Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.
TheGenealogist has expanded its UK Parish Records collection with the release of over 1,363,000 new records for Northumberland. These records make it easier to find your ancestors’ baptisms, marriages and burials in these fully searchable records that cover the ancient parishes of the northernmost county of England. Some of the records can take you as far back as 1560.
In this release you can find the records of:
903,314 individuals in Baptisms, 157,329 individuals in Marriages and 302,378 individuals in Burials
Use these records to find the names of ancestors, parents’ forenames (in the case of baptisms), father’s occupation (where given), abode or parish, parish that the event took place in, the date of the event, in the case of marriage records, the bride’s maiden name and the witnesses’ names.
In these records you can find Grace Horsley Darling, the famous lighthouse keeper’s daughter who saved the crew from a shipwrecked paddle steamer. She was born on 24th November 1815, at her grandfather’s cottage in Bamburgh in Northumberland and was baptised the following month.
Grace was the daughter of William and Thomasine Darling who, when only a few weeks old, was taken to live in a small cottage attached to the lighthouse on Brownsman Island, one of the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland.
Her father ran the lighthouse there and she is famed for participating in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked paddle steamer Forfarshire in 1838.
It was carrying sixty two people when it foundered on the rocks, split in two, the survivors managed to clamber onto Big Harcar a rocky island and were spotted by Grace looking from an upstairs window. She and her father rowed out in a four man boat for a distance of about a mile and between them rescued the nine survivors.
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I logged into my account with LivingDNA this week and thought:
“Hang on a minute, something has changed here. I’ve got a more comprehensive way of looking at my results!”
I clicked through to see the news on their website and found out that I was right in thinking this.
The update had happened while I was busy preparing for my trip away and was posted to their own blog on the 18th June 2017 and that is why I missed it. For all those readers who may have missed it themselves I read that Living DNA users are now able to start to explore their family ancestry (Autosomal DNA) in three different ways. Their blog at https://www.livingdna.com/en/blog goes on:
We call this feature “views” as it allows you to look at your ethnic ancestry mix within different confidence ranges; Complete, Standard and Cautious.
For users who would have already received their results, they received their “Standard” view which may contain some unassigned ancestry. But now, by looking at the complete view, customers can see these unassigned areas. We’ve also added in a ‘cautions’ view which combines regions of genetically similar ancestry, providing our highest degree of certainty.
In the process of releasing views, we’ve made some small changes to our algorithms; this means that peoples results will be slightly updated, normally by around 1%, although a small number of customers may see much bigger changes in their mix.
I was impressed with the breakdown as it gives me clues where I should research for ancestors that appear in my family tree, but I know not from where they came. This is because they married into my identified line, but before census or BMD records and so they didn’t reveal which part of the world they hailed from!
Now I will redouble my efforts to find them in the records of the regions that share similar DNA.
Check out the LivingDNA website as they have a limited time special offer on at the time of writing!
Disclosure: Links above are compensated affiliate links.
Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.
TheGenealogist has announced the release of the City of York and AinstyColour Tithe Maps, plus another significant batch of Yorkshire directories released in time for the Yorkshire Family History Show at York Racecourse.
To coincide with the return of one of the largest family history events in England, at the Knavesmire Exhibition Centre at the York Racecourse on the 24th of June and which is sponsored by TheGenealogist, today sees the release of a set of new records for York.
TheGenealogist has just added the colour tithe maps that cover the City of York and Ainsty to its National Tithe Records collection to compliment the gray scale maps and apportionment books that are already live. In addition it has released another 23 residential and commercial directory books to its ever expanding collection of Trade, Residential and Telephone Directories to help those with Yorkshire ancestors find their addresses.
The fully searchable records released online will allow researchers to:
Find plots of land owned or occupied by ancestors in early Victorian York and Ainsty on colour maps
See where your forebears lived, farmed or perhaps occupied a small cottage or a massive estate.
Discover addresses of ancestors before, between and after the years covered by the census in the Trade, Residential and Telephone Directories. (1735-1937)
Uncover details of the neighbourhood and understand communication links to other towns where your stray ancestor may have moved to.
