Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2020 i Family Tree UK

Welcome Whether you’re enlisting the power of DNA to reveal your origins – or exploring traditional archives and that much-loved family shoe box in the attic – your family history is sure to give you a story to remember… DNA research is gathering momentum by the day, helping to make it more possible than ever to piece together our family histories, and the stories of ourselves, by combining DNA and traditional research. So if you’ve recently taken a DNA test, jump in, trace your family tree and see what you might discover. It feels like (and is) a whole new era for tracing our roots! And some of the anniversaries that are cropping up in 2020 show just how important it is to remember the lives of the kin who’ve…

WHAT WILL YOU DISCOVER THIS YEAR? TURN YOUR WISH LISTS INTO ACTION PLANS 20 top family history projects & tasks for 2020 Make this the year you learn more, do more, and turn your family history wish lists into exciting action plans! Helen Tovey’s list of 20 family history projects and tasks will help you do just this… We’ve come up with 20 achievable family history projects, many suitable for all levels of family history enthusiast, choosing tasks that will help you make the most of your time, become so much more organised, and enjoy many more new discoveries through the new year to come. Exciting times lie ahead! DNA discoveries DNA is definitely the buzzword of the age and is becoming ever more mainstream in the family history researcher’s…

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT DIGGING BACK IN TIME WITH DNA Meet the McDougalls As co-administrator of the ‘MacDougall DNA Surname Project’ Susie Douglas of Borders Ancestry explains why a combined approach to lineal research is often required, and how DNA Clan or Surname Projects can help. There is also a free Y-DNA test to give away to a McDougall male with proven ancestry in the Scottish Borders! care less about trying to prove a direct line of descent from David I – I would just like to find a series of clues that puts ‘I couldn’t me another generation or two earlier in my dates.’ Thus wrote John (Jack) Errol Rankin McDougall 1911-1981 in 1965 of his frustration at the apparent dead-end he had reached in tracing his family history prior…

Your FREE Family Tree Ultimate Kit Get it when you subscribe to Family Tree on direct debit for just £10.99 a quarter SUBSCRIPTION FORM FOR UK SUBSCRIBERS, please return your completed form to our simple freepost address: Family Tree subscriptions, FREEPOST: WARNERS GROUP (FTRE) FOR EUROPE & THE REST OF THE WORLD, please return your form to: Family Tree subscriptions, Warners Group Publications Plc, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire, PE10 9PH, UK 2 WAYS TO SIGN UP AND RECEIVE YOUR KIT: Visit: familytr.ee/jan2020offer Call: 01778 392008 Quote FTRE/Jan20 What’s inside The Ultimate Kit? ‘Family Tree’ archive box: Perfect for storing your ancestor keepsakes and treasures How to write your family history: A practical workbook showing you how to write up your research, with useful charts, logs and interview sheets My…

IT’S TIME TO UNLOCK THE STORY OF YOUR GENES BECOME A DNA SUPER-SLEUTH! Your DNA Workshop TAKEN A DNA TEST? Now what? Welcome to the DNA Workshop, the brand new series starting in this month of Family Tree! In every issue of Family Tree DNA adviser Karen Evans will be helping you gen up on your genes and get the knowledge you need! • Learn practical skills with the DNA case studies • Try it out for yourself with our task of the month • Discover the latest tools, books, blogs and must-have kit to take your DNA learning further It’s time to unlock the story of your genes … DNA is as fascinating as it complicated. In the DNA Workshop we’ll aim to give you practical advice in understandable…

TWO BROTHERS IN CRIME TRACING BLACK SHEEP ‘It’s much more fun when ancestors were naughty!’ It was a chatty archives assistant in North Yorkshire County Record Office who made that remark to Joan Dexter – and how true it was! Jail birds of a feather An 1815 drawing of Dartmoor Prison, where Frederick William Dinsdale would be held years later. Known as ‘The Prison on the Moor’, Dartmoor had a justified reputation. With some of the most inclement weather in the southern half of England, men worked outside the walls on such physical tasks as quarrying and digging the barren moorland, guarded by the Army. Lists of brutal punishments include solitary confinement, restricted diet, wearing heavy chains, the birch and the ‘cat o’ nine tails READER STORY Meet the two…

FAMILY HISTORY READS Books Karen Clare looks at a colourful range of new genealogical reads, including local histories, memoirs and scandals, while Helen Tovey reviews a useful CD of apprenticeship records Cobbold’s Wortham: The Portrait of a Victorian Village edited by Sue Heaser An extraordinary discovery in the Cobbold’s Wortham archives of Suffolk The Portrait of a Victorian Vilage Record Office has led to the creation of this beautiful and enlightening book, which features the Edited by Sue Heaser artwork of the Reverend Richard Cobbold (1797-1877), who was rector of the village of Wortham for half a century. Cobbold’s Wortham On a visit to the record office in Ipswich to explore Cobbold’s archive, writer Sue Heaser and her ‘co-initiator’ Maureen Ling came across Features of Wortham, a small bound book…

