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Oct. 15th, 2010 10:51 amI meant to post yesterday, but things happened.
What did you miss by me not posting? Well, I finally worked out what the weather was like (in a general sense) in 1305. I also worked out that we were going to get more rain here, so I got through a pile of stuff in case that meant migraines today. It didn't, thank goodness (panadeine is my friend, though) but today is one of those days when people email me and need more information about things that require work, and I never did quite finish everything I had to do yesterday. At least I don't have time to get up to mischief.
Oh, and I explored my family history a bit. My brother-in-law discovered that I am descended from a convict called Lemon and I wanted to read the documents R found. What I especially love is that my great-grandmother was actually born during Lemon's trial. She was the ninth child.
My great-great-grandmother was a totally indomitable woman, but a bit of an innocent. We know this from another trial record my brother-in-law unearthed - the trial of the con man (convicted - 14 years sentence) who took lots of money from my great-great-grandmother with the excuse of setting up the petition process that would free my great-great-grandfather. My favourite part of her testimony is "I thought he was doing the perfect thing that was right - I have walked the streets for my children three days in slippers - this has hurt me more than the conviction of my husband did." My great-great-grandmother had a very distinctive voice, didn't she? We don't know what happened next, legally, but we do know that my great-great-grandfather was able to sire a last child (to make a round ten) before he died in Aldgate and that the family came to Melbourne after his death (so between 1849 and 1858).
Clara lived fifty years beyond this trial record. My brother-in-law also found a newspaper report saying that she lived in Lonsdale Street in 1884 and had just had an accident, had broken both her legs and, at 84, was not expected to live ( http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/8563162?searchTerm=%22Clara%20cohen%22&searchLimits= ). She did live - until 1899.
I need to make her madeira cake someday, and think of her, now that I know more. My aunt gave me my great-great-grandmother's madeira cake recipe, many years ago.
I need to find out if Lemon Cohen's conviction was finally quashed, but I ran out of time.
While playing with British records (following my broither-in-law's leads), I found a nice 19th century will for my worldbuilding class and possibly a family history class later on. By 'nice' I mean almost unreadable: the idea is to explore some of the problems of using untouched untranscribed primary sources when writing fiction. If I had used a fourteenth century will then the language barriers would have instantly been the single biggest problem, which is why I'm using a 19th century one.
I've a whole new list of books to check for the novel and my dissertation and I've worked out the way I'm going to handle them in my literature review. I've also worked out I need to speak to growers of wine grapes and olives, but only if they farm in a karst region in a fairly dry climate. Fortunately there is such a region near here, or I could put it on my list of things to do if I get to France next year. If anyone knows local grapepeople/olivepeople (since the Canberra region is where it's at for the soil types I need - not Berriedale, though - more Murrumbateman down to the Southern Highlands) and feel like a day trip, I am your new best friend. Or I could talk to the nice olivepeople next time I get to a farmers' market.
I'd better make myself some coffee and get back to all this work.
What did you miss by me not posting? Well, I finally worked out what the weather was like (in a general sense) in 1305. I also worked out that we were going to get more rain here, so I got through a pile of stuff in case that meant migraines today. It didn't, thank goodness (panadeine is my friend, though) but today is one of those days when people email me and need more information about things that require work, and I never did quite finish everything I had to do yesterday. At least I don't have time to get up to mischief.
Oh, and I explored my family history a bit. My brother-in-law discovered that I am descended from a convict called Lemon and I wanted to read the documents R found. What I especially love is that my great-grandmother was actually born during Lemon's trial. She was the ninth child.
My great-great-grandmother was a totally indomitable woman, but a bit of an innocent. We know this from another trial record my brother-in-law unearthed - the trial of the con man (convicted - 14 years sentence) who took lots of money from my great-great-grandmother with the excuse of setting up the petition process that would free my great-great-grandfather. My favourite part of her testimony is "I thought he was doing the perfect thing that was right - I have walked the streets for my children three days in slippers - this has hurt me more than the conviction of my husband did." My great-great-grandmother had a very distinctive voice, didn't she? We don't know what happened next, legally, but we do know that my great-great-grandfather was able to sire a last child (to make a round ten) before he died in Aldgate and that the family came to Melbourne after his death (so between 1849 and 1858).
Clara lived fifty years beyond this trial record. My brother-in-law also found a newspaper report saying that she lived in Lonsdale Street in 1884 and had just had an accident, had broken both her legs and, at 84, was not expected to live ( http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/8563162?searchTerm=%22Clara%20cohen%22&searchLimits= ). She did live - until 1899.
I need to make her madeira cake someday, and think of her, now that I know more. My aunt gave me my great-great-grandmother's madeira cake recipe, many years ago.
I need to find out if Lemon Cohen's conviction was finally quashed, but I ran out of time.
While playing with British records (following my broither-in-law's leads), I found a nice 19th century will for my worldbuilding class and possibly a family history class later on. By 'nice' I mean almost unreadable: the idea is to explore some of the problems of using untouched untranscribed primary sources when writing fiction. If I had used a fourteenth century will then the language barriers would have instantly been the single biggest problem, which is why I'm using a 19th century one.
I've a whole new list of books to check for the novel and my dissertation and I've worked out the way I'm going to handle them in my literature review. I've also worked out I need to speak to growers of wine grapes and olives, but only if they farm in a karst region in a fairly dry climate. Fortunately there is such a region near here, or I could put it on my list of things to do if I get to France next year. If anyone knows local grapepeople/olivepeople (since the Canberra region is where it's at for the soil types I need - not Berriedale, though - more Murrumbateman down to the Southern Highlands) and feel like a day trip, I am your new best friend. Or I could talk to the nice olivepeople next time I get to a farmers' market.
I'd better make myself some coffee and get back to all this work.