Welcome to the Family History Social

Press Release from TheGenealogist

This week TheGenealogist has expanded its growing International Headstone Collection with some interesting new additions that allow researchers to see details that have been carved on stone about their ancestors and commemorated in various churches and cemeteries. The headstone records released cover 71 new cemeteries from the English and Welsh counties of Buckinghamshire, Cheshire, Conwy, Denbighshire, Devon, Dorset, Essex, Flintshire, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Merionethshire, Merseyside, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Wiltshire and Worcestershire.

The International Headstone Collection is an ongoing project where every stone photographed or transcribed earns volunteers credits, which they can spend on subscriptions at TheGenealogist.co.uk or products from GenealogySupplies.com. If you would like to join, you can find out more about the scheme at: https://ukindexer.co.uk/headstone/

A simple headstone for the Earl St Maur, Eldest Son of Edward Adolphus 12th Duke of Somerset  

One of a number of headstones and plaques for the Dukes of Somerset and their family in All Saints, Church Street, Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire

These new records are all available as part of the Diamond Subscription at TheGenealogist.

You can read TheGenealogist’s article: Headstone Collection reveals the family history of the owners and staff of one of the most famous house and gardens in England 

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2020/headstone-collection-reveals-the-family-history-of-the-owners-and-staff-of-one-of-the-most-famous-house-and-gardens-in-england-1266/

Have you got your tickets yet to the Online Family History Show?

The Family History Show – Online will be live on Saturday 20 June 2020. Following closely the format of the very successful live shows, it will feature an online lecture theatre, the popular ‘Ask the expert’ area – where you can put questions forward to their specialists – as well as a whole host of stalls where you can ask for advice as well as buy genealogical products.

The organisers, having cancelled the physical show that would have taken place at York this weekend, have made it possible for people from all over the world to now "visit" the virtual stalls of more than 85 vendors ranging from Family History Societies to Genelogical Suppliers.

Through the wonders of modern technology attendees will be able to talk to some of the stallholders by text, audio or video to ask for advice and help with their family history society or business. You can also purchase from the online stalls their downloadable products that can help you in your research.

A virtual theatre will be running various talks throughout the day from the speakers who would have been at the physical event, had the pandemic not got in the way.

Put this Saturday in your diary so that you don't miss this online family history show.

Tickets to attend the online Family History Show are available for just £5.50 each. All ticket holders will also receive a digital Goody Bag worth over £10 on the day.

To find out more about The Family History Show – Online, and to buy your ticket please visit:

 https://thefamilyhistoryshow.com/online/

Press Release: Pharos Tutors under new ownership

Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd has been purchased by Dr Karen Cummings DipGen, with the change in ownership effective immediately.

Helen Osborn, co-founder and owner of the business since its inception in 2005, has sold the business to allow her to focus on other interests.

Karen Cummings, who has been the Course Director for Pharos since October last year, is an established genealogist, tutor and speaker. She is one of our longstanding tutors and has taught and written a number of Pharos courses over the last 6 years. Students who have been on Karen’s courses will testify to her enthusiasm about Pharos courses and the subjects she teaches.

Karen Cummings, new owner (right), with Helen Osborn

Helen says “Pharos has been a large part of my life for 15 years and it now needs new vision and fresh enthusiasm to take it forwards. Karen shares my love of imparting the best genealogy tutoring and inspiration to all genealogists no matter where they are in their educational journey. She brings many skills to Pharos so I am really thrilled that she is stepping into my place. I know the company will not only be in safe hands, but will build on current successes and go from strength to strength.”

Karen says “When Helen told me she was thinking of selling Pharos I jumped at the opportunity to buy the company. I’ve been a student, a tutor and then the Course Director for Pharos and, as we were moving things forward, I was constantly reminded of that 1980s marketing campaign “I liked it so much I bought the company”. We have the most amazing group of Tutors here at Pharos, I am in exceptionally good company. Like the other tutors, I am passionate about delivering high quality courses to students, providing them with tools to become better genealogists, and giving them the opportunity to ask questions along the way. We have over forty different courses currently running and more in development, and I am very excited about taking Pharos forward into the future”.

Newly released records covering Doctors, Midwives, Opticians and medics in British India

At this time when we are all so very conscious of the work of our medical professionals in the face of the pandemic, TheGenealogist has released a set of new records for our medical ancestors who treated others in the course of their occupations in the time before the creation of the National Health Service. 

St Mary Abbot’s Hospital, Kensington W8, ward 3

It would have been a very different world from today in which these men and women worked. Before 1948 and the founding of the NHS, medical professionals were in private practice. The poorer members of society depended on charity and being assessed for what financial contribution they could make to their treatment. 

