Welcome to the Family History Social

The new online periodical 'Discover Your Ancestors' continues to go from strength to strength. With a number of interesting articles and helpful tips and hints, it's a good read for family historians of all levels. And if you’d like to win a free subscription to Discover Your Ancestors… The latest competition run by TheGenealogist is currently available to enter on Facebook. It’s a ‘name the place’ competition and there’s a 100 free 12 issue subscriptions to ‘Discover Your Ancestors’, the online family history periodical up for grabs. If you’d like to enter the competition, go to https://www.facebook.com/thegenealogist?ref=hl  

 

For those wanting to catch up on the latest family history research news from S&N Genealogy including some of their latest special offers, it's worth taking a look at their latest 'email news', now available. With news on over half a million new parish records added to TheGenealogist website and how you can also save over £400 on preserving your memorabilia, there’s also free charts and the opportunity to track down your ancestors in the USA! It can all be found at http://www.genealogysupplies.com/email_news.htm

7 ways to demolish your family history brick walls Family history research is a rewarding and addictive hobby. However, we all reach a point when get stuck or hit that genealogy ‘brick wall’. At this point, it’s helpful to consult text books, visit family history society talks and also spend some time looking at the popular family history forums frequented by fellow family historians only too happy to offer help and advice. Using this external help, I managed to discover 7 new  techniques that helped me break down some difficult brick walls in my family history research. They may help you in your search. 1.      A missing marriage record Looking in numerous sources I could not find the marriage records for ancestors in the 1700s  in my family tree. I was advised to take a look at the ‘Fleet Marriage’ record sets. Known as record set RG7 from The National Archives, they cover over 800,000 clandestine marriages conducted by unscrupulous clergy around the Fleet debtor’s prison near London. Covering the years 1667 to 1777,    it covers over half of the marriages in London at this time. 2.      County boundary changes throwing us off the scent.. Areas of England and Wales have undergone numerous county boundary changes over the years and it can throw us family historians off the scent. I was trying to trace an ancestor in the village of Cradley in Herefordshire. After struggling locating the whereabouts of my ancestor, it turns out in various census records, the village, moved between Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire through boundary changes! 3.      Overseas BMD records Looking beyond the Civil Registration records helped open a few doors for me too. The National Archives overseas records can offer a great deal of record sets that can maybe help us track down that missing ancestor. There were 3 record sets I found useful, firstly RG33- Overseas BMDs of British Subjects (covering the years 1627 to 1960), this also included Lundy Island in Devon! RG32 covers Prisoners of War and Civilian Deaths overseas and finally RG34 which details foreign marriages including during World War 1. The General Register Office (GRO) also have a number of overseas records including Marine & Army BMDs, Air Births, Informal certificates of births at sea and Consular BMDs. These records are also well worth taking a look at. I found TheGenealogist.co.uk particularly useful for records in this area. 4.      A nonconformist ancestor.. If you’re struggling to find an ancestor in the parish records, it’s worth looking at other religious denomination records that may provide the details of an ancestor you’ve been looking for. I discovered an ancestor (fortunately!) in the Quaker records of the nonconformist registers from The National Archives (series RG6). The record not only recorded immediate family from the wedding but the whole congregation!   5.      Finding missing relatives using street search As many of our ancestors often lived close to each other, it is worth taking a look at street names to track down a missing ancestor, you just may discover ancestors you weren’t aware of living in the same street! I discovered new ancestors in a search using the Street Search on www.TheGenealogist.co.uk 6.       Family forename search Using TheGenealogist website I was able to discover a selection of ancestors that had previously been eluding my best search efforts. They had moved away from their original family home and I was able to track them down using the Family forename search- inputting the first names of the family (they had a common surname of Smith), the website narrowed down my search and discovered them in the 1891 census in Grimsby!  7.       Will Records Will records are a great way of discovering more information about your ancestors that can really break down those brick walls. Many will records offer comprehensive details of our ancestors lives, what they achieved, how much they were worth, who they favoured in their immediate family and who would gain the most from the will. They can be fascinating documents and can explain a period in time in your family history you previously knew nothing about. What techniques have you used to break down brick walls? Let us know in the comments box below. 

