Sep 042012
 

The celebration of Trove by the blogging meme Trove Tuesday was an idea put forward by Amy Houston, in her blog Branches, Leaves & Pollen  

It is a great idea that was taken up and promoted by Jill Ball better known as Geniaus

Trove is the free digitised Australian newspaper site of the National Library of Australia. You can search a wide range of regional and metropolitan newspapers with ongoing digitisation occurring.

There are many treasures within newspapers and you never know what you may find.

Sometimes it is the start of a whole new trail of investigation.

Harold Richard Rollason,  my great-grandmother Violet’s brother, was born 27 September 1895 in Brisbane. He was the eighth child of Richard John Rollason and Lucy Evans. 

He married Irene Lambert  27 November 1918.

He died 10 June 1922 (from the Queensland BMD indexes) and is buried at Toowomg Cemetery as shown in the Brisbane City Council Grave Location Search

Born, married, died and buried dates, found and all ticked off. Time to research someone else.

Then when doing a trawling search in Trove for Rollason, I came across this little snippet dated 13 June 1922 in the Courier Mail.

You can imagine the solemn scene of a burial about to occur.

Then a telegram is received to say that the deceased’s family want the body to be sent to Brisbane rather than to be buried in Charleville.

The procesion would need to turn around so the body could be embalmed (after all this is two days after the death and it has to go back to Brisbane by train) to be sent back to Brisbane.

So this little snippet told me that Harold was a jeweller and had died in Charleville, both things I hadn’t known. With further research I found Harold had died of pneumonia. His will was at Queensland State Archives and his death certificate and inventory was in with his will. 

Remember it is always worth looking for a will as often you will find the death certificate in the file. 

This  will now save you $37 in Queensland and sometimes marriage certificates and other documents.

Currently the Charleville paper has not been digitised for this period and I have not had time to visit the State Library to look at it on microfilm but it is on my list of things to do.


Trove puts life into our family history. 

I encourage bloggers to join in and take up the Trove Tuesday meme to highlight the wonderful things to be found in newspapers.

What interesting snippets, scandals or celebrations have you found in newspapers?
 

Jul 262012
 
Continuing with Alona’s Family History Through the Alphabet, it is time for K.
Now I must admit, I changed what I was going to write for K when Pauleen of  Family History Across the Seas blog left a comment on my E for Education post that her father also went to Kelvin Grove School.

The school has put online a collection of old school photos They are not named but you may be able to determine your person among the images. Most are listed by year and class name. 

This is a fantastic idea and I hope more schools follow suit, especially as so many people have lost their photos in disasters including the recent floods. 

The school is also hoping that people might be able to provide copies of other photos they might have to go into the archives.


The girl (with the ribbon and light dress) to the right of the lass who is holding the sign, is my mother Violet in 1948 when she first went to Kelvin Grove.

1952 VIB Mr Topping on left Mum is second from left third rowstanding with white collar on what she remembers as a “blue velvet dress”

My mother was the third generation of her family that went to Kelvin Grove. The children of Richard John Rollason (Mary, James, Violet (my great-grandmother), William, Lily, Herbert, Harold and Arthur) all went to Kelvin Grove. 


Then Violet’s two daughters, Gladys and Myrtle went then my mother. My mother was disappointed that I did not follow in the tradition but it was not practicable when I lived on the other side of town.

I have two unknown photos of Kelvin Grove students.

KG III Boys. Guessing around early 1900s Somewhere in there is a Rollason boy!
KG V Unknown year. Possibly Gladys Weeks sixth girl from left second row but we don’t know for sure.

