One Hundred.

I would like to tell you a few things about Eunice Hazel Dyer if I may...

She was born the 3^rd of May, 1916 in Bowraville, New South Wales, where her parents had a farm.

Eunice in 1949
[Source: Personal
Collection]

She was the second child, and first daughter to James Albert Dyer (1887 – 1966) and Eva Florence Mackay (1888 – 1976).

She went to Missabotti School in her early years.

In the late 1920’s, her family moved to Kempsey so she and her eldest brother Claude could go to school.

Her parents pulled her out of school at the end of Grade 9 and returned to the farm.

She loved, and I mean loved learning. She was disappointed about having to stop going to school and work on the farm instead.

She had one older brother, two younger brothers, and two younger sisters. The boys have passed away. Her sisters are still living. [03/05/17 EDIT: One of her sisters passed away on July 13, 2016. Her youngest sister is still living.]

She pronounced ‘digest’ incorrectly until a teacher told her how. She pronounced the ‘dig’ as in dig, like you are digging a hole. She always laughed about it when she told me. 

In 1939, she went to the Sydney Sanitarium and Hospital where she spent four years training to be a Nurse – and she was successful! She graduated on December 28th, 1942.

On the 10^th of September, 1944, she became qualified as an Obstetric Nurse.

Eunice Dyer, Graduation Photo 1942, Sydney Sanitarium & Hospital
[Source: Personal Collection]

Eunice Dyer, Obstetrics Certificate, 1944
[Source: Personal Collection]

Just over a month later, on the 12^th of October, 1944, she married William D. D. Gow (1910 – 2003) in Sydney. They met on the beach at Nambucca Heads where he was a lifeguard. She chatted him up!

Wedding of Eunice Dyer & William D. D. Gow, Sydney, 12th Oct 1944.
[Source: Personal Collection]

Eunice & William rode a motorbike from Sydney to Melbourne together
before they had kids.
[Source: Personal Collection]

She had two children, a girl and a boy. While she was a stay at home mum, and more so once the kids were at University, she ran a private hospital from her home and cared for family friends in their time of need.

Her children playing in the backyard.
[Source: Personal Collection]

She was very proud of her children and instilled in them the importance of education, one that she never fully got. Her daughter became a Doctor and her son a University Lecturer.

She had two grandchildren, a girl and a boy, and she absolutely adored them! They made lots of wonderful memories together.

Soon after the birth of  their Grandson in January 1994.
[Source: Personal Collection]

She loved being in the kitchen and cooking for her family. She would never let anyone wash the dishes – that was her thing! If you attempted to wash the dishes, you were swatted away like a fly!

She loved watching the tennis, something which she got from her father and brother who played tennis in Bowraville and hosted tournaments. She loved talking about who was hot or not in the tennis world.

She loved chatting to her friends, and would want to know everything they were up to.

When her husband fell ill, she cared for him until he passed away in 2003.

William D. D. Gow & Eunice H. Dyer on a night out.
[Source: Personal Collection]

She was kind.

She was caring.

She was beautiful.

She had a wicked sense of humor.

She had the cutest giggle.

She made me J-walk with her once, and this was at a time when police were cracking down on J-walkers. An 80-something year old lady J-walking! Who woulda thunk it? 

But more importantly, she was my Nanna and we were close as anything. I would call her at the most random times of day purely because I felt like talking to her, or I saw something that reminded me of her. 

I adored her!
[Source: Personal Collection]

She passed away in Sydney on the 4^th of June, 2012, 

I miss her. More than anything.

Happy 100^th Birthday Nanna! I hope you and Poppa are rockin’ up there.

Nanna's 94th Birthday, 3rd May 2010
[Source: Personal Collection]

Letter to Grandma, 2015

Today, December 3rd, 2015, would have been my Grandma's 83rd birthday. She passed away in 1980, ten years before I was born. In 2013, I wrote her a little letter which I shared on my blog. I have decided to share it again. I have made some additions though, to make it more relevant to the current year.

Dear Grandma,

Happy 83rd Birthday in Heaven! <3

I wish I could have known you. You were taken away from us far too soon. 

I know you would be so happy that I caught the genealogy bug from you. I have started referring to you as the Genealogy Queen in the family. Does that make me the Genealogy Princess? Hehehe. You would be amazed at all the technology and the discoveries I have made about my ancestors. I think you would have loved being part of the online genealogy community, but you would still have used your traditional methods. :-) How I would have loved to go to court houses, churches, cemeteries and Civil War Battlegrounds with you. We would have had so much fun together, especially with all the genealogy happy dancing I’ve been doing lately! 

