52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - FAMILY PHOTO

I'm rather late with this post, but looking at the weekly prompts, this was one I could do fairly easily.

I have a lovely big portrait of my maternal grandmother and her two sisters hanging on the wall at my home. It came from my great aunt's house in the 1980's when my mother helped to clear Auntie Angie's house when she and her husband went into a nursing home.

Including the ornate frame, it is about 60 x 50 cm and was probably taken around 1905. The photo and surround have some foxing, but the frame is in good repair. The frame was probably made by an uncle who worked as a picture framer, and who was reputed to have worked restoring frames at the National Gallery here in Melbourne.

Smaller copies (carte de visite size) were made and sent to relatives overseas. My cousin in Washington State has one that was sent to her great grandmother - their mother's sister.

On the left is my great-aunt Angela Carmel Trowbridge, commonly called Angie, and a favourite in our family. She often came to visit when we were kids and always sent us girls a beautiful birthday card with a hankie tucked inside.

In the middle is Margarita Teresa Trowbridge, known as Rita, who I don't remember ever meeting. I knew there'd been a bit of a falling out between her and my nana, but my mother was quite close to Rita's daughters - so at least we didn't lose all contact. And in fact, I have another photo of the three "girls" with their father, taken in about 1950.

On the right is my nana, Eileen Marie Trowbridge who looks quite serious and has that stubborn looking chin. I remember her coming to visit when we were young children and often staying for a few days to help Mum. All the photos show her with that same serious expression, but I remember her smile and how her eyes lit up behind the glasses she wore later in life.

Strangely enough, I tend to have that same serious expression on my face quite often - although I don't have the chin!

And just for interest sake, here is the 1950 photo - from L to R: Rita, Eileen, George Trowbridge, Angie.

We seem to have lost the habit of taking formal family portraits, which is a shame, as we will only have snapshots to pass on to family genealogists in the future. Still, as long as they are labelled everything should be OK.

Awesome Day!

I follow a couple of art challenges on Facebook, one I've been following for over 3 years and a couple of others for just over 2 years. The one I've been following the longest is Colour Me Positive, run out of Queenland in Australia. (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1712426162335330/?fref=nf)

This week's quote is "Have an awesome day! And if that doesn't work, try again tomorrow", and as I have done for a couple of other challenges this year, I am responding by doing a blog entry. My blog was dormant for a long time until this year, when I have done several posts in response to various art challenges, lessons and experiences.

Today's experience definitely comes under awesome. It started out as a visit to Dandenong Market with my sister-in-law (Cheryl) so that she could buy some small Australian souvenirs to take with her in June when she embarks on a European tour. Cheryl is so excited about this trip - her first overseas trip, if you dismiss the cruise to New Caledonia a couple of years ago.

This is a long held dream for Cheryl and she is very brave to go off on her own (leaving hubby at home) to join an organised tour hitting all the hotshots. After that, her younger son is joining her to tour around France where he has numerous friends, having played his guitar at music festivals every European summer for a number of years.

Anyway, that's why she wanted some small souvenirs to give as gifts to friends, family & anyone else who helps them out.

Souvenirs purchased, we stopped at a Turkish Cafe she knows for coffee and a snack. As Cheryl paid, the Cafe lady asked her to help another customer which Cheryl did quite willingly. When this other lady went to sit down with her food, Cheryl invited her to join us.

Nina, is from Taiwan and has been in Australia for three years. We found out lots of things about her because my sister-in-law asked and was interested in the answers. Nina is learning to drive, her son lives near us, her husband passed away, her son sponsored her to come to Australia, and she is learning to like all the different cultures and loves all the shops.

Nina told us that she also met someone the last time she bought coffee at this Cafe. So the awesome part of our day was making a new friend, even though we may never see her again. I hope Nina enjoyed meeting us.

