Welcome to the Family History Social

A murder in a 17th-century Suffolk inn, a village devastated by plague and centuries of memorial inscriptions are among the fascinating discoveries in a new collection of burial records released by TheGenealogist.

The collection brings together historic burial registers and monumental inscriptions from churches, churchyards and cemeteries, offering family historians an opportunity to discover more about the lives and deaths of their ancestors.

One particularly striking entry comes from St James, Bury St Edmunds. On 7th April 1670, the parish register recorded the burial of Loyed Johnson, noting that he had been "murdered at the signe of the pickrell".

In Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, the registers reveal the devastating impact of the Great Plague. During 1665, the parish recorded 126 burials, most attributed to the epidemic, compared with the approximately 20 or fewer normally recorded in previous years.

Other additions include burial registers from St Paul's, Covent Garden, memorial inscriptions from Durham and Hereford Cathedrals, Devon churchyards and historic graves at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.

For researchers, these records can provide far more than names and burial dates. Entries may reveal occupations, family relationships, causes of death and unexpected details about an ancestor's final days.

The new collections are available to explore at TheGenealogist.co.uk.

What did your Cornish ancestor's home look like before the First World War? A new collection of historic property records from TheGenealogist could help answer that question.

TheGenealogist has expanded its Lloyd George Domesday Survey collection with records covering Cornwall, offering a detailed picture of the county during the Edwardian period.

Created following the Finance Act 1910, the survey recorded property owners and occupiers, together with information about land, buildings and their valuations.

From the busy streets of Cornish towns to fishing villages, farms and former mining communities, the records reveal the properties and landscapes familiar to families living in the county more than a century ago.

Unlike census returns, which concentrate on the people living in a household, the survey provides information about the property itself. Field Books may record a building's size, condition, value, layout and associated land or outbuildings.

The records are also linked to detailed historic Ordnance Survey maps, allowing researchers to locate individual properties and compare them with the modern landscape.

For anyone tracing Cornish ancestors or researching the history of a house, farm or business, this collection provides an interesting new source of evidence.

Family historians researching Lincolnshire can now explore centuries of parish registers, marriage licences and local histories following a substantial new release from TheGenealogist.

The collection includes digitised publications spanning the Tudor period through to the early 20th century, providing information about the families, churches and communities of Lincolnshire.

Among the newly available parish registers are records for Coleby, Alford and Rigsby, Bourne, Gainsborough, and St Margaret in the Close, Lincoln.

One particularly interesting entry is the baptism of Anne Hutchinson in Alford. The daughter of the Rev. Francis Marbury, Hutchinson later became a prominent religious figure in colonial Massachusetts, where her beliefs brought her into conflict with the authorities.

Another important addition is Lincoln Marriage Licences, 1598–1628, which records couples from communities including Grantham, Spalding and Alford.

The release also includes historical publications exploring Lincolnshire's towns, villages, churches and buildings.

Among them is Notices of the History and Antiquities of Spalding, which provides information about local properties, landowners and events.

These books can help researchers go beyond births, marriages and deaths to discover what life was like in the places their ancestors called home.

The new collections are available through TheGenealogist.

The Great Fire of London transformed the capital in September 1666, destroying thousands of homes and numerous churches. Now, a collection of parish records featuring more than 300,000 individuals offers an opportunity to investigate the London families who lived through this extraordinary period.

Released by TheGenealogist to coincide with the 360th anniversary of the Great Fire, the collection includes registers from historic City of London parishes, including churches affected by the disaster.

Some of these buildings were later rebuilt under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren, while others disappeared as parishes were combined during the reconstruction of the City.

Alongside the parish registers, TheGenealogist has added historical publications that provide valuable context for London family history.

These include The Old Churches of London, the Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys and all six volumes of Old and New London.

Pepys's famous eyewitness account provides an especially vivid picture of the fire and the destruction it caused.

For family historians, the records can help identify people who lived, married, worshipped and were buried in London's parishes over more than three centuries.

Used together, the parish registers and historical books provide a fascinating way to investigate London ancestors and the changing streets and communities in which they lived.

Was your ancestor a soldier during either of the World Wars? Newly digitised military publications released by TheGenealogist could provide fresh information about their service.

The collection includes regimental histories, wartime despatches and Home Guard records covering British military history from 1914 to 1950.

These publications provide accounts of the experiences of British regiments and military units, revealing where they served, the battles they fought and the conditions encountered by their members.

Some include the names of officers and soldiers, details of casualties, honours and awards, and accounts of individual acts of bravery.

Among the servicemen featured in the newly released records is John Pennington Harman VC, who came from Lundy and lost his life while serving in Burma during the Second World War.

Regimental histories can be particularly useful when researching a military ancestor. Even where an individual is not named, information about their unit can help establish where they served and what they may have experienced.

Combined with medal rolls, casualty lists, newspapers and other military records, these publications offer researchers another way to reconstruct the wartime experiences of their ancestors.

