In 1999 I came across a number of long forgotten descendancy charts bought at a family reunion in 1983. The charts showed the family line going back to the very first ancestor from Cornwall, along with all of his descendants. I thought I should preserve this information so I bought some genealogy software........... that was my first introduction to family history. I became interested in finding out who my ancestors were, when and how they had lived, why they had made the life changing decision to immigrate, and what happened to them after they had arrived in Australia. After many hours of research, meeting many different people, having many successes and some disappointments (the original charts were incorrrect, at least as far as my lines were concerned & there wasn't a single convict I could claim as mine), I decided to share my findings.  

CROW'S NEST PIONEERS & NON-RELATED LINES

 Over the years I have been researching I have noticed many surnames not connected to our lines, that have repeatedly married into the lines or are connected to those surnames in some way.   As a consequence, I became more interested in those families and have now  developed  a network of names in some districts or places.   For example the Johnstons and Wilsons have married and remarried into the Crawford and Staines lines in the Kiama and then Lismore/Ballina areas.   Many for the early settlers of the Crow's Nest/Toowoomba area have intermarried and are loosely connected.   In some of the cases I have traced these families back to the first member or members of the surname line to arrive in Australia.   Other lines are still a work in progress.  I hope my interest in these early pioneers is of assistance to others in their research. Please note - I am still researching many of these families and as such data is sometimes sketchy and incomplete and I have no doubt sometimes incorrect.

I have not been able to do this by myself without the considerable help of many other collaborators and relatives, close and distant, who supplied me with information, photos, family group sheets, copies of documents and some wonderful stories. Because my information has come from numerous sources I cannot guarantee its accuracy. Where possible I have included my sources but I acknowledge there may be errors. Please contact me if you find any.

In order to protect the privacy of those still living, I have not included living people born after 1925.

I would love to hear from you if you have any information about any of the families, or details such as dates of birth and death, stories, places people lived or any photos or documents that may be added. Check out the "Do You Recognise Anyone?" gallery and let me know if you can put names to any of the photos.

This site is very much a work in progress, and as such there are many spelling, grammar & punctuation mistakes that I am gradually amending. Please check back regularly for additional infomation also. To contact me just click on the email address below.