Visiting Gould Genealogy in Adelaide

The Unlock the Past Researching Abroad roadshow (www.unlockthepast.com.au/events/researching-abroad-finding-british-isles-and-european-ancestors) is now in Adelaide, which is also the home of Gould Genealogy (www.gould.com.au), Unlock the Past’s parent company. Having previously been to Adelaide just once before to give a talk during a brief stopover on an Unlock the Past genealogy cruise, I had not yet had the pleasure to visit the company’s base, something that was duly rectified on this visit!

Gould Genealogy has a shop in the city, where many products, including the Unlock the Past book range, are manufactured and sold to the public, as well as a facility in the Adelaide Hills where postal orders are sorted from. I popped into the city shop two days ago and caught up with Alona Tester, who gave me a quick tour of the facility, including a look at their print set up from which the various guides I have written are published on demand (there are similar facilities in England and Canada where the same books are published for the UK and North American markets). We of course also grabbed the requisite selfies, with both of us being shameless bloggers and social media users!

Gould Genealogy is a family business run by Alan Phillips, and from his home in the Adelaide hills, his wife Anthea handles the mail order side of the business; being a guest at their home for my current stay I have also been privileged to see this side of the business, and have even visited the local post office to post some orders!

I have been privileged to work with Unlock the Past for the last seven years, and so it has been wonderful to at long last get to see Genie Central in Adelaide! If you are looking for products to help with your research, whether books or support materials, do take a look at the company’s online catalogue at www.gould.com.au. The company also produces ebooks for various products via www.gen-ebooks.com, and of course its highly popular and successful genealogy cruise ventures via www.unlockthepastcruises.com. Having just completed a cruise to Papua New Guinea, the company’s next cruise venture will be to Alaska, on which I will be one of the international speakers – for more info on this please visit www.unlockthepastcruises.com/2018cruisealaska/.

Thanks again to Alan and Anthea for their wonderful hospitality in Adelaide, and to Alona for the tour!

(NB: Alona blogs her personal genealogy journeys at www.lonetester.com, and writes a dedicated Genealogy and History News blog for the company at www.gouldgenealogy.com)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

My new book is now on sale in Australia

My latest guide book for Adelaide based Unlock the Past (my eighth title) is now on sale in Australia. Entitled A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Ancestry, it very much does what it says on the tin! Here's the blurb:

You've decided that you want to trace your British and Irish family history, but have absolutely no idea where to start. If only there was a handy beginner's guide...?

In this Unlock the Past guide, genealogist Chris Paton takes you through the key record sets that will help you get underway with your family history research. He will introduce you to the family history societies and archives that can assist your efforts, and provide a little context to the ancestral landscape within which your ancestors once lived, and into which you will soon be immersed. Along the way he will point out some of the major differences in record types to be found in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and the Crown Dependencies of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

In each chapter Chris also provides a steer towards further books which can further develop your skills as you become more experienced with the subject matter, making this an invaluable introduction.

Warning – once you get started with your family history research, you will never stop...!

And the contents list:

Introduction
Acknowledgements
1. Researching your family tree
- Documentary sources
- Gateways
- Record your finds
- Gadgets
- Brick walls
- Overcome mistakes
- Question everything
- Make your ancestors real
- Damn the rules!
- Further reading
2. Civil registration records
- Basic information
- England and Wales
- Scotland
- Ireland
- Certificate exchange sites
- Further reading
3. Parish registers
- Baptisms
- Marriages and banns
- Burials and deaths
- Locating state church records
- Records of church governance
- Non-conformist churches
- Further reading
4. Monumental inscriptions
- English and Welsh gravestones
- Scotland
- Ireland
- Further reading
5. Cenuses
- What censuses contain
- Online records
- Scotland
- Ireland
- Census substitutes: directories
- Further reading
6. Wills and testaments
- Forms of estate
- Probate and confirmation
- England and Wales
- Recent wills
- Scotland
- Ireland
- Further reading
7. Maps and gazetteers
- Modern maps
- Ordnance Survey maps
- Other maps
- Gazetteers
- Further reading
8. Occupations
- Ancestral context
- Understand the job
- Newspapers
- Dig deeper
- Further reading
9. Societies, archives and libraries
- Umbrella bodies
- National societies
- Special interest groups
- Archives
- Catalogues
- Libraries
- Further reading
10. Social networking
- Facebook and Twitter
- Blogs
- Message boards and forums
- Family tree networks
- Further reading
11. DNA tests
- Types of DNA
- Testing companies
- Further reading
Appendix: The Crown Dependencies
- Isle of Man
- The Channel Islands
Index

The book can be purchased from Gould Genealogy in Adelaide via https://www.gould.com.au/a-beginners-guide-to-british-and-irish-genealogy/utp0289/, priced at AU$12.03. An ebook version will also be available shortly via www.gen-ebooks.com, and then print copies in due course will also be on sale in the UK and Canada, which I will announce in due course.