DISCOVER RESEARCH SOLUTIONS YOUR FAMILY MYSTERIES SOLVED Your questions answered With our panel of experts Jayne Shrimpton, David Frost, Gill Thomas, Tim Lovering, and Steven Smyrl Seeking more about my Pembrokeshire Edwards Q I have hit a brickwall and was hoping you might be able to help. My 2x great-grandmother, Jane Edwards born 1853 in Llanstadwell, Pembrokeshire, has become quite a mystery. According to the 1861 Census she was living with her father, William Edwards, and her brother. At the age of 18 (1871) she was a servant in Llanstadwell. She then appears in the Religious Creed Register for Pembroke Workhouse in 1878 with her child William Edwards. She was in and out of the workhouse, having a daughter there in 1881, Editha Gertrude. Jane Edwards or her children do…

DIARY DATES Find or post diary dates at www.family-tree.co.uk/Events for FREE or email them to editorial@family-tree.co.uk JANUARY 2020 Start 7 January e-Courses Online: Pharos Tutors’ 2020 courses start on 7 January with Gillian Waters’ Introduction to Medieval Genealogy (5 weeks, £62/£76). From 6 January Emma Jolly presents Church and Community, Selected Records 1540-1800 (4 weeks, £62); from 28th Janet Few will tutor Discover your British Family and Local Community in the Early 20th Century (5 weeks, £49.99). • www.pharostutors.com From 7 January Workshops Kew: The National Archives is hosting two-day PAST Skills and Methodology workshops this month aimed at the academic and research communities. Two Medieval & Early Modern workshops taking place on 7-8 and 28-29 January are designed to develop the skills and knowledge of students undertaking research on…

ALL ABOUT FAMILY HISTORY NEWS Karen Clare reports on the latest genealogy news. Got a story to share? Email editorial@family-tree.co.uk MANUSCRIPT REWRITES KNOWLEDGE OF ELIZABETH I A manuscript penned by Elizabeth I has painted the 16th century monarch in a new light – thanks to her messy handwriting. Dr John-Mark Philo, an honorary fellow in English Studies at the University of East Anglia, made the startling find while looking for manuscript translations of the Roman historian Tacitus in Lambeth Palace Library. Dr Philo explained: ‘The manuscript features a very specific kind of paper stock, which gained special prominence among the Elizabethan secretariat in the 1590s. There was, however, only one translator at the Tudor court to whom a translation of Tacitus was ascribed by a contemporary and who was using…

TRACING BACK TO TUDOR TIMES! HOW TO EXPLORE UNUSUAL EARLY SOURCES You can get back to the 1500s too (if you just know where to look!) When fishing online for genealogy clues, Christine Jackson trekked off the beaten track – and in the process uncovered a wealth of lesser-known sources that took her research back centuries. Read on to learn about the discoveries she made, and perhaps these leads can help you too… What mines of information Professor Google and all those rabbit holes can sometimes lead us to! This was my experience a few years ago when a research project unexpectedly revealed some unconventional early sources that I was able to use to supplement – and even compensate for – the absence of more familiar genealogical records. The treasures…

FAMILY TREE LIVE 2020 WE ARE BUZZING – COME & JOIN US! Just the ticket! There’s nothing like the start of a new year to inspire you to set fresh goals and dreams for the12 months to come. And when it comes to tracing your family’s history, we’ve got just the ticket to help you… In partnership with the Associate sponsor Beavering away behind the scenes the Family Tree Live team has been carefully putting together the programme of lectures and workshops for the 2020 show. Whether you’re on a mission to learn new family history skills, tackle new genealogy projects or explore the ever-evolving brave new world of DNA, we’ve got topics that will help you take the next step in tracing your roots – and they are suitable…

DIGGING DEEPER TRACING BRANCHES Twiglets Diarist Gill Shaw charts the rollercoaster ride of researching her family history So it looks as though my 2x great-grandfather Martin Leah the joiner might have become a pub landlord, albeit briefly for a few years at the end of the 1860s. Exciting! At least, the Cheshire electoral roll tells me he owned a public house, the Cock Inn in Henbury, which isn’t necessarily the same thing is it? I’d love to know exactly when Martin and family lived there and there’s one thing that might shed some light – the children. Were any of them born at the pub? Now my great-grandfather Mark John Leah was baptised at the village church in Henbury in 1866, and I’ve had a copy of his birth certificate…

