Family records

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.

 Sample of letters written to family during WW1

Collection of postcards sent during WW1

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.

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.

update well overdue

oh gosh, this is very out of date.  I have been plodding along with my family history and completely neglecting this blog.

I have stumbled over two new convicts, found out that many of my father's ancestors were actually Tasmanians who moved to Victoria.

Visited a few Schultz cousins during a road trip that took me to Bendigo, Horsham and Melbourne last year.

Knocked out a few bricks in a wall on my mother's side that was doing my head in for years!

This year I have signed up to do the Diploma of Family History through UTAS.   The first unit I am doing is called Place, Image, Object and I am a bit excited about using my brain for something different.  I am also enrolled for a unit on Convict history too.

This year I decided to become more involved in the Launceston Historical Society by accepting a place on the committee.  I look forward to learning more and being involved in some projects locally.  I am also involved (with my 12yr old daughter) in the Launceston Mechanics Institute project.  We will be researching artifacts from the old institute and documenting them in a photography project and researching their history.  I also plan on doing an oral history project later in the year for the same group.  It is all happening!   Along with volunteering in the archives at Launceston LINC.

This week I have had to give thought to an image or object for study.  Sadly most of my family were not hoarders so this has left me with very few objects from the past and even less photographs.

My mum did hand over these treasures today though so I am trying to decide what I will concentrate on.  The small book is a prayer book given to my grandmother by my mother in 1957, the ruler was my grandfathers, who was a carpenter/builder and the large book is a book that belonged to by great grandfather on 'how to be catholic'.

This next picture is of a charm or pendant that belonged to by grandmother's grandmother.  It is very old, but I don't believe it to be very valuable, it doesn't look to be made from actual silver but I have never had it looked at professionally.  The book is a 1891 copy of Great Expecttions and The Uncommercial Traveller by Charles Dickens. This book belonged to my great grandfather and was the only book he ever read.  Seriously, he would finish it, turn it over and start again!  That is dedication for you.

Anyway, I hope to update a little more often from now on.  I have a few stories to share of various ancestors and a couple to update.

List of names

I have added a page of the names connected to my families.  If you see a name you are familiar with and think we may be connected somehow please leave a contact message for me to chase you up!  We may be cousins or something.