Auckland Libraries and the Genealogical Computing Group are hosting the Auckland Family History Expo again from 5pm, Friday 11 August through till 6pm Sunday 13 August at the Fickling Convention Centre at Three Kings.

Dirk Weissleder

Chris Paton

This year, our international
guest speakers are Chris Paton (Scottish/Irish),
Dirk Weissleder (German/European) and Helen Smith (Australia/British).

Helen Smith

Friday night's programme
Friday 5pm-6pm: Reception. Mix and mingle with tea, coffee, beverages and canapés. Seats confirmed on receipt of payment.
Submit bookings by email with “Family History Expo welcome event” in subject line, including names of attendees to arc@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
6pm-7pm: Welcome and opening address followed by: Chris Paton, Genealogy without borders.
7pm-7.30pm: Living DNA: High definition Ancestral DNA testing (live webinar from the UK).
7.30pm-8.30pm: Chris Paton, Dirk Weissleder and Helen Smith, panel discussion and Q&A session: The future of family history.

Satuday and Sunday are free. We have over over 40 seminars and workshops and more than 24 family history exhibitors including:

• Ancestry
• Auckland Council Libraries
• Auckland War Memorial Museum
• Beehive Books/HOG Tours 
• Chinese genealogy researchers 
• Families in British India (FIBIS) 
• FamilySearch 
• FamNet/Jazz Software 
• Guild of One Name Studies (GOONS),
• Kippenberger Research Library - National Army Museum - Waiouru 
• Indian genealogy / West Research Centre
• My Heritage 
• New Zealand Fencible Society Inc
• New Zealand Micrographics/Recollect 
• New Zealand Military Historical Society,
• New Zealand Society of Genealogists Head Office and Interest Groups:
  English, European, Irish, Maori, Pacific Island, Scottish; 
• Unlock the Past/Gould Genealogy
• Wales – New Zealand Family History Society.

Download a .pdf of the full programme here

Sponsors

Bridging the tension between cultural and genetic histories
with Ancestry's Brad Argent and Dr Carla Houkamau, University of Auckland

A sense of identity is usually formed over time by memetic (or cultural) history, while revelations of genetic identity often happen in an instant. DNA tests can reveal multiple stories at play, creating a dichotomy where cultural histories conflict with genetic background.

Dr Carla Houkamau from the University of Auckland (Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Porou) and family historian as well as Ancestry international spokesperson Brad Argent will explore the concept of identity today, and what it means to be a contemporary New Zealander in an increasingly multicultural society.


When: 6:30pm Tuesday 11 October (refreshments begin at 5:30pm)
Where: Whare Wānanga, Level 2, Auckland Central City Library, 44-46 Lorne Street, Auckland
Booking: Free event - Booking recommended

Summary:
When it comes to identity, many of us have grown up thinking we’re a part of a singular story, yet our identity is informed by many factors, including culture, community and oral traditions, as well as family history informed by lineage and records.

Memetic (cultural) as well as genetic (DNA) histories can play a role in the formation of identity. With the rise of products such as AncestryDNA, discovering one’s ethnic background and finding people with whom you share a common ancestor have become increasingly more accessible. In addition, as databases have grown to more than two million people globally, that information is becoming more accurate and comprehensive.

In this seminar, University of Auckland senior lecturer Dr Carla Houkamau will discuss the diversity evident in Māori society today in terms of cultural, social as well as political differences, and how identifying as Māori can be shaped by socialisation and family relationships.

Ancestry’s international spokesperson, Brad Argent, will explore how ethnicity identified through DNA tests can confirm or disrupt a person's notion of identity. In some cases, the genetic and memetic dichotomy can see them reassessing who they really are.

Seminar speakers:

Dr Carla Houkamau, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland

Dr Carla Houkamau is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management and International Business at the University of Auckland, where she specialises in the areas of personal identity, inter-cultural communication and diversity management.

Carla is of Pākehā and Māori descent, specifically Ngāti Kahungunu (Ngāti Kere) and Ngāti Porou (Whanau o Tu-Whakairiora), and has special interest in psychological (particularly social psychological) understandings of identity, particularly with regard to contemporary Māori identity.

Brad Argent, Family Historian & International Spokesperson, Ancestry

Brad Argent is a family historian and international spokesperson for Ancestry, as well as expert on the AncestryDNA product.

Based in Europe, Brad has recently been featured in a video series created by international travel search site Momondo, which showed how we are more genetically connected than we might at first assume.

