Gillian Thomas
Honor Code SignatorySigned 30 Dec 2016 | 138,465 contributions | 11,328 thank-yous | 5,930 connections
Contents |
I was born and grew up in Sydney, Australia, the eldest of 3 daughters. Looking back, I had a very fortunate childhood, with lots of beach holidays, camping and bushwalking. I loved reading and still do.
After finishing school, I attended Sydney University, and trained as a primary school teacher. I later graduated as a psychologist and spent several years working with troubled adolescents and young people, and
I'm a project leader for the following WikiTree Projects:
There are lots of things I love doing on WikiTree. I mainly focus on Australian profiles, but enjoy taking Australian immigrants back into their country of origins (especially if they came from England or Scotland). I also love working on merging duplicates.
I have been doing family history now for nearly 20 years. All my family lines migrated to Australia (mainly Sydney) from the British Isles (England, Scotland, and Ireland) between 1835 and 1870. I have 1 convict in my tree and an ancestor from Unst in the Shetland Islands. Many of my ancestors came to Australia as "Assisted Immigrants", courageously grasping the opportunity for a better life. One line of my family was in Barbados during the 17th century and early 18th century. They were all adventurers.
Nearly all my family lived close to the sea, and that must be why I love the water. My Thomas family lived in Falmouth and St Mawes in Cornwall, which is almost as beautiful as Sydney with its harbour.
I have travelled over to the UK theee times now to do more research and to visit the places where my family came from. I've spent time researching in the National Archives at Kew, and various County Record Offices.
I still have some intractable dead ends. I love collaborating with others to try to break through my own and others mysteries.
My progress with my own research:
ANCESTORS BY GENERATION | OVERALL ANCESTORS (CUMULATIVE) | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gen. # | Direct Relation to Self | Dates of Birth | Matches | # | # Identified in WikiTree | % Identified in WikiTree | Total # | Total # Identified | Total % Identified |
1 | Parent | 1920s | siblings | 2 | 2 | 100.0% | 2 | 2 | 100.0% |
2 | grandparent | 1880s to 1900s | 1st Cousins | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 6 | 6 | 100.0% |
3 | great grandparent | 1850s to 1880s | 2nd Cousins | 8 | 8 | 100.0% | 14 | 14 | 100.0% |
4 | 2nd great grandparent | 1810s to 1850s | 3rd Cousins | 16 | 16 | 100.0% | 30 | 30 | 100.0% |
5 | 3rd great grandparent | 1760s to 1820s | 4th Cousins | 32 | 31 | 96.9% | 62 | 61 | 98.4% |
6 | 4th great grandparent | 1730s to 1800s | 5th Cousins | 64 | 48 | 75% | 126 | 109 | 86.5% |
7 | 5th great grandparent | 1700s to 1760s | 6th Cousins | 128 | 58 | 45% | 254 | 167 | 66% |
8 | 6th great grandparent | 1660s to 1740s | 7th Cousins | 256 | 45 | 17.5% | 510 | 212 | 41.5% |
9 | 7th great grandparent | 1630s to 1720s | 8th Cousins | 512 | 32 | 6% | 1022 | 244 | 24% |
10 | 8th great grandparent | 1570s to 1680s | 9th Cousins | 1024 | 30 | 6% | 2046 | 274 | 7.5% |
Table formatting accessed at Table of Known Ancestors page. Thanks Karen!
