Welcome to the Family History Social

  As September rolled in and autumn replaces summer, family history research returns to many people's mind. What better time, then to read about this fascinating subject of researching your family tree in an online periodical designed and written by a team of best in class journalists to support and guide you through your genealogical journey? In this month's edition of Discover Your Ancestors Periodical you can read the following articles: ‘A true and perfect inventory’: Melvyn Jones describes the domestic comforts of a late 17th century farming family Picturing the past: Nick Thorne explores how a free online image archive adds atmosphere to family history research A day at the museum: For the last 400 years, museums have helped people to experience the world’s treasures WDYTYA? is back: The popular genealogy TV show returns looking at  various celebrity trees Are benefactors in the frame: Unique research into the lives of people who donated paintings to Glasgow’s museums The legacies of history: Jill Morris explores wills from the 14th to 19th centuries, available online History in the details: Jayne Shrimpton on clogs Regulars: News & Events / Books / Place in focus: Northumberland / Classifieds http://www.discoveryourancestors.co.uk/subscribe

 

Model and former wife of Sir Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall is a Texan who moved to Europe in her teens. Her father’s family, however, emigrated to the USA from Lancashire in the 1880s. Jerry’s mother’s side were from pioneering roots, trailing west across America at the time of the Frontier. Hall's investigations into her family history take her all over the USA as she traces the movements of her pioneer ancestors, who at various times owned large chunks of farmland, often fighting native Americans in order to hang on to their newly acquired property. "I can't believe such important information was lost all these years!" she gasps. Read a full article here...and find out more about Jerry Hall's ancestors.

The Sir Derek George Jacobi's story  on Who Do You Think You Are? was one of equal contrasts. Though we found out that he is from working class roots in London, with a boot maker for a grandfather, as we delved further back in time we discovered that his family are from much grander stock, one having mixed with Louis the Sun King until his religious belief had him imprisoned and he escaped to England. Sir Derek's ancestor was Joseph de la Plaigne, a financier and French Protestant from Bordeaux who had to conceal his religious beliefs from his monarch in order to remain in favour with the Catholic Louis XIV. In 1701 de la Plaigne was found out to be a Protestant and incarcerated in prison at Loches in the Loire Valley. Making his escape he, like many Huguenots, made his way to England. In 1708, at the age of 70 and living in England, Joseph de la Plaigne married Salome de la Bastide. Researchers have found that the wedding took place on the 7th August at St. Mary Magdalene, Old Fish Street, London. The couple's son, Guillaume, was born soon after this with his christening taking place on the 28th May 1709. The now elderly Joseph died not a long time later and researchers from TheGenealogist website have been able to find his will in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills collection accessible on TheGenealogist where if you are a subscriber you will be able to search for images of the actual Wills that  had been lodged with the PCC for probate. In de la Plaigne's case the document shows that Joseph was born at Bordeaux and was living in the Parish of St Anne's, Westminster when he made the will. To see a copy of the will and to read TheGenealogist's full article on Sir Derek Jacobi's family history click this link. TheGenealogist website has a broad suite of resources to find ancestors in the records.

  The family story of Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg, known better by her stage name of Jane Seymour, is an emotional rollercoaster of a ride. Her Father’s family are Jewish while her mother was a Dutch Protestant who had endured being in a Second World War Japanese concentration camp. The television episode followed Jane as she discovered more about her two great-aunts, Michaela and Jadwiga who had experienced the horrors of Poland under Nazi occupation. TheGenealogist website, meanwhile, has discovered that Jane's paternal grandfather, Leon Frankenberg, had come to Britain after his family had fled persecution in Eastern Europe. He was the lucky one as he established his own business and became a respected member of his local synagogue community as recorded in the London Jewish Seatholder's records now searchable on TheGenealogist.   Read full article on TheGenealogist site and discover more about Jane Seymour's family history.

 

The BBC has now announced the order in which the Who do You Think You Are? episodes will be broadcast for the 12th U.K. series. This popular genealogy TV programme kicks off with Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood on 13th August, on BBC One. The series will be aired every Thursday evening at 9pm, with a one week break in between Mark Gatiss and Frances de la Tour’s episodes on 15th October. Although the schedule may still be subject to change, Frances de la Tour’s story will close the series on 22nd of October.

