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Scottish Civil Registration Research – Here is a useful video tutorial

If you have Scottish ancestors then I am sure that you will find this YouTube video by Chris Paton really useful. The video gives us a great overview of the historic civil registration system in Scotland in a clear way. If you are researching your Scots ancestors then you will learn a lot from this as it covers Births, Marriages, Deaths, the Registers of Corrected Entries (some readers may not even know about these!), Still births, Adoption and Divorce. I was particularly interested in the Book of Scottish Connections that is for people who live overseas but who have a Scottish connection that they can verify – I had not heard of this before I watched this video!

Chris is a professional genealogist who specialises in Scottish and Irish research and is the author of a number of books that I have no hesitation in recommending including Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church & State Records and for those of you with Irish ancestors Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet.

 

https://youtu.be/boU7BRlVGp8

 

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Newly released property records for Kingston upon Thames, Hook and Malden

Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.*

 

Latest News:

TheGenealogist has just released the Kingston upon Thames, Hook and Malden areas into its Lloyd George Domesday Survey Records on the Map Explorer™. Researchers can use these fully searchable property records to find where ancestors from Kingston had lived or ran a business in the 1910-1915 period. You can now search over half a million individuals in this collection.

Map Explorer with georeferenced historic map overlays and modern base maps

 

Family history researchers searching for where their ancestors lived in the period before the First World War are able to find the actual plots for buildings and explore the district as it was in that period on large scale OS maps linked to the field books containing descriptions of the properties. The Lloyd George Domesday Survey records are part of TheGenealogist’s powerful Map Explorer™ that gives users a number of georeferenced historic map overlays and modern base maps to view. Sliding the opacity controls makes it possible to see how the topography has changed over the years as one map fades to another.

 

Researchers often find it frustrating when, having discovered an address where their ancestors had once lived, find that the road names have changed over time. World War II Blitz bombing resulted in many areas being destroyed and rebuilt. Many of these sites, however, were not restored exactly as they were before. When alterations during redevelopment made them unrecognizable from what had stood there before the changes can mean that searching for where an ancestor lived using modern maps can be a frustrating experience.

Lloyd George Domesday Survey of Kingston upon Thames

TheGenealogist’s Map Explorer™ displaying Kingston upon Thames Lloyd George Domesday Survey Map

 

The Lloyd George Domesday Survey records are sourced from The National Archives and are being digitised by TheGenealogist.

 

  • TheGenealogist’s Lloyd George Domesday records link individual properties to extremely detailed maps used in 1910-1915
  • Full descriptions of each property with its valuation recorded in field books
  • Locate an address previously found in a census or street directory down to a specific house
  • Fully searchable by name, county, parish and street
  • The maps will zoom in to show the individual properties as they were in 1910-1915
  • Transparency sliders enable you to compare and contrast modern and historic street maps
  • Overlay with a range of old maps to see the wider area as it had once been
  • Allows you to display county or parish boundaries
  • Searching for an ancestor identifies their property with a green pin
  • Check neighbouring properties by clicking the red pins and selecting ‘View Transcript’

I have written an article for TheGenealogist about using this resource.

Read my article here: Property records finds ancestors homes and business in Kingston upon Thames

 

About TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist is an award-winning online family history website, who put a wealth of information at the fingertips of family historians. Their approach is to bring hard to use physical records to life online with easy to use interfaces such as their Tithe and newly released Lloyd George Domesday collections.

TheGenealogist’s innovative SmartSearch technology links records together to help you find your ancestors more easily. TheGenealogist is one of the leading providers of online family history records. Along with the standard Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records, they also have significant collections of Parish and Nonconformist records, PCC Will Records, Irish Records, Military records, Occupations, Newspaper record collections amongst many others.

TheGenealogist uses the latest technology to help you bring your family history to life. Use TheGenealogist to find your ancestors today!

 

 

 

*Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links. This does not mean that you pay more just that I make a percentage on the sales from my links. The payments help me pay for the cost of running the site. You may like to read this explanation here:

http://paidforadvertising.co.uk/

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Free Genealogy Records Encourage Beginners to Stay at Home and Research Their Family Tree

NEWS:

Begin a lifetime of discovery with TheGenealogist’s FREE “First Steps” package

TheGenealogist is offering a package of their most useful record sets, their image archive and digital magazines for beginners to use for 3 months. No card details, no subscription, just completely free.

