Some paintings done by my mother.
McGhie Family Tree
4 brothers at war
| I have had a casual interest with my family
history and a number of years ago, with the passing of my parents,
Doris & William McGhie, I found myself with a modest collection of
old photographs. Mum had a life long interest in photography and Dad only with the photographs he collected from his parents etc. My Mother talked a fair amount about her early life, Dad much less so. But I had some tantalizing glimpses of their past. Mum's Father was said to have been part of a small group who constructed the first plane in Western Australia. I have since found that this was only partly true. It was not the first plane, but one of the first, being constructed in 1912. And it did fly, all be it only briefly. I never met this Grand Father, but knowing that he had an experimental nature would have liked to.  The 1913 Airplane Click on photograph for more information On my Father's side, he told me two brief pieces of information. We had come to Australia, when Captain McGhie jumped ship in Geraldton, and so and so had lost a hand due to an accident.  The report of my Grand Father's shooting accident I did not ask much more and had forgotten much of the little I had been told, but with the interest rekindled, I have started to piece together some of our family history. The old photographs are a problem, as what, apart from handing onto future generations, do you do with them. Most have no identification, and I can only offer scant information about them. With the passing of my parents I did not do enough to go through them, particularly with my Father. However we have this amazing new technology, the Internet, to share World wide, a small part of our lives and our history. So bit by bit I intend to include many of the photographs and family history. I have found some interesting pieces on the Trove web site, digitized Australian newspapers, and is worth a look... http://trove.nla.gov.au/ After some consideration I decided to subscribe to the family history web site ancestry.com. At $299 for the full package, I was not sure I would be getting value for money, but after only a couple of hours using the site my money was well spent. In only two weeks I have been able to trace, on my Father's side, family history all the way back to the Orkney Island off northern Scotland and my Great, Great, Great, Great, Grand Father, who was born in the late 1700's, George McGhie and GGGG GM Osla McBeath. Lots more to come..... |