Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2024 i Who Do You Think You Are?

When I talk to people who have taken a DNA test, I often find that after the initial excitement (“I'm 5 per cent Swedish, is that my Viking roots?”) the results can linger, neglected, on a website. But, whether you took a test years ago, or are thinking of asking for one as a Christmas gift, the tools for getting more from your results have come on leaps and bounds. On page 14 Debbie Kennett shares her 10 best tips for squeezing every bit of genealogical goodness out of your test results. And please follow her first tip and attach a tree to your results (just asking for a friend…!). This issue goes on sale on 5 November, which coincides with our annual Transcription Tuesday event. We wrote about how to…

Email wdytyaeditorial@ourmedia.co.uk Write to WDYTYA? Magazine, Eagle House, Bristol BS1 4ST A BLACK AND WHITE WEDDING After reading Chloe O'Shea's article about using online newspapers in the November issue, I had to write in to share this gem of a find about my great grandad's sister Isabella Dagnall. She married Arthur Symonds on 1 August 1916 at the Warrington registry office. I decided to check the newspaper archives on Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) to see if I could learn more about them. To my surprise, I uncovered an article in the Runcorn Examiner about their wedding day, and was utterly astonished. They were the first interracial couple to be married in the whole borough. I was overwhelmed with pride and respect for this brave couple, who declared their love to the whole town,…

DNA TESTING Use Ancestr yDNA's Shared Matches tool to group matches into clusters DNA testing is an incredibly powerful tool for the family historian. It can help us to verify our research, make connections with our cousins, and break through brick walls. DNA testing can also reveal surprise – and possibly unwelcome – discoveries, such as the existence of unknown siblings or the revelation that the father who raised you is not your biological parent. Most people start their DNA journey by testing with AncestryDNA (ancestry.co.uk/dna). The company has now tested more than 25 million people, giving it the largest database by far; in addition the website has a user-friendly interface, including good integration with family trees. However, when you're faced with a DNA match list full of names that…

BRITISH HISTORY ONLINE w british-history.ac.uk Often overlooked by family historians, this huge online repository holds almost 1,300 volumes of primary and secondary sources that can give context to your ancestors' lives, plus 40,000 images and vintage maps. Rachel used it to research the streets in London her ancestors had lived in. GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE w www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content The birth index on the GRO's website lists the maiden name of the mother for each entry, which is very useful. Rachel cross-checked the birth entries for the children in one particular family on her tree, and used this to work out the maiden name of an elusive relative – Eliza Jones. INTERNET ARCHIVE w archive.org Rachel uncovered relations who worked in several trades including tailors, grocers and bakers. To find out more about…

1 CHECK THE CRIMINAL REGISTERS These registers, on Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk) and Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk ), mention that David Ford and John Portingall were tried for sheep-stealing at the assizes in Wiltshire in 1806, and hanged. 2 RESEARCH THE COURT'S RECORDS TNA's guides will reveal the records available for the court in question. Here, ‘Criminal court cases: assize courts 1559-1971' (tinyurl.com/tna-guide-assizes) notes the material available for Wiltshire's assizes. 3 VIEW YOUR RELATION'S RECORDS In addition to the indictment, the accused will be listed in the Crown and gaol books. You may find further useful and interesting records, such as the depositions (witness statements) – an example is above.…

Q My mum and I recently took DNA tests from AncestryDNA (ancestry.co.uk/dna). As far back as we have managed to research in the family tree on both sides (until the 1600s on a lot of branches), nearly every ancestor was born in Cornwall. We were surprised then to see 26 per cent and 24 per cent Scottish results in mine and mum's DNA respectively, as we haven't found any ancestors with Scottish origins. Ancestry doesn't seem to distinguish between Cornish and English, so could that be a factor? Also, any ideas why our Scottish percentage is so high? Are there sites that might determine our genetic origins more accurately? Jane Orme A The biogeographical ancestry reports from AncestryDNA have two components: the percentage breakdowns, which generally correspond with countries, and…

