The GENES Blog (GEnealogy News and EventS) ceased publication on 14 FEB 2020. You will now find all the latest genealogy news and views on Scottish GENES at https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com. The GENES Blog archive will remain live, with a record of the genealogy news for Britain and Ireland from 2013-2020. Thank you!
In his latest Lost Cousins (www.lostcousins.com) newsletter, Peter Calver has given an update on his next proposed Genealogy in the Sunshine conference at the Rocha Brava resort in the Portuguese Algarve. The event, first started in 2014 and 2015, has had a break this year, but is intended to hopefully return next March. Here's Peter's comments:
I can't give you a firm date at the moment, not least because I'm waiting for formal confirmation that Who Do You Think You Are? Live will take place between 6-8th April, as indicated on Facebook. However, I can tell you that we're currently looking at the last week of March for Genealogy in the Sunshine 2017, ie Saturday 25th March to Saturday 1st April - so you might want to pencil all these dates into your 2017 diary.
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.
Congratulations to Peter Calver's Lost Cousins website (www.lostcousins.com) which now has 100,000 members. The site allows you to make connections with relatives through shared connections via various British, Irish, Canadian and US censuses.
The latest newsletter from the site is available at http://lostcousins.com/newsletters2/oct15news.htm - amongst the latest news is an announcement that the site's Genealogy in the Sunshine event, hosted in Portugal's Algrave in both 2014 and 2015, is skipping a year next year, and will be back in 2017.
The second day of the Lost Cousins (www.lostcousins.com) hosted Genealogy in the Sunshine in Portugal should perhaps have been more accurately described as Genealogy in the Rain, as we had a bit of a downpour - but it did not dampen the enthusiasm of those attending! In the morning I participated at a brick wall brainstorming session with Else Churchill and John Hanson, before having a spot of lunch with the family.
I missed John's first talk in the afternoon on using censuses, but caught up with Debbie Kennett's talk on autosomal DNA tests. This was somewhat towards the more advanced user level, so whilst I understood enough of the talk to get me geared towards taking the Ancestry DNA test that is still waiting for me in my study back home, parts of it were a wee bit beyond me - though Debbie did stress that some of the options she was discussing on how to use the results were geared towards more expert users. Certainly what can be done with the results is impressive, with one example of a genetic family tree that somebody had created identifying DNA segments from many generations of ancestors way back into the early 19th century.
Else then gave an overview talk on the use of English and Welsh probate records on what was the most famous patron saint's day of the year, that's right, Saint Gertrude of Nivelle's Day (cats apparently!), and then I gave the final talk on Irish land records.
In the evening, whilst most of the delegates attended a 'Safari Supper', I ran an online chat session with students on my current Pharos course (Scottish Research Online) before chilling out with my wife and kids and a bottle of wine to toast both Saint Gertrude and of course, Saint Paddy! One note on Saint Paddy's Day is that this is the first year in a very long while where there was seemingly no big release of an Irish records collection by any of the major vendors, which was a tad disappointing - although about 5 minutes before I was due to do my talk Claire Santry did blog an important and useful update on the forthcoming Griffiths Valuation field books which have been digitised by the National Archives of Ireland, which I was able to inform those attending my talk about (and to credit her for!). Be prepared to be very depressed/amused as to why they have yet to go online - see Claire's post at http://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2015/03/land-testamentary-csorp-records-from.html!
We're now well underway at Genealogy in the Sunshine in Portugal's Algarve, the second Lost Cousins (www.lostcousins.com) hosted event at the Rocha Brava resort, and so far shaping up to be as much fun as the previous event in 2014.
The weather is every bit as good as last year, the wine is every bit as cheap, and most importantly of all, the craic is right up there with the first event!
However, I really think I amy be getting a wee bit ahead of myself here - so before I recount the day's proceedings, please first meet some friends of mine! :
This year we have a fair few more attendees, with something like 90 folk in all including partners, though only delegates are attending the genealogy conference side of things. My wife and kids are here with me, and all the same presenters from last year - Else Churchill, John Hanson, Debbie Kennett, Donald Davis and myself - and a few more, including John Reid from Ottawa and Donna Fraser from Vancouver, as well as Prof. Rebecca Probert, not to mention our host and MC, Peter Calver from Lost Cousins.
The main thrust of the programme is the afternoon based lectures from 2pm-6.30pm each day, but there is an optional morning session also, with a chance to catch up on some of the talks from last year - although today in fact started with a panel discussion comprised of Else, the two Johns and Debbie, with the topic being the Genealogy Proof Standard.
