Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2019 i Who Do You Think You Are?

Every year in the Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine office, we get excited by our January issue roundup of what is coming online over the next few months (page 17). It’s great to have an overview so we can spot trends (maps are going to be big in 2019) and plan future features. We have covered websites big and small, old and new and found some great record releases to look forward to next year. A little while ago we were contacted by a 12-year-old reader of our magazine, Faith Eades, who told us about her love of family history. That got us thinking about how to inspire the next generation of family historians, so we turned to Janet Few, who has written and lectured on the subject,…

JONATHAN SCOTT Author of The Family History Web Directory and our monthly ‘Best Websites’ contributor, Jonathan reveals what family historians can expect to come online over the year (page 17). JANET FEW A family and social historian, Janet is passionate about encouraging an interest in the past for young people, especially via living history and family history (page 30). PAUL BLAKE A familiar face on the family history lecture circuit, Paul recently brought out a second edition of his book on nonconformity. On page 67 he shares some of his expert knowledge.…

Thousands of birth and death records have been found to be missing from the General Register Office (GRO) online indexes by Peter Calver, founder of family history website Lost Cousins and an associated email newsletter. The indexes were introduced in November 2016, and list the 1837–1917 birth records and 1837–1957 death records held by the GRO. The new civil registration indexes have been welcomed by family historians because, unlike the historic printed GRO indexes, which are available on a number of websites, they enable researchers to verify a mother’s maiden name on birth records and age at death on death records going back to the beginning of civil registration in 1837. However, Calver explained in a newsletter dated 9 November that he’d investigated missing birth records after receiving a complaint…

PRONI publishes absent voter lists online for free The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) has published lists of absent voters in the counties of Armagh and Derry for free on its website. The lists were compiled so that those engaged in war service could vote in the 1918 election. PRONI has digitised the original lists, which include the absent voters’ service numbers, ranks and regiments, and created searchable spreadsheets. The 3,500 names for Armagh are available at bit.ly/absent-armagh , and the 4,500 for Derry are at bit.ly/absent-derry. Black Cultural Archives faces funding shortfall The Black Cultural Archives (BCA), the only national institution for black history and culture in Britain, is calling on the Government to make it a National Portfolio Organisation as it risks closure after a funding…

EAST BRICK WALLS 2 January a Salvation Army Citadel, Peterborough w bit.ly/pdfhs-walls e cabaret27@btinternet.com Discuss your problems and successes with Peterborough & District Family History Society. £2 for visitors. ANNIE BESANT AND THE MATCH GIRLS’ STRIKE 5 January a St John’s Arts & Recreation Centre, Harlow w bit.ly/esfh-match e suespiller@yahoo.co.uk This event sees Jeff Page discuss the 1888 strike, over dangerous working conditions, bad pay and the firing of a worker. Free. LONDON THE LONDON LABYRINTH: FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH IN LONDON 12 January a Society of Genealogists, Clerkenwell w bit.ly/sog-lab t 020 7251 8799 Kathy Chater reveals how you can navigate London records to find your ancestors. £20. INTRODUCTION TO FAMILY HISTORY SOURCES IN ASIAN & AFRICAN STUDIES 15 January a British Library, NW1 2DB w bit.ly/bl-courses e referenceservicestraining@bl.uk This…

Our preview of the hottest websites to watch in 2018 was dominated by major anniversaries – the centenaries of the Armistice, the creation of the Royal Air Force and qualifying women getting the vote, plus the 70th birthday of the National Health Service. This time, the big trend is map projects, allowing home historians to more easily research references through location. These include Layers of London, a new tithe maps tool for West Yorkshire, a new Victoria County History app, and more UK-wide Ordnance Survey charts from the National Library of Scotland. We also have a new-look, mobile-friendly website due early 2019 (whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com ). We’ll be updating our most popular tutorials, and the forum will be quicker and easier to use on mobile devices. Sites that didn’t quite make our…