I hope it is of some use if you are just getting under way with your research!

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Gould Genealogy revamps website

Australian genealogy store Gould Genealogy is celebrating its fortieth anniversary this year, and its twentieth online. As such, it has taken the opportunity to revamp its website, which has now been launched at www.gould.com.au. The company's Alona Tester has blogged a feature looking at previous incarnations of the site, should you fancy a trip down memory lane, at www.gouldgenealogy.com/2016/08/gould-genealogy-website-now/.

Gould Genealogy is also the parent company behind Unlock the Past (www.unlockthepast.com.au), which does just about everything these days from genealogy cruises and conferences to books and e-books. My latest title for the company, A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy, should be joining their book range shortly - watch this space for more details soon!

(With thanks to Alona Tester)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

National Family History Month in Australia

Starting today it is National Family History Month in Australia (http://familyhistorymonth.org.au/all-events/).

From the Australian based National Archives (www.naa.gov.au):

The National Archives is proud to again sponsor the launch of National Family History Month. To celebrate the month, our staff in Adelaide have organised a range of seminars:

National Archives Open Day, 13 August
Researching family and local history, 17 August
Find yourself in the Archives, 31 August

Our Perth staff will show how to begin or advance your family history research in Making Australia Home on 10 August.

The National Library of Australia is alos getting in on the act with a dedicated page at https://www.nla.gov.au/news/2016/07/27/family-history-month-at-the-library.

I'm going to throw in a quick plug here also for Adelaide based Gould Genealogy (www.gould.com.au), which provides a range of genealogical research materials and presentational resources for your ancestral research. A family based business of several decades standing, the company also runs a series of highly enjoyable genealogy conferences at sea through Unlock the Past Cruises (www.unlockthepastcruises.com), its various expos, including this year's History and Genealogy Expo in Adelaide (see www.unlockthepast.com.au/events/australian-history-genealogy-expo-2016), and its ever growing range of research aid publications under the Unlock the Past imprint (www.gould.com.au/Unlock-the-Past-guides-s/2576.htm). I've contributed a few to this range on Scottish, Irish and British topics, and have in fact just started on a new one, hopefully to be published in the next few weeks!

If you're looking for research guidance also, don't forget that there is the excellent Australian magazine Inside History (www.insidehistory.com.au), and many wonderful family history societies across the country, including the Sydney based Society of Australian Genealogists (www.sag.org.au). You'll find others listed at www.cyndislist.com/australia/societies/.

If you're starting off with your family history down under, there are plenty of good folk in the neighbourhood to help you get on your way, and plenty of folk on this side of the planet to help also!

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

A Decade of Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923

Now on sale in Australia is another of my latest Unlock the Past books, entitled A Decade of Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923. A UK edition, Canadian edition and ebook version will also be available shortly. Here is the back cover blurb:

As the issue of Home Rule reared its head for a third time, its supporters and detractors raised militias to defend their positions, whilst women fought for the vote and labourers fought for better terms from their employers. The First World War would soon dramatically change everything, leading some to see England's difficulty as Ireland's opportunity. When an independent republic was proclaimed through force of arms at Easter 1916, the response would see a brutal guerilla war fought between the British forces the Irish republicans, a partitioned island, and a nation divided.

A century on, in this book from Unlock the Past, Northern Irish born family historian Chris Paton will help you to discover whether your ancestors were caught up in the events of that period - whether they were Suffragettes, unionised workers, Ulster or Irish Volunteers, fighting with the British Army and Crown forces, against them as rebels and revolutionaries, and in the ensuing civil war on both sides of the Treaty divide. With improved cataloguing by archives, and better access to the records, both online and offline, a new gateway has been opened into one of the island's most tumultuous, tragic, exciting, and utterly desperate periods of the 20th century. In this book he will show you how to step through it.

To further give a flavour of the structure of the book, the following is the contents list:

Contents:

Introduction
Acknowledgements

1. The genealogical landscape
- Vital records
- Burials
- Censuses
- Probate
- Newspapers
- National archives and libraries
- Family and local history societies

2. Home Rule
- Ireland in the Union
- The Ulster Covenant
- Ulster and Irish Volunteers
- Researching the Volunteers

3. Women's suffrage
- Demand for the vote
- The campaign escalates
- Suffragette sources

4. Workers' rights
- Background
- The Dublin Lockout
- Researching the Lockout
- Other disputes

5. The First World War
- Military records

6. The Easter Rising
- The Rebellion
- The participants
- Researching the Rising

7. Towards independence
- Conscription and election
- The War of Independence
- The Treaty
- The Irish Civil War
- Northern Ireland
- Legacy
- Researching 1919-1923

Further reading
Index

The book is available from Gould Genealogy at http://www.gould.com.au/A-Decade-of-Centenaries-Researching-Ireland-1912-p/utp0288.htm.

