Stories from Dead Relatives

 A  " 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks " theme caught me eye this week - "Labor" (or as we prefer to spell it in Australia - labour). How did my ancestors make a living? Have I found an unusual occupation in my family tree? What about the often unsung labour of females ancestors? One of the things I enjoy about researching my family tree is seeing how our lives have changed so dramatically within a few generations. From the advent of gas and electricity in houses, the number of kids we have, and our occupations. And I was watching Further Back in Time for Dinner on the ABC , where a modern-day family lives through the early 1900s - and I was again struck by how different our very recent ancestors lived to us. And the women, in particular, seemed to just have lots of kids, cook (often very different meat and food), clean (with no appliances), wash (the hard way) - and there was no prospect of anything else. That's all there was to look forward to. Cecelia, Celie, Susanna...

In this week's post, we have been asked to look behind an "unusual name" and I've chosen my great-aunt's husband, Frederick Nay, because it's not a name you hear every day and it is a great example of the challenges of searching for your family, because it turns out that names can change (quite a lot!). Fred was born in Warialda, in north-west NSW in 1902. He is the father of my Aunty Yvonne (and her six younger siblings), who is actually my 1st cousin, once-removed.  Fred's father was George Nay, who was born in Mudgee in 1849. George Nay and his wife, Mary Ann Peglar George's father was Robert Nay, who was born in Shoreditch, England in 1817. In 1832 at the age of 15, he was convicted of larceny and sentenced to 7 years and sent to Australia on the convict ship Waterloo in 1833. Robert Nay and his wife, Mary Fleming Robert's father was James Nay, who was also born in Shoreditch, England in 1789. His father was Francis...

FIRST - a new year and another attempt at recording some of my family history via the 52 Ancestors prompts! This week, the prompt is "First" and I'm delving deeper into my first Ancestor to arrive in Australia - Samuel Freeman. He was my 4th Greatfather and his offspring eventually led to my maternal Grandmother and my Dad. I think he was born about 1799 in Hertfordshire, England, but I have no definitive records of that (more research to do - Freeman is a very common name!). At age 21, he was working as a millwright (a high-precision craftsman or tradesman who installs, dismantles, repairs, reassembles and moves machinery in corn mills). At about 5pm on 10 October 1799, he was caught stealing out of the chamber room of Thomas Bigg of Kimpton Mill. He stole a "scarlet printed Kersymere waistcoat (worth 10 shillings) and one pair of dark-coloured breeches (worth 15 shillings). He also stole from the sleeping room of Joseph Bigg one Bank of England note of 20...

This week's #52ancestorsin52weeks is Father's Day - but of course, it's not Father's Day in Australia, so I'm going to do the theme we had a couple of weeks ago when I was away - So Far Away. When you first start doing your family tree, it's exciting to see how "far back" you can go with your branches. Until last weekend, the furthest back on my direct line was Benjamin Broome, my 9th great-grandfather born in 1646 in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England (grandfather of John Broom in my carpet story ), which I thought was a long way back! Last weekend, I was searching back to see if I could see a link between the Freemans on my Dad's side and the Freemans on my Mum's side (spoiler alert - not yet). Anyway, I was having a search on Joseph Freeman (my 5th great-grandfather born in Gloucestershire, England in 1765) and his wife - Sarah Arkell (my 5th great-grandmother also from Gloucestershire, England, born in 1767). Well, I had her father ...

This week's theme for #52ancestorsin52weeks is Going to the Chapel. Behind every good wedding is (should be?) a good love story. This week we are are close to home in terms of ancestors, but the Chapel certainly wasn't... ...Once upon a time, there was a young woman called Heather Hardwick. She was working at King George V Memorial Hospital at Camperdown, in Sydney, as medical record librarian. Mutual friends from the hospital invited Heather out of drink in a pub down at Circular Quay. It was here that she met Ted. They went out for a couple of dates, but it wasn't Ted that would walk her down the aisle! A 21-year-old Heather Ted was friends with Laurie Butler (or "Butts", as we know him). The boys were very excited because "Stiffy" was coming home on leave from New Guinea. Now I have it on good authority that Terry Sedgwick gained the name Stiffy at school from Butts because of his propensity for drawing skeletons. If you thought any different...

This week's theme in #52ancestorsin52weeks is Military (because it's Memorial Day in the US). Pretty sure I have no ancestors who fought in the American Civil War, so this week I'm going to explore my Step-Grandfather Wilfred "Bill" Norman Saunders, who fought for Australia in World War II. Bill was born in Bingara on 16 December 1911 to Walter George Saunders and Ivy Pearl Harris. He had 3 sisters and 5 brothers and grew up in Bingara and lived there until at least 1936 (from the Electoral Rolls). He enlisted in the Australian Army on 29 May 1940 age 28. He was listed as being single and was sent as part of the 2/1st Pioneer Battalion , which was comprised of men mostly from New South Wales. In June 1940, the battalion went to the army camp at Greta, then Dubbo. At the end of September, it joined a convoy to the Middle East, reaching the Suez on 2 November. They travelled by train to Palestine. 2/1st Battalion on parade in Palestine In Januar...