At 2pm, Else then kicked off the afternoon sessions with a look at how to try to get over brick walls that emerge in genealogy research, followed by Donald's lecture on the creation of the Victorian censuses and the discovery of some surviving 1841 household schedules, which he compared to the equivalent 1841 enumerators returns, putting to bed once and for all the idea that an enumerator's return is a 'primary source' - it is anything but, lots of differences between what was originally recorded and what ended up in the books we see today on sites such as Ancestry, FindmyPast, etc!
After a short coffee break, John Hanson provided an overview on FamilySearch, and then yours truly got stuck in with a look at Scottish marriage records, and the very different way that marriage law worked in Scotland, as compared to England (which Rebecca will be looking at later in the week). Of special note was Peter's very generous participation as a sun blind at one point, as the Portuguese sun temporarily got the better of us!
A great start to the conference, with a great crowd - roll on Tuesday, which is also Paddy's Day! Here's a few pics to illustrate the day...
Later today I'll be making my way to Portugal for the second Genealogy in the Sunshine conference (www.genealogyinthesunshine.com/2015info.htm), hosted by Peter Calver and Lost Cousins (www.lostcousins.com) at the Rocha Brava resort near Caroveiro (or 'Carraveryeryo' as my boys kept pronouncing it last year!). I should hopefully have good wi-fi access there, as last year, and so hope to keep up with blogging whilst there. If the gremlins do for some reason get me, keep an eye out Monday and Tuesday for Irish genealogy developments, something good usually happens for Paddy's Day! :)
Lost Cousins (www.lostcousins.com) is offering free access to its website until midnight on Tuesday 10th March, to allow you to input in any finds from the free access to FindmyPast (www.findmypast.com) this weekend.
In his latest newsletter at http://lostcousins.com/newsletters/jan15news.htm, Peter Calver has announced that he now has a few more spaces available for his next Lost Cousins Genealogy in the Sunshine event in Portugal in March, a week long conference of talks from genies the length and breadth of Britain and beyond (including yours truly!).
Peter's also provided an update on his second Genealogy in the Sunshine venture in Portugal, happening next March. DNA guru Debbie Kennett and myself have previously been announced as attending once again as speakers, but now Peter can reveal that the whole speaking team from last year will be returning, with Else Churchill and John Hanson from the Society of Genealogists, and Vancouver based Donald Davis also set to hit the resort at Rocha Brava once again! For the first time also, Ontario based John D. Reid from the Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections blog (http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.co.uk) will be attending as a speaker, and there will be further speakers announced in due course.
Peter has mentioned that he already has 59 folk signed up, with just a few spaces left now. If you're still considering it, I'll give you my short sales pitch! There's a brilliant genealogy programme - that's a given! As for the rest... everywhere you look in Portugal there seems to be fresh oranges growing, the sun only stops shining at night, the beach is a five minute walk, the beer and wine is cheap, the food is brilliant, and at that time of the year, just before the main tourist season really kicks off, the roads are quiet enough so that when you mistakenly drive on the wrong side of the road for a few seconds, you should just get away with it. And, oh aye - there's a jeep safari!
My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Records online course starts on November 5th, and runs for 5 weeks, priced at £45.99. Spaces are still available - see http://pharostutors.com/coursedescriptions.php#302
I'm delighted to confirm that I will be returning to the Rocha Brava resort on Portugal's Algarve next March 14th-21st to speak at the week long Lost Cousins conference event, Genealogy in the Sunshine, now heading for its second year. Also confirmed as a speaker for the 2015 event is DNA guru Debbie Kennett, with many other participants from the genealogy world due to be announced soon. Peter Calver, who is organising the event, is planning to make the 2015 event even bigger and better than the last one, with more speakers, more talks, and even more fun!
Peter Calver's latest Lost Cousins newsletter at www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/jun14news.htm carries news that the index cards currently being digitised by the International Prisoners-of-War Agency, set up by the Red Cross, will be available online in August of this year.
The agency's website notes that some 500,000 pages of lists and six million index cards index cards for both military POWs and civilian internees will be included. Looking forward to seeing if they might have anything on my civilian great uncle John Paton, who was interned at Ruhleben in Germany from 1916-1918.
The agency has not been accepting research requests for some time (five years) because of this project, so this should hopefully help when it makes an appearance.
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