With so many of us staying at home, now is the perfect time to make a start on your family tree. It’s the perfect hobby; both rewarding and mentally stimulating.

You can begin your discovery now at https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/first-steps/

TheGenealogist’s First Steps package will give those beginning their journey on the compelling road to discovering their ancestors some excellent family history resources.

You can find out more about this FREE package at https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/first-steps/

UPDATE 17 April 2020:

Press Release:  Extra Resources Now Added to TheGenealogist’s Free First Steps Package

TheGenealogist’s FREE “First Steps” package to encourage beginners to Stay at Home and research their Family Tree has been expanded with new records

TheGenealogist’s Free First Steps offer has proved incredibly popular among those looking to start a new hobby while staying at home in the pandemic.

Mark Bayley, Head of Content says:

“We have been overwhelmed by such a positive response to our Free First Steps package and it has encouraged us to do even more. We have decided to help users trace back even further, adding yet more free resources”

Now you can extend your research as TheGenealogist has added a further two years of census for England and Wales.

Also included is the Complete Birth, Marriage & Death records index for England and Wales 1837-2005, access to TheGenealogist’s image archive and a really practical subscription to Discover Your Ancestors digital magazines to use for 3 months. No card details, no subscription, just completely free.

People on social media are already talking about TheGenealogist’s First Steps: 

“This will be a life saver for many people” – Gwyneth, Wales

“You are helping my lockdown (be) so much better and productive.”  – Rachel, Coventry

“What a very generous offer” @Book_magpie

“Thank you. I can now do more family research” – Lorraine, New Zealand

“Thank you for this kind offer. I am finding it really helpful for researching my family.”  J Tafe

Researchers can begin their discovery now at https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/first-steps/

The Free First Steps access will now include:

      • Complete Birth, Marriage & Death records index for England and Wales 1837-2005
      • English & Welsh Census Records to see where ancestors were living in 1891, 1901 and in 1911
      • TreeView the online family tree builder
      • Image Archive of churches, places and people from the past 
      • A high quality monthly digital magazine packed full of stories, case studies, social history articles and research advice

TheGenealogist’s First Steps package will give those people beginning their journey on the compelling road to discovering their ancestors some free and very useful family history resources.

Find out more about this package at https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/first-steps/

Read the article: How to start your family history (but be sure to use the link above to sign up for the Free package)

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2020/how-to-start-your-family-history-1245/

About TheGenealogist

 TheGenealogist is an award-winning online family history website, who put a wealth of information at the fingertips of family historians. Their approach is to bring hard to use physical records to life online with easy to use interfaces such as their Tithe and newly released Lloyd George Domesday collections.

 TheGenealogist’s innovative SmartSearch technology links records together to help you find your ancestors more easily. TheGenealogist is one of the leading providers of online family history records. Along with the standard Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records, they also have significant collections of Parish and Nonconformist records, PCC Will Records, Irish Records, Military Records, Occupations, Newspaper record collections amongst many others.

 TheGenealogist uses the latest technology to help you bring your family history to life. Use TheGenealogist to find your ancestors today!

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Spring Sale – Beginner’s English & Welsh Family History

Stuck in doors at this difficult time? Always wanted to make a start with your English or Welsh family tree?

The good news is that The Family History Researcher website has put it’s best selling 6 page concise Crib Sheet on sale for the next week!

Reduced to only £2 or $2.45 (US) you can now download this great resource for less than ever.

Find out which websites can be useful for discovering your English and Welsh ancestors. Recommendations include those that are free as well as paid sites. Reviews how using the websites of The National Archives, The National Library of Wales, County Record Offices, Society of Genealogists and more can help you with your research.

Introduces the researcher to the civil registration (vital records) census and going back before 1837 with parish records. Reveals where to look for the records of Nonconformist and Roman Catholics as well as the Church of England.

See box below, or go to: https://familyhistoryresearcher.com/fhrmembers/crib-sheet-beginning-english-and-welsh-family-history-april-2020/

Crib Sheet Beginning English and Welsh Family History – April 2020

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Changing times in the latest map release from TheGenealogist

Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.*

 

NEWS:

 

TheGenealogist has released the Colour Tithe Maps for Essex with full integration with its MapExplorer™. This release allows us to see the area in West Ham, Essex on which the ExCel centre now stands and to discover the changes from Victorian pasture land, to dock complex then Exhibition venue and now to the Nightingale Hospital as the Covid-19 emergency builds.

