I first participated in the A to Z blogging challenge in 2014. The task is to post thematically from A to Z, with one post every day in April (except for the four Sundays) for each letter of the alphabet.

I found the first year‘s challenge busy as I had not prepared enough posts in advance. It was only by my fourth challenge in 2017 that I seem to have become more organised.

This year, my ninth challenge, I decided on a theme—places of significance in my family’s history—in advance, and I researched and drafted several posts before the beginning of the month. I wrote up all my new research during the month to fit into unallocated letters. This preparation paid off: I did not feel under pressure; in fact I quite enjoyed adding twenty-six new posts one after the other.

I continue to enjoy the Challenge, finding, researching and writing about aspects of my family history. I look forward to participating again next year.

My posts in 2022:

  • Looking forward to the 2022 A to Z challenge
  • A is for Addiscombe Gordon Mainwaring (1817 – 1872), one of my 3rd great grandfathers, was enrolled as a cadet at Addiscombe Military Seminary
  • B is for Bookmark my third great grandmother Margaret Rankin, formerly Margaret Budge nee Gunn, died at ‘Bookmark‘, a sheep-station on the Murray River
  • C is for Chewton the schools attended by my mother-in-law Marjorie Winifred Young neé Sullivan, 1920 – 2007
  • D is for Drummond Street my husband Greg was born in Ballarat
  • E is for Evelyn Street Bentleigh the house of the Morley and Sullivan families
  • F is for Finniss Point one of my fourth great aunts Theresa Walker nee Chauncy (1807 – 1876) married George Herbert Poole who died at Finnis Point
  • G is for Glenthompson my grandfather Geoff de Crespigny was born in Glenthompson on 16 June 1907
  • H is for Heathcote – renovated one of my third great grandfathers, Philip Chauncy (1816 – 1880) was responsible for the building of the survey office in Heathcote and lived there for over five years
  • I is for Ilmenau the third wife of my fourth great grandfather Rowland Mainwaring was a part-Austrian woman named Laura Maria Julia Walburga Chevillard (~1811 – 1891). Her house in Bournemouth was called ‘Ilmenau‘, after a small town near Weimar, where Laura had spent much of her childhood.
  • J is for Jedburgh my 7th great grandfather Thomas Champion de Crespigny (1664 – 1712) was a Huguenot refugee who served in the British army and was stationed at Jedburgh for part of his career
  • K is for Karlsruhe my maternal great great grandparents Matthias Manock and Agathe Maria Lang were married there on 12 April 1880
  • L is for Lewes Priory my 18th great grandparents Richard, 3rd Earl of Arundel, 8th Earl of Surrey (c. 1314 – 24 January 1376) and Eleanor of Lancaster (1318 – 1372) were buried at Lewes
  • M is for Merseyside – 1854 departure of the “Dirigo” my 3rd great grandmother Margaret Rankin née Gunn (1819 – 1863), her children and 2nd husband set sail from Liverpool but had to return because of a cholera outbreak, they eventually travelled to Australia
  • N is for Norfolk sampler one of Greg’s 3rd great aunts  Ellen Claxton nee Jackson sewed a sampler in 1806 that is still admired today
  • O is for ‘Ottawa’ Gladstone Parade Elsternwick the house of my great great grandfather Philip Champion de Crespigny (1850-1927)
  • P is for Pankow my mother remembers visiting cousins in Pankow, Berlin
  • Q is for Monkira Station in Queensland in 1890 Orfeur Charles Cavenagh, one of my great great uncles, died of fever at Monkira Station aged 18
  • R is for Rushton my great great grandfather’s first cousin George Harrison Champion de Crespigny (1863-1945) and his wife Gwendoline (1864-1923) were married at Rushton in 1890
  • S is for Stockach great great grandfather Matthias Martin, known as Matthias Manock was born at Stockach in 1851 to the widow Crescentia Martin, née Manock
  • T is for Tattaila one of Greg’s great grand aunts, Charlotte Wilkins nee Young, lived at Tattaila near Moama where her husband was a school teacher
  • U is for Upton upon Severn the death of my fifth great grandmother Dorothy Keane nee Scott was registered at Upton upon Severn in 1837
  • V is for Vaucelles v. Trévières my 7th great uncle Pierre Champion Crespigny was the lawyer in a case where one of two Huguenot churches was in excess of the provisions of the Edict of Nantes, and one must be disestablished. The congregation of Trévières was represented by Pierre and they won, but the victory was short-lived.
  • W is for Willunga my fourth great grandfather John Plaisted (1800-1858) emigrated to Australia and bought land at Willunga shortly after arrival
  • X is for Xiàmén the grandfather of Frederick Harold Plowright, a cousin on Greg’s side of the family, was from China and came to Australia at the time of the gold rush
  • Y not Y? I was all ready to write about Ysgeifiog as the marriage place of my fourth great-grandparents Edward Hughes and his wife Elizabeth Jones but further research revealed I was on the wrong track
  • Z is for Zizenhausen the birthplace of great great grandmother Agathe Maria Lang