I’ve come across a number of articles recently that talk about the younger generation and how they can’t read cursive writing since it is no longer taught at school, and as a result they are going to find reading historical documents very hard. I would say that is a very valid point, though I’m not sure what the answer to that is.

But it got me thinking that if they find straight cursive writing hard to read, what would they think of cross writing?

In case you’re not familiar with the term cross writing (also sometimes called crossed letters), this was a common practice back in the 1800s where you would write a letter – using not only the front and back of the paper, but also by turning the paper sideways, and continue to write. It was a way to save paper and postage costs.

The Wikipedia entry states …

A crossed letter is a manuscript letter which contains two separate sets of writing, one written over the other at right-angles. This was done during the early days of the postal system in the 19th century to save on expensive postage charges, as well as to save paper. The technique is also called cross-hatching.

The letter below is one that my family is fortunate to have, and is written by Samuel Randell (one of William Beavis Randell’s sons) to one of his sisters. Born in England, but having spent most of his life growing up in South Australia, Samuel was about 20 years old when he ventured back to the other side of the world, and found himself in Devon, England. While I don’t specifically know why he went back, based on the letter it sounds like it could be to further his education.

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I’m not going include the transcript of the letter for you here, as this post isn’t about the content of the letter, but rather the style. It was really just to give you an introduction as to what Cross Writing was, and how it looks … AND how to read it.

Have you seen any cross written letters in your family ephemera?

I’ve been good recently and have been scanning a few more old family photos. Scanning isn’t the funest job in the universe. In fact it’s rather a drag. But still it is nice to have a few more done. And they are nice high res ones, named, and filed appropriately, ready for when I need to access them again in the future.

But while I was scanning some photos of one of my grandmas, I thought I’d like to share them so came up with an idea to do a mostly pictorial blog post of both of my grandma’s (maternal and paternal), and in another one I’ll show you my four great grandma’s.

So let me introduce you firstly to Evelyn Hannaford (nee Randell) my maternal grandma (1916-2006)

Evelyn Randell & brother Pete at “Kenton Park”, Gumeracha, c1920

Evelyn and Pete Randell at “Salem Glen”, Gumeracha, 1921

the girls at Gumeracha Primary School, 1922/23? Evelyn in at the front and on the right hand end

Evelyn with her three older sisters, Anne, May and Dorothy, c.1924

Dorothy & Evelyn “Lyn” Randell, 1941

Evelyn Randell & Cecil Hannaford, married at Gumeracha in 1941

And that brings me to Valda Phillips (nee Winter), my paternal grandma (1921-living)

Valda Winter with her three sisters, c.1928
Back L-R: Mavis and Valda
Front: Betty and Joyce

Valda Winter (on far right) & her sisters, c1932

at the beach
Joyce Winter, friend Joan & Valda Winter c1936

Thebarton Methodist Basketball Team, c1937

Valda Winter, c1940

Valda Winter, c.1942

Valda’s wedding, 1944

Can you show your life in five photos? I’m not sure if I can, but I’m going to try.

I have taken this idea from a Facebook friend who participated in a “five photos of me, over five days” challenge. But true to my usual self, I decided to give it a little twist.

The original rule of this Challenge was to post “5 five photos, 1 per day, on Facebook that were photos of yourself that are more than 15 years old.” I have ignored the 15 years old bit, and have decided for “My Life in Five Photos”, that they can be “of me, or showing something about me” and I’ve decided to do them all as a single post.

And obviously it’s not going to show you “ALL” of my life, but rather just a few different aspects of it. I haven’t called this a geneameme, but I would love for others to take up the idea, and share a few photos of their life.

1. Apple Orchard – 1975
My grandpa had an apple orchard in the Adelaide Hills, and as my mum worked there, the orchard was my playground prior to starting primary school at age 5. So getting completely dirty was just part of my daily routine. And yes, that is dirt all over me and my clothes!

