Photo Credit: Brian Moore via Compfight
So we are now over halfway through the family history course and we have had to put together a research plan. This is interesting because I usually just go to the archives, search through things I want to and go off on tangents if needed. But having listened to Dianne, it is important to have a plan that you can follow. So here it is:
My Research Aim:
To create historical timeline of Captain William SMITH’s life as a whaler. To do this
- find out the names of the ships he was on and the dates (PS 1,2 and 4)
- where the ships voyages were (PS1)
- his role on each ship (PS1)
- life on board the ships (PS3) (SS1 and 2)
Hopefully find out his Samoan name by finding out when he was given the name William SMITH.
Primary Sources:
- Marine board records of ship’s voyages – government record
- Application for master of foreign vessel certificate – government record
- Newspapers of the times – shipping news and articles about voyages – newspaper record
- Images of ships he served on
Secondary sources (if any):
- Susan Chamberlain thesis about early whaling in Hobart Town – public record
- Books about whaling around Tasmania from the 1850′s to the 1890′s – public record
- My relatives including Glenn (who I will be interviewing) and Kim – great grandsons of William
- I am wondering if there might be records at the Australian Maritime Museum?
Repositories and Records that I plan to use:
LINC Family History
Marine board – Application for Master Mariner’s certificate
Trove newspapers of the time
Maritime Museum – Susan Chamberlain thesis
Readers: How could I have improved this research plan?
Sue, where are you going to place your source cites? I thought I read in the discussions, Diane saying that we should put more detail in our sources in Primary and Secondary in RP such as not just Trove website address but also the page to find your source. I’m confusing myself, maybe that is the case if you don’t cite the sources in the family group chart. Sorry! I’m no help.
Hi Jan,
I plan to put a lot more detail in my actual report when I write up my primary and secondary sources. For example – the master mariner certificate and one of the crew agreements will be written like this:
Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), MB2/62/2 p116, application for certificate of service as master of foreign going ship
TAHO, MB 2/33/56 Maid of Erin, crew agreement
In my family group chart I will be using end notes because I will be using my computer software program as long as I have updated the sources. Since I have been adding repositories and sources for over 40 years, I didn’t add them correctly to start with so now i am having to change them. I will only be doing the ones for the family group chart I need at the moment though. Will catch up the others later when I have more time.
Ok thanks Sue, that makes sense.