Experts In Genealogy

How A Young Man From War-Torn Germany Found His Utopia On The Other Side Of The World. Continuing the story of Arno Josef Zapf born 3rd July 1932 in Staffelstein , Bavaria, Germany. See here for Part One , if you missed it or just want to refresh your memory. Arno applied to the Australian Government for the opportunity to emigrate.  To do so he had to commit to the Australian Government for two years work.  He freely admitted that he had never heard of Australia and didn't even know where it was...He thought he was going to America ... The fares of the migrants were paid for by the Australian and West German Governments with assistance from the inter-governmental committee of the immigration scheme from Europe.  This scheme was backed by 22 nations of the world, including Australia and it operated from its headquarters in Geneva. As part of the conditions, he undertook to  regularly attend the nearest free night class made available by the Australian Government for the pur

How a young man from war-torn Germany found his utopia on the other side of the world. It's nine years today since my father passed away. This is his story. Arno Josef Zapf was born on the 3rd July 1932 in Staffelstein , Bavaria, Germany. Town Hall, Staffelstein The fourth of seven children born to Lucia Hagenbarth and Hans Josef Zapf. He was a bright child, but world war two was about to change all of their lives. The family lived in the beautiful medieval town of Bamberg, with its gorgeous cobblestoned roads. Right in the middle of Bamberg, above the Bakery in Gruner Markt. ( Bamberg is a World Heritage Site, nominated by UNESCO in 1993. The city follows the early Medieval street plans, being laid out in the form of a cross with a church at each of the four points.) From L-R Gisela, Heinrich, Arno, Brigitte and Helmuth Zapf at the front c1936 It must have been extremely cramped. But, Arno never complained about that aspect of his childhood, except when the

In August 2016 US bloggers James Tanner and Randy Seaver posted their top ten list for genealogy. Pauleen Cass and now Jill Ball have done their Aussie choices. Well, here are mine, taken from over twenty years of research using the internet.  Do you agree, or do you have your own favourites that you constantly refer back too? Note these are in no particular order. Also, this is by no means a conclusive list, as there are far too many to list here...for all the best sites to see, visit Cyndi's List . Ancestry.com - I've been a member since they started.  Since I use Family Tree Maker 2014 (and have done since FTM V2 1994), I now use the shakey leaves for clues, then go and prove the connections.  I am particularly enamoured with the DNA  service since I had mine done whilst I was attending RootsTech2014. This has opened many more possibilities and is an exciting tool, even if I don't fully understand it all - yet!!! I have loved genealogy.com (taken over

PHOTO CHALLENGE ON SOCIAL MEDIA  TELL YOUR OWN STORY TOO...HAVE YOU DIGITISED YOUR OWN PHOTOS? Five days ago I was challenged through social media to share photos of myself.  They had to be more than 15 years old.  Well, that really was a challenge as ALL my physical photos are in storage and I haven't been able to scan them.  What little I have in digital form are not yet fifteen years old.  So it really was a challenge and one that I believed at the time couldn't be completed.  How wrong I was... As I searched through my computer, I realised that I really needed to get my digital images sorted. How many of us have images scattered all over the place? This happens easily and before you know where you are, you have lost (maybe, temporarily at least) the ability to locate these images, when you require them. If you don't know where to begin, here are some ideal tips that will assist you to get started:  Storing & Archiving Digital Photos Anyway, I was having tro