TheGenealogist has added to its occupational records with a fascinating release that has a medical theme. From the time from before the NHS came into being, these name rich records covering Doctors, Midwives and Opticians can be searched by name and keywords. All of these practitioners would have been working at the time when the wealthy could afford the best treatment, while the poor went to hospital with the added shame that this held as these institutions were where the poor were predominantly treated.

Use these records to: 

• Add details to the lives of your medical ancestors 
• Discover Doctors etc. who served in India in The Madras Medical Register 1934
• Find Medical Ancestors in The Medical Who's Who 1912
• Seek out midwives in The Midwives Roll 1905
• See optometrists names in the Institute of Ophthalmic Opticians, Official Directory, 1927

This latest release expands TheGenealogist’s extensive Occupational records collection that includes actors, apprentices, clergy, crew lists, directors, flight, freemen, law, railway, sports, teachers and biographies as well as other medical registers. 

You can read the article, ‘Medical ancestors from before the NHS began’, here:

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2020/medical-ancestors-from-before-the-nhs-began-1262/

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!

While, in these unprecedented times, we are not going to be able to meet as usual at York in June for our customary Family History Show at the racecourse, the good news is that we are still going to be able to safely enjoy access to many of the usual features of the show.

The Family History Show will be coming to you as an online event on the 20th of June featuring a wide range of virtual stalls from family history societies to archives and genealogical suppliers.

The Family History Show Online will, mirroring the format of the very successful live shows, feature an online lecture theatre, the popular ‘Ask the expert’ area – where you can put questions forward to our specialists – as well as a whole host of stalls where you can ask for advice as well as buy genealogical products.

To make this online experience as useful to family historians as attending the physical show would have been, you can “visit” a stall in the virtual exhibition hall. With over 85 present there will be a wide variety of societies and companies. Here there will be the opportunity to talk to some of the stallholders by text, audio or video from the comfort of your own home. With this facility you can ask them for advice regarding their family history society/business and also purchase from their online stall various downloadable products to help you with your research.

In the virtual lecture theatre there will also be the chance to watch webcasts of talks from the same lecturers who would have been at the physical event, had it taken place. These presentations will cover a wide variety of family history topics.

Tickets to attend the online Family History Show are available for just £5.50 each. All ticket holders will also receive a digital Goody Bag worth over £10 on the day.

To find out more about The Family History Show Online, and buy your ticket visit https://thefamilyhistoryshow.com/online/

TheGenealogist has expanded its unique collection of searchable RAF Operations Record Books with the addition of 1.2 Million new records for aircrew operations.

Airmen - planning their next mission. Public domain

Operations Record Books (ORBs) are official air force documents chronicling an air force unit from the time of its formation. They were intended to be an accurate daily record of the operations that the squadron carried out in peace and at war. The ORBs are for squadrons primarily after the First World War, but there are a few early squadron records from 1911 to 1918. TheGenealogist uniquely has made the Operations Record Books fully searchable by name, year and keywords.

This collection also includes some record books for Dominion Air Forces (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa) as well as Allied Air Force squadrons under British Command and can be used to find the stories of brave aircrew, giving insights into the operations that they carried out. The ORBs follow a daily diary format giving summaries of events and can reveal the death of aircrews, crashes, as well as less disquieting entries such as the weather for flying, promotions and the decorations men of the squadron received. ORBs also detail the areas that the fighter planes patrolled, or the bombers targeted, as well as where the squadrons were based as the war wore on. These duties and assignments include bombing the enemy, patrolling the skies, convoy escorts, submarine hunts, attacking docks & shipping, dive bombing raids, and more.

As aircrew personnel are named in these reports, those wanting to follow where an ancestor had been posted to and what may have happened to them will find these records extremely informative. 

Use these records to: 

• Add details to an aircrewman’s story 
• Study the war movements of personnel in air force units
• Discover if a pilot, navigator, radio operator or gunner is mentioned in the action
• Note dates airman received promotions, medals, or other honours
• See the names of squadron members wounded, killed, or who did not return
• Easily search the transcribed records and images licensed from The National Archives
  

This latest release expands TheGenealogist’s extensive Military records collection and is available to all Diamond subscribers.

You can read their article about a famous fighter ace and a bomber pilot who flew more than 120 operations: 

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2020/air-27-operations-record-books-capture-airmen-from-fighter-and-bomber-squadrons-during-ww2-1261/

The BBC are preparing to broadcast the third series of the popular house history programme.

