I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t like sitting down with an old photo album and flipping through the pages, wondering about people, the places, and life as it was back then … reminiscing. And any historian and/or genealogist know that learning about the history of a region where your family (be it YOUR own family, or the generations before you), is such an important aspect of it research. But just how do you find out the history and people of a town or area?

Well until relatively recently there’s been two options. Firstly look around to see what books have been produced on the area and try to track them down, either through libraries, or secondhand bookstores), or secondly visit (or write if you’re not local) the genealogy or historical groups that are in the region.

There’s no doubt that when you get into family history, you need to learn about the social history, as well as the local history of the area your family came from as well. You simply can’t do one without the others.

My research which has previously seen me focus on my Finnish and New Jersey lines, has now brought me back to my South Australian roots to some of my emigrating families and their descendants. And as such, I’ve been learning a whole heap about my Randell family who founded Gumeracha, my Kelly family who founded Cudlee Creek,  as well as my Hannaford family who were early pioneers at Cudlee Creek.