tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63294529842929030672024-02-08T18:16:09.621+00:00Family History FinderThis blog describes my research into my family history, including insights into the resources and tools that I have used. Genealogy is my passion, and my hope is that this blog will inspire others to investigate this fascinating hobby.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-43888802347833264682013-05-16T16:22:00.002+01:002013-05-16T16:33:51.671+01:00Becoming A Professional Genealogist
It goes without saying that I find genealogy to be incredibly rewarding. Lately I've been thinking a lot about extending the scope of my personal family history research by studying genealogy, with the goal of ultimately becoming a professional genealogist.
I've been doing some research on the Internet, and what I've found so far hasn't filled me with hope. The genealogy courses I have found Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-22701210350436729202013-04-03T11:59:00.000+01:002013-04-03T11:59:38.328+01:00Who Do You Think You Are USA Cancelled
The American version of Who Do You Think You Are? has apparently been cancelled after three seasons by its parent company NBC. This is a real shame, as I always found it to be really entertaining, if not quite as in-depth as the UK version.
I've just recently been watching the third series of Who Do You Think You Are USA, specifically the episodes with Martin Sheen and Rob Lowe. Since Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-53109831462017200262013-03-30T12:19:00.000+00:002013-03-30T12:19:02.375+00:00Free Census Records Access At Ancestry
Ancestry.co.uk are offering free access to their census records for 1901 and 1911 this bank holiday weekend. From Friday 29th March 2013 until Monday 2nd April 2013 you'll be able to search these census records for free.
Sounds like a good deal to me, but you need to be quick.
Visit Ancestry to search the records now.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-54409975983686340862013-03-25T15:10:00.000+00:002013-03-25T15:15:26.623+00:00Finding Your Roots
I just watched a really interesting new genealogy TV show called Finding Your Roots. It's broadcast on Sunday nights at 8pm on the PBS channel. (Sky channel 166, Virgin Media 243).
Finding Your Roots draws some comparisons to Who Do You Think You Are? in that it deals with the family trees of celebrity guests each week, however the two shows are different in their approachesUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-41682901267754368312013-03-04T15:21:00.001+00:002013-03-04T15:21:45.016+00:00Abraham Lincoln Family Tree
I recently watched the film Lincoln, and was very impressed. It is as much about the president's family relationships as about his political struggle to abolish slavery. It got me to thinking about the Abraham Lincoln family tree, and specifically how the famous name of Lincoln had been passed down through the years. I decided it was time to do a little research, hence this special Family Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-26575265762910660362013-02-22T15:55:00.002+00:002013-02-22T15:57:50.470+00:00Meet The Izzards
BBC1 screened a very
interesting programme over the nights of Wednesday 20th
February and Thursday 21st February 2013. In Meet The
Izzards comedian, actor, and
marathon runner Eddie Izzard used state of the art DNA analysis
techniques to discover where his family originated from. The first
programme dealt with his mother's line, while the second focused on
his father's lineage. Each was Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-47595336467862812832013-02-04T10:50:00.000+00:002013-02-04T10:49:36.917+00:00The Remains of Richard III
Efforts are underway today to finally uncover the long lost grave of the English king Richard III. Richard, who allegedly arranged for the murder of his two young nephews in the "princes in the Tower" story, was killed in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.
The exact whereabouts of his grave and remains has been lost over time, but historical records show that the body was taken to the church of Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-28078141313638948722013-02-02T11:55:00.001+00:002013-02-02T11:55:21.157+00:00Scotland's People Release Valuation Rolls For 1905
Back in April last year I wrote about how it was now possible to view the Valuation Rolls for 1915 on the Scotland's People website. Well, they have now released 74000 more images, this time for the year 1905. The files can be searched by name or address, and contain "the names of the owners, tenants and occupiers of each property."
While the 1905 Valuation Rolls do list entire families as Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-23940118887221602882013-01-18T14:33:00.000+00:002013-01-18T14:33:39.894+00:00More Free Credits For Find My Past
A few weeks ago I told you about the promotion that Find My Past were running, whereby they were offering all of their users 50 free credits.
Well, they're doing it again, only this time it's 40 free credits instead of 50.
All you have to do to claim your free credits is visit Find My Past, and click on "claim free credits." You will then be taken to a screen to sign up for an account, or Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-75313313599448955902013-01-06T14:42:00.001+00:002013-01-06T14:42:27.004+00:00New Online Ancestry Courses
There are a wealth of Internet resources available to genealogists. While some people take up genealogy simply as an interesting hobby, others want to study the topic in more depth. To satisfy this demand increasing numbers of educational establishments are running ancestry courses.
North Highland College UHI in Scotland is the latest to offer a course, and it seems unlikely to be the last inUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-46336274800427275092013-01-04T10:47:00.001+00:002013-01-04T10:48:28.049+00:00Hopes For 2013
I'm hoping that everybody had a nice, relaxing, peaceful Christmas and New Year. I know that I did, but now it's time to get back to the important business of my family history research.
2013 promises new opportunities for discovering the past as more and more records are released online. This is one of the best aspects of our hobby, in that it is constantly evolving. There is always Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-42771773738706438202012-12-26T13:59:00.000+00:002012-11-24T14:03:07.800+00:00Perfect Christmas Gifts for Genealogists
Christmas is fast approaching, so I thought that it would be useful to write about some items that would make perfect gifts for the genealogist in your life. Some of the items will be quirky and fun, but most will be practical, and will prove to be useful for delving into family histories and recording the information found.
