Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2023 i Family Tree UK

Rachel Bellerby reports on the latest genealogy news. Got a story to share? Email editorial@family-tree.co.uk The document, produced during the Wars of the Roses, has not been seen publicly for over 20 years. The new spectral imaging method developed by Nottingham Trent University for scanning manuscript rolls will produce not only high resolution colour images given by traditional digitisation, but also material and ‘hidden’ information. The roll -MS 501, which is located at Burlington House with the London Society of Antiquaries - is almost 50ft long and is considered to be one of the finest late-medieval chronicles in the world. Because of its unusual size and length, the roll cannot currently be accessed and presents unique challenges when it comes to digitisation. ‘This is a fascinating document which still holds…

Leaving no Mead-McCar thy stone unturned QI wonder whether your experts could advise me on a particularly puzzling brickwall in Westminster? My great-grandmother Louisa Maud Mead, Mrs Baker, was born in Westminster, Middlesex. Her birth certificate shows that her father was John Mead, a labourer in an Iron Foundry, and her mother Mary McCarthy. I cannot find a marriage for them. If they married it would have been c1857. Mary is sometimes listed as Carter, but that surname also draws a blank. I realise that not all couples married, and not all marriages that did occur actually were registered, but the lack of the marriage is a complete brickwall for tracing both the Mead and McCarthy families, as the names are common in the area. This is very frustrating as,…

These questions and more are now easier than ever to answer using TheGenealogist, who have linked all of their 1881 census records to their Map Explorer™ so that users can see the locations of houses plotted on georeferenced historic and modern map layers. Uniquely on TheGenealogist viewing a household record from the 1881 Census will now show a map pinpointing its location. Clicking on this pin opens Map Explorer™, enabling subscribers to explore the area and see the records of neighbouring properties. With this new feature, you can research the streets, lanes and neighbourhoods in which your ancestors lived at the time of the 1881 Census. With properties plotted on a map, see the routes their ancestors could have used to get to the shops, drop into their local pub, worship…

The eagerly-anticipated release on 30 November comprised 4.8 million individual records, which are available on a credits system at ScotlandsPeople. The 150,000 searchable images of original handwritten census books detail each address. This 1921 census included additional questions than those asked in the 1911 Census, including place of work, whether children had been orphaned, and whether eligible for benefit under the 1911 National Insurance Act. However, the number of children born and the length of marriage, questions asked in the 1911 Census, were not asked in this census. Explore the 1921 Census at ScotlandsPeople www. scotlandspeople.gov.uk. As with other census records on the site, the price is £1.50 per page (6 credits).…

Making DNA work FOR YOU Readers often start their questions with “I know it is probably simple but…” or “Sorry for asking this …”. I always say there is never a question too simple to ask and that, if you are writing in, then there are probably many people with the same question who haven’t. When I first started on my DNA journey I asked lots of questions and I still do because there is always something new and exciting to learn when it comes to genetic genealogy! Right, let’s take a look at this next question. LILLIAN WRITES: ‘I know it is probably simple, but...' 'IS IS WORTH ME TESTING?' I’ve been tracing my family lines for many years and have been able to get back to my 3x…

The Family Historian User Group (FHUG) at www.fhug.org.uk exists to provide user-to-user support for the Family Historian (FH) software package (www. family-historian.co.uk). The group operates completely online, with thousands of members from across the English-speaking world, and increasingly from Europe and further afield, as Family Historian now supports languages other than English. Founded just months after Family Historian was released in 2002, it started as a few pages on the web master (mistress) Jane Taubman’s web page, before gaining its own home in 2004. It has grown to become a major resource for anyone using Family Historian to record and manage their family history research. There are no membership fees or joining restrictions. Whether you are a beginner or a more experienced user, FHUG exists to help you get more…

YOUR FAMILY PHOTOS Heather Redman writes: I have found this photo in some oddments but have no idea which side of the family it came from. I presume it is a family group – maybe marking the father leaving for the war? I would appreciate any information that your experts can offer (date, soldier details or anything else). It is printed on the standard postcard mount. Jayne Shrimpton replies: A professional portrait This professional group portrait depicts a large family crowded into a photographer’s studio. Handy format dating hint You mention that it is presented on a postcard mount, which confirms a date of at least 1902, when the divided-back postcard became a recognised photographic format (see our Photo Study Hints column, November 2022). Postcard photographs remained fashionable for almost…

