Tree and Leaf Genealogical Services

13/02/2022

There are fewer names on my father's side of our family tree than on my mother's. Partly that is a result of having traced my mother's side further back in time. Partly it is a result that my mother has done a lot of the research that heads sideways rather than backwards in time. She has, quite naturally, contacted more people on her side of the family than on my father's side.

Today is the birthday of one of my father's first cousins once removed--a grandson of my dad's uncle. He belongs to the Stennetts, one of the better researched parts of my father's family history.

Frederic Stennett arrived in Adelaide in 1839 aged 21, and married Rose Dunn, daughter of Thomas Dunn who arrived in Sydney as a convict and who later became Chief Constable of Sydney, in 1843. Frederick is buried in the Anglican Church cemetery in Campbelltown, a couple of blocks from where I lived for a while in the 1980s.

Frederic, Rose and their family were one of the pioneering families in the Bega Valley in the 1870s.

12/02/2022

Joel, one of my mother's first cousins, was born 67 years ago. To me, he is just a name in the family tree with a birth date/place and a marriage date/place attached. Birth and marriage places are both Junee in the Riverina district of New South Wales. The same town in which my mother was born.

I don't know that I have ever met Joel. I have been through Junee several times on the train but have never stopped there.

How many of your closer relatives have you never met? How many of those places significant to your family have you never visited?

The curse of the family historian is that you begin to discover how disconnected we too often are from our families and our history. Sometimes that is the result of adoption, divorce, family violence and other issues that may require or force upon us separation and distance. Sometimes it is just who we are--our personality, interests and experience. Sometimes it has been ignorance until we have done the research. Sometimes it may be laziness or lack of finances or lack of time.

We may not be able to connect with every family member out to third and fourth cousins and beyond, or visit places steeped in our families history. But maybe, as COVID restrictions ease, we may be able to connect or reconnect with one person this year. Maybe we can visit one new place this year. Let your research guide you into a more connected world in 2022!

25/11/2021

Are you thinking of giving a DNA test to a relative this Christmas? Then add a DNA consultation with me as an extra to help your relative or friend understand their DNA results. Pick up a Gift Certificate for the Help! I don’t understand my DNA results package now for $180, a 10% discount.

What about the person on your Christmas list who just needs some research help? The What about my story? package gift certificate is available for $585, again a 10% discount.

Certificates are valid for three years and can be purchased up until 25 December, 2021. All prices are in AUD (Australian dollars).

Contact me today for your Family History gift certificate.

16/11/2021

Contact me now for your family history research needs!

I have some time open now to start your journey of discovery. Message me today or tomorrow and I can look at your research needs immediately. Let me know how I can help you discover the stories of your past.

15/11/2021

Two more radio interviews!
I did two more radio interviews to promote the Rest Assured webinar a few weeks ago.
2NURFM: http://downloads.newcastle.edu.au/2nur/audio/morning/20211026pDougMorrisonCleary.mp3
and
NewcastleLive: https://newcastlelive.com.au/how-to-discover-your-ancestry/

15/11/2021

My great grandfather, Thomas Patrick Augustus Cleary, was born on this day 160 years ago. His parents had arrived in Australia from Ireland in 1849. They arrived in Sydney and never moved out of the city. Unlike many of my other ancestors, this rural Irish family found their new home as city dwellers.

23/10/2021

An interview I did on ABC Radio Newcastle as part of promoting my free webinar this Wednesday.

Webinar to offer advice on how to undertake solo research into your ancestry.

10/10/2021

I am two weeks in and have some space left to research YOUR family history roadblock or Aussie ancestors or DNA questions or whatever it is you need help with. I can help you with discovering the stories of your Australian, English, Scottish, or US ancestors. Contact me today to reserve some of my time to engage with your family history--the stories that have helped form you.

04/10/2021

New Starts

Thomas James Lane (1818-1895) knew a thing or two about new starts. He dragged his family with him to the United States in 1848 at the beginning of the California gold rush. We don't know yet if he reached California but we do know he was back in London by 1850. Soon after he went from being a wheelwright to being a licensed victualler there in East London, was baptised again! And in 1853 boarded the 'Meteor' with his growing family for the trip to Australia. He died in 1895 in Moree, New South Wales, as a storekeeper after spending his early years in Australia on the land as a labourer and shepherd.

Today is the first full week in this new job/business as a professional genealogist. As I wait for my first client (it could be you) I am both excited about the possibilities—the stories I will discover, and terrified at being this vulnerable to my own ability to promote and your willingness to commit.

Did Thomas feel the same excitement and the same terror as he prepared to head to the States, and then to Australia? Did he come home to London with his tail between his legs, with a sense of failure, or had he found gold? How did he feel in Australia being unable to take up his trade as a wheelwright and having to 'slum it' as a labourer and shepherd?

We may never know the answers to some of these questions. No diary has appeared with his thoughts, even from his children. But I am not the only descendant of his who has made a new start or two. Perhaps many of you have too. What have been our experiences or both success and failure, of excitement and terror?

These are the stories worth telling. Ordinary folk like you and I, and the extraordinary things they and we have done and are doing.

Let me help you explore and tell some of those stories.