How Good a Wood Engraver was Edward LEE?

In the last third of the nineteenth century, my great-grandfather, Edward LEE (1840-1898) was employed as a wood engraver on the colonial illustrated newspapers in Melbourne. In June 2016, I was fortunate enough to have an article published in the Ancestor journal of the Genealogical Society of Victoria (GSV) detailing Edward’s working life in Australia.  READ MORE

My Blog is turning 1!

Today is my blog’s 1st birthday! Time for a review… Site Stats: Since going online on 28 October 2015, there’s been 24 blog posts, 5,249 views, 1799 visitors, and 183 comments. The blog post with the most views? Back to the Main Drain-Cora Lynn, Vervale and Iona. A car trip around the Koo Wee Rup READ MORE

Where did I get that hair…Mary Jane CAMERON?

I have a lot of hair. It’s thick and curly. As a child my mum attempted to train its unruly behaviour by giving me frequent ‘trims’. She skilfully wielded those sharp scissors over my head as a I dutifully perched on the high, yellow stool. The result: a short style with ‘room to grow’, which READ MORE

A LEE Match!

About a month ago, a LEE ‘relative’ in the USA, who I’ve recently made contact with, emailed a couple of photos of a brother of her forebear, Charles LEE (1841-1929). Charles LEE being the brother of my great-grandfather Edward LEE (1840-1898). The question….are the photos of Edward LEE? One of the photos is labelled Stewart READ MORE

A search for the final resting place of the LEEs in England

I knew my great great grandparents, Edward LEE and Jemima LEE (nee WILLIAMS), did not follow their sons, George, Edward (my great-grandfather) and Charles to Australia, so, it wasn’t too much of a jump to assume they died and were buried in England. But where? Discerning their ‘timelines’ in England led to a burial plot READ MORE

More valuable letters…this time on the LEE side

As in the last post, I ‘found’ the existence of a series of letters written by a previously unknown person who names a forebear in my ancestral line. In this case, the letters were written by a George MORTON and they refer to my great grandfather’s brother, George Williams LEE (1831-1864). George MORTON, or George READ MORE

Tracing the LEE brothers, George, Edward and Charles, in Australia

Like a ‘good’ genealogist I sourced primary documents to trace my great grandfather Edward LEE (1840-1898) back to his birthplace. Edward was the first in my direct LEE line to emigrate to Australia. I have previously referred to him in a post ‘The Locket’. On the discovery that Edward LEE was born and raised in READ MORE

The Locket

My grandmother, Mary Grace Jane ‘Doll’ COGHLAN nee LEE (1881-1958) ‘handed down’ to her son, my dad, a gold locket. On the outside of the locket are the initials ‘MJL’ and on the inside are photos of a man, a lady and a baby. There are no names or dates on the locket or photos READ MORE

Curiouser and Curiouser

When I was about 10 or 11 I had a growth spurt. My arms, hands, feet and legs telescoped out of their sockets. But unlike Alice, in Alice in Wonderland, I couldn’t blame my growth on a cake labelled EAT ME. Seemingly overnight, I became one of the tallest in my grade. My arms were READ MORE

An Officer and a Gentleman

 Remembrance Day   11 November 2015 David Thomas LEE was my Dad’s cousin (and for the family’s information Ron Lee’s brother). He was to be the best man at my parents’ wedding in January 1943, but he was unable to attend due to RAAF training commitments in preparation for action in WWII. On the 5th READ MORE