Thanks to Jill from GeniAus for kicking us off in 2020 with her Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2019.
1. An elusive ancestor I found was Les Snider, a half-brother to my grandfather, George Millard Kerville. I only found him because the boy's mother, Marion Snider, was advertising in the Melbourne newspapers for my great-grandfather, Leo Brenell Gabriel, to claim child maintenance from him. The poor little mite died at six weeks, only two weeks after the Police Gazette entry. He was admitted to the Receiving Depot for Neglected Children at Brunswick, Victoria. Very sad.
2. A great newspaper article I found was in the Kyneton Observer in 1875, where my great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Ambrose, was sent to gaol for 14 days for house-breaking and larceny. She was 16 years of age at the time. More research required!
3. A geneajourney I took was all the way to London for my first RootsTech!
4. I located an important record: rates assessment notices for a property my 4G-aunt, Helen Brownlow Dixon Cruckshank, used as a boarding house in Macquarie Street Sydney in the late 1800s. I'm writing her biography at the moment. I say at the moment, but it's been five years in the pipeline. I'm determined to have it finished by the middle of January when my three-year university course starts.
5. A newly found family member, Marilyn, shared information on her ancestor, who is a brother to my ancestor. Then I was lucky enough to meet up with her at DNA Down Under in Sydney in August. Another newly found cousin was Penny, a descendant of convict Esther, from England but living in Finland. She flew to London to meet me, which was fabulous. Also Bella, another one of Esther's descendants. She lives in England and we spent my last day there visiting some churches as well as Bevis Marks Synagogue.
6. A geneasurprise I received was a distant DNA match with genealogy & Facebook friend Maureen.
7. My 2019 social media post that I was particularly proud of was consolidating many years of research and speculation into a blog post about the 16 children of my ancestor, Esther Salamon Spencer.
8. I made a new genimate who lives nearby, Regina. We met up prior to travelling to London. Before our lunch date I thought "Do I really have time for this?", but when we did meet we had a million things in common & I'm so glad I made the time.
9. A new piece of technology or skill I mastered was DNA painting, thanks to Jonny Perl's website.
10. I joined the crowd of Aussies going to RootsTech, along with my 3rd cousin Cheryl. We had a fantastic time.
11. A genealogy education session or event from which I learned something new was RootsTech London!! What an amazing experience in so many ways.
12. A blog post that taught me something new was: all the posts written by State Archives, the National Archives of Australia, The National Archives UK, etc. I love seeing what's new, and the tips they provide.
13. A DNA discovery I made was visual phasing, thanks to Blaine Bettinger at DNA Down Under in August, although it will take some more practice before I'm proficient.
14. I taught a genimate how to interpret their father's y-DNA results
15. A brick wall I demolished was figuring out all of Esther's 16 children when there were only 13 that we could account for up to now (see #7)
16. A great site I visited was (not a website, a real site) 3 churches and a Synagogue in London where some of my ancestors were baptised. Seeing Stonehenge and St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle was pretty special too.
17. A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was Nathan Dylan Goodwin's novels, as well as meeting the man himself!
18. It was exciting to finally meet Blaine Bettinger in August at DNA Down Under where I was lucky enough to be an Ambassador.
19. I am excited for 2020 because the NSW state conference is being held fairly close to home, in Newcastle. I'll still stay onsite though, so I can easily join in with the after-hours get-togethers and spend more time with friends who have travelled from further away to be there.
20. Another positive I would like to share is back in March I attended a UTP event at Ryde called Researching Your Irish Ancestors, because I have lots of them. One of the speakers was David Rencher from FamilySearch. He blew me away with the breadth of his knowledge about his subject matter, in all the talks he presented. When I was in London for RootsTech I couldn't get into the talk that I wanted to because it was oversubscribed, so I chose a beginner's FamilySearch talk just because David was the presenter. Although I'm frequently on FamilySearch, I still learned things at this talk. I went to see David at the end to tell him that he was THE best presenter I'd ever heard, & he was gracious about the praise, but I think he was happy to hear it as well.
