Fixing Family Tree Maker

Since I have been upgrading Family Tree Maker every year I have found some of my facts and places have become mixed up and very untidy. Luckily Family Tree Maker has built in maps and has a facility to resolve place names.

I decided that seeing I want to put a number of my files in order and make sure I have added all the data and information I have collected I needed to fix all the problems in my Trees up before I add any more information. Considering I have thousands of names this is taking me some time. The ability of FTM to resolve all place names of the same name is a great feature, but unfortunately it will not resolve all place names. I will have to find out if there is a way around this. Also after I had upgraded to edition 17 a number of my facts are in the wrong place, so that will take me several hours rearranging.

Then I am going to work on Gordon's family tree on his mothers side. The surnames are Burrell, Chaston, Whitford or Whiteford, Walker, Wynne, Boothroyde, Gold or Gould, Finney. A number of them came out as convicts, many to Tasmania. Years after I have already got most of their records, many of them are now being digitised. There is a lot more information now on the Tasmanian Archives website and it is well worth going back to regularly to see what else they have available http://www.archives.tas.gov.au/ and also State Records NSW have information on NSW convicts http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/indexes-online

Researching VIC Government Gazettes

I have been having a good search through the Government gazettes available online http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/ for Victoria and NSW. Found a number of references to Thomas Flint my gggrandfather who was a Mounted Constable as was his son Theodore. Also found quite a bit on Arthur Loftus Flint who was also Thomas' son and was a Post Master.

Have also been finding a lot of good information on the National Library of Australia's Australian Newspaper site. http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home They are constantly adding to it and they plan to do some of the major regional newspapers in the next few years. I find the Argus a valuable research tool for finding information on ancestors that were in Victoria. I was able to find the missing girl who is the flower girl in my grandparents Arthur and Jessie Flint's wedding. Her name is Yvonne Lang and she became a nurse. She was the daughter of William Baker Lang and Nora Kennedy from the Bass, Gippsland area. Also found more information on her in the Electoral rolls on Ancestry.

Arthur Stothers Flint Born 1901 Died 1977

Jessie Catherine McCaffrey Born 1902 Died 1980

Married 1924 St Patrick's East Melbourne

Flowergirl Yvonne Lang daughter of William Baker Lang and Edith Nora Kennedy

GMAGS Expo

The GMAGS expo last Saturday was a great day for the 10th and final year. I was able to get an upgrade for Family Tree Maker so am on 2010 now. I also bought the book Google Your Family Tree by Daniel M Lynch. It has some really useful ideas to help with doing searches on the internet. I also bought a copy of Dave Evans Victorian Mining Accident Index that has over 12000 names of people associated with Mining Accidents in Victoria. This is a valuable resource to check if you had family living in areas around the goldfields of Victoria. Dave also had some interesting stories to tell about his experiences at the BBQ on Friday night.

I was doing free lookups for people as Brad Argent from Ancestry.com.au kindly allowed us access to a world wide account for the day. If you would like more information about their service go to http://www.ancestry.com.au I have been using this resource for about 18 months now and have found such a lot of information particularly now I have the UK heritage plus which has given me access to a number of London records and I have been able to continue my search for more information on Edmund Harrison my gggrandfather and his family. With access to Worldwide I was able to find Francis Shudall on the New York Passengers List arriving from Ireland on the Majestic from Liverpool in 1907 aged 53 occupation Rubber Merchant headed for Chicago with $40 in his possession and I also found him in the Chicago Voters List of 1892 at 20 N. Center Ave his term of residence 5 years and he was naturalised. I was trying to find some distant relatives that went to America from Ireland at the end of the 19th century Katherine O'Neil and she married a John Carey but it is very hard with little information to go on.

On the Sunday I went to a great workshop on Photoshop and restoring old photos this was presented by Carol Heath http://www.pixelbypixel.com.au I was able to start restoring the wedding photo of my grandparents wedding Arthur Stothers Flint and Jessie Catherine McCaffrey with Yvonne Lang as the flower girl in the photo.

Beginning

"This photo contains my grandfather as a boy and the rest of the Flint Family. The couple are Arthur Loftus Flint and Margaret Stothers and the boys are Theo, Chris, Tom, Claude, Arthur and Jack"



This is going to be a blog about Family History research. I want to be able to share some of the great sites or resources I have found or others could recommend. I also want to share some of my breakthroughs and brickwalls.