Welcome now to a new year - can you believe 2012 is here already, where does the time go.
I have been thinking about this blog and whether it's worthwhile. Of course I have my theories, but until I try and get myself, my thoughts, ideas and things I do out there I will never know. And unless people read what I have to say and let me know their thoughts via the contacts page I will not know whether there is any interest.
I have already talked about my passions in life and over the last couple of days as we had a few days away I realised that 2 of them are actually linked - they are travel and my family research.
My background is primarily England and Germany, with forbears on both sides coming to Australia in the mid 1800's. My English parentage who hailed firstly from Lincolnshire and then Devon settled on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. John Keightly Grundy was one of the pioneers of Gum Flat later to become known as Minlaton, so it was here that we ventured for a couple of days. Whilst John Grundy eventually settled in the Curramulka area (& I have gleaned quite a bit of information about him already) it was my Great Grandfather John Cudmore who settled more in the Minlaton area. I know a little of him but find it hard to find more. I knew that his son Tommy Cudmore had a butcher's shop in the town in the 1920's as it featured on the front cover of a heritage book of the area, so thought we would ferrett around and find if it still existed. The ladies in the shop from which we purchased the book had no idea, but within the book there was a map of its original location, so off we went and lo and behold it was still there. Renovated over the years it is unmistakably still Tommy Cudmore's Butcher Shop, so one more piece of the puzzle has been put into place. It has also given me more ideas of where to look to find where the Cudmores lived and raised their 13 children. It is such a pity that I had no interest when my dear Nana was here - she lived to 99 and would have had so much to tell me if only I had have asked!
We need to visit England to see what we can find - I am sure there are many relatives as family's were so large. Then of course to Germany to see what more I can find of my Dad's side of the family.
I have been doing family research for about 10 years and via the internet have been able to trace my Cudmore side back to the 1300's - thanks to a distant cousin who lives in Canada - Alan Cudmore. I may even need to visit him to say thank you for the work he has done!
So you can see that travel and family history are linked to a degree, especially for us in Australia as being such a young country all of us have originated from places far away from here.
If you are reading this and have an interest in researching your heritage, drop me a line and I may be able to give you some hints and tips of where to start - but be warned it is extremely addictive and at times very frustrating as you hit brick wall after brick wall.
Happy reading and please let me know what you think!
I have been thinking about this blog and whether it's worthwhile. Of course I have my theories, but until I try and get myself, my thoughts, ideas and things I do out there I will never know. And unless people read what I have to say and let me know their thoughts via the contacts page I will not know whether there is any interest.
I have already talked about my passions in life and over the last couple of days as we had a few days away I realised that 2 of them are actually linked - they are travel and my family research.
My background is primarily England and Germany, with forbears on both sides coming to Australia in the mid 1800's. My English parentage who hailed firstly from Lincolnshire and then Devon settled on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. John Keightly Grundy was one of the pioneers of Gum Flat later to become known as Minlaton, so it was here that we ventured for a couple of days. Whilst John Grundy eventually settled in the Curramulka area (& I have gleaned quite a bit of information about him already) it was my Great Grandfather John Cudmore who settled more in the Minlaton area. I know a little of him but find it hard to find more. I knew that his son Tommy Cudmore had a butcher's shop in the town in the 1920's as it featured on the front cover of a heritage book of the area, so thought we would ferrett around and find if it still existed. The ladies in the shop from which we purchased the book had no idea, but within the book there was a map of its original location, so off we went and lo and behold it was still there. Renovated over the years it is unmistakably still Tommy Cudmore's Butcher Shop, so one more piece of the puzzle has been put into place. It has also given me more ideas of where to look to find where the Cudmores lived and raised their 13 children. It is such a pity that I had no interest when my dear Nana was here - she lived to 99 and would have had so much to tell me if only I had have asked!
We need to visit England to see what we can find - I am sure there are many relatives as family's were so large. Then of course to Germany to see what more I can find of my Dad's side of the family.
I have been doing family research for about 10 years and via the internet have been able to trace my Cudmore side back to the 1300's - thanks to a distant cousin who lives in Canada - Alan Cudmore. I may even need to visit him to say thank you for the work he has done!
So you can see that travel and family history are linked to a degree, especially for us in Australia as being such a young country all of us have originated from places far away from here.
If you are reading this and have an interest in researching your heritage, drop me a line and I may be able to give you some hints and tips of where to start - but be warned it is extremely addictive and at times very frustrating as you hit brick wall after brick wall.
Happy reading and please let me know what you think!