Back up your data with Mozy?

It seems this blog gets abandoned every few months, with life passing by and all that it involves making me forget about posting. It is nice to get back to it and I'm sure this blog is still being read as I receive comments on blog posts once every blue moon. I guess that's what brought me back. There are people still out there who are searching the internet for more information about their Pakistani ancestry. I can't promise my return will be permanent but I can say that I will be posting...

As it's 1st of March, I will be backing up (some of) my data in accordance to geneabloggers 'Data Backup Day'. I can't say I am very good at this but atleast I'm trying. The importance of having your data secured is only fully known when something tragic happens and you lose large amounts of information.

Personally, I haven't backed up my genealogy software data in a long time so this is a top priority. Currently, I am using Legacy 7.4 and will be backing up all information which includes 322 individuals and 90 families. Scanning old family photographs is one of those things that I intend to but haven't got round to doing. I still haven't bought a scanner for starters which many would say is a must for genealogists. Although, I do console myself that atleast I have protected my original photographs in some shape or form and that they are not cluttered in a mess somewhere. Also, there are birth, marriage, death certificates that need to be scanned and placed in archival containers. Additionally, I have a Word document that I need to backup as it contains lots of the data that exists in my database.

This brings me to Mozy, an online back up site. Having not tried it, I'm unable to comment on it's good features or advantages but it's another option to think about.

Let's hope my computer stays alive..

One year on (15)

Two unknown security men
were killed in Orakzai and Mohmand tribal regions
on 11th Nov 2010

An unknown soldier
was killed in Goak area of Orakzai Agency
on 11th Nov 2010

Burials: Unknown

11th Day..

Today we remember those who lost their lives in World War I and II. I'm relisting the names of soldiers that were mentioned in a BBC programme a couple of years ago called Muslim Tommies:

Amir Khan - 129th Baluchis, France 1915
Subedar Muhammed Agia - 57th Rifles, May 1915
Havildar Abdul Rahman - 59th Rifles, France 1915
Juma Khan - 40th Pathans, France 1915
Sepoy Abdul Ghani - 125th Napier's Rifles, France 1915
Naubet Khan - 107th Pioneers, France 1915
Mohamed Ali Bey - 20th Deccan Horses, France 1915
Abdul Jabar Khan, Sep 1917
Mahomed Mazafar Khan - 19th Lancers, France, Oct 1917
Jemadar Shamsher Ali Khan - 34th Poona Horse, France, April 1917
Dafadar Fazi Khan - 19th Lancers, France Oct 1916
Havildar Ghufran Khan - 129th Baluchis, Aug 1915
Abdul Ali Khan - 6th Cavalry, France Aug 1917
Rajwali Khan - Brighton, Sep 1915 (at hospital)
Raja Khan - 38th CIH, France Oct 1917
Jemadar Hasan Shah - Hodson's Horse, France 1916
Kesu Shah - Rouen, May 1916
Rahimdad Khan - 19th Lancers, France, May 1916
Fateh Ullah - June 1916

Someone, somewhere will have known these men...

Eid ul Adha 1432

Eid ul Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى ‘Īd al-’Aḍḥā) is a religious festival celebrated by Muslims and Druze worldwide as a commemoration of Ibrahim's (Abraham's) willingness to sacrifice his son Ismael for Allah. It is one of two Eid festivals that Muslims celebrate. Like Eid ul-Fitr, Eid ul-Adha begins with a short prayer followed by a sermon (khuṭba). It is also called the bigger Eid because it lasts a day longer than Eid ul-Fitr.

Eid al-Adha is four days long and starts on the 10th day of the month of Dhul Hijja (ذو الحجة) of the lunar Islamic calendar. This is the day after the pilgrims in Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descend from Mount Arafat. It happens to be approximately 70 days after the end of the month of Ramadan.

Happy Eid everyone.

What does your name mean?

If you're Pakistani, you're most likely to have an Arabic name and as such there will be a meaning too. Most would have been given their names by parents or uncles or aunts or grandparents. Sometimes even having hidden reasons or stories behind the name being used. Muslims are given names with good meanings behind them in order to provide a good influence on their life.

My full name means 'beautiful morning'.

If you're unsure of what your name means you can look it up on this Muslim names website, here. Or, if you don't have an Arabic name then you can choose your very own Arabic name by using the first initial of your first name and surname. For example, 'Thomas Jones' might become Tahir (meaning pure, clean, chaste, modest) Jalil (meaning great, revered).

So, go ahead and try it!

Why More Pakistanis Should Be Using 'Find A Grave'

Here is an online resource that should be on everyone's list:

Find A Grave is a website that helps genealogists locate their ancestor's graves. The above shows an example of a memorial and includes information such as death date and details about the person's life as well as the burial location. It has been added by myself (a volunteer) and can be viewed by anyone who visits the site.

Find A Grave, therefore, acts as a genealogy research tool as it holds some cemetery records that might not otherwise be available.

I've heard about a 'request a photo' button on the website but haven't actually seen one. If anyone could point it out to me that would be great. (yes, I can be dim sometimes -.-) Apparently, this is a way for researchers to ask a volunteer to take a picture of a grave stone/marker.

You can even search for specific burial locations for example, Pakistan and England. Unfortunately, Pakistan is only listed as having 21 records on the site whereas England has 4,104.

So, go forth all Pakistanis and explore this amazing website and perhaps even contribute!

Abbas' trip to Pakistan

I'm back to blogging after a short break that was due to a trip to Pakistan (again!) and work. My trip consisted of another marriage, another new member being added to the family and another family celebration that will be remembered in years to come :)

Today we have a very special treat in the form of a guest blogger on My Pakistani Ancestry, a good friend of mine, who has been sharing with me his research story. His trip to Pakistan was his first and was exciting in terms of him visiting his ancestral country and learning about his family roots.

