Michelle Patient

The GeniMates blog is creating opportunities for me to approach people who might write or do something that tickles my fancy and invite them to submit a profile to GeniMates. With Michelle it was an inquisitivness with her Twitter name @patientgenie

Thanks, Michelle, for responding to my request and sharing your story with others on GeniMates. I am stoked to have found a GeniMate who has done volunteer work for one of my favourite Australian resources, The Ryerson Index.

I hope others enjoy reading Michelle's responses as much as I have.

Date 4th April 2011
Name  Michelle Patient
Hometown Sydney, Aus & Whitianga, NZ

Are you a Hobbyist or Professional Genealogist? Seriously addicted hobbyist

How long have you been chasing ancestors? Since 1994

What is your day job? IT, Marketing and Project Management

What, if any, formal or informal studies have you undertaken that are relevant to genealogical research? All informal at this stage, I have attended presentations at SAG, Archives and at various Family History Fairs and online tutorials. Read widely and collected a lot of books for my personal library.

What are your areas of Expertise in Genealogy?  
NSW (in particular Sydney, Illawara and Hawkesbury areas),
NZ,
Starting out with Family History and
Using computers and the internet

Please outline your involvement in Genealogy Societies and Groups I have volunteered in a number of areas over the years, including being a Ryerson Index "looker-upper".

Currently I am on New Zealand's Family History Fair committee, our next Fair is this coming August, so not a lot of time for personal research at the moment.http://www.nzfamilyhistoryfair.org.nz/

How did you get hooked on genealogy?
I have always had an interest in family stories, I remember sitting on my eldery grandmother's knee looking at photos as a small child. She died when I was 7. Dabbled a bit in research during the early 1990's when my mother's original birth cerificate became available.

The clincher was one Christmas when my mother gave me about a dozen old photos which were my maternal grandmother's. Mum was unable to identify any of them and she doubted I would never be able to find out. The photos were taken between 1863 to 1894. Today 12 years later, only one individual remains unidentified and I was hooked.

What are the lands of your ancestors? New South Wales, New Zealand, England, Ireland,

What Family Names are you Researching?
NSW
Charles, Cross, Davidson, Douglass, Eslin/Heslin, Flood, Hobbs, Hurley, Iredale, Johnson, Jones, King, Marks, McWilliams, Morris, Reid, Robinson, Rose, Simpson, Spear, Uther, Watts

NZ
Burns, Carroll, Cook, George, Hamblyn, McCabe, O'Dowd, Peat, Polack, Ruddell, Wackrow, Williams

UK
Andrews, Bell, Charlestrom, Daughtrey, Day, Gibbons, Hall, Halstead, Hatfull, Jenkins, Lamb, Lee, Mathews, Micklam, Miller, Morrison, O'Brien, Page, Patient, Payfoot, Phillips, Pownton, Read, Russell, Saveall, Soundy, Stringer, Strong, Tate, Thorington, Tuff, Wilson, Wood, Young

What ancestral city or town would you like to visit? Why? Too many to list here, lots of places in England, Ireland and Scotland.

Why? To get a feel for where they lived. Just to stand on the same steps, walk through the same doors, see the fonts where they were baptised,etc.

Who is your favourite ancestor? Why? I keep getting drawn back to Reuben UTHER b 1791 d 1880. He was my maternal grandmother's grandfather. He arrived in the colony in 1807 "free" as an apprentice to Simeon LORD.

He was one of 3 people who founded the colony's first Hat Manufactory in 3 July 1811. My mother has 3 of his journals from his voyages back to England in 1851, 1855 and 1864 and the travel desk they were written upon.

Through researching his life, I have met so many wonderful relatives and learnt an amazing amount about the development of the colony and of the social history in Australia, New Zealand and as well as back in England.

What is your favourite resource for genealogy? That's too hard!

The Manchester and Lancaster Family History Society Toolbar http://www.mlfhs.org.uk/toolbar/toolbar.phpI can reach all my favourite online resources from there.

The other is any original document - nothing like holding the same piece of paper your ancestor wrote on or a photo that brings their personality to life....

Do you keep your genealogy files on paper? Yes

Do you keep your genealogy files on a computer? Yes

Have you published your tree on the internet? YesIf Yes What is the URL? http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=patientgenie

What Social Networking Sites do you use for genealogy? Ancestry, Facebook, Genes Reunited, Twitter, Other

Do you have a blog? No

What genealogy software do you use to record your family tree? Generations for Windows, I know hopelessly out of date, but it is on my netbook.

Reunion for Mac - took the plunge in 2010 to get the uptodate version of Generations, so voila a Mac. Reunion is installed on my PC.

What are your Other Hobbies, Activities, Interests?  In no particular order: Embroidery, Politics, Technology, Geology.

What is your favourite lesiure time activity apart from genealogy? Embroidery

What is your favourite (non genealogy) book? The Bayeux Tapestry by David M Wilson
What is your personal philosophy in a few  words ?
1) Think laterally when you reach a brickwall.

2) Timing is everything, patience is essential.

3) Don't reinvent the wheel, see if others have researched before you but remember to verify any info you find.

4) Share your past for your future relatives and researchers.

If you have anything else to share please add it below 

A Genie Journey:
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Start with yourself and go backwards, be prepared for information overload and brickwalls. Talk to all the older relatives you know. Make notes, a separate page about the stories of each person, date when you wrote the notes and the source of the info. You'll thank yourself for this later.

Essential ingredient - you need to enjoy a good puzzle, genie research is detective work, like a jigsaw puzzle of unlimited size but with no picture on the box lid!