I didn’t ‘physically’ meet my great-grandfather, William WINTER (1845-1883), and neither did any of my mum’s generation; he died well before any of us were born. There are no photos of him and there’s no memorabilia—that I know of. And it seems that any stories about him have been lost in time. William became my READ MORE
A 13 year old biographer
When I was 13 years old, our English teacher, the delightful Miss Seedsman, gave us an exercise in biography. The task was to interview someone about their childhood and write it up in three sections: family life, school life and a description of a game played at school. I interviewed my dad. Dad, John “Jack” 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
Sights and Sounds of Ireland Part 3
A slight change of plans…. I was going to post the results of my search for the resting place of the LEE forebears in London, but there are some copyright laws I need to work through regarding what I can and can’t post on the blog before I do that. It’s complicated… In the meantime, 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
Some ‘hard’ drinking in the WINTER line
James WINTER (c.1806-1882), a brother of my great-grandfather, Edward WINTER (c.1812-1869), emigrated to Australia from Ireland with his wife Tirzah (nee DELMEGE) in 1851. The couple headed for the goldfields. They found gold, made some money, spent it on drink. How do I know this? Here’s my trail… In my internet ramblings for WINTER clues 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
Sights and Sounds of Ireland Part 2
RTE Lyric FM and Waiting for Cows After a short stop in Dublin in August 2014, I picked up a hire car and headed ‘for the hills’. As I crisscrossed central Ireland over the next two weeks, I knew it was only a matter of time before I had to stop for the cows. The READ MORE
Sights and Sounds of Ireland Part 1
A sunny day in Grafton Street, Dublin On a beautiful, sunny Summer’s day in Dublin in August 2014, I stumbled across a band busking in Grafton Street. I stopped. I filmed. I enjoyed. I bought the CD. How often have you done that? Listened to live music on holidays and thought, Yeah, he/she/they were great I 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