For most of my life I knew you through a small number of photographs and stories. Then came June of 2011. That was the first time I ever saw video footage of you. No words. Silence. It did not need words. I saw you moving, walking and smiling. I do not think anyone in my family really knows just how happy I was, seeing the videos of you.

In October 2013, Aunt Molly sent Mum some old letters that you had written to my Great Grandparents (Grandad's parents) in the 1960s. For the first time, I was reading things you had written. For the first time, I was reading what you were thinking. Your thoughts. That is something I never thought I’d get to discover.

You would be thrilled to know that in February this year, I went to Salt Lake City for the first time ever. I'm sure you would have known what's in Salt Lake City - The Family History Library! In one of your letters, you wrote about the Latter Day-Saints opening a Family History Library/Research Center in Anchorage while you were living there. That made me smile. While I was in Salt Lake City, I went to two of the biggest genealogy conferences in the world - RootsTech & the Federation of Genealogical Societies. Oh Grandma, I had THE. BEST. TIME. EVER. I wish you could have been there with me. I wish I could call you on the phone and tell you all about it. I met so many wonderful people, and made some amazing life-long friends. In a way though, it felt like you were with me. And guess what Grandma?! I met another young genealogist from Texas who has the name Swindell in his ancestry. We're not sure if we're cousins or not yet. Still checking. But how awesome is that?

I cannot wait to go back to Texas (soon, hopefully!) and hang out with Uncle David for a while. He is (fingers crossed) going to take me to all these places that are significant to our family history. Plus, we're going to go through all your genealogy stuff. I know I already said it, but I cannot wait!

Thank you for giving me this intense love that I have for genealogy. I never expected it.

I love you.

My Grandma, Nancy Robinson

Nancy Robinson

Born: 3 December 1932, Texas, USA.
Died: May 1980, New Mexico, USA.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth Croal (1873 - 1952)

My Great Grandmother Elizabeth Croal was born on the 21st of March, 1873 in Edinburgh, Scotland. According to the Extract Entry of her birth below (which was extracted on the 10th of April, 1873), she was born at 11pm. At the time of writing this, that is right now! Yay!

Extract Entry of Elizabeth Croal's Birth. It is too long to fit on the scanner. We've had this for more than 100 years!
[Source: Personal Collection]

Elizabeth's parents were David Croal and Christian Alves. She had two older siblings, Alexander and Margaret, plus a younger brother David who died as a baby. On the 2nd of August, 1883, when Elizabeth was 10 years old, she and her family arrived in Sydney on board the ship Iberia.

X marks the Croal's!
[Source: Personal Collection]

 In 1893, Elizabeth lost her father David when she was 20 years old. He died at sea while travelling to New Zealand and supposedly committed suicide. I cannot imagine how tough that would have been for the family. 

Elizabeth married my Great Grandfather William Gow on December 14, 1904. They had two children - Adam, who lived for only 24 hours in 1905, and my Grandfather who passed away 12 years ago. They lived in Stanmore, Sydney until about 1913 when they moved to Gumma, near Macksville. 

Wedding of William Gow & Elizabeth Croal, 14 Dec 1904, Sydney.
[Source: Personal Collection]

After William died in 1943, she moved back to Sydney to be closer to my Grandfather. Elizabeth passed away on the 16th of May, 1952, at the age of 79. 

Happy 142nd Birthday Nanna Gow!

I found this sweet postcard Elizabeth received for her birthday one year. The stamp says it is from Newcastle which is where her sister Margaret lived. The date on the stamp (I had to zoom in a lot) says 20 MR 11. The 20th of March 1911 perhaps? It seems likely. I also wonder if the fact that it came from Newcastle and it is not signed, meant that Elizabeth would know who it is from, that person potentially being her sister?

Birthday Postcard for Elizabeth Croal
[Source: Personal Collection]

Happy Birthday Poppa.

Today, the 2nd of February, 2014, would have been my Poppa's 104th Birthday. 

I'm sitting here on my bed, thinking of everything I would tell him about the wonderful day I had yesterday - I went to this. There will be a blog post and definitely a video too. I was hoping to get both done today, however, I have woken up with a terrible cold. It's hard for me to focus on something for too long when I'm having to reach for a tissue every five minutes. I'd like to say I'll have the blog post done tonight, but if not, I couldn't let today go by without wishing my Poppa a very happy birthday up above.

The photo below is one of my favorites. I'm an avid reader, just like he was. I like to think I got my love of books and reading from him.

Caitlin & Poppa reading together

A letter to Grandma.

Dear Grandma,

Happy 81st Birthday in Heaven! <3
I wish I could have known you. You were taken away from us too soon.

