Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2020 i Family Tree UK

DIGGING DEEPER Twiglets Diarist Gill Shaw charts the rollercoaster ride of researching her family history After my seaside sojourn with my 2x great-aunt Ann Ellen, it’s back to Manchester to look for the rest of my great-grandfather Mark John Leah’s siblings. I was planning to skip to number five, Arthur Thomas, but first I want to tie up a loose end and find the death of his elder brother Theophilus, who was baptised in Henbury, Cheshire, in 1859. Aged two, he’s recorded with his parents on only one census, the 1861, so I’ve long suspected the worst. At FreeBMD, I input his name, a date range of 1861-1871, select ‘deaths’… and hmm, no matches. Is it the spelling? I zip over to Findmypast to try there, and oo-er, I wasn’t…

GENEALOGICAL MISCELLANY Dear Paul This month Paul Chiddicks takes us into the weird and wonderful side of family history with a mischievous medieval cat, an intrepid ‘walking king’ and an amusing baptismal register misunderstanding During the unprecedented times that we have all been living through, I have tried to make the best of things whilst at home and have been sorting through my family history photo collection. It was whilst I was sorting through my old photographs that I came across one of my 2x great-uncle, Henry William Goode, pictured at the age of 102. I also stumbled across a picture of Henry’s daughter-in-law, Winifred Hetty Goode (née Ginger) on her 100th birthday, which set me thinking. Have any of our readers got a picture of one of their ancestors…

USING MAPS TO ENRICH YOUR DISCOVERIES PUT YOUR ANCESTORS ON THE MAP Maps for family history research Mike Bedford takes us on a tour of online and paper maps, demonstrating the riches that can be found to help put flesh on the bones of your research when you explore the places your ancestors knew If you’re already well progressed in researching the bare facts of your family history, you might have started delving into background information to flesh out those names in order to learn something about the real people in your family’s past. While there are lots of elements to this, for many people, maps provide a fascinating way of discovering the places where our ancestors lived and worked. But there’s a lot more to mapping than consulting Google Maps…

RESEARCHING AT HOME 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 studies2. Learn about a broad range of records3. Take your research to the next level. In each issue of Family Tree we will be setting you new genealogy challenges to help you improve your research skills month after month. Who can join? The Family Tree Academy is available FREE to…

FOLKESTONE & DISTRICT FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY THE SOCIETY SCENE Spotlight on… Folkestone & District Family History Society Janet Powell and Jeremy Wilkes introduce Folkestone & District FHS, here to help you find ancestors within the historic and varied area of Folkestone, Hythe and surrounding villages The Folkestone and District Family History Society covers southeast Kent, especially the Folkestone and Hythe (until recently called Shepway) district and Capel-le-Ferne. This includes Folkestone, Hythe, Dymchurch, New Romney, Romney Marsh, Elham, Lyminge and many villages around. Within its area are two of the cinque ports, lines used by five railway companies (and one more along the edge), one canal and one surviving airport. The original registration districts for most of the locality were Elham and Romney Marsh, both continuing until 1941, when the Folkestone registration district…

USING DNA TO PROVE FAMILY CONNECTIONS BECOME A DNA SUPER-SLEUTH! Your DNA Workshop Welcome to the DNA Workshop! In every issue of Family Tree, DNA adviser Karen Evans will be helping you gen up on your genes, so you can: • 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… This month’s case study demonstrates the possibilities of using DNA results to discover, or prove family connections in the case of adoption, where the birth parents are now. Read on as Karen helps reader Pauline Cooper find the living descendants of her great-great-grandfather. DNA CASE STUDY Pauline…

TRACING BRANCHES Did you know? Many of the records we use for for family history can also help us learn about the community in times gone by. Turn to page 45 to learn about the new #StoryOfOurStreet project. This month we’re looking at how to research using newspapers…

THE END OF WW2 75 YEARS AGO THE START OF A NEW POST-WAR WORLD VJ Day & the end of the war Chris Paton takes at look at the run up to the final months of the Second World War, the defeat of Japan, declaration of peace and the emergence of a new post-war Britain In May 1945, a war weary Britain and her allies, including the United States of America, Canada, and Russia (the USSR), had finally defeated Hitler’s Third Reich and the evils of Nazi Germany. In an address to the people of the UK, and to the wider world, the Prime Minister of the time, Winston Churchill, had celebrated the Allies’ success, but had added a note of caution, warning that ‘there is another foe who occupies large…