Here is his own account:

Both my ancestral lines – maternal as well as paternal – can be traced back to Pakistan. On my paternal side, my great-grandfather Bostan Khan had migrated from Campbellpur (present day Attock) to Singapore before the First World War. On my maternal side, it was my mother’s father who made the journey from Mansehra to Singapore. My maternal grandfather, Hayat Shah served in colonial police force like many other men from his country. He married my grandmother in 1950 – a second-generation Pakistani herself – and passed away in March 1969, when my mother was just thirteen.

This past June, more than 40 years since my grandfather passed away, I brought my mother to visit Pakistan, for the first time in all our lives!

Rekindling family ties

Years after he had somewhat established himself here, my grandfather was joined by his younger brother, Mohammed Younis Shah. Following in his elder brother’s footsteps, he too joined the police force and married a local here in Singapore. Yet three years after the death of my grandfather, my granduncle Younis Shah returned back to Pakistan, with his wife and four children. He used to correspond with my mother and her siblings until his death in 1994. After 17 years, we managed to renew correspondence.

It was a trip filled with much anticipation. For me, I had two very broad aims – to strengthen family ties and to learn as much as I could about our family history.

From the moment I head my name being called out by my uncle when exiting the airport in Islamabad, I just knew that the trip was worth the wait. It was a three-hour journey by road to Mansehra, and throughout the car ride, my aunt and uncles who had come to fetch us wasted no time in showering us with the warm Pakistani hospitality I had often read about. The cold night air was filled with warm chatter and laughter throughout.

Upon his return to Pakistan, my granduncle settled in Mansehra city, just a few kilometers away from his ancestral village of Hado Bandi. And it was in this house that my mother and I stayed in. On the first day, we were brought to visit numerous graveyards where we paid our respects to my granduncle, my great-grandparents as well as our forefathers who had first settled in Hado Bandi.

On the second day, we were brought to Oghi – a town about 30 kilometers away from Mansehra. Here, in the village of Bandi Sadiq, was the family of my grandfather’s only sister. She had been married off to a man from this village. Sadly, she passed away only last year. We were told that she often expressed hope that she would see the children of her eldest brother – my grandfather. It was a surreal feeling, to meet my cousins, who up to that point, had merely been an abstract idea in my thoughts. Again, like in Mansehra and Hado Bandi, we visited the graves of the departed and offered our prayers for them.

Love and lineage, the common languages between us

The only languages I speak are English and Malay. Over a hundred years of cultural assimilation had seen us lose the ability to speak in our native languages of Hindko and Urdu.

I suppose you can say we were truly fortunate, because even in Pakistan, we continued to speak English and Malay! My granduncle’s wife was a local from Singapore who spoke Malay. Thus, upon migrating to Pakistan, the language was still used within the family. The use of a language known only to us made my mother and I feel more attached to our family there. There is no doubt that despite the years of separation, there still was a level of cultural similarity between our families.

In Bandi Sadiq, we were also fortunate that many of our relatives there had gone through various degrees of education and could speak English proficiently. For those who were unable to communicate with us, they did so through my uncle who acted as an interpreter. And when he wasn’t around, we will attempt to speak in each other’s tongues anyway. I think we barely made it, but the smiles that resulted were priceless. When we left after three days in the village, tears were shed, as a testimony to the love that had been forged in that short period of time.

The research project – Pen, paper and photographs

It was a genealogical researcher’s dream come true. I had prepared myself with a notebook and a pen, as well as a camera if I needed it. Most of my uncles and aunts knew of my intention to research the family history and they were ever so patient to sit down with me to draw up the family tree and answer any queries that I had.

Additionally, my aunt who had known of my research project had brought me to visit an elderly 72-year-old man who knew the history of the people in the village, but also of Pakistani folk who had migrated to Singapore! In fact, his wife was born in Singapore and moved to Pakistan when she was 12. My aunt patiently acted as the translator and scribe as I asked questions about my late grandfather, his family as well as some other personalities who had migrated to Singapore.

I realised one of the best things I did was to have printed the pictures of my family, my grandparents, as well as other relatives and people of Pakistani origin in Singapore. Though not exactly comprehensive, it had helped me a lot in discovering information I had never expected to find.

A case in point was when one of my aunts saw the photograph of my mother’s maternal grandfather. She asked who the man in the picture was. And when we told her that it was the father-in-law of my late grandfather, she surprised us by informing us that she knew of his origin. She told us that he was from Tilli – the Black Mountain of Hazara (Tor Ghar). This was a golden nugget of information that not a single descendent of my great-grandfather knew, but was communicated by my late grandfather (his son-in-law) to his sister. This was a bonus I had never expected to discover.

Tips for genealogists visiting the ancestral land

Never leave behind any information back home. Though apparently painstaking, it may be worth to make copies, or back up of research you have done thus far, and bring the copy with you on your trip. You wouldn’t want to be in a situation where you stumbled upon a valuable lead, only that you cannot pursue it because some important information you require is sitting pretty at home, thousands of miles away from you. Even the most mundane of information can be frustrating to recall should you suddenly require it. It may be a name, an address, a relationship or a date.

Another tip is to strike a balance between research and recreation. Sometimes you may need to be firm and decline invitations, in order to pursue a particular lead – like visiting a place or interviewing a person. On the other hand, you wouldn’t want to be completely immersed in research that you forget to enjoy the experience. Take the time to immerse yourself in the environment and imagine what it might have been like for your ancestor to live through it. After all, how often do we get to visit the ancestral land?

If you'd like to read more about Abbas' trip to Pakistan, then head over to his blog.