This is the final post in the 52 weeks Beyond the Internet series. Despite the rapidity of digitisation, there is still so much lurking offline: in people’s heads, in libraries, in museums.
While it’s fantastic to be able to flash our fingers across the keyboard and find information or even digitised original documents from the other side of the world, there’s still so much discover by getting out and getting our boots dirty as the local historians say.
I want to touch very briefly on a couple of sources that haven’t yet been covered before leaving you with a summary of all the topics.
COLONIAL SECRETARY
The letters and documents of the Colonial Secretary (aka COL SEC) are invaluable but also tend to feel impenetrable at first, as well as time-consuming. As you pursue each document reference through its archival hierarchy, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by your search.
However if you think you have something very specific in your family that may have merited correspondence with the government’s senior bureaucracy it’s definitely worth your while to make the effort. Some have been indexed, but many have not, and try searching by topic or place as well as name. For example, Queensland State Archives has an index drawer with references to petitions regarding places. Give them a try and see if they prove useful to your own research.
DEVON COMMISSION
Those with Irish ancestry might find it worthwhile to pursue the documents from the Devon Commission especially if their ancestors left some decades after the Famine. If you’re lucky enough to find your ancestor’s parish documented it will tell you a great deal about where they lived and their economic and physical condition. You can see an example of its value here (Donegal) or read it online via Google Books here.
FAREWELL AND THANKS
I’m going to leave it there and thank you for following along with this series. I hope that at least some of the topics have triggered useful research strategies and may even have produced some successes!
THE TOPICS THAT WENT BEFORE
Here are the topics that have been covered. I won’t hot-link them but you can readily find them by clicking on the Beyond the Internet Category in the right hand column. There’s mostly been a method in the sequence which I envisaged at the beginning of the year, with occasional deviations. I finally made it through to the end though those last weeks were a challenge!
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Week 2: Ancestral homes and their history
Week 3: Houses wrapped in red tape: land titles, council rates, sewerage maps, survey maps
Week 4: Donations and Subscriptions (a “ring-in” under this topic)
EDUCATION
Week 6: School Administration Records
Week 7: Days of the old school yard: school histories, albums and newsletters
VITAL RECORDS
Week 9: Baptisms, Banns and Burials
Week 10: Church Records (not BDMs)
CHURCH
MILITARY
Week 13: Lest We Forget: War Memorials
Week 14: War diaries, shipping and photographs
Week 15: Battle, Battalion and Military Histories
HEALTH AND WELFARE
Week 19: The poor are always with us: bankruptcy, workhouses, Board of Guardians, Kirk Sessions.
LAW AND ORDER
Week 22: Wills and Intestacies
Week 23: Probate and Deceased Estate
Week 26: Police and Other Gazettes
ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES
Week 27: Archives: The tough stuff
Week 29: Hallowed halls and reference libraries
Week 33: Local history adds value to family history
Week 34: Family History Society Libraries
Week 35: Published Family Histories
Week 36: Photographic Archives
MORTALITY
Week 37: Monumental Inscriptions and gravestones
Week 39: Funeral Director’s Records
MIGRATION
Week 40: A long voyage of Immigration
Week 42: Naturalisation Records
LAND RECORDS
Week 43: Griffith’s Valuations
Week 44: Offline Newspapers (another “ring-in”)
Week 45: Tithe Records and Maps
Week 46: Valuations and Council Rates
OCCUPATIONS
Week 47: Police and Railway Staff Records
FINALE
Week 51: Oral History (family and local)
Week 52: Colonial Secretary, Devon Commission and Finale
Thank you once again for supporting me along this rather long path!
Family history across the seas 
Thank you for sharing your history. My family comes from Dorfprozelten, Germany. Thought maybe we had a connection, but it did not match up. Maybe with more digging!! Thanks again,and Happy New Year!! Leo 🙂 🙂
LikeLike
hi Leo, If your family comes from Dorfprozelten then I’m interested to know more -I think we may have been in touch before via email. Thanks Pauleen
LikeLike
Is that really trumpets I can hear, and bells ringing, drums beating???? What a great effort, no, achievement is the better word.. Congratulations … as one of your many followers, I have learnt so much, oohed and aahed and been reminded of resources I’ve forgotten, but overall, I am simply grateful that you have taken the time to teach us so much.
Take a deep breath, for it is but a short time till the new year, where will you lead us then?
🙂
LikeLike
Thanks Chris!! I think the New Year might be time to reassess where to, write some less intense posts and maybe do a bit more research. Cheers Pauleen
LikeLike
I am eternally grateful for all the information you have set out so clearly – you have given me so many new areas to check and look into. Thank you!
LikeLike
Thank you so much for your kind comments Prue.
LikeLike