Essex Colour Tithe Maps

This versatile tool can give the family history researcher a fantastic insight into what our ancestors’ city, town or village looked like over a number of periods and can also help them to find an ancestor’s property. With the addition of georeferenced Colour Tithe Maps. TheGenealogist has also today released colour tithe maps for Essex – you can search these as normal or browse them on Map Explorer™. 

Joining the georeferenced Lloyd George Data Layer, Headstones and War Memorials, the Colour Tithe Maps are an important enhancement of the ever-expanding Map Explorer™.

  • The Map Explorer™ displays maps for historical periods up to the modern day.
  • Colour Tithe maps bring the early Victorian era to this innovative tool
  • Plots on the maps are linked to the apportionment books, enabling researchers to locate where their ancestors lived or worked

TheGenealogist has linked these highly detailed Tithe maps to the apportionment book records so providing researchers with the details of the plots, their owners and their occupiers at the time of the early Victorian survey. The coverage ranges from large estate owners to ordinary people occupying small plots such as a homestead or a cottage. Colour Tithe Maps make it easier for the researcher to understand the terrain as the streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, houses and trees are often highlighted in different colours. 

TheGenealogist’s Colour Tithe Maps now cover the counties of Buckinghamshire, Cumberland, Huntingdonshire, Middlesex, Northumberland, Rutland, Surrey, Westmorland, the City, North and East Ridings of Yorkshire along with the new addition this week of Essex. 

Subscribers to TheGenealogist’s Diamond membership can now view the latest colour or grayscale maps when using the Tithe & Landowner records.

TheGenealogist’s powerful Map Explorer™ has been developed to view these georeferenced historic maps overlaid on top of modern background maps including those from Ordnance Survey and Bing Street maps, as well as a satellite view. With the Map Explorer™, you can search for an ancestor’s property, discovering its site, even if the road has changed or is no longer there. 

Alternatively, using the Master Search on TheGenealogist, having found your forebear listed in the Tithe Records you can click through to the Map Explorer™ which will also show War Memorials or cemeteries on the various maps.

 

Read TheGenealogist’s article here: Essex Tithe Maps Reveal Ever Changing Landscape

 

 

About TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist is an award-winning online family history website, who put a wealth of information at the fingertips of family historians. Their approach is to bring hard to use physical records to life online with easy to use interfaces such as their Tithe and newly released Lloyd George Domesday collections. 

TheGenealogist’s innovative SmartSearch technology links records together to help you find your ancestors more easily. TheGenealogist is one of the leading providers of online family history records. Along with the standard Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records, they also have significant collections of Parish and Nonconformist records, PCC Will Records, Irish Records, Military records, Occupations, Newspaper record collections amongst many others.

TheGenealogist uses the latest technology to help you bring your family history to life. Use TheGenealogist to find your ancestors today!

 

 

*Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links. This does not mean that you pay more just that I make a percentage on the sales from my links. The payments help me pay for the cost of running the site. You may like to read this explanation here:

http://paidforadvertising.co.uk/

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Take your research back before the census with the latest release from TheGenealogist

Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.*

 

NEWS:

TheGenealogist has released a collection of searchable Early Trade and Residential Directories that cover the years 1816-1839 to help find ancestors in the period before the usable census records begin.

Prior to 1841 all of the U.K. censuses were generally statistical: that is, mainly headcounts, with virtually no personal information such as names recorded and so family history researchers need to turn to a substitute to find out the address where their ancestors had lived. Trade and Residential Directories list names of tradespeople, prominent citizens and in some cases other residents of a town as well.

The-City-from-Bankside-by-Thomas-Miles-Richardson-c-1820

The City from Bankside by Thomas Miles Richardson, c.1820

 

Many of these directories will also give a good description of the town or area which can give family historians an interesting insight into the social history of their ancestors’ locality at the time. This information usually includes the main industry, topographical details, communication links with the surrounding towns by stage coach or railway, and details of local administration offices, post offices, the clergy, charities hospitals and schools.

These directory records have been digitised by TheGenealogist and made searchable by name, so they can help researchers to find their ancestors in the Georgian and very early Victorian period.

The early Trade and Residential Directories being released in this batch include volumes that cover the areas of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Derby, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Durham, Essex, Glasgow, Hampshire, London, Liverpool, Middlesex, Northumberland, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire and Suffolk.