This week's connection theme is Christmas Albums. Gillian is 18 degrees from Donald Osmond, 23 degrees from Paul Anka, 24 degrees from Irving Berlin, 23 degrees from Karen Carpenter, 24 degrees from Nat King Cole, 28 degrees from Perry Como, 22 degrees from Burl Ives, 24 degrees from Eartha Kitt, 17 degrees from Kylie Minogue, 22 degrees from Willie Nelson, 20 degrees from Olivia Newton-John and 24 degrees from Dolly Parton on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
I hope you are well! I am hoping you might have a little time to mentor a new Wikitree member. I am a real beginner on Wikitree and wondered if you could give me a few pointers please. My father did lots of research about 20-30 years ago and I have decided to take up the mantle before all of his knowledge is lost. But for me...I can't even get Wikitree to accept my fathers and mothers names on my profile page! Let me know if you are able to help, Thanks, Leonie
I changed your email address to the new address as you requested and removed the old address as specified for Military and War Google group.. You should receive emails from M& W when they are created from now on. Mary
Thank you for contributing towards the goals of the England Project! Over the past year, a staggering amount has been done to improve English profiles on WikiTree and we couldn't have done it without you and our other project members.
The England Project leadership like to check in with all our project members at least once a year.
Are you happy to stay in your current project team/s? Or is there another team you would like to join or become more active in?
Please reply to this message by posting a reply below or sending me a private message. I look forward to hearing from you. Please also let us know if you have other feedback about the direction of the project.
Many thanks! Steve, on behalf of the England Project leadership
Keep up the great work - it's very much appreciated
Steve
The Profile Improvement Project (PIP) is performing a check-in. The Project operates in a team structure with these participant PIP Teams -- The Category Team, the Unknowns Team, and three Biography Teams. There is also the Voyage Team which guides new Voyagers. See the Profile Improvement Project Teams for a brief outline of each team.
You’re currently identified as a member of the Category Team. Are you working on a particular category? Are you happy with the Team you are on? If you are interested in working with a different Team, please let us know.
If you have not already done so, we invite you to join the email GoogleGroup. We use the WikiTree Discord server #profile-improvement channel for our project. Neither is required; we also use the Profile_Improvement tag in G2G for Project announcements.
We thank you for all you do to help the Profile Improvement Project meet its goals. We would like to hear about the successes you’ve had and would also appreciate any feedback you have to help improve the Project. Please share your thoughts in a reply to this comment or via private message to one of us.
Sincerely,
Debi Hoag and Kay Knight, Co-Leaders, Profile Improvement Project
Robin Shaules, Project Coordinator, Profile Improvement Project
Thanks for your message, and for all your hard work. I'd like to on stay in the project, and continue in the Categories team. I'll work on some of the merging and PPP related categories and would also attempt some of the unlocated profiles.
Gillian
Hannah Mary Nix was my dad’s first cousin, and Thomas Nix my Great Grandfather so I am curious as to what your connection is? Narelle Grant (Bowden)
Thank you for your commitment to the England Project and its goals in 2023. Together we are making English WikiTree profiles the best they can be!
I'd like to share our end-of-year 2023 Newsletter. You can read it here: England Project Newsletters. We hope you enjoy reading about what we have achieved in 2023.
On behalf of all the England Project Leaders, we wish you a peaceful, productive and enjoyable 2024!
Best wishes,
Steve, England Project Leader
He was quite a man and i knew him personally. The George Medal is the civilian equivalent to the VC
Re your recent advice on Australian Notables and more specific categories- I have reassigned The Combat War Photographer Damien Parer to Visual Arts, and not Military. I was not sure so am just running this past you. Please let me know if you think he should be Military (or anything else!)
Many thanks Shoshanah
edited by Shoshanah Luckie
Sarah Cook, daughter of John Cook will also need looking at as a duplicate.
It is once again time for our annual Scotland Project check-in. Please respond within the next three weeks to let us know:
•If you would like to continue as a project member •If you are happy with your current teams or would you like to join a different team •How much time per month (on average) you spend working on Scottish profiles •Anything you’d like the Scotland Project to do more of in the future
You can respond to this message by posting a reply below or sending me a private message on WikiTree. If we don’t hear from you within the next three weeks we’ll assume your interests have changed or you are no longer able to participate in the Scotland Project at this time, and your badge will be removed. If your circumstances change later you will be welcome to reapply for membership.
