Friday, January 11, 2013

Blog of 2012 Award

Thrilled to Receive this Award...




2012 was a very productive year for me in my genealogy journey. I enjoyed writing posts for my FamilyHistory4u , although my other blogs,  GeneaThemeBlogs4u blogs, and SharnsGenealogyJottings (my personal family blog) did not see as many posts as usual. In November of 2012 I added a fourth blog to my repertoire, called Convict Connections - A Convict Ancestor. It is for this blog,  which traces the journeys of my Irish convict ancestors  to the Penal Colony of NSW, Moreton Bay and Norfolk Island, and their lives in the Colony, that crissouli  (Chris Goopy) of  the AS THEY WERE blog  most kindly awarded me the coveted Blog of 2012 Award.         

Many thanks Chris for  considering my blog worthy of consideration as a recipient for this Award. Your list of nominees, includes some of my own favourite bloggers! It is a joy to read the writings of other bloggers and I am honoured to nominate for the 2012 Blog of the Year Award,  the following blogs,  which I  always read with great pleasure. These are just a sample of all the well written and informative blogs which deserve awards and I wish I could nominate ALL of the wonderful bloggers I follow for awards.... I would like to introduce some long time favourite blogs of mine as well as some that you might not have read yet.








1. Genealogists for Families Project for Judy Webster's tireless work administering not only the Genealogists for Families Group, as well as a Facebook page but significantly for  keeping all members of the sub group of Kiva.org, informed through this blog which she is the author of. Judy writes a number of blogs but her passion for the Genealogists for Families Project, for Kiva  is inspiring and her blog,' Genealogists For families Project' is evidence of her vision for helping others. In memory of Joan Miller, please accept this award, so well deserved.

2. A Family Tapestry  Jacqi Stevens beautifully written posts are always thought provoking and informative. Jacqi has a wonderful way with words. She poetically describes her family history as " from family I receive my heritage; through family I have a legacy, with family I weave a tapestry. These are my strands'.  

3. Family History Across the Seas  Pauleen Cass is one of the most prolific bloggers that  I have had the pleasure of reading the work of.   Pauleen's posts are always filled with fascinating information and a wonderful sense of humour, which always makes reading her words a pleasure. The extent of knowledge she shares is astounding and the volume of well written blogs that Pauleen generates is astounding!   

4. From the Keyboard of Helen V Smith    Helen's blog posts are always interesting to say the least. her great sense of huomour shines through her writing. Thankyou for sharing your vast knowledge with others through your writing Helen. I always learn something from you!

5. How Did I get Here? My Amazing Genealogical Journey  Andrea Kelleher's blog is one I discovered in 2012. Andrea's posts from the USA are always fascinating and so beautifully and thoughtfully illustrated. 

6. My Genealogy Adventure  I have been following Tanya Honey's blog for quite some time and I always enjoy her well researched and interesting posts. Topics such as 'Brooklyn School Picnic' and 'The Sticking up of the Goulbourn Mail and a Bushranger shot' have such a wonderful 'Australian flavour. Tanya's blogs are evidence of her avid enthusiasm for Trove and how a story can unfold through past anecdotes from the past. 


The 'rules' for accepting this award are simple:

  1. Select the blog(s) you think deserve the 'Blog of the Year 2012' Award.
  2. Write a post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen - there's no minimum or maximum number of blogs required - and 'present' them with their award.
  3. Please include a link back to this page 'Blog of the year 2012 Award' - http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year2012-award/   and include these 'rules' in your post (please don't alter the rules or the badges).
  4.  Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the rules with them.
  5. If you choose, you can now join our Facebook group - click 'like' on this page 'Blog of the Year 2012' Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience.
  6. As a winner of the award - please add a link to the blog that presented you with the award- and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar ... and start collectingstars, just click on the link provided in Rule 3. 



Looking forward to a prosperous 2013 year of blogging, 
many thanks,
 Sharn






Wednesday, January 2, 2013

First 'Find' for 2013..another convict in the family!

A Third Convict in the Frayne Family


Only three days into the new year and I am fortunate enough to have made an exciting discovery. I began this blog to record the stories of my convict great great great grandfather, Michael Frayne and his brother Lawrence Frayne , also sentenced to transportation from Ireland for stealing. Today I have discovered that a third brother, John Frayne, born between Lawrence and Michael was also transported to the Penal Colony of NSW for the crime of theft. John arrived in NSW on board the convict ship "Forth" on February 3, 1835, 9 years after his older brother arrived and 2 years before Michael. According to his Convict Indent, John's occupation was a Pantry Boy. Aged 17 years, the same age as Lawrence had been when sent to Australia for stealing rope, John was convicted of the theft of clothes. Like both of his brothers, he was described as having brown hair and grey eyes, and his complexion sallow. 
John was immediately assigned as a servant to William Dangar in the Hunter Valley, where both Michael and Lawrence Frayne eventually lived. 
William Dangar had arrived in the Colony in 1925 with his brother Thomas from Lampden in England. Their brother Henry Dangar, a Government Surveyor,  was already living in the Hunter Valley area and had aquired considerable land holdings. William was granted 800 acres of land near Scone (Turanville) and later aquired a further 1800 hundred acres adjoining Turanville. 
Thomas Dangar was the Postmaster at Scone and also the proprietor of the Golden Fleece Inn,  the same hotel which my g g grandfather, Michael Frayne became the licensee for in 1864, although the Inn had been moved to a new location by Thomas Dangar by then. It appears that the more than one of my Convict Frayne's livelihoods were connected with the Dangar brothers, who were free settlers. 

An exciting first 'find' for 2013 and much more research ahead of me! 

William Dangar was an early settler in the Hunter Valley