BROADFIELD HOUSE: HISTORY & MEMORIES TRACING THE PEOPLE WHO LIVED THERE Discovering the Fauntleroy A ffair Researching the history of a Georgian mansion, Shirley Cook, concentrated on the people somehow connected to the home, including a notorious murderer and a fraudster of epic proportions. She hopes her discoveries will encourage you to trace the history of a house that has always been of interest to you too. Who knows what you may uncover? I wonder how many readers have researched the history of the house they live in, or perhaps the history of a house that has always interested them? In my case it was Broadfield House in Crawley, Sussex, a Georgian mansion built in the early 1800s. It is situated on what was once the main London to Brighton Road…

SHARING YOUR VIEWS HAVE YOUR SAY Your letters Memories, medals & mysterious Ag Lab marriages… Memories of people & places past When you’re a child wanting to play outside with your mates, having to go on a Sunday with your parents to see your great-aunt and uncle becomes a bit of a wretch. Back then I wasn’t interested in history and thought it very weird that they had a toilet outside, didn’t have a TV and grew their own fruit and veg. Whilst my mum helped in the cottage and dad helped on the land, my brother and I had the job of picking the apples, plums and gooseberries. Then once all the jobs had been done it was time for tea and I fondly remember my great-aunt singing to the…

EXPLORING THE CASTLES OF OUR ANCESTORS’ WORLDS CASTLES & COMMUNITIES CASTLES Their rise… & demise Whatever their state of repair, the splendour and might of castles still haunts the landscape of the British Isles today. Here Wayne Shepheard investigates their significance in the world of our Early Medieval ancestors, exploring their rise and demise, and providing hints to help you trace your family connections to the castles of the past MOTTE & BAILEY Most of the earliest castles built by the Normans in the United Kingdom, during the 11th century, were of motte and bailey design. This arrangement consisted of two mounds, each surrounded by stockades and ditches. The higher mound would be surmounted by a fort or keep and the lower one would contain barracks and other buildings. They allowed…

READ UP & RESEARCH YOUR ROAD #STORYOFOURSTREET USING NEWSPAPERS FOR LOCAL HISTORY Turn back the pages to the past and see how newspapers can help you work on your #StoryOfOurStreet project and learn about the history of your local area Newspaper search tips! • Remember that street names may well have changed. Before diving into the online newspaper collections be sure to track down a map of the area for the era you wish to search. The map will show you which street and place names you need to search on for a particular time period.• You can just search for a place or street name, or combine your search with a specific event, for instance ‘Corby AND Coronation’. Feeling brave? You could search on your street name, combined with…

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! Cluster genealogy A research technique centred around friends, neighbours and extended family of an ancestor. Records from this network can allow you to put an ancestor’s life into context, help break through a brick wall or build a genealogical proof, for example exploring records relating to distant relatives to prove a particular family relationship. Cluster genealogy also can be helpful for ancestors who migrated, as groups of friends and…

DISCOVER RESEARCH SOLUTIONS YOUR FAMILY MYSTERIES SOLVED Your questions answered With our experts Jayne Shrimpton, Chris Paton, Simon Fowler, Mary Evans, David Frost and Graham Caldwell Was my cousin a Secret Listener? Q I had a cousin, Elsie Margaret Smith, who was called up for the war. She was an office worker and died in Cairo. My aunt never received the death certificate and there’s no mention of Elsie on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website. I emailed the ambassador in Cairo but had no further information from that. Elsie was born on 27 April 1917 in Deptford. I’m very keen to find out about Elsie’s war work and her death. I wonder whether she might have worked as part of the Secret Listeners in the Wire Scheme? Kathleen [surname…

DIARY DATES In the light of Covid-19, the majority of events that we had all looked forward to attending this summer have been cancelled. To try and help you keep busy, learning and entertained, ‘Diary dates’ is continuing in its temporary format, with a round-up of online courses, exhibitions and webinars to enjoy from your own home LEARN ANY TIME, ANYWHERE THIS SUMMER Online Google Arts & Culture’s latest free online exhibition is A History of the Family of Anne Frank, exploring the family history stories that diarist Anne Frank recorded from her father’s memories. https://familytr.ee/frank Ongoing, Learn from the past, a guide for the curious reseacher FutureLearn’s free three-week online course invites participants to get to know the sources and resources of the British Library. https://familytr.ee/curious 28 July, Before…