Family History Research is Fun
22nd October 2015
Talk given by Joan Hunt to the Queenscliff Historical Museum monthly meeting at 10.30 am on the 22 October 2015.
Joan Hunt is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria (FRHSV), a past President of the Ballarat & District Genealogical Society (BDGS), earlier this year the recipient of an Award of Merit from the Governor of Victoria and she has a long connection with the Ballarat Archives Centre of the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV). It was delightful to have such a knowledgeable and enthusiastic presenter to talk about researching family history. The audience was left with the feeling that it certainly could be fun … but also a lot of hard work, depending where you let it take you.
Joan made some very interesting points. Firstly start with yourself, from a known point. To illustrate the importance of this, she related an instance where a person was convinced they were related to someone with the same surname who had a high public profile. That person found out a lot about the personality but nothing about their own family because there was no connection.
Talk to the older members of the family. Through their experience they have a great deal of information to relate and even if some of the events are not accurate they will provide clues to help you find the real story.
Make connections with distant relatives, you will be on their radar and if anything turns up or comes to mind they will be happy to pass it on.
Make a family tree so you can plot your success and plot your future work. Family Tree Maker from Ancestry.com is good, particularly for a researcher like Joan. Legacy is a free program which is a very good start.
There are MANY sources that you can tap into to help you track your story. Here are a few:
The Ballarat & District Genealogical Society, www.ballaratgenealogy.org.au
The Genealogical Society of Victoria, www.gsv.org.au
The State Library of Victoria, has a dedicated genealogy room.
Trove, digitised newspapers from 1803 and more, trove.nla.gov.au
The Bellarine Peninsula and Geelong & District History site, www.zades.com.au
The Royal Historical Society of Victoria, www.historyvictoria.org.au Pioneers Register has family histories
since 1917
Births Deaths Marriages , www.bdm.vic.gov.au
Local Cemetary Trusts, Church Archives
The Public Record Office Victoria, www.prov.vic.gov.au , their collection covers a broad area
PROV provide a list of Record Holding Institutions (Vic) at prov.vic.gov.au/provguide-16
Joan Hunt is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria (FRHSV), a past President of the Ballarat & District Genealogical Society (BDGS), earlier this year the recipient of an Award of Merit from the Governor of Victoria and she has a long connection with the Ballarat Archives Centre of the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV). It was delightful to have such a knowledgeable and enthusiastic presenter to talk about researching family history. The audience was left with the feeling that it certainly could be fun … but also a lot of hard work, depending where you let it take you.
Joan made some very interesting points. Firstly start with yourself, from a known point. To illustrate the importance of this, she related an instance where a person was convinced they were related to someone with the same surname who had a high public profile. That person found out a lot about the personality but nothing about their own family because there was no connection.
Talk to the older members of the family. Through their experience they have a great deal of information to relate and even if some of the events are not accurate they will provide clues to help you find the real story.
Make connections with distant relatives, you will be on their radar and if anything turns up or comes to mind they will be happy to pass it on.
Make a family tree so you can plot your success and plot your future work. Family Tree Maker from Ancestry.com is good, particularly for a researcher like Joan. Legacy is a free program which is a very good start.
There are MANY sources that you can tap into to help you track your story. Here are a few:
The Ballarat & District Genealogical Society, www.ballaratgenealogy.org.au
The Genealogical Society of Victoria, www.gsv.org.au
The State Library of Victoria, has a dedicated genealogy room.
Trove, digitised newspapers from 1803 and more, trove.nla.gov.au
The Bellarine Peninsula and Geelong & District History site, www.zades.com.au
The Royal Historical Society of Victoria, www.historyvictoria.org.au Pioneers Register has family histories
since 1917
Births Deaths Marriages , www.bdm.vic.gov.au
Local Cemetary Trusts, Church Archives
The Public Record Office Victoria, www.prov.vic.gov.au , their collection covers a broad area
PROV provide a list of Record Holding Institutions (Vic) at prov.vic.gov.au/provguide-16
