The Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2013 Show proved a big success again this year. Despite the chilly weather, large crowds gathered at the start of the day to make the most of the largest family history event in the world.
It was cold to queue but well worth the wait!
Many of the usual stands were present, including the major family history magazines, website providers, family history software and general genealogy suppliers, to a wide range of family history societies. The talks both from celebrities and from other expert genealogy speakers were informative and of interest to both the experienced and amateur family historian alike.
A great selection of free talks were also available
This year the celebrities being interviewed were Greg Wallace, Samantha Womack, John Barnes and William Roache. Eric Knowles returned as the heirloom detective and again proved very popular.
The busier days again were the Friday and Saturday, with Friday proving especially popular.
The Society of Genealogists ran a number of workshops over the three days which attracted many visitors. The subjects of parish records, how to record your findings and the different research techniques a family historian can use where all discussed in the workshops.
The S.O.G. Family History Show was also a popular feature again. Featuring over 50 family history societies, there was a wealth of both materials and advice for visitors to call upon.
Another busy year at WDYTYA Live!
Did you have a favourite talk or event if you attended the show? Did you find that missing bit of information or advice on how to continue your research? We'd love to hear how you enjoyed the show!
At Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2013, TheGenealogist launched a new set of records for family historians to use in their research.
New Casualty Lists
TheGenealogist launched a major new military collection to help you find more out about your ancestors that fought in The Great War. The collection is a list of soldiers of all ranks who were reported as injured, missing or prisoners of war by The War Office.
The coverage at launch covers the War Office’s ‘Weekly Casualty Lists’ from 1917-18 and this will be expanded by the daily casualty lists to cover from September 1914 to the last reports of 1919, as reports were still being published well after the war had officially ceased.
There are over 600,000 records available at launch which will grow to cover the entirety of World War One. From the first records of British losses through to early 1919, there’s more information than ever for family historians to access, to find out what their ancestors did in the Great War. With casualty lists recording all ranks from war office published lists, rolls of honour and other reports of the time, it’s all on TheGenealogist.
There’s more information on the Casualty Lists here.
As the premier UK family history event approaches, will you be visiting London Olympia this weekend for Who Do You Think You Live 2013?
The world's leading family history event starts this Friday (22nd February) at 10am and promises to be another great show. From all the major online resource providers such as TheGenealogist, to libraries, museums and dozens of family history societies there is a wealth of useful information to be found.
A busy day on TheGenealogist stand in 2012
The show encompasses the best in the field of family history, from informative workshops, expert talks and general products and services. Mark Bayley, online expert from TheGenealogist will be providing an in-depth talk on 'Breaking down those brick walls' amongst a number of informative talks to help the family history researcher.
Celebrity speakers this year having featured in the recent Who Do You Think You Are? TV series include- William Roache, Samantha Womack, Gregg Wallace and John Barnes who are all scheduled to speak in the Celebrity Theatre.
There's more details at www.WhoDoYouThinkYouAreLive.com which includes full timetables for talks and a list of exhibitors. We hope to see you there in what promises to be another busy and exciting show!
TheGenealogist has just added over 10 million death transcripts to the website, bringing the total number of death records to now over 52 million available on the website for subscribers to access covering the years from 1910 to 2005.
These transcripts can be used with a tool that lets you search across all the Birth, Marriage and Death transcripts, with built in SmartSearch technology, enabling you to find potential parents from a birth, potential children to a marriage and potential birth records from a death record.
Here we take the example of well loved comedy actor Ronnie Barker who sadly died in 2005. This is one of the later records, the collection on TheGenealogist now dates back to 1910. From here, the researcher can find birth records and further continue their search.
Searching for the death certificate for Ronnie Barker
One mouse click and you have a copy of his death certificate:
Copy of death certificate
It allows the family history researcher to find records quickly and easily and from just a death record, it's now possible to discover the birth date of the person, their parents, siblings and really progress your search.
There is more information from this link to the news page on TheGenealogist.
An interesting trend has been developing with more data CD's now being made available as instant downloads, giving researchers the opportunity to get hold of records quicker than ever, without having to wait for the post!
S&N Genealogy Supplies have now made more unique research records available in a downloadable format as an alternative to purchasing on CD. It's an added benefit for those family historians keen to get stuck into their research as quickly as possible and who want their data instantly.
Pigots Directory available as a download
Another advantage of the instant downloads is that with no postage and packing costs, customers can receive the information at a reduced price, useful for the genealogist on a budget or looking to save money. S&N Genealogy Supplies have download prices starting from £5 so it is good value for money.
