Welcome to the Family History Social

From the news:

This month, The Society of Genealogists have launched an interim database of  their Memorial Card Collection, donated by Phillip Jones. You are now able to search the full Memorial Card Collection of 4,500 and 8,500 digital images. Mourners sent the cards after the loss of a loved one to distant family members, friends and neighbours announcing the death and giving details of the funeral. Cards like these can be used to build a family tree.

For more information see: https://www.sog.org.uk/our-collections/featured/memorial-cards

With a release of the records of over 35,000 individuals by TheGenealogist, family historians will now have the ability to discover valuable particulars about ancestors’ homes from the following parts of London in 1910: Cowley, Cranford (Bedfont), Great Stanmore, Harefield, Harlington, Harmondsworth, Harrow, Harrow Weald Hayes, Hillingdon East, Hillingdon West, Ickenham, Little Stanmore, Pinner, Ruislip, Uxbridge, West Drayton, Yiewsley and Wealdstone.

Lloyd George Domesday Map of Ruislip, London

These latest residential records have been linked to detailed OS maps which allows the researcher to pinpoint an ancestors’ property on maps that go down to plot level. These land tax records were originally collected by the Inland Revenue’s Valuation Office and are sourced from The National Archives IR58 records. Searchable by name or keywords using TheGenealogist’s Master Search, or by selecting a pin from the map displayed inside the powerful Map Explorer™, this tool allows family historians the ability to switch between georeferenced modern and historic maps and so to gain a better understanding of the neighbourhood in which ancestors from 1910 had lived or worked and to see how it may have changed in the intervening period. With contemporary maps you can see where the nearest churches, public houses and railway stations to your forebears' homes were, along with other places that may have featured in your ancestors’ daily life in the area.

St Martin’s Church Ruislip from TheGenealogist's Image Archive

Property records, such as these that were uniquely digitised by TheGenealogist from the originals at The National Archives, allow house and family history researchers the ability to unearth information that had been recorded by the authorities about the owners and occupiers of the homes, land, outbuildings and property at the time.

Read TheGenealogist’s article: Landowner and Occupiers records for Harrow reveal the school, homes and other properties details

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2022/landowner-and-occupier-records-for-harrow-reveal-the-school-homes-and-other-properties-1524/ 

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!

Many people are joining the History For Ukraine online event on Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th March

https://historyforukraine.co/

Their publicity tells us that History For Ukraine is like Live Aid for history lovers. They have curated a stellar line-up of leading historians and genealogists from all over the world, and over 24 hours, they’ll be live-streaming their talks for your entertainment.

There’s no charge to watch, and throughout the live stream, They’ll be inviting you to donate to a JustGiving page, with all funds being passed to the British Red Cross Society’s DEC Ukrainian Humanitarian Appeal.

You get a history fix, AND the opportunity to do something positive for the people of Ukraine.

The  24-hour history marathon delivered by some of the world’s biggest names in history and genealogy includes:

• Earl Charles Spencer
• Professor Kate Williams
• Dr Janina Ramirez

Show your appreciation of the speakers by donating what you can

100% of donations go instantly to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

For the first time, researchers will now be able to see more accurately where their ancestor’s house was situated on maps down to house, street or parish level, giving more detail than ever before.

J R R Tolkien recorded in 1939 Oxford displayed on Bing Satellite map

TheGenealogist.co.uk has also added over 258,000 new records that have now been officially opened. Now you can use TheGenealogist’s SmartSearch on even more records in the 1939 Register to discover where your ancestors were living.

Film star Leslie Howard’s house in Surrey shown on a historical map

With the addition of the more precise mapping feature there are some very compelling reasons to search the 1939 Register on TheGenealogist. Firstly it benefits from their unique and powerful search tools and SmartSearch technology. This offers a hugely flexible way to look for your ancestors as the authorities scrambled in 1939 to issue identity cards and ration books for the population.