List of Directories in this release:

Derby 1829 History, Gazetteer and Directory; Devonshire 1830 Pigot’s Directory; Durham 1828 White’s Directory; Essex 1832-1833 Pigot’s Directory; Glasgow 1831-1832 Post Office Directory; Lincolnshire 1826/7 Directory; Liverpool 1816 Gore’s Directory; London 1816 Post Office Directory; London 1819 Robson’s Directory; London 1822 Post Office Directory; London and Provincial 1823-1824 New Commercial Pigot Directory; London 1824 Post Office Directory; London 1826 Post Office Directory; London 1828 Robson’s Commercial Directory; London 1829 Robson’s Trades Directory; London 1831 Post Office Directory; London 1833 Robson’s Directory; London 1836 Post Office Directory; London 1837 Post Office Directory; London 1839 Post Office Directory; Norfolk 1830 Pigot’s Directory; Northumberland 1828 White’s Directory; Nottinghamshire 1832 White’s Directory; Suffolk 1830 Pigot’s Directory.

 

Find out more about directories and how they can help you research your ancestors on TheGenealogist here:

TheGenealogist.co.uk – Directories

 

*Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links. This does not mean that you pay more just that I make a percentage on the sales from my links. The payments help me pay for the cost of running the site. You may like to read this explanation here:

http://paidforadvertising.co.uk/

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The National Archives Event in Kew – Using Migration Records

NEWS:

Talk and document display

Using examples of records and case studies relating to both immigrants and emigrants held in The National Archives at Kew (U.K.) collection, this talk will explain how to search for and interpret records such as passenger lists, passports, registration and naturalisation records.

The National Archives Event – Using Migration Records

This talk will be delivered by Roger Kershaw, Migration Records Specialist at The National Archives in the U.K.

Friday 24 April 2020 14:00 – 15:30

To book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/using-migration-records-tickets-93922152687

Timings are indicative. Talk expected to last one hour, including 15 mins for audience Q&A.

TNA runs a range of events and exhibitions on a wide variety of topics. For more details, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/whatson.

The National Archives logo

 

 

 

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New Property Records for Greenwich released by TheGenealogist

Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.*

 

 

Latest News:

TheGenealogist has just released over 57,700 individuals from the Greenwich area into its Lloyd George Domesday Survey Records on the Map Explorer™. These fully searchable property records enable researchers to find where ancestors from Greenwich lived in the 1910-1915 period. This release now brings the total coverage of Lloyd George Domesday Survey Records to over half a million individuals.

TheGenealogist adds property records 1910-1915
Lloyd George Domesday Survey of Greenwich from TheGenealogist

 

 

By using TheGenealogist’s powerful Map Explorer™ family history researchers searching for where their ancestors lived in the period before the First World War are able to see the actual plots for buildings and explore the district as it was in that period on large scale OS maps linked to the field books containing descriptions of the properties.

Researchers often have difficulty discovering where ancestors lived as road names can change over time. World War II Blitz bombing saw areas destroyed and these sites were altered during redevelopment, making them unrecognizable from what had been there before. Lanes and roads were often lost to build estates and office blocks. The changes over the years can mean that searching for where an ancestor lived using modern maps can be a frustrating experience, as they won’t pinpoint where old properties had once stood.

The Map Explorer™ benefits from a number of georeferenced historic map overlays and modern base maps, allowing users to see how the topography has changed over the years by simply sliding the opacity controls.

 

The Lloyd George Domesday Survey records are sourced from The National Archives and are being digitised by TheGenealogist.

 

  • TheGenealogist’s Lloyd George Domesday records link individual properties to extremely detailed maps used in 1910-1915
  • Full descriptions of each property with its valuation recorded in field books
  • Locate an address previously found in a census or street directory down to a specific house
  • Fully searchable by name, county, parish and street
  • The maps will zoom in to show the individual properties as they were in 1910-1915
  • Transparency sliders enable you to compare and contrast modern and historic street maps, change the base map displayed to satellite or hybrid to more clearly understand what the area looks like today
  • Overlay with a range of old maps to see the wider area as it had once been
  • Allows you to display county or parish boundaries
  • Searching for an ancestor identifies their property with a green pin
  • Check neighbouring properties by clicking the red pins and selecting ‘View Transcript’

 

Read the article: Greenwich property records reveal the lost past much changed by the blitz, bombs and the building of a historic landmark

 

About TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist is an award-winning online family history website, who put a wealth of information at the fingertips of family historians. Their approach is to bring hard to use physical records to life online with easy to use interfaces such as their Tithe and newly released Lloyd George Domesday collections.

