James Salter Armstrong - my article in Ancestor magazine

I am proud to announce that the Genealogical Society of Victoria has published an an article of mine in their June 2016 quarterly journal "Ancestor". The article is called "I am known as Snowy" and relates the life story of my great great uncle, James Salter Armstrong. He was an amazing character who survived his ship being torpedoed on the way to Gallipoli, and a long sojourn at the Western Front during WW1. Although I have only conveyed a fraction of his life experiences, I hope I have done him some justice.


I would like to thank Hugh Williams, who helped me research the 21st Battalion. We found out Hugh's father and Snowy Armstrong probably stood 10 ft away from each other when they enlisted. I am in awe of Hugh's military knowledge and his passion which shows in his wonderful museum.
My thanks also go to Edie Wandin from the Kerang Historical Society, who helped me research Snowy's life in Kerang.
Thanks also to Colin Heggen, who researched Snowy as obsessively as I did, in order to publish his book "Kerang Soldiers of the Queen". Colin unselfishly shared his research with me and we solved a few mysteries for each other.
Finally, I would love to thank my family, who put up with reading endless rewrites, verbal brainstorming, and many "isn't this interesting?" moments when it probably wasn't. I love you all and thank you.

Elizabeth gives me a headache

The Trouble with Elizabeth Cumis nee Armstrong

Elizabeth's stays at Castlemaine Hospital for the years 1891 to 1896
highlighted in pink. The circle on 31 May 1896 shows when she died.

My ancestor Elizabeth gives me a headache.

She has so many spellings to her names, I've had to write a list so I remember them all. 

Elizabeth was born in Adelaide in 1842 with the surname ARMSTRONG.  That's all fine. Not many people spell Armstrong wrong.

  

Then her mother remarried in 1851 so she adopted her step-father's surname SALTER. That's fine as well, but I have found the name spelled SAULTER.

Then in 1864 she got married to Sims CUMIS, an african man. They were both illiterate, so we find as many spellings of their surname as there are bureaucrats that filled out their paperwork.

Since joining the Genealogical Society of Victoria (GSV),  I had searched CUMIS and CUMMIS in their Library.  I had found a couple of entries of Elizabeth being hospitalised at Castlemaine Mt. Alexander Hospital in the early 1890's. 

Yesterday I searched the name "Elizabeth" in conjunction with the place "Chewton", and Bingo! Eight new hospital records popped up under another spelling, COMAS.  I took a punt at another spelling, COMMAS.  Bingo! again another five hospital records. It was great.

So now we know our poor Elizabeth was in hospital for a total of 18 times over a period of six years. The names she was registered under were Elizabeth, Lizzie, Lizzy and Eliza.  Her surnames were the ones I've mentioned plus one under the name Salter.  Not to mention the couple of entries where there has been a transcription error and she is CUMINS and CUMMINS.

These are the trials of every family historian.

Ellen Cummis aka Ellen Armstrong

Hello everyone,

Today I have been researching Ellen Cummis, the sister of Louisa Cummis, my great great grandmother. As we all know, for some unknown reason, the entire Cummis family adopted either their mother's birth name, Armstrong, or their mother's stepfather's name, Salter.  My great great grandmother used the name Louisa Salter until she married.

Now about her sister Ellen.  We know Ellen was born on 24 August 1870 in Chewton, Victoria.  That is all I have ever known about Ellen since I started researching. Yet another puzzle with this mysterious family.

Today I searched the family trees on Ancestry for clues and found a tree that I believe is being researched by a distant family member.  In that tree they have the details Ellen Elizabeth Armstrong and a death certificate number, but that is all.

From the Births, Deaths and Marriages website, I got these details for that death certificate.

Ellen Elizabeth Armstrong
Parents names : unknown
No Spouse details filled in.
Age: 84
Birth Place: Victoria
Death Place: Sunbury
Registration Year: 1959

So ok, follow my logic here.

Ellen is the correct name.
Elizabeth was her mother's name.
Armstrong was her mother's maiden name.

If she was 84 when she died in 1959, that means this Ellen was born in 1875 in Victoria.  We know our Ellen was born in 1870, so it doesn't seem a match.  And yet, in all our family's research, we find over and over again that the ages of the Cummis children are out by at least a couple of years, always saying they are younger than they actually are.   So I don't find this five year gap in birth years as much of a deal breaker as I normally would.  This fudging of their birth years is consistent for this family.  And so I continue researching, bearing this in mind.

I went to the Genealogical Society of Victoria website and searched Ellen Armstrong and came up with a match to the one born in 1875.

This record shows an Ellen Armstrong was admitted to the Ballarat Base Hospital in 1898 at 23 years of age. (Again if she is our Ellen, she was actually 28 years old.) She was a dress maker and lived in Victoria Street, Ballarat and was single. Ballarat is pretty close to Chewton where she was born and her mother lived. Not a deal breaker.

There is one more thought I have.  Her death in Sunbury.  I googled Sunbury with 1959 and up came Sunbury Lunatic Asylum on Wikipedia.  That tells me so helpfully that patients were transferred from the Ballarat Asylum to the Sunbury Asylum.  So no proof yet, just some massive leaping to conclusions.

 Next step, I need to go into the GSV on Monday and look up the microfische hospital records to see what else we can find out about this Ellen Armstrong.

And I'd love to know WHY  they all changed their names.

Historically yours,
Valerius Copernicus




https://www.facebook.com/Amazingmazy

World War One Ancestor Writing Workshop - the Story in Historian

Hi Everyone!

