What are the benefits of tracing my ancestors Victoria, you may ask. When I set out to write this, I thought I would list some of the positives about exploring your ancestry. Why would you use someone like an accredited historian and genealogist; why would you use someone like Born and Bred Historical Research? And, then I thought, I don’t want this to be a marketing campaign.
I could tell you about the unique journey you can go on as your family history is revealed to you through research, how it can uncover fascinating personal stories and family legends, how it can debunk decades-old myths and how it can help you to understand your family’s role in shaping parts of history.
I could even tell you that discovering more about your ancestry can be rich and rewarding, it can help to put your ancestors’ lives in context and even connect them to historical events.
I could tell you all that when someone asks the question, “can you help with tracing my ancestors Victoria,” but instead, I am going to tell you about a discovery I made when researching the family history for a client, and how it answered a three-generation-old mystery. It was the late-19th century Melbourne and I was told that Maggie and Jim had both died prematurely, which sadly left their four children orphans. Their aunt, Kitty took over their care and raised them. That’s what I was told; that’s what the family had been told. However, I was not able to find any records of Maggie or Jim dying in Victoria. I searched high and low, I expanded parameters, I used name variations, and nothing. I left it for a few weeks to come back with fresh eyes, and then I expanded the parameters a bit more; I struck gold. What transpired was that Maggie had died under a nickname many, many years after the family were led to believe. This allowed me to widen the scope for the children’s lives. It emerged that they were sent into state care and then to live with their aunt Kitty, which in turn explained the trajectory of Maggie’s life and what happened to Jim. He had deserted his family and was thought to be in Sydney. I eventually discovered more about Maggie and Jim’s lives.
There was so much more that was uncovered for the descendants of Maggie and Jim. It helped to answer questions and give their ancestors an identity rather than remain as names on a tree. It’s just one “brick wall” that was smashed.
If you’re ready to discover more about tracing your ancestry, there’s no better time than now to get in touch.
