Researching Jamaican Ancestors with Wendy Aris

05/28/24 • 46 min

Wendy Aris has spent years searching for her Jamaican ancestors. In this episode we discuss what records are available and how far back they go. Visiting the National Archives and National Library in Jamaica, slavery, manumissions and emancipation and some of the surprising places records can be found.

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Researching Ancestors in Australia with Ruth Graham

Ruth Graham, chair of the Society of Australian Genealogists, talks about the history of Australia, how the states are organized (it's changed quite a bit over the years!) where to find records, what records are available, including burial registers, newspapers, national and local archives, Trove, electoral rolls, Australian cemeteries, the services provided by the Society and much, much more. Ruth has provided a resource guide which is available on Substack alongside an interview transcript. This is the first of two interviews with Ruth about Australia, the second one will be focussed on migration.

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Wayward Girls with Stephanie O'Connell

In New York in the early 20th century young women who broke the rules or didn't obey their parents were called 'wayward' and sent to reformatories to change their ways. Stephanie O'Connell discusses her case study titled "Wayward Girls," exploring the 1923 Wayward Minor Act in New York, which criminalised female disobedience and sexual delinquency. We learn about the New York State Reformatory in Bedford Hills, where young women were sent for being 'wayward' or 'incorrigible.' Stephanie explains the social context of the time, the daily life of the girls in the reformatory, and the impact of these institutions on their lives and on her own grandmother who was sent to this reformatory.