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

Nov 162011
 
Hmm, not quite Saturday but my writing is done when I can find some time.
Thomas MacEntee has revived Craig Manson’s 2009 Meme. It is a great one to redo as it really publicises the names we are researching. The names  will be picked up in Google and other search engines which will hopefully then lead to new cousin contacts where hopefully they do actually contact you! (Of course you have made it easy for them to contact you by having contact details on your blog or at the very least having a comment option?)
A slightly perplexed moan here: I have put some photos up on Ancestry to share and while I don’t mind people copying them (after all that was why I put them there). I still don’t understand why those same people don’t contact me and ignore me when I contact them. Do they seriously believe that is all the information I have on that person or family?
Back to the Meme and How This Meme Works
To participate, do the following at your own blog and post a link back on Thomas’ blog in the comments:
1. List your surnames in alphabetical order as follows:
[SURNAME]: Country Town/State or County/, date range
as in:
AMOS surname: England, ( Kent, Molash) 1820- (Kent Selling) 1820+

BUSBY surname: England  (Oxfordshire, Coombe, Oxford) 1760+ Australia (Queensland, Brisbane) 1882+

CADWALLADER surname: England (Shropshire) 1790-

CARTER surname, England (Sussex, Northiam) 1803, (Kent,  Lydd, Brabourne, Sellinge, Boughton Under Blean) 1860+

CLEAVER surname: England (Warwickshire, Coventry) 1800s

COURTENAY surname: Ireland (Monaghan, Scotstown) 1846, Australia (Queensland, Toowoomba, Brisbane) 1865+

CULLEY surname: England (Cornwall, Mabe) l840+

CULLICOAT surname: England (Cornwall, Mabe) 1840-

EVANS surname: Wales (Radnorshire, Rhayader) 1830-, England (Middlesex, Enfield) 1840+, Australia (Queensland, Brisbane) 1865+

HAMER surname: England (Shropshire, Ludlow) 1780+

HOWARD surname: England (Buckinghamshire, Great Marlowe) 1760+, England (Buckinghamshire, Woburn) 1816, England  (Oxforshire, Summertown) 1840+

JELLEY surname: England  (Middlesex, Enfield) 1765+

LEWIS surname: England (Shropshire, Pontesbury, Church Stretton, Ludlow) 1790+

LONGLEY surname: England (Sussex, Northiam) 1740+

MCATAVEY surname: Ireland (Monaghan) 1846

NICHOLLS surname: England (Cornwall, Mawnan, Mabe and Stithians) 1700+

PHILPOTT surname: England (Kent, Saltwood, Hythe, Tonbridge) 1780+, 1840+, 1910+

PLUMRIDGE surname: England (Berkshire, Abingdon) 1720+ (Oxfordshire, Oxford) 1820+, Australia (Victoria, Geelong) 1850+

QUESTED surname: Anywhere, Anytime, One Name Study registered with Guild of One Name Studies

ROBINSON surname: England (Middlesex, Enfield) 1720+

ROLLASON surname: England (Warwickshire, Foleshill) 1720+ Australia (Queensland, Brisbane) 1863+

SMITH surname: Lucky me, I have  nine lines of Smith but the main one is England (Kent, Lower Hadres) 1800, (Kent, Boughton Under Blean and Hernhill) 1820+

TREMAYNE surname: England (Cornwall, Constantine) 1750-

WEEKS surname: England (Cornwall) 1790+, England (Devon, Plymouth) 1820+

WILLS surname: England (Cornwall, Perranuthnoe)  1680+

WINN surname: England (Cornwall, Constantine) 1770+

2. At the end, list your Most Wanted Ancestor with details!

While I always want to know more about all my ancestors my most wanted Ancestor is actually a marriage and a late marriage, during civil registration, at that:

William PHILPOTT born in 1838 in Cheriton, Kent marries Sarah MORGAN born in Llansafried, Wales. Well we assume they marry somewhere around 1858 as their first child was born in July 1859 in Folkestone, Kent. They go on to have another 12 children in Saltwood and Hythe (two of the other supposed children were actually her daughters’ children). William dies 3 Military Terrace, Hythe in 1898. Sarah dies there in 1912.

Per the 1911 census where it asks ‘how long have you been married in your current marriage’ Sarah says “37 years” which would make a supposed year of marriage 1874 (Sarah signs the form, so possibly it is the truth or they never married). William does die in 1898 so it would also depend if Sarah still considered herself married or not in 1911 (my mother still considers herself married even though Dad died seven years ago) in which case the marriage may have been 50 years previously eg 1861 if my maths is right?