2. Broken Arm and Cemetery – 1976
I love this photo for various reasons. Firstly because I was getting my photo taken (hence the big grin), secondly it’s the only photo I have of me when I had a broken arm, and thirdly (and favourite reason) is that this photo was taken on the front lawn of my family’s house at Cudlee Creek, showing the Cudlee Creek cemetery in the background. I was a an unofficial groundskeeper for this cemetery, so my love affair with cemeteries started young. I used to pick flowers from mum’s garden and put on those graves, and pick up the flower jars that had fallen over and so on. It was only later that I found out half of those buried there are actually my relis!

3. Ash Wednesday – 1983
I think anyone that has been though any major disaster has it etched in their mind, and it will something that they NEVER ever forget. That is what Ash Wednesday is like for me. This is a photo of my family’s house on Ash Wednesday. While it doesn’t actually have me in it, it does have my mum and brother there, but I was there (even though I didn’t want to be). And yes, the sky really was that colour, the air was full of smoke, and the sun was blood red.

4. Genealogy Expo – 2010
As part of my job at Gould Genealogy & History, we have organised a number of genealogy events including History & Genealogy Expo’s. Apart from organising them, we also exhibit there … and usually have stand for both our Gould Genealogy & History and Unlock the Past companies. The photo below was taken at the History & Genealogy Expo that we organised in Sydney 2010, with my mum and I manning the stand.

5. Lamorran Cemetery – 2014
Cemetery walking, that’s what I call it, though some call it cemetery traipsing, either way, visiting the cemeteries of your ancestors is something that I was able to do on a trip to England in July 2014. The rain wasn’t going to stop me checking out the cemetery at Lamorran, in Devon looking for my ancestors. Afterall cemeteries are the places that genealogist would prefer to go, rather that the standard tourist attractions, right?

Now I know I missed a heap of things, including my school years and my wedding, and a hundred others things. But limiting this post to just five photos was hard. REALLY REALLY HARD! And I will admit that I was very tempted to make it “My Life in Ten Photos”, but I resisted, and have left it at the five.

So there you go. There’s my life in five photos, or more specifically five moments of my life in five photos! So now who else is interested in sharing theirs?

Family reunions seem to be the talk of the town at present. Well, on social media anyway. And why wouldn’t they be, with A.J. Jacobs’ Global Family Reunion which was held this weekend, proving to be a huge hit.

So on the topic of reunions, I wanted to share with you, one of my family’s family reunions.

This one was held in December 1938 at “Sulby Glen”(the Kelly family homestead) at the tiny town of Cudlee Creek in the Adelaide Hills. This date marked not only 100 years since the arrival of William Kelly and his second wife Jane (nee Caley) to South Australia, pioneers to South Australia from the Isle of Man, but also 50 years since the death of William.

My connection to this family, other than the fact that they settled at Cudlee Creek, which is where I grew up, is that William is my 4x great grandfather.

Various newspaper articles tell the story of the Kelly reunion, but I’ve chosen just two to share with you.

This first one was before the event …

The Advertiser, 3 December 1838, p. 21 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36597696

And this second one was afterwards. It is a long article, and what I’ve shown below is only about 1/3rd of it. To see the full article, click on the link in the caption.

this article appeared in The Advertiser, 2 January 1939
you can read the full article on Trove at:
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49786271

Relatives came from around Australia to attend this event. The newspaper says that this type of reunion was unique for not only South Australia, but with very few of this kind of reunion held throughout the Commonwealth.

Approximately 300 people attended the Kelly family reunion, and we know who at least 277 of them were, thanks to an autograph book which was signed by those who attended this reunion … and has SURVIVED! Below are a few pages from this treasure.

And if having newspaper articles telling us about the reunion, as well as the autograph book was’t awesome enough, there is actually a group photograph from the Kelly 1938 reunion!! Yes truly!

Kelly reunion group photo taken at “Sulby Glen”, Cudlee Creek, 31 December 1938
(click for a larger image)

If anyone has connections to the Kelly’s from Isle of Man, there are several books relating to this family available. You can find these at Gould Genealogy.

Have you been to any family reunions? If so, do you have any momentoes from them?