DNA DEFINED JARGON busted centiMorgans The sum of the genetic length of DNA segments is reported as the number of centiMorgans (abbreviated as cMs) that you share with another person – the bigger the better! Many testing companies give how many segments you share and the largest segment – what’s more important? Basically, larger segments are better than lots of little ones. So a match of 35cMs made of one large segment could be easier to find genealogically than a match of 35cMs made up of 10cMs, 10cMs, 8cMs and 7cMs. The smaller the piece of DNA the more likely it is to be a false match (by chance) or from a common ancestor too far back to identify. • Want to know more? Read https://familytr.ee/segmentsshared…

YOUNG CRAFTSFOLK EMPLOYMENT RECORDS Learning about apprentices Before censuses begin, there aren’t many records that tell you about an ancestor’s teenage years, but details of an apprenticeship may reveal how your forebear acquired an occupation, as Simon Wills explains Apprentices have existed since medieval times. A formal apprenticeship enabled young people to learn a craft or trade to an established proficiency, and required their parents to pay for it. The costs included the training of course, but often accommodation, food and clothing as well. There was a written contract that bound the young apprentice to a trainer, who was known as their ‘master’ (or rarely ‘mistress’). A record of this formal apprenticeship was called an indenture. It was legally binding, so both the employer and the apprentice’s parents retained a…

About our experts Jayne Shrimpton is a professional dress historian, portrait specialist and ‘photo detective’. She is photograph consultant for TV series ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’. Find her online at www.jayneshrimpton.co.uk Gill Thomas is a professional genealogist and AGRA member. She specialises in researching Welsh ancestors, and runs a course on the subject at the SoG. www.whowhatwhereresearch.com David Frost’s interest in genealogy was sparked by the unexpected appearance of an illegitimate and distinctly dodgy family member in 1967. Steven Smyrl, with his brother Kit, he is a director of the Irish probate research firm, Massey & King. Tim Lovering has worked widely as an archivist and historical researcher, and has had a lifelong interest in British military history.…

THE PORTRAYAL OF PREGNANCY OVER 500 YEARS A ground-breaking new exhibition at The Foundling Museum in London is set to explore representations of pregnancy through female portraits from the past 500 years. Until the 20th century, many women spent most of their adult years pregnant. Despite this, pregnancies are seldom made apparent in surviving portraits. Portraying Pregnancy, which opens on 24 January, will bring together images of women – mainly British – who were depicted when they were with child. Through paintings, prints, photographs, objects and clothing, it will explore the different ways in which pregnancy was, or was not, represented. The earliest portrait featured is Hans Holbein II’s beautiful 1526-1527 life drawing of Sir Thomas More’s daughter Cicely Heron, lent by HM The Queen from the Royal Collection; a…

HAVE YOUR SAY Real-life stories In search of my 2x great-uncle Charles JJ Mansford by Mary Mansford Prior In April 1919 the Headmaster of Dartford Grammar School made the following inscription in an autograph book: From the same materials one man builds palaces, another hovels; one warehouses, another villas; bricks and mortar are mortar and bricks until the architect makes them something else… take earnestly hold of life. Charles John Jodrell Mansford, the headmaster in question, certainly did ‘take earnestly hold of life’ as advised in the above quotation from an early ‘success manual’ entitled Getting on in the World by William Mathews (1872). The son of a tailor with four older brothers who were respectively a hatter who became destitute and spent time in the workhouse, a labourer, a…

MONEY MATTERS THOUGHTS ON… FINANCIAL TIMES… Thanks to the God of Brick Walls, a 1660 will has led Diane Lindsay down a new path of discovery and made her contemplate her ancestors’ material wealth Up until last week my family history program (Reunion) told me I had 24 William Veaseys on my paternal tree, including three direct ones. Today, proving that there really is a God of Brick Walls (I shall name him Bill the Builder), I now have 26, with a ninth and a tenth great-grandfather to add. And some delicious New Year possibilities to chase up, which might well take me the rest of my life, as some of the information I want is contained, courtesy of Findmypast, in an almost indecipherable 1660 will and inventory. I’m currently…

NEWS YOUR FREE RECORDS WORTH £39! At Family Tree we’ve teamed up with UK family history website TheGenealogist.co.uk to offer you selected free sources from its extensive online collections. Read on to learn about the census and other genealogy records you can search today for free… 1911 Census search Search for your ancestors in Sussex using the 1911 Census. The 1911 Census is the first one actually filled in by our ancestors and includes the signature of the head of household. This is also a handy census as it records our families just three years before the start of the devastating First World War. Voter records Get free access to the 1852 Poll Book of the United Boroughs of Monmouth, Newport, and Usk. Browse or search for voters, the addresses…