William was employed as a groom in his early days so it is possible that they met while he was in service., as it is interesting that they come from different sides of the country.

I would love some fresh eyes on this as I have looked for this marriage for a number of years. I did a search from 1858 to 1898 which is when William died.

 It is possible that Sarah was previously married which would muddy the waters somewhat. Unfortunately Philpott, while not Smith is still not an uncommon name, especially when you add in a possible marriage anywhere in the country or even possibly out of it!


Aug 102011
 

The Brisbane Exhibition started as the ‘Intercolonial Exhibition of 1876″ and was originally held in Bowen Park.

Planning began a couple of years before with the ideal to “embrace not only the pastoral and agricultural interests, but industrial products, the fine arts, and objects of general value, so that the importer and manufacturer could come in side by side, and assist not only in promoting their own interests, but those also of the whole colony.” (Queenslander 13 Feb 1875)

It was held over five days and an estimated 15 000-17000 people visited. As Brisbane’s population was around 20 000 at the time if your ancestor was in Brisbane there is a good chance they would have gone and seen the produce and entertainment on display.

Since then it has gone from strength to strength with the finest produce, animals, crafts and skills on display.  Check out Trove to see if  your family ever won a prize at the Show?

My great-grandfather, George Howard Busby acted as a recruiting Sergeant during Show week in 1917.

The show-bags or as my Mother called them, sample bags, because when she was a child they contained samples of everyday products. My Mother did grow up during World War 2 so this may have been a sign of the times  with the show-bags 

This picture is of Heather Rollason and a friend probably late 1930s early 1940s with a number of those sample bags! If you look  closely you will see one of them is a Cadbury bag which you will still find available today. In fact, Cadbury has six bags, ranging from $4 to $20 available at this years Show.

The Show did not become the “Royal” show until 1921 under warrant from His Majesty King George V.

Did you know that the Animal Nursery which is now a firm family favourite only started in 1964? You can see more highlights and a timeline of the RNA for when our favourite exhibits first started.

In 2008 Joanne Scott and Ross Laurie released the book:

Showtime: A History of the Brisbane Exhibition.

 304 pages packed full of information on the history of a well-loved Brisbane institution, available from UQ Press.

Who can forget their first visit to the Show? The noise and screams of Sideshow Alley, the many goldfish who went home in plastic bags?

Then there was the famous strawberry topped ice-cream, the wonderful Tasmanian chips which sadly are no longer available and fairy floss. We used to wait all year for the fairy floss while today it is easily found at the Sunday markets.
The amazing cakes, beautifully and meticulously decorated, the fine handicrafts, the copy-books from the school-children. The fruit displays where you would look to see what image had been made this year and you would dispute which was the best display!

Then the walk through the animal pavilions to see the well brushed  animals, the size of the cattle and the amazing Clydesdale horses. Who would ever have thought there were so many breed of chickens!

Then out to lunch and watch the Grand Parade followed by the sheep-dog trials then off marvel at the speed of the wood-choppers and so on until you had covered every foot of the grounds. Then evening starts to fall and that can only mean one thing: the evening entertainment followed by what we had all been waiting for, the Fireworks!

The presenter would get the crowd to yell for their favourite colour, which would go highest? Red or Green or Blue? The many bright flashes of colour which seemed to over all too soon, then it was time to gather all the sleepy children and head home.

Today you can have all of the traditional things and also Rock concerts, Firemen Calendars which raise money for very worthwhile causes, a wide range of food and entertainents.

The Ekka is many things to many people and has changed with the times while still retaining the many things which make it the EKKA.

Today you can even download the free Ekka app from iTunes. You can use it to plan your event schedule, explore the Ekka map, search for your favourite ride and showbag or follow an exciting trail for your chance to win prizes.

So are you going to the Ekka this year?

