New to Australian Research!

[fridayjan]

Hi Elizabeth,

Things have been a bit hectic here recently, but I finally managed to get to the LDS centre to look at the Baptism records for the McGavin family.

They don't really clarify anything, i.e. there's no mention of James being Matthew (!), and it was a good job I already knew who I was looking for, because in a couple of cases McGavin wasn't mentioned in the column for "name of child", i.e. William Thomson and Agnes Boyd - so I could easily have missed them  .  No sign of a Jane McGavin either!

Here goes, (in all cases the parents are listed as Robert McGavin and Margaret Skelly):

Janet Skelly McGavin, dob  31.8.1836, baptised 18.9.1836
Mary Reid McGavin, dob 3.7.1838, baptised 29.7.1838
Robert McGavin, dob 3.6.1840 [blank space for baptised date and Minister  ]
John A S McGavin, dob 2.7.1843, baptised 26.8.1843
James McGavin, dob 5.12.1846, baptised 3.1.1847
William Thomson [McGavin], dob 21.9.1848, baptised 26.11.1848
Margaret McGavin, dob 27.9.1852, baptised 31.10.1852
Agnes Boyd [McGavin], dob 16.3.1855, baptised 10.6.1855

Will be in touch soon,

Janet

[Ruskie]

Hi Elizabeth and Janet,

I went to the Archives and copied Robert's letters onto my USB drive (at last  ).

Please let me know (by PM) the email address you'd like me to send these to.

I just hope I've done everything correctly. My daughter will help me send them to you as I am computer illliterate. 

[trish251]

Hi Elizabeth and Janet,

I went to the Archives and copied Robert's letters onto my USB drive (at last  ).

Please let me know (by PM) the email address you'd like me to send these to.

I just hope I've done everything correctly. My daughter will help me send them to you as I am computer illliterate. 

Hi Ruskie

Well done - much cheaper than printing & rather faster than transcribing - I love it for the library notices too 

Trish

[MarieC]

I relate absolutely to what you said, Ruskie!  I haven't learned to use that technology yet.  Am sure it is very good, as Trish says - will have to summon up my courage and do it!

MarieC

[Ruskie]

Thanks Trish.  It's not too difficult Marie. They had step-by step instructions, so I didn't have to embarass myself by asking for help.

However it remains to be seen whether or not I've been successful and if there are any actual images on the USB  . There is a list of named files, I think, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the piccies are there too.

The letters must have been written on strange sized paper because the frame on the film reader and on the computer wasn't tall enough, so I had to copy the top of the letter and then the bottom of the same letter, which gives a messy result, but I hope Janet and Elizabeth will have someone at home who's clever enough to 'merge' the images.

Oddly enough, I woke up in the middle of the night last night with one of those inspired thoughts - I should have rotated the image before copying it!

Oh dear    .....

[trish251]

Hi Ruskie

Having the image in two parts doesn't matter at all - and they can be put together if wanted. The other think you can do is ask for a smaller lens for the machines - that fits more in the frame - as my eyesight is falling apart as the eyes age (with the rest of me) I usually ask for the bigger lenses   
Not sure if you worked out you can set the image size in a similar fashion to the paper size when you print - so you can get A3 images. You can also use the computer to crop what you want after you scan the image, if you only want a part of the image (as with e.g. funeral notices)

When I was at the library - Everyone was asking for help - I did as well  - the staff seemed upset if you said you knew how it worked (my 2nd visit  ) - sometimes it is quite a wait for help at the archives - you did well   

Trish

[Ruskie]

Hi again Trish,

Yes, I tried all the lenses and none was perfect. Yes, I sussed out the fact that you could enlarge the print area too - it was just the height of the image that I had problems fitting in. I didn't know about the cropping though. I suppose some of this can be done later at home by ones children  .

It was easy to do, and I'm anxious to see how it all turned out.

My daughter has been busy lately, so I'll probably ask her to help me tomorrow after school. Just waiting for Elizabeth and Janet to give me their email addresses.

[ewilkin]

Hi Ruskie,
Can't wait to get your images - well done and thank you so much for your efforts, this new technology is so frustrating I just learn to do something and its out of date and not done that way any more - damn it.
I shall be off the air for a week or two am going in next week to get a new hip and then three months  later two new knees - I got the trifecta - so I am going to be like a caged lion for a good few months but am hoping I can use this time to make sense of a lot of paperwork I have got piled up about the family and get it into something that is more comprehensible and do some more investigative work.

I have been off air for the last week or so as well,  this all came up very suddenly with a cancellation that the Dr. squeezed me into, I only saw the surgeon for the first time two weeks ago, so its been all hectic getting organised.
Keep up the good work and I will be back in touch soon.
Cheers
Elizabeth

[trish251]

Hi Elizabeth

Can you put the email address in a PM - much better than in the main threads - it will bring you spam if left there!

Best wishes for the trifector - my neighbour has the hip - working brilliantly he tells me 


Ruskie - you know much more than you think I am sure - you sussed it all 

Trish