Trove Tuesday : 143 Station Road Silkstone

Searching through the Pictures, photos, objects collection on Trove today I came across an old 1890s photograph of John Livingstone AULD, his wife Susannah AULD nee MILLS, and five of their children. Interesting the photograph is taken outside their home located at 143 Station Road in Silkstone (Ipswich, Queensland).

John and Susannah Auld at their home at 143 Station Road, Silkstone, Ipswich, 1890
Image courtesy of Picture Ipswich, Ipswich City Council

The description included with the image Metadata states:

The Auld family previously lived at ‘Waterstown’, Hill Street, North Ipswich and West Moreton paddock (Swanbank) and Thompson Street, Silkstone. Auld was a partner in the Aberdare Coal Mine at Ipswich. He was also a prolific poet with many of his poems appearing in the Brisbane newspapers. One of his poems is reproduced in Ray Whitmore’s book ‘Coal in Queensland’.

A direct link to the entry on Trove can be found here.

Does the house still exist?

A search using Google Street View can reveal the current status of a house. In this case, navigating to the street address and turning on street view reveals a house of similar structure to the one captured in the photograph of 1890.

143 Station Road
Google Street View - image captured March 2014

Viewing from different angles from the road, although not clear in the above screenshot, shows the three dark doors, veranda[h], as well as the unique wooden crosses on the front wall.

Research into the Land Titles could also reveal further information about when they purchased and how long the AULD family owned the property. A good starting point for land research in Queensland can be found at State Library of Queensland - Land records ...but that is a task for another day.

Trove Tuesday: John Auld v Penny and Mason

Scottish born John Wallace AULD arrived Williamstown Victoria in 1852 on-board the Emigrant. A journeyman baker by trade, John was a fully qualified baker who had served the required apprenticeship and mastered the trade of baker and then became self employed. In 1855 he married Jane FAIR.

In the same year that John arrived in Victoria, gold had been discovered to the north around Beechworth. This was the start of the Ovens gold rush. Previously undertaken research revealed that by 1857 John AULD had established himself as a baker in Sebastopol Flat and was listed in the trade directory The Oven’s Directory. The how and why he ended up around Beechworth was a mystery, but it was assumed he joined the many thousands who had traveled north with the prospect of a secure job.

As more and more new regional newspapers are added to the fantastic resources of Trove, it is worth remembering to check those new resources from time to time with the prospect of finding that rare piece of alluvial information.

Beechworth Country Court

With the regional newspaper that covers the Beechworth area, the Ovens and Murray Advertiser includes a rare glimpse of what John AULD was up to during the 1855-1857 period.

BEECHWORTH COUNTRY COURT. (1858, September 20). Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic. : 1855 -1918), p. 2.  Retrieved November 30, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112898271

According to the court report of Saturday 18 September 1858, John AULD appeared as the plaintiff attempting to reclaim unpaid wages whilst working as a journeyman baker.

John Auld v Penny and Mason.
An action to recover 86l 5s.
Mr Clarke for plaintiff.
Mr Mayne for defendant.
Plaintiff deposed that he had been engaged as journeyman baker to defendant at the rate of £5 per week. Served 22 weeks and received on account £5 in cash, a gold watch valued at £17, and a violin worth 35s, this left the balance to recover which this action had been brought.
Mr Mayne for the defence contended that plaintiff had been a partner in the concern ; plaintiff himself admitted that when he was engaged, he was offered a share in the business so soon as his wages amounted to £100; his reply at the time was that he should like to become a partner but had no money.
His Honor without hearing evidence for the defence found for the defendant.
Mr Clarke gave notice that he should move for a new trial.

The result from the first hearing was the judge found for the defendant. Three days later on Tuesday 21 September, John AULD appeared before the judge again moving for a new trial...

BEECHWORTH COUNTY COURT. (1858, September 22). Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic. : 1855 -1918), p. 3. Retrieved November 30, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112898326

Unfortunately the judge didn't see the same and upheld his initial decision. 

Auld v Penny and Mason
Mr. Clarke moved for a new trial in this case on the ground, that there had been no sufficient proof of the existence of a partnership between the parties. At the very outside Mr. Clarke contended it could only be shown that there was some talk of a partnership being entered into when the plaintift's wages should amount to £100, but they had never amounted to that sum, for although he had remained in the service of defendant for twenty two weeks he had received by cash &c., £23 5s. It was also clearly proven that plaintiff had been invariably treated as a servant, and not as a partner.
Mr. Clarke also submitted that even supposing that the plaintiff had at any time intended to form a partnership with defendant he had a perfect right to repudiate his bargain.
Mr. Mayne having been heard on the opposite side, His Honor said that he saw no reason to alter the decision which had been given in the case on Saturday. It was very clear that Auld had intended to form a partnership, and there could be no doubt that if the business had paid he would have considered himself a partner. He admitted that he might have told people that he was a partner, and this admission when upled with his demeanour whilst making it, evidently meant that he had told people so.
Besides, why was such a long period as two years suffered to elapse before taking proceedings to recover the amount ?New trial refused with costs £2 4s 6d.

Although the decision was against John AULD, it does give an insight into what he was doing during this period. More to the point, it highlights the importance of rechecking your sources in this digital age when more and more new information is been constantly added.

