Getting started on your family tree

20, Nov, 2011

Some quick pointers on getting started on your family tree from someone who only started this journey in July/August 2011.

1. Firstly, you need to get any paperwork and photos together on yourself and your family and scan them in if you can so that these photos/documents (called Sources - more on this later) can be used with your family tree software (refer point 2).

Documents to quote and use as a Source are things like birth, death or marriage certificates, copies of census records, electoral roll records or newspaper notice.

2. Secondly you need to install a good family tree software program and there are many around, both free and versions you have to pay for. As I use Linux I went with Gramps (free open source) which is also available for Windows and Mac users. Another good one recommended by Lisa Louise Cooke (more on Lisa later) is Roots Magic which also comes with a free version, or you can pay for extra features versions from Roots Magic. I loaded it and it looks good.

Note: if you are installing Gramps for Windows ensure you install the GrampsAIO version (All In One) which will ensure the Python environment is also loaded to run the application (and don’t do what I did and first loaded the 64 bit version instead of the standard version, unless you have a 64 bit version of Windows, it won’t run).

Being in I.T for many years I look for one essential thing in any application - export-ability to other compatible programs and the ability to produce your information as plain ASCII text. While your application may be the buzz application of the day, it may not be there in the future and the ability to use a current application with your old information in the future is safeguarded by the practice for you “now” to export your information.

A simple example I always quote: I wanted to check on the family name of someone who came to our wedding in 1987 - I had recorded everyone using a database program called dBaseII. The fact that I had also ‘exported’ or ’saved’ this same data to an ASCII text file meant I could use virtually any text or spreadsheet utility today to find the name I was after. I didn’t need to try and run the old program nor did I need to find something that would import the information today. I love ASCII.

At least if your genealogy program can export to GEDCOM format, you are safe in the fact that this current standard is recognised by all good genealogy programs. (Again, I stress you also export your data as ASCII text to something like a .txt or CSV file)

3. Fire up your application and start recording yourself as the first person - always best to start with you as you know the most information about yourself. Then go back to your parents, grandparents etc - before long you will see your tree start to come to life.

4. I have heard it said that you are not just out to collect names, dates and places; you are out to collect stories about the people from your family. What they did, anything you know about them - some snippet or information about them eg., Arrived in Australia from Germany with their mother and father on the Freidlborg, later worked as a tinsmith. Anything that gives life to the record you are entering. One of my relatives had the A B Busing sweet pea named after him by Perrotts here in Australia - already this wonderful relative’s story begins to give us a glimpse into how he lived his life.

I have a great advantage in the fact that a cousin in New Zealand has been working on the family tree for many years and so through a New Zealand/Australian alliance, we are researching the family tree from both sides of the Tasman Sea.

5. Substantiate your information: A lot of times you will be going by word of mouth from what you have heard about your family members, but the key to making the family tree legitimate, is to substantiate facts about the people you are entering. This is where you need to enter and documents or notes you have and then show these items as your Source. A Source helps you both substantiate something and also provide yourself and others a point of reference where you can re-visit those details to ensure they are accurate.
Also quote any Internet entity as your Source of information - sometimes you may use the Internet to record information you find and the said information may in turn be from someone else who is working on the same part of your family and recording it online. Be careful in just parroting online information, however, as the other person may also have some facts wrong or be just noting what they have been told without having any documented proof. Put on your detective hat and start to gather as much evidence as possible to show what you have recorded is fact. Naturally you can’t do this for everything but at least leave notes to help you and others know what is proven fact, word of mouth, or your own deductions.

6. Online searches: Everyone has heard about ancestry.com and is one of the largest sources of genealogy information - but it does require subscription. To start with I would recommend exhausting using the publicly available search engines such as:

https://www.familysearch.org
https://secure.rootsweb.com
http://www.mundia.com/au

and for Queensland Australia I also use:

https://www.bdm.qld.gov.au
http://naa.gov.au
http://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au
http://trove.nla.gov.au

Others both subscription and free I have used:

http://www.ancestry.com.au
http://www.findmypast.com.au
http://www.geneanet.org
http://www.mytrees.com

7. Learning more about genealogy and its recommended practices can seem a little bit of a fine art, but I can thoroughly recommend you download the variety of podcasts and information offered by Lisa Louise Cooke who has a wealth of information on helping you get started and keep moving. I started listening to Lisa’s free genealogy gems podcast and also listening to her tips, tricks, does and don’ts, and I can’t thank her enough for the blessing she has been to me in this whole process. You will find Lisa at:

http://genealogygems.tv
http://personallifemedia.com/hosts/1419-lisa-louise-cooke

8. Once you are researching, documenting, printing reports, talking to family and friends who know about the people in your tree and listening to great podcasts, you will start to see the family tree take on a life of its own.

My thanks to my wife, father-in-law, my cousin Norman and the rest of my family for helping the family tree come to life. My special thanks to Lisa for such education podcasts.
And a special thanks to Jess Clark (a possible distant remote cousin) who is starting her genealogy research journey and in a effort to help her, I have put together this first genealogy blog post.

I wish you well and if there are any other bits you feel I can help you with, please feel free to e-mail me at david@davrom.com

To the Australia armed forces

13, Aug, 2011

To the Soldier
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Someone died on a battlefield,
About ten minutes ago.
Their fate was finally cruely sealed,
It was someone you might know.

