Marie Owens’ family roots are found in Ireland and her husband’s can be traced back to the pioneers.
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But there’s a lot of mystery that surrounds their heritage, and Mrs Owens is on a mission to build a family tree for her 100-year-old mother-in-law.
The Albury woman sought advice from the experts at an expo held by the Wodonga Family History Society on Friday as part of the Victorian Seniors Festival.
“I lived at Windsor and Ray was in the airforce – after we met we ended up in Canberra, and we moved here because our son is here,” she said.
“Most of Ray’s family came from England but some are from Ireland, and Sweden – it’s very interesting.
“He had a grandfather who was pearling in the Torres Strait and he’s an interesting bloke.
“You come across little mysteries and you can’t help yourself finding out about it.”
The expo featured the historical societies covering Yackandandah, Albury and Wodonga, and a range of other groups.
Among them was Wodonga man Mark Grealy, who owns the business Archival Access Victoria.
“I do research for people at the public record office in North Melbourne – I live locally but travel there once or twice a month and digitise records for people,” he said.
“Often it’s people wanting to know about their family, sometimes it’s old building plans or lawyers looking for probate.
“If people are after records for properties, I might look at some old parish maps, and there can be details there that can lead to more.
“Ninety-five per cent of the time you can find something.”
Mr Grealy said it was a case of knowing what to look for when it came to researching family history.
“Today I’ve had questions about the history of people’s houses, and through titles you can trace back to the first owner of the land,” he said.
“Divorce records are there as well – that can give you detail almost 60 years after.
“I got one divorce record for somebody and they said there was more family history in that record than anything they found in 20 years.”
Wodonga Family History Society treasurer Wendy Cook said more than 100 people attended the expo and the various presentations from guest speakers.
“There’s a difference between family history and history – people think it’s the same thing – but there’s a distinction,” she said.
“We do a workshop at every festival but we wanted to try something different and I’ve been blown away.”
The WFHS is running a Family Tree session at the Birralee Tavern on October 17. To book contact Wendy on 0447 035 725.
