One Lovely Blog Award

The One Lovely Blog Award has been going around the blogosphere in recent weeks. This morning to my surprise, I discovered that I had received this oh so lovely award from Shauna Hicks of SHHE Genie Rambles & Diary of an Australian Genealogist. Shauna is the sole co-ordinator of National Family History Month in Australia and New Zealand, and she does this voluntarily. I am always eager to read her blog posts and articles in Inside History magazine. I love all that she does for genealogy in Australia, plus she’s a wonderful person too! I was very lucky to meet her at the launch of National Family History Month last year. 

Here are the Rules for the “One Lovely Blog Award”:

1.     Thank the person who nominated you and link to that blog

2.     Share Seven things about yourself – refer below

3.     Nominate 15 bloggers you admire (or as many as you can think of!) – also listed  below

4.    Contact your bloggers to let them know that you’ve tagged them for the One Lovely  Blog Award

Seven Things about Myself

1. I have lived in the same suburb my entire life thus far, except for one year when I lived in Virginia when I was a baby.
2. I am double jointed. I betcha didn't know that did ya? I get a lot of requests from the kids at work to show my double jointed fingers.
3. I have always loved cemeteries. Even before I knew genealogy existed.
4. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a teacher. I studied Education for the first 2 years at Uni. It was towards the end of the second year, and just after I caught the genealogy bug that I realized I was not enjoying it and wanted to do something else. That something else turned into Criminology and it was one of the best decisions of my life.
5. I have always been a shy and quiet person, so making YouTube videos and participating in Google Hangouts is a very big step for me.
6. I am 23 and still don't have my drivers license. I got my Learners at the end of 2007 for ID purposes, but never actually wanted to drive until last year. Currently I have done 75 hours of driving out of the required 100.
7. I absolutely love reading. I fall in love with books and stories so easily. I can stay up reading for hours. I buy books a lot quicker than I can read them. My To Read shelf is overflowing and I'm now making stacks on the floor. I don't even have room for books that I have read anymore.

Reading with my Poppa!

Nominate 15 Bloggers You Admire (or as many as you can think of)

I have decided to nominate 7. I know quite a few people have been nominated already, so I’d like to spread the love to some others and hope you check out their blogs too. Please do not feel offended if your blog is not on the list – this was just off the top of my head. I love the genea-blogging community! 

1. Of Trees & Ink by Heather Collins. Heather is another young genealogist under the age of 30. I was super excited when I discovered her last year! Heather & I co-run Young &Savvy Genealogists together which is awesome. She also does very informative and creative YouTube videos and has an epic love for gifs like I do.
   
2. Elyses Genealogy Blog by Elyse Doerflinger. Elyse is a young genealogist who introduced me to the world of the NextGen Genealogy Network. I love reading her blog – her recent post on collaborative genealogy was really neat! Elyse speaks at a lot of genealogy seminars and events and is a big supporter of engaging the next generation.
   
3. A. Warde & Co. by Ameya Warde. Ameya and I kind of stumbled upon each other late last year. She’s only been blogging for a year, but I’m always intrigued by anything that she has to say. She’s also done a YouTube video too! I’d love to do a genealogy collaboration video one day with Ameya, Heather & Elyse. Now wouldn’t that be hella awesome?!
   
4.  Ruths Ancestors by Ruth Hogan, another young genealogist. Can you sense a theme here? Ruth is an avid blogger who is also following The Book of Me, Written by You prompts.
   
5. Ancestral Breezes by Jen Baldwin. She runs #genchat and Conference Keeper and she is awesome. Need I say more?
   
6. Confuse The Dead by Laurie Desmarais. Laurie has recently been blogging about her Mastering Genealogical Proof Class. Plus she is a rad chick!
   
7. Your Roots Are Showing Dearie by Liam Hobbes. He’s the barkeep during #genchat and his blog makes me giggle with delight! You just need to read it okay.

A little something for everyone! ^_^

Some Great Cemetery News.

Last June, while I was in Sydney on holidays, my Aunt & I had a cemetery day. We went to 3 different cemeteries where our ancestors are buried - Rookwood, Field of Mars & Macquarie. We hadn't had a cemetery day in quite some time, and we were very keen to speak to someone about two things we wanted to do -
1. See if it would be possible to have a headstone done for my Great Great Grandmother & Great Uncle whose grave is unmarked at Rookwood.
2. Have the death date on my Great Grandmother Elizabeth's headstone fixed at Field of Mars.

Rookwood Cemetery

My Great Great Grandmother Christian Croal & Great Uncle Adam Gow have been buried in an unmarked grave at Rookwood since Adam died in 1905 & Christian died in 1909.

Sitting at the grave of Christian Croal & Adam Gow
Rookwood Cemetery, June '13.
Image from my personal collection.

This was my second time to see their grave. The first time was in 2009 and it took us a good hour to find it. On this day, it took me 10 minutes. I have a pretty good visual memory with landmarks and whatnot.

My Aunt & I went up to the Office and spoke to someone about having a headstone done for Christian & Adam. They said to e-mail them with the details of our request which we did that night.

After not hearing anything for a few weeks, my Aunt rang them a few times, until finally, in November, we received approval to do the following 'We are able to supply you with a basic form of grave marker called a "sloper & plaque." This is an unpolished granite base with a lawn size bronze plaque with 8-10 lines of inscription.'

My Aunt didn't actually tell me any of this until the beginning of January because she forgot to forward me the e-mail, haha. But being told this in person was so much better anyway.

Now it's just a matter of deciding what we want the plaque to say. 

Field of Mars Cemetery

When I found my Great Grandmother Elizabeth's grave for the first time ever in 2009, I was a bit shocked to discover that the year of her death was incorrect. She died in 1952, but it says 1962. My Aunt & Dad do not remember my Poppa talking about his Mother's grave having a mistake on it. He was very much into family history as well, so we're not sure if he ever actually saw the headstone after it was done because he would not have let the incorrect year remain. Since then, my Aunt & I have always discussed about having it rectified. I also found her grave again within 5 minutes of being there (I really do love my awesome memory, heheh).

Grave of Elizabeth Gow, Field of Mars Cemetery, June '13
Image from my personal collection.

The Office at Field of Mars was closed, and said that it now operated under the same trust as Macquarie Cemetery so any queries were to be directed there. Well, that was quite convenient for us as that was our next stop. We were going to find some of my Poppa's cousins' graves. The Office at Macquarie Cemetery directed us to one of their onsite tombstone businesses. They were closed that day, but we went back the next day and spoke to them. That took some persistence from my Aunty as well because they couldn't find the grave so she had to go meet them out there one day. Along with the news about Christian & Adam's grave, she told me that Elizabeth's grave had now been fixed. She's hoping to go out there in the next couple of weeks to check. It's not a permanent fix, only a temporary 4-5 year thing. The only way we're going to be able to fix it permanently is if we get a completely new headstone. Because my Poppa did this one we were a bit hesitant, and are going with the temporary solution for now. In the future, if it comes down to it, we will get a new headstone for her.