The new records are available on TheGenealogist.

Do you have Yorkshire ancestors? More than 378,000 names have been added to TheGenealogist in a major collection of historic parish registers.

The release brings together digitised parish register books covering more than 350 years of baptisms, marriages and burials, with some entries dating back to the reign of Henry VIII.

The newly available records cover communities across Yorkshire, including Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate and Knaresborough, as well as numerous smaller towns and villages.

Alongside Anglican parish registers, the collection includes some Nonconformist records, providing additional opportunities to trace families whose religious background may have taken them outside the established church.

Parish registers are among the most important sources for researching ancestors before civil registration. Depending on the period and register, entries may provide information about parents, spouses, occupations and places of residence.

For researchers attempting to trace Yorkshire families back through the generations, these newly digitised publications may help fill gaps in existing research or identify previously unknown relatives.

The original register pages can be searched and viewed through TheGenealogist, offering a valuable resource for anyone investigating Yorkshire's family and local history.

Tracing ancestors who crossed the Atlantic or lived in colonial America? A major new collection from TheGenealogist brings together more than 200,000 names from early American historical and genealogical records.

The release covers some of the most significant periods in American history, from the settlement of New England in the 17th century to the American Revolution.

Among the newly available publications are records from the Pennsylvania Archives, including material relating to the Revolutionary War.

These contain information about British prisoners held in Pennsylvania, officers and men of the Pennsylvania Navy, sick soldiers in Philadelphia during December 1776 and journals connected with the Battle of Long Island.

Other additions include Passenger Lists to Boston and the Bay Colony, 1620–1640, the New Jersey Index of Wills, 1705–1901 and genealogies of the early settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts.

For family historians researching early American ancestors, these sources may provide information about migration, military service, family relationships and inheritance.

They also offer useful background for understanding the communities in which early settlers and their descendants lived.

The newly released publications are searchable through TheGenealogist.

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Did your ancestor vote in a Georgian or Victorian election? More than 33,000 names have been added to TheGenealogist's collection of historic London and Westminster poll books.

The newly digitised records cover elections in 1768, 1774, 1818 and 1841, spanning the reigns of George III and Queen Victoria.

Unlike modern elections, voting was not conducted in secret. Poll books could record the names of electors alongside the candidates they supported, providing a fascinating insight into political life.

For family historians, these records can be particularly valuable because they may identify an ancestor's place of residence, occupation and electoral participation at a specific point in time.

The books contain the names of tradesmen, professionals, property owners and other men who qualified to vote under the electoral rules of the period.

As voting rights were closely associated with property and status, inclusion in a poll book may also reveal something about an individual's position in their community.

These records can be especially useful when tracing London families before the introduction of regular census returns.

The new poll books have been indexed and digitised, allowing Diamond subscribers to search for individual names and view images of the original pages on TheGenealogist.

Did someone in your family work on Britain's railways? A newly released collection of British Railways staff magazines could help you discover more about their working life.

TheGenealogist has added more than 60 issues of regional railway magazines dating from the late 1940s through to the early 1960s.

The publications cover the Eastern, North Eastern, Scottish, Southern, Western and London Midland regions during a period of considerable change following railway nationalisation.

Unlike conventional railway histories, which often concentrate on locomotives and engineering, these magazines recorded the everyday lives of railway employees.

They include details of staff appointments, transfers, promotions, retirements, long-service awards and obituaries.

There are also reports of staff outings, social clubs, dances, sporting events and activities at stations, depots and railway offices.

For family historians, these smaller details can be particularly rewarding. An ancestor might appear in a photograph, a retirement presentation, a sports report or a brief mention of a promotion.

Such information can provide a more personal picture of a railway worker's life than conventional census or employment records.

The magazines are now available to search in TheGenealogist's newspaper and periodical collection.

What did Devon look like before the First World War? A major collection of Edwardian property records from TheGenealogist allows researchers to explore homes, farms, shops and businesses across the historic county.

The Devon Lloyd George Domesday Survey contains information about more than 352,000 individuals and organisations, linked to over 2,500 square miles of historic mapping.

Created following the Finance Act 1910, the survey recorded property ownership, occupation, land use, valuations and descriptions of buildings.

Through TheGenealogist's MapExplorer™, researchers can locate individual properties on contemporary maps and follow links to the associated survey records.

One particularly fascinating example is the village of Hallsands, on the South Devon coast.

The survey captures the village before the devastating storm of January 1917, when high tides and easterly gales destroyed much of the settlement.

Among its residents was Elizabeth Ann Prettejohn, later remembered as the village's last inhabitant. She remained in a surviving cottage above the ruins for many years.

From Dartmoor farms and fishing villages to market towns and seaside resorts, these records provide a detailed view of Devon's communities in the years immediately before the war.

For researchers tracing Devon ancestry or investigating the history of a property, the collection offers a valuable connection between people, places and historic maps.