I know you’d be so happy that I caught the genealogy bug from you. You’d be amazed at all the technology, and the discoveries I’ve made about my ancestors. I think you would have loved being part of the online genealogy community, but you would still have used your traditional methods ^_^ How I would have loved to go to court houses, churches, cemeteries and Civil War Battlegrounds with you. We would have had so much fun together, especially with all the genealogy happy dancing I’ve been doing lately!

For most of my life I knew you through a small number of photographs and stories. Then came June of 2011. That was the first time I ever saw video footage of you. No words. Silence. It didn’t need words. I saw you moving, walking and smiling. I don’t think anyone in my family really knows just how happy I was, seeing the videos of you.

This year, in October, Aunty sent Mum some old letters that you had written to my Great Grandparents in the 1960s. For the first time, I was reading things you had written. For the first time, I was reading what you were thinking. Your thoughts. That’s something I never thought I’d get to discover.

Thank you for giving me this love that I have for genealogy.

I love you.

My Grandmother, Nancy Robinson.
Author's personal collection.

Nancy Robinson

Born: 3 Dec 1932, Texas, USA.

Died: May 1980, New Mexico, USA.

Happy Birthday William Gow.

My Great Grandfather William Gow was born on the 21st of May, 1868 in Cairn, Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland (see birth certificate). His parents were William Gow & Jean/Jane Drummond. He was the youngest of 5 children. His older siblings were John, Robert, Isabella, Jeannie.

William left Scotland and travelled to Australia in 1886 by himself when he was 18. His brother Robert was already in Sydney. Growing up in Scotland, he learned how to be a landscape gardener. When he arrived in Sydney on October 5^th, 1886, he became a landscape gardener at the home of Sir Adrian Knox, a barrister and chief justice.

William was only supposed to stay in Australia for 2 years, however, much to his mother’s dismay, he remained here.

He joined the police force in Sydney in November 1896. On his application form, he stated that he had been a gardener and fruit grower for 14 years.

On the 14th of December, 1904, he married Elizabeth Croal. In late August 1905, they had a son, Adam, who sadly died after being alive for only 24 hours. On February 2nd, 1910, they had another son - William David Drummond Gow (My Grandfather, known as David throughout his life).

William Gow was well known throughout the Traffic Department of the Police for 16 years. In 1912, he resigned and returned to farming. He was requested to reconsider his decision but believed farming was his true occupation. In late early 1913, William, Elizabeth & David moved from Sydney to Gumma, near Macksville, NSW where they lived & owned a farm. One of their favourite things that they grew were tomatoes.

'Tomato Stakes'
William Gow & William D. D. Gow.
November 1941, Gumma, NSW

William remained in Gumma until his death in 1943. He passed away at ‘Jalna’ private hospital in Macksville on the 28th of November, aged 75. If William had returned to Scotland after 2 years, I probably wouldn’t be here, writing this. So William, I thank you.

Happy 145th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Nanna!

Me & My Nanna, Sydney, 1993/1994.

Happy 97th Birthday in Heaven Nanna!

This is a photo of my Nanna & I in late 1993/early 1994 just after I turned 3. I love that I'm looking up at her. I really did look up to her. She was a wonderful wonderful woman.

It’s her first birthday since she passed away 11 months ago. Hard to believe she’s been gone for almost a year. I miss her so much. There are so many things I wish I could tell her. Nanna, I hope you’re having a lovely day in Heaven with Poppa.

3 May 1916 - 4 June 2012 <3

Happy 150th Birthday Newtown!

Happy 150th Birthday to Newtown, Sydney, where my Great Great Grandparents David Croal & Christian Alves lived from 1890 - 1904. The first photo, is them standing in front of their house in 1891/1892. After David died in 1893, Christian remained in the house until 1904. She moved in with her daughter and son-in-law, my great grandparents, Elizabeth Croal & William Gow, until her death in 1909. William & Elizabeth lived in Stanmore, one of the neighboring suburbs.

The second photo is the same house, taken in 1993.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy 80th Birthday in Heaven Grandma! You were taken away from us too soon. I know you’re looking down on me from heaven, and I know you’re proud of me for all that I’ve done so far with my genealogy. I wish I could show you and tell you everything I’ve found. You’d be amazed :) I wish I could have known you. I love you!

Nancy Robinson
Born: 3rd December 1932, Texas, USA.
Died: May 1980, New Mexico, USA.

Happy Birthday Maud!

Happy 121st Birthday to my Great Grandmother Maud Ella Sharp!

Born: 2 Dec 1891, Texas, USA

Died: 24 May 1974, Texas, USA.