Trove Tuesday: Manfield News

Two and half years after the death of John Wallace AULD (1908-1952), the Auld's of Merton had cause for celebration with the announcement of the engagement of Wallace John AULD to Nellie Margaret DODEMAIDE. The news was reported in the Benalla Ensign:

MANSFIELD NEWS. (1954, September 2). Benalla Ensign (Vic. : 1938 - 1954), p. 12.
Retrieved November 22, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65499722

A transcript of the report follows:

MANSFIELD NEWS
ENGAGEMENT
The engagement is announced of Nellie Margaret, second daughter of Mrs. A. Dodemaide, of High street, Mansfield, and the late Mr. William Dodemaide, to Wallace John Auld, eldest son of the late Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Auld and stepson of Mrs. E. Auld, of Merton.

Wallace John AULD was the eldest son of John Wallace AULD and Sylvia MASTERTON.

Trove Tuesday: Linesman Disappears

Searching through Trove looking for something to blog about for Trove Tuesday and I came across the following article that was printed in the Victorian newspaper The Argus on Tuesday 4 March 1930.

The article details two separate tragedies that occurred in the Murray River, both within the State of Victoria in Australia. Both accidents, although occurring approximately 290 kilometres apart in the regional towns of Swan Hill and Yarrawonga, occurred on the same day and resulted in the deaths of three individuals.

DROWNED IN THE MURRAY. (1930, March 4). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 7.
Retrieved November 3, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4072499

The second accident mentions the drowning of a Reginald G. Auld in Yarrawonga. An extract of the incident is as follows:

LINESMAN DISAPPEARS.
Told Companions He Was All Right.
YARRAWONGA, Monday. - Mr. Reginald G. Auld, aged 30 years, telephone linesman, of Lewisham road, East Prahran, was drowned in the River Murray yesterday. Auld, who was a good swimmer, went with Messrs. C. J. Howard, H. W. Daly, V. Davis, and F. G. Bohin, from Tungamah to Bourke's Bend. After the party had been swimming for about an hour it was noticed that Auld appeared to be in difficulties. The other men swam out to him, but he said that he was quite all right. Later, seeing Auld still in difficulties, they swain back, but before they reached him he sank. The body was recovered this morning.

Having not come across the name of Reginald G. AULD before during my Auld research, a quick search of the Victorian BDM indexes reveal his full name to be Reginald George AULD. Reginald was the son of George AULD and Ellen Jane DONOGHUE. Only thirty years of age at the time of his death at Yarrawonga, he was born circa 1900 in Euroa, Victoria. Preliminary research also reveals that Reginald was one of nine children born to George and Ellen - his other siblings were:

• Sidney David AULD (b.1888 - d.1942) - name also listed as Sydney
• George AULD (b.1890 - d.1959)
• Amy Mabel WADSWORTH nee AULD (b.1893 - d.1977)
• Ada Ellen OBRYAN nee AULD (b.1895 - d.1969)
• James Albert AULD (b.1897 - d.1971)
• Ormond John AULD (b.1900 - d.1947)
• Mary Estrella AULD (b.1901 - d.1973)
• Jessie Doris AULD (b.1906 - d.1973)

Interestingly, based on the consecutive index numbers listed, it would appear that Reginald George AULD may have been the younger twin of Ormond John AULD. Although only a supposition at this stage, further research would need to be carried out in order to verify ... maybe Trove holds the answer to this question.

Trove Tuesday: Auld Lang Syne

Well...I was bound to end up writing about it sometime. Now is as good a time as any...

Have you ever tried to search for something, only to find your search results inundated with another, rather common name or phrase? Whilst researching the family name of AULD, invariably the top search results that come up is "Auld Lang Syne"!

Searching Trove for newspaper articles is no different...but how do you remove these unwanted words/phrases from your results?

Auld Lang Syne in print

Scottish poet Robert Byrnes is attributed with writing the poem in 1788. The National Library of Scotland has a digitised copy of Auld Lang Syne available to view online which was printed between 1787 and 1803 in the James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum.

When did it all start in Australia?

Using a fantastic tool called QueryPic (created by Tim Sherratt (@wragge) from WraggeLabs Emporium) we can analyse and plot the frequency of the use of the phrase. Querypic has the ability to search and analyse both Australian and New Zealand newspapers, but for the purpose of this exercise I restricted the search to just Australia. The results follow:

QueryPic results showing proportion of total results per year - http://dhistory.org/querypic/cx/ 

The peak above of 2,620 articles containing the phrase was printed in the year 1900, seeing out the old century, and represents 0.17% of all articles printed in that year

QueryPic results showing number of articles per year - http://dhistory.org/querypic/cx/ 

Looking at the total number of articles per year containing the phrase, the above graph highlights the year 1900 (as mentioned above in the proportions graph), but also highlights in the second peak the year 1915. In this year, a total of 2,696 articles contained the phrase, with the year on either side also recording above 2,300 articles.

It should also be noted that these results are based on the "Auld Lang Syne" phrase that has been successfully converted and/or corrected to text from the printed material in the Trove database. Results do not include the phrase if it has been incorrectly converted to text by Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software and has not been successfully corrected yet by volunteers/users.