CELIA HERITAGE is the author of Tracing Your Ancestors Through Death Records MICHELLE HIGGS is an author who writes books about family history and local history EMMA JOLLY is a writer, historical researcher and member of AGRA CHRIS PATON is a genealogist, author and blogger at britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk JAYNE SHRIMPTON is a professional dress historian and portrait specialist ALAN STEWART is a family historian and author of Grow Your Own Family Tree RUTH SYMES is the author of Tracing Your Ancestors Through Letters & Personal Writings PHIL TOMASELLI is a military family history expert and wrote Tracing Your Air Force Ancestors SIMON WILLS is a maritime genealogist, researcher and author Was my great great grandfather William Bird born on a ship? ‘Marriage records for his children may name cousins as witnesses’…

Was my grandad a bigamist? Q When I started researching my family tree, little did I know that one of the most intriguing characters would be my grandfather! I knew Athole Breadalbane Gregor Menzies was born in 1900, my grandmother was Lilian Ethel Edith Allan, and my father, Alan Douglas, was born in Camberwell, London, in 1931. I then discovered that Athole had worked as an attendant at Menston Asylum in West Yorkshire. In 1924, he was living in Swarcliffe, Yorkshire, with his parents. Athole married Elsie Harper in Otley the same year and they had a son, Atholl Alan Menzies, in 1925. In July 1925 Athole stole money in Otley and was sentenced to two months in jail. He stole money and a till in St Albans in March…

The Great Britain Family Names Profiling website (gbnames.publicprofiler.org) is an excellent starting point for those wanting to see the geographical spread of a particular surname. Click the big blue ‘Search for a Surname’ button, then choose the database for 1881 (sourced from the census) or 1998 (sourced from Experian). You can then search by full/partial name. Alternatively, you can select a category of names, such as ‘Celtic’, ‘English – Norman’ and ‘English – Occupational’, then choose a particular name to search for from the list. The resulting map will show distribution by county – the more common the surname in that region, the darker the shade of blue. Searching within 1998 data for my own one-name study of ‘Orlando’ as an example, the name is classified as ‘Imported From Abroad;…

8 SHILLINGS The cost of a pair of machine-made boots in the 1890s, compared with 14 shillings for a handmade pair. 6 The age at which many children started working in the shoemaking trade in the 1850s. CLICKERS These workers earned their nickname because of the clicking noise their knives made when they cut around the pattern. CORDWAINER An older, medieval word for a shoemaker, originally skilled in working with cordwain/ cordovan leather from Córdoba in Spain.…

Not all of our Christian ancestors were Church of England or Catholic. A fair number, particularly after the start of the 18th century, joined other denominations such as the Baptists, Congregationalists or Methodists. The 1559 Act of Uniformity made the Protestant Church of England the Established Church. Groups who disagreed with its beliefs and practices began to form their own congregations. They were referred to as dissenters or nonconformists, whether they were Catholics or Protestants (Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Independents, the Religious Society of Friends/Quakers and so forth). NEED FOR SECRECY Despite the early-16th-century nonconformist activity, you will be lucky to find any evidence of this in your family before 1640. As a consequence of the harsh punishments meted out to those who disobeyed the rules of the Established Church or…

1 LOCATE THE RECORDS Go to thegenealogist.co.uk and click ‘Search’ in the menu bar. Scroll down the page and click the ‘Search’ button next to the ‘Non-Conformist Records’ category in the list of available databases. 2 SEARCH THE RECORDS Type your ancestor’s name. You can narrow down the results by including a year, event type (‘Births & Baptisms’, ‘Marriages & Banns’ or ‘Deaths & Burials’), place or record series. Click ‘Search’. 3 LOOK AT THE RESULTS From the list of results you can see a full transcription of each record (which includes the reference of the original at The National Archives), as well as digitised images of the original document.…

1 At askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation enter the surname of the family you wish to find, and the county, barony, union and/or parish in which they lived (if known). Click ‘Search’ for a list of results. 2 Click one of the page icons next to a particular entry to view a scan of the valuation ledger at various magnifications. Make a note of the plot numbers in the left-hand column. 3 Return to the search results. Click one of the two map icons alongside the entry to display a scan of the accompanying survey map, allowing you to find the exact location of the plots.…