The project, from Kresen Kernow – Cornwall’s Archives – uses photos from the George Ellis collection to explore Bodmin’s working class history. For this project, Kresen Kernow is working in partnership with ‘IntoBodmin’, a community interest company established in 2017 to bring about greater community cohesion and local pride through arts and culture. The George Ellis collection contains 95,000 glass plate negatives, covering the period 1939-82, and is one of the most representative collections held by the archives. It includes images of individuals and families, weddings, shops and business, community and major events. The photographs also have the benefit of being largely within living memory; the project organisers hope that the images will spark discussion and sharing, bringing about a positive impact on wellbeing, creativity and connection. The archives have…

In 1860, the House of Commons ordered for a report to be taken of each workhouse in England and Wales. The resulting document detailed every long-term resident of the workhouses, and the reasons for their residency. A long-term resident was an adult, over the age of 16, who had been inhabiting a workhouse for five or more years. There are over 14,000 records to explore in this brand new collection, available to FindMyPast subscribers. Each record includes: • Name • Period of continuous residence in the workhouse • Reason for being a resident • Poor Law Union workhouse • County • Whether brought up in a district or workhouse school How did people end up as long-term workhouse residents? The 1860 report information was gathered and the report duly published…

The annual Visit England awards are designed to celebrate excellence within the visitor attraction sector and showcase those places that go the extra mile to provide a high-quality day out. Both venues were praised for the ‘warm and friendly’ welcome they provide to visitors, with The Collection Museum reporting a return to pre-pandemic level visitor numbers. Speaking on the Lincolnshire Live website, Paul Mason, visitor experience manager at The Collection Museum and Usher Gallery, said ‘The Collection has had a bumper year, with over 78,000 visitors through the doors for some of our most popular exhibitions ever, so this award is just the icing on the cake for us’. Caroline Ward, Lincoln Castle’s visitor experience manager said of the win: ‘From being a place for people to meet in the…

‘Heraldry is the fusion of fact and fancy, myth and manner, romance and reality. It is an exuberant union of family, art, and history ’ (Charles J. Burnett and Mark D. Dennis, The Lion Rejoicing, 1997) Before writing this article, I began to list the many ways in which knowledge of heraldry can bring benefit to genealogical research. My vivid imagination immediately transported me to a famous scene in Monty Python’s film The Life of Brian, when a group of disenchanted citizens, led by the incongruously named ‘Reg’, debate the contribution made by the Romans to civilisation. The list of innovations starts small, but ultimately extends to sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system and public health. And so it is with heraldry and all…

YOUR IDEAS If you have an idea you’d like to share, or a topic you’d like to see covered, please email helen.t@family-tree.co.uk with the details. TREE-BUILDING & TREE-FIXING QUICK FAMILY TREE John Smith writes: A mobile app that I particularly like is the free Quick Family Tree by Digital Gene, which is very useful for quickly creating and building family trees on a tablet if you don’t have more extensive resources to hand. • Quick Family Tree does what it does really well, despite not having huge numbers of fields. • Once in a while an advertisement has to finish before someone can be added or edited. • Trees can be easily saved and exported and it has a fair bit of flexibility in terms of layout and look. Price:…

When we write letters, even emails, we use different endings depending on the recipient. Typically, these graduate from the business-like ‘yours faithfully’ and ‘yours sincerely’, to the more modern ‘kind regards’, ‘best wishes’, and on closer acquaintance, ‘with love from’, ‘all my love’, ‘your ever loving’, etc. I always think it must be a magic moment in Frenchspeaking populations when you change from using vous to tu and you know your relationship has progressed to a closer level. English would have used thee and thou centuries ago, but now those intimate words are only heard of in poetry, when reading the Bible and older literature and of course in the traditional marriage service: ‘Wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife...’ SWALK.. Sealed with a loving kiss. Did…