How do you remove these phrases from your Trove results

Using the Advanced Search option within Trove you just simply place the unwanted word/s or phrase (enclosed within quotes) in the Without these words field. An alternative, and the option I tend to use most, is to type the following into the main Search field :

auld NOT "Auld Lang Syne"

Happy searching...

Trove Tuesday: Auld Ebenezer Kirk

It has been a while since my last post as my wife and I have had a trip to the UK and been busy with coding, redesign and relaunch of the Claim a Convict website. To add to this we have started up a transcription project for the Claim a Convict website so that we can add new convicts to the site.

...plus in what spare time I have, I have been playing around with the Trove API.

Trove API

The Hawkesbury Library Service undertook a two year digitisation project of the Hawkesbury newspapers in conjunction with the National Library of Australia. Completed in 2011, these wonderful resources can now be searched as part of the Trove Digitised Newspapers.

The newspapers digitised by the Hawkesbury Library Service include the following titles:

• Australian, Windsor, Richmond & Hawkesbury Advertiser 1873 - 1899
• Hawkesbury Advocate 1899 - 1900
• Hawkesbury Chronicle & Farmers Advocate 1881 - 1888
• Hawkesbury Courier & Agricultural & General Advertiser 1881 - 1888
• Hawkesbury Herald 1902 - 1945
• Windsor & Richmond Gazette 1888 - 1955
• Windsor Express & Richmond Advertiser 1843 - 1844

Individual titles can be searched, or they can all be searched as a collective as part of the whole Trove newspaper collection. But unfortunately searching a subset of titles is not an option. This is were the Trove API comes into itself.

Last month I started playing around with the Trove API and have now made a little website called Hawkesbury Newspapers, which enables the visitor to search the subset of Hawkesbury titles. Although I only just got the basic search feature working, it is interestingly none the less playing around with the Hawkesbury subset.
  

Auld Ebenezer Kirk

Using the basic searching that I have online currently, I searched for "Auld"...as I do. The following article on the Auld Ebenezer Kirk of the Hawkesbury stood out, as Ebenezer Church is just up the road.

Celebrating their 118th Anniversary in 1927, the Reverend John Hay Goodlet Auld was in attendance.  

Source: OUR OLDEST CHURCH. (1927, February 4). Windsor and Richmond Gazette (NSW : 1888 - 1954), p. 10. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article85950712

Trove Tuesday: Werris Creek and Nurse Auld

Over the weekend a friend sent me an email asking if I had heard of a Nurse Auld from Werris Creek. Although I had no specific information on Nurse Auld in my database, the location of Werris Creek suggested a connection to David Auld who settled in Cassilis after arriving in NSW in 1853.

Using Trove, a simple search for "Werris Creek Nurse Auld" revealed a number of results...the first one titled Young Man's Death. Further investigation was required...

Source: YOUNG MAN'S DEATH. (1925, May 2). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 16.
Retrieved November 26, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16232548

The first section of the article was indeed about the death of a young man in Narribri, but further down was a section specifically on Werris Creek (see above). The first line of which was succinct and straight to the point:

Mr David Auld, of Paisley, Caroona, is dead.

David Auld and Lockhart Agnes Paterson

David Auld (son of David Auld and Agnes Adams) was born in High Paisley RFW SCT in 1825 and married Lockhart Agnes Paterson (daughter of Thomas Paterson and Lockhart Isobella Paton) in 1850. David and Lockhart had two children (David and Isobella) before migrating to NSW in 1853. Once settled in Cassilis they had a further nine children (Thomas, John William, Allan Henderson, Lockhart Helen, Jane, Hugh, Jeanette, Andrew & Elizabeth). David died in 1872.

David Auld, son of David and Lockhart Auld

Using the information on the Aulds in the Werris Creek article, the date of death for David Auld matched up with the son of David Auld and Lockhart Agnes Paterson I have on file.

Born in Paisley RFW SCT on 10 April 1850, David Auld married  Emily Jane Sophia Sherwood in Gulgong NSW. David and Emily had eight children (Edward, Millicent, Robert David, Margaret E., Lockhart Agnes, Elizabeth, Arthur William and Francis Irwin) between the years 1875 to 1892. David Auld passed away 29 April 1925.

Who was Nurse Auld?

Again, using the clues provided in the article, we know that Nurse Auld is referred to as Nurse L. Auld. Matching this information with the children of David Auld and Emily Jane Sophia Sherwood leaves us to conclude that Nurse Auld is Lockhart Agnes Auld.

Trove Tuesday: Dr Robert Thomas Auld

Looking for a post for this weeks Trove Tuesday, I came across the death notice of Dr. Robert Thomas Auld that was printed in the Clarence and Richmond Examiner and New England Advertiser:

Source: Family Notices. (1883, December 11). Clarence and Richmond Examiner and New England Advertiser (Grafton, NSW : 1859 - 1889), p. 2. Retrieved October 22, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62141447

Further searching revealed a short obituary that appeared in The Queenslander on 29 December 1883:

Source: Country News. (1883, December 29). The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), p. 1030.
Retrieved October 22, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19795445

Robert Thomas Auld married Mary Webb Clarke in May 1851:

Source: Family Notices. (1851, May 3). Bathurst Free Press (NSW : 1849 - 1851), p. 5.
Retrieved October 22, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62215138

The death for Mary Auld was recorded in The Sydney Morning Herald in April 1907:

Source: Family Notices. (1907, April 30). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 6.
Retrieved October 22, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14832824

Trove Tuesday: Exploding lemonade

An unfortunate incident occurred to Reverend John Auld whilst attending the Presbyterian General Assembly during 1896.