On behalf of the Scotland Project, I would like to thank you for your commitment to the project's goals. Every single contribution you make helps improve Scottish profiles!
Sheena - Scotland Project Membership Coordinator
Brilliant tanks! And thank you for all the guiding work you do for us.
Sheena
We are delighted to announce a new Profile Improvements Team namely the England Tangled Families Team which will be formed by merging the Arborists, Gedcoms and Unknown Teams,
As we know tangled families are created from old GEDCOM’s which cover many generations resulting in the need to merge profiles and having to disconnect others together with finding unknown spouses and family members.
The merging of the existing three teams into one exciting new team will hopefully reduce duplications and definitely will increase collaboration between you our experienced and dedicated members.
Team Leader for the England Tangled Families Team will be Fran Weidman who has agreed to manage the team bringing her excellent knowledge and experience from creating and managing the Unknowns Team together with Fran’s five year membership of the England Project.
Currently as a member of one or more of the named teams we are asking you to join our new amalgamated Tangled Families Team and letting us know by contacting Joan Williams or Malc Rowlands through Discord Messaging, England Project Google Group or Private WT Message if you want to join our new team.
Kind regards
Joan and Malc
On behalf of the England Project, I would like to thank you for your commitment to the project's goals. Every single contribution you make helps improve English profiles!
The England Project Leaders like to touch base with each of our members periodically to make sure everything is going well. This is our formal annual check-in with you.
Are you happy to with your current project team choices? Would you like to join any other teams?
Also, we would really like to hear which team is currently your highest priority. If you are a member of more than one team, could you please rank them from highest priority to lowest? Thank you! If you don’t see yourself as being part of a team, please let us know.
We also welcome any feedback on things you would like to see the project do more of in the future.
I look forward to hearing from you. Please respond to this message by posting a reply below or sending me a private message.
On behalf of all the Leaders, thank you again for all you do and we look forward to you continuing to be a part of our collaborative and fun Project!
Kind regards,
Susie, England Project Leader
I'll get you removed from the Lancashire team and ask the Topics PC to make contact with you about the Suffragists/Suffragettes topic.
We also have you in Cornwall which I'm guessing you'd like to be removed from?
Cheers, Susie
Zetta Ethel Biggs was my grandfather's first wife. When they separated, my grandfather returned to Nebraska with Raymond Sala, while the other two children remained with Zetta. My grandfather later married my grandmother and they had three further children, including my father.
Mindy has added the Australia Project's guidelines and categories to our Challenge 2 space page. I also asked Veronica...what might we add to the research resources for folks new to Australian research?
Thanks,
- Karen
Thanks.
Thanks for your message, and for getting in touch with me :-) I overrode the suggestion to complete the merge. The problem is with Henry Tillery (1818-), which is a separate issue to the merge of the duplicate profiles for the father. I'm not sure if Tillery-892 is connected to the wrong father, or has the wrong date of birth. It's probably something to discuss with the profile manager for Tillery-892, as it's not a family I'm familiar with.
On behalf of the England Project, I would like to thank you for all your contributions towards the project's goals. Every single contribution you make helps improve English profiles!
I'd also like to share our annual Newsletter with you. You can read it here: England Project Newsletters. We hope you enjoy reading a bit about what has gone on in 2022 and what our Project has achieved.
The England Project Leaders like to touch base with each of our members every 6 months just to make sure everything is going well. There's no need to reply to this message unless you have something you'd like to let us know about (e.g. if you would like to change your team choices or provide other feedback). We will be in touch with you again in the middle of next year when we do our annual check-in with project members.
On behalf of all the Leaders, I wish you a peaceful and productive 2023.
Best wishes,
Ian, England Project Leader
Thanks for merging Emily Julia Challis (Moll-803) and Emily Julia Challis (Moll-845). She was my aunt. What is your interest in her, please?
Best wishes,
Peter Moll
edited by Peter Moll
I am sending you a private email as well.
