Explore Your Genealogy

Now is the time to do some serious detective work and go sleuthing into the heart of genealogy - people and places.

For those of you that have specific and well defined areas of research into their genealogy, this is a good place to get the necessary background information. More of a 'what' than a 'how to', this is likely to be quite an extensive addition to my website, so you may need to return, magnifying glass in hand, on a regular basis!

Genealogists come from all countries and all backgrounds with ancestral roots as diverse as....well....trees! For the really keen student of genealogy, which probably covers every genealogist on the planet, delving into the 'whats' is as exciting as the 'hows' and the 'wheres'. If you've spent some time looking over this website you will be aware of my obsession with 'fleshing out' your ancestors. Get to know them as real people. The best way to achieve that lofty goal is to dig a bit deeper than names and dates. Here's an example:

Man of Mystery

My great grandfather, John Thomas, was someone I knew absolutely nothing about until I started my genealogy journey. There are still many holes in his story but I now have an idea of who he was. I know for instance that he immigrated from Canada in the mid 1800's and arrived in Victoria, Australia around 1855. His occupation there was initially a miner, and then at the time of his death, brickmaker. Was he lured there by gold? Victoria was one of the worlds biggest producers of gold, a reputation fuelled by the 'Gold Rush' at the time. He lived in the Rushworth area, which is now a small country town, but in it's gold mning heyday would've been crawling with people.

I know that he was shot as he jumped ship on arrival in Melbourne, which means that he must've been a member of the crew. John was never captured. The bullet, though now lost, was kept by the family for many years.

He may have been an orphan, as his parents aren't mentioned on either his marriage or death certificate. Although, if he was a 'wanted' man he may have thought it wise to keep those sort of details to himself. He did mention his birthplace however. After our move to Canada in 2005, I went to Saint Johns, New Brunswick. I didn't get any concrete information about John personally but I certainly got a 'feel' for where he lived and found out some interesting history about the place. Saint Johns was a haven for loyalists after the American War of Independence. Those loyal to King George were regarded as traitors and treated as such. Perhaps his father was a loyalist.

I have much genealogy research to do to get all the answers, but John is now a very real, although still mysterious, person to me.

Regard this area of my site as a gateway to the past. A history lesson minus the boring bits!

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