That someone will now never return,
To those who filled their days.
A loving memory that will always burn,
Through life’s chaotic haze.

They put themselves in harms way,
To protect those dear at home.
Keeping enemy advances at bay,
So in our homeland we safely roam.

To the diggers and armed forces,
From today and yesteryear,
For you all we humbly pray,
For keeping us from all fear.

No greater love could you have shown,
For giving your life for us all.
So we make your memory our very own,
And thank you for hearing the call.

by David.M.Clark - 25/04/2010

A 50 Year Reflection

13, Aug, 2011

Originally posted on FaceBook in the days following my 50th birthday on the 26th of May 2011.

Well as I turned 50 this week just gone, I have been contemplating what conclusions I can make for living for five decades here on God’s earth. When you mention you turned 50 everyone asks if you are having a big
party or doing some massive activity, but we didn’t do anything like that.

You see, I am a family man and as a child there was only really my mum and I to speak of - my mum was awesome and really raised me on her own which was no small undertaking. So to me my ultimate goal in life has been to be the father that I never had, and the husband my mother never had. So for me turning 50 meant I would do what I always love to do: spend time with the three most beautiful people God has blessed me with; my family, being my beautiful wife and our two wonderful sons.

I have lived longer than some, and shorter than some, so here I will note some observations that I have found that work for me:

1. Be happy: I know life can really be terrible at times (bad health, bad work days or workplaces in general, bills, people squabbles, family issues, mistakes you’ve made, losing loved ones), but through it all, if you are breathing then you have another day as a gift - be happy with that and then add each of your blessings to it.

2. Life’s Blessings: Count your blessings and keep them foremost in your mind always:

The people who love you, the people you love (sadly may not always be the same category of people - I have found that not everybody likes me - so what, it shouldn’t stop me still caring for them). Family and friends are the treasures of life that you can’t measure with worldly wealth.

Your home: which is not necessarily your house or where you live as I know these to be two different things in some cases.

Your work: if you don’t like your work look to find the things in it that make it better for you. The best satisfaction is to find what you love doing and make it your career. At the end of the day, work will
help keep the roof over your head and food on the table - that alone is a blessing as so many others in the world don’t even have these. Balance is the key in that you should work to live rather than live to work.

2. The Past: Don’t let your past assassinate your present and future. The past cannot be rewritten no matter what you or someone else can do in most cases, but what makes the difference is that you set a better
plan now for tomorrow. Do what you can while you can.

Your past mistakes is another big one that can cripple you. You can’t undo them but you can do something today that will heal or undo them - and if they can’t be undone despite everything you can think to do,
bury them and move on.

3. Value your time: Time is the only thing we can’t get back. Money you can earn again but time is the one commodity that you don’t get back again. Use your time to get done what needs to be done and use
your time to help those close to you. Take time to be with others. But also don’t feel guilty if you need some time alone to just recharge yourself.

I am 50 and it only seems like yesterday I was jumping around in our creek on our property with my best mates. I would have my days again but I value and treasure the memories I have with me.

4. Communicate: Tell those you love how much they mean to you. Use your words to the best of your ability to say “I really love you”, “I appreciate you in my life”, “you make me who I am today” - let people know so when you are gone, they know how much they meant to you.

5. Be a student of life: Jim Rohn used to say this and it really grabbed my attention. Learn all you can no matter how old you are. Learn all you can about life itself being both yours and others. By this you will get wisdom and wisdom will help you when you need it and wisdom will more so help others when they need it.

6. Encourage: Talk up to people no matter how you feel (easier said than done some days I know), and talk up to people no matter who they are. The world is ready to pull down and ridicule; don’t buy it - be
someone who encourages others to do the best they can do, to be the best they can be.

7. Believe in who you are: You are the only “you” this world will see, so why not be the best “you” that you can be. The negative and unkind things that were done to you or spoken to you do not define you. The quicker you realise this the quicker you become free of a false self-image.

Hold close to your heart those good things that have been spoken into your soul that let you fly - that help reaffirm who you are.

8. Guard your heart: try to be good to everyone but don’t let anyone try to take advantage of you emotionally. It profits you none if you can no longer function in this world because someone has been able to wound you. Not everyone will have your best interest as their focus.

9. Forgive: Forgiveness is hard especially when someone has wounded you beyond your minds ability to process it completely. But holding onto un-forgiveness will ultimately kill you, not the person, people,
company, “whatever” that hurt you.

Dream for a better tomorrow for you and your loved ones. Sleep deeply and peacefully because a life full of worry will just leave you angry towards the end of it.

  • Posted by david in in Life

Australian Christian

13, Jul, 2010

I am a Christian and believe in the Bible as the undisputed word of God and is the (b)asic (i)nstructions (b)efore (l)eaving (e)arth. Australia was declared a Christian nation as being “the great south land of the Holy Spirit” and was settled by the British Empire declaring its sovereignty under God (that’s the Christian God, the Father of whom Jesus Christ taught us), and not the God of any other religion.

I fellowship at Hillsong Church in Brisbane and my heart is that the nation would come to know Jesus Christ as their intimate Lord and Saviour, and that people would know the kind of relationship that I have with the Lord who is alive and seeks only to walk with you, and you with Him.

Starting a blog

12, Jul, 2010

Starting my own personal blog. Hopefully people will find something of use here.