Victorian Gold Rush [closed]

Question

I'm setting up a DNA project on GEDmatch for ancestors of people who lived in Central Victoria pre-1870.

I need 50 members to form the group. If interested please submit below the GEDmatch ID of each person you manage who fits this category.

Please do NOT add GEDmatch IDs if your ancestors lived in Melbourne and suburbs only.

Comments

So far there are three members, seven kits and dozens of surnames in the group. I will be setting up a Facebook group shortly. Stay tuned ...

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I have the ancestors, but I do not have the DNA.

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Victorian Gold Rush - GEDmatch Ancestor Project on Facebook

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Melanie: Yeah, we really need a GEDmatch DNA kit number for members. Sorry.

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What are the goals/aims?

Can you be an inactive member (just providing GEDmatch IDs)?

How long do the ancestors need to have been resident in the area, do they need to have had children there, et cetera?

My partner's family would definitely qualify, for mine you'd need to be setting a pretty low bar - one line lived there for just a couple of years, had a couple of children then moved away.

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There's no minimum involvement, as long as you meet the criteria for entry. GEDmatch used to require 20 kit numbers to start a group but they got so many applications they changed it to 50 so it's a challenge even to get started.

We're mostly trying to fill in records, there were no churches and very few ministers in the early 1800s so birth and marriage records are scarce.

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Two days in and we have six member and eleven GEDmatch profiles. Going well so far.

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Five days. Fourteen members. 24 DNA kits!!

Almost halfway there.

Answer 1

My family probably qualify. Can you be more specific as to the region of Vic you are looking at? They are based around the SW of Vic, frequently found around Winslow and later on Warrnambool.. Gt grandfather Henry was a convict who finally reached the gold fields around the mid 1850's, married in Portland and then traipsed around the diggings.

Comments

Central Victoria, mainly the goldfields at Ballarat, Castlemaine, Bendigo, Donald, Ararat, Maldon, Daylesford, Avoca, Inglewood, Stawell, Dunolly and so on.

You'd qualify, no problem.

Answer 2

I have ancestors in the Ballarat and Bendigo Goldfields, from the Victorian Gold Rush.  I have a DNA kit on order.  Facebook is for ladies, but all the mailing lists are now groups on Facebook or Google+, and membership has become a necessity.  I don't think I can organize a gender change.

"Some have greatness thrust upon them." from W.S.: "Twelfth Night."  The speaker was Malvolio, derived from "malevolent?"

Comments

I'm not surprised, that's a well-known surname. Hope to have you in there once the results arrive.

Answer 3

Hi Robb,

My GEDmatch T714583 

I am a descendant of Catherine Bannister (Bannister-269), a lady who mined for gold in the pockets of the gold miners of Victoria. If you look at her descendant list I think it covers all the surnames of Victoria. 

Good Luck

Graeme Rose

Comments

Thanks Graeme, I've added your details to the list.

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By the way, Kitty certainly was an interesting gal. :)

Answer 4

We made it!! I just took the 50th kit number about half an hour ago. The GEDmatch Ancestor Group application has been sent.

Thanks to all who joined.