BOOKS Female Tars by Suzanne J Stark Naval Institute Press, 2017 This analysis of women in the Royal Navy in the 18th and 19th centuries includes prostitutes, seamen’s wives, and those who crossdressed to work at sea. Seafaring Women by David Cordingly Random House, 2007 This account features a broader range of female roles including pirates and women smuggled aboard to keep men company. MUSEUMS NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM a Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9NF t 020 8312 6608 w bit.ly/n-m-m The NMM explores the lives and heritage of seafarers. NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE ROYAL NAVY a HM Naval Base (PP66), Portsmouth PO1 3NH t 02392 839 766 w nmrn.org.uk The museum has its main branch here, but there are also bases at Hartlepool and Belfast. WEBSITES 1881 CREW LISTS…

1692 Men of Clan MacDonald are killed at Glencoe by members of Argyll’s Regiment of Foot for not pledging allegiance to William II of Scotland. 1773 Samuel Johnson and James Boswell pay a visit to the island of Inch Kenneth, staying with the head of Clan MacLean. Johnson’s A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland (1775) features his experiences. 1850 A severe storm strips earth from an area in the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Orkney. This uncovers the remarkably well-preserved Neolithic village of Skara Brae. 1886 Elizabeth Mouat, a 59-year-old spinner from Shetland, finds fame after surviving nine days alone in a boat that drifts all the way to Norway. 1909 Writer Christina Jamieson founds the Shetland Women’s Suffrage Society. In 1930 she forms the…

ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES HIGHLAND ARCHIVE SERVICE w highlifehighland.com/archives-service High Life Highland is responsible for four archive centres covering the Highland region in Caithness, Inverness, Lochaber, and Skye and Lochalsh. The archives held at these centres include records of official bodies, businesses, societies and individuals. They date from the 13th century to the present and include records of schools, poor relief, churches, businesses, and family and estate papers. The four centres are listed below. HIGHLAND ARCHIVE CENTRE a Bught Road, Inverness IV3 5SS t 01463 256444 e archives@highlifehighland.com LOCHABER ARCHIVE CENTRE a Alexander Ross House, Achintore Road, Fort William PH33 6RQ t 01397 707050 e lochaber.archives@highlifehighland.com NUCLEUS: THE NUCLEAR AND CAITHNESS ARCHIVE a Wick Airport, Industrial Estate, Wick, Caithness KW1 4QS t 01955 602444 e north.highlandarchive@highlifehighland.com SKYE AND LOCHALSH ARCHIVE CENTRE…

THE SEA TAKES NO PRISONERS STORIES FROM THE MEN SHIPS OF THE ROYAL NAVY IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR EDMUND S WONG Unicorn, 356 pages, £30 This book offers so much more than the historical facts of the Royal Navy in the Second World War. It contains the stories of 125 of those who served, before and during the war, covering moments both terrifying and amusing, including many of the great sea battles. From boy seamen through to the highest ranks, there are descriptions of their lives from joining-up to training; duties and experiences; and friendships, some of them all too brief. The Sea Takes No Prisoners follows their lives from before the war to after peace. The latter illustrates how their service affected them, leading to some enduring…

What inspired you to write this book? It came off the back of working on a four-year project at the University of Liverpool called the Digital Panopticon (digitalpanopticon.org), which was tracing 90,000 men, women and children tried at the Old Bailey in London and sentenced to either imprisonment in England or transportation to Australia. Once I got researching I realised that a sentence of transportation was only the beginning of so many stories, and I got pulled into all these twisting, turning, surprising tales of ordinary and extraordinary men and women that I just really wanted to share. The convicts’ treatment often seems very unjust by modern standards – was it hard to read their stories? Convict stories usually end one of two ways: well, when someone unexpectedly turns their…

THE TIMES One of the world’s oldest national newspapers, The Times , has digitised the majority of its archive and made the records available to subscribers at thetimes.co.uk. The archive can also be viewed for free from most libraries, many offering access from home to members. We searched for Montague Leverson in the database, and came across an 1867 article revealing that he was charged with fraud and later absconded. WILL Esther also discovered how her paternal grandfather, Hyam Henry Rantzen, escaped the Whitechapel slums thanks to her great great uncle Barney Barnato. Born Barnet Isaacs in 1851, the wealthy diamond merchant left the Rantzens a large sum of money in his will. Details can be found via the National Probate Calendar at www.gov.uk/search-will-probate, and the will can be ordered…