For those that haven't seen it or aren't on the mailing list, the new edition of the free email news from S&N Genealogy Supplies is now available to download. With all the latest news on new record sets from TheGenealogist and also new downloads and directories available to purchase from S&N, as well as archival products, it's well worth taking a look at. There's also a competition to win a pair of tickets for the forthcoming Who Do You Think You Are? Live Show at London Olympia. To download a copy of the email news, go to the S&N Genealogy Supplies website.  

An interesting book we've recently read which is a good practical read and full of interesting historical points,  is the Karen Foy book - 'Ancestors in the Attic- Making family memorabilia into history'. With the main emphasis these days on the convenience of finding family history records quickly online, Karen looks instead at the valuable treasures we can find in lofts and cupboards or heirlooms left by our ancestors which can throw significant light on how they lived and what life was like. Karen carefully examines many aspects from journals kept, old tickets, the newspapers they read, mementoes kept, military medals , ration books and fashions that were popular at that time. The book advises what to look for and the clues we can find from many different types of memorabilia and the history behind many of the artifacts we come across. It's well worth a read, currently available at the sale price of £11.95 from the S&N Genealogy Supplies website.

This year, The National Archives announced 'Discovery' their new online catalogue, would become the only way to search online through The National Archives record collections. Many family historians were used to the previous 'Documents Online' system in place before Discovery so to help with any queries and to help people find their way around the new online catalogue, The National Archives have announced a webinar on the 20 January 2014. The webinar takes place from 14.00 to 15.00 hours UK time and will look at how to conduct searches, using keywords, filters and other useful features to help make the most of the 'Discovery' catalogue. It's hosted by Audrey Collins and if you'd like more information, please visit The National Archives website.  

The Society of Genealogists 'Evening Skills Course Stage 1' starts up again on the 23rd of January. For those new to family history research or have only a little experience in researching, the course Stage 1  is ideal to build up your knowledge. It is a 10 week course. The course has proved very successful in the past and the SoG have a team of professional genealogists who will introduce the records and illustrate how they should best be used for the study of family history. According to the SoG website, "publications, electronic finding aids and the internet will, of course, be included along with all the basic sources needed to start research. Skills courses stages 2 & 3 will follow later this year." If you'd like more information , please visit the Society of Genealogists website.

The latest competition run by TheGenealogist is currently available to enter on Facebook. It's a 'name the place' competition and there's a 100 free 12 issue subscriptions to 'Discover Your Ancestors', the online family history periodical up for grabs. If you haven't seen Discover Your Ancestors, it's a great new online family history magazine with plenty of useful articles and handy tips for the family historian. If you'd like to have a go at winning one of the prizes, go to https://www.facebook.com/thegenealogist?ref=hl

Latest news from TheGenealogist is they have significantly reduced the prices on their DNA tests. You can now buy a test for under £50! Some of the other more extensive tests offer savings of over £100 and £150 too. DNA tests make ideal Christmas presents for genealogists or even for yourself. With the reduction in price, they are definitely worth having a look at to possibly help break down that break wall or find that missing ancestral link you've been struggling with. There are three types of test offered by TheGenealogist to choose from: MtDNA - Traces your maternal (Mother's) line, this test can be taken by males and females. YDNA - Traces your paternal (Father's) Line and this test can only be taken by males (But you can ask a male relative to take it if you are female) as YDNA is only passed from father to son.  Family Finder - Ideal for genealogists, this test traces both lines and gives you information on the geographic regions your ancestors are from. This test can be taken by both males and females and can show matches within approximately 5 generations.  If you'd like to know more visit http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/dna

The latest December issue of the email newsletter from S&N Genealogy Supplies is now available to view. Find out the top 10 recommended gift ideas for the family historian this Christmas and some great offers on their DNA tests which have now come down in price quite significantly . There's also an article looking at the First World War records of various occupations now available to view online. It’s all at http://www.genealogysupplies.com/email_news.htm