The Internet has provided new pathways to genealogical data, with censuses dating back to the late 1800’s now available online. But where to start can be the biggest hurdle. 50up spoke to Kylie Pickett about how to go about re-tracing the steps of your very own founding fathers.
A general curiosity about her family led mother of two Kylie Pickett on a journey that uncovered almost 6000 family members, their personal histories and gave her a greater understanding of the intricacies of her own family dynamics.
Having traced her history back to the 1500’s, Kylie has uncovered stories and connections to people across the globe, even some famous links.
Being unable to speak to her grandparents about their lives, Kylie was interested in their history and through some initial research she has discovered information about not only their past, but the lives of those much further afield.
“Family is the best tool,” said Kylie. “They often think things aren’t relevant, they will tell a story that fits into another story. My grandparents didn’t discuss family events with my parents, but I was interested in things like why I look the way I do.
“Then I started doing some research and found a photo from 1890 of my great great great grandmother and could see the family resemblance.
Kann Family
“I found articles that my 90 year old cousin had written in the paper in the 1920’s, army records, marriage certificates. I came across a photo of 5 generation grandparents from the 1800’s. There are always a few skeletons that you come across as well so it is up to you what you include in your tree and what you don’t.”
With the Internet, sites such as ancestory.com and myhistory are great ways to start researching and storing information. You can choose the level of detail you wish to include and branches can be as extensive as you choose.
Some websites cost money so it is important to decide how much you want to dedicate to your search and maximise the free resources available.
“I searched for a free website that would let me keep stories and descriptions of the people I found. ancestory.com is an amazing resource but it can be expensive so I only utilise it sporadically for certain searches,” said Kylie.
“You can do a basic tree with births, deaths and marriages; with some you can customise to include facts and figures and physical descriptions. You can go as in-depth as you want.
“With the free sites you may not be able to publish your family tree so if that is something you want to do then you may want to consider a paid family tree builder.”
“Harry Kann, my great uncle did a family tree by hand, which can be painful to read. He actually travelled to Germany for information on his tree as the resources available now weren’t available then. There are many family trees published in books as well which can be helpful.”
Begin at the beginning
For those who have no idea of their family history or where to start, the local historical societies not only hold a vast amount of information but the volunteers often have a great deal of knowledge in searching for documents and want to assist you to discover your past.
“There are many organisations that you can access such as the state archives, the National Library of Australia, you can get war records from the Australian War Memorial,” said Kylie.
“Local council websites can be of help with family names, property buying and selling and government records. Birth, death and marriage information can be easy to come by, but looking in newspapers for obituaries will give you children’s names, sometimes careers, marriage information as well as all the normal information.
“Finding gravestones can be helpful and newspapers are good because in the old days they published all kinds of stories about families, people heading off to war, local events and pictures – like my five generation grandparents. Electoral enrolments will tell you where people lived and where they moved to.”
Catching up with the past
In doing research you may come across information that might be detrimental to someone. Many families have hidden pasts they want kept hidden which is why it is important to think about why you are creating your family tree and who it might affect.
“You come across some real scallywags with deep dark secrets,” said Kylie. “There is some information I have only told my close relatives who I trust because I don’t want to publish certain stories. You need to check with people before you put anything down in writing or wait until people have passed away before you add it to your tree.
“I have been searching for a family member who disappeared in the night without a trace. Some of my historical family members were chased out of a town overnight and changed their name when they settled in Queensland. That can make information difficult to find because two of the siblings had one surname and the other two had a different surname.
“I was lucky through using message boards online that I found some family members and have since caught up with them. They have stories and information that have helped form parts of the tree. They are often prepared to explain some discrepancies as well as they might have encountered a situation differently.
“We have made some family connections through my research which has meant my mother has met some of her cousins and we have found out we are related to a famous Australian actress. When you use the online family tree builders it tells you if someone else has searched for the same person and puts you in contact with them.
“This can be a great way to add to your family tree as you can often include whole sections of their research.
It takes time
Robert Thornton Lightfoot
It may not be just the family members that you uncover but also a greater understanding of historical times, but beware, researching your family can be very time consuming as if you think about it you could probably find a connection to everyone in the world.
“You could easily be at 100,000 people depending on how much time you wanted to spend doing it. I started just as a hobby but it can take over your life,” said Kylie. “There are days when I realise I’ve been working at it for eight or nine hours. Also other people may not be as curious as you and so probably don’t want to hear about it all the time.
“Some people start and give up after a month, and you have to remember that there is no end to it. There are weddings, births and deaths happening all the time so to keep it accurate you have to be constantly updating it. I really enjoy learning about the past and seeing how far we have come as a society.
“I have details of my ancestors from 1595 in Westminster, England and of course the details of my children born in the 21st century and everything in between.”
Kylie is searching for details about her great aunt Jessie Rachel Ann Lightfoot Thornton born 18thOctober 1898, who was married to Francis Slatter from Allora, Queensland.
If anyone has information about Jessie please contact Kylie at kyliefamilytree@hotmail.com
This is the link to the article if you would like to read the magazine
http://50up.com.au/article/2011/08/reaching-into-the-past/
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