For anyone with Yorkshire ancestors this new release from TheGenealogist adds colour to the story of where their family lived. To search these and the vast number of other records covering the country see more at https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk
Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.
Departure of the RMS Campania from Liverpool
TheGenealogist keeps on adding records for its subscribers and this week it has just uploaded online another four and a half million BT27 records for the 1920s. This tranche of Outbound Passenger Lists are really quite fascinating for the variety of people that can be found departing by sea from British ports in the years between 1920 and 1929. TheGenealogist already boasts a strong Immigration,Emigration, Naturalisation and passenger list resource on its site and by adding this decade of records TheGenealogist have been significantly expanded its offering for those of us looking to find our ancestors’ travels.
The fully searchable records that they have released will allow researchers to:
Identifypotential family members travelling together by using their clever SmartSearch. TheGenealogist has a unique system that is able to recognise family members travelling together on the same voyage. In the case of several people with the same surname on the same boat journey then it will display a family icon which then allows you the researcher to view the entire family with just a single click.
Find people travelling to America, Canada, India, New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere in the Passenger lists of people leaving from the United Kingdom by sea.
See images of the original documents which were kept by the Board of Trade’s Commercial and Statistical Department and its successors.
Discover the ages, last address and where the passenger intended to make their permanent residence.
These fully indexed records enable family historians to search by name, year, country of departure, country of arrival, port of embarkation and port of destination.
Those family history researchers who have ancestors that may have travelled from the British Isles will welcome this terrific new release from TheGenealogist. It certainly adds an interesting decade, after the First World War, to their Immigration and Emigration collection. These records, which are already online, include passenger lists that go back as far as 1896 as well as the valuable Naturalisation and Denization records that researchers can use to find ancestors who came to this country and made their home here.
Below is an article that I wrote for TheGenealogist highlighting some of the well known names that can be found taking a passage on a liner in the 1920s
The 1920s decade of Outbound Passenger Lists reveal our ancestors’ travels, as well as those of many famous individuals.
Records that chart our ancestors international journeys can be really useful for building the stories of their lives. The documents can help explain where an ancestor has gone when we can’t find them in the records at home, and it was certainly not just the top echelons of society that will appear in passenger lists. In the past all sorts of people booked passages on ships for a variety of reasons. Perhaps they were emigrating for a better life or travelling abroad on business? For this reason we can find the voyages of our ancestors ranging from Labourers to Lords and Artisans to Authors.
TheGenealogist has just added another decade of the always intriguing BT27 records to its growing number of Passenger Lists. These fully searchable records were originally kept by the Board of Trade and listed the details of outbound passengers from U.K. ports. With this release we can now find voyages going across the Atlantic to North America and to the countries of the Empire and beyond. A search of these records can reveal our forebears departing from this country and in amongst their numbers are also included a large number of famous names from the past.
This new release has the likes of Master Douglas Fairbanks Jr, aged 13, who became a famous film star, returning to the United States from a visit to England and travelling on the White Star Line’s ship the Celtic. He is travelling with James and Betty Sally Evans. This appears to be a misrecording of his mother’s name, Anna Beth Sully Evans and James is his stepfather. They were on a 21 day passage to New York departing from Liverpool on the 11th June 1921. We can glean from the passenger lists the ages of passengers, who they were travelling with, and the country of their intended permanent residence – all of which can be useful to our family history research when we find an ancestor in the results.
Douglas Fairbanks Jr travelling with his mother and stepfather 11 June 1921
Researching in the passenger lists of this 1920s period of sea travel throws up many other famous names of the times. The 25 year old Harry G. Selfridge Jr, son of the founder of the London department store Selfridges, is one. We can also find the war poet Siegfried L. Sassoon and from the top ranks of the British Army there is Field Marshal Haig and Lt General Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts. Turning to the world of politics we come across David Lloyd George, the Liberal politician who became the wartime Prime Minister. Here he is travelling with his wife, Dame Margaret and their daughter Megan who would herself go on to become the first female M.P. for a Welsh constituency. By using TheGenealogist’s unique SmartSearch feature we can identify the family members travelling together on a voyage by clicking on the family icon.
