Genealogy in the Sunshine - and an eclipse!

On Saturday I flew back from Portugal with my family after a week at the second successful Genealogy in the Sunshine event at Rocha Brava, on the Algarve, organised by Peter Calvers from Lost Cousins (www.lostcousins.com). I have already previously blogged about the first two days at the event at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/genealogy-in-sunshine-conference-day-1.html and http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/genealogy-in-sunshine-day-2-report.html. On day 3, Wednesday, I had the day off - each of the main speakers got one day off for good behaviour! - and so I took my family to a local attraction called ZooMarina, where we watched dolphin shows, rode on rollercoasters, watched 3D movies about...err, sea turtles, and more besides.

Thursday and Friday were quite busy. On Thursday morning I gave a talk about writing articles for genealogy magazines (commercially based magazines and society journals), discussing how to approach writing articles and publishers, as well as a basic overview on some associated issues such as copyright. John Hanson provided a follow on talk, at which point I then headed to John's apartment to join Else Churchill and several delegates for another brainstorming session to try to push through a few genealogical brick walls. The afternoon session then started with a session presented jointly by Donald Davis and his cousin Donna Fraser about their research into identifying a common English ancestor, followed by a talk by Rebecca Probert on divorce, bigamy and bereavement in England and Wales. There were a couple of interesting points I gleaned from this, firstly that divorce wasn't available in England and Wales until 1660, when it had been available over a century earlier in Scotland, and secondly that the words "single and unmarried" in an English marriage certificate circa the mid-20th century, as opposed to the word "bachelor", may in fact mean the intended was previously "divorced". I gave the final talk on the day about Scottish land records.

On Friday morning, my family and I got up early to observe the eclipse from Portugal! Thanks to some cloud cover, we actually got a brilliant view of the proceedings with the naked eye, as the cloud blocked most of the extraneous light from the sun, allowing us a perfect glimpse of the proceedings, as can be seen here!

(See https://youtu.be/LPbnz4J5bi4)

For a variety of reasons to do with talks scheduling, an away day on Wednesday, and the much more changeable weather this year (we had a couple of days of rain), Friday morning was the one and only time where I was able to make a brief visit into the village of Carveiro and to then visit the beach at Rocha Brava, but fortunately the sun played ball for both, and we had a great final morning in the region. From 2pm we then had the final sessions of the week, with John Hanson discussing the use of maps in genealogy, Else discussing 17th century sources and strategies for English research, myself discussing how I researched the Scottish based Mount Stewart Murder of 1866 (the victim was an ancestor in what is Scotland's longest official cold case), and then Rebecca ending the week with a talk about the diary of a soldier's wife from the Peninsula Wars of the early 19th century. The week then finally ended with a meal at a restaurant within the resort.

In summary, the programme this year was much more varied with many more speakers than last year, and we had many more attendees, who all seemed to enjoy themselves. The scheduling was perhaps a wee bit too late into the day each day, although there were logistical reasons for that, but it was another highly enjoyable week - albeit with the sunshine a tad less prominent than last year! As well as the official programme, I was able to record interviews with both the SoG's Else Churchill and event organiser, and Lost Cousins (www.lostcousins.com) founder Peter Calver, which I will hopefully be able to include in my next podcast in a few days time.

(With thanks to Peter Calver and all who attended)

Chris

For details on my latest book Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, and my other genealogy guide books please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. To commission me for genealogical research, please visit my research site at www.scotlandsgreateststory.co.uk.

Lost Cousins free for 10th birthday

Lost Cousins (www.lostcousins.com), the site that allows you to make connections to other branches of your family by inputting census data, is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a special offer. From the site's news page:

To celebrate our 10th Birthday on 1st May the LostCousins site is completely free for all members, new and old, until Tuesday 6th May (normally you'd need to be a subscriber to contact a new cousin).

With so many people visiting the site it's a great opportunity to find your living relatives - be sure to press the Search button after completing your My Ancestors page.

