It's a...date?

It is almost August 31st. What makes me say that?

August 31st is one of those dates in my family. You know, a date that more than one person in the same family died, or was buried on. A date that when I first realized its particular significance for these people, I was kind of just like 'Wait, what? Oh my gosh, that's so trippy.'

Oh my!

My Great Uncle Adam Gow was born on August 28th, 1905. However, he was only alive for 24 hours and died on August 29th. He was buried on August 31st. Four years later, my Great Great Grandmother Christian Alves died on August 31st, 1909. 94 years later in 2003, my paternal Grandfather William D. D. Gow died on August 31st. William and Adam were brothers, and Christian was their grandmother.

Christian Croal, Great Great Grandmother.
[Source: Personal Collection]

I was only 12 when my Grandfather died, so at the time, none of us had any idea about the significance of August 31st. It was only when I started genealogy and got Christian's death certificate that I realized and proceeded to have my 'Oh my gosh' moment.

This brings me to another one of those dates - December 15th. My paternal Grandmother, Eunice Dyer had five siblings. Two of those siblings were Noel George Dyer and Earle James Dyer (known to my family as Uncle Curly). Uncle Curly was born in 1918, while Uncle Noel was born in 1926. I never met Uncle Noel, but in his later years he was in a wheelchair. Uncle Noel died on December 15th, 2008. Uncle Curly worked right up until he died. He grew large fruit, had a beehive in his backyard and made his own honey, and invented cleaning products. The day before he died he had been working in his front yard doing some potting. Uncle Curly died on December 15th, 2011. Three years after his younger brother Noel.

Uncle Noel's Wedding, 1949.
L-R: Noel, Ada, Eunice (Nanna), William (Poppa) &
Aunt Elizabeth
[Source: Personal Collection]

I was not able to tell my Nanna that two of her brothers died on the same day, three years apart, as her dementia was quite bad. I think she would have liked it though, if that makes sense. She was very close with both of them. I did tell one of my Nanna's sisters, Aunty Vera. She had not realized this and was a bit stunned herself. I think it is always interesting when there are dates like this. Having birthdays on the same day is awesome itself. My brother was born on my other Grandfather's birthday, and I was born on my maternal Grandparents wedding anniversary. I think generally there's always a good chance of those things happening though. I certainly would not have expected my Poppa to die on the same day as my Great Great Grandmother, or my Uncle Curly to die on the same day as Uncle Noel. It is when you don't expect it that makes it trippy, and kind of special.  

So, what DATES are trippy in YOUR family?

Until next time genea-friends!

The Gow Siblings.

The 28th of March has appeared on my doorstep out of nowhere. I've become quite busy with Uni that I haven't had much time to sit down and do the post I would like to. I will have time for that next month as mid-semester break is a couple of weeks away.

Late last year I received some photos from a distant cousin in New Zealand of each of the Gow Siblings. When I refer to the Gow Siblings, I'm talking about my Great Grandfather William & his older siblings John, Robert, Isabella & Jeannie. They were the children of William Gow & Jean Drummond, and were all born in Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland. Up until last year, I only had photos of William & John. You can imagine the genea-happy-dancing I was doing when I received photos of ALL FIVE SIBLINGS!

One of my favorite happy dances is Hugh Grant in Love Actually. 

May I present to you, the Gow Siblings...

John Gow

Birth: 9th of December, 1855 in Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland.

1st Marriage: 1891, to Betsy Ireland Syme Gow in Perthshire.

Number of Children: 1

2nd Marriage: 1896, to Annie Wilson in Perthshire.

Number of Children: 3

Death: 14th of January, 1929 in Glenstal, Ireland.

John Gow

Robert Gow

Birth: 14th of September, 1857 in Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland.

Marriage: 1886, to Mary Agnes Ryan in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Number of Children: 8

Death: 8th of December, 1927 in Sydney.

Robert Gow

Isabella Gow

Birth: 9th of April, 1859 in Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland.

Marriage: 1878, to John Reddoch in Perthshire, Scotland.

Number of Children: 9, and 2 stillborn.

Death: 13th of October, 1897 in Kinross, Scotland.

Isabella Gow

Jeannie Gow

Birth: 6th of July, 1864 in Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland.

Marriage: None.

Number of Children: 1 with an unknown male. 2 with Tom Donaldson. 1 with Allan McFarlane. 

Death: 31st of March, 1912 in Stirling, Scotland.

Jeannie Gow

William Gow

Birth: 21st of May, 1868 in Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland.

Marriage: 4th of December, 1904 to Elizabeth Croal in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Number of Children: 2. 

Death: 28th of November, 1943 in Macksville, New South Wales.

William Gow

 
Sidenote: Y'all are the first people to see photos of all five siblings in one post from me. I'm yet to post them in a single post on my own blog. Lucky ducks! :-D

Until next time genea-friends.

A Special Gift.