Nina commented that Cheryl really listened to her and tried hard to understand what she was saying. That's pretty awesome too - it's not a skill many of us have - too busy on our phones or just not prepared to give people the time of day. This skill is one Cheryl has always had, but it has been honed over the years with her work in aged care, particularly with dementia patients.

Cheryl is now retired, but the skill is being put to AWESOME use making friends with all sort of people in all sorts of places - and won't she have an awesome time on her travels talking to all and sundry!!

Keepsakes and Remembering

This blog post was inspired by one of this week's Life Book lessons. The lesson is about making a Prayer Altar of some sort - it could be about family, or to set your intentions, or about anything special in your life. Not really my sort of thing, BUT... today I was dusting and realised that I already have a sort of family altar set up in my living room.

On the shelves of a large wall unit are photos and keepsakes going back as far as 1888. Across three shelves, I have photos, hand-painted china, shells, a music box, my great-grandmother's photo album and a set of encyclopedias from my father's childhood. In other areas of the house, I have wooden and papier-mache boxes, several candlesticks, and yet more photos.

Plus I have lots of "stuff" from my travels around Australia and the world - keepsakes and photos scrapbooked into albums. I have rocks collected along the way, a piece of pottery, a bullet casing (from when I got to shoot an AK47!), books, ornaments and lots of tourist paraphernalia collected on my travels.

In these days of minimalism and de-cluttering we often forget that keepsakes are a way back to the past, to honour our ancestors and are a great memory jogger for family get-togethers. I can't tell you how often my great-grandmother Montagnat's photo album has been pored over by cousins and aunties; or how often I have been asked about different keepsakes around my house. 

My home is certainly NOT minimalist and I love having these objects around me - reminding me of my parents, grandparents, and other relatives whose stories I have been told. While you don't have to go overboard, it is nice to have a few things to display like family photos or other memorabilia - that way when something catches your eye you get that nice, warm remembering feeling.

Stuck to my computer desk with a bit of washi tape is a picture of my Mum - leftover from a Documented Life project in 2015. It's not much, but it is  nice photo of her and I often look at it, smile back at her and say hello. I don't see it every day, but when I do it makes me happy.



Some of my memorabilia


Cup & saucer painted in 1888 by my mother's great uncle, Poppy vase painted by my mother, music box with dancing dolly from my great aunt, glass cup from my great uncle, wooden cigarette holder belonging to my Dad

Photos of both my nephews with their father's baby photo behind. Photos of my niece, my parent's wedding, my Nana in her best coat. Shells, pincushion & candlestick in front.

In pride of place on one wall is a large (20" x 24") portrait of my Nana and her two sisters taken around 1900. The rather solemn girl to my right is my Nana Eileen, the middle girl is my great-aunt Margarita (Rita), and the cutie on my left is great-aunt Angela (Angie). As we have a couple of picture framers in the family, I am assuming that the frame was made by a relative.

Footnote

Quite coincidentally, my sister-in-law has to go to the cemetery where my parents are buried and rang today needing a lift (she has busted a couple of bones in her wrist & cannot drive). So tomorrow, while Cheryl discusses recovering her father's ashes, I will make a visit to Mum & Dad, as well as Auntie Angie (music box) & Uncle Jim (glass cup) who are buried nearby. And I will probably say a prayer while I am there!

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - I'D LIKE TO MEET

Who would I really like to meet? Well, lots of ancestors actually to find out if the family stories are true, or just to find out more about them.

I've run into a few brick walls along the way - unable to find parentage to go further back, or unable to find how people arrived in Australia or UK, so I'd love nothing better than to go back and question some of my ancestors.

I'd ask my three time great-grandfather on my mother's side, Thomas Trowbridge (abt 1798-1865), about his parents, or is he the Thomas Trowbridge born at the Foundling Hospital in London. Or talk to Michael Cahill (abt 1815-1886), my three time great-grandfather on my father's side, about the family story that he met his wife on the ship coming out here - or is he a convict as I suspect?

