Conference Closer to Home

After crossing the Pacific Ocean in February to attend the Federation of Genealogical Societies and RootsTech Conferences in Salt Lake City, I'm off to another genealogy conference this weekend. This time, it is much closer to home. How close? No more than a ten minute drive!

I'm sure you can imagine my excitement when I found out there was going to be a genealogy conference in Brisbane. Then I discovered where it was being held - a place that I've driven past so many times to and from a friends house. Woohoo!

I'm attending the In Time and Place Conference, which is being run by History Queensland, the Genealogical Society of Queensland, and the Queensland Family History Society. Location? It is being held at the Riverglenn Conference Centre in Indooroopilly.

Map showing location of Riverglenn (bottom left) & The University of Queensland (top right). I think most
of you know that I live near UQ.
[Source: Google Maps]

You can see the list of speakers here, which includes two of my fellow Queensland genea-friends Shauna Hicks and Helen Smith.

As well as the keynote sessions by Dave Obee, Janis Wilton and Shauna Hicks, the sessions that I am attending are...

- Suffrage in Queensland: Who, When, Where by Rosemary Kopittke
- Finding Joseph Dunn: A World Search 1851 - 1915 by Geoff Doherty
- Hidden Lives by Jan Richardson
- Mythbusters: Challenging some Common Beliefs by Dave Obee
- The Words of the People: Treasures within Government Enquiries by Helen Smith
- Three Minutes between Time and Eternity: Recalling the wreck of HMS Quetta by Diana Hacker
- Proving your Point: Evidence and Citation Unlocked by Pauline Williams
- Looking Behind the Reading Room Wall by Rowena Loo

I am really looking forward to catching up with some of my wonderful genea-friends and meeting new ones too!

Catch ya on the flip side with my post-conference write up.

A Pair of Doctors.

I have been diving back into researching my American ancestors and thought I would introduce you to the two Doctors in the family. Both of them are my Great Great Great Grandfather's. From my understanding, they were both family doctors - general practitioners.

1. Dr William Simpson Robinson

He was born on November 6th, 1823, in Tennessee to parents James Robinson and Catherine Mann. In Navarro County, Texas, he married Mariah Adelaide Riggs on September 21st, 1852. They had 13 children. William passed away on January 4th, 1887 in Dresden, Texas. He is buried in Dresden Cemetery.

Dr William Simpson Robinson
Dresden, Texas, 1848
[Source: Family Collection]

Grave of Dr William Simpson Robinson, Dresden Cemetery
[Taken by Caitie on July 8th, 2009...the day I caught the genealogy bug!]

2. Dr George Washington Spencer

He was born on January 6th, 1832 in Alabama, to parents Peter Spencer and Mary Cooper. By 1840, the family had moved to Itawamba, Mississippi. On March 14th, 1855. he married Frances Elizabeth McWilliams in Mississippi. They had at least nine children - I'm still confirming if there were more. Come 1870, George, Frances and their children had moved to Texas. George passed away on May 24th, 1904, in Frost, Texas. He is buried in Frost Cemetery.

Dr George Washington Spencer
Frost, Texas, 1880s
[Source: Family Collection]

Grave of Dr George Washington Spencer, Frost Cemetery
[Taken by Caitie on July 8th, 2009]

I'm still learning about the lives of my American ancestors. I know the Australian side like the back of my hand. The American side, not so much. I find it much harder to research them when I'm not there among the physical records my family has. My Uncle is currently going through all of my Grandma's genealogy stuff. Oh how I wish I was there with him!

Were any of YOUR ancestors Doctors or Medical Specialists?

Mackay Family Portraits

I was recently sent this photo of my Great Great Grandparents Alexander Mackay (1856 - 1937) & Elizabeth Lucilla Gill (1867 - 1905) with four of their five children. It was taken at some point in 1901 in Bowraville, New South Wales. I had never seen this photo before, so I was thrilled to receive it!

Alexander Mackay with wife Elizabeth Lucilla Gill
Daughters L-R: Lottie Mabel, Eva Florence, & Alice Jane
The baby is Archie Burton
[Source: 3rd Cousin]

Eva Florence was my Great Grandmother. Until I saw this photo, I had never seen a picture of her that young. She is just beautiful.