Here is the announcement

Using painstaking detective work - genealogical records, contemporary documents, and the help of expert witnesses - David Olusoga will trace the lives of the occupants of a single house, getting to know individual characters and following their stories wherever they lead.

The search for a new house in Bristol has already begun, and with the city’s rich maritime history, connections to the slave trade and industrial and technological heritage, the team expect to find no shortage of drama for series 3.

Commissioning Editor, Simon Young, says: “This series has swiftly become a treasured part of the schedule on BBC Two. It’s a vitally important returning series for us, perfectly reflecting our ambition for history programmes that connect the bigger sweeps of our nation’s story to individual lives lived all over the country. Having visited houses in Liverpool and Newcastle in the first two series, I’m thrilled that David will delve into Bristol’s rich history next.”

Director of Programmes and Executive Producer, Maxine Watson, says: “The series is hugely popular with viewers and shows just how much we want to know what happened to people just like us in the past. It’s truly a series about and for the people and we are absolutely delighted to be coming back with a new series next year.”

A House Through Time is a 4x60’ part series by Twenty Twenty (part of Warner Bros. International TV Production) for BBC Two. The series has been commissioned by Patrick Holland, Controller BBC Two and Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Natural History and Specialist Factual and the BBC Commissioning Editor is Simon Young.

It was created by Twenty Twenty Managing Director Emma Willis, the Executive Producer is Maxine Watson and the Series Producer is Mary Crisp.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/house-through-time-s3

Powerful new map tool now helps trace ancestors land or property with further additions of Tithe Maps

TheGenealogist’s Map Explorer™ which can help researchers find an ancestor’s property and watch the landscape change over time has now been enhanced by the addition of georeferenced black and white Tithe Maps for Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and Oxfordshire.

• Total number of maps in this release is 927
• Total number of Tithe maps in Map Explorer™ is 3,317
• Map Explorer™ has over two million selectable records shown using Map Pins

Joining the georeferenced Lloyd George Data Layer, Headstones, War Memorials, and colour Tithe Maps for a number of counties, the new additions to the ever-expanding Map Explorer™ allow researchers to trace property from Victorian times to the modern era.

Great Coxwell Tithe Barn Oxfordshire (was Berkshire) used to store original tithe contributions of crops. 

Photo by Motacilla / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

• TheGenealogist’s Map Explorer™ displays maps for historical periods up to the modern day.
• Various colour and black and white Tithe maps have now been added to this innovative tool and linked to the apportionment books, enabling researchers to locate where their ancestors lived or worked.

The addition to the Map Explorer™ of the black and white tithe maps for Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and Oxfordshire linked to the apportionment books will enable researchers to find the details of the plots, their owners and their occupiers at the time that the survey was taken in Victorian times while also identifying the plots on the maps. By using the Map Explorer™ controls the researcher can then see how the landscape changes over time with the aid of the georeferenced historical and modern map layers. Tithe maps and records were drawn up from 1836 to the 1850s, with additional altered apportionments in later years when property was sold or divided. Tithes usefully record all levels of society from large estate owners to occupiers of small plots such as a homestead or a cottage. 

The Map Explorer™ now features colour tithe maps for the counties of Buckinghamshire, Cumberland, Essex, Huntingdonshire, Middlesex, Northumberland, Rutland, Surrey, Westmorland, the City of York as well as North and East Ridings of Yorkshire plus black and white maps for Berkshire, Cambridge, Leicestershire and Oxfordshire.

See our article: Tithe Maps on Map Explorer

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2020/tithe-records-on-map-explorer-1255/

Find out more at TheGenealogist.co.uk/maps/

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!

The National Archives (TNA) have announced that they are making digital records available on their website free of charge for as long as their Kew site is closed to visitors because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Registered users of the TNA's website will be able to order and download up to ten items at a time, to a maximum of 50 items over 30 days. The limits are there to try and help manage the demand for content and ensure the availability of TNA's digital services for everyone.

To access the service and download for free, users will be required to:

• Register/sign in to their Discovery account before adding items to their basket (maximum ten items per basket)
• Abide by the terms of TNA's fair use policy
• Complete the order process to receive a download link, which will remain active for 30 days. (The link will also be saved in ‘Your orders’ in your account for 30 days)

The National Archive's usual terms of use still apply – digital copies can be downloaded for non-commercial private use and educational purposes only, and bulk downloads and web crawlers are not permitted.

For more information take a look at this on their website:

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/digital-downloads/

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/

Your Free First Steps will 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 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 beginning their journey on the compelling road to discovering their ancestors some excellent family history resources.

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

Read the article: How to start your family history 

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!