TheGenealogist has another new set of records now available to view online in a very busy week. Available to all levels of subscriber, the new records detail the records of Jews who fell or were wounded in the Great War or were decorated for bravery.
Looking at people such as Captain Robert Gee who was wounded several times but still performed heroic actions, Sergeant Issy Smith, Private Leonard Keysor and Lieutenant Frank Alexander de Pass, these are just some of the 2,500 men who can be found on the new record sets which further add to the military records available on TheGenealogist.
Captain Robert Gee, Victoria Cross winner for outstanding bravery
With details on how and where they served, it is a fascinating set of records of great interest to those with Jewish ancestry or for those with an interest in the First World War. There's more details available on TheGenealogist.
To search these records, select "Roll of Honour Records" on the search view, or find them under the military section of the master search on the website.
Latest news from TheGenealogist is the release of a new set of records relating to the Cornish Railway workers of the 1880s.
The records list the names of all the men employed by the Cornish Railway at the time of its take-over by the Great Western Railway Company on the 15 June 1889.
Information includes (where available) names, occupations, places of work, wages or salaries, dates of entering service, dates of birth of the officers and clerks and is now available on the Diamond subscription on TheGenealogist. There's more details available here on the TheGenealogist website.
Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine has announced the new celebrities to be featured in the forthcoming TV series of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine. They include Gary Lineker, Nigel Havers, Una Stubbs, actress Minnie Driver and BBC News Editor John Simpson. The series starts next month and promises to be a good one. Will you be watching?
There's more information at the Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine website
The latest email newsletter is now available from S&N Genealogy. Have you seen it? The issue is the special Father's Day edition with some great Father's Day offers and an article on the history of Father's Day.
There's also a feature on the forthcoming Wiltshire and York Family History Fairs and information on the new record releases on TheGenealogist. If you aren't receiving the Email News you can register for it here.
Recent reports on CNN have raised the plight of a teddy bear left behind at Bristol Airport over a year ago. However, this is no ordinary teddy bear. His rather worn features give a clue to his age as does the photograph that was left with him dating from 1918.
Lost teddy bear at Bristol Airport
The picture, produced as a postcard from the studio of Dura Ltd., shows a teddy with two small children in light dresses. The older one, her hair tied in ribbons, has her arm around the bear.
Efforts by airport staff and police to trace its owners have also proved fruitless -- so now the airport is hoping the general public can lend a hand in solving the mystery.
Some antique experts believe the teddy is a British-made Farnell Bear from the early 1900s. Others believe it could be either French or German.
There's more information at the CNN website
Anyone with information that might help find the bear's owners should contact: [email protected].
A handy tip for all those new to family history research is always be alert to the fact an ancestor could appear on a census listing more than once. If your ancestor moved around a bit, or lived an unconventional lifestyle there is always the chance they may have ended up listed in the census more than once.
A case in point is that of daring early aviator and showman, Samuel Franklin Cody. American born but living and working in Britain around the turn of the 20th Century. Before becoming employed by The British Army, he worked with his family on a wild west show and regularly toured around Britain and Europe. Samuel Cody then became interested in aviation and subsequently became one of the leading pioneers of British aviation.
Samuel Franklin Cody, leading aviator and showman
However, around 1901, the Cody family, with their show and their lifestyle, inevitably meant moving about quite a bit which may explain his two entries in the 1901 census. Both entries are from the Cheshire census and it looks like the Cody family may have had two temporary places of accommodation as they took their show around the North West of England. Both Samuel (senior) and his son Samuel Frank Leslie Cody appear listed on the 1901 census records in the screenshot below from TheGenealogist.
Samuel Cody 1901 census entries on TheGenealogist
This famous example shows what can occur so always look out for those duplicate records!
One of the latest podcasts available from The National Archives covers that all too frequent problem for family historians- hitting those genealogical brick walls. This podcast from Dave Annal provides some strategies to help you get around those brick walls and dead ends in your research.
Dave Annal pays particular attention to getting the most out of online databases and advanced techniques such as 'family reconstruction'. If you'd like to find out more you can listen to the podcast at the TNA website hereDave Annal worked at the National Archives for ten years, at the Family Records Centre and at Kew. He is now a resident expert on Your Family History magazine.
This forthcoming Saturday (15th June) sees the Southern Family History Day run by the Wiltshire Family History Society. It's at Wilton Community Centre, Wilton, SP2 0DG from 10am to 3.30pm and entry is free.
There will be a number of Wiltshire Family History Society books and publications as well as a selection of other suppliers. There is also a couple of free talks well worth going along to see. Jean Bunting of the Census Detectives has a talk on 'Making sense of the Census' at 11am and Mark Bayley from S&N Genealogy is giving a talk on 'Breaking down those brick walls' at 1pm.
There is free parking on site, so if you're in the area make sure you go along! There's more information at the Wiltshire Family History Society website
Our weekly book review takes a look at Family History for beginners by Karen Foy. This book is a perfect introduction to looking into your family tree. For the beginner, it has some ideal tips on the best way to go about researching your family history.
Looking firstly at how to get the most information from living relatives, to working your way through the large amount of census data to the ideal ways to store the data you collect, the book is the ideal companion those embarking on the fascinating hobby of family history research.
The book concludes by looking at the next level of research, beyond birth, marriages and deaths and the census records, illustrating what other records are available to get access to. Looking at areas such as occupations, emigration and military records, the book gives the beginner the knowledge to start their research in the most effective way.
The book is available from S&N Genealogy Supplies priced £14.99 from their website.
There’s an extensive range of pilot records now on TheGenealogist ranging from 1909 to 1926, looking at Aero Club members, Aeronaut certificates, airship certificates and the all too frequent fatalities as our forebears strove to master the skies and to get their places in the history books. From Geoffrey de Havilland, to Charles Rolls of Rolls-Royce fame, Samuel Cody to war veterans Edwin Moon and Albert Ball, TheGenealogist can now provide a number of fascinating records of the race for the skies.
The new releases now join the ‘Who’s Who in Aviation’ record sets and the Air Force lists in a comprehensive aviation collection on TheGenealogist.
There's more information available here.
