Genealogy talks by
Carol Baxter
Carol Baxter began researching her family history while she was a high school student. After completing her university degree, she gained full-time work in the genealogy industry where she remained until 2021.
Over the last few decades, Carol has given hundreds of genealogy talks. These cover the subjects of genealogy research basics, evidence analysis, surnames, given names, criminals, and Australian colonial research. She takes bookings to speak on the genealogy subjects listed below.
Carol is also a writing lecturer and has established an online business called Writing Fabulous Family Histories. Links are provided below.
If you are organising a genealogy conference and would like an "after dinner" speaker to lighten the atmosphere, Carol is also a cruise ship speaker telling gripping true tales of murder, mystery and mayhem. A link to her cruise ship talks is provided below.
General research
Tracing your Family History
This light-hearted introductory lesson, filled with genealogy humour and cartoons, offers beginners the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of family history research irrespective of their ancestors’ places of origin.
It also offers experienced genealogists an amusing break from the information overload of the average genealogy lesson or conference.
Evidence Analysis
Help! How do I separate fact from fiction?
We sit at our computer searching for information about our ancestors and … click … we find something new and intriguing. But wait: it contradicts something else we’ve found. Clearly, both pieces of information can’t be true. So which is true and which isn’t? Or are both untrue? HELP!
NB. This is a foundational lesson and must precede any other evidence analysis lesson.
What really happened to Amelia Earhart? A case study in evidence analysis
In 1937, the world’s most famous female aviator, Amelia Earhart, sets off from New Guinea to cross the Pacific on the final leg of her world flight … and disappears. Did her empty fuel tanks force her down in the ocean? Was she off-course because she was spying for the American government? Was she captured by the Japanese and forced to become the radio broadcaster Tokyo Rose? What really did happen to Amelia Earhart?
NB. Not yet completed (but it wouldn't take long).
Title slide coming
It must be true because Grandfather wouldn't lie
Expanding our evidence analysis skilset
Writer Robert Durrah once said, "Minds are like parachutes: dangerous if not kept open."
This session offers additional strategies to help us determine the facts — the truth — about our ancestors and their families.
NB. Not yet prepared (probably in 2024)
Surnames
Surname Slip-Ups: Baffling Beginnings
It is a truth universally acknowledgement that if we can't find our ancestor's surname, our chances of tracing that ancestral line are pretty much zip, zero, zilch. But a known surname can also prove elusive because it is recorded in such a way that we cannot locate it. This too can prove genealogically disastrous. As it turns out, most surname "distortions" are predictable if we know what to look for.
Surname Slip-Ups: Muddled Middles and Eccentric Endings
All surnames can suffer distortions at the beginning, middle and end of the surname and the latter two problems can also make surnames difficult or impossible to locate. Again most of these distortions are both easy to understand and easy to predict once you know what to look for.
NB. Title slide coming. Lesson not yet completed.
The Madness of "Mc" Surnames
If you have already worked out that ‘Mc’ and ‘Mac’ surnames are the most complicated British surnames, you must listen to this webinar. And if you haven’t already worked this out, you must absolutely listen to this webinar. ‘Mc’ surnames are double the trouble because they can suffer distortions at the beginning, middle and end of the ‘Mc’ prefix as well as at the beginning, middle and end of the rest of the surname, the root word. This seminar will help you understand the complexities of these mad Scottish-origin surnames.
Why can't I find it? Finding surnames in online databases
Have you ever failed to find a surname in an online database search? Or have you been frustrated at having to undertake multiple searches to find surname variants, and have wondered why such obvious variants aren’t “grouped” together. Or perhaps you’ve wondered what entries you might have missed because you don’t understand how these search engines do in fact “group” surnames. This webinar explains how online databases approach surname spellings, allowing us to maximise our use of their powerful search engines.
NB. Title slide coming. Lesson not yet completed.
British and Irish Given Names
British and Irish Given Names
Have you noticed that the given names of our eighteenth and nineteenth century British ancestors were drawn from a surprisingly small pool? But how small a pool? How common were our ancestors’ given names? This seminar focuses on given name popularity, changes in popularity, and the reasons for such changes. It also covers spelling variants, abbreviations and diminutives.
Criminals and Criminality
Stop Thief! British Crime & Punishment
Has your ancestor broken the law? Or has your ancestor been pulled into the judicial system as a victim, witness or juror?
This course on British and Irish crime and criminality doesn't only explore the "what" questions: the judicial and penal systems and their associated record-keeping. It also explores the "why" questions: the historical attitudes to crime and to the "individual" in general, and how these attitudes influenced the criminal justice system. Thus, this course is helpful for anyone with criminal ancestry, whatever their country of origin.
A Cargo of Convicts: Transportation to Australia
Over the 80 years of convict transportation, hundreds of ships transported convicts to the penal settlements of Australia. This seminar focuses on the ships, the voyages, and the records relating to transported convicts.
Australian colonial research
They Really Didn't Swim: Finding your ancestors in NSW colonial shipping records
Four groups of people sailed to Australia in the eighteen and nineteenth centuries: convicts, free passengers, soldiers and sailors. This seminar focuses on the free passengers: those who paid their passages or received free passages under systems like the Bounty Immigrant scheme. These colonial shipping records are not only useful for researchers whose ancestors migrated to NSW. They are also useful for researchers whose ancestors did not. This is because they provide information about the migrants’ parents, grandparents, siblings or other relatives who lived or had died in their homeland. Thus, NSW colonial passenger records can be a valuable source for Australian and non-Australian researchers alike.
Polled: Finding your ancestors in New South Wales Colonial Muster & Census Records
This seminar explains how to best use colonial muster and census returns, including later returns such as the 1841 and 1891 Australian Census returns, taking into consideration their many faults and foibles. Carol Baxter has an unparalleled knowledge of the NSW colonial muster and census returns. She has checked and edited all the surviving general musters from 1800 to 1825, examined smaller returns for the same period, and processed the raw data of the 1828 NSW Census/Household Returns and 1837 Convict Return.