• 13 August: Paul Hollywood
• 20 August: Jane Seymour
• 27 August: Derek Jacobi
• 3 September: Jerry Hall
• 10 September: Gareth Malone
• 17 September: Anne Reid
• 24 September: Frank Gardner
• 1 October: Anita Rani
• 8 October: Mark Gatiss
• 22 October: Frances de la Tour

   

If you want to know how to start your family tree then here is a really useful video in which FeeBee shows you how to get started building your tree and also shares a great way to keep organised at the same time. Hope you enjoy it! Links used in this episode: http://TreeView.co.uk http://TheGenealogist.co.uk/Roots1  

  This video has just gone up online after the fantastic Who Do You Think You Are? Live show last week at the NEC. It gives a great flavour of the event from vendors of genealogy supplies, the talks that took place, new records from data sites and includes Mark Bayley, from TheGenealogist, talking about the new releases that his research site had launched for the event. For more see www.TheGenealogist.co.uk/News [embed]https://youtu.be/c6dxZ0YbA68[/embed]

Celebrity guest Reggie Yates for WDYTYA? Live.

Detailed Town and Parish Maps go online for the first time

This exciting information has just been released by TheGenealogist:

TheGenealogist has added maps to its comprehensive National Tithe Records collection.

All aspects of society were captured by this survey

• Identify the land your ancestors owned or occupied in the 19th century

• Get an idea of their working lives by the usage made of the plots by your forebears.

• Fully linked tithe maps for Middlesex, Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Leicestershire with other counties to follow shortly

• Geographically placing where your ancestors worked and lived

• In partnership with TNA, TheGenealogist is making it possible to search over 11,000,000 records from across England and Wales and to view theses valuable original apportionment documents with linked maps on one website.

It’s always been a challenge to find where our ancestors lived, but now these records can help you explore the fields and houses in their home villages and towns. Never before have family historians been able search nationwide for these ancestral maps. We plan to have complete coverage in the next few months.

Tithe maps allow you to pinpoint your ancestors from our records. They show the boundaries of fields, woods, roads, rivers and the location and shape of buildings. The detail recorded within the maps and apportionment records will show you how much land they owned or occupied, where exactly in the parish it was, what the land was used for and how much tithe rent there was to pay.

The Tithe Commissioners maps are now housed in The National Archives (TNA). Due to their age and the materials used the original maps are often too fragile to handle. These were microfilmed in 1982 and some of the maps have deteriorated over the last 30 years. The first stage of the project is the release of these as online images.

There are over 12,000 main maps plus thousands of update maps as the boundaries of fields changed over time.

The second stage will be the delicate conservation and digitisation of the original colour maps.

“Tithe records are a rich resource for family historians as they cover owners and occupiers of land from all strata of early Victorian society.

These maps can be three to four meters in length by several meters in width and have gone through a multiple levels of digitisation and processing so that the huge maps can load instantly, even on a mobile phone. This fantastic resource was created in the period from 1837 to the early 1850s as a result of one of the largest surveys into the usage, ownership and occupation of land in England and Wales since the Domesday book.”

Mark Bayley - Head of Online Content at TheGenealogist

Diamond subscribers to TheGenealogist are able to view apportionment records for all of England & Wales, with the accompanying maps now being live for Middlesex, Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Leicestershire. The maps for the rest of England and Wales will follow over the coming months.

See their page TheGenealogist.co.uk/Tithe to freely search the records and learn more about them.

Here is an example provided by TheGenalogist:

Sir Robert Peel in the Tithe records.

We can look for Sir Robert Peel in Middlesex, a county that covered some of the area we would now think of as London. By selecting Landowner Records and then from the drop down menu Tithe Records we then enter Robert Peel into the name fields.

In 1854 Sir Robert, twice Prime Minister of the country and creator of the modern police force, was the occupier of land that was owned by the Earl of Listowell in St Margaret’s, Westminster.

By clicking on the Transcription icon we can then see the names of both the owner and occupier, the date it was entered into the records and the plot number on the plan.

The image of the apportionment reveals that it is a house: No. 22 Princess Gate.

By clicking on the map icon will quickly zoom the researcher in to see the plot on the plan. You can then use the magnify buttons to move in and out to see the plots in relation to the full plan of the parish.

Tithes are a rich resource for family historians to find their ancestors within. The records and maps cover owners and occupiers of land from all strata of society in early Victorian times.

For a special offer of £20 off TheGenealogist Diamond Subscription go to:

www.thegenealogist.co.uk/tithe20

I came across the following helpful explanation of the relationships that occur in our family tree. For the less experienced genealogists, it's a quick helpful guide into knowing who is related to whom in your family tree, particularly invaluable as your family tree grows in size as you develop your research. The You Tube channel provided by CGP Grey offers a number of explanations on all sorts of questions. The video below explains the links in our family history and how to summarise your family tree.