Elizabeth Lucilla Gill died giving birth to her fifth child, her namesake, Elizabeth Lucilla Mackay, in 1905.

The photo below is one I have had for a while now. It is of Alexander Mackay with his five children, but much later in life.

Alexander Mackay with his children L-R: Elizabeth Lucilla, Alice Jane,
Eva Florence, Lottie Mabel, & Archie Burton.
Date Unknown
[Source: Personal Collection]

I'm so excited to put these two photos together!

Ancestor Hunting in Kempsey - Mission #1

Back in May, I posted the Will of my 4x Great Grandmother Elizabeth Wright nee Graham. Her Will was like treasure to me in that she was very detailed and provided street names of the land she owned in Kempsey, New South Wales. This was the first time I had come across any record of where exactly she lived and owned land in Kempsey. If you'd like to read the transcription, please do so. Elizabeth's Will is one of my favorites.

In my transcription of the Will, I inserted screenshots of the relevant streets from Google Maps. To refresh your memory, the locations Elizabeth mentioned were -

1. Allotment of land with cottage and outhouses having frontage to Sullivan Street & William Street, East Kempsey.

Sullivan Street & William Street, East Kempsey, New South Wales
[Source: Google Maps]

2. Half an acre having frontage to Lord Street and Innes Street, East Kempsey.

Lord Street & Innes Street, East Kempsey, New South Wales
[Source: Google Maps]

3. Eight acres of land having frontage to Washington Street, East Kempsey.

Washington Street, East Kempsey, New South Wales
[Source: Google Maps]

Earlier in August, while my Aunt and I were visiting family nearby in South West Rocks, we decided to have a day out in Kempsey ancestor hunting. Mission #1 was to find the streets mentioned in the Will. Funnily enough, we ended up taking the scenic route to Kempsey instead of the Pacific Highway. I did not have any phone reception either and could not get on Google Maps to follow our route or provide directions once we got to Kempsey. We simply followed the signs with no idea of which part of the town we would enter. When we saw a sign telling us that we had indeed arrived in Kempsey, my Aunt started calling out streets we were driving past in the hope that with my now working phone reception, I could get the directions to East Kempsey. 

A second later, my Aunt is saying "Washington Street, Sullivan Street..."

ME: "THIS IS IT! STOP THE CAR! THOSE ARE THE STREETS!"

We pulled over on Sullivan Street and took a few moments to confirm our location on Google Maps, and yes, we were exactly in the area we wanted to be in. It was really interesting wandering around and thinking that this was the area my ancestors lived in. I was walking the same streets they walked on. The numbers in the captions below corresponds to the number of the relevant map above. 

1. Sullivan Street, East Kempsey

Corner of 1) Sullivan Street & 3) Washington Street, East Kempsey

1. Corner of William Street & Sullivan Street

My Aunt wanted to knock on the door of the house at the corner of Sullivan and William Streets, but I am not a fan of knocking on random people's doors. I decided instead that I will write the residents a letter to see if they know anything about the history of the land. Is the house on the corner still owned by Wright's? Who knows! 

2. Lord Street, East Kempsey

2. Innes Street, East Kempsey

In my previous post, I had wondered if Wrights Lane that runs off Washington Street was named after my Wright ancestors. Another mystery to solve!

Wrights Lane, East Kempsey

Wrights Lane, East Kempsey

Caitie at Wrights Lane, East Kempsey

It was a very exciting day so far, but we still had more to do. Stay tuned for Mission #2 of our Ancestor Hunting day in Kempsey.

Ancestry DNA Results Are In!

My AncestryDNA results have arrived! Before you keep reading, if you haven't seen my video about my reasons for doing the DNA test, I suggest you watch it below.

