Welcome to the Family History Social

The very latest news from the world of genealogy

Categories

More...

New Release: 1881 Census on Map Explorer™

Where did my ancestors live? Were the shops, churches and pubs nearby? 

 

These questions and more are now easier than ever to answer using TheGenealogist. This online family history website has just linked all of its 1881 census records of England, Scotland and Wales to its powerful Map Explorer™ so that users can see the locations of houses plotted on georeferenced historic and modern map layers.

 

Uniquely on TheGenealogist viewing a household record from the 1881 census will now show a map pinpointing its location. Clicking on this pin opens Map Explorer™, enabling subscribers to explore the area and see the records of neighbouring properties.

 

 

With this new release family and house historians are able to research the streets, lanes and neighbourhoods in which their ancestors had lived at the time of the 1881 census. Joining earlier releases that saw the 1911, 1901 and 1891 census linked to the powerful mapping tool, researchers can easily identify with just the click of a button, where their forebears had once lived. 

 

With properties plotted on a map researchers can see the routes their ancestors could have used to get to the shops, drop into their local pubs, worship at their nearby churches, travel to their places of work and relax with a walk in the nearby park. Historical maps make it possible to find where the nearest railway station was to their home, important for understanding how our ancestors could have travelled to other parts of the country to see relatives or visit their hometown.

 

Using this powerful resource, Starter, Gold and Diamond subscribers of TheGenealogist can investigate their ancestors’ neighbourhood from home on their computer screens, or even access the census and the relevant maps on their mobile phone while walking down the modern streets.

 

The majority of the London area and other towns and cities can be viewed down to the property level, while other parts of the country will identify down to the parish, road or street.

 

Charles Darwin’s home, Downe House

 

See TheGenealogist’s article: Darwin at Downe

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2022/darwin-at-downe-1637/ 


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!

Leave a comment

Maps for family historians and using them to explore the past

Maps are one of the most important visual aids that a family, social or house historian can turn to when exploring the homes of our ancestors. We may have already come across a record that has provided us with an address, or maybe all we have is just a place name, and we want to explore the surrounding streets or the area.

 

Tithe map of Sedbergh, Yorkshire courtesy of The National Archives

There are various types of map resources that we can use to step back in time, get a better understanding of the landscape that our ancestors would have been living in. By seeing the environment in which they had once lived enables us to see roads, rivers and railways that can explain where they moved on to, or where they had come from in the first place. 

 

Another line that we may research with the use of a map is for determining employment opportunities for people who had lived in a particular place in a particular time. The map could show us employment opportunities whether they were farms, mills, mines or some type of industrial building such as factories, distilleries, breweries and so on that had attracted our ancestors to live in that place.

 


Colour Tithe map of the Parish of St Cuthbert in York

 

Maps can reveal other fascinating information that can be useful in our research, for example we can often see who the landowners were and a historical map allows us to work out the nearest church or nonconformist chapel to where our ancestors lived. With this knowledge the researcher can then look for their forebears' baptisms, marriages and burials in the relevant records connected to that church/chapel.

 

We can use a range of maps from modern street maps of City & Town maps to historical maps drawn up in the past. Often the problem with a modern map is that they only show us the lay of the land as it is today and not as it may have been when our forebears walked the highways and byways of the area that we are investigating. Many places have seen significant changes over the years with modern redevelopments replacing previous settlements or roads that had first been laid out in medieval times.

 

A useful set of maps for investigation where an early Victorian era English or Welsh ancestor may have lived are the Tithe Maps. The Tithe Survey which was responsible for the creation of the Tithe Maps was as a result of  the Tithe Commutation Act 1836 and covered a large part of the country that was still subject to tithes and had not been enclosed. These maps and their accompanying apportionment books can be used to discover where people were living and who their neighbours were in the period of the survey from 1836 to the 1850s. Three sets were made of each area, one for the parish, one for the diocese and one for the Tithe Commissioners in London. This last set is in the safekeeping of The National Archives at Kew and have been digitised and put online by commercial family history website TheGenealogist. The parish and diocese maps are likely to be at the diocesan archive which may not necessarily be the county record office for the town/area that you are researching as some ecclesiastical dioceses' boundaries included parts of neighbouring counties. Tithe maps include both owners and occupier’s names and so are useful for family historians  delving into their family history. The maps can often show details such as boundaries, roads, waterways, buildings and woodlands. Sometimes these Victorian era maps show other details such as hedges, field names, mines and factories.

 

What maps can I use to research my ancestors’ stories?

 

There have been many maps drawn up over time. Some of these maps are more useful to us than others for researching our family history, although there can be occasions we need to consult a more specialist map such as when doing a house history. A list of maps that a family, social or house historian could use can be seen at https://www.map-explorer.co.uk/

Many of these maps can be found in the local County Record Office though quite a few, but not all, are becoming available on the internet. 