Source: NEGLECTED AILMENTS. (1896, March 11). Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 3.
Retrieved October 8, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article72568429

On wonders if the lemonade was a home brew...

Trove Tuesday: For sale

Have you ever wondered what your relatives sold?

For sale

A search by the Advertising category within the Victorian newspaper Alexandra and Yea Standard and Yarck, Gobur, Thornton and Acheron Express on Trove, reveals some interesting items that were offered for sale in 1945.

Source: Advertising. (1945, June 15). Alexandra and Yea Standard and Yarck, Gobur, Thornton and Acheron Express (Vic. : 1908 - 1949), p. 3. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64708015

What was the background for this sale?

The above items were offered for sale in June 1945. My great grandparents, William Wallace Auld and Rose Helena nee Miller, moved to Merton Victoria, circa 1936. This was a particularly hard time for the family as their daughter in law, Sylvia Auld nee Masterton, had passed away on 17 December 1935 as a result of a dreadful accident that occurred at the family home in Forbes, New South Wales. The accident in July 1935 was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald and reads as follows:

YOUNG WOMAN BURNT.
FORBES. Tuesday.
Quickly enveloped in flames when her dress caught alight at her farm home, Mrs John Auld, a young woman, of Grawlin Plains, near Forbes, ran towards her husband, who was working in stockyards near the house. She fainted before reaching him. After treatment by her husband, she was rushed to hospital.
Mrs. Auld was standing with her back to an open fire in a grate when she smelt burning cloth. She looked round and saw the flames spreading round her. It was some minutes before her husband heard her screams and came to her assistance. She was badly burned about the arms, legs, and shoulders, but her condition is not serious. 

Source: YOUNG WOMAN BURNT. (1935, July 10). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 14. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17203433

With a grief stricken son and three young children to look after, the family moved back to Rose Helena's hometown of Merton in Victoria. In November 1943, William Wallace Auld passed away after an illness of
Emphysema, Chronic Bronchitis and Cardiac Asthma, no doubt all relating to his years working as a baker.

It was after these events, with Australian in general just coming out of it's slow recovery from the Great Depression of the 1930s, that the family was looking for that extra little bit of cash and offered the items for sale.

Trove Tuesday: Interment of Rev. John Auld

Following on from my Trove Tuesday post on 5 March on the Obituary for Rev. John Auld, this morning I stumbled upon a follow up article on the interment of Reverend John Auld at Rookwood cemetery.

Funeral Notice

Having passed away on 14 August 1912, a funeral notice appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald the following day.

Source: Family Notices. (1912, August 15). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 7.
Retrieved September 17, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15347956

Interment at Rookwood

The Sydney Morning Herald published a follow up of the interment at Rookwood. The article gives a fantastic insight into the proceedings as well as detailing a comprehensive list of attendees.

Source: LATE REV. JOHN AULD. (1912, August 16). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 5.
Retrieved September 17, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15352570

Trove Tuesday: Obituary of Andrew Auld

You have mail !!!

Over the last week I received an email from Troves notification service, notifying me that an article in the Queensland Times was now available to view online.

Obituary of Andrew Auld

Born 31 July 1869 to parents Andrew Auld and Jane Marshall, Andrew passed away 27 September 1937 in Lark Hill, Queensland.

Source: ROSEWOOD DISTRICT. (1937, September 28). Queensland Times (Ipswich) (Qld. : 1909 - 1954), p. 9 Edition: DAILY.. Retrieved September 10, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article124593705

Trove Tuesday: A marriage in Borneo

For todays Trove Tuesday post I would like to share an illustrated article that I came across and to also share, by way of a walk through, the process I underwent in order to identify the person and link them into one of the Auld branches I had previously identified.

To be married in Borneo

The following illustration printed in the South Australian newspaper The Advertiser in March 1949 relates to an upcoming marriage of Patricia Auld and Richard Rennick. The couple are to married in Kuching, Borneo.

Source: To Be Married In Borneo. (1949, March 16). The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), p. 8.
Retrieved September 3, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36357428

Tracing Patricia Auld's ancestry

My initial response was - who was Patricia? The answer wasn't far away...at the top of the page to be honest! From the information provided we now know Patricia's full name to be Patricia Bayliss Howard Auld and that she was formerly from Adelaide, now living in Kuching, Sarawak.

Source: About People. (1949, March 16). The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), p. 8.
Retrieved September 3, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36357367

Searching further afield I stumbled upon the archived newspaper The Sarawak Gazette provided by the Sarawak State Library. Details of the upcoming marriage was printed on the front page in the 7 March 1949 edition of the Gazette.

