Accentuate the positive - a reflection on my 2023 family history year

Jill Ball, aka GeniAus, puts out this challenge annually and I was thrilled when I saw the 2023 prompts published. I love stopping and reflecting on my research year, to remember great discoveries, see where my focus was for the year, and get re-enthused for the year ahead. Thanks Jill!!

On revisiting some old research I found ... so many details and clues overlooked in the original research frenzy to find records and information.  With time comes new context and I find there is always value in revisiting research and records – I’m often surprised to find I’ve missed something that, in hindsight, was the obvious next logical step.

 In 2023 I hooked up with a new (to me) living cousin ... I was very fortunate to travel to the UK this year and meet up with quite a few cousins of varying degrees who I’d “discovered” through research but only met through emails and Facebook up until then.  All were delightful and I enjoyed lunches, exchanges of information, weekends exploring cemeteries, and, in one case, viewing an extensive collection of family memorabilia dating back to the mid-1850s.

 I'm pleased I replaced a tool I had been using with  ... Family Echo. It’s the app I’ve been dreaming of for years.  A web-based platform, it enables you to very quickly create a family a tree to illustrate particular relationships - the kind of tree I often draw on the back of an envelope to explain something to Mum – but in digital format.  It doesn’t take the place of family history software such as FamilyTree Maker, RootsMagic or similar but is so useful to quickly create a diagram. You can input a range of basic biographical data, which can be exported in a range of formats including GEDCOM and .csv as well as pdf download of tree diagrams. Never been happier. And did I mention that it’s FREE!!

My sledge hammer did great work on this brick wall ... I think I used my butterfly net more than my sledge hammer this year; gathering up lots of new material that I can apply my sledgehammer to this year.

I was pleased that I finally read... The Curlews on Vulture Street. It has nothing at all to do with family history. But it is a great example of making research engagingly readable.

I enjoyed my geneajourney to ... The UK – Ireland, Scotland and England. I revisited some places and went to some new ones, mostly small out-of-the-way villages as well as a few archives and local history groups. I met up with cousins (see above) and spent time with the dearest person in my family tree - my daughter. 

In 2023 I finally met ... More amazing local historians and wonderful archivists. A particular shoutout to Billy and Margaret of the Dalmellington Local History Group who welcomed me into their rooms and shared their local knowledge (and some Bakewell tarts). It’s a tiny, out of the way village in rural Ayrshire (Scotland) to which I curiously have both a maternal and paternal connection. It required a train and a bus to get to but so worthwhile.  A timely reminder that (a) there is always value in reaching out the locals and (b) the importance of supporting these groups if you have an opportunity.

I was the recipient of genearosity from ... Family History Month, being the lucky winner of a Gould Genealogy book voucher that enabled me to add three books to my library. Although, embarrassingly, still on my TBR pile.

I am pleased that I am a member of ... Huddersfield and District Family History Society (Yorkshire, UK).  This group actively promotes their family history tourism services and go to extraordinary lengths to create bespoke local tours and coordinate access to buildings and places of significance in your family history. This year, I had a behind the scenes tour to Broadbent Engineering, where my gr-gr-grandfather did his apprenticeship circa 1870 and the Almondbury Grammar School where he went to school. I’ve also been fortunate that my membership with the group has netted other research results. And, even better, I’ve been able to reciprocate by assisting them with some research in Australia.

I made a new DNA discovery  ...  not this year!

An informative journal or newspaper article I found was ... one that had been lurking in my files for many a year, provided by a fellow researcher, that described the diamond wedding anniversary of the younger brother of an ancestor and included valuable clues to further exploration of this collateral line.

A newspaper archive (Papers Past) helped me ...  add a few details to what we know of an ancestor’s brother.

I enjoyed my wander around Ayr (Scotland) cemetery.  It was actually more than an idle wander around. I had visited previously in 2018 and found the marker for my 3xgr-grandmother at the base of the headstone of a family I could not connect to our family.  Subsequent emails with the Council revealed it had actually been relocated (unintentionally) from its original place marking Margaret’s burial place. Wandering (with intent) around the cemetery on my return visit this year, I started a conversation with the groundsman that led to us identifying the burial place, finding the plinth the marker stone originally rested on, and re-siting them both in the ‘right’ location. It was the most amazing and somewhat emotional afternoon. Forever grateful to Wally and his supervisor Stephen.

AI was a mystery to me but I learnt  ... that while it may have some amazing uses, for research and writing related tasks, I’m quite happy using my own brain, keyboard, and creative processes. For now.

The best value I got for my genealogy dollars was ... … a five day photographic pass to West Yorkshire Archives.  I spent three amazing days at the West Yorkshire Archives Service; two of them delving into the West Riding Registry of Deeds at the purpose-built West Yorkshire History Centre in Wakefield. I can’t remember how much it cost, but it enabled me take unlimited photographic copies of pages and pages of deeds related to my ancestors to bring back to Australia and peruse and interpret at leisure. Much more time efficient than trying to read and transcribe on site.

It felt good to contribute to  ... he ongoing development of Heritage Noosa, a website providing a one-stop shop for historic images and a myriad of other digitised material documenting the people, places and events of Noosa Shire (in my professional capacity)

It was wonderful to catch up with genimate Ian Stevenson of the Huddersfield & District Family History Society (Yorkshire, England) and have another great day out with him.

I wouldn't be without this technology ... cloud based storage of all my scanned photos and family history notes and records. My trusty laptop is usually within arms’ length but for the odd occasion when I’m out and about without it, being able to pull something up on my phone is super handy.

I wrote ... pretty much nothing all year. But I did plenty of hunting and gathering and had lots of experiences that will lead to more writing.

I got a thrill from opening someone's eyes to the joy of genealogy ... joy would be overstating the case but having someone change their perspective on participating will hopefully lead to great joy.

Another positive I would like to share is ... how much I love geneasurprises, those spontaneous serendipities, that continue to occur in parallel with 'proper' research. The chance google that nets you a priceless family treasure, the overheard snippet of conversation that leads to a great connection, the random stranger who contacts you via your blog… all stories too long to tell here. Some I’ve already documented on my blog; others from 2023 will appear in forthcoming posts.

Now on with 2024….