Not sure what to do? Check out the illustrated 'Getting Started' guide on the Help & Advice page.

Finally, whilst this offer can't last for ever, standard membership of LostCousins will continue to be free indefinitely!

Congratulations to the site's owner, Peter Calver, and here's to ten more years!

(With thanks to Judy Webster via Facebook)

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.

Genealogy in the Sunshine - Days 4 and 5 report

The Lost Cousins based Genealogy in the Sunshine conference has almost ended here in the Algarve. Yesterday I had a day off speaking chores (each speaker had a day off!), and so I attended three great talks from Else Churchill, Debbie Kennett and John Hanson.

Else kicked off with a tour de force of the Society of Genealogists offerings from a distance - i.e. the resources that can be accessed online for those not able to get to London easily. Clearly they've been busy down south! Some interesting snippets here, such as learning that the SoG has the largest collection of trade directories in Britain, and that a whole host of other resources and index cards are currently being digitised. The impression I got from the talk is that the SoG is currently undergoing a major and massive period of evolution, with a big emphasis on getting content digitised and presented on its own site for members, and not just for commercial partnerships with groups such as FindmyPast and Origins. There is a hell of a lot happening, so do check out the recently radically revamped site at www.sog.org.uk.

Debbie Kennett then gave a talk on autosomal DNA, and its uses for family history research - something I was very interested to listen to as I have recently been contacted by a cousin in the US who has started a project, which I am soon hoping to participate in. This was then followed by John Hanson on migrating (overseas) ancestors. Some interesting resources mentioned, including Cora Nunn's site at www.coraweb.com.au (which Shauna Hicks also recently flagged up at the recent genie cruise I did in Australia), and one I haven't heard of before, Marj's Place (http://jubilation.uwaterloo.ca/~marj/) for Canada. Of particular interest was a comment that John made about military wives essentially being cut off from army support within four weeks of their husbands' deaths if they died overseas, often leading to them remarrying other members of the same regiment - something that explains exactly what happened to my 3 x great grandmother, when my 3 x great grandfather died in 1866 - she remarried another sergeant in the same unit shortly after, and now I most likely know why.

Today was the last day and Else kicked off again with a chat on our female ancestors, and where to find them in the records (they were often better recorded than we give credit for). This was then followed by John giving a talk on how to organise our research, both in digital and offline formats. I gave the final formal presentation, on writing family history articles, although the final final talk was a short impromptu piece by one of our delegates, Peter, who discussed self-publishing.

The week long conference has been an amazing success on the programme front, with a real range of talks and expertise, and never a dull moment. A huge thanks to Peter Calver from Lost Cousins, who bent over backwards to get it all organised - and who I hope recovers soon, I suspect he'll need a holiday to get over it!

We're heading off shortly to a final dinner, then many of the delegates fly home tomorrow. My wife, kids and myself don't fly back until Sunday, however, and so tomorrow is JEEP SAFARI day!!! I have absolutely no idea where we are going on that front, so can't post any pictures in advance - however, I do have a picture of Else Churchill in Irish mode, which should keep you all happy for a bit...!

Don't forget that you can establish connections between long forgotten cousin branches by registering details from the censuses in which your family appeared on Lost Cousins (www.lostcousins.com) - if someone else has the same branch in their tree and they have also uploaded the same census details, it should be possible to make the link. Peter also offers a regular newsletter on British genealogical developments, including offers from some of the mainstream vendors such as FindmyPast. Well worth registering and signing up!

Chris

Time to find your inner Irish...! All the best online Irish genealogy resources can be found through my book Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet - in print and ebook formats. "Very useful, makes me wish I was Irish!" - Saint Patrick, patron saint.

Genealogy in the Sunshine - Days 2 and 3 report

Days 2 and 3 have now just about passed on the Lost Cousins (www.lostcousins.com) Genealogy in the Conference programme in Portugal - well, almost passed, the speakers are doing some one to ones on advice later this afternoon!

