Hold Your Eyebrows!

Hi and welcome to my new blog! I have named it “Hold Your Eyebrows” in memory of my Grandpa and Grandma Archer. Instead of saying “wait a minute or the common “Hold your horses”, it was “Hold your eyebrows”! Stay tuned for some family stories and memories including submitted pieces written for my University of Tasmania Diploma studies. Cheers,...

John Wild – The Convict

I haven't got any convicts ancestors (that I know of!), but I enjoyed researching the life of one with a name that is in my family tree way back - Wild . There are sooo many Wilds in Yorkshire where my Wilds are from, where this Convict originated. Who knows? There may be a connection...

Work

52 ancestors in 52 weeks The #52ancestors prompt for this week’s ancestor story is WORK. I think the main industries my ancestors were involved in was mainly hard working, practical labouring jobs.  Unfortunately I haven’t found any royal or famous ancestors, but that’s ok!  On my father’s side of the family, most of the ancestors...

Tragedy

This weeks's prompt for #52ancestors in 52 weeks is TRAGEDY. Immediately I think of my father's death. He died in a terrible accident nearly three years ago, but I can't bring myself to write about it just yet. I can only say that tragic events such as a sudden death can change your outlook on...

Remembering my ‘Parpie’

I just signed up for the #52ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge today! For those that don’t know, It’s a writing challenge run by Amy Johnson Crow to help prompt genealogy lovers into writing something each week, to get the old brain going. The prompt this week is – COMEDY. The first person who came into...

Goodbye Nanna

This story is dedicated to my Nanna Laurene Mary Nissen (nee Saal) who passed away at the grand age of 91 years yesterday. She was a true survivor, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great great grandmother. Rest in Peace dear Nanna.

Generations of Women Collages

I want to share these images I put on Facebook recently. I got the idea from another Facebook user I really admire, who is excellent at colourizing old photographs. I stalked her Facebook profile and saw that she'd done a collage of herself and the women who came before her. I thought it was an...

Biography of a Soldier – Corporal John Walls Bamford Hooper: Service number 449 (1892-1926)

I wrote the following for another UTAS Diploma of History assignment for the module - Families at War. Until recently I had never heard of John Hooper. He was an uncle of my grandmother's who passed before she was born.  Today is Nov 11 2018, let's remember those who sacrificed their lives for their country. ...

A little about George

Let me introduce you to my 2nd Great Grandfather - George Harris Westley Ford Hooper. He's an ancestor I am completely obsessed about!  This piece talks about one part of George’s life – where he fit into the community. Engaging himself by using his talents seems like a great way in to making new friends...

Pre-Proposal

The following story is my imagining of how my 2nd Great Grandfather William Henry Archer (1841-1920) may have proposed to his second wife, Catherine Carmichael Grayson (1873-1968). He was 61 and she was 30 when they married in 1902, so quite an age gap there! (Although Catherine scribbled over the number 30 and wrote 26...

The Accident that changed their lives

The following story is from my Writing Family History assignment this year. I have edited it a little now. It tells the story of my Great Great Grandmother Catherine Grayson and her older sister Agnes.  A tragic turn of events lead to their entry into an industrial school (children's/orphan's home).  The coffin of twenty-five-year-old Agnes...