Welcome to the Family History Social

The very latest news from the world of genealogy

Categories

More...

Meritorious Service Medals now available online at TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist has released the records of 29,000 individuals who were decorated with the Meritorious Service Medal (MSM). The roll of names for those who were awarded this British honour in the First World War have been released by TheGenealogist. Researchers can now look for holders of this medal up to 1920 from within their ever growing military records collection.

  • See a copy of the image of the Medal Card with the theatre of war where the medal was won
  • Details the name, rank, regiment and service number
  • Unique “SmartSearch” links to the comprehensive military records on TheGenealogist.co.uk
  • These new records cover British servicemen from The First World War

The medal was first awarded in 1845 to non-commissioned officers in the British Army who had a record of long service in the forces. Given originally for long service of at least 20 years to servicemen who were of irreproachable character and already held the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal of their service, the First World War saw it awarded to those who performed acts of non-combatant gallantry in the performance of their military duty. In the second case the bravery was not necessarily while the serviceman was on active service and may have been in the saving or attempted saving of the life of an officer or an enlisted soldier.

Family history researchers searching for ancestors who had been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in the First World War will be able to find their forebears in this new addition to the military collection of records on TheGenealogist.

Meritorious Service Medal (MSM)

Meritorious Service Medal (MSM)

Read TheGenealogist’s article on a First World War NCO awarded his medal ‘For exceptionally good work’ operating night and day to keep the RFC’s aeroplanes at El Hammam flying:

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2018/finding-ancestors-awarded-the-meritorious-service-medal-768/

Leave a comment

Discover Your Ancestors Bookazine Issue 7 onsale

Discover Your Ancestors Bookazine Issue 7 Just Released!

In the latest issue of this high quality  bookazine (196 pages thick) there are articles looking into the family histories of:

  • Dame Judi Dench,
  • Jenna Coleman,
  • Emily Bronte,
  • and Roger Moore.

With pages packed with expert advice and fascinating social history this is a wonderful magazine for all those interested in family history.

Buy your copy now:
https://genealogysupplies.com/product/Discover-Your-Ancestors/Discover-Your-Ancestors-Magazine-Issue-7/

 

Leave a comment

Additional Military Records released by TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist has released some useful records this week for those who are researching their military ancestors. Here is the press release that gives you more information and a link to a fascinating article:

Military Records on TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist is pleased to announce it has added two new record sets that will be useful for researching the First World War and Victorian soldiers.
  • Part one of this release is The Worldwide Army Index for 1851, 1861 and 1871 which adds another name rich resource to the already vast Military record collections at TheGenealogist with over 600,000 records
  • Also released at the same time is another 3,368 pages from The Illustrated War News covering 6 September 1916 to 10 April 1918 and adding to those previously made available for this First World War paper from 1914 to 1916
The Worldwide Army Index for 1851, 1861 and 1871 If you have not found your ancestor in the various British census returns, and you know that they may have been serving at the time in the British Army, then this new release from TheGenealogist may help you to find these elusive subjects. Many thousands of men of the British Army were serving overseas in far flung parts of the British Empire over the 1800s. This index of names is compiled from the musters contained in the WO 10-11-12 Series of War Office Paylists, held at the National Archives, Kew. The 1851, 1861 and 1871 Worldwide Army Index lists all officers* and other ranks serving in the first quarter of 1851 and second quarter of 1861 and 1871, together with their regimental HQ location. The index is, therefore, effectively a military surrogate for the relevant census. Over 70,000 records have extra notes that can indicate whether a soldier was a recruit awaiting transfer to a regiment, detached from his regiment or attached to another, possibly discharged, on leave, had deserted or retired. Men identified as using aliases are also included. Many notes include a place of birth and former occupation. Also included within the records are recruits, boy soldiers, bandsmen and civilians working in the armed forces as clerks, pension recruiters, teachers and suchlike. Colonial regiments which invariably had numbers of British subjects are also featured. The Illustrated War News was a weekly magazine during the First World War, published by The Illustrated London News and Sketch Ltd. of London. The IWN publication contained illustrated reports related entirely to the war and comprised articles, photographs, diagrams and maps. From 1916 it was issued as a 40-page publication in portrait format, having been landscape prior to this. It claimed to have the largest number of artist-correspondents reporting on the progress of the war until it ceased publication in 1918. To search these and many other records go to: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/search/advanced/military/muster-book-pay-list/ or read our article at: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2017/worldwide-army-index-1851-1861--1871-661/   *While the 1851 and 1871 include officers, the 1861 index excludes officers as they were not mustered in all the Paylists.
Leave a comment

New Discover Your Ancestors Periodical

The August 2017 edition of Discover Your Ancestors online periodical is available now and features some great articles this month.