Mary
On behalf of the leader of the Military and War Project, I am doing the six month check-in with Anzac members.. Have you been active in the Anzacs project in the last six months? Please note that it is a requirement for membership in the Military and War Project that you respond to these check-ins. To make bookkeeping easier, just click Reply to this message on your own page, add your reply, then Post the Reply. I look forward to hearing from you..
Many thanks,
Mary~ Project Coordinator, Military and War Project
Regards, Gillian
On behalf of the England Project, I would like to thank you for all your contributions towards the project's goals over the past year. Every English profile we improve helps!
The England Project Leaders are currently doing our six-monthly check-in with all project members.
Are you happy to with your current project team choices? Are there other teams you would like to join or become more active in?
We also welcome any feedback on things you would like to see the project do more of in the future.
I look forward to hearing from you. Please respond to this message by posting a reply below or sending me a private message.
Many thanks!
Ian, England Project Leader
I'd love to stay in the England Project, please. I'd like to continue on the Arborists Team, and I seem to be on both the Cornwall and Lancashire teams too, which is fine. If I'm still on any other teams, it would be best be taken off them. I don't have as much time as I'd like to work in England, but will contribute where I am able! No other feedback... the England Project - leaders and members - are fabulous. Thanks for all your hard work!! Gillian
Ian
The Profile Improvement Project (PIP) is performing its first annual check-in with our project members. We are in the process of transitioning to a team structure. There will be three participant PIP Teams to start -- The Maintenance Category Team, the Unknowns Team, and the Biography Team. There is also the Voyage Team who guide new Voyagers. See the Profile Improvement Project Teams for a brief outline of each team. Please let us know which team(s) you would like to participate in.
We would also like to invite you to join the email GoogleGroup and text chat Discord channel for our project. (When you request to join our GoogleGroup, please be sure to include your Wiki ID). You will find more information on the GoogleGroup.
We thank you for all you do to help the Profile Improvement Project and WikiTree. The Project’s mission is to:
We know you’re working on profiles *smile* We would like to hear about successes you’ve had toward the Project’s goals. We would also appreciate any feedback you might have to help us improve the Project. Please share your thoughts in a reply to this comment or privately via private message to either of us.
Sincerely,
Debi Hoag and Robin Shaules Co-Leaders, Profile Improvement Project
Thanks for getting back to us. We're glad that you want to join the Maintenance team. I don't know why the two links didn't work for you but I'll include them again below, along with the link to the Maintenance team page. Maybe they'll work for you from here. Please let me know if you have any further trouble accessing them.
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Profile_Improvement_Project_Teams; https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Profile_Improvement_Project_Maintenance_Category_Team; https://groups.google.com/u/1/g/wtprofileimprovement?pli=1
Hope you have a good day,
Regards,
Robin
edited by Robin (Dodge) Shaules
It's time for our annual Scotland Project check-in!
This year we are hoping to learn what our membership would like to accomplish over the next 12 months. In case you aren't aware, this year is WikiTree's "Year of Connections" and the Project's leadership would like to contribute to this in as many ways as possible.
We would appreciate it if you would share your thoughts and ideas with us on how we can accomplish this goal. We would also appreciate it if you would provide some feedback on our existing goals, including:
We continue to communicate with our Project members via Google Group (official) and Discord (unofficial), as well as G2G. You may also reach out to any of the Project leaders via WikiTree's internal messaging system at any time.
Thank you for all you do to help the Scotland Project become a knowledge hub for Scottish genealogical research! We wish you all the best in 2022!
I noticed that you removed a match on Augusta S. MORRIS. Can you tell me what it was, and do you have any info on him or his family? He was my paternal gr- grandfather who deserted his family after my grandfather was born.
Cindy Bourque Cooper, Leader, Acadian Project
I would like to thank you for all your contributions towards the goals of the England Project during the past six months. We've achieved a huge amount during this period and we couldn't have done it without you and our other project members.
As the England Project Leaders, we are completing our six monthly check-in with all project members.