Yesterday, the Society of Genealogists resident gene genie Else Churchill kicked off with a talk about additional family history resources that can be consulted beyond the parish registers, followed by myself with a talk on the history of the Scottish Kirk, its schisms, and how to find various records - particularly for those of dissenting or nonconformist traditions. The big event of the day however was unquestionably Vancouver based Donald Davis' talk on the 1841 census, which not only discussed how the enumeration process was established for England and Wales (and Scotland), but which also included examples of original household schedules that he has recently discovered in Shropshire Archives for that census in Ludlow. It was a magic tour de force on a thoroughly well researched subject, and one which also alerted us all to the growing possibility, and perhaps likelihood, of such further discoveries coming to light elsewhere, as detailed cataloguing of resources continues across the country's vast array of archives. Truly one of the best genie lectures I think I have ever attended.

I later thanked Donald as I recounted how I had recently had a lengthy discussion with an academic genealogist who claims the censuses that we access to be primary sources, when they clearly are not, as enumerators' returns are copies of the data as extracted from the household schedules. What was truly shocking to discover from Donald's lecture is just how different the published 1841 census returns can be from the primary source - in the examples he gave, we actually saw family relationships recorded, correct ages recorded before being rounded down by the enumerator in the published return, and a truly lengthy list of occupations - as indicated by the householder himself/herself (apparently the only census where they had free reign to describe what they did themselves) which were later standardised in the enumerator's records to fit pre-determined categories. It was almost night and day between the household schedule and the enumerator's return, to the point that two people were in fact listed on one household schedule, and their names then crossed out - and those names did not subsequently make it to the extracted return.

In the evening, there was an opportunity for several delegates to cook for each other and to have a 'safari supper' in small groups, though as I am already in a group of four with my family, I bowed out from that one - sounds like a good time was had by some of the delegates who did participate! Instead, we went for a trip to a nearby town called Caroveiro, and had a few drinks by the beach and a bit of exploration away from the touristy bit, in some of the back streets!

Today I kicked off the proceedings with a discussion on Scottish civil registration records, and after this, and after a bit of a technical hitch (my computer became possessed by demonic forces for a short while), Debbie Kennett then gave an introductory talk on Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA testing. The SoG's John Hanson then took up the reins and finished with a talk on one name studies and one place studies. Later this afternoon we are having a scheduled experts advice area, then this evening an informal get together at a local bar in the resort.

So far the Genealogy in the Sunshine event has been working an absolute treat, with a small but dedicated crowd, a range of interests - oh, and some sun!!!!

Chris

Time to find your inner Irish...! All the best online Irish genealogy resources can be found through my book Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet - in print and ebook formats. "Very useful, makes me wish I was Irish!" - Saint Patrick, patron saint.

Genealogy in the Sunshine - day 1

I arrived yesterday in Portugal for a week long event organised by Peter Calver of Lost Cousins (www.lostcousins.com), entitled Genealogy in the Sunshine. The format is that from Monday to Friday myself and others will be involved in a genealogy conference each day from 9am-1.30pm, and then essentially on holiday each afternoon, a perfect combination. I'm here with my wife and two sons, and speaking on four of the days, alongside Else Churchill and John Hanson of the Society of Genealogists, Debbie Kennett (DNA guru), and Vancouver based Donald Davis, who will be talking about some extraordinary discoveries concerning the 1841 English census.