ADVERTISING t 0117 314 8823 e andy.williams@immediate.co.uk EDITORIAL t 0117 314 7400 e wdytyaeditorial@immediate.co.uk Q&A QUERIES e wdytyaquestions@immediate.co.uk SUBSCRIPTIONS t 03330 162120* e wdytya@buysubscriptions.com WDYTYA ? APP SUPPORT e wdytyadigital@buysubscriptions.com WEBSITE QUERIES e wdytyaeditorial@immediate.co.uk *UK calls will cost the same as other standard fixed-line numbers (starting 01 or 02) and are included as part of any inclusive or free minutes allowances (if offered by your phone tariff). Outside of free call packages call charges from mobile phones will cost between 3p and 55p per minute. Lines are open Monday to Friday 8am–6pm and Saturday 9am–1pm. Overseas subscribers call +44 1604 973728.…

The Railway Work, Life & Death Project has released a new set of transcribed records revealing how staff of the Great Eastern Railway applied for financial assistance after being injured at work. The records, transcribed from a ledger in the National Railway Museum, reveal applications to the company’s Benevolent Fund between 1913 and 1923. There are 641 entries concerning more than 500 individuals, and covering accidents dating back to 1879. Dr Mike Esbester, one of the project leads, said that the data would “help to fill in the picture” of what happened to workers involved in accidents. A spreadsheet of the records is available to download from the project’s website at bit.ly/railway-accidents.…

APP FAMILY HOUSE w familyhouse.com This videogame for Android, Facebook, iOS and Kindle Fire enables children to create their real family in virtual form. BOOKS Harnessing the Facebook Generation by Janet Few Unlock the Past, 2016 This guide for adults contains suggestions for involving young people in family history. Hw 2 *t Ur Fmly Hstry by Jane Starkie Family History Partnership, 2008 This book suits children from 8 to 12 interested in UK research, but is a bit out of date. My Family Tree Book by Sam Hutchinson and Catherine Bruzzone B Small Publishing, 2017 This fill-in-and-keep workbook is aimed at children under eight. Who Am I? The Family Tree Explorer by Anthony Adolph Quercus, 2009 This excellent, although slightly out of date, book is for children aged 8–12. Who…

If you’re right at the start of your genealogy quest, the resources available to you may seem overwhelming. However, it’s always best to start with the simple things: • Consult your relatives Talk to your parents, aunts and uncles, great aunts and uncles, and so on as far as possible, and find out what they know – who their siblings are, the names of their parents, and when and where they were born. • Keep a record Write notes, or record what they tell you on your phone. Remember to ask them to spell any unusual names, and provide middle names that might help you narrow individuals down in online searches.…

Was my great grandfather in the Boer War? Q This is a picture of my great grandfather, David Malcolm. It has always interested me because of the tents in the background. I think he may have been a warrant officer, and that he was in a Scottish regiment, but could you tell me more? In addition, do you think it dates from the Boer War? Derrick Paz A This is a studio photograph of a private in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB), possibly from one of the Volunteer Battalions (part-time soldiers who evolved into the Territorials in 1908). He’s been a soldier for at least six years, fought in the Boer War, and is wearing his undress uniform. A “Private D Malcolm” (regimental number 6947) appears on the medal…

Conscription in Britain was introduced in January 1916 to meet the demand for men to serve in the First World War. However, an estimated 16,000 conscientious objectors (COs) refused to fight because of their religious or political beliefs. ‘Conchies’ were required to defend their stance before tribunals. Some accepted civilian work of national importance instead, while those who refused to participate in the war at all were courtmartialled and imprisoned in often harsh conditions. The Working Class Movement Library (WCML) holds many papers relating to the CO organisation the No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF). Among them is a scrapbook compiled by CO Thomas Henry Ellison in 1919. We talked to WCML volunteer Chris Clayton about this book, and what it shows about the COs’ experiences. CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE SCRAPBOOK? The scrapbook…