Let's start with the fun items. Amazon has a large selection Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-13086781503029875962012-12-18T20:02:00.002+00:002012-12-18T20:02:47.749+00:00Free Credits at Find My Past
To celebrate 'Start Your Family Tree Week' from the 26th of December to the 1st of January, the website Find My Past is offering users 50 pay as you go credits, absolutely free! This is a great opportunity to view some census records or newspaper articles at no extra charge.
All you have to do is go here and click where it says "claim your credits now." Then just enter the code
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-33502523252566044632012-12-08T15:48:00.001+00:002012-12-08T15:48:41.701+00:00WDYTYA Series 9 - John Bishop
The long awaited tenth episode of series 9 of Who Do You Think You Are? aired on Thursday night (6th December). The ninth episode featuring John Barnes aired way back in October, so I'm not quite sure why the last episode was delayed for so long. Anyway, it featured Liverpudlian comedian John Bishop, and it lived up to the usual WDYTYA? high standards.
John first search of the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-46174213134484358232012-12-02T12:52:00.002+00:002012-12-02T12:52:32.408+00:00Ancestry.co.uk Advent Calendar
The good people at Ancestry.co.uk are embracing the spirit of Christmas by offering free tips and prizes on their special advent calendar page of their website. Each day there will be something of interest. If you missed yesterday's, the 1st of December, it was a competition to win a copy of the soundtrack to the film Quartet. Don't worry though, you can still enter right up until the 1st Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-18705237649511953032012-11-26T17:53:00.001+00:002012-11-26T17:53:20.787+00:00Find My Past Historic Newspapers
Anybody who has studied old newspapers as part of their family history research will know how useful they can be. There are already a few websites offering historical newspaper transcriptions and digitised images, but fans of Find My Past will be pleased to know that a newspaper section has just been added to the site.
There are millions of pages of historical newspapers to view, dating Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-84972168761963857872012-11-23T17:01:00.001+00:002012-11-23T17:01:47.202+00:00Interesting Names
This is not strictly speaking a genealogy story, but is interesting nonetheless. The BBC News website has an article about how some people in Britain have struggled with having unusual names. The names, such as Formaggia, Bandoodas, and Akinyemi, are described as "foreign-sounding." In other words, they are only unusual in Britain because they are not native to the country.
From a Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-6463284594004744682012-11-23T16:49:00.001+00:002012-11-23T16:49:13.668+00:00Genes Reunited Price ChangesThe website Genes Reunited have announced that they have made some changes to their pricing structure, effective immediately.
Viewing an original 1911 census image now costs 5 credits, or 50p, instead of 30 credits, or £3.
Viewing a 1911 census transcription now costs 5 credits instead of 10.
This appears to be a permanent change rather than a promotional offer, and is very Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-20977705610347678972012-11-16T17:10:00.000+00:002012-11-16T17:10:02.201+00:00Who Do You Think You Are?
I, like many of my fellow genealogists, have enjoyed the latest series of Who Do You Think You Are? However, it has been disappointing that the series finished abruptly on Wednesday 17th October with one episode still to go. I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of John Bishop, the subject of the missing episode, but I'd be entertained by his family history adventure just as I am with Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-19717758230665479592012-11-12T20:45:00.001+00:002012-11-12T20:45:13.813+00:00Scottish DNA
A new research study is being launched by ScotlandsDNA into the three different types of gene for red hair, with the specific purpose of discovering why Scotland has such an abundance of red headed people. Around 13% of people in Scotland have red hair, compared to a global figure of 1-2%. The researchers believe, however, that in Scotland alone there could be over one-and-a-half million. It is Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-47875204941859653332012-11-10T20:26:00.001+00:002012-11-10T20:26:37.952+00:00Free Military Records On Ancestry.co.uk
This is just a quick reminder that Ancestry UK is currently offering free access to their First World War service, pension, and medal records. The promotion runs from the 9th to the 12th November 2012 to commemorate Remembrance Sunday on the 11th.
This is a great opportunity to learn more about our ancestors while taking the time to pay our respects to all of the brave soldiers who haveUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-74763689241601618042012-11-07T17:50:00.000+00:002012-11-07T17:51:06.365+00:00More Wills Added to ScotlandsPeople Site
ScotlandsPeople have just added almost 400,000 more wills and testaments to their records. The new documents relate to the period from 1902 to 1925. This means that they now have over one million wills and testaments in total, some dating as far back as 1513.
Scottish wills and testaments can provide some invaluable information when tracing ancestors, and they can also be extremely Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-71774032834303091842012-10-28T11:20:00.002+00:002012-10-28T11:20:26.349+00:00Barack Obama's Ancestry
With the 2012 US Presidential election less than two weeks away I thought I'd write a post about the ancestry of President Barack Obama. My previous post on the ancestry of Republican hopeful Mitt Romney can be found here.
It is well established that President Obama's father was from Kenya and his mother from Kansas in the USA. Rather than focus on the specifics of these particular lines, I Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-35372039545139816262012-10-24T17:05:00.000+01:002012-10-24T17:06:30.285+01:00Find My Past TV Show
I wrote a previous post about Genealogy TV Shows, and in that post mentioned a new show call Find My Past, with obvious ties to the website. Well, I quite liked it, and I'm pleased to report that it's coming back for a second series.
The format is the same: each week of the ten part series three people investigate how their ancestors were linked to famous historical events. The finale Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329452984292903067.post-69941190774285461402012-10-18T17:42:00.002+01:002012-10-18T17:42:17.349+01:00View the 1911 Census for Free
Find My Past is currently offering access to the 1911 census for England and Wales for free. Transcripts, which normally cost 10 credits, can be viewed completely free of charge until the 18th of November 2012. Viewing the original image will cost just 5 credits rather than the standard 30. After this promotion ends the price for viewing both a transcript and an original image will be 5 credits.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0