Source: Forthcoming Marriage. (1949, March 7). The Sarawak Gazette, p.1. Retrieved September 3, 2013, from http://www.pustaka-sarawak.com/Pustaka-Sarawak/gazette_uploaded/1371429520.pdf

Patricia is listed as the eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs P. H. Auld. Continuing the search I took a chance and checked the service records on the National Archives of Australia website. The WW2 Service Record catalogue entry for Patricia Bayliss Howard Auld lists a Patrick Auld as next of kin with a birth date of 1 December 1921. This date was confirmed back on Trove with the birth notification that appeared in the Chronicle newspaper:

Source: Family Notices. (1921, December 17). Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), p. 55.
Retrieved September 3, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87559350

A further search revealed a marriage for Captain Patrick H. Auld MC, son of George Auld, to Marie English, daughter of J. W. English.

Source: Family Notices. (1919, November 15). The Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), p. 8.
Retrieved September 3, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63764957

I have previously blogged about Patrick Howard Auld MC for Trove Tuesday back on 2 July. Now to enter all of this new information into the Auld database!

Trove Tuesday: Obituary for Leucina White

With all of the new newspaper titles coming online of late on Trove, the wealth of material for the genealogist can be a formidable task to sort through. In my Trove Tuesday post on the Obituary for Rev. John Auld back in March this year, I talked about using obituaries to flesh out the history of an ancestor. In this particular post I want to show how obituaries can be used to help build some branches in your tree, even when there is only a brief mention of an ancestor in the obituary text.

In this example I stumbled across an obituary for Leucina White, the mother-in-law of Maxwell Patrick Auld that appeared in The Muswellbrook Chronicle in 1955.

Obituary of Mrs Leucina White

Source: OBITUARY. (1955, July 8). The Muswellbrook Chronicle (NSW : 1898 - 1955), p. 1.
Retrieved August 20, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article107757902

Listed as living siblings of Leucina White are:

1. William
2. Alma (Mrs Cliff Andrews)
3. Ethel (Mrs Brice Deards)
4. Charles; and
5. Dorothy (Mrs Max Auld)

Mention is also made to Leucina White's husband and three additional children who had passed away previously. Also listed are the four pallbearers:

1. Brice Deards (son-in-law and husband of Ethel)
2. Max Auld (son-in-law and husband of Dorothy)
3. Douglas Andrews (grandson of Mrs White and son of Cliff and Alma Andrews)
4. Donald Andrews (grandson of Mrs White and son of Cliff and Alma Andrews)

Verifying some names with NSW BDM indexes

A quick look on the New South Wales Births, Deaths & Marriages online index website reveals the following information:

• Lucina [sic] Bridget WHITE - death was registered in Mudgee with Edward and Mary listed as her parents (NSWBDM Death index number 14748/1955)
• William H. WHITE married Leucina B. LARGE in Gulgong circa 1904 (NSWBDM Marriage index number 1228/1904)
• Maxwell Patrick AULD married Dorothy Phyllis Elaine WHITE in Mudgee circa 1951 (NSWBDM Marriage index number 28365/1951)

Between the years 1904-12 there are four children of William and Leucina WHITE listed in the online birth indexes. These dates in turn can give us an approximate date of birth for those children.

That said, the objective of this post today was to show how, with just a mention of a name in an obituary (in this case Max Auld), one can place several more branches on the family tree with very little effort!

Trove Tuesday: Troves notification service

Several weeks ago in the course of researching Auld obituaries, I came across an article which was part way through the digitisation process. For users of the Digitised newspapers on Trove, these articles will be noticeable by being grayed out and the words [coming soon] appended to the end of the newspaper article title. An example of a current article (as of today) that is part way through this process follows:

Example of notification service on Trove. Retrieved August 13, 2013.

Having an interest in the obituary article I had found, I signed up to the notification service by typing in my email address into the field provided then I clicked on the "Email me when available" button.

Last Saturday evening I was pleasantly surprised to see an email from Trove with the following subject heading:

Trove - National Library of Australia - newspaper/magazine article availability notification

On opening the message the text reminds the reader of what article(s) have changed status on Trove and have completed the quality assurance process and is now available for general access. All of the articles that have changed status are then listed, for example the obituary I was after had the following text:

The following article has completed quality assurance processing and is now available for you to access:
  Newspaper/magazine: Queensland Times (Ipswich) (Qld. : 1909 - 1954)
  Issue: Monday 31 May 1909
  Page: 7 Edition: DAILY
  Article: OBITUARY.
  Web URL: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/112057171

I proceeded to click on the link provided and the article was displayed in my browser. A few corrections to the text later, as well as tagging the individuals and places mentioned in the text, and the text was ready to use in my research with the citations conveniently provided by Trove.

Another newspaper comes online

With the notification I received from Trove, I am also alerted to the fact that another newspaper is now available, or is in the process of coming online. In this particular instance the newspaper is the Queensland Times (Ipswich) and covers the period 1909 - 1954. Some background history to the publication is also available on Wikipedia.

The article found relates to an obituary for John Livingstone Auld which was printed in the Queensland Times (Ipswich) on 31 May 1909.

Obituary of John Livingston Auld

Source: OBITUARY. (1909, May 31). Queensland Times (Ipswich) (Qld. : 1909 - 1954), p. 7 Edition: DAILY.
Retrieved August 13, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112057171

Trove Tuesday: Obituary of Vera Auld

Just a small post for Trove Tuesday today with double bonus points with the obituary I found not published on Obituaries Australia.