BRITISH SURNAMES w britishsurnames.co.uk At time of writing ‘Corbyn’ was top of the homepage’s list of ‘most viewed’ names from the past seven days. Click the name, and we learn that it comes from a place in Glen Creran, Scotland, the word itself Gaelic for a steep hill. CONNECTED HISTORIES w connectedhistories.org Similar to the Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England, this website enables you to search for names within British sources back to 1500. DNA SURNAME PROJECTS w familytreedna.com/projects.aspx This page from Family Tree DNA is useful for finding ongoing DNA surname projects. OXFORD DICTIONARY OF FAMILY NAMES IN BRITAIN AND IRELAND w bit.ly/uwe-fanuk Find out about the research that went into this 2016 behemoth, available in print (£400) and as an ebook. You can access the text digitally through some…

ARCHIVE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL LANCASHIRE a Preston, Lancashire PR1 2HE t 01772 895000 e facultylibrarians@uclan.ac.uk w bit.ly/uclan-livesey The collection is named after campaigner Joseph Livesey, and includes monographs, pamphlets, posters and banners. Its pledges have been digitised and can be seen at bit.ly/temp-pledges. WEBSITES DISCOVERY w discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk A search of The National Archives’ online catalogue for the phrase ‘temperance pledge’ finds 75 records in the UK’s archives (14 in the London Metropolitan Archives, Clerkenwell). FINDMYPAST w bit.ly/fmp-temperance The site has the collection ‘Scotland, Edinburgh Temperance Pledges 1886–1908’ featuring transcriptions of the United Presbyterian Church’s Band of Hope register.…

If your ancestor was a master shoemaker or manufacturer, you may find him listed in a trade directory. For England and Wales, check the historical directories on the University of Leicester’s website (bit.ly/leicdir). For Scotland, try the Scottish Post Office directories digitised by the National Library of Scotland (nls.uk/family-history/directories/post-office). Some Irish directories are on Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk/irish-directories). Your forebear may also be named in bankruptcy proceedings if he got into debt. Check The Gazette online (thegazette.co.uk) or local newspapers via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk or Findmypast. Other potential records include indentures for shoemaking apprentices (although informal apprenticeships between fathers and sons won’t be recorded); staff records of factories; and guild or union membership documents. The surviving records vary hugely from place to place. Search The National Archives’ catalogue at discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk or the Scottish Archive…

John Wesley was born on 17 June 1703 to Samuel Wesley, a clergyman from Epworth in Lincolnshire, and his wife Susanna. He was educated at Charterhouse School in London before entering Christ Church, Oxford, in 1720. He graduated in 1724, became a deacon in 1725 and the following year was elected a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. He was ordained in 1728. During his residence at Lincoln, John joined his brother Charles and others in a religious study group. They became known as ‘Methodists’ because of the stress they put on methodical study and devotion. In 1735 John and Charles Wesley travelled to Georgia in America to supervise the spiritual lives of the colonists and help in the conversion of Native Americans to Christianity. However, this was a controversial and…

BOOKS Discover Protestant Nonconformity in England and Wales, Second Edition by Paul Blake Unlock the Past, 2018 This guide to sources has just been updated. My Ancestors Were Congregationalists by David Clifford SoG, 1997 Baptists, Methodists, Quakers, Unitarians and English Presbyterians feature in other books in this series. WEBSITES ANGUS LIBRARY AND ARCHIVE w theangus.rpc.ox.ac.uk This collection focuses on Baptist history. BAPTIST HISTORICAL SOCIETY w baptisthistory.org.uk The society publishes a range of books. METHODIST ARCHIVES COLLECTION w bit.ly/manch-meth This Manchester University collection has 5,000 items. QUAKERS IN BRITAIN w bit.ly/quak-lib The Quakers’ library is in Euston, London. SURMAN INDEX w bit.ly/surman-index This database lists English Presbyterian ministers and Congregational ministers. UNITED REFORMED CHURCH HISTORY SOCIETY w bit.ly/urc-hs Based at Westminster College, the society holds five archival collections.…

1724 JACK SHEPPARD HANGED The most celebrated criminal in Britain was hanged at Tyburn in front of the biggest crowd in living memory on 16 November 1724. Jack Sheppard was an attractive 22-year-old, five foot four inches tall, of slender build, and spoke with a stammer. As ‘Jack-the-Lad’ he represented not a petty criminal who got his just deserts, but a skilful operator against the cruelty of the law at a time when more than 200 offences carried the death penalty. Sheppard was born in Spitalfields in East London, the son of a carpenter, and became an apprentice in that trade. He said he was led astray at the Black Lion alehouse where he encountered “a train of vices as before I was altogether a stranger to”. He fell for…

