After thinking about what to do for the letter X for weeks, I still hadn’t come up with anything. So the fact that this post has even happened is a tribute to Wendy who commented on the Gould Genealogy Facebook page for the Family History Through the Alphabet, the letter X, and gave me the idea for this post.

X is for … Signatures

Actually technically this post is about the lack of signature, as in those that were illiterate and used X for a signature (ie. X is the mark of _________ ) was the actual wording that was used on certificates.

My topic for the letter W in the Family History Through the Alphabet Challenge has changed so many times, you should see my notebook with all my ideas, and crossing outs (LOL). I expect some of those ideas you’ll see in future posts eventually. Anyway I have settled on the W being for “lots of Ws”. I can hear your going huh, what does that even mean? Well, to me it means two things, firstly Who, What, When, Where and Why, and also World Wide Web.

W is for … lots of Ws

Who, What, When, Where and Why … these are the basic questions that every family historian aims to get answers to for every person on their family tree.

We’re now up to the letter V in the Family History Through the Alphabet Challenge, and for me this was always going to be about “Vintage Style”.

V is for VINTAGE STYLE

I love a whole lot about the style and stuff from the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The lace up boots, the corsets, the choker necklaces, pocket watches, hats and more … love it, so it’s no wonder that I’m completely fascinated by a copy of the Lassetter’s catalogue that my dad has. What is Lassetter’s catalogue you ask?

It was back in July that I started off my Discovering Ephemera series by introducing your to my great grandfather’s school report card from 1886. That was very cool, and a wonderful little treasure to have found.

Today I wish to share with you some old pictures the were printed periodically in the newspapers. These pictures came from the South Australian Chronicle (1888), and the South Australian Observer (1898). As both of these are newspapers that no longer exist you can read a little more about the history of each of these newspapers here.