On a voyage to Gibraltar in April 1927 we can find the 63 year old widow, Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, the one time leader of the Suffragette movement. Without Mrs Pankhurst and her fellow suffragettes campaigning for the right for women to have the vote, then Megan Lloyd George would not have even been able to cast her ballot, let alone have had the right to stand for election to the House of Commons.
David Lloyd George MP travelling with his wife, Dame Margaret and daughter, Megan, to Rio De Janeiro 21st December 1927Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst London to Gibraltar 8th April 1927 on the P&O ship Naldera
There are numerous authors to be found in these records. In February 1926 Hilaire Belloc, who was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century, made the short hop across the channel from Southampton to Cherbourg. The 55 year old was onboard the Orduna, a vessel of The Royal Mail Steam Packet company on its way to New York. Belloc gave his address as The Reform Club SW1, but for others the passenger lists can reveal the details of an ancestor’s home address before they travelled – information which can be very useful when there is no census to consult for the time period in question. For example, the entry for the 21 year old Noel Coward, travelling on the Southampton to New York run of Cunard’s Aquitania that left on the 4th June 1921 – Coward gave his address as 111 Ebury Street London. This was the premises that his parents ran as a lodging house and it was where he kept a room while he travelled abroad. It was also the address where he wrote The Vortex, his first notable successful play. His occupation on the passenger list for June 1921 was that of an Actor. In later transatlantic crossings, however, he is sometimes recorded as a Dramatist, an Author and as a Playwright.
Noel Coward’s home address was 111 Elbury Street, London
Searching for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s sea voyages in this decade of BT27 Passenger Lists released by TheGenealogist, we see that the creator of Sherlock Holmes gives his address as 15 Buckingham Palace Mansions. This was actually the flat that the famous author and his second wife kept opposite the entrance to Victoria Station, although their main home was in Sussex and in other trips that address is recorded in the passenger lists.
Browsing the names of his fellow first class passengers we can see that the Literary agent Eric Seabrooke Pinker was also onboard and we can wonder if the two men mixed on the voyage. The arts were well represented on this trip as also travelling on the same ship was the artist Augustus John. John was a Welsh painter, draughtsman and etcher who had been an important exponent of Post-Impressionism in the United Kingdom for a short time around 1910 and by the 1920s Augustus John was Britain’s leading portrait painter.
Arthur Conan Doyle and family travelling on the Olympic to New York 28 March 1923
Passenger lists are certainly fascinating documents that can reveal our ancestors overseas voyages and so help add detail to the stories of their lives. They can also be used to clarify where people have gone when we can’t find them in the records at home, as it is all levels of society that can be found in these records. This particular decade seems also to be very rich in the names of the famous as they departed from U.K. ports on their overseas travels.
See these and many more engaging family history records at TheGenealogist.
Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.
Press Release:
TheGenealogist has expanded its Newspaper and Magazine collection with the release of The Sphere that cover August 1914 to June 1919.
Using the Historical newspapers and magazines resource on TheGenealogist enables researchers to follow current affairs that may have affected or concerned our ancestors at the time. Because the articles were written as events were occurring, they provide contemporary accounts of the world that our ancestors lived in and can furnish us with great insights into opinions of the time. In the case of the First World War years, covered by this release of The Sphere, we can gain information about individuals or read about situations that are similar to ones that our ancestors may have found themselves in.
The Sphere was an illustrated paper founded by Clement Shorter (1857-1926) who was also responsible for establishing the Tatler and itcovered general news stories from the UK and around the world.
War Memorials collection
Also being released at this time by TheGenealogist are another 116 War Memorials containing 10,795 names. Included in this batch are a number of Boer War memorials as well as those for the First World War. With this addition the total figure for memorials on
TheGenealogist has now reached 1,540 with 363,838 names.
The Sphere, providing insights into your ancestor’s lives.
I wrote this piece for TheGenealogist to show how I used the Newspaper and Magazines collection to better understand conditions in World War I.