My grandfather Garfield Evans was a Welsh first-language speaker, tall and broad, who smoked a pipe filled with ‘baccy'. He was very indulgent towards us grandchildren – there was always a toy waiting for us whenever we visited. Garfield worked near Cardiff as a stonemason at St Fagans National Museum of History (museum.wales/stfagans/). There are 50 historic buildings on site, including a Victorian school, a medieval prince's hall and a blacksmith's forge. In 1951, Garfield and his colleagues dismantled and rebuilt Abernodwydd Farmhouse, a timber-framed building dating back to 1678. It originally stood in Llangadfan, Powys, and was transported over 100 miles to St Fagans where the highly skilled team restored it precisely. I've loved visiting St Fagans and seeing a bed inside the farmhouse that is covered in daisy-wheel…

CALENDAR OF WILLS w tinyurl.com/arch-nants-wills The Internet Archive has this volume of wills from Northampton and Rutland that were proved in the court of the Archdeacon of Northampton (1510–1652). NONCONFORMIST RECORDS w tinyurl.com/fs-nonconform-nants This FamilySearch collection (1840–1894) contains Northamptonshire christening, marriage and burial records from various religious groups including Methodist, Society of Friends (Quakers), Catholic, Presbyterian and Baptist congregations. CIVIL WAR PETITIONS w www.civilwarpetitions.ac.uk Find out how the county's wounded soldiers, war widows and other bereaved family members petitioned for financial relief in the wake of the English Civil Wars, drawn from quarter sessions. DIRECTORIES w tinyurl.com/sco-northants The University of Leicester's source of digitised trade directories Special Collections Online has 14 volumes covering Northamptonshire, the earliest dating from 1841. MILITIA LISTS w tinyurl.com/nrs-down Here you can explore Northamptonshire Record Society's…

I loved Phil Tomaselli's guide to First World War medical records (page 38). The indexing project at The National Archives got me particularly excited. However, these records often provide scant detail, so it's vital not to assume that someone who shares the same name as your ancestor is your ancestor – you don't want to accidentally give your grandfather syphillis! The records are included in Findmypast's free weekend (see page 10), giving you the perfect opportunity to explore them – and if you use discount code NOVEMBER2024 you can save 30% on an Everything subscription afterwards.…

Findmypast goes free for Remembrance weekend Family history website Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) is offering free access to every single one of its records on 8–11 November to mark the Remembrance Day weekend. This includes its historic newspapers and the 1921 census of England and Wales, which is exclusive to the site. On 18 October, Findmypast announced the start of a new family history challenge in the run-up to Remembrance Day (11 November). The site is asking family historians to use its records to uncover the story of the Griffiths family, whose five sons fought in the First World War. A different set of records will be free to access each weekend for four weeks, ending with free access to every record on Remembrance Day weekend. Sarah Bush, managing director of Findmypast,…

For as long as I can remember, my parents have joked that our family tree has more in common with a stump than a sprawling oak. Both thought that their ancestors had more or less stayed in the same geographical area; my mum, for one, believed her relatives to be mostly Anglicans from Colne in Lancashire. So it was a surprise when I discovered her maternal grandparents both descended from Catholic immigrants who had left Ireland in the 1830s and 1840s and settled in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Perhaps they emigrated in search of a better life, but records suggest that they experienced otherwise. Census records showed that they lived mainly in the city's slums, while birth and death certificates recorded lives that began and ended in the workhouse. My great…

ARCHIVE LIVERPOOL RECORD OFFICE a 3rd Floor Central Library, William Brown Street, Liverpool L3 8EW t 0151 233 5883 w tinyurl.com/lro-fam-hist Lauren found letters that Patrick sent from Canada at LRO. It's important to remember that plenty of documents in local archives are not yet online, and an archive may offer a research service to help you trace your relation in their records. WEBSITES ANCESTRY w ancestry.co.uk Browse free and subscription-based collections, including Poor Law records and passenger lists, to get a broad sense of your ancestor's past. FINDMYPAST w findmypast.co.uk In February 2024 the site added 39,000 records of Home Children sent from Britain to Canada. Three very useful collections are free to access: ‘Canada, Home Children Inspection Reports' (1913–1932); ‘Canada, Home Children Board of Guardian Records'; and ‘Lancashire,…

