Fear of the past in the family tree

Recently there has been exposure in the news about an American actor who had found something in his past that was undesirable and he sought to cover up the past. Covering up the past deeds of an ancestor is not actually uncommon nor is it isolated to one period in time. When someone researches the past within their family tree they will bump into the unexpected or actually find the unexpected they have been looking for especially if they are Australian.

People fear the past and what could happen if it has been uncovered while other people think it could be dangerous to research a family member. People have stopped researching their family tree once they have found convicts who have been sent to Australia. One person once told me he binned all the work and walked away. A family member once told me to stop researching an ancestor as they had supposed mafia links or other organised crime. I later found this not to be the case as his occupation was even more extraordinary instead though I don’t know if the links are really links or something to do with him being a lawyer. Though you would have to sort fact from fiction unless you have a family member tell you they already knew the information after you had done the research.

The fears of what people would find in their family tree are well founded though today we all celebrate having a convict in their family tree. In the past people including the convicts themselves have tried to cover their tracks by listing the wrong boat they arrived on or even using different aliases. The state governments have been known to destroy records to hide the fact they had convicts or thinking no one would be interested in the records. For example in 1863 the governor of New South Wales had ordered the destruction of Four and a half tons of records. Some people had admitted to saving some of the Tasmanian convict records. It wasn’t until around the 1970s attitudes did change though there would still be the older generations who did not want people to do the research. By around the 1980s people were proud to say they had convicts in the family, which was a huge change from archives stonewalling people who wanted to research that sort of stuff.

The problem with people trying to cover up their ancestors past deeds or where they came from would be incredibly tough when we have technology at our disposal especially when the information can be one click away on a website that will explain what has happened at that particular time. It can be used to piece together events like the wars people may have been in. I recently did hear a story from a family member who has a friend who looked up an event a grandparent had been involved in during the Second World War and it had upset the grandparent as they did not want that person to look up what had occurred. You never know what you can uncover in your research when you look deep enough. I do not have the answers about some of the sensitive events that had occurred like a murder or something else like a soldier who was in a war on the side that lost such as World War 2. Personally I think it would be interesting to find things in history that could be a little touchy for some people. In another example I did read of a family in my family tree that were soldiers who were involved during the Taranaki War though I only read one entry where no one had been shot during a report about a raid. I need to do some more research especially about the locations of family in New Zealand to see the bigger picture and wider events. Sometimes you may have to seek others opinions to see what their thoughts are before sharing with others.

Sources

Ben Affleck is ‘embarrassed’ by his ancestors and regrets trying to cover up their dark past

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/ben-affleck-is-embarrassed-by-his-ancestors-and-regrets-trying-to-cover-up-their-dark-past/story-fn907478-1227316478767

Barry Andrew 'More Sinned Against than Sinning : A Note on the Convict Legend', An introduction to Australian literature, Brisbane, Wiley, 1982, pp. 166-182.

Babette Smith, Australia’s Birthstain, Crows Nest, Allen and Unwin, 2008.

Tony Bennett, 'Convict Chic' Australian Left Review. Vol. 106, 1988, pp. 40-41

Researching Ancestors through secondary records

Researching Ancestors through secondary records

I have found that there are alternatives to hunting down the whereabouts of ancestors who between census records or even Births, Marriages and Deaths records. Some of these might even be to many obvious places to search though with the internet the research can sometimes become easier to track down the people of interest.

One person who I have written about before in the past, Frederick Milverton who was a lawyer in the United States did seem to move around quite a bit and through accident I found online telephone records that traced him between the census records. He had immigrated to the US in 1891, but I found him in 1893 as a Sales man in Salt Lake city. When he was Naturalised in 1898 he had moved to Hawaii whose occupation was Stenographer for the 4^th circuit court. The job of a Stenographer is a law reporter who produces the official court transcripts. By around 1902 he was now an Attorney in Hawaii. Somehow by 1905 he had moved to Oklahoma City with the same occupation. In 1907 William was now an Attorney general back in Hawaii.

I did later come across Frederick’s wife, Helen Milverton nee Johnson after his death and her occupation was a Stenographer. I have not found any record of when they married around 1920, but I think I found how they might have met up.

It is good that these records are around so you can have a fair idea on where people are living along with their occupations. These records could help in the search for more records in local archives and as a way to trace them around the country. Another family member Herbert Milverton mysteriously moved to Australia after WW1 and appeared on a death record in 1968 Adelaide, South Australia. A little bit of research found he was in Victoria Australia in 1925.

It is interesting tracking people down outside of the more popular records especially when you have to pay close attention to the records as the transcribe may spell the names incorrectly leading you to brick walls. You can just about follow where they travel around the country they are living in though there would still be mysteries within many records like naturalisations. One record in New Zealand I was looking at that had eight employees from Germany be naturalised at the same time at a timber mill in 1877. The timbermill was the Aratapu though it will pop up in another record somewhere for my Albert Gabolinscy ancestor. There has to be a reason why a group of migrants at this saw mill had to be naturalised and were all from Germany. It is a mystery for another time and I could have the name of the mill wrong too.

Where to search?

In today’s technological world there are many places you can search for family members through electoral rolls or other records. The most popular would be Ancestry, but never forget you can visit libraries, State and national archives and the family history groups as they may have access to Microfiche which can be very helpful. You can use Google to search for the locations of the centres if you are not familiar and they do have websites. Websites like Trove and Paperspast are helpful if you are located in Australia or New Zealand.