GENEALOGICAL MISCELLANY Dear Karen Clare discovers a road safety-conscious ancestor, strange double registrations and a calculating clergyman in this issue’s genealogical gems STREETS AHEAD IN ROAD SAFETY… Cast your mind back to our December issue and you may recall the story in this column about the origins of street bollards – it turns out many began life as cannons. Well, reading this historical snippet at Family Tree HQ prompted FT Editor Helen Tovey to confide a road-related tale about one of her ancestors. Says Helen: ‘My ancestor invented another piece of street furniture: pedestrian islands. They were named “Hastings Safety Lamps” after my Liverpool saddler John Hastings who came up with the idea for an island, with a street lamp on it, on which pedestrians could wait to safely cross…

BITE-SIZE FAMILY HISTORY 60-MINUTE RESEARCH The lunch hour genealogist Being busy doesn’t mean you have to neglect your favourite hobby, you can still learn in your lunch break! Squeeze just 60 minutes of family history into your daily routine and you’ll soon start to see your tree blossom. It’s time to tuck into Rachel Bellerby’s genealogy treats Know-how in under 100 words! Degrees of separation If you share an ancestor with someone, you and they are some kind of cousin. ‘Removed’ indicates how many generations separate you and your cousin are. So for instance ‘twice removed’ means you and your cousin are two generations apart. First cousins share a grandparent, second cousins share the same great-grandparent, while third cousins have a great-grandparent in common. For more, see our chart: https://familytr.ee/cousins…

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS! GENEALOGY ON A BUDGET Money-saving tips for family historians Follow the advice of genealogy budget whizz Alison Spring this New Year and you’ll save a small fortune – and still have fun with your family history Whether or not you favour making New Year resolutions, this can be a good time of year to reassess your family history budget and decide how much you want to spend on growing your family tree in the months ahead. To help with that, here are some of my top money-saving tips that will enable you to research, record and organise your tree as well as hone your finding skills – without spending anything at all! Searchable online resources These resources cost nothing at all to search, and while some of them…

Join the Family Tree Academy & become a skilled family historian The Family Tree Academy is specially created to help you discover more about the records, resources and research skills you need to become the best genealogist you can be! Read on to find out how join in with Family Tree Academy challenges How does it work? With professional researcher David Annal as tutor in Family Tree, we give you the chance to: 1. Tackle research case studies 2. Learn about a broad range of records 3. Take your research to the next level. Starting with the February 2020 issue of Family Tree, we will be setting you a whole new year’s worth of genealogy challenges to help you improve your research skills month after month. Who can join? The…

INTRODUCING ‘ALL THOSE BEFORE’ BUILDING A FAMILY HISTORY WEBSITE Techy tips for family historians Through the coming year, genealogy website specialist Paul Carter will be mentoring three lucky readers who submitted entries to the Family Tree ‘Win a website’ competition last summer. As they each work on creating their family history website with Paul, we hope these hints and steps will inspire you to create your own family history website too Like many family history enthusiasts, each of the three Family Tree readers we’re going to help would love to set up a website to share their family history story. While there are common web-building techniques that I’ll teach each one, each of the three also has very different interests so there will be variation. You will be able to follow…

SOCIETY OF GENEALOGISTS 11 January 2-5pm – I’m Stuck: Techniques for Localising the Elusive Ancestor A half-day course with Else Churchill (£20) 15 January 2-3pm Getting the Most from the Society of Genealogists Staff genealogist Else Churchill will explain what’s available and where to find it. Free but seats must be booked. 18 January 10.30am-1pm – Tracing your Huguenot Ancestors In Wittenberg in 1517 Martin Luther challenged the Roman Catholic Church’s teachings – and the consequences of his dissent set off shock waves throughout Europe, including in France. Over 200 years, some 50,000 Huguenots came to Britain. Dr Kathy Chater looks at these refugees in Britain, how to establish descent and take your research further back to France (£20) 18 January 2-5pm – The Parish Chest: A Treasure Trove of…

BECOME PART OF THE FAMILY TREE FAMILY! The Family Tree SUBS CLUB Welcome to the Family Tree Subscriber Club. When you’ve joined Family Tree not only do you save money on your favourite family history read, you can also enter the ‘Subs Club’ competitions and offers – only available to subscribers to Family Tree EXCLUSIVE OFFERS! 3 TO GIVE AWAY! Victory 1945: In Photographs The end of the Second World War – after six years of horror – was met with a frenzy of celebration and euphoria. But in that end, it was a beginning, a chance to rebuild Britain and its people. As we prepare to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day in 2020, you can look back at more than 100 evocative images of the time in…