Are you happy to stay in your current project teams? Which teams are you most active in? Are there other teams you would like to join or become more active in?
Also, do you have any feedback on what the project is doing well and anything we could do better in the future?
Please respond to this message by posting a reply below or sending me a private message. I look forward to hearing from you.
Many thanks!
Amelia, England Project Leader
I love the tab menu on your Aus. Project Page. I've looked in G2G and can't find the code for that. Can you share it? Thanx, Babs
The United Kingdom Project has not been active since 2018 and we are now completely closing it down. We are removing all UK project badges. If you still have an interest in the UK and have not already joined another project, then you will need to join the England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales Project by answering one or more of their G2G posts. If your interest is in the British Isles and British Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, then please contact me directly.
Regards Joan
Thank you for suggesting Merge of Chippendale 7 & 102, I had matched for merge & i assume once other manager agree's this merge will take place. Can i also ask your advice for contacting another manager for another link i have come across for my family ancestors. I have sent them 3 emails via Wikitree both pubilc & private to request to be placed on their trusted list to enable me to link imfo they already have on my family.However i have not as yet had any luck with any feedback. Are there any more ways of contacting these managers to enable sharing of content, so we are not entering duplications of same person? Thank you. Have a nice day. Kind regards Phil Chippendale
Thank you for adding the father for Lt. General Thomas Maxwell. of Barbados. I was unable to edit the information I had previously submitted because of pre 1700s certification. Thomas' mother was Margaret Applewhaite. Grateful if you could add.
Thank you very much for finding the christening record for me, I appreciate you taking the time to search for it, you are a superstar ⭐, I didn't think about the spelling error in her name 🤗 xxx
I wasn't looking for any more work at all, but thank you for proposing a merge between Schunke-11 and Schunke-12. Do you have any family connection?
It’s time for a Project check-in!
Scotland Project Leaders check in with you at least once a year to see how you are doing. With the changes happening around the world, we understand that life is hectic right now.
What are you planning to work on for the Scotland Project this year? Are you happy with the team(s) you part of, or would you like to make some changes?
This time round, we’re also looking for feedback on the use of Google Group and Discord. Do you use one or both of these? If you don’t use either of them, what is the best way to ensure you receive Project communications? If you would like to join us on Google Group or Discord, let us know in your response.
It's that time of the year again: check-in time! As England Project Leaders, we like to check in with you every six months or so to see how things are progressing. Back in May, we didn't ask for a response due to the rapid emergence of Covid-19 because we understood that people's lives were changing rapidly. While we are still living in a Covid world, we do need to hear back from you this time around
First of all, how are you doing? What are you currently working on? Are you happy with the team(s) you're in, or would you like to change things up?
Secondly, we're looking for some feedback on the Google Group and our Discord server. Do you use either or both of these? If you don't use either, why not? Do you have any suggestions on how we can improve participation and collaboration, either generally or for you personally?
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Lizzie, Amy, Joan
England Project Leaders
Thank you for your participation in October’s 2020 Source-a-thon. Your contributions helped us to clear over 57,000 profiles that needed sourcing. This makes our Shared Tree all that much better.
Keep up the great work!
Pippin Sheppard WikiTree’s Appreciation Team
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Eade-610
Thanks for all the work you accomplished during our Connect-A-Thon 2020. It is amazing how many more profiles were created and added to our Shared Tree. You have every right to be pleased with your efforts!
Kind regards,
Pippin Sheppard ~ WikiTree’s Appreciation Team
Hi Gillian,
If you're not going to be engaged elsewhere, as a member of the Scotland Project, we'd love to have you join the Twisted Thistles in the upcoming Connect-a-thon the weekend of July 17 - July 20. If you'd like to join us and help to develop our ever-expanding Scottish tree, please register on the G2G post here and be sure to mention you'd like to be on the Twisted Thistles team for Scotland.
We also have our team Chat page posted here.
Kind thanks