WHEN it comes to family history research, that is! According to the family names researched by members of the Port Macquarie and Districts Family History Society, the top five surnames in the Port Macquarie-Hastings area are Smith, Jones, Hollis, Wilson and Brown.
When researching your ancestors, you might come across half a dozen different ways of spelling the surname.
Ackerley might also be recorded as Hackley and Haggery. Depending on the origins of the family, i.e. Ireland or Yorkshire the names pronounced in their dialect would be written down as they sounded. When Ann Hutchinson from Yorkshire moved south, her name was written as Hodginson probably because that is what it sounded like in a strong Yorkshire dialect to a southerner.
It’s not just the surname either. Mary can be recorded as Marie, Mattie, Mettie; Ann as Anne and Annie, the Irish name Eoin is often transcribed as Owen and even John.
How do you untangle the web of confusion? Cross-referencing is the answer. The more records you can check for your ancestor (birth, marriage, death, electoral records, census returns), the more information you have to check against and the more the pieces of the puzzle will begin to come together.
If you would like to learn more and have a fun day, come along to the Escape to Port Macquarie Family History Fair on Saturday, 18 May, from 9am to 3.30pm at Panthers Port Macquarie. Entry is $10 per person which covers presentations by all speakers.
There will be four speakers from Ancestry, Find My Past, Family Search and Jakerah Publishing, plus many exhibitors offering advice on family and local history and related topics; many bargains; free demonstrations; and record look-ups. There will also be lucky door prizes and super raffle prizes.
We are excited to announce that our society’s brand-new publication “Church of St Thomas Port Macquarie – Early Parish Registers of Baptisms 1824-1864, Marriages 1824-1856 and Burials 1824-1876” will be available to view and pre-order at the fair.
The Reverend Thomas O’Reilly was based in Port Macquarie and travelled extensively throughout the Hastings Valley, Camden Haven, Macleay and Manning River Valleys to perform his clerical duties. In transcribing the original St Thomas 1824-1864 baptism registers recently, members of Port Macquarie and Districts Family History Society discovered records of families from these areas.
For more information go to the society website www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nswpmfhs/ or contact Wendy on 6582 1742.