Nepean Times now online

The obituary that I came across had been published in the relatively newly released The Nepean Times, the digitisation of which was supported by Penrith City Council. Most readers of the online newspapers on Trove will be familiar with the 1954 cut off date due to copyright restrictions, the Nepean Times on the other hand covers the period 1882 through to 1962. This post relates to an obituary for Vera Auld which was printed in the Nepean Times in this later period of 1961.

Obituary of Vera Auld nee Hore

Source: OBITUARY. (1961, August 31). Nepean Times (Penrith, NSW : 1882 - 1962), p. 11.
Retrieved August 6, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article100982050

To date I didn't have a entry in the Auld database for Vera, but based on the information provided within the obituary it shouldn't be a hard exercise to find where Vera's husband William links in...but that is another exercise.

Obituaries Australia

If you do come across a printed obituary, take the additional time and double check to see if your individual has been recorded in Obituaries Australia. If not, submit your obituary via the online submission form a relatively quick process.

Trove Tuesday: Wedding Bells

The following article printed in the Victorian newspaper Alexandra and Yea Standard, Gobur, Thornton and Acheron Express is interesting in that it not only mentions the wedding of my great great uncle, but also lists the gifts received and by whom.

WEDDING BELLS.
MILLER - PAYNE.
A very pretty wedding was celebrated at Merton on the 19th ult., the contracting parties being Frederick George, second surviving son of C. Miller, of Merton, and Jessie May, eldest daughter of E. Payne, Wangaratta. The ceremony took place in the Presbyterian church, which was well filled by the large number of friends and guests, the officiating clergyman being the Rev. Thom, of Mansfield. The bride was attended by Miss Elsie Miller (sister of groom), Miss A. Drought (niece of groom), and Miss Evie Mackrell as bridesmaids, Mr. E. Eddy being best man. The bride, given away by her brother, Mr. W. Payne (Wangaratta), wore a beautiful gown of white silk with lace and ribbon to match, also a wreath and veil, and carried a prayer book bouquet. The bridesmaids were attired in white silk with trimmings to match. After the ceremony the breakfast was partaken of at the residence of the groom's parents (Elsie Cottage), when about 40 guests partook of a sumptuous repast. The usual toasts were proposed and suitably responded to. The happy couple left by afternoon train for Melbourne, en route for Sydney, where the honeymoon is to be spent. The bride's travelling dress was grey voile, with toque hat to match. The previous evening a special gathering was held in Mr. Mackrell's large kitchen, kindly lent for the purpose, a large number of friends dancing until about 2 a.m. They were the recipients of a larger number of beautiful presents, the large area from which they came showing the popularity of the young people and their parents..
The following is a list of the presents received :- -
Bride to groom, gold sleeve links; groom to bride, gold muff chain and rug; parents of bride (Wangaratta), cheque, cutlery, pair jam dishes, and cream jug ; parents of groom, assorted preserves ; Miss E. Miller, tea cosy and bed quilt ; Mr and Mrs Drought, handsome lamp ; Miss M. Payne (Wangaratta), silver butter dish ; Master Payne, silver mustard jar ; Mr W. Payne (Gobur), cheque ; Mrs Auld (Beechworth), kitchen utensils ; Mrs G. Payne, son. (Alexandra) cutlery ; Miss Jessie Payne (Alexandra), photo frames and tea pot; Mrs J. Cooper (Alexandra); afternoon tea set ; Master W. D. Cooper, vases and ornaments ; Mrs John Payne (Alexandra), fancy needlework ; Mrs Creighton (Gobur), pair vases ; Miss H. Creighton (Gobur), jam and cake dishes ; Miss A. Drought, set of d'oyleys and serviette rings ; Mrs A. Andrews (Alexandra), pair crystal biscuit barrels, cake dishes, cushions and d'oyleys ; Mrs Ross (Alexandra), cushion ; Miss G. Andrews (Alexandra), d'oyleys and silver tray ; Miss E. Andrews (Alexandra), fancy needlework and glassware ; Miss L. Bulmer (Alexandra), fancy neddlework ; Mr and Mrs Mackrell afternoon tea set ; Misses Mackrell, set jugs, fancywork, pair knife rests; lemon squeezer ; Mrs Searson, lamp ; Miss P. Payne, side-board. cloth and mats ; Miss J. Mackrell (Yarck), bed linen ; Mr and Mrs. Payne (Johnson's Creek), pair silver-mounted honey jars and pickle jar ; Mr J. Hoare, silver butter dish and knife ; Mr. M. McIvor (Numurkah), cheque, silver mounted shaving set ; Misses McIvor (Numurka), pair silver mounted brushes ; Mr W. Kipping, cheque and glassware ; Miss Danks silver butter knife ; Mr J. Frazer, silver mounted bread fork ; Miss Frazer, hall brushes and stand ; Miss A. Hartley, silver and glass honey jar ; Mr C. Nolan, lamp ; Miss M. Nolan, table centre ; Miss R. Nolan, shadow work ; Mrs. W. Kubiel, d'oyleys ; Mrs T. Bird, biscuit barrel ; Mrs E. Eddy (Seymour), set of carvers ; Rev Raff (Chiltern), silver and crystal jam dishes ; Mr T. Kipping, butter dish ; Miss Short, silver butter knife ; Mrs McKenzie (Beechworth), glassware ; Mrs. Harper, cold water set ; Misses Z. and M. Payne (Gobur), pair ruby glasses and jug ; Miss M. Nolan (Wangaratta), cold water set ; Mrs W. Payne (Gobur), table linen ; Miss McCormack (Wangaratta), glassware.
And other valuable articles too numerous to mention.--Euroa "Gazette."