Secondly, searching the 1939 Register on TheGenealogist allows researchers to take advantage of some powerful search tools to break down brick walls. For example there is the ability to find ancestors in 1939 by using keywords, such as the individual’s occupation or their date of birth. Researchers on TheGenealogist may also search for an address and then jump straight to the household or, if you are struggling to find a family, you can even search using as many of their forenames as you know.

With a record found in the 1939 Register, TheGenealogist then gives you the ability to click on the street name to view all the residents in the road. This feature can be used to potentially discover relatives living in the area and can therefore boost your research with just a click.

The 1939 Register on TheGenealogist also benefits from innovative SmartSearch technology that enables you to discover even more about a person by linking to their Birth, Marriage and Death records.

The 1939 Register, when linked to a more detailed mapping tool than ever before, is a fantastic resource for family historians searching for where forebears lived in September 1939.

See TheGenealogist’s article:Powerful mapping linked to 1939 Register pinpoints ancestor’s households https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2022/powerful-mapping-linked-to-1939-register-pinpoints-ancestors-households-1520/ 

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!

To celebrate Women's History Month the Society of Genealogists (SoG) is holding a talk on Saturday 12 March, 10.30AM

Mummy, what did you do in the Great War? My Ancestor was a Woman at War

Join Emma Jolly at the SoG to find out more about the jobs women did in the First World War. In this talk, Emma explores the range of women’s roles and where to look for the surviving records (including online sources), which family historians can use to explore the lives of their ancestors and others.

Emma covers women who worked:

• in the auxiliary services
• in medical organisations and transport
• in police forces
• on the land
• in voluntary organisations

As Emma intends to open the talk up for discussion, please bring your own stories along.

A one-hour talk with Emma Jolly, cost £10.00/£6.50 SoG members. 

https://www.sog.org.uk/events

TheGenealogist’s latest release of transcripts of RAF ORBs provide the most complete collection of indexed AIR 27 records

TheGenealogist has today released over 4.2 million transcripts for its RAF Operations Record Books (ORBs), fully searchable by Name, Rank, Aircraft, Squadron, and Date plus many other fields, making it simpler to find your air force ancestors. 

TheGenealogist uniquely allows you to search the period 1911-1963. With over 11 million records online, this is the largest collection of searchable AIR 27 records making it the best place to find details about your RAF ancestors. 

Handley Page Hampdens taking off in formation at RAF Waddington

TheGenealogist’s significant transcription effort has been aimed at providing detailed indexes which cover 1911 to 1963. 

Mark Bayley, Head of Content at TheGenealogist said: “We are delighted to be releasing such a large number of AIR 27 ORBs, making TheGenealogist the most comprehensive site for AIR 27 records online.” 

The ORBs on TheGenealogist include not only the journal-like day to day entries recorded on Form 540 in which you can find RAF personnel mentioned, but also all of the appendices that go along with these documents, giving many statistical details as well as “Secret Orders”.

Some feedback TheGenealogist has received:

“One of your best. To be able to follow the day to day activities of individuals down to the hours the planes take off and land is amazing. I look forward to the rest of this data set.”

“A 2 minute search brought up 2 years of operations logs for my Father, who was a pilot in 123 Squadron stationed in North Africa, India & Burma. They are full of amazing information. Everything from a near miss when a Japanese machine gun bullet ‘entered his cockpit’, what films they watched & complaints about the food. Just wonderful.”

“Just to say a big THANK YOU for giving my family access to records of my late Uncle Douglas Thom's operations in 90 Squadron Bomber Command in 1944. We have been very frustrated that his log books seem to have "disappeared" when his home in mid Wales was cleared. Now at least we have a time-line of his sorties and more information to add to his "not often spoken about" story. I will be passing what you have on him to my cousin, his son Doug, in Canada.”

Learn more about RAF records and read TheGenealogist’s free articles here: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/raf/ 

This collection is provided in association with The National Archives. 

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

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!

