Please note, my research, by necessity, explores historical terms and practices, archival sources, and images, that we today may find problematic or distressing. Viewer discretion is advised.
The focus of my genealogical research is my third great-grandmother, Frances Jemima Edwards nee Head, her father, her adoptive mother, and their extended family, which immerses me in the transportation era of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). Thanks to frequent sea travel and connections to the shipping and whaling industries, I have been able to trace most of their comings and goings through the archive.
Extended families led intertwined lives during the early colonial period, so by tracing one individual, I have been able to find and confirm the aliases, occupations, and relationships of others. Genealogical proof requires 3 points of reference, but in the early colonial period, when record-keeping was not standardised, sometimes the best way to go about this is to look at spatial-temporal-social proximity. Is someone in the right place, at the right time, and with the right people, to be my ancestor?
Because it's not possible to go into every single detail of my research here, I will explore aspects of my genealogical research and related social history in future blog posts with reference to my family tree (which is in the process of being updated).
My approach has been to go to the primary source materials first and to use DNA analysis second. My preferred DNA sites are GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA; GEDmatch for its use of the Human Genome Project and ancient DNA samples and FamilyTreeDNA for its ability to confirm trace ancestries, which enables me to zero in on my ancestors born between 1790 and 1840.
Please click 'Bayanina' in the side bar to see all genealogy posts.
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