I'd like to talk to lots of them about their experiences sailing out here in the 1800s - no doubt, all with a very personal slant.  The convict, Alfred Dale (1827-1879), would have had a very different trip in 1845 compared to the Trowbridge family (John, Susan and seven children) who migrated to Australia in 1872, following in the footsteps of John's father and two sisters.

Did my Mum's maternal grandparents know each other in Monmouth, Wales when they were children? Who really was my paternal grandfather's father - are we Sawyers or did someone else get his Mum pregnant? And, how did Dilkoosha Loveland come by her unusual name?

In a way, I'd like to visit all of them from my parents backwards, just to sit and talk about their lives and what memories they have of the times that they lived in. How wonderful it would be to add some personal stories alongside the historical facts.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - UNUSUAL NAME

The most unusual name in my family tree is that of Dilkoosha Eva Loveland. She was born on 18th June 1900 to Charles Henry Loveland and Ellen Maria Sawyer (my 2nd great aunt).

When I look up Dilkoosha on Google, I get images of Dilkusha Palace in Lucknow, India which was apparently built as a hunting lodge and used as a residence by the British in the 1850s. How my cousin (twice removed) came to be named after this building is a bit of a mystery.

Neither of Dilkoosha's parents had anything to do with India - both of them were born and grew up in South East England. My only conclusion is that there must have been something in the newspapers at the time and the name caught their imagination.

It's like a couple of family members born in Australia who have a middle name of Stanislaus - how did that happen?

Anyway if you want to have a look at Dilkusha Palace, here is a link to a photo in the British Library:
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/d/019pho000000988u00005000.html

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - CHALLENGE

I think the most challenging thing has been trying to find and then obtain certificates of birth, death and marriage. It is hard enough finding certificates in Australia - each State has its own rules and pricing structure, and it's not exactly cheap.

I haven't been game to try and obtain overseas certificates, it has been such a minefield trying to get information locally. I have a cousin (actually she is my Dad's cousin) who is really interested in the French side of the family and I think she has lots more information than she has told me! But she does tend to hoard her finds and sometimes it is hard to get copies from her.

Mostly, I am happy to make my findings freely available on Ancestry to fellow family researchers because I have been the beneficiary of their generosity in the past. If I think something should be kept private, I will not post it. My cousin is not on Ancestry but has everything filed away at home, and because of a dodgy internet connection cannot always send things electronically.

So, the challenge for me as a pure amateur, is to find proper source documents to back up the information in my tree. The tyranny of distance, the language differences and the cost involved all put roadblocks in my way.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - FIRST

So the first prompt is the word FIRST. We can interpret this any way we like, but I thought I would go back to the beginning.

My sister started things off with trying to find our paternal grandfather - Charles Sawyer. We were told that he had left the family some time in the 1930s. Dad didn't know all that much, except he saw him sometimes in town (i.e. the city centre of Melbourne) - apparently our grandfather worked in a cafe or milk bar. Our grandmother would not talk about him and was purported to hate the English because of him!

Not sure if the very FIRST thing we did was to get a copy of Dad's birth certificate or a copy of the marriage certificate between his parents. Needless to say all this was after our father had passed away and we could no longer ask him for more information. We only had the very little that he had told us in the past.

My sister reminded me that Dad had been called out of class at school to say goodbye to his father when he (Charles) went off to war. And Dad's sister tells about seeing a man in army uniform loitering near where they lived, and being calling her indoors by her grandmother. And one other story, is that Grandma (his ex) saw him in a newsreel that showed soldiers boarding a ship to go off the war.

My next step was to get his war record from the National Archives, for which I had to pay a hefty sum - but it is now digitised and freely available to anyone else who wants to research Charles Sawyer. Around about this time, my sister opened up an account on Ancestry.com, set up a fairly basic family tree, and we have gone on from there.

We have since been in contact with other members of the Sawyer family, including one who met Charles when he visited England in the 1950s. But we have more work to do and I suspect that we may never quite pin Charles down.