TheGenealogist has released records of 72,663 individuals so that researchers will be able to discover useful details about ancestors’ homes from the following London areas in 1910: Albany, Belsize, Camden Town, Chalk Farm, Euston, Grays Inn Road, Highgate East, Highgate West, Kilburn, Priory and Adelaide Parish (Hampstead), St Andrew East, St Andrew West, St Giles East, St Giles North, St Giles South, Saffron Hill, Somers Town and Tottenham Court Road.

Tottenham Court Road, London

These property tax records, collected by the Inland Revenue’s Valuation offices, are linked to detailed OS maps that will pinpoint down to plot level and can be searched by name or keywords using the Master Search, or by selecting a pin from the map displayed inside TheGenealogist’s powerful Map Explorer™. The ability to switch between georeferenced modern and historic maps allows the researcher to see how the neighbourhood in which their ancestors had lived or worked may have altered with the passing of time.

IR58 records around Highgate Cemetery on TheGenealogist’s Map Explorer™ 

The huge value of these IR58 records, uniquely digitised by TheGenealogist from the originals at The National Archives, are that Family history researchers as well as house historians will be able to discover all sorts of information about the past owners and occupiers of the homes, land, outbuildings and property recorded in these areas at the time before Britain was plunged into the First World War.

Read TheGenealogist’s article From showgirl to Dame of the British Empire: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2022/from-showgirl-to-dame-of-the-british-empire-1519/

After the extremely successful virtual events held online last year, The Family History Show, Online is returning in February so that once more you can enjoy all the features of a physical family history show, but from the comfort of your own home.

The Family History Show, Online is gearing up for its return on Saturday 19th February 2022.

You'll have the opportunity to put your research questions to an expert, watch professionally produced talks and to speak to family history societies, archives and genealogical suppliers by text, audio, video chat or email from the comfort of your own home.

You will also be able to submit your questions to the Ask the Experts panel before the show and you have a choice to either book a free 1-to-1 session or to watch the question panel at 15:30 where our experts answer your questions!

Save the date in your diary and snap up an early bird ticket now for only £7! You'll also get a downloadable goody bag worth over £10.

Featuring All New Talks

From Cradle to Grave

Jackie Depelle - Family History Tutor and Speaker

Jackie's talk shows you how to follow the life of an ancestor, using key family history sources, plus more from maps to house history

Solving Genealogy Brickwalls: A Case Study

Amelia Bennett - Expert Researcher, Census Detective with the SOG

This talk uses an example from Amelia's own family history where she progressed a brickwall using DNA alongside traditional genealogy research. The path to solving this brickwall had a number of surprises along the way with forgeries, quick marriages, criminal ancestors and often more questions than answers. In telling the story, methods and tools for using DNA to break down brickwalls are provided.

The Joy of Surnames

Debbie Kennett - DNA & Surname Expert and Writer 

Each surname has its own story to tell. This lecture provides an overview of the history and distribution of surnames with a focus on surnames originating in the British Isles. The one-name study approach can provide breakthroughs that would not be possible by restricting research to your own family tree.

Family history and the media: behind the scenes of Who Do You Think You Are?

Nick Barratt - Historian, Author and Professional Genealogist

Exploring the impact of Who Do You Think You Are? on the way we research our family stories, with an explanation of how the show was first conceived and produced.

Ask the Experts Live Q&A Panel

with Mark Bayley, Debbie Kennett, Jackie Depelle and Nick Barratt.

Submit your questions to our panel of experts before the show. Either book a free 1-to-1 session or watch the live stream question panel at 15:30 where you can ask your questions live!

Societies, Archives and Companies

Visit exhibitors, societies, archives and companies in our virtual exhibition hall. Here there will be the opportunity to talk to some of the stallholders by text, audio or video from the comfort of your own home.

Show Partners

SoG, AGRA, TheGenealogist, GenFair, S&N Genealogy

Early Bird Ticket Offer

Buy your tickets in advance and save - tickets to attend The Family History Show Online are available from the website at just £7.00 each. You will also get a FREE virtual goody bag on the day worth over £10. https://thefamilyhistoryshow.com/online/tickets/