CRIMINAL JUSTICE PRE-1875 The British legal system is viewed as one of the best and most independent in the world, having evolved for over a millennium. Searching the surviving records for criminal ancestors can be complicated and time-consuming. However, the potential results are possibly some of the most enthralling records you will ever encounter. The Romans and Anglo-Saxons had their own ways of dealing with crime and administrating justice, which were almost entirely handled at a local level. Following the Norman Conquest, little changed. The manorial courts were the backbone of local justice, but began to lose their importance with the introduction of quarter sessions, although were not finally abolished until 1977. Surviving manorial records are detailed on the Manorial Documents Register, available through Discovery, the online catalogue of The…

Anyone who has researched police history in Essex will be familiar with the name Fred Feather. The former police sergeant's articles in a range of publications have provided a rich seam to explore in family and social history. As a solid resource behind him, he had the Essex Police Museum (essex.police.uk/museum) at Essex Police Headquarters in Springfield – he used to be its curator – which has one of the most enterprising and valuable sources for researchers into police history in its archive. As a heritage location, the museum offers handson experience of past police practice and everyday work, and it includes the usual sensational material such as the death mask of Frederick Browne, who murdered PC George Gutteridge in the county in a notorious case from 1927. In its…

Born in Washington, DC, pianist and talent scout Fred Gaisberg crossed the Atlantic to set up Britain's first recording studio at 31 Maiden Lane, just off the Strand in Central London. At first Gaisberg had just one recording machine, and an upright piano mounted on a movable platform. The West End location was ideal for scouting talent, and one of Gaisberg's first scores was a fellow American named Burt Shepard; he became an early star in Britain by remaking many of the popular comic songs that had already been hits across the pond. Gaisberg was skilled at attracting known performers, alongside a procession of less familiar actors, singers, whistlers and amateurs. In his autobiography, he wrote that stout was the drink of choice in the studio. Gaisberg would accompany many…

PICK OF THE MONTH Scottish Indexes presents its latest conference SCOTTISH INDEXES CONFERENCE XXVI 23 November w scottishindexes.com/conference.aspx First introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic, Scottish Indexes' online conferences about researching Scottish family history are still going strong. For the latest event, the talks are ‘Housing the Miners' by Kay Williams, ‘Town and Gown – St Andrews University Archive' by Sarah Rodriguez, ‘Historic Scotland in the Archives: Using Historic Environment Scotland Archives to Explore Historic Sites Around Scotland' by Joseph Waterfield, ‘Using the Internet and PRONI for Northern Irish Research' by regular Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine contributor Chris Paton, ‘Beyond ScotlandsPeople: Breaking Down Brick Walls in Scottish Research' by Alison Spring, and ‘On the Boll: Agricultural and Landholding Terminology in Scottish Records' by Robert Urquhart. Each talk is…

ARCHIVES & LIBRARIES NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ARCHIVES SERVICE a Wootton Hall Park, Mereway, Northampton NN4 8BQ t 01604 362513 e archivist@westnorthants.gov.uk w westnorthants.gov.uk/northamptonshire-archives-service The county archive looks after parish material, electoral rolls, hospital, workhouse and asylum records, wills back to 1462, as well as the Northamptonshire Regiment and Northamptonshire Yeomanry collections. You'll also find First World War tribunals, searchable at Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk), plus personal letters and accounts, estate collections, school records, and material relating to the county's shoe and boot industry. NORTHAMPTON GENERAL HOSPITAL MUSEUM AND ARCHIVE a Cliftonville, Northampton NN1 5BD t 01604 544868 e ngh-tr.museumandarchive@nhs.net w northamptongeneral.nhs.uk/About/OurHistory/Visiting-the-Archive.aspx The archive at Northampton General Hospital started life as a medical library at the first infirmary in George Row in 1790. It's run by volunteers and comprises books, documents, artwork and instruments. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE…

FAMILY HERO A gem from a reader's family tree Two young girls were playing by the deep, still waters of the Grand Surrey Canal in Camberwell, South London, in 1895. One of them fell into the canal and her friend, who went to her aid, also fell in. Neither of the girls could swim, and both faced great peril. It was at this point that 10-year-old Walter Albert Myatt courageously leapt in and, despite not being able to swim either, rescued both girls. “Walter is my great uncle,” explains Karen Meager, “although I didn't know of his existence until I began researching our family tree.” If I could say anything to Walter it would be that I'm so proud I found you Walter was born on 6 April 1885 in…