UPDATE: The ebook edition is now available from http://www.gen-ebooks.com/a-decade-of-centenaries-researching-ireland-1912.html, priced at AU$9.95 (about £4.80 in Sterling). There's a free PDF based sample of the book, the link is under he PayPal logo.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd ed) now on sale

I have just produced two new books for Unlock the Past, the first of which is now available to purchase in Australia from Gould Genealogy, and worldwide in ebook format.

Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition) is a major update for a book that I first produced 5 years ago for Unlock the Past (it was in fact the first book that I wrote for the company in 2010). Not only does this new edition include updated links, the subject matter covered itself is considerably expanded from the first edition - particularly with regard to non-Church of Scotland based denominations, but also with new subject areas within Church of Scotland records themselves. In fact, the book's content has been expanded by about 50% - I had a lot more to say!

Here is the back cover description:

Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition)

In this newly updated and much expanded second edition of his best selling book, family historian Chris Paton explores the history and records of the various churches in Scotland prior to 1855, the year in which civil registration commenced within the country. He describes the theological changes imposed by the Reformation of 1560, the nature of the state’s battles with the Kirk, and the Kirk’s subsequent battles within itself. Most importantly, he also discusses the nature of the records generated by the various Scottish churches, how to interpret them, and above all else, how to find them.

Whether you are looking for tales of ministers carried into the air by Scotland’s fairy folk, the fire and thunder of John Knox, a detailed explanation of the online offerings of the ScotlandsPeople website, or the treasures waiting in the National Records of Scotland, this is the definitive research guide to help anyone with Caledonian connections.

And the Contents list:

Introduction
Second edition
Acknowledgements
1. The Godly Commonwealth
- The Reformation
- The Stuarts
- Secessions and dissenters
- The Disruption
- Multi-faith Scotland
2. Church of Scotland Research
- The Vital Records (OPRs)
- Baptisms
- Marriage
- Burials
- Accessing the BMD records
3. Church governance
- Kirk Session records
- Establishing what exists
- Presbytery, Synod and General Assembly
- Heritors
- Estate papers
4. Nonconformist Presbyterian Churches
- Looking for clues
- Finding nonconformist records
- Locating the right church
- Switching churches
- Catalogues
5. Other church denominations
- The Scottish Episcopal Church
- Roman Catholicism
- Quakers
- Methodists
- Salvation Army
- Congregationalists
- Evangelical Union
- Baptists
- Catholic Apostolic Church (Irvingites)
- Moravians
- Bereans
- Universalists
- Unitarians
- Swedenborgians
- Mormons
- Jews
- Muslims
- Sikhs
6. Working for the Church
- Church of Scotland ministers
- Other ministers
- Newspapers
- School teachers
Appendix 1. Basic research strategy
Appendix 2. Further reading
Index

To purchase the book in Australia, please visit Gould Genealogy at http://www.gould.com.au/Discover-Scottish-Church-Records-p/utp0281.htm. The price is $AU28 inc GST.

To purchase the title as an ebook (in PDF format), please visit Genealogy eBooks at
http://www.gen-ebooks.com/discover-scottish-church-records-2nd-ed.html. The price is AU$9.95 inc GST.

The book will be further available from the UK and Canada in the very near future - stay tuned!

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Gould Genealogy September book sale in Australia

I've only just been made aware of this, but Gould Genealogy in Australia is running a September sale on many of its Unlock the Past books.

In addition to several of my Scottish and Irish titles, there are many others relating to the British Isles, including Paul Milner's Buried Treasure and Discover English Census Records, and Neil Smith's Finding the Family Redcoat: Tracing Your British Military Ancestors in Australia. Other authors represented include Shauna Hicks, Helen C Smith, Thomas MacEntee, Rosemary Kopittke, Carol Baxter and many more on a range of worldwide genealogy topics!

Full details are at http://www.gould.com.au/Unlock-the-Past-guides-s/2576.htm - but get in quick folks, sale ends in two days!

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

British and Irish Newspapers book now available

My latest Unlock the Past guide, British and Irish Newspapers, is now available from Gould Genealogy at www.gould.com.au/British-and-Irish-Newspapers-p/utp0285.htm. The price is AU$23 (inc GST).

Enjoy! (An ebook version will be available shortly)

Chris

Now available for UK research is the new second edition of the best selling Tracing Your Family History on the Internet: A Guide for Family Historians. And for those wishing to take Scottish ancestral research a bit further, my next Pharos course, Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Records, commences May 14th 2014.

Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records - now on sale

I'm delighted to say that my latest Scottish genealogy themed book is now out from Unlock the Past in Australia. At present it is available in print form from the company via www.gould.com.au/Discover-Scottish-Civil-Registration-Records-p/utp0284.htm at AU$17 (inc GST) plus p&p. An e-edition, if you prefer to read it via your PC, Mac or tablet in PDF format, will be available in the next couple of days (http://www.gen-ebooks.com).

Here's a description of the contents, and what it's all about really!

Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records

This guide from family historian Chris Paton takes a look at the vast world of Scottish civil registration records. Scotland commenced the statutory registration of births, marriages and deaths within the country in 1855, second seventeen and half years after a similar process had already got underway in England and Wales. The information lost to the family historian by such a late start is, however, more than made up for by the fact that Scottish registration records are the most detailed of all those found within the British Isles.

But what was the law behind Scottish registration, and how did it differ to England, Wales and Ireland? Who was legally obliged to do what and when, what were the penalties for default, and how might such knowledge help with our ancestral research? Why were all the forms of Scottish irregular marriage not abolished in 1939, and what angered the country's doctors? Where are the records not found online via ScotlandsPeople, such as those for adoption, vaccination, civil partnerships and divorce - and what vital records does the General Register Office in England hold for Scots as far back at the 1760s, and far beyond Britain's shores?

The book is structured as follows:

Contents:
Introduction
Acknowledgements

Part 1. Civil registration in Scotland
Establishment of civil registration
Registration of births
- Illegitimacy
- Locating birth records
- Minor records of birth
- Stillbirths
- Adoption
Vaccination
- Locating vaccination records
Marriage
- Registration of regular marriage
- Irregular marriage
- Registration of irregular marriage
- Introduction of civil marriage
- Same sex marriage
- Locating marriage records
- Minor records of marriage
- Other marriage records
- Divorce
Registration of deaths
- Medical certificates
- Locating death records
- Minor records of deaths
Registers of Corrected Entries
The Book of Scottish Connections

Part 2. Registration in the British Isles
England and Wales
- Births
- Marriages
- Divorce
- Deaths
- Locating English and Welsh records
- British overseas and military records
Ireland
- Locating Irish records
Crown dependencies

Appendix 1. Glossary
Appendix 2. Further reading
Appendix 3. English and Welsh BMD indexes in Australia and New Zealand
- Australia
- New Zealand
Index

It's the latest in a series of more indepth guides that I have been producing in which I have been trying to find out what really makes the records used within Scottish genealogy tick, going well beyond ScotlandsPeople into aspects of law behind civil registration, record availability, and British generated documents found beyond Scotland's borders. Other titles produced so far include Discover Scottish Church Records, and Discover Scottish Land Records - and I'm already hard at work on the next one...!

Incidentally, if you are at the National Family History Fair this coming Saturday, in Newcastle, I believe some copies may be available there.

I hope you find it of some use - enjoy!

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!

Scottish Monumental Inscriptions update

The following are the latest developments from Scottish Monumental Inscriptions (www.scottish-monumental-inscriptions.com):

Under transcription:

• Wanlockhead Old and New Cemetery ? Dumfries and Galloway
• Crosbie Churchyard- Ayrshire
• Galston Cemetery- Ayrshire
• Coupar Angus Churchyard-Perthshire
• Cupar Cemetery- Fife
• Torryburn Church and Cemetery- Fife
• And lots lots more.

Due in the next week:

• Abernethy New Cemetery- Perthshire
• Dunbarney Cemetery- Perthshire
• Kirkton of Mailer Churchyard- Perthshire.

New on CD Now:

• Kinfauns Churchyard- Perthshire
• Newtyle Church- Cemetery- Angus
• Tullialan Old Kirk (Woodlea Cemetery)- Fife
• Inverarity Churchyard- Forfar- Angus
• Glamis Cemetery ? Angus
• Muirkirk Churchyard ? Ayrshire
• Galston Cemetery- Ayrshire
• Mauchline Churchyard- Ayrshire
• Muirkirk Cemetery- Ayrshire
• Crombie Churchyard- Fife
• Coupar Angus Cemetery ? Perthshire
• Ardler Church- Perthshire
• Meigle Church- Perthshire.
• Aberdalgie Church ? Perthshire.
• Monkton and Prestwick New Cemetery- Ayrshire.
• Kirkgate Old Churchyard- Kinross Perthshire.

Looking forward to seeing the Dunbarney disc! Remember that much of the company's records are now also accessible via Deceased Online (www.deceasedonline.com), whilst some previously released CDs can also be purchased from Gould Genealogy in Australia (www.gould.com.au).

(With thanks to Helen Grant)

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)