Grave distribution: the limited geography of ancestor burials

During my family history research project, I have investigated the lives and movements of over 100 of my direct ancestors in New South Wales. Surprisingly the geographic range that these families have covered in the past 190 years is not overly extensive. All of my ancestors in Australia began their new lives after arriving in...

Three Wheatleys

In family history research, you often come across the problem of having multiple descendants of the same name. That almost no longer existent custom of naming the first son (or at least one son) after the father. This was the case for the descendants of my maternal grandfather (Frederick Otho Alchin). His mother was the...

Waggallalah: Murder, Methodism, and marriage

Waggallalah, also referred to as Wagahrallah, refers to a rural property in the parish of Lerida, to the south-east of Gunning, New South Wales. When pioneer Methodist preacher, John Wheatley (snr) moved, with his family to the Gunning region around 1850, he launched a campaign of zealous religious conversions in the Goulburn/Gunning Circuit from his son's property...

William Brown’s Bible – “the best book to read”

Personal objects can often be overlooked when conducting family research. It may be that they are seen as merely possessions, however objects can provide us with rich and invaluable information and stories. While consulting a well-crafted genealogy publication, concerning the Holgate family, I observed an interesting note. On the pages that were of interest to...