I have been truly blessed. Being in Tasmania and having half my heritage settle here over the centuries has meant I've been very lucky in finding records. Particularly as many of my ancestors came out against their will! Anyone tracing family history will know that convict records were meticulous and make tracking a family member quite easy.
Tasmanian newspapers as with most of the time seemed to print anything and everything. If you sneezed it was reported! This has meant that piecing stories together on ancestors has been somewhat easier too.
My paternal heritage has been a little harder at times. My dad's heritage is Prussian/German, Scottish and English. The info I have is patchy but for the most part I have dates and places just very few stories due to the dynamics of his family.
This year I continue my studies at UTAS and one of the units required me to research and write about a World War One soldier, preferably from my family. The first person who came to mind was my dad's uncle Chris, who we often joked didn't see much of the war as he spent it in hospital or AWOL despite the family calling him a hero.
After weeks of research we couldn't have been further from the truth. He was a hero and he did see too much of the war for a 15 year old.
During this time of research my dad received a random call from a cousin after decades of not hearing from him. They got to talking and it turned out that Allen had boxes of family records in the attic. They had been kept by his mum (Chris's sister) and her mum before that.
To cut a long story short, I now have those records and what a treasure trove! There are well over 100 letters, mostly from Chris to his family during the war, birthday cards, postcards from Chris and from other family members travelling and his war medals.
The dilemma of what to do with all this was discussed. Currently I am scanning all the correspondence, postcards and other bits and pieces. The medals have been sent to Hobart to the Foxhole Medals to be refreshed with new ribbons. Once all records have been scanned they will be sorted. Letters and postcards from the war will hopefully go to the Australian War Memorial should they want them. Local family records will be offered to the Victorian Archives as the nature of them may have historical significance.
Their significance to me; they confirm many things I knew, reveals other stories I didn't. I now have an actual photo of my great grandparents which is so huge for me. They have provided a window into my dad's family that had previously been boarded up.
Now, to find that elusive photo of my dad's mum so we can know what she looked like.
Tasmanian newspapers as with most of the time seemed to print anything and everything. If you sneezed it was reported! This has meant that piecing stories together on ancestors has been somewhat easier too.
My paternal heritage has been a little harder at times. My dad's heritage is Prussian/German, Scottish and English. The info I have is patchy but for the most part I have dates and places just very few stories due to the dynamics of his family.
This year I continue my studies at UTAS and one of the units required me to research and write about a World War One soldier, preferably from my family. The first person who came to mind was my dad's uncle Chris, who we often joked didn't see much of the war as he spent it in hospital or AWOL despite the family calling him a hero.
After weeks of research we couldn't have been further from the truth. He was a hero and he did see too much of the war for a 15 year old.
During this time of research my dad received a random call from a cousin after decades of not hearing from him. They got to talking and it turned out that Allen had boxes of family records in the attic. They had been kept by his mum (Chris's sister) and her mum before that.
To cut a long story short, I now have those records and what a treasure trove! There are well over 100 letters, mostly from Chris to his family during the war, birthday cards, postcards from Chris and from other family members travelling and his war medals.
Sample of letters written to family during WW1
Collection of postcards sent during WW1
Private Christian Henry Schultz medals WW1
Their significance to me; they confirm many things I knew, reveals other stories I didn't. I now have an actual photo of my great grandparents which is so huge for me. They have provided a window into my dad's family that had previously been boarded up.
Henry Christian Schultz and Susan Jane Baker (date unknown)
Now, to find that elusive photo of my dad's mum so we can know what she looked like.
2 comments:
Wow, Kelli! What a fabulous collection. It gave me goose-bumps just looking at the photos of everything piled up there! Someone on an Ancestry Facebook group I’m in has been trying to encourage people to get back into “real” letter writing, so future family historians will have similar personal resources like these. I have letters which I wrote to my mum, dad and sister, and theirs to me, when they lived in Canada for a few months while Dad was working over there. I also have a bundle from my sister when she was working in Los Angeles for about 18 months. All, of course, written before emails came into existence! They give great insight, much of which I’d forgotten until I read them through again recently. Amongst my late Dad’s things were letters exchanged between him and my mum before they got married. I’ve only scanned them so far. Bit too emotional to do more than that just yet! I have a few letters from my late aunt, some WW1 postcards written by my paternal grandad and one intriguing letter from my great uncle to my aunt “explaining” (well, up to a point!) why his father was the black sheep of the family. Thanks to Ancestry and other records on the Internet, I’ve managed to fill in the gaps! Enjoy indulging in your gift.
Thanks Wendy I certainly feel so fortunate and there may be more family records to come hopefully. I have kept some letters from childhood but mostly it was phone calls when I was growing up sadly.
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