With regular News, Events, Books and Classifieds this month also looks at Ipswich in its Regional feature. This month's crop of articles are as follows: ‘Put it in the diary’: Ruth A Symes looks at what our ancestors’ appointment diaries can reveal What’s in a name?: Denise Bates explores the trends and traditions of Victorian forenames Changing names: Nick Thorne unravels a family of name changes and finds a black sheep exiled for his crime Here is the news: Margaret Powling surveys the history of newspapers, and remembers her own family’s role in the trade Woodcuts and witches: Jon Crabb explores how developments in publishing influenced the early modern fixation with witches History in the details: Jayne Shrimpton on underwear Regulars: News / Events / Region: Ipswich / Books / Classifieds You can get this month's edition from: http://www.discoveryourancestors.co.uk/current-issue/ Or to give as a present get a 12-month gift voucher from https://genealogysupplies.com/product/Discover-Your-Ancestors/Discover-Your-Ancestors-Online-Periodical-12-Issue-Gift-Voucher/  
Leave a comment

Discover Your Ancestors Family History Show Yorkshire

This weekend is going to be great for family historians in the area of York!

One of the largest family history shows in the UK

Logo

With exhibitors coming from all over Britain and Ireland, this family history show is probably the largest event of its kind in England. Every year the fair is well attended by family history societies and companies plus there is lots of local history from the York area as well. The organiser's website says: 'You don't have to have Yorkshire Ancestors to come to this fair - they can be from anywhere at all! Everyone is very welcome and there is lots to see. There is plenty of parking and refreshments are available all day. There are several lifts to take you to the upper levels, and the whole place is wheelchair friendly. Do you really know who you are? Come and find out - you may be surprised!' Yorkshire Family History Fair Saturday 24th June 2017 10am to 4.30pm The Knavesmire Exhibition Centre, The Racecourse, York, YO23 1EX Admission: Adults £4.80, Children under 14 FREE   To get a great deal on tickets take a look at their website now: http://yorkshirefamilyhistoryfair.com/index.php
Leave a comment

Discover Your Ancestors June Offer

The Discover Your Ancestors Online Periodical was launched in May 2013 and has been providing a terrific mix of family history stories, case studies, social history articles and research advice. This regular and affordable service is a must have for anyone starting out in family history research or for those with more experience but who have reached brick walls. The high quality monthly digital magazine is delivered to your own personalised online account every month as a beautifully designed 30+ page online magazine. This regular and affordable service is highly recommended for anyone who is beginning to research their family tree as well as for those researchers who have more experience but may have reached brick walls in tracing their ancestors.  

JUNE OFFER

Sign up today for only £24.99 and receive the following:
  • 12 monthly issues of the Periodical
  • Access to 500,000,000 birth, marriage and death records
  • Free data: Titanic passenger list
  • Free ebook: 1870s trade directory for Worcestershire
Read more at Discover Your Ancestors
Leave a comment

One of the largest family history shows in the UK

With exhibitors from all over the UK and Ireland, this is probably the largest event of its kind in England. Many family history societies and companies attend each year. There is lots of local history from the York area too.

York Family History Fair

You don't have to have Yorkshire Ancestors to come to this fair - they can be from anywhere at all! Everyone is very welcome and there is lots to see. There is plenty of parking and refreshments are available all day. There are several lifts to take you to the upper levels, and the whole place is wheelchair friendly. There will be FREE talks from a number of experts, to discover more see the talks page on their website: http://yorkshirefamilyhistoryfair.com/free-talks.php The Yorkshire Family History Fair is run by Discover Your Ancestors Magazine and sponsored by TheGenealogist Do you really know who you are? Come and find out - you may be surprised!

Yorkshire Family History Fair

Saturday 24th June 2017 10am to 4.30pm The Knavesmire Exhibition Centre, The Racecourse, York, YO23 1EX Admission: Adults £4.80, Children under 14 FREE To get your tickets go to: http://yorkshirefamilyhistoryfair.com/
Leave a comment

TreeView 2 Released!

