Diaries and Letters: fleshing out the family history

Diaries and

Letters:

fleshing out

the family

history

Shauna Hicks Caloundra Aug 2021

Shauna Hicks MA Grad Dip Lib Sc Dip FHS FQFHS

http://diaryofanaustraliangenealogist.blogspot.com.au

www.shaunahicks.com.au

http://diaryofanaustraliangenealogist.blogspot.com.au/

http://www.shaunahicks.com.au/

Introduction


Any family sources?

Where else can you

look?

What can diaries and

letters tell us?

Family Sources


Direct family

members

Collateral lines

Distant cousins


Jack is 8 years old and Doris is 10 years old –

the cousins remained life long friends






Shauna Hicks Caloundra Aug 2021www.shaunahicks.com.au/letters-home-my-irish-families

http://www.shaunahicks.com.au/letters-home-my-irish-families


Where Else Can You Look?


Libraries Archives

Publications Journals

Websites


https://trove.nla.gov.au

https://trove.nla.gov.au/


Only 25 pages,

digitised & online


www.amw.org.au/sites/default/files/memory_of_the_

world/war-and-australia/rough-diary-air-raids-darwin-

and-immediate-alerts.html

http://www.amw.org.au/sites/default/files/memory_of_the_world/war-and-australia/rough-diary-air-raids-darwin-and-immediate-alerts.html



32 letters between

14 Mar 1901 & 13 Jan 1902

Shauna Hicks Caloundra Aug 2021www.slwa.wa.gov.au

http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/

Shauna Hicks Caloundra Aug 2021https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/235427074

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/235427074

Personal Letters in Archives

Colonial Secretary’s Office

Land files

Wills & probates

Military dossiers



Letter written by Sarah Finn complaining

about Petrie Creek Hotel 1889


Letter written by John Finn

asking for extra time to pay rent


Typed transcript of one of the last

letters of Charles Davis to his wife Clara

Probate file


Transcript of postcard in army dossier


Personal Diaries


Within the family

Military diaries

Shipboard diaries


www.sl.nsw.gov.au

http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/


An enthusiastic young 24-year-old when he joined the First AIF in late August 1914 - his service number was 914. When he learnt that he'd been accepted into the army, he was so happy he turned two somersaults for pure joy. This is his diary, that he kept throughout the war - from Cairo to Gallipoli, from Marseilles through to the terrible winter of 1916 in the Somme, from Ypres to Pozieres. He was wounded three times and sent back to the fighting, before finally travelling back home in December 1918. This diary is simply a treasure -vivid, alive, compelling. His description of the war is by turns down-to-earth, horrifying, illuminating, funny, touching and terribly sad.





Private (Pte) Reginald Herbert Duke, 1st Battalion.

A motor mechanic from Wagga Wagga NSW


http://victoriancollections.net.au

http://victoriancollections.net.au/


http://victoriancollections.net.au

http://victoriancollections.net.au/


https://libraries.tas.gov.au/archive-heritage

https://libraries.tas.gov.au/archive-heritage


Boyd was a surveyor

Shipboard Diaries


Nicholson Log of Logs 3 vols

Online

Digitised copies of shipboard

diaries

Shauna Hicks Caloundra Aug 2021https://zenodo.org/record/6901

https://zenodo.org/record/6901




Richard Hews on board the Sunda 1865

http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au

http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/


www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/digital-

gallery/matrons-diary/matrons-diary

http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/digital-gallery/matrons-diary/matrons-diary


www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/digital-

gallery/matrons-diary/matrons-diary

http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/digital-gallery/matrons-diary/matrons-diary

Cross reference


Personal memories may

differ from official documents

Check and confirm/disprove

personal recollections

More supporting documents, the

better


www.google.com

https://www.google.com/

Shauna Hicks Caloundra Aug 2021www.facebook.com/TwistedTwigsGenealogy

https://www.facebook.com/TwistedTwigsGenealogy

Conclusion

Track down family letters

Find letters in government

files

Look for ship-board/military

diaries

Get to know your ancestors

more

Not just numbers on a

chart

Good luck & have fun


Documents

Diaries and Letters: fleshing out the family history