John, Else and I kicked off the event today, with John giving a talk on English parish registers, myself a talk on - what else today - but Irish resources online, and then Else talking on how to get around being stuck by re-evaluating your approach, methodology and sources when it comes to brick walls. There are about forty attendees - very clued up attendees! - and the buzz was just brilliant. Granted, I did have to wear a St Paddy's Day hat, but I think I got away with it! :)

As ever, with any conference, I always learn. I did not know that IGI batch numbers beginning with P come from printed sources (that's bugged me for a bit, though now seems bleedin' obvious!), and I had never heard of the Crisp and Clench collection of apprenticeship indentures from Westminster, held now by the SoG. And Peter introduced me (and I suspect many!) to tomato jam - and it works! My Irish talk seems to gave gone down well also, and tomorrow I migrate into Scots mode :)

After a spot of food shopping at the local intermarche, Claire, the boys and I went for a drink with John and Else at a wee secluded bar near our chalets and watched the sun set - the bar's lighting had broken, so we literally had the dying light of the sun to illuminate our discussion, as my boys played with a frisbee on the beach. A pirate ship sailed by at one point, and two divers emerged out of the sea on a couple of occassions in full wetsuit gear with harpoon guns and a handful of fish. It's fair to say we did not see any of that coming! A great first start to the week, and a great way to celebrate St Paddy's Day. The week has just begun!

(I have taken photos, but am having browser issues with uploading to Google - may update in due course if I can resolve them, if not I will upload images at the end of the week!)

UPDATE - downloaded Safari, pics now attached!

Chris

Time to find your inner Irish...! All the best online Irish genealogy resources can be found through my book Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet - in print and ebook formats. "Very useful, makes me wish I was Irish!" - Saint Patrick, patron saint.

Ancestry and Lost Cousins - free access

Data supplier Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) and census records connections facilitator Lost Cousins (www.lostcousins.com) are both providing free access to their respective sites.

Ancestry's free access expires 23.59 GMT Sunday 23rd, whilst Lost Cousins free access expires end of play next Tuesday 25th.

Have fun!

Chris

My latest genealogy books are Tracing Your Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records, and Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet. My next Pharos course is Scottish Research Online, which commences Feb 27th 2014, 5 weeks, price £45.99.

Lost Cousins forum

The Lost Cousins website at www.lostcousins.com is developing a user forum for subscribers - full details are available in the latest newsletter at http://www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/newyear14news.htm.

UPDATE: Due to cancellations, there are also still two spaces available on the Genealogy in the Sunshine event in March, at which I will be one of the speakers - details in the newsletter!

(With thanks to Peter Calver)

Chris

My latest book, Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records, is now available from http://www.gould.com.au (print) and http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html (ebook), whilst Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet is available at http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-History-on-the-Internet/p/3889/.

Good news from the English and Welsh GRO in 2014?

Peter Calver's latest Lost Cousins newsletter is now available at http://www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/dec13news.htm.

Amongst this month's news is a small hint of some possible good news concerning the English and Welsh General Register Office, in response to a letter from Peter's local MP on the matter of access. The GRO in Southport is well behind its UK counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland in terms of online provision for its records, but "there may well be better news for us in 2014".

There has been a gap of a few weeks since Peter's last newsletter, as he is recovering from an illness contracted whilst on holiday, but despite the setback he's still pushing to get his Lost Cousins site's membership up to 100,000 from its current 94,000 - well worth a look at www.lostcousins.com.

Chris

My latest book, Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records, is now available from http://www.gould.com.au (print) and http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html (ebook), whilst Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet is available at http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-History-on-the-Internet/p/3889/.

Genealogy in the Sunshine speakers announced

A quick update on the Lost Cousins (www.lostcousins.com) hosted Genealogy in the Sunshine event in Portugal next March which I'll be speaking at.

Peter Calver has now announced the following additional speakers for the event as follows:

• Else Churchill, Genealogist at the Society of Genealogists. Genealogy incarnate :)
• Debbie Kennett, author and Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. DNA incarnate :)
• John Hanson, Research Director of the Halsted Trust, and former trustee of the Society of Genealogists.
• Donald Davis, whose ground-breaking research into the householder schedules for the 1841 Census was revealed earlier this year in The Local Historian.

Bookings are almost filled, but there's still room for one or two more - for more details on the speakers and additional news stories from the genie world, read Peter's latest Lost Cousins newsletter at www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/nov13news.htm#GenealogyintheSunshine.