Aug 012011
 
It is nearly census time again. Census night is the 9 August 2011. 
In Australia censuses have been held every five years in recent times. Unfortunately only the statistical information has been retained rather than the genealogical information we would like to see so make sure you tick Q60 to retain the census pages for our descendents.
In 2001, the first time the opt-in system was offered, 54%of Australians ticked the box. If even higher numbers tick this year, there  maybe a chance it could become an opt-out system rather than the current opt-in system.
 I have photocopied my previous filled in census forms so at least I have a copy of the information among my family history papers and will do so again this time.
The first Down-Under complete census was held in November 1828 in New South Wales which included the whole Eastern coast at that time.  Previously the people were mustered together and counted. There were some concerns that it was not legal to force people to muster so another way was found. 
The new census was taken by specially appointed collectors who completed printed forms for each household in the territory allotted to them. The forms were given to the local Magistrates who checked them abstracted the required information and then sent it to the Colonial Secretary. Unfortunately the forms do not survive.The information was gathered together, statistics extracted and the final returns made. In 1881 there was a white population of 36 598 of whom just over 20 000 were non-convicts. At this time there were three men to each woman in the Colony.
1881 census in the Colonies of Australia
The 1881 census was held throughout the British Empire and showed the young colonies had had a major population explosion since 1828 as seen in this table from Wikipedia.
 
The Australian census was hopefully more accurate than a census taken in 1821 on the other side of the world as seen in the following letter (NLW: Bute L 74/15) from J. B. Bruce of Dyffryn, one of the Aberdare gentry, to the Marquis of Bute, lord lieutenant of Glamorgan:

March 9, 1831

My dear Lord Bute,

The census of 1821 was scandalously taken at Merthyr by a drunken clerk of the friendly societies. It is well known that whole families forbid & concealed themselves fancying a militia drawing.

His account of £10 houses was 264, which the very rate-book in that year w’d have shewn him (had he taken the trouble to inspect it) to be 373!

The census has been accurately taken this week, having been divided into districts for that purpose, & has been sworn before me this day to be 26,350 in the parish of Merthyr alone, and there are 2000 not included in this census, in a suburb called Coed-y- Cummar, parish of Vainor, county of Brecon, all of whom work in the Cyfarthfa works being only separated from them by the Taff. The vestry clerk has also sworn to 638 houses rated at £10 & upw’ds, not including 71 at the afores’d suburb. […]

Or this one from a census enumerator in1861
Thomas Mullinger finally signed his Declaration, covering some 573 Schedules

for part of Somers Town, one of the poorest and most populous areas of St.Pancras, on 13th.May, 1861, a month late. He writes RG9/113 fol.69b.

“A great portion of my District being Unchurched, Ignorant and Prejudiced I have great trouble and delay in Gathering in the Schedules at all, and when  gathered in they so abounded in Inaccuracies of the most surprising and puzzling description, I have been obliged to return them for Revision, and  generally to supply eventually Fresh Schedules, to Replace ] the Schedule as amended by myself will at once establish these Facts and I most respectfully submit these annoyances and Hindrances most Materially account for the Late Date in my Declaration.

Thomas Mullinger”
A report by a 1901 Census Enumerator in England was given in the Derbyshire Times on the 6th April 1901 and is worth a read. It may explain why some of our ancestors are missing!
Now Back in 2011
Soon the envelopes will arrive by post, will be filled in by a literate population and  will then be posted back (or retrieved electronically if you fill it in online) and the results will be tallied. A major change from the past! I wonder what my Great-Great-Grandparents Richard and Lucy Rollason would have thought if I could go back to them in 1881 as they were completing the census and tell them how we will do it today.
 
It would be interesting to see the major changes of occupations from 1901 to 201. So many of the trades followed by my ancestors have changed significantly. There are also so many new occupations that would seem very peculiar to them such as Mobile Phone Ring Tone Designer, App designer even my own profession of Molecular Epidemiologist!
There have also been so many changes in religion. I wonder how many Jedi Knights there will be in this census?
Remember, to give our descendents, some of the pleasure we have found in viewing old census pages and seeing our ancestors and the snapshot of their lives, please tick Q60 to retain the census.