TheGenealogist’s innovative SmartSearch technology links records together to help you find your ancestors more easily. TheGenealogist is one of the leading providers of online family history records. Along with the standard Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records, they also have significant collections of Parish and Nonconformist records, PCC Will Records, Irish Records, Military records, Occupations, Newspaper record collections amongst many others.

TheGenealogist uses the latest technology to help you bring your family history to life. Use TheGenealogist to find your ancestors today!

 

About The National Archives

The National Archives is one of the world’s most valuable resources for research and an independent research organisation in its own right. As the official archive and publisher for the UK government, and England and Wales they are the guardians of some of the UK’s most iconic national documents, dating back over 1,000 years. Their role is to collect and secure the future of the government record, both digital and physical, to preserve it for generations to come, and to make it as accessible and available as possible. The National Archives brings together the skills and specialisms needed to conserve some of the oldest historic documents as well as leading digital archive practices to manage and preserve government information past, present and future.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/  http://www.legislation.gov.uk/

For the latest stories, follow the Media Team on Twitter @TNAmediaofficer

 

 

 

*Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links. This does not mean that you pay more just that I make a percentage on the sales from my links. The payments help me pay for the cost of running the site. You may like to read this explanation here:

http://paidforadvertising.co.uk/

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Mental Health on Record – The National Archives film

 

The Lunatic Asylum from Wikipedia

The Lunatic Asylum.  image from Wiki Commons

 

Have you found an ancestor in the records labelled as a Lunatic?

I know I did, and was a bit shocked to see that she was an inmate of the workhouse until she died some years later. Of course the workhouse was one of the places that people who couldn’t look after themselves would go before the birth of the National Health Service in Britain.

New Film: Mental Health on Record

This week The National Archives in the U.K. premiered a new film called ‘Mental Health on Record’. It is a stop-motion animation film made by a group of young people which explores how contemporary views on mental health can be used to interpret historical records from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Historical documents are used in the film to demonstrate how perceptions of mental health have changed. The film examines how words like ‘hysterical’, ‘lunatic’ and ‘eccentric’ would have been used in past times to refer to our ancestors, their cases often not being recognised as mental health issues

The documents used by the young film makers originate from a range of sources beyond health records, including the Prison Commission, Central Criminal Court and the War Office.

See: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/mental-health-on-record-released/

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Discover Your Ancestors with the newly released Vol 9

Last weekend I attended the very successful Family History Show, South West at the UWE Exhibition hall near Bristol. One of the stands there was for Discover Your Ancestors, for whom I am a regular writer. I was so pleased to see that the new Discover Your Ancestors Issue 9 had just come off the press and was available there and in the shops now! With articles on tracing your house history, the family history of the cast and the castle of Downton Abbey and items covering criminal gangs to criminal lunatics, it’s a read that’s hard to put down.

The quality of the glossy bookazine really is amazing and I was impressed with the treatment that the editor, Andrew Chapman, had given both my pieces and the other writer’s articles to make them so attractive on the page.

Discover Your Ancestors V9

This 196-page bookazine contains new in-depth articles, research advice, social and general history, ‘how to’ features, case studies, places in focus, and much more! It is ideal for both experienced researchers and those just starting out.

In this volume you will find features on:
Downton Abbey: the historic location, stars and their family histories
Charles Dickens 150th Anniversary
Celebrity Genealogies: Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Rowan Atkinson
Peaky Blinders & The Krays: the real history of organised crime gangs
DNA and how it can pinpoint ancestors’ locations
and much more!

Also included are over £170 of FREE resources! Including a free online research subscription and a voucher for a free subscription to the monthly online magazine, Discover Your Ancestors Periodical.

Pick up this new release from WHSmiths or go online to S&N Genealogy Supplies where you can also find Discover Your Ancestors Back Issues so you can complete your collection, Periodical Compendiums so you can get up to date with the monthly online magazine, as well as many Books and other new releases from Discover Your Ancestors, including the popular Seven Generation Log Book, 10 Generation Relationship Chart and Birth Year from Census Date Calculator.

https://genealogysupplies.com/

 

Disclosure: I am a regular writer for both the annual print bookazine as well as the monthly online Discover Your Ancestors Periodical

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