LERWICK MIS This month’s first product is a PDF featuring monumental inscriptions from tombstones in one section of Lerwick New Cemetery, which is normally sold by Shetland Family History Society as a £4 printed booklet (shetlandfhs.org.uk). SHETLAND WAR MEMORIALS Also from the Shetland FHS booklet series is this collection of war memorial inscriptions from across the archipelago. Priced £4 and presented in digital format, it lists names on both religious and secular monuments. COONTIN KIN In addition to the two MI booklets, Shetland FHS has provided us with a digital copy of the Hairst (‘Harvest’) 2018 edition of its quarterly journal, Coontin Kin . Additional back issues can be ordered from the society’s website, priced £3 each. SIB FOLK NEWS Heading further south, Orkney Family History Society (orkneyfhs.co.uk) has supplied…

Whenever you hear an estate agent using highfalutin language to boast of the property they’re selling, there’s a chance that they’re indirectly influenced by the 19th-century auctioneer, George Robins. ‘People came to see him from miles around, just to watch him talk and perform’ Such was George’s renown for selling everything from houses to trinkets and bizarre personal effects that when Olwyn Venn (née Robins) started researching her ancestor she came up against a rare, and perhaps enviable, problem for a family historian: “The digitisation of newspapers over the past six years means that I am drowning in information! George used the press very widely to sell properties across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, as well as abroad in France and Italy. Everywhere I search for his name, I find…

We want to know what you think. After all, the more we know about you, the better placed we are to bring you the best magazine possible. So we would like to invite you to join our online reader panel: ‘Insiders’.Interested? Log on to www.immediateinsiders.com/register to fill out the short registration survey and we’ll be in touch from time to time to ask for your opinions on the magazine and other relevant issues. We look forward to hearing from you soon.…

The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust & Genocide is seeking help to identify portraits from 1920s/1930s Berlin and London. They were taken by Gertrud (Gerty) Simon (née Cohn, 1887–1970), a German-Jewish photographer working in the German capital in the 1920s and early 1930s. When the Nazis came to power she fled to Britain with her son Bernd, and re-established her studio in London. Her subjects included prominent figures of the day, such as Albert Einstein and Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan. The photos are now held in the library’s collection, and are online at bit.ly/findinggerty . If you recognise a sitter, leave a comment under the picture or email Elise Bath on ebath@wienerlibrary.co.uk using the subject line “FindingGerty”.…

A further 224,000 records of soldiers wounded in the First World War are now available to search on family history website findmypast.co.uk. The records are taken from The National Archives series MH106, where a representative sample of First World War medical records was preserved by the Government. The series includes admission and discharge registers from hospitals and casualty-clearing stations, field ambulances, an ambulance train and a hospital ship. However, under data-protection laws such records can only be published 100 years after the admission date. Since the records date to 1921, more will be released in the coming years. If your ancestor is in the records, you will be able to find out their rank, service number, corps, the hospital where they were admitted, the date of admission, and the nature…

A new digital archive for sharing stories of your family’s experiences during the First World War went live on Remembrance Sunday. Lest We Forget is the outcome of a collaboration between the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) and Oxford University, with money from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project helps local communities organise and run their own Digital Collection Days, where members of the public bring along stories, memories, photographs, diaries, letters and other mementos relating to the First World War war to be digitised and uploaded to the project database. The first items have now been added to the website lwf.web.ox.ac.uk , and shed light on the experiences of the men who fought in the war. One submission shows the cartoons that Captain Arthur Henry Douglas drew in his…

For centuries, New Year’s Day has been marked by celebrations and festivities, as we welcome a new year in the middle of winter. For most people in Christian countries the first day of the year fell on 1 January, but until the 1750s there was in fact very considerable confusion over this very question. The main reason was that the Church year – the ecclesiastical calendar – historically began on 25 March, the Feast of the Annunciation, when the archangel Gabriel came to Mary and told her that she would bear a child. This was considered vitally important, because it marked the date of the Incarnation. To start the year from the moment of Christ’s miraculous conception rather than the birth emphasised the event’s momentous nature. ‘In the Catholic countries,…