 

One of the most useful tools for family, social and house historians is the powerful online Map Explorer™ that is accessed on the subscription website TheGenealogist. Boasting a number of georeferenced historic as well as modern maps this resource allows its users to see the plots relating to historical records, such as the Tithe Survey and then fade between the different map layers. Because the historic and modern maps are matched to the same coordinates the researcher can view where an ancestor may have once occupied a small cottage and garden, or even a large estate with many fields, woods and so on. Once found it is then easy to use this tool to see what is there today. As urban boundaries have encroached the countryside it is sometimes fascinating to see how rural what we now see as city suburbs was in our ancestors’ time. 

 

Map Explorer™ with its georeferenced historical and modern maps includes not only Tithe Records and Maps to look for your Victorian ancestors’ homes, but also Inland Revenue Valuation Office (Lloyd George Domesday Survey) Records and Maps for nearly one million individuals. Other useful record set layers include Census records, Headstones and War memorials and the mapping interface now also allows users the ability to also see what their ancestors’ towns and areas in the U.K. had once looked like as it now includes historical pictures. This sees the addition of period photographs of street scenes and parish churches where researchers' ancestors may have been baptised, married and buried, added to the maps as a recordset layer. The various images for an area have their locations pinpointed on the maps, allowing family historians to explore their ancestors’ hometowns and other landmarks from around their area.

 

Important repositories of maps include:

The National Archives

Ruskin Avenue,

Kew,

Richmond,

Surrey TW9 4DU https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

 

British Library at St. Pancras

96 Euston Road,

London NW1 2DB https://www.bl.uk/

 

Bodleian Library

Broad Street,

Oxford OX1 3BG https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/

 

 

Leave a comment

Anniversary of The British First Fleet – 26 January 1788

233 years today, the 26th January 1788, The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sailed into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on Australia. Marked nowadays as Australia Day.

 

I was looking around the Internet for an interesting article to add to this post when I came across this piece from 2015. It was first published at the time of a BBC TV programme Banished . While it was a ficticious drama by Jimmy McGovern, it turns out that some of the characters were based on real people that can be found in the records of people transported! This includes James Freeman the convict that, as "Finisher of the Law", had the dreadful task of executing his fellow prisoners who had stepped out of line in the penal colony. His task each time was to hang or be hanged himself.

See some of the fascinating records for James Freeman that were found here:

https://www.thegenealogist.com/featuredarticles/2015/hang-or-be-hanged-the-finisher-of-the-law-237/

Leave a comment

New RAF Operations Book Records released on TheGenealogist

This is the first time that these RAF records are fully searchable by name, aircraft, location and many other fields, making it easier to find your aviation ancestors.

In a release of over half a million records, this is the first batch of RAF Operations Records Books (ORBs) to join TheGenealogist’s ever-expanding military records collection.

 

 The operations records books are for squadrons primarily after the First World War but there are a few early squadron records from 1911 to 1918.

 

 These documents tell the stories of these brave aircrew who battled against the odds and give insights into their everyday lives. You can use the collection to follow an airman’s war time experiences from these fully searchable Air Ministry operations record books which cover various Royal Air Force, dominion and Allied Air Force squadrons that came under British Command. The AIR 27 records allow the family history researcher a fascinating insight into their relatives serving in a number of wartime air force units.

 

In the last week we have been sad to hear of the death of the last surviving Battle of Britain ace pilot from World War Two. Wing Cdr Paul Farnes died aged 101 a few days ago and so it is, therefore, poignant that as one of the last from among the 3,000 airmen – known as The Few – who had defended Britain's skies in 1940 he appears in this release of RAF records from TheGenealogist.

 

Wing Commander Farnes had six confirmed enemy aircraft destroyed, two shared destroyed, two possible destroyed and 11 damaged in his impressive war time tally making him qualify as an ace (a pilot who shot down five or more enemy planes).

 

 Wing Commander Paul Farnes   Oem89 [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

 

The records provide summaries of events and can reveal the death of aviators, crashes, as well as less traumatic details such as weather and places patrolled by the planes and where the squadrons were based as the war wore on. 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.

 

Sgt P.C. Farnes first "kill" recorded in the Operations Record Book for 501 Squadron on TheGenealogist

 

Of value to researchers are the duties recorded in these documents so that you can find the assignments the men took part in. This includes Bombing, Convoy Escort, Submarine Hunt, Attack Docks & Shipping, Dive Bombing Raids and more.

 

Use these records to:

     Add colour to an aircrewman’s story

     Read the war movements of personnel in air force units

     Discover if a pilot, navigator, radio operator or gunner is mentioned in the action

     Find if an airman is listed for receiving an Honour or an Award

     Note the names of squadron members wounded, killed, or did not return

     Easily search these National Archives records and images

 

This expands TheGenealogist’s extensive Military records collection.

 

Read their article:

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2020/raf-operations-books-build-a-picture-of-wwii-aircrew-ancestors-action-1231/

 

These records and many more are available to Diamond subscribers of TheGenealogist.co.uk

 

Leave a comment

New School and University Registers on TheGenealogist

As children go back to school, TheGenealogist has just released a diverse batch of school and university records to join its ever growing education collection. 

 

Researchers can use this new data to find ancestors who attended or taught at a variety of Educational establishments between the 1830s and 1930s. Also listed are the names of those who held high office in the institutions, such as the patrons, deans, visitors, professors and masters in the case of universities and the principals and governors in the case of schools.