The clips have been viewed more than 100 million times on a number of social media platforms, including Facebook and YouTube.

In the first week of February, Auckland Libraries was delighted to have hosted several events to support New Zealand Cemeteries Heritage Week, which was to celebrate the launch on Ancestry of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists (NZSG) cemetery microfiche.


The cemetery microfiche was the culmination of almost 50 years' worth of work by volunteers from the NZSG - a painstaking process of recording and transcribing cemetery headstones from 1400 public and private cemeteries nationwide, including Māori urupa from 1800 right up until 2007.

The official launch day was held on Monday, 2 February, 2015, at the New Zealand Society of Genealogists head office in Panmure where current NZSG President Gay Williams discussed the history of their Cemetery Collection and explained the work that was behind it.

The launch made the news on TVNZ.


Auckland Libraries hosted events for the following three days:

• S.S.Tararua  - our worst civilian shipwreck, 29 April 1881 - Gay Williams, President, (NZ Society of Genealogists) 

• The shipwreck of the HMS Orpheus on 7 February 1863 - Michael Wynd, Researcher, (National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy)

• The ‘Great Flu’ pandemic, 1918 - Gay Williams

• Hawkes Bay Earthquake 3 February 1931 - Christine Clement

• The Tangiwai Railway Disaster, 24 December 1953 - Gay Williams

• The Air NZ Erebus disaster, 28 November 1979 - Gay Williams

• Why can't I locate my NZ ancestors place of burial - David Verran, Local Historian and Team Leader, Central Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries

• Locating your ancestors through NZSG burial records and Ancestry online (NZ cemetery records 1800 – 2007), Diane Wilson and Gay Williams 

Genealogy is a study of pedigrees, a collection of names and dates, which trace a family line back through the past. 

• When were they born? 
• Who and when did they marry? 
• How many children did they have and when were they born? 
• When and where did they die? 

It's about establishing and proving relationships.

For some people genealogy is enough, their challenge is to go back as far as they can, but they know comparatively little about the people they are researching other than the facts.

Family history is a continuation of genealogy, in that it is also the research into the social history of the family. 

• What did they do for a living? What was involved in their job?
• What schooling did they have, and where? 
• What events were happening around them during various periods of their lives? 
• Why, when and how did they emigrate? 
• Where are they buried?

- Its all about social, political, military, religious and cultural history.

Family history is about the stories.

Your library will have copies of “how to guides” that can get you started.


Genealogy is the skeleton
Family history is the flesh on the bones

Setting up your research
Note what you know in a pedigree chart - download our free Pedigree chart from our Resources page. 

Charting what you know allows you to spot the gaps.

Choose a genealogical software program that suits you.

Genealogy software programmes are complex database software programs that use a language called GEDCOM (GEnealogical Data COMmunication). 

Because genealogical programs use a common language, this makes sharing of information really easy.

Choices depend on budget and circumstance.
No computer? Try an online one, via a website.

Pros:

• Portable, you can access where ever you have internet access
• Other people can usually search your Family Trees to see if you have common ancestors (but don’t forget to verify other people’s research)
• Usually free, with upgradeable options if you decide to spend money later
• Uses GEDCOM so if you later decide to download your family tree to your own software program you can

Cons:

• Its the internet, so things like privacy and control of your own info could be an issue
• You need to be sure that the website you are going with is one that is going to be around for a while, and what will it mean to you if they start charging for access or decide not to run their site any more

However, people wanting to undertake this hobby seriously, will need a computer.

For your own software, whether free or purchased, you will need to do your own research to decide what’s right for you.

Read some reviews and decide which to invest your time (and maybe money) into. Remember, though the old “you get what you pay for” is often true. Although you don’t need to spend big bucks necessarily, it would do to remember that “free” products are usually limited in some way.

Cyndislist.com is a good resource for all things genealogical, so try this page for software reviews: 
http://www.cyndislist.com/software.htm or
http://www.ancestry.com.au/
http://genealogy.about.com/od/publishing/tp/web_sites.htm

Keep a research notebook, note the person you are researching, where you have looked, and what information you found. Transfer this into your genealogical database.
Filing your paperwork is immensely important. Number your subjects:-

• your most recent subject is number 1,

father = no.2, mother = 3,

• fraternal grandfather = no. 4, fraternal grandmother = no.5;

• maternal grandfather = no. 6, maternal grandmother = no. 7Keep a master folder for each branch with family group sheets inside, to act as your index.