The instant downloads are available as pdf document copies of the data CD. A simple click of the mouse gives you access to the records you need.
From Parish Records to Kelly's Directories, Post Office Directories, Pigot's Directories, Court Guides, County Books, Barrett's Directories and much more, there's an ever increasing selection of reference material now available to download instantly. S&N Genealogy Supplies also offer download protection, customers can login to their account to 're-download' them at any time.
With the ability to search quickly by county, it is possible to search for the area required and find the resource you are looking for. More details can be found at Genealogy Supplies where you can start your search. More information can also be found by calling S&N Genealogy Supplies on 01722 716121.
After recently upgrading my RootsMagic software to Version 6, I was pleased to find out a new App has been developed to have access to your family history research data when you're out and about!
The new RootsMagic App has been launched for use on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. It gives you access to your family tree at your fingertips wherever you may be. You don't need the internet, the data is all stored on your device so you can access it anytime and anywhere!
RootsMagic App
It's handy when you're out and about exploring those local areas your ancestors may have lived or visiting relatives who are interested in your work. The new app provides the perfect companion to your desktop RootsMagic software, allowing you to reference your database research and to check your data and also to show others your findings. It's a completely free useful tool that is a great addition to RootsMagic Version 6.
What's on the App?
Easily search and explore your family tree
View pictures, notes and sources - all of your RootsMagic data is available inside the App.
View your sources, to-do items, research logs, media, addresses, repositories, correspondences and places.
Tools and calculators- including a perpetual calendar, date calculator and relationship calculator.
Family member information easily accessible
RootsMagic at your fingertips
It's a great tool when you're out and about- just look up your genealogy data on your iPad or iPhone! For more information on the App, please contact S&N Genealogy Supplies on 01722 716121.
As documents are increasingly required to be kept and stored electronically, it's becoming more important to be able to scan your precious documents, photos and other memories for quick access and safe keeping and also to avoid having to keep taking the originals out of their album or frame.
However, what is the best type of equipment to use to achieve this? I've looked around and came across the 'Flip-Pal' mobile scanner as pictured below:
Scan anywhere and anything with the Flip Pal scanner
It's easy to scan relatives' photographs and document without fear of damage, or to take the scanner to libraries or archives to scan documents and save on prints. Also using the screen protector, you can scan medals and other items that may scratch the glass without worry.
I purchased the Flip-Pal scanner and the following great features really stood out:
It's Mobile- compact light and durable, cordless and battery powered.
Highly accurate- high quality digital images of 600 & 300 dpi resolution. Colour is true to the original.
Scans quickly and easily
Versatile- scan any size original, from coins to newspapers, including large documents.
It's quick & easy to use- push one button to scan in seconds. Insert the SD card from the scanner into your computer to see the digital images.
The Digital Creativity Suite it comes with is Windows & Mac compatible. It allows expert photo editing , digitally repair damaged photos in seconds. With Corel Paint it's also possible to turn old family photos into works of art!
The Flip Pal Scanner starts at £129.95 and is available at Genealogy Supplies
After testing it out I've been really impressed with just how good this mobile scanner is. Handy to carry about and not in the least bit awkward to use, it's something every family history researcher should have. Having a copy of your work is as essential and important as the original document so for peace of mind this is well worth the money. It also means you are fully prepared should you come across that golden nugget of information when you are visiting a relative or are in your local library when you come across that valuable photo or record!
When researching your family tree, to really get a feel for how our ancestors lived and what important events happened in their lifetimes, other sources of information are often required.
In Victorian times, an excellent source was the Illustrated London News, the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper. Founded by Herbert Ingram, a printer from Nottingham ,he moved to London and started the paper in 1842. The first issue appeared on Saturday 14 May 1842. Herbert Ingram initially wanted a paper that concentrated on crime reporting, but his partner, Henry Vizetelly, convinced him to cover more general news of the time to appeal to a larger audience.
With articles mainly covering the capital but also covering events abroad including conflicts and wars, it gives an interesting snapshot into life at the time and the journalistic take on big events of the time. By 1863, The Illustrated London News was selling more than 300,000 copies every week, much higher circulation figures in comparison to other British newspapers of the time.
Using larger circulation newspapers or more local regional newspapers, it's possible to find out information about the life and times your ancestor experienced and even if they appeared in the local papers. If they were famous, reputable at a certain skill or well known, there's a chance they may have appeared in the local newspaper.
