Research informs historical fiction

An enertaining meeting

 "As the American colonies whisper of liberty and revolution a young slave boy, John Randall, listens. And when the country hurtles into war, he seizes his chance, escaping to fight for the English and his freedom. John’s flight leads him across oceans: poverty and petty crime in the grey slums of Manchester; the rotting prison hulks on the Thames, and finally as a convict to a new penal colony on the other side of the world – a vast, unknown land later to be called Australia.”

On Saturday at our general meeting Jo Braithwaite presented an introduction to her book Black Randall. He was her ancestor who was transported to Australia on the First Fleet. As she researched this man she became fascinated with the circumstances that led to his deportation and his subsequent life in the early colony.

Jo has used her creative writing skills and provided his story as historical fiction, a favourite genre for many genealogists and family historians. Jo also talked about the path to publishing, including finding a mentor. 

The book will soon be available for members to borrow from our library.

Two other historical fiction authors recommended by family historians are Nathan Dylan Goodwin, who is a genealogical mystery crime novelist and M J Lee. Martin is a writer of contemporary crime, historical and genealogical mystery novels.

Family Tree UK

 What's in the magazines?

Each month we receive a print copy of the UK Family Tree magazine. 

As well as the lateset updates on family history news, this issue takes a forensic look at family heirlooms, includes a planning guide for 2024, answers some DNA questions and Richard Morgan reports on the vast vessels of the East India Company. The article about early blood transfusions is enough to make a vampire shiver!

If you are unable to read the magazine in the Heritage Centre, you may like to access the magazine on your computer or mobile device using your Noosa Libraries card. Choose Libby from this link or download the app to your mobile device.

Other magazines of interest to the family historian in Libby are shown below.

Happy reading!

Keeping up to date

 

Keeping up to date with what is new and what's coming in the genealogy world, one can become overwhelmed with the availability of incoming material.

Here are some simple ways to keep up to date via newsletters, apps and RSS feeds from websites.

Newsletters

Subscribe to those that interest you and set aside 5 to 10 mins a day to flick through their offerings, then delete. That way one's email box does not become filled with unread emails. Here are a few for you to consider.

• Queensland Family History Society Send your name, address, and preferred email to Snippets
• Family Tree Magazine has a variety of newsletters delivered daily or weekly depending on the content you prefer to read.
• The Society of Australian Genealogists send out regular newsletters highlighting upcoming events most of which are all available through Zoom.
• The Federation of Australian Historical Societies biannual Newsletter is full of stories from FAHS member societies around Australia that show how diverse and active is our history community.
• National Library of Australia covers the latest in the collections and Trove Treasures,
• Sign up for LegacyNews a weekly email newsletter that will keep you informed about Legacy,  MyHeritage and other Genealogy news.

Many individual genealogy and family history bloggers also have newsletters. The subscription option often appears as a pop-up when reading a blog post. Subscribe wisely and use Unsubscribe often in very small print at the bottom of many newsletters.

Apps

Download the Libby app to your tablet or phone. 

• Search for Noosa Libraries then sign in with your library membership card.
• Choose Search then narrow to Magazines.
• Search Family Tree - this will reveal issues of both the UK and US magazines
• Tap to borrow for 14 days

Try a genealogy search while in the app.

You may also like to try the app Internet Genealogy Magazine available for both iOS and Android.

RSS from Websites

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a web service that lets the reader accumulate web content into one simple reader space.

Many websites and blogs have RSS which facilitate adding their blog or website to a feed reader.

Two popular feed readers are Feedly and Inoreader . Both of these companies have a free service and can be used on computers, tablets and phones. 

Simply select the web address of the site you would like to read frequently and add it to the reader. Whenever that site publishes new content it will appear in your Feedly or Inoreader. 

More convenient than email in many cases as one can either view just headlines or a summary or full articles. 

Some blogs you may like to add to an RSS feed reader

The Legal Genealogist Judy Russell USA

Generations Genealogy Danielle Lautrec, Sydney

Diary of an Australian Genealogist Shauna Hicks, Qld

Genealogy's Star James Tanner USA

Genealogy tip of the day Michael O'Neill USA

Organize your Family History Janine Adams

Campaspe Genealogy Campaspe Library, Victoria

Tales from the Grave Samantha Elley, Australia

This screenshot shows some of today's articles appearing in my Feedly. There are plenty of YouTube videos to get you started using either Inoreader or Feedly. Here's a comparison of seven free feed readers to help. 

Happy reading!