Today I am off to do my World War 1 Ancestor writing workshop that is being run by the Genealogical Society of Victoria.

I am so excited to do this course, and it seems like I have been waiting forever to attend.  I was the first on their list to register, I was that keen.

I've also attended the regular GSV Writers Group meeting and found it very interesting and useful.  The last meeting had a record attendance, which I hope reflects a realisation in the community that our history is being lost to us on a daily basis.  The writing workshop was great and defined what made good writing for the purpose of genealogical history.  The group participated in practical and common sense tips on what good writing is.

For me personally, I don't care too much about the quality.  I think that the most important thing a family historian can do is to write the stories down. Just get 'em on paper!  Do the best you can, sure.  Read up on how you can improve, yes.  But too often as writers we are paralysed by other people's judgement of our work.  I say I am too old to worry about that now.  I feel the urgency of time creeping on me.  A couple of years ago a group of students of mine were puzzled when I referred to a  record player, and I mentioned this at the meeting. Besides this general loss of social knowledge, there are stories that I know will die when I die, and that are essential to the story of my family.  I am the only one who can tell my story.

So the truth is, I really don't care how well written something is.  When I find a piece of writing about my family, it doesn't matter to me about the quality.  I just turn cartwheels and thank my lucky stars.  As a younger woman, just after my children were born, I also felt this urgency and asked my grandmother to write the family stories.  How precious they are to me now!  They are worth more than gold to me.  I've asked my mother for stories too and she has written about her younger days and they give me an insight I could never otherwise have.  I also have recordings of our voices as we discuss various photographs of her family.  How amazing will that be for our descendants, perhaps decades from now, to hear us laugh and know exactly what we thought that day.

If a writer wants to get published, then of course, they have to make their manuscript publishable. There are basic criteria you need to fulfil.  If you are too precious about your work, and cannot take any form of criticism, then don't try.

But don't let that stop you writing your family histories!  Have fun with it.  There are thousands of prompts on the internet if you can't think where to start.  Allow your stream of consciousness to flow and get remembering on paper.  Refuse to critique your writing AT ALL until you have completely finished. If you catch yourself evaluating, STOP IT.  Evaluation stops the flow, just keep on writing without judgement. If you are writing for publishing, put it away for a week, then re-read it. Then re-read it again with a red pen in your hand and be prepared to use it. If you are writing for future generations, congratulate yourself.  You have just done what hundreds of people say they are going to do, but never get around to doing. And your descendants will do cartwheels and thank their lucky stars.
Historically yours,
Valerius Copernicus

GenealogyWorld: World War One Centenary Writing Workshop

World War One Centenary Writing Workshop

WHAT IS IT?	Topics will include:           Writing and publishing techniques         Personalised assistance to develop participant's project         Research assistance         Follow up assistance to aid publication
DATE:	Friday 17 April, 2015
TIME:	10.00 am - 3.00 pm
LOCATION:	GSV Meeting Room, Level B1 / 257 Collins Street, Melbourne
COST:	All participants $65
BOOKINGS:	Bookings with payment will be essential. Payments will be made through the GSV Online Shop or at the GSV Reception More Information
CLASS SIZE:	Limited to 15 participants
CANCELLATION:	Refunds will only be given if cancellation is made five working days before the start of this event

Hi everyone!
This is the writing workshop I am attending on 17 April 2015 at the Genealogical Society of Victoria, and I am so pumped about doing it!

My chosen ancestor who I will be writing about is the brother of my great great grandmother Louisa Clarke.

I obtained his military records early last year and discovered that he spent time in Gallipoli, the Somme and Ypres in Belgium before finally being mustard gassed out of WW1.

He returned to Australia, got married and lived another 40 years.

He is a hero in the truest sense of the word, and not just for his war effort, which is remarkable enough.  I am so proud to have James as my ancestor.

Historically yours,
Valerius Copernicus

Use this to find out more about the writing workshop.  Cut and paste this address in your browser.
http://www.gsv.org.au/88-announcements/301-20150417ww1

Genealogical Society of Victoria

Ok right now I'm in the train to Flinders Street Station looking forward to my day in the GSV. 
I've only recently become a member and already I am seeing benefits.
The GSV has certainly got an eye on the future and is making progress and plans which is I think pretty exciting for our future. Their current aim is to improve their website which grew like topsy, but they have now employed professional developers who are in the midst of making it a really slick affair.  The fact that all their members are interested in progressing into the future is borne out by their phenominally high participation rate when they sent out a questionnaire about the members' needs in the digital age, and to the Society's very great credit, they are responding proactively.
I find it is very exciting to be part of a team who will help change the unfair perception of the knitted cardigan status quo.
The librarians there helped me enormously and were enthusiastic and friendly.
The best thing about the GSV is that it is a short walk through Flinders Street Station and you can pop up in Degraves Street only metres away from the back entrance of the Emirates building where it is located. No effort at all apart from the stairs.
As part of a new membership you get a free introductory course that tells you basic info and shows how to access the incredible resources it has to offer. There are other free courses for members too. The one I am going to today is called Starting Your Family History and I'll tell you about that tomorrow. For nonmembers the course costs $15, but why wouldn't you become a member when membership costs less than a hundred bucks a year? You'll easily recover that in the free courses they offer and the quality of the information you find.
I've learned a lot by doing it myself with family history, but the GSV has added to my expertise and results wonderfully.
Historically yours
Valerius Copernicus