Death by Genealogy

Death, graves and genealogists

I'll admit it. During the last six months I've become obsessed with genealogy. With the ability to use the wonderful resources of Trove for free and find so many birth and death notices as well as stories of days gone by in Australia, there's a wealth of free material available for the beginning genealogist.

At this stage I'm really only a family historian but with the intention of improving my skills and credentials I headed off to Brisbane on Saturday to attend the Unlock the Past seminar. The major speakers Chris Paton and Thomas MacEntee are worldwide recognised experts in their respective fields and both very entertaining speakers so a good day was had and much new learning taken on board.

Genealogy requires dedicated hours of research and critical analysis of sources, this is excellent brain food for stimulating minds. Sitting in front of computers for hours on end however does not care for one's body and I fear many of the family historians and genealogists in the audience, failed to care for their living bodies the way they care for the dead. Warning: death by obesity may well be the most common cause of death listed on death certificates of so many this century. Future genealogists may be forced to search for the relationship between hobbies, occupations and causes of death.

Let's all get up, get about and do our bodies a favour by eating a balanced diet and engaging in regular exercise. In the meantime, back to those graves.... You can head over to my family stories blog at Earlier Years if you have any interest in this field.

The Tailor's Girl

The Tailor’s Girl by Fiona MacIntosh

This is another delightful historical story from the author of The French Promise and Fields of Lavender. This book could probably be best described as an historical romance with the wounded soldier and his wife as the central characters. The horrors of war and attendant memory loss are as central to this story as is the womens’ movement for equal rights.

The Tailor’s Girl of the title is Edie the daughter of a Jewish tailor based in London. Her desire to lead a life as an independent woman, more than wife and mother, provides an ongoing focus when the hero Tom changes direction through an accident that is no fault of his own.

The challenges for returned soldiers and women post war are addressed with a wonderful tour through the streets of London, life in the English countryside, lots of detail about the fashions of the time and an interesting look into that very male bastion of the times, Savile Row.

Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed this tale, the somewhat convenient ending was rather contrived, but having said that, it was an enjoyable read with an ending that suggests 'love conquers all'.

Welcome Wellcome

Today Wellcome has made available a wonderful collection of images,"thousands of years of visual culture"  with Creative Commons licensing. The image above comes with the following details:

A humorous image of two men wearing revolving top hats with several attachments for optical aids and tobacco etc. Coloured etching. 1830 Published: T. McLean,London (26 Haymarket) :  1 January 1830 
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 2.0, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ 

It is wonderful to see the increase in Creative Commons works being made available for all to use and share. Browse and enjoy this newly available selection of images.