Source: Family Notices. (1906, November 16). Alexandra and Yea Standard, Gobur, Thornton and Acheron Express (Vic. : 1877 - 1908), p. 2. Retrieved July 22, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59588730

Rose Helena Auld nee Miller

My great grandmother, Rose Helena Miller, was the eighth child of Charles Miller and Georgianna Payne. Rose was born 9 June 1884 in Alexandra, Victoria and married William Henry Auld on 26 May 1906 at the Christ Church, Beechworth, Victoria. The marriage certificate for William and Rose gives William's present and usual address as Beechworth and Rose's present and usual address as Merton. The couple were living in Beechworth when their first son, William Henry Auld, was born on 5 January 1907. When their second son John Wallace Auld was born 6 April 1908, they had moved on to Merton.

Under the list of presents received in the article above, Rose is mentioned as "Mrs Auld (Beechworth), kitchen utensils". What the article confirms is that William and Rose Auld were living in Beechworth at the time of the marriage of Frederick and Jessie Miller on 19 September 1906. By identifying the names of other family members listed in the article, the same process can be used in connecting those individuals to the town in which they lived.

Trove Tuesday: Old books bought and sold

I came across a little gem of a picture drawn and painted by James Muir Auld whilst looking for today's Trove Tuesday post. Found in the Maps on Trove section of Trove, this particular item stood our in that it felt slightly out of context with the other Map related items, and probably would have been more at home indexed under Pictures, photos, objects.

Old books bought and sold

Held in the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales collection, the 1907 watercolour and gouache drawing measures 25 x 20.3 cm and has a window mount and birds-eye maple frame measuring 60.5 x 47.5 cm.

The scene in the drawing depicts a gentleman reading from a book, standing outside Tyrrell's Bookshop located on Castlereagh Street in Sydney. The gentleman has an umbrella under his right arm and his reflection can be seen on the wet pavement.

Old books bought and sold [Tyrrell's Bookshop, Castlereagh Street, Sydney], 1907 / J. Muir Auld
Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales [a1528220]

Trove Tuesday : Patrick Howard Auld MC

Searching through results for today's Trove Tuesday post I decided to explore the subset of illustrated articles. When searching the digitised newspapers on Trove, users have the option of refining their results by newspaper title, category, illustrated, decade and word count. If you select illustrated from the list, further refining options will also be presented and can include photo, illustration, map, cartoon and graph.

Interestingly, depending on the number of results you have, the options may appear doubled - for instance photo and Photo may appear in the list. Now even though we may know they are one and the same, Trove unfortunately cannot tell the difference between the two and will treat them as separate subsets. So a good hint to remember...if you are searching within these subsets, make sure you search in both if they listed.

Lieutenant P. H. Auld - awarded the Military Cross 

So, refining my illustration subset further, I selected Photo and noticed an article on Lieutenant P.H. Auld printed in the South Australian newspaper Chronicle during 1917:

LIEUTENANT P. H. AULD.
The Military Cross has been awarded to Lieutenant Patrick H. Auld, son of Mr. G. Auld, of Adelaide. The young officer is only 23 years of age. Although wounded he led his men forward to reinforce part of the front line, displaying great courage and initiative. He set a splendid example to his men. Lieutenant Auld was employed at the South British Insurance Company prior to enlisting, and he left here as a private in the 4th Field Ambulance in 1914. He has now served in Egypt, Gallipoli, and France. He was a student of St. Peter's College, and played in inter-collegiate football and cricket matches.

Lieutenant P. H. Auld, M.C.

Source: LIEUTENANT P. H. AULD. (1917, January 13). Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), p. 45. Retrieved July 2, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87441162

From this article and photograph I decided to research further in order to find out more information about the Military Cross and Patrick Howard Auld in general.

Military Cross (MC)

Instituted on 28 December 1914 by King George V, the Military Cross is a level three gallantry award. The Military Cross is awarded in recognition of gallantry during active operations against the enemy.

George V Military Cross
Source: British Gallantry Medals of the First World War

Patrick Howard Auld

Born in Kent Town, South Australia on 30 May 1894 (SA birth index number - 1894 Book 544 Page 175), to parents William George Auld (known as George Auld) and Ellen Howard nee Clarke, Patrick Howard Auld was the grandson of explorer William Patrick Auld.

P. H. Auld
Source: Australia War Memorial, P07159.021
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P07159.021

The WW1 service records for Patrick Auld [see B2455, AULD P H] held at the National Archives of Australia, before Patrick joined the Australia Military Forces on 4 November 1914, he had been working as an Insurance Clerk and was also serving with the 79th Infantry attached to the Citizens Forces. Upon joining the Australian Imperial Force he was attached to the 4th Field Ambulance with the rank of Private. He left Australia on board the HMAT A35 Berrima from Melbourne on 22 December 1914, bound for service in Gallipoli.

