Research

Cultural Integration - (Google Drive)

Since the development of written records on parchment and stone to the propagation by printing press (mid 15th Century), recorded history has been available for interested scholars and administrators. Britain and Europe evolved with historical precedents. Information is today vital for lifestyle and commerce; providing insights.

Ready availability of "Information" either at home or in professional life, is encouraged by our research of documentary evidence and related artefacts by which we can connect people from another times and place to people of today and the lessons of their lives may apply to ourselves.

The medium for conveying information maybe original texts or facsimilis available on the internet, it maybe repackaged versions, presented in dramatic fiction or audio-visual formats, in fantasy or documentary, yet however presented, "like all lasting historical scholarship, it is an amalgam of deep archival research, methodological ingenuity, new perspectives, and literary grace"[ii]

The study of history is not an exercise in memorising information; not just a means of connecting with people and lessons of the past, for that information is available to everyone who seeks it today, not confined to halls of scholarship or institutional environments.

The intrigues of a veil of silence amidst family and friends where it applies regarding the past, once removed reveals hidden and important events, unpalatable for others to convey, awaiting discovery. The richness of history, it's integration of times and periods, peoples and places, reveals that discussing hidden matters with the living, brings the past to life; it is alive to us in the present, otherwise the lesson will probably be ignored.

Sources of information

Records held by Public Authorities in the public domain online are available to everyone and there is a lot of work in progress which varies in degree from one State to another. Paper records are sometimes incomplete records, in that they may have been recorded by others (intermediaries) interpreting the speech of the subject who may have had limited or no ability to read and write. This resulted in errors in spelling and the non completion of some details requested in the form.

Transferring an original paper record to an online database also may contain human error and the more reliable source of information may be scanned original records, allowing the end user to interpret the relevance of details. Revealing the characters in our pedigree can also be compared to creative writing of a period story - creative excitement restrained by factual record stimulates our imaginings - and it is often necessary to research people with similar names, thereby building a picture of the life and times of our fore-fathers and the places they lived.

In seeking answers to ancestry available records are adopted by many, often regardless of the evidence and validity for the person in question, therefore, all search results should be regarded with skepticism, until evidence is available and convincing. Please be skeptical with any adopted records in this document which often appear with a degree of uncertainty and are included primarily to encourage further discussion and the charting a course via an iterative process of research, the goal for which is to satisfy requirements for convincing evidence.

It seems also to be true that we are related to people of earlier times from more parts of the globe than we may have ever imagined; for example in the middle ages immigration introduced Polish people to Dublin and gypsies to Sussex and family connections long ago could link us to the Saxons, the Romans and the Middle East and probably others cultures in Asia and Europe.

Authentication of Records

Network database web-sites provide historical records for historical persons and there are many issues of concern with research

1. Population of greater New South Wales (includes Qld.Vic) approached one million.

2. Common names like Ryan are more difficult to trace. Spelling and alternative names: for example the name Egan may also be spelt Eagan or Eggin or Hagan and people may have changed their name; for example Sue Egan tells of:

" James Hagan arrived in Australia from Armagh Ireland, with his wife Sarah (Nee Lester of Armagh) and their two sons. They arrived in 1838 aboard the ship 'Mandarin' as free settlers into Sydney. The story goes that James who was Catholic and Sarah who was Protestant had their children taken away by Sarah's family to raise as Protestants. James and Sarah took them back and emigrated to Australia where they changed their name to EGAN on arrival and from that time onward were known as Egans eventually settling in Orange NSW where they are both buried. James's brother Thomas Hagan and his wife Seragh also migrated to Sydney Australia in 1850 aboard the ship 'Oriental' and also settled in NSW Australia." source / Sue Egan

Double names may represent the maiden name of the Mother and surname of the Father, such as is the case for "Charlotte Jane Putland Ryan".

[i] Reference website - the Church of Latter Day Saints (at http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp) for the baptism records of Kilseily parish where Broadford is situated. They have the Kilseily parish records from 1844 to 1880 (see also http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library ... umns=*,0,0 ).

[ii] - Sugar and Slaves The Rise of the Planter Class in the English West Indies, 1624-1713 BY RICHARD S. DUNN. 1974. (University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill and London)