I’d been trying to come up with a topic all month but wasn’t having any luck until a couple of days ago. I was catching up on a TV show when inspiration struck – My Great Great Grandmother Novie.

In January, my family and I went on holidays to Hawaii for two weeks. My Maternal Grandparents – Mum’s Dad & Step-Mother – managed to fly over from Texas and spend a week with us in Hawaii. Grandad is now 83 and my Grandmother is in her early 70’s. They’ve both had some health issues the past few years so we were very lucky they were able to make the trip. Before the holidays, we knew that they were looking to move out of their house and into a retirement village. Their house is quite big and was getting hard to manage with just the two of them living there…and 3 very active little dogs as well. They also wanted to make the decision about moving into a retirement village while they still could, and not have someone else make the decision for them. A couple of weeks after our holiday, they actually found a house in the retirement village they want to live in and are signing the papers today.

Anyway, the night my Grandparents arrived in Honolulu, my Grandad gave me something very special. His Grandmother, my Great Great Grandmother Novie’s sugar bowl and butter dish. I had never seen these before, nor was I expecting anything at all, so I was very surprised and very honoured to be given them. He actually said “out of all the grandchildren, you’ll probably appreciate them the most” and I sure will!

Butter Dish

Sugar Bowl

So, who was my Great Great Grandmother Novie?

Novie Leona Swindell
Approx. 1901, Texas, USA.

Novie Leona Swindell was born in 1874, in Morgan County, Alabama to parents James Webb Swindell & Elizabeth Roberts. Currently I only know of one sibling that she had; a brother, Erbie Milton Swindell born in 1880. In 1894, Novie married Charles Rufus Thompson. They had six children together – Ethel, Pearl, Roy, Claude, Velma & Robert. Ethel was my Great Grandmother. Between 1897 and 1901, after having two children they moved to Texas. 

Thompson's: Charles, Ethel, Roy, Novie & Pearl.
Approx. 1901, Texas, USA.

Something that I hadn’t known about Novie & Charles until my Grandad told me that week was that at some point they separated. My Grandad doesn’t remember having much to do with Charles who moved to New Mexico. Novie lived with Ethel & her family when my Grandad was little to help with the cooking and cleaning. Novie died on the 19^th of March, 1949 in Corsicana, Texas.

I wonder what Novie would think if she knew her butter dish and sugar bowl had made it all the way to Brisbane, Australia? I will treasure them with all my heart, and when I have children, I hope they will too.

Until next time genea-friends.

G'day Y'all!

Hi there. I’m Caitie & I reside in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. I’m 23, so if I’m not mistaken, that makes me the youngest author on Worldwide Genealogy. I’ve lived in Brisbane my whole life (minus a year), and in my line of ancestors I was the first person born in Queensland. You might have been able to tell by the title of this post, that I’m half Australian (G’day) and half American (Y’all). My Dad grew up in Sydney, while my Mum is from Texas. I have lived in America before – Virginia, for a year when I was a baby. I remember nothing.

I caught the genealogy bug – that’s what we call it in our family – on the 8th of July, 2009, when I was 18. Needless to say, I’ve been obsessed with genealogy ever since. I’m not the first person to research our family history. My paternal Grandfather, Poppa, was first generation Australian born. His parents were from Scotland and arrived in Sydney in the 1880’s. My Poppa was an only child, but he connected with many cousins that we have around the world including in Canada & New Zealand. 

My Poppa (middle) with his cousins in Scotland.

On my mother’s side, my Grandma loved genealogy. If you’re from Texas, you’re considered to be a Southerner, and there’s generally one thing that a Southerner always knows – the family tree. My Grandma was adopted and researched her adoptive and biological ancestors. My Mum, Aunt and Uncle always tell the story of while they were growing up; their friends would be at the beach during summer vacation. Not them. They would be at court houses, churches and civil war battlegrounds with my Grandparents. My Grandma drilled the family tree into them. My Aunt & Uncle caught the genealogy bug, but it completely skipped my Mum and came to me. My Grandma died in 1980, ten years before I was born, so I never knew her. However, I feel like I am getting to know her through my genealogy. I also know that she would have loved this concept of Worldwide Genealogy. 

My Grandma, Nancy Robinson.
1932 - 1980

Anyway, where else can you find me?

I live over at Genealogically Speaking. I co-run the blog Young and Savvy Genealogists. I’m actually yet to do my first post over there – that’s something for tonight after work. Last year in August, coinciding with National Family History Month in Australia, I took the plunge and started a YouTube Channel. I love writing and blogging about my family history, but I wanted to TALK about it. I love love love talking to people about it. I’m definitely going to mention Worldwide Genealogy in my next video.

When I’m not doing genealogy, I’m a full time University student studying Criminology. I graduate this year. That’s a scary thought. The second half of the semester is usually when I begin to drown in assignments and exams, so I’m hoping I can keep up with one post a month here. :) I'm very excited to a part of Worldwide Genealogy. Thank you Julie!

Until next time genea-friends...