Many genealogists regret that their younger relatives show no interest in family history. This is something that we must work to overcome, because the benefits are surprisingly wide-ranging. Research by Marshall Duke, an American professor of psychology, has found that children who have a good sense of their personal history are likely to be more resilient, have higher self esteem and be better able to deal with stress: all excellent reasons for us to encourage young people to take an interest. We also benefit if the children around us share our passion for genealogy. Not only may they become the willing custodians of all our lovingly gathered information when we pass away, but there is immense pleasure to be had from sharing a hobby we love with our loved ones.…

Brick walls loom large in most genealogists’ research at one time or another. But for Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine reader Amelia Thorogood, the puzzle was frustratingly close to home. “There’d always been this space with nothing beyond my father. I did have wonderful adoptive grandparents, but I didn’t know my paternal biological heritage at all.” But all that changed recently with the help of DNA testing, a newly discovered member of the family and a good old-fashioned delve into the archives. ‘I was so excited when the results of my DNA test came back’ “I’ve always known about my maternal line, and it’s pretty straightforward. It’s been researched quite a way back – to the mid-1700s,” says Amelia. Her mother’s side was packed with professionals: “teachers, accountants…

‘The total abstinence movement swept the UK by the mid-1800s’ Millions of our ancestors committed to changing their lives in the 19th and 20th centuries by signing a pledge to abstain from alcohol. They might have been encouraged to do so by one of the many organised groups, such as the Independent Order of Rechabites, the Sons of Temperance, and the Band of Hope, but the earliest pledges were simply signatures below a statement promising to abstain from alcohol as a beverage. Alcohol was still widely used medicinally in the 19th century, but the rise of alternative treatments enabled later pledges to state “all alcohol”, with no reservations. When seven men signed the first such pledge in Preston, on 1 September 1832, it began the total abstinence movement (known as…

Shoemaking has been known since ancient times, developing wherever settlements of people were found. Shoemakers and cordwainers (or ‘cordiners’) crafted shoes from scratch by hand, while cobblers repaired them to be good as new. In Scotland, ‘souter’ meant either a shoemaker or a cobbler. Early footwear was of the moccasin type; the Romans then improved tanning methods to create higher-quality leather for their more sophisticated sandal-like shoes. The Anglo-Saxons introduced the ‘turnshoe’ where the various parts are sewn together inside out, before being turned the right way round. From the 12th century onwards, shoemakers in towns congregated in particular streets and formed trade guilds. Northampton, Stafford and London were famous for shoemaking, while in Scotland the towns of Lanark, Forfar and Selkirk were similarly well-known. These were all areas with…

The Find A Grave website claims to offer the world’s largest collection of grave sites, with more than 170 million from around the world. You can access it via your browser at findagrave.com, or download the free app for Android and iOS – just search the relevant app store for ‘Find A Grave’ (if you use an iPad, you may need to change the ‘Supports’ filter in the search function from ‘iPad Only’). Find A Grave works on two levels. First, you can search the website for existing gravestone information to see if any of your ancestors have been found and logged by others. Second, you can volunteer to add information from your local cemetery, or whichever cemeteries you visit in search of your ancestors’ final burial places. In this…

1 YEAR AND TYPE OF REGISTER Before 1752 the Julian Calendar would have been used, with the year commencing on 25 March. It is not unusual to find mixed registers containing both baptisms and burials. 2 NAMES OF CHILDREN The children of Presbyterians were frequently given Old Testament names, as here – Hannah, Jacob, Joel, Joseph and Samuel. 3 BORN AND BAPTISED Both dates are commonly included, unlike Church of England registers. 4 STAMP DUTY From 1653 to 1794 there was a tax on all baptisms – the fee was three pence in 1783–1794. 5 MINISTERS The death of Rev John Ralph in April 1795 is noted, after which his replacements, Mr Simpson then T Broadhurst, took over the register. 6 CORRECTION The registers were often used as informal notebooks.…

