and Bill “Coming Home”



Mar 082015
 

Today is International Women’s Day and March is Women’s History Month. It is important to celebrate and tell our female ancestors’ stories as often these are not told enough.

Today I am going to show the images of some women of my line.

My Mother Violet Noreen Busby 1940-2012 aged 17

 
My maternal Grandmother Myrtle Doris Weeks 1917 – 2001 aged about 18 

My paternal Grandmother Lilian Maud Philpott 1910-1976 aged 51 at her son’s wedding

My Great grandmother Violet Rollason 1885-1957 before her marriage guessing around 1900, mother of Myrtle Doris Weeks

Another Great Grandmother Alice Jane Lewis 1873-1966 around 1899 mother of Lillian Maud Philpott)

A Great Great Grandmother Lucy Evans 1860-1936 (mother of Violet Rollason) date unknown but guessing around 1900 or so

My Great Great Grandmother Elizabeth Cleaver 1824 – 1898 mother of Richard John Rollason husband to Lucy Evans

These are just some of the women who have contributed to me being me.

Jul 222012
 
Due to the Second World War, my Grandmother Myrtle stayed living with her mother, Violet Weeks, in Violet’s house on the corner of Craig and Cochrane Streets, Red Hill even after her marriage to  William George Busby in 1939. 
Corner of Cochrane and Craig Streets, Red Hill

My Grand-Aunt Gladys and her husband Walter Trost also lived in the house so my mother, born in January 1940, had plenty of relatives at home. Walter was in a reserved occupation and did not go away.


While her husband William was away, in Darwin then New Guinea and Borneo, Grandma worked towards the idea of a home of their own with their daughter, Violet, my mother.


You have heard of girls putting together a Glory Box ready for their marriage? 

Well my Grandmother put together a Glory House!

 
While William was away, Myrtle gradually put on lay-by furniture, and utensils ready for their new home. She used a firm, Trittons,  which was well known in Brisbane, but which sadly no longer exists






Among the treasures Mum and I have inherited were lots of lay-by receipts like the one below.

Grandma made regular payments off items for their future: a bedroom suite, a kitchen dresser and table and more.

Ready for time after the war when they could be a family together in their own home.

It took time after the war. Getting yourself back into civilian life was not easy. Granddad was trying to find out if he could take over the payments of the house which had been lost when his father had an accident but that was not successful. (This is a whole other story that I still need to do further research upon.)


In 1949, this deposit was paid on 1 James Street, Fortitude Valley. The house was owned by William’s uncle Edward Courtenay and it was to become William and Myrtle’s family home for the rest of their lives.

Jul 222012
 
Thanks to Alona who started us on this fabulous Family History Through the Alphabet Challenge.
Education and school days have a strong impact on us and also on our ancestors.
Due to the Second World War my Grandmother Myrtle stayed living with her mother Violet Weeks in the house on the corner of Craig and Cochrane Streets, Red Hill even after her marriage to  William George Busby in 1939. 
My Grand-Aunt Gladys and her husband Walter Trost also lived in the house so my mother born in January 1940 had plenty of relatives at home.

My mother Violet Busby went to the Seventh Day Adventist school, a school close to her home, for her Prep years.

Taken 2 August 1946 Violet is second from the left, front row

People talk a lot today of school fees and Grandma paid a regular fee to send Violet to this school.

From there Mum went to Kelvin Grove State school, the third generation of her family to go to Kelvin Grove, but more about that in another post.

While Mum was going to the Seventh Day Adventist School, she also went to the Seventh Day Adventist Sunday School. The picture below was taken between 1946-1947 at a picnic.

Violet is far right standing in the dress with the embroidery on the chest

Sep 052011
 
Part of the Postcard Album Collection
I have been very lucky as I inherited a number of boxes of documents from my Grandmother, Myrtle Doris Busby nee Weeks, when she died in 2001.

Among these documents are many, many letters from her husband William George Busby when he was on service during World War Two which ranged from Darwin during the bombing in 1942 to New Guinea to Borneo.

2012 is the 70th Anniversary of that event.

My grandfather could  have been a doctor if the quality of writing was the only criteria! One day I will sit down and start transcribing them but not today, although I hope to have some done by the Anniversary of the bombing of Darwin.
Today I am interested in what I am going to do with some postcard albums. Postcard collecting was a popular past-time. There were many different types including local scenes, pretty puppies and kittens, film stars, embossed patterns, celebrating occasions such as Christmas and Easter. and sentimental poetry.
As a family historian what is even more interesting is that the postcards are almost the Twitter of the day as you had to write on them in the restricted space available so less than a letter but still potentially full of genealogical information.
Brisbane Central Station about 1910
I have a number of albums from three of my female ancestors, my grandmother Violet Busby nee Weeks, great-grandmother Violet Weeks nee Rollason and great-great grandmother Lucy Rollason nee Evans.
The first important thing to do was to photograph each page to ensure I had a record of where the cards had been put. These albums are a bit different to a photograph album in that, it is not unusual for the pages to be themed, such as butterflies together, rather than simply in date order. In one album I had ten cards ranging in date from 1909 to 1930 on the same page, the theme was cute kittens.
Happy Eastertide 1912
Dating the Postcard
Check the date written or the postmark if the postcard was posted to get an idea of date.
Another way is to determine the approximate date is by the value of the attached stamp or by the design on the back of the postcard. Dating the postcards when your ancestor hasn’t can be approximated by style of the card such as whether the back is divided into an address field and writing area, copyright date and there are some sites which can help such as this postcard site  Another way is to determine the approximate date is by the value of the attached stamp
The style of card can change depending on the country of origin so that is worth keeping in mind if you are using this to get a date.
There are clubs devoted to postcard collectors so it is worth doing a Google search. Here is  a Queensland club whose pages have some great early Brisbane images.
Used as a Christmas card 1941
So my plans for the postcards?

Well serendipity has played a part as I have just made contact with a descendant of my great-grandmother’s sister who had emigrated to the USA in 1904. 

So I am setting up a blog where I will be sharing Mary’s postcards with my new-found cousin and showing the amazing variety of these postcards to the world (well at least the select few who care to read the blog!)