Family History
April 17, 2018
As Anzac Day approaches each year, I find myself thinking about members of my family who have served their country in war. I’m fortunate enough that my 94-year-old grandfather is still alive, and willing to talk about his experiences. He has also gifted me with the letters he and my grandmother wrote to each other, […]
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November 21, 2017
This week, I interviewed my 94-year-old grandfather about the Second World War, and he told me the story of how he met my grandmother. Technically, the interview was an assignment for an oral history unit I’m completing. My real purpose, though – and why I’m studying a Diploma in Family History at all – is […]
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November 7, 2017
If you’ve been searching for Irish ancestors, then you may be under the impression, as I was until recently, that all genealogical records were destroyed in 1922 when an explosion and fire badly damaged the Public Records Office in Dublin during the Irish Civil War. The destroyed records included Irish census returns, original wills dating […]
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October 3, 2017
Have you ever tried researching your family history? Maybe you’ve been doing it for decades. Perhaps, like me, you made a start several years ago, but life got in the way. Or you might never really have thought about it until recently, if ever. After my grandmother passed away about ten years ago, my mother […]
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September 27, 2016
I’ve just finished a series of workshops with a wonderful group of family historians. We met fortnightly over the space of a term, and I heard some truly extraordinary stories, not only because of the particular people and events included, but also the way in which those stories have been told. This post is partly […]
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September 6, 2016
How long have you been researching your family history? I find family history fascinating, although it’s something I’ve only recently returned to, after an eight-year hiatus during which I turned my attention to the courage and determined women in my book Many Hearts, One Voice: the story of the War Widows’ Guild. Fortunately, I’ve benefited from […]
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