General info

Radio interview

Miss W. General info ,
AndrzejRembowski / Pixabay

A few weeks ago, I was asked by a librarian at Rosny Library if I would be prepared to be interviewed on ABC Radio. After a bit of thought, I said yes. Topic was volunteering at Rosny Library as a family historian. I prepared a few notes about my journey as a family historian including completing the Diploma of Family History at UTAS in 2017. Then some notes about what I do as a volunteer at Rosny mentioning the hour long one-on-one appointments and this year, the workshops on specific topics about family history.

Contact was made with the co-ordinator of the ABC program, she asked me some questions to which I answered and then she said instead of a short interview on breakfast radio, it would be better for a longer interview on evening radio. This was a great idea as I am certainly not a morning person.

So last night, Monday 4 July, the time arrived. A different co-ordinator rang me and mentioned as the programme was more than just Tasmania based, they wouldn’t be asking so much about my volunteering at Rosny but more about my journey and personal research of my own family history.

I think the interview went well. It was about 15 minutes long on Evenings radio with Christopher Lawrence. If I get permission I will add a link to the interview here so others can listen to me rambling on about my family history.

UPDATE: The interview starts at 2 hrs 18 minutes in on this link at the ABC Radio website.

UPDATE on UPDATE: The link to the interview has now expired. I have contacted archivists at ABC to see if I can get an audio file to add to this post.

Readers: Have you ever been interviewed on radio or TV or an oral history research program?

 

Probate in England

Miss W. General info , , ,

Since finding dad’s father and researching his ancestors, I have found a couple of fairly recent probate records on Ancestry.

In 1950, dad’s grandmother passed away. Her name was Florence Emily Georgina Bray and this was her second marriage. In her first marriage with William Elvis Allen, who died in 1902, she had 3 children Frank, Ethel and William junior (dad’s father). Ethel died young, Frank never married and William was somewhere in Australia. In her second marriage to Frederick Edward Bray, who died in 1940, she had another 3 children Albert, Kathleen and Charles.

In her probate, she left everything to her daughter Kathleen.

But when her eldest son Frank (dad’s uncle) died in 1978, his probate was different. Both his parents were dead, his only sister was dead and his only brother William was dead, even though he might not have known that. William was a bigamist and when Frank came to Australia in 1930 it is not known if he found his brother who by then was in Tasmania under a different name.

Frank could have left his money to his half sister Kathleen and half brother Albert who were both still living. Instead this is what I have found on Ancestry.

Does this mean his money has gone to the UK Government coffers? I haven’t found any will just this probate notice under the National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administration) 1858-1995.

Researching in New Zealand

Miss W. General info , , , ,

I am writing  a post for each state of Australia and New Zealand with a list of great resources for researching ancestors in that particular place.  Tasmanian records are held mainly at Libraries Tasmania where both archive and library resources are on the one website.

In October 2021, our Twitter group #ANZAncestryTime had a session about New Zealand. The tips for great websites come from this chat.

All headings link to the website.

OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay

BDMs in New Zealand

NZ govt Births Deaths and Marriages allows you to work out the day the event is recorded happening. You can order printout (not the certificate) for NZD25 and will arrive via email. Yes! It’s cheaper, and for older records it’s a copy of the actual register entry, whereas the certificate is usually typed/transcribed.

Archives New Zealand

Make sure you check the different portals and collections on the main page of the archives. Help is here for searching the collections.  They also explain how to search the collections using filters etc. You can also check the research guides for the archive.

PapersPast

This is the New Zealand equivalent of Australia’s Trove website where you can search newspapers to help tell the stories of your ancestors. As with Trove, you can also search diaries, journals, letters and books about New Zealand on this site. Make sure you read the help page so your searching can be done efficiently.

New Zealand Society of Genealogists

There are collections and resources available at this site but as a member there are other things to look at as well.

NZ Electronic Text Collection

Part of the Victoria University of Wellington Library. This includes digitized historical texts and manuscripts including the Cyclopaedia of New Zealand. To refine your search check out this help page.

Digital New Zealand

Millions of resources and lots of collections to check out. Check this out to explore by format, topic, place etc. Remember to check the help page especially for copyright and reuse of documents etc.

New Zealand History

Here you can search by topic, event, people or places. Most are sorted A-Z.

New Zealand Blue Books

Carmel Galvin has written a post about the New Zealand Blue books which can be found as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP). These books include lists of early colonial appointments.

NZ Genweb

Lots of links to various topics around New Zealand. Not sure when it was last updated.

Brogden Navies

Did you have a relative come out to work on the railways? Visit this site and click on link for thesis.

 

Readers: What are other important websites you use to gather information when researching ancestors in New Zealand?

Please read the comments as other family historians have added more websites to use.