The Sphere December 12 1914
I have been looking a little closer into the war exploits of my step-grandfather. I knew that he had joined the Royal Engineers Special Reserve Motor Cyclist Division as a despatch rider but, like many of his generation that fought in the First World War, he didn’t talk much about his experiences. What I did know was that he had found it ‘quite exciting’ to ride his despatches from headquarters to the front and back on a motorbike. He never expanded on this and certainly didn’t tell us stories about his escapades, nor what it was like to be a soldier on two wheels.
With the recent release of copies of The Sphere, on TheGenealogist, I was thus fascinated to come across the December 12 1914 edition of the publication. Here was an article about motorcycle despatch riders from the early part of the war. This day’s publication featured a double page evocative image of a motor-cycle despatch rider on his machine fleeing with the enemy on his tail. As I knew that my step-grandfather was in his late twenties at the time and a keen motorcycle rider I could imagine him reading pieces such as this and wanting to join up to the R.E. Motor Cyclists to ‘do his bit’.
I know that Grandpa also served in the western theatre of war and so this image and the report that followed, resonated with me. I could now imagine him in similar situations as had been described and pictured in the newspaper. In this particular article from the newly released records, the rider telling his story suffers a whole lot of problems: ‘On returning I take the wrong road and my machine gives trouble, and whilst repairing same I suddenly find myself surrounded by Uhlans.’ This narrator is captured, has his hands bound behind his back and he feigns illness. When his guard goes to fetch a doctor the British Tommy escapes by rolling into a ditch. This episode makes me realise that when my step-grandfather said it was ‘quite exciting’ this was probably a bit of an understatement. Their duties were certainly not a simple ride in the countryside.
The Sphere 12 Dec 1914
The British Army in World War I would often used Douglas or Triumph Motorcycles for despatch riding duties which only had between 2 and 5 hp engines. Some riders, however, brought their own machines along when they joined up. These motorbikes would have to be inspected by the military to make sure that they were suitable for the purpose; but in the early days, when many of the men were volunteers, this would have meant that this section of the Royal Engineers Signals would have been up and running quickly. In my step-grandfather’s case, however, looking at his attestation papers I can see that this part had been scored through – indicating that he would have had to be issued with an army bike.
Later in the First World War Grandpa was wounded and by reading other articles, such as that published on the 9th January 1915 about the RAMC work at the front, I got an understanding for how injured men were transferred in motorised omnibuses and ambulances that were also subject to breakdowns of their own.
Resources such as The Sphere, The War Illustrated, The Great War, The Illustrated London News, plus the other historical newspapers and magazines already found on TheGenealogist are great for building a picture of situations that our ancestors may have found themselves in. In some cases we may be lucky enough to find an ancestor actually named in a report – but even when that doesn’t happen we can find write-ups that provide us with an understanding of the wider conditions in which our ancestors worked, played or went to war in.
Another use that we can make of this resource is where we have an ancestor who was unfortunate enough to have lost their lives, while serving as an officer in the First World War. In many editions of The Sphere Rolls of Honour were published. In these we are able to find a picture along with a few lines recording their loss. The Newspaper and Magazine collection is available to all Diamond subscribers of TheGenealogist.
Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.
To coincide with the announcement of a UK general election in June, TheGenealogist has released over 100,000 Parish Records and thousands of voter records on its website.
The People’s Will, Voting by Ballot at a Parliamentary Election from TheGenealogist Image archive
In time for the snap general election, TheGenealogist is adding to its Polls and Electoral records by publishing online a new collection of Poll books ranging from the late 19th century to the early 20th century.
These new records released today offer a tantalising snapshot of our ancestors interaction with the Church and the State of the past.
Find the names of people and their ‘place of abode’ in the electoral registers
Discover the nature of their qualification to vote, such as possessing a Corn Warehouse, a Workshop, a House, or owning a Brewhouse
Some of the earliest records in this release reach as far back as 1209 when the king who was known as Johan sanz Terre(John Lackland) ruled the country
The Parish Records are one of the most useful of all resources for family historians as they can be used to find the baptism, marriage or death of an ancestor at a time before the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths
The records cover 35 different registers of people who were entitled to vote in Wakefield, West Yorkshire and other constituencies situated in Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset and New Westminster in Canada. These have been added to our Poll and Electoral Roll collection covering millions of records.
