Topic: Outcast. I have chosen a broad interpretation – “someone different from the others” but without the usual connotations of being cast out as a pariah. My Great Uncle George Johnston (1855-1885) certainly fits this bill. With 12 close uncles and aunts and almost 40 first cousins in Scotland, he was the first seaman in… Read more

Topic; Social media The advent of the Internet was one of the most significant events in my life, coming at the same time as my interest in genealogy was awakened. Early Rootsweb discussion lists (In the days before Ancestry) were rich sources of information, assistance and camaderie on a scale I had never experienced with… Read more

the subject for this week is Oops. I had finished a family history book and published it with Blurb. Luckily I only ordered one copy. A cousin, proof reader par excellence, noticed a discrepancy in the Preview on Blurb and also asked if I could include a little more information which had arrived too late… Read more

The subject for this week is Education. There are many schoolteachers in my extended family but one was a real trailblazer – my Great Aunt Fanny Elizabeth Hunt 1863-1941. In 1888 Fanny became the University of Sydney’s first woman Science graduate and only the second in Australia. (Fanny was a perfectly acceptable name in those… Read more

Theme for this week: Out of Place Herbert William Hunt (1913 – 1937), always known as “Wibb”, was my Grandmother Lily Hunt’s uncle (genealogically speaking my 1st cousin once removed). He was born in country Wedderburn, NSW to Bank manager Edwin Herbert Hunt and his wife Lillian Josephine Harrison, the seventh of eight children all… Read more

The theme for this week is – Favourite Photo. Because my paternal grandfather Alexander Johnston (1868 – 1952) hated having his photo taken, I only have a single photo of him, which he permitted his adored granddaughter to take with her little camera. The photo shows:My grandfather Alexander Johnston (1868 – 1952)My brother Barry Arthur… Read more