According to World War Diaries (AWM4, Sub-class 26/47) from the 4th Australian Field Ambulance held at the Australian War Memorial, the April 1915 [item 26/47/5] and May 1915 [item 26/47/6] diaries list Patrick as being attached to B Section under the command of Major Jermyn, arriving Gallipoli on 27-28 April, just two days after the initial landing at Anzac Cove.

By the end of the August Offensive of the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915, Patrick had been promoted to Lance Corporal. After the evacuation of the peninsula, the 4th Field Ambulance were transferred to Egypt and Patrick was reassigned to the 50th Battalion in Tel el Kebir. On 17 March 1916 he was again promoted, this time to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. In June the 50th Battalion was moved to Marseilles in France, then onto Mouquet Farm as part of the Battle of the Somme. During the second assault at Mouquet Farm on 3 September 1916, Patrick was wounded but remained on duty. During a battle on 21 October, Lieutenant Patrick Howard Auld, led his men forward on the front line and displayed conspicuous gallantry in action. For his efforts he was awarded the Military Cross which was officially recorded in the London Gazette on 14 November, and reads as follows:

Source: Supplement to the London Gazette, 14 November, 1916. p. 11073
http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/29824/supplements/11073

April 1917 saw the 50th Battalion participating in the advance to the Hindenburg Line during the German retreat. The attack on Noreuil started on the morning of 2 April and it was during this battle that Patrick sustained a gun shot wound to the buttock and had to be evacuated to hospitals back in England.

Eight months later, in early December 1917, Patrick rejoined his unit. By March the following year, the 50th Battalion was again in the thick of the action as the German Army launched a major offensive on the Western Front. On 1 January 1918 Patrick received a field promotion to the rank of Captain. By early April, the 50th Battalion were defending Villers-Bretonneux against the Germans push, but the Germans captured Villers-Bretonneux on 24 April.

Official records [B2455, AULD P H] reported that Patrick Auld was missing in action on 24 April, but he was captured by the Germans on 25 April and ended up in the Officer Prisoner of War Camp in Karlsruhe, Germany. After World War 1 ended on 11 November 1918 Patrick was repatriated to England on 1 December. He returned to Australia on board the SS Port Dennison on 25 March 1919.

Patrick later served in World War 2 during 1942-43 and was discharged as a Major. He passed away at the age of seventy eight in July 1972 at Beulah Park, South Australia.

Further references

• Australian War Memorial 
• It's An Honour
• London Gazette, The
• Mapping Our Anzacs
• National Archives of Australia
• World War I Pictorial Honour Roll of South Australia

Trove Tuesday: Fun with @TroveNewsBot on Twitter

This week I decided to have a little bit of fun with Trove using Tim Sherratt's (@wragge) new @TroveNewsBot on twitter. Tim has provided TroveNewsBot to the community as another novel way of interfacing with Trove using the Trove API. For readers who are not aware of Tim's fantastic resources I suggest visiting dhistory (which includes QueryPic and Archives Viewer) as well as WraggeLabs Emporium and start exploring from there...you wont be disappointed.

Full details on using TroveNewsBot are provided online at https://github.com/wragge/trovenewsbot, but basically you just send a tweet to @TroveNewsBot with a message which will get treated as a query. This query in turn gets sent off to the Trove API to look for a matching result within the newspaper database. The default settings return the first most relevant result, but this can be overridden by supplying an additional hashtag of #luckdip, #earliest or #latest.

Interfacing with Trove via Twitter

As mentioned above I decided to have a little bit of fun and send it my name to see what result would turn up. So from within Twitter I sent the following tweet:

@TroveNewsBot "jonathan auld" 

Two minutes later TroveNewsBot had replied with the following message:

@Jonathan_Auld 17 Aug 1894: '[From Melbourne Papers.] NEW ZEALAND. AUCKLAND, August 10.' http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9312180 …

Results from Trove

Clicking on the link provided the following article printed in the Hobart (Tasmania) newspaper The Mercury in 1894:

Source: [From Melbourne Papers.] NEW ZEALAND. (1894, August 17). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 3. Retrieved June 25, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9312180

The two lines of text relevant to my "Jonathan Auld" query can be seen approximately three quarters of the way down the summary of events for New Zealand and relate to a mining agent named Jonathan Auld who had been found drowned at Reefton...oh dear!

More information from PapersPast

A search on PapersPast found an obituary for Jonathan Auld...

Source: Obituary. (1894, August 13). Inangahua Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 337, p. 2. Retrieved June 25, 2013, from http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=IT18940813.2.11

The second part of Mr Auld's obituary can be found on the same page, mistakenly connected to another article:

Source: PORT OF GREYMOUTH AUG. 11. (1894, August 13). Inangahua Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 337, p. 2. Retrieved June 25, 2013, from http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=IT18940813.2.5

What will your results be?

If you are a user of Twitter, next time you are online, why not give @TroveNewsBot a try and see what 'your name' results are. You may be surprised...