Historical Register of Voters
At the same time TheGenealogist continues to expand its vast Parish Record collections with the addition of 100,000 new individuals added for the County of Worcestershire and additionally the Registers of the Parish Church of Rochdale in Lancashire that covers the period between 1642 and 1700.
Also being released at this time are some records that will take the researcher all the way back to ancient times!
The Roll of Mayors of the Borough and Lord Mayors of the City of Leicester records the names of men holding that office from between the 10th year of the reign of King John in 1209 and all through history to 1935.
The first Mayor listed in the Roll of Mayors of the Borough and Lord Mayors of the City of Leicester
The first Mayor listed in the Roll of Mayors of the Borough and Lord Mayors of the City of Leicester
The Worcestershire Parish Records were added through a partnership with Malvern FHS while the electoral records are taken from the official lists produced to record who was entitled to vote in the various parliamentary elections.
Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.
At the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show recently I got to talk to the MD of Living DNA, David Nicholson.
This video is a great way of finding out more about the DNA test for ancestry offered by this new entry into the market. This company offers a three in one test that is causing a great deal of interest for its ability to give a sub-regional breakdown of results and so show the regions within a country that our ancestors came from.
Their product provides us with an opportunity to really get to learn about where our ancestors came from using the latest advance in genomic research. A Living DNA Test is perfect for advancing your knowledge on your own personal DNA, while offering the most detailed DNA test to look at your ancestry through history. A Living DNA Test takes you on a journey back through your family history which has never been possible before.
Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.
TheGenealogist launches millions of new Parish records as well as their New British in India Collection
TheGenealogisthas just announced three important releases to coincide with the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show covering Britain and British India.
Over 2.5 Million people in the latest release of Parish records!
Augmenting the substantial Parish Records that are already available on TheGenealogist comes the release of more than 2.5 million people for two major counties:
Hampshire Parish Records (Bishop’s Transcripts) (886,616 individuals)
This brings their total number of records to 3,199,820 with coverage of
Baptisms: 2,379,836 (1538 to 1940)
Marriages: 495,034 (1538 to 1940)
Burials: 324,950 (1538 to 1940)
Durham Parish Records (1,697,206 individuals)
This brings their total number of records to 1,850,068 with coverage of
Baptisms: 1,253,273 (1556 to 1919)
Marriages: 198,845 (1540 to 1896)
Burials: 397,950 (1538 to 1939)
These will be a boon to Family Historians looking for key events in the lives of their ancestors.
The British in India Collection
The TV series ‘Indian Summers’ starring Julie Walters created in many a fascination with India under British rule. This new record set reveals information about those ancestors that lived in the subcontinent, their lifestyle and the communities that they lived in.
‘E’ Company Winners of the Inter-Company Football Shield 1910
Millions of British people went out to India in the past and so many family historians will have an ancestor that made the journey. For some, India would turn out to be their last resting place and among their ranks were merchants, soldiers, sailors, civil servants, missionaries and their families.
To browse the Image Archive for relevant photographs search for the tags ‘India’ and more specifically ‘Hill Station’ for pictures like the one below.
Nainital Civil Service Week c1900
Parish Records of British in India
Headstone Records of British Cemeteries in India
British War Memorials in India
East India Registers
Indian Army and Civil Service Lists
Image Archive – British in India
The release of The British in India Collectionon TheGenealogist now allows family historians to search for ancestors who went out to British India in a very broad-ranging set of resources ranging from the early 1800s up to the 1920s.
These records make up part of the Diamond subscription to TheGenealogist
This week a guest post from Suzie Kolber of obituarieshelp.org
Whether you are a teacher designing a project for your students or a parent helping your child with a class project, tracing family history can be a challenge. It is an educational project that can provide a student with a lot of fun and information, but it can be difficult to find and organize everything. A family tree template can be an invaluable resource if you choose the right one.