It's going to be a lot of fun! :)

Chris

My latest book, Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records, is now available from http://www.gould.com.au (print) and http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html (ebook), whilst Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet is available at http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-History-on-the-Internet/p/3889/. My next Pharos Scottish course, Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs, starts Nov 13th - see http://pharostutors.com.

More on Lost Cousins Genealogy in the Sunshine event

The latest Lost Couins newsletter carries an update on the Portugal based Genealogy in the Sunshine course event being run by Peter Calver from March 15th-22nd, which I announced yesterday that I will be speaking at (see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/genealogy-in-sunshine.html). The newsletter is accessible at http://www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/lateoct13news.htm and includes an interview by Peter with Stephen Molyneaux, author of The Marriage Certificate.

(With thanks to Peter)

Chris

My latest book, Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records, is now available from http://www.gould.com.au (print) and http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html (ebook), whilst Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet is available at http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-History-on-the-Internet/p/3889/. My next Pharos Scottish course, Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs, starts Nov 13th - see http://pharostutors.com.

Genealogy in the Sunshine

Peter Calver from Lost Cousins (www.lostcousins.com) is organising a genealogy course event in Portugal from Saturday 15th - Saturday 22nd March entitled Genealogy in the Sunshine.

First proposed in June of this year (see http://www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/latejun13news.htm#Algarve) the event is now confirmed as definitely going ahead, with five days of workshops taking place at Rocha Brava, a collection of villas and apartments on the Algarve. Yours truly has just agreed to be one of the speakers there, with several others soon to be confirmed. It's going to be warm, sunny, informative - and above all, a lot of fun!

Initially announced to Lost Cousins members, there are still a few spaces available - so if you fancy a week away from British weather in March for something a tad more hospitable in Portugal, drop Peter a line as soon as possible at peter@lostcousins.com.

For further details on the event, consult the following recent Lost Cousins newsletters:

http://lostcousins.com/newsletters/jul13news.htm#Sunshine
http://www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/latesep13news.htm#GinSunshine
http://lostcousins.com/newsletters/oct13news.htm#GenealogyintheSunshine

NB: Peter is co-ordinating the course side of things but attendees will be asked to make their own way there and to book their own accommodation (to avoid hefty travel agent fees). Peter will provide full details on how to do so though.

Chris

My latest book, Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records, is now available from http://www.gould.com.au (print) and http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html (ebook), whilst Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet is available at http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-History-on-the-Internet/p/3889/. My next Pharos Scottish course, Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs, starts Nov 13th - see http://pharostutors.com.

Lost Cousins newsletter

Peter Calver's latest Lost Cousins newsletter is now out, and covers various recent news developments, including an interesting piece on indexing errors on Ancestry, and some kind comments on my latest book!

It's available online at www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/latejun13news.htm.

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...!

Another free 50 FindmyPast credits

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has commenced its Start Your Family Tree Week today, and as I reported last Friday (http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/start-your-family-tree-week-with-free.html) it is possible to claim 50 free credits to help you get underway with your research. In addition to this, however, you can also claim an additional 50 credits, thanks to Peter Calver's latest Lost Cousins newsletter.

In order to do so, obtain the relevant code at www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/xmas12news.htm and then after you have logged in to the FindmyPast site visit www.findmypast.co.uk/content/start-your-family-tree-week/26 input the code via the Claim Your Credits Now box. I've just done so and my account is now showing a healthy 100 credits balance. Not sure of an expiry date to claim the credits using Peter's code, though the FindmyPast code alluded to in last Friday's post expired January 2nd.