My subscription to TheGenealogist has enabled me to get a flavour of events in Victorian times with the increasing numbers of newspaper issues they have now available online. They have recently added issues for the decade from 1870 to 1879. This means there is now a collection available from 1842 to 1879 giving a real feel for newsworthy events in the mid part of the century.
Examples of what can be viewed.
I've listed a couple of the screenshots to show what is available on TheGenealogist. Around the time of The Great Exhibition the Illustrated London News devoted a number of pages to the exhibition and the main people involved. Below is a page taken as a screenshot from the newspaper.
The Great Exhibition of 1851
A Christmas issue...
Christmas supplement in The Illustrated London News
More specific articles, this one is looking at the celebrated French chef, Alexis Soyer.
A more in depth article, this one into celebrated French chef Alexis Soyer
It's definitely worth working your way through the newspaper articles- just to add a bit more background to how your ancestors lived, it helps give you a feel for how things were for them all those years ago!
Linking together the life of a relative can often be a difficult and time consuming task if you don’t have much prior information to go on… however, I've found with my subscription to TheGenealogist that this process can be a whole lot simpler with its unique ‘SmartSearch’ facility. This has been further enhanced by the addition of 14 million newly transcribed death records from 1960 to 1983 to add even more power to the search feature.
With the total of 26 million death records for England and Wales from 1960 to 2005 now available on TheGenealogist, using the unique ‘SmartSearch’ feature, I've discovered we can now go from the death record from 1960 to 2005, to a birth record, to finding the parent’s marriage to tracing siblings in very easy steps. The team at TheGenealogist tell me by Christmas the records should stretch back to 1930 adding even more power to our fingertips!
As an example, I've used one of the newly transcribed death records on TheGenealogist to see a prime example of how the new records can really benefit your family research. I’ve taken the records of legendary T-Rex guitarist and vocalist, Marc Bolan, who tragically died in 1977 at the age of 29.
Marc Bolan at the height of his fame
His real name was Mark Feld which we can now use to search the death records on TheGenealogist.
Death record result for Mark Feld
Mark Feld transcribed death record
The ‘SmartSearch’ facility allows us to jump straight to his birth record which links to his parents and potential siblings. Mark didn’t have a brother or sister but we can find full details of his parents Simeon and Phyllis (including marriage record below) which allows us to move onto the next stage of the family tree.
Marriage record details
In my opinion, the 26 million death records now transcribed on TheGenealogist really enhances the ‘SmartSearch’ feature. From a death record it’s now easy to jump to past generations with just a few mouse clicks. You can now start your research with just the basic data and still find results quickly. Searching is now quicker and easier than ever.
As a keen user of the family tree software, RootsMagic, I was pleased to find out this week that the newly updated Version 6 has now arrived in the UK.
It comes with a number of handy new features and the improvements are good enough to keep it up there with the best of the family tree software currently on the market.
RootsMagic is ideal for both the newcomer and experienced researcher, I've found it produces great looking family trees, charts and reports. It's invaluable to those family historians who wants to keep everything nicely organised.
So what are the new features? With my brand new copy, which I 'road-tested' this week, I found the following features stood out the most for me:
Online Publishing -the software can create visually attractive, dynamic websites with pedigree, family and individual views as well as supporting notes, sources and media. Combined with the free My.RootsMagic.com hosting service, your family history has an online home with just a quick click of the mouse.
Live Timeline View - A live-edit panel on RootsMagic's timeline view makes this one of the most powerful editing features. Make corrections to your data while viewing it in context with other family members' life events. I found this feature very useful.
Find Everywhere- with just a single search you can now find every record in your file containing the text you want. Quickly find people, families, notes, sources, places, to-do items, research logs and more. You can then edit those records directly from the search results.
The 'Find Everywhere' screen on RootsMagic 6
WebTags- attach links to websites for any person, source, citation, place or research log item and instantly jump to a web page tagged to a record.
CountyCheck Explorer - look up a county, state, or country from a multi-national database. It can even show you historical county boundaries. This is particularly useful for keeping an eye on those confusing UK county boundary changes over the years which can throw a family historian off the scent in their ancestor search.
CountyCheck Explorer Page
RootsMagic Version 6 is now available from Genealogy Supplies
For those that recently purchased Version 5- there is a special offer of free upgrades for those customers that purchased after 21st August 2012. Please contact S&N Genealogy Supplies on 01722 716121 for more details.