Here are my DNA results -

DNA Results from Ancestry

DNA Ethnicity Map

I must say I am quite shocked and wasn't expecting most of that. I knew there would be Great Britain, but I thought that would have been the most. Ireland was very very surprising, because my Australian side does not have Irish in it, neither does my Mum's paternal side as far as I've researched. I can only assume that has come from my Mum's maternal side - the biological side I do not know as my Grandma was adopted. As I said in the video, I do know my Grandma's fathers side. I asked my Great Aunt on that side and she confirmed the family was originally from Ireland. I am yet to dive into that part of the family tree though. She e-mailed me the family history information she has and will go through that soon. I guess any other Irish stuff would come from my Grandma's maternal side that I know nothing about.
Europe West and Scandinavia? Where on earth did that come from? That could also potentially be my Grandma's side again? Other than that, so far in my family history research, it doesn't make sense. The European trace regions are surprising too.

My reaction pretty much

One question I do have is how come it doesn't show any US ethnicity? I take it then that this goes deeper to before my ancestors went to the US.
Stay tuned for more posts and videos as I begin to digest and understand this. Just another exciting step in my genealogy adventures :)

Casualty in The Blitz

Islet Miriam Mackay, my 2nd cousin 3x removed, was born in 1892 in Kempsey, New South Wales. She was the fifth of ten children born to Mercie Caroline Wright (1870 - 1945) and Hugh Adam Mackay (1854 - 1930). Her siblings were Alexander, Ivor, Edwin, Olive, Irwin, Garnett, Ruby, Arthur, and Howard.

In May 1922, it was made known that Islet had passed her fourth year examination as a nurse and was top of her class. In fact, she was the top of her class every year as described in this article from Trove.

Rollands Plains Lady's Success, Port Macquarie & Hastings River
Advocate, 20 May 1922, page 4.
[Source: Trove]

In 1926, Islet left Australia for Canada. However, she was not alone. She was travelling with a Miss Leila Small, also a nurse. After arriving in Canada, Islet & Leila made their way to New York where they spent six months doing post graduate work in nursing. They remained in the US for 18 months gaining further experience in the field. Islet & Leila then went over to the United Kingdom where they spent time traveling around England, Ireland, and Scotland for eight months. They then worked in a nursing home in London for a year. After this, it appears Islet and Leila went their separate ways for a few years as detailed in this article below. Leila went back to the US for a few years, while Islet remained in London. The article is more about Leila's career though. 

Nurses Abroad, Coffs Harbour Advocate, 14 Jan 1938, page 4
[Source: Trove]

When Leila returned to England, she and Islet stayed at the same hotel in Bath where they both continued to nurse. In August 1937, Islet & Leila went on a cruise around Portugal and Bermuda for a month.

UK Incoming Passenger Form, 10 Sep 1937
Arrows marking Islet Mackay & Leila Small
[Source: Ancestry, UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878 - 1960]

Islet & Leila returned to work in Bath, and as explained in Leila's article above, Leila returned home to Australia at the end of 1937. Islet remained in London nursing. However, in 1941, she became a patient. I was quite stunned to find that in early 1941 Islet was a victim in an air-raid.

Air Raid Victim, Macleay Chronicle, 12 Feb 1941, page 4
[Source: Trove] 

After reading, my reaction was something like - An air-raid?! A bombing?! What?! Wait a minute...1941. That's World War 2!

In school I learned about Australia's involvement in World War 2 and Nazi Germany, but I do not recollect learning about England's involvement in the war. I thought if London was bombed during World War 2, there is going to be something about it on the internet. I googled "air raids in London 1941" and struck gold. Between September 1940 and May 1941, Nazi Germany bombed and launched air-raids on England. It was this period that became known as The Blitz (BBC, n.d.). The raids were almost continuous in that they happened almost every day and/or night, with London being bombed about 70 times (History Channel, n.d.). Islet's father had died in 1930, but her mother Mercie was still alive. This would have been a very worrying time I'm sure.

“It was Hitler’s belief that the war from the air would terrorise London into defeat. He was wrong. The city’s inhabitants, on the contrary, took a perverse and particular pleasure from being the front line of the war. ‘We can take it’ became the catchphrase of the Blitz.” - Jon E Lewis, London: The Autobiography (History Channel, n.d.)