 

 

Use these records to add colour to a family story and glean important information from the biographical details to use in further research.

 

The list of records included in this release are:

  • St. Lawrence College Ramsgate Register, 1879 to 1911
  • Upper Canada College Address List 1829-1929
  • The Report Of The President Of Queen's College Belfast 1896-1897
  • The Glenalmond Register 1847-1929
  • Clifton College Register 1862-1912
  • Edinburgh Institution 1832-1932
  • King Williams College Register 1833-1904
  • The Bradfield College Register 1850-1923
  • The Old Denstonian Chronicle 1915
  • The Old Denstonian Chronicle 1916
  • The Old Denstonian Chronicle 1917
  • The Old Denstonian Chronicle 1918
  • The Old Denstonian Chronicle 1919
  • Isle of Man, King William's College Register 1833-1927
  • Ireland, The Campbell College Register 1894-1938
  • Eton College, Easter 1862
  • Keble College Register, 1870-1925
  • Rathmines School Roll, 1858-1899
  • Charterhouse Register 1911-1920 Vol. III
  • Cheltenham College Register 1841-1927
  • Alumni Carthusiani, 1614-1872

This expands our extensive education records collection.

 

Read our article: 

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2019/find-ancestors-in-education-records-1180/

 

These records and many more are available to subscribers of TheGenealogist.co.uk

Leave a comment

Search for Victorian convicts in Milbank, Parkhurst and Pentonville prison records

 

TheGenealogist has released over 100,000 individuals into their expanding Court & Criminal Records collection. With this release researchers can find the details of ancestors that had broken the law and were incarcerated in the harsh conditions of early Victorian convict prisons - including some that were only children!

Parkhurst Prison from The Illustrated London News March 13, 1847

 

The new data will allow the family history researcher to discover:

 

     Over 100,000 individuals in records covering the years 1838 to 1875

     Registers of prisoners inside Millbank, Parkhurst and Pentonville prisons.

     Each prisoner's age on conviction

     The marital status and whether the prisoner can read or write

     The convict’s former trade

     When and where they were convicted, their crime, sentence, where and whence received, previous offences, when removed and to where.

 

These fully searchable records are from the HO24 Home Office: Prison Registers and Returns 1838-1875 for Millbank, Parkhurst and Pentonville.

Read TheGenealogist’s article “Criminal records can reveal ancestors locked up in convict prisons” at:

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2019/criminal-records-can-reveal-ancestors-locked-up-in-convict-prisons-1122/

 

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!

 

 

 About The National Archives

The National Archives is one of the world’s most valuable resources for research and an independent research organisation in its own right. As the official archive and publisher for the UK government, and England and Wales they are the guardians of some of the UK's most iconic national documents, dating back over 1,000 years. Their role is to collect and secure the future of the government record, both digital and physical, to preserve it for generations to come, and to make it as accessible and available as possible. The National Archives brings together the skills and specialisms needed to conserve some of the oldest historic documents as well as leading digital archive practices to manage and preserve government information past, present and future.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/  http://www.legislation.gov.uk/

 

For the latest stories, follow the Media Team on Twitter @TNAmediaofficer

Leave a comment

TheGenealogist releases Metropolitan Police Habitual Criminal Registers

 

TheGenealogist has added to its Criminal Records collections with the release of the Metropolitan Police Criminal Records Office: Habitual Criminals Registers and the Habitual Drunkards Registers.

 

These are high quality transcripts with original colour images of the registers, as well as registers created by the Police to supervise released criminals.

One of the most interesting features of these records are the photographic portraits taken from the Registers of Habitual Drunkards. These feature two photographs - face on and profile - per individual, and some records may also give distinguishing features. The Habitual Drunkards Registers were distributed to licensed premises and the secretaries of clubs to prevent the convicted person from buying alcohol.

  • Entries contain a description of the individual and date of discharge from prison
  • Some records may also give distinguishing features of the individual
  • See face on and profile Photographs of habitual drunks.
  • It may also give the name of the prison, length of sentence and previous convictions.
  • Includes registers created by the Police to supervise released criminals including spies!

These new records from The National Archive’s MEPO 6 are available as part of the Diamond Subscription at TheGenealogist.

 

The Criminal Records on TheGenealogist could reveal the darker side of your family tree. Read TheGenealogist’s article:

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2018/criminal-records-on-thegenealogist-could-reveal-the-darker-side-of-your-family-tree-816/



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!


About The National Archives

The National Archives is one of the world’s most valuable resources for research and an independent research organisation in its own right. As the official archive and publisher for the UK government, and England and Wales they are the guardians of some of the UK's most iconic national documents, dating back over 1,000 years. Their role is to collect and secure the future of the government record, both digital and physical, to preserve it for generations to come, and to make it as accessible and available as possible. The National Archives brings together the skills and specialisms needed to conserve some of the oldest historic documents as well as leading digital archive practices to manage and preserve government information past, present and future.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/  http://www.legislation.gov.uk/

 

 

For the latest stories, follow the Media Team on Twitter @TNAmediaofficer

 

Leave a comment
Found 7 Results.
Back to top