Consider the Age
Young children are visual learners, so a template that is colorful and simple is best. Using an actual tree with branches and including only the names and dates of birth may be the ideal choice. Allow space for photos to make it easier to keep track of everyone.
Older kids can handle more information at one time, so you may leave out the photos and include more dates and data. It should still be visually pleasing for easy reference. Consider using colored boxes or a colored background if allowed to make it more interesting. Framed charts add style without interfering with the information. A bonus is the fact that it would look nice enough to be hung up once the project is finished.
Consider Family Situations
Teachers will want to consider the fact that not every family is alike if they choose the template to be used for the family tree. Some kids only know the background and family on one side. Select a family tree template that allows more freedom for various situations.
An example is a pedigree or landscape family chart that only includes the information for one side of the family. The child can choose which parent to focus on and others with only one parent in their lives will not feel different from the others in the class.
A child can also trace the history of a grandparent if he or she lives with them. By using a four or five generation chart, the child will have to do some research but will not have to struggle to find the information as much as with larger templates.
Consider How It Will Be Displayed
When selecting a family tree template for a class project, consider giving kids more than one choice. If these templates will be displayed together in a group, they will be more visually appealing if they do not look the same.
Because they are all different, no single template will stand out. It also allows the child to select the template for the individual family situation. If less information is known about one side or if the child is adopted, the template can be chosen to convey the appropriate information without leaving a lot of blank spaces.
When selecting a template for a class project on family trees, be sensitive to the feelings of the child. This is a very personal project that tells his or her story. Just as the stories will be different, the family trees will not look alike.
Suzie Kolber created
http://obituarieshelp.org/free_printable_blank_family_tree.html to be the complete online resource for “do it yourself” genealogy projects. The site offers the largest offering of family tree templates online. The site is a not for profit website dedicated to offering free resources for those that are trying to trace their family history.
There’s a family tree in every home filing cabinet. In the past it may have tended to be written in scribbled handwriting in pencil or fading ballpoint. Now it is most likely to be on a professional looking template produce by a service such as Ancestry.com coupon Genealogy.
Every normal person has an interest in where he comes from. This may account for the natural affinity between grandparents and grandchildren. Children who have been given up for adoption at birth usually have a burning desire to discover their biological parents at some point in their lives. The instinct to search for family information seems to be linked to the human quest for knowledge using genealogy software coupons.
There is a fine line between ancestry and genealogy. Ancestry is concerned typically with distinguished or distinguished people. This might be the case particularly in Europe, but on other continents the term might be used with more spiritual connotations. Genealogy has a biological connotation and refers to the direct descendants of an individual or group. In general ancestry tends to move form the present backwards and genealogy moves from the past to the present.
Computer technology has made the compilation and use of data bases a great new way to manage data. Card catalogues that once occupied a number of rooms are now housed in a chip and accessed in a flash. This has revolutionized genealogy and the compilation of family trees.
Skeletons in the cupboard are quite interesting now. In previous years, before information was so widely accessible, people followed family ties with some trepidation, hoping not to find a black sheep. Now Australians are reportedly delighted to find a convict in their ancestry because it proves how long they have been on the continent. On the other hand some members of the European aristocracy have reason to be thoroughly ashamed of their feeble and evil relatives exposed now in the information age.
Anthropologists may dig up ancient bones and speculate on the origins of the human species. The more recent and well documented evidence of recent relatives shown by ancestry.com genealogy research can be equally interesting and more pertinent.
Aristocrat and commoner alike may wonder where their ancestor was when Jesus hung on the Cross or when the Great Plague decimated the European population. Similar speculations may have been behind the concocted story of African American Alex Hailey about his roots in Africa. Deep within the fiber of our beings there appears to be yearning to discover how we came about.
The great interest of parents in the family histories of prospective spouses is well documented in history, politics and literature and can be found using online genealogy software. As in the case of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ it can prove to have tragic consequences. It can also be very interesting for couples who may have met by chance in Australia to find that their near relatives lived in the same English village and must have known each other in earlier generations under different circumstances. Ancestry.com review genealogy may throw some light on this by producing a comprehensive family history.
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