I also found an interesting website called Bomb Sight which has mapped where all the bombs fell in London during The Blitz. They have made it available online and is interactive in that you can type in a London address and see if it or the surrounding area was bombed. In the article above, Islet is working at Wellhouse Hospital and was living a mile away. Googling Wellhouse Hospital led me to Wellhouse Lane which is now the location of Barnet Hospital.

Map showing the location of Wellhouse Lane & Barnet Hospital
[Source: Google Maps]

I put Wellhouse Lane into Bomb Sight to see if there were any bombings in the area....and yes, there were.

Screenshot of Bomb Site showing locations that were bombed. I have labelled the location of Wellhouse Lane & Barnet Hospital.
[Source: Bomb Sight]

I wonder if it was any of those bombs that caused Islet's injuries? I do not know what happened during the rest of Islet's time in England or how long she remained there for, as by 1949 she had returned to Australia. I found her in the 1949 Electoral Roll living in Killara, Sydney.

1949 Electoral Roll for Subdistrict of Gordon, District of Bradfield, NSW.
[Source: Ancestry, Australia Electoral Rolls, 1903 - 1980]

After a definitely interesting life, Islet Miriam Mackay passed away in New South Wales in 1980 at the age of 88. She outlived eight of her siblings. 

References

BBC (n.d.). The Blitz. Retrieved from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/events/the_blitz

History Channel (n.d.) WW2 - The Blitz Hits London. Retrieved from
http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-london/ww2-the-blitz-hits-london

SNGF - Colouring Maps

The most recent Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver is about what states in the USA and/or Canada you have been to.

The challenge is…

1)  What states in the USA and what provinces in Canada have you visited or lived in? 

2)  Either list, or make a map of them (at the http://www.defocus.net/visitedstates/us-canada.html website) and indicate the following:

*  red for states/provinces where you've not spent much time or seen very much.

*  amber for states/provinces  where you've at least slept and seen some sights.

*  blue for states/provinces  you've spent a lot of time in or seen a fair amount of.

*  green for states/provinces  you've spent a great deal of time in on multiple visits.

3)  For extra credit, you could make a map to show where your ancestors resided at any time (e.g., in 1900), or perhaps where your 16 great-great-grandparents or 32 3rd-great-grandparents married, or where your ancestors were born, all with an appropriate legend.

1) Map of where I have been

Being half American, I actually have not been to that many States, but I am pretty happy with where I've been so far. As my family is from Texas, I have been there many times. I have spent at least a week in  California, Utah, Louisiana, and Hawaii which is why they are marked amber. Colorado is marked red because I have only been to Denver airport. Does that even count? When I was a baby I lived in Virginia for a few months, so that one is blue as I have not been there since. Finally, Maryland is red because my parents say we went there whilst living in Virginia.

2) Map of where my Great Great Great Grandparents were born

The color code I used for this map was -

*  red for states/provinces where 1 or 2 were born.

*  amber for states/provinces where 3 or 4 were born.

*  blue for states/provinces where 5 to 8 were born.

* green for states/provinces where 9 or more were born.

Six were born in Tennessee, five in Alabama, three in Mississippi, one (Daniel Guyton Smith) in South Carolina, and one (Louisa Clementine Brister) in Virginia. The other 16 were born in Australia, Scotland and England. 

3) Map of where my Great Great Great Grandparents married

The color code I used for this map and the next was -

*  red for states/provinces where 1 or 2 resided at marriage.

*  amber for states/provinces where 3 or 4 resided at marriage.

*  blue for states/provinces where 5 or 6 resided at marriage.

* green for states/provinces where 7 or more resided at marriage.

Eight of my 3x Great Grandparents were living in Mississippi at the time of their marriage. Four married in Alabama and another four married in Texas.

4) Map of where my Great Great Grandparents married 

Two married in Mississippi, two married in Alabama, and four married in Texas. The rest married in Scotland and Australia.

That was fun! I think I might make more maps for my American ancestors. As my geography of the US is not that good, having a visual diagram like these maps make it a lot easier to understand! It really puts the states my ancestors came from in perspective for me, especially as to where these states are in relation to each other.