There’s something about Norfolk Island that keeps drawing me in. It’s a beautiful speck in the ocean with a frighteningly murderous past and its like there’s a big Norfolk Magnet pointing right at me, genetically speaking. It starts with James Neale, my 3x great grandfather. He was a British Redcoat who guarded convicts. He ‘met…
Trait vs Fate – Edna, part 12
I’m waiting for something. Or someone. Someone to open up the Willock world and reveal their family stories to me. Or someone to tie the Willocks to the Collmans with certainty, but the something or someone doesn’t seem to be coming. I’m willing to wait – what else can I do? Today I heard from…
The Collmans – Edna, part 11
My DNA is linking me to the Collmans. Some of the connections are strong enough that I think I’m on the trail of Edna’s father, Mystery Great Grandaddy – dear old MG. All roads are leading to Thomas William Collman and Augusta Weston. Who were they? Thomas Collman was born in 1858 near the town…
Looking forward to AnzacAtHome. Not much more to say. Lest we forget.
A life more ordinary: Francis Sendall, family man.
The story so far… Francis Sendall left his ordinary English home and family far behind to look for a life less ordinary… In 1892 Francis was living with missionaries in the New Hebrides, surrounded by cannibals and beset by hurricanes. From his plantation Sana Roba, on the island of Malo, he traded all things coconut…
The hot spot – Edna, part 10
I’ve worked really hard on this and I’m not going to bore you with the details. I’m cutting right to the chase. Since my last post I’ve worked out a few things. I know exactly who E is, but I definitely don’t know her, she’s a stranger to me. I’ve also worked out how the…
Who are you? – Edna, part 9
This is going to be hard. Finding Miriam was tricky but I don’t even know where to start to find him. Mystery great grandfather, name unknown, every detail unknown. Who are you? All I know is the obvious – he was a man who was in the same place as Miriam about nine months before…
The Mother Lode – Edna, part 8
Ok, so Mabel Willock isn’t Edna’s mother. Does that mean Mabel’s sister Miriam has to be Edna’s mother, that Miriam must be May Willock? Well… Maybe… What do I know about Miriam Willock? She was born in Molong New South Wales in 1884, just down the road from Wellington, which is where May Willock said…
How Mabel lost her money – Edna, part 7
May Willock. My great grandmother. Edna’s mother. Who was she? My DNA results point to one of two sisters – Miriam or Mabel Willock. But which one? Either of the girls could reasonably have gone by the name May Willock; Miriam perhaps had May as her middle name, or May could be a shortened form…
The pioneers of Yarramalong
How often can any of us ever say we were ‘the first’ to do something? My 3x great grandparents were one of three families who were the first to ever live in the Australian town of Yarramalong. What an amazing ‘first’. In 1852 Alexander and Elizabeth Hill of Antrim Ireland, paid £8 to board the…
KINdling 