DEBBIE KENNETT Debbie is a genetic genealogist, lecturer and writer who also has an interest in surnames. On page 14 she looks at some of the latest tools to help you get more from DNA. LAUREN POTTS A family historian and journalist, Lauren loves a good story, so when she uncovered the heartbreaking reason why a boy in her tree went missing, she had to share it (page 18). PAUL BLAKE Author of Tracing Your Insolvent Ancestors, Paul has been writing and lecturing on family history for over 30 years. On page 28 he explains the pre-1875 criminal-justice system.…

As a little boy my grandfather, born in the last years of Queen Victoria's reign, had to share a bed with his uncle George, his father's brother who lived with them in their tiny house in inner-city Manchester. Seventy years later, Grandad, talking to me about his childhood, remembered this all too vividly: in his words, George “didn't smell too tasty”. George would then have been about 35 years old. Fastforward to the 1930s. George, by now in his mid-60s, was still living with them; he was, in the phrase of the time, “a bit simple”, and couldn't look after himself. My mother remembered him no less vividly – he was “a very dirty man”. The rest of the family tried to be clean, given their circumstances. The house had…

The Catholic Emigration Association (CEA) formed in 1904 and amalgamated numerous similar schemes. Many were created on the premise of preventing Catholic children being sent to Canada without religious provision. Liverpool Catholic Children's Protection Society was the first to send a cohort to Canada in its founding year of 1881 and others followed, including Father Berry's Homes in Liverpool, whose manager was Arthur Chilton Thomas. Then considered the authority on emigration, he oversaw the unification of schemes to form the CEA, whose work was under the control of the Catholic children's rescue societies in the dioceses of Westminster, Southwark, Birmingham and Liverpool. However, government documents suggest that the CEA began to question the benefit of sending children to Canada by the early 1930s. Many records were returned to England and…

Rachel Chávez's story begins with a carefully drafted family tree that has been passed down through her family. At the top, bold calligraphy proclaims “Pedigree of the Family of Nassau”, and beneath this a coat of arms in blue and gold features two lions flanking a shield topped with a crown and leaf-like heraldic symbols. A note states, “These Armorial Bearings were granted to William Henry Nassau, 1st Earl of Rochford.” The name at the top of the tree is “Henry Frederick, Prince of Orange”. “Growing up, I always loved history and social history in particular,” says Rachel, a sixth-form librarian from Dereham in Norfolk. “My interest started when my nana showed me this pedigree suggesting a link with Dutch royalty, along with some original certificates and photos, and some…

Jeffreys is now better known as the infamous ‘Hanging Judge'. He came from a family of considerable note, his legal career starting in 1676 when he became solicitor general to the Duke of York and Albany, later James II. By 1683 he had become lord chief justice of the King's Bench, and in 1685 lord chancellor, gaining an early reputation for numerous perverse decisions. It was his actions in 1685 that gave rise to his historical notoriety. Jeffreys was sent to the West Country to conduct the trials of those who had participated in the failed rebellion of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, against the new king James II. Of the 1,381 found guilty of treason, as many as 700 are estimated to have been executed, although in reality…

BOOKS A History of Criminal Justice in England and Wales John Hostettler Waterside Press, 2009 Hostettler covers the major developments, from Anglo-Saxon dooms to the creation of common law and today's criminal-justice system. Crime and Punishment in England: A Sourcebook Andrew Barrett and Christopher Harrison (eds) Routledge, 1998 This collection of primary material from the 10th to the 19th centuries features the words of the authorities, criminals and their victims. Jackson's Machinery of Justice, 8th Edn JR Spencer Cambridge University Press, 1989 An online edition of this revised and updated version of RM Jackson's classic 1940 text is available. Quarter Sessions Records for Family Historians: A Select List, 5th Edn Jeremy Gibson Family History Partnership, 2007 Despite its age this remains a useful guide, although individual record office catalogues or…

