Genie Travel Bucket List

Over the past couple of years, I haven’t really done much family history research due to time pressures. But, I haven’t been ignoring my family history, as you may be thinking. Instead,  I’ve been writing up the results of years of research. So, the past few years haven’t really been wasted. But now, due to a change in my work situations, it looks like there will be a little more spare ‘genie’ time for me, so back to the research it is.

Revisiting my many family lines, I can see many gaping gaps. Some of those gaps can be easily filled with a few hours of research, others will take me physically visiting certain sites and areas to follow up on my previous research. Both in Australia and overseas.

That got me to thinking about my genealogy travel bucket list. If money or time wasn’t a consideration, where would I want or need to go, to do more in-depth research of my various family lines? Or, where would I like to go to indulge my love of genealogy, family history and history in general? After day dreaming and giving it much thought,  have come up with my  Genie Travel Bucket List. Some of the places on the list I will get to visit. Some I may get to visit. And some, I most likely won’t get to visit. But who knows what is in the future and I’ve had fun dreaming about where I could be heading off too next.

Wales – Haverfordwest & Pembrokeshire,  to find my elusive JOHN TAYLOR and to also learn more about the family and lives of his son and daughter in law, JOHN TAYLOR and MARTHA LLOYD who were the first Taylor immigrants to make the long trip out to Australia in 1841.

England – Bedfordshire to trace my large WATERS family and see Dunton Newbury,  the agricultural land they farmed, which still exists.

Ireland – Donegal where PATRICK BOYLE and his family were born. More research needs to be done on their early lives in Ireland, before I visit, but I have seen photos of the area and it looks beautiful. I’d love to walk on the ground, close to where they lived.

Jamaica – Lots of research needs to be done here. My Great Great Grandfather THOMAS JAMES JONATHAN MCQUEEN/MCEWAN was born in Jamaica in 1824. I suspect that his father was born in Scotland and was probably in Jamaica as part of the military. But this is just conjecture. Work needs to be done to prove or disprove my theory.

Sandakan  Borneo – Third cousin GORDON CRESSWELL TAYLOR served in WW2 and died there as a POW. I would love to walk the path of the Sandakan death marches and also see the site of the graves and memorials.

Roots Tech – Multi day conference with sessions to help expand genealogy researching skills and learn about new technologies for genealogists.  This conference is held at the home of  FamilySearch in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA  and each year I dream of  attending.  But my exciting news is that I will be there in 2016! More to come on this. But it definitely will be crossed off the bucket list.

Who Do You Think You Are? – Another genealogy conference that I would love to attend. This one is in the UK. so I’m not sure if I will ever get to attend, but my fingers are crossed. One day…..

England Kent – for further research. This time into the HODGE family, a branch that I have recently begun researching.

Channel Islands – Again, this is for research into the HODGE family line. The research in this area, is into the DALCAM family, who migrated from Jersey in the Channel Islands to Australia,  and settled in Whroo, Victoria, where the were successful gold miners.

Unlock the Past Cruise – I would love to do another genealogy cruise. I did the first Unlock The Past Cruise from Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia, and loved it. I loved that I could spend every day for two weeks, learning and relearning information relating to family history research and genealogy. Hopefully I will get to do that again one day.

Victoria – Given that Victoria is my home state, this probably sounds a bit strange. But I rarely get time to visit significant towns and sites, relating to my family history. Even when most are just a day’s drive from Central Victoria, where I live. I have family history dotted all around the state, and would love to take 2 weeks to do a road trip and visit these areas and their family history societies and cemeteries. This trip would also make it possible for me to catch up in person with the many distant cousins who have become friends during the years spent on researching our family.