  Leading family history publisher S&N Genealogy Supplies have just released TreeView 2, the next version of their popular family history software package specially designed for U.K. family historians.

treeview-2-tree1

TreeView stores your family tree on your PC or Mac with the option to easily sync your tree with TreeView.co.uk and its free iOS and Android app, allowing you to keep your family history at your fingertips. Privacy options for your online tree allow you to retain complete control over your research. TreeView has many powerful features including: ● Sync your tree between the software and all of your mobile devices. ● Display your tree in a variety of different ways including pedigree, family, ancestors, descendants, hourglass, fan and even a full tree view. ● Create beautiful charts and detailed reports in seconds. ● Attach facts, notes, images, addresses, sources and citations to your ancestors. ● View your entire tree on screen, or zoom in to a single ancestor. ● Quickly discover how people in your tree are related using the relationship calculator. ● Identify anomalies in your data with the problem finder. ● Map out your ancestors lives with map view. ● Import or export your family tree using the GEDCOM standard.

treeview-2-tree

Powerful New Features in Version 2 ● Linked charting ● Click to focus ● Extra charting features ● 5 new customisable reports types ● Enhanced individual report ● Drag and drop mapping ● Improved search The new linked charting feature is a great time saver - when you reopen a chart you will be given the option to update it to include any new changes that you have made, such as date or place changes to events. Whilst using the Tree Views you can click to focus on any person to shift the emphasis on the tree displayed. The person chosen will then become the main focal point of the page. As well as customising the types of charts, text size, background colours and images, extra charting features have been added so you can now customise the font and colour of the text, along with the colour of the boxes, borders and connections. Adding to the original report facilities (Individual, Family & Narrative reports), TreeView now comes with a range of new customisable report types, including Address List, Birthday/Anniversary List, Missing Information Report, Descendant Report, printer-friendly Pedigree Chart and a handy blank Pedigree Chart to fill in when out and about researching. All of these reports can be exported in PDF or RTF formats. The individual report (Which outputs all the details about a person) now supports multiple individuals, so you can select one person and add ancestors, descendants, both or even select your own list of people to include. The new drag and drop mapping feature allows you to pinpoint an exact place on a map where an event occurred. Co-ordinates for the places you tag are saved and can be exported in GEDCOM files. The improved search enables you to look for common attributes among your ancestors. You can now search your entire database using keywords, for example “Baker” would find the word in a name, fact, note, etc. TreeView 2 is a powerful and easy to use family tree program. You can sync to the cloud and your mobile devices. TreeView’s privacy options allow you to keep full control of your data when storing your tree in the cloud.

smith-family-treeview-s

TreeView 2 Premium Edition (£39.95) - Includes: ○ Full TreeView 2 program ○ Quick Start Guide ○ 4 Month Diamond Subscription to TheGenealogist.co.uk (Worth £59.95!) ○ Cassell's Gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland 1893 (Worth £16.95!) ○ Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography (Worth £16.95!) ○ English, Welsh & Scottish Landowners 1873 (Worth £36.90!) ○ Irish Landowners 1876 (Worth £12.95!) Upgrade to TreeView 2 today for only £14.95 Go to TreeView.co.uk to find out more.
Leave a comment

December Discover Your Ancestors Out Now

December 2016 Discover Your Ancestors

The fantastic online periodical that is a must read for anyone researching their family history is out now. In this month's edition: The tale of the mail: Harry Cunningham investigates how Britain’s Post Office has been operating for over 500 years First-class appearance: Jayne Shrimpton investigates the uniforms our postal worker ancestors might have worn ‘For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil’: Nick Thorne investigates the story of the Reverend Vyvyan Moyle and his temptations of the monetary kind Learning to walk: Sharon Brookshaw looks at how our forebears took their first steps, epitomising changing attitudes to childcare down the centuries Great Uncle Mozart: David Lewiston Sharpe looks at the lineages of learning that connect generations of students and teachers History in the details: Jayne Shrimpton on waistcoats Regulars: Region: Portsmouth / News & Events / Books  / Classifieds

dyap1216

Read more at: http://www.discoveryourancestors.co.uk/
Leave a comment

A great opening to the Who Do You Think You Are? 13th series (UK)

Well that was a great first programme in the UK series of Who Do You Think You Are?

wdytya2016_dyer

East Ender Danny Dyer, who plays the landlord of the Queen Vic in the BBC's Eastenders , discovered he was descended from Thomas Cromwell and Royalty including Edward III and there up to William the Conqueror. From the early research, into his more recent ancestors, it was not looking very positive with tales of relatives in and out of the workhouse and other hardships. Then suddenly, with the discovery of a gateway ancestor, the actor found himself related to nobility and finally the ultimate top of the social pile - the King of England! This article on TheGenealogist got it right. See: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2016/who-do-you-think-you-are/danny-dyers-cockney-and-royal-roots-371/

Who Do You Think You Are? special

Who Do You Think You Are? on the BBC

One comment so far
Found 30 Results.
Back to top