Create another folder for each family member once they get married, and start collecting their info as they create their own family groups.

Colour code your stationery (folders, document wallets, boxes etc) for each branch so you can tell which line they belong to at a glance (blue, red, green, yellow for example).

Keep very good notes, and make sure you record where you got the information from, recording volume number and page/folio numbers etc.

If its anecdotal information, cite who that person is and how they say they came across the info. Try to prove or disprove the story.

What to do with the information?


Share your research with your family.

Consider publishing your family tree online.

Even if you’d decided not to assemble the information online via a website when starting out, consider uploading the GEDCOM information when you are a bit more experienced.

There are many websites out there that encourage you to share your data.

• www.Ancestry.com
• www.findmypast.com.au
• www.Tribalpages.com are but a few.

If you are comfortable enough with this idea, then it is a splendid way of finding relatives, by having them find you.

Consider also sharing via Facebook. Which is a whole other session by itself.

Consider publishing your research in a book. - Remember to donate a copy to your library!

Happy hunting

Seonaid

Our 10th annual Karen Kalopulu Family History Lock-In was a success again.

Forty-four guests, five staff and six volunteers from the New Zealand Society of Genealogists attended on Friday, 29 August to be locked in to the Central Auckland Research Centre from 8pm till 8am the next morning.

We had the pre-lock-in tour of the Research Centre, followed by a seminar "Getting it right first time".

Ancestry, Findmypast and ScotlandsPeople provided spot prizes for the evening.

Barbara won a 12-month World Heritage subscription to Ancestry, and Margaret, Joanne and Kim each won a one-month sub to Findmypast's World collection.

We started out with our usual traditional group photo.

We had two people who had attended all ten Lock-Ins.

Geraldene O'Reilly, our Irish expert from the NZSG who has been assisting since the very first Lock-In since the 2005!

Geraldene was one - our Irish expert, volunteering from the New Zealand Society of Genealogists. She'd assisted at all ten of our Lock-Ins, bless her!

Family history is about bringing families together - often long forgotten family members that you discover during the process of your family history research.

Family history can also lead you to discover living relatives who are either researching their family tree also, or are interested in your research.

Lauren & Julie (laughing) say: We are just here for a night out. No, really, Lauren is researching her granddad's family in India while I am trying to trace my father's family in England.

Some families also research together - whether by collaboration across distance, or getting together in person.

We often have mother/daughter, aunt/niece, father/son, sisters etc turn up at the lock-in to research.

Aslikia is looking for her paternal side of the family, her 2x great-grandfather who was an interpreter to the British consul in Fiji. Everything thing she has read has referred to him as the son of a Fijian woman but this one book mentions an American father. She is trying to find out if the latter is true.

Jan Gow QSM FSG assisting a guest with ScotlandsPeople

Family History Month is an Australasian event that runs throughout August each year and consists of talks, seminars and workshops on the subject of family history research and genealogy.

For many years the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations ( AFFHO), New Zealand Society of Genealogists (NZSG) and affiliated family history societies have celebrated family history.

Its a great way of showcasing family history and getting people involved.

This is the fourth year that Auckland Libraries have participated with events that are run throughout the region.


The Speaker Series is a month-long season of family history talks presented by library specialists and held at libraries all over Auckland. 

This year, there are 23 topics, held at 34 different libraries, making a total of 122 events region-wide throughout Auckland!

Find the talk you're interested in below, go to our website and see which date and location suits you best. 

Be sure to contact the host library and book your place for any that interest you! All sessions run for one hour unless otherwise stated.

Morris family group. c1941. Frank Morris Collection West Auckland Research Centre FMO-0729-00027-G

• Auckland Libraries family history eResources;
• Beginners guide to Ancestry;
• Beginners guide to FindMyPast; 
• Beginning your family history;
• Brick walls: tips and tricks to help solve your family history puzzle; 
• British Newspaper Archive; 
• Captives of the Kaiser: Researching Prisoners of War during the First World War;
• Doing family history: a journey to Matakana; 
• Family history roadshow; 
• Hospital records; 
• Military: The use of the official histories; 
• Newspapers and magazines for family history; 
• Pacific Island resources;
• Passenger lists and immigration; 
• Poor law; 
• Probate and wills; 
• Question and answer sessions; 
• Researching First World War records; 
• Researching your Irish ancestry; 
• Searching for your family on the internet; 
• Whakapapa storytime; 
• Whakapapa for adults; 
• Whakapapa for rangatahi (children)