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.
Showing posts with label Blaine Bettinger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blaine Bettinger. Show all posts
Friday, 3 January 2020
Friday, 10 May 2019
DNA Down Under Ambassadors Related!
My ears were burning when my distant cousin, Marilyn, wrote this article for her local family history society journal.
The question is often asked - how can DNA assist me in my family history research? A great opportunity to find out is coming to Canberra with the DNA Downunder Roadshow in August this year.
Recently in preparation for the conference, which will be in Canberra 26 August 2019, I applied and was successful, in being appointed a DNA Ambassador to help promote what is going to be a fantastic, not to be missed event. When reviewing the list of ambassadors, I recognised a name – Janelle Collins. Could this be the same Janelle who shares an ancestor with me? After some emails – yes! An interest in genealogy and family history must run in families.
I have never met Janelle and don’t even know where she lives but we have been in contact sporadically over the last three years after discovering through our research we shared the name GABRIEL in our family trees. But Janelle had a strange story. Her grandfather, George Millard KERVILLE was apparently taken aside at a funeral and advised that the father he and his siblings had known all their life was not their biological father. Their father was actually the long-term boarder in the home, Leo Brenell Gabriel. While this knowledge was kept secret in the family, it was true that Leo Gabriel had married their mother in 1939 after the death of her husband George Kerville.
After extra traditional research we found that Leo Gabriel, born 1889 in Prahran, Victoria, Australia, was the son of James Gabriel and Minnie Louise TURNER. I had a James Gabriel in my tree also, as the brother of my great grandfather, Thomas Gabriel, born 1862, Bandon, Cork, Ireland. James’ baptism was found in the Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915, father Thomas Gabriel; mother Mary SULLIVAN, baptised 1 Feb 1860 Bandon, Cork, Ireland.
Sometime after this DNA entered the story. Unbeknownst to each other Janelle and I had undertaken DNA Autosomal tests and there we were on each other’s lists of DNA matches, sharing centimorgans. Since then Janelle has tested her mother, her children and a first cousin. I have tested my son and - yes, we all match each other within the correct range of centimorgans. DNA has established Janelle’s family story was true and confirmed our traditional family research. Through DNA we have verified I am a third cousin to Janelle’s mother and a third cousin once removed to Janelle.
We discovered brothers James and Thomas Gabriel both joined the Merchant Navy at an early age. James served for thirteen years and then emigrated to Melbourne, where he continued to be a mariner. Thomas on the other hand, jumped ship in Sydney and made his way to Campbelltown in 1881, where he kept away from the sea and became a dairy farmer and labourer. Despite the years of sailing the seas and living in different parts of Australia, James and Thomas must have known each other as Thomas named his daughter Minnie Louise, the name of James’ wife.
Similar to Janelle appearing in my DNA matches unexpectedly now her name has once again appeared in the list of DNA Down Under ambassadors. We are not only excited about meeting each other but also at attending what is going to be an amazing experience. The conference keynote speaker is the world renown genetic genealogist, Blaine Bettinger, author of what almost could be called the bible on DNA for family research, “The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy”. Joining Blaine will be other well-known and knowledgeable genetic genealogists from Australia and New Zealand such as Michelle Patient, Kerry Farmer and Louise Coakley, to name a few.
The conference is in Canberra 26 August 2019 and the all different 3-day Sydney conference is 29-31 August 2019. Go to www.dnadownunder.com for the full program and speakers.
What a wonderful coincidence! Being able to confirm years of paper research by finding a DNA match is fantastic. I'm so looking forward to DNA Down Under in August to be able to meet Marilyn, and catch up with many genealogy friends that I've made over the years. The multi-city event has different talks at each location, so there will be no doubling-up of information for those who can make it to multiple places. Come and join me at the Sydney event, and listen to DNA guru, Blaine Bettinger, teach you how best to use DNA to further your family history research.
The question is often asked - how can DNA assist me in my family history research? A great opportunity to find out is coming to Canberra with the DNA Downunder Roadshow in August this year.
Recently in preparation for the conference, which will be in Canberra 26 August 2019, I applied and was successful, in being appointed a DNA Ambassador to help promote what is going to be a fantastic, not to be missed event. When reviewing the list of ambassadors, I recognised a name – Janelle Collins. Could this be the same Janelle who shares an ancestor with me? After some emails – yes! An interest in genealogy and family history must run in families.
I have never met Janelle and don’t even know where she lives but we have been in contact sporadically over the last three years after discovering through our research we shared the name GABRIEL in our family trees. But Janelle had a strange story. Her grandfather, George Millard KERVILLE was apparently taken aside at a funeral and advised that the father he and his siblings had known all their life was not their biological father. Their father was actually the long-term boarder in the home, Leo Brenell Gabriel. While this knowledge was kept secret in the family, it was true that Leo Gabriel had married their mother in 1939 after the death of her husband George Kerville.
After extra traditional research we found that Leo Gabriel, born 1889 in Prahran, Victoria, Australia, was the son of James Gabriel and Minnie Louise TURNER. I had a James Gabriel in my tree also, as the brother of my great grandfather, Thomas Gabriel, born 1862, Bandon, Cork, Ireland. James’ baptism was found in the Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915, father Thomas Gabriel; mother Mary SULLIVAN, baptised 1 Feb 1860 Bandon, Cork, Ireland.
Sometime after this DNA entered the story. Unbeknownst to each other Janelle and I had undertaken DNA Autosomal tests and there we were on each other’s lists of DNA matches, sharing centimorgans. Since then Janelle has tested her mother, her children and a first cousin. I have tested my son and - yes, we all match each other within the correct range of centimorgans. DNA has established Janelle’s family story was true and confirmed our traditional family research. Through DNA we have verified I am a third cousin to Janelle’s mother and a third cousin once removed to Janelle.
We discovered brothers James and Thomas Gabriel both joined the Merchant Navy at an early age. James served for thirteen years and then emigrated to Melbourne, where he continued to be a mariner. Thomas on the other hand, jumped ship in Sydney and made his way to Campbelltown in 1881, where he kept away from the sea and became a dairy farmer and labourer. Despite the years of sailing the seas and living in different parts of Australia, James and Thomas must have known each other as Thomas named his daughter Minnie Louise, the name of James’ wife.
Similar to Janelle appearing in my DNA matches unexpectedly now her name has once again appeared in the list of DNA Down Under ambassadors. We are not only excited about meeting each other but also at attending what is going to be an amazing experience. The conference keynote speaker is the world renown genetic genealogist, Blaine Bettinger, author of what almost could be called the bible on DNA for family research, “The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy”. Joining Blaine will be other well-known and knowledgeable genetic genealogists from Australia and New Zealand such as Michelle Patient, Kerry Farmer and Louise Coakley, to name a few.
The conference is in Canberra 26 August 2019 and the all different 3-day Sydney conference is 29-31 August 2019. Go to www.dnadownunder.com for the full program and speakers.
What a wonderful coincidence! Being able to confirm years of paper research by finding a DNA match is fantastic. I'm so looking forward to DNA Down Under in August to be able to meet Marilyn, and catch up with many genealogy friends that I've made over the years. The multi-city event has different talks at each location, so there will be no doubling-up of information for those who can make it to multiple places. Come and join me at the Sydney event, and listen to DNA guru, Blaine Bettinger, teach you how best to use DNA to further your family history research.
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