Traditionally, Ireland has presented a stumbling block for researchers. Following the loss of crucial records during the Irish War of Independence, those more comfortable with sources elsewhere in the British Isles have tended to shy away. However, if you know where to look, there’s a treasure trove of valuable documents waiting both online and in the archives, which when used in conjunction can take your research in surprising – and productive – new directions. After reading the article on Irish research in our Summer 2018 issue, Mike Pearson got in touch to reveal how he tackled his own Irish brick wall. MY BRICK WALL I started tracing my family history in the late 1980s, but took an extended break when I pursued academic work and spent some time on my…

Mary Ann Talbot was the mistress of an army captain, and accompanied him overseas in 1792 dressed as his servant, John Taylor. The captain was killed, but Mary kept her new identity and went to sea as John. She joined HMS Brunswick as a ship’s boy, but nearly lost her leg in action in 1794. Moving to HMS Vesuvius , she was captured and spent 18 months in a French prison, yet still maintained her disguise. After release, she became ship’s clerk aboard an American merchant vessel in 1796, but had to flee because the captain’s daughter announced that she wanted to marry ‘John’! Once back in England, she was cornered by a Navy press gang intending to enlist her, but Mary had had enough and revealed her true identity.…

Check the 1881 census returns for the parish of Creich in the county of Sutherland and you’ll find a unique entry. The head of household is 58-year-old Hugh Calder, who is described as “tuathanach, banarach agus buachaille”, meaning “farmer, milkman and herdsman”. And according to Jennifer Johnstone of the Highland Archive Centre, it is the only census entry they have ever found written in Gaelic. The Highlands refers to the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, with the Great Glen forming a dividing line between the Grampian Mountains of the south-east and north-west Highlands. Alongside historic counties such as Argyll, Caithness, Inverness, Nairn, Ross and Cromarty, and Sutherland, we’re also visiting the islands and archipelagos that pepper the Scottish coast. ‘OS maps show land ownership for tax…

Flora was born on South Uist, the second-largest island of the Outer Hebrides. She is best remembered for helping Bonnie Prince Charlie – Charles Edward Stuart – evade government troops after the Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746. She was visiting her brother on Benbecula when Charles and a small band of companions arrived seeking refuge. She helped him evade capture on the island, then smuggled him back to the mainland disguised as an Irish maid. Flora was eventually arrested and sent to London, but was later released, having won a reputation for fortitude, grace and loyalty. In 1774 she emigrated to North Carolina with her husband, a soldier in the British Army, but their assets were stripped during the American War of Independence. She returned to Scotland in…

CAMERON This Highland clan name is derived from the Gaelic for ‘crooked’ or ‘bent’, referring to the nose. CAMPBELL This name, derived from the Gaelic for ‘bent mouth’, is common in Argyll. FRASER The earliest variants of this Scots name are found in the 12th century. It’s common in Inverness and Nairn. HUGHSON This name crops up frequently in Shetland, alongside Leask, Smith, Tulloch and Williamson. MACDONALD In Gaelic this patronymic is written as Mac Dhomhnuill. The personal name Domhnall, in essence, means ‘ruler of the world’. MACKAY This is the anglicised form of the Gaelic ‘son of Aodh’ – an ancient personal name meaning ‘fire’. It is common in Sutherland. MACKENZIE This patronymic derives from a personal name meaning ‘comely’. SUTHERLAND This is a regional name most associated with…

INFINITE FAMILY TREE DRAWER Mac OSX Free (with in-app purchases) Infinite Family Tree Drawer reads GEDCOM files and converts them into PDF ascending and descending family trees with built-in timeline presentation. You can include a maximum of 64 people for free, and add more for $1.99 (an unlimited tree costs $8.99). LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA bit.ly/canada-pod  Free This podcast showcases the treasures of Library and Archives Canada. Recent episodes have shed light on fascinating corners of the nation’s heritage, including the Canadian Canoe Museum, the Jacob M Lowy collection of historic Jewish artefacts, and the diaries of the country’s 10th prime minister Mackenzie King. CHARTING COMPANION Windows Vista £24.95 This program lets you create customisable genealogy charts of any size and colour, displaying up to 160 generations. The…