FINDMYPAST w bit.ly/fmp-manc-pol Findmypast's collection ‘Manchester Police Index 1812-1941' contains 10,636 records. GLASGOW POLICE MUSEUM w policemuseum.org.uk The museum tells the story of local policing. HERTS PAST POLICING w hertspastpolicing.org.uk This is a great resource for researching police history in Hertfordshire back to 1836. INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR THE HISTORY OF CRIME, POLICING AND JUSTICE w open.ac.uk/arts/research/policing/resources The centre holds journals, newsletters and articles. Its site has a guide to regional archives. LANARKSHIRE POLICE HISTORICAL SOCIETY w lphs.org.uk The LPS preserves local police history. METROPOLITAN POLICE MUSEUM w tinyurl.com/met-police-museum This museum is located in Sidcup with visits by appointment only. Check the website to see details of its extensive holdings. POLICE MEMORIAL w policememorial.org.uk The Police Remembrance Trust commemorates those who died in the line of duty. SOUTH WALES POLICE HERITAGE…

FORCES WAR RECORDS w uk.forceswarrecords.com This site has the First World War pension cards, recording pensions paid to injured soldiers or the next of kin of those killed. THE LONG, LONG TRAIL w tinyurl.com/long-trail-evac Chris Baker's excellent website about researching soldiers from the First World War includes a guide to the military casualty chain, from initial inspection through to hospitalisation. THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES w discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk Wounded officers' medical-board records can usually be found in TNA series WO 339 and/or WO 374, and can be searched by name. However, they have not been digitised.…

Q My grandfather, Thomas Griffiths (born 1884), joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1915 even though he was over age. I sent for his service papers (no. 7939), and noticed a three-year gap between his enrolment date and discharge at the end of the war. He is recorded as an aircraft mechanic (AM), but seems to have ended up as a driver. His Medal Index Card indicates that he was in France during the missing years, but nothing is recorded. How can I find out what he was doing during these silent years? He re-enlisted for the Second World War and served, I assume, as ground crew. He died in Darlington in 1957. Rita Hull Thomas' Second World War papers may include details of his early career A The reason…

TECH TIPS When MyHeritage (myheritage.com) released Legacy Family Tree 10 earlier this year, it removed its Deluxe Edition and made all previously paid-for features completely free. That includes its powerful Legacy Charting tool, which allows you to create a range of striking wall charts from your family tree with the minimum of effort. Not only can you produce colourful charts to print across multiple sheets of A4 (or A3) paper, but you can also export them as image files. Legacy Charting works best with trees created in Legacy itself, so you'll need to transfer yours across from your current program to use it. That's easy enough – start by exporting your current tree as a GEDCOM file using the program's export tools. If the option is there, be sure to…

BOOK Shellac and Swing! Bruce Lindsay Fonthill Media, 2020 Lindsay tells the story of the gramophone's golden age. WEBSITES BRITISH NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE w britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk Historic newspapers contain all sorts of articles and adverts related to the music industry. Also try free sources like the National Library of Wales' site Welsh Newspapers (newspapers.library.wales) and the US Library of Congress' Chronicling America (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov). FIRST SOUNDS w firstsounds.org This site is run by a US collective working to digitise humanity's earliest sound recordings. HISTORICAL DIRECTORIES OF ENGLAND & WALES w tinyurl.com/uni-leic-sco Here you can search directories for references – use words such as ‘phonograph' or ‘gramophone', not ‘record player' or ‘turntable'. INTERNET ARCHIVE w archive.org This vast site includes issues of early magazines such as The Phonoscope (launched 1896) and Talking Machine News…

Hop-harvesting is big business because the hop flower is crucial to the flavour of beer, and many of us have heard family stories of the hop-picking holidays when our urban relations travelled to spend their summers working on rural hop farms. These days, hops are primarily produced in the West Midlands as well as Kent, Suffolk, Surrey and Sussex. However, Essex in the east of England also has a forgotten history as a major hop producer in the 18th and 19th centuries. Here Lara Kirkland, archivist at Essex Record Office (ERO), shares a map that reveals one of the county's hop farms. CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE ESTATE MAP? The estate map shows Brook Farm in the village of Sible Hedingham in the Colne Valley, surveyed by T Savill in 1833…