Don't forget that you can also claim 10 free credits for the ScotlandsPeople site, also run by Brightsolid, by registering for the Ancestral Scotland newsletter at www.ancestralscotland.com/newsletter/

Chris

Having a Christmas present crisis?! Check out my range of genealogy books at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html - perfect for the family historian's Christmas stocking...! Also now out - new Kindle edition of Tracing Your Family History on the Internet, from http://tinyurl.com/d3vqtz5

Register of Births and Deaths on Hovercraft

There's a nice find on the latest edition of Peter Calver's Lost Cousins latest newsletter. A DirectGov document available online in PDF format at www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_176232.pdf is mentioned within a piece by Peter on the GRO minor records series. Most of these records are well known about, such as the regimental army registers going as far back as 1760, marine registers, consular records etc, with indexes for most of the collections available for free at www.familyrelatives.com/post_search.php?area_id=11.  This document, however, mentions other GRO collections you may not have come across before, both for England and Wales, and also abroad, such as the Abandoned Children Register (from 1977), Installation Deaths Register for oil and gas rigs (from 1971), and Births and Deaths on British registered hovercrafts (from 1972).

A nice wee nugget to derive a few pub quiz questions from! The full newsletter is available at http://lostcousins.com/newsletters/dec12news.htm.

Chris

Having a Christmas present crisis?! Check out my range of genealogy books at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html - perfect for the family historian's Christmas stocking...! Also now out - new Kindle edition of Tracing Your Family History on the Internet, from http://tinyurl.com/d3vqtz5

November's Lost Cousins newsletter

The latest edition of Peter Calver's Lost Cousins is now online at www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/midnov12news.htm and carries an assortment of articles on various topics of interest.

One piece of news that caught my eye was that the National Archives at Kew is trialling a new online forum called the National Archives Online Community (http://community.nationalarchives.gov.uk/), which will apparently be going beyond its current test phase and opening up to the public from early next year.

(With thanks to Peter)

Chris

Having a Christmas present crisis?! Check out my range of genealogy books at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html - perfect for the family historian's Christmas stocking...!

No pulse for the DOVE project

The latest Lost Cousins newsletter carries an interesting response from the English and Welsh GRO to a Freedom of Information request from Peter Calver concerning the institution's attempts to digitise its vital records collections. The aborted DOVE project saw the digitisation of births from 1837-1934 and deaths from 1837-1957, although it seems that no index was ever produced. On top of the £8.33 million spent on the project before it collapsed, the GRO reckons it would now need another £25-£30million to finish the job. It's fairly depressing news for those hoping that the GRO at Southport will leave the 20th century at some point.

There is more on Peter's FOI request, as well as additional tips and news at www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/sep12news.htm.

(With thanks to Peter)

Chris

Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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)

British electoral registers launch delayed until 2013

Peter Calver's latest Lost Cousins newsletter at http://www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/lateaug12news.htm is reporting that the launch of the British electoral registers collections, currently being digitised in a partnership between FindmyPast and the British Library, have been delayed until February 2013. The collection will contain about a century worth of material from 1832 onwards.

(With thanks to Peter)

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)

Lost Cousins newsletter

A big thanks to Peter Calver for the plug for this blog on his latest Lost Cousins newsletter - seems only fair to reciprocate! The latest edition of Lost Cousins is now available at www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/midjun12news.htm.

Of particular interest is the fact that one of Peter's readers has indexed his newsletters for the last two years, with the index available at http://lostcousins.com/newsletters/LCindexFeb09-Dec10.htm. Also in the latest Lost Cousins is a piece on how to break your brick walls in research, news on how to save money on an Ancestry worldwide subscription and how to revert to Ancestry's "old search" facility.

If you are starting your research, bear in mind that this blog, Peter's newsletter and other similar genealogical news sources provide news updates on a regular basis - but the archives are well worth delving into also! On British GENES there are two ways I've tried to help on that front, one through a keyword search facility which you'll find at the bottom left of the blog (in the left hand column), the other by tags at the end each post, which should help you to find similar stories related to that tag e.g. "censuses" will take you to other census related stories. Tags can also be explored in a list on the right hand column, further down the page.

Also bear in mind that prior to British GENES I ran a more Scottish focussed blog called Scottish GENES from 2006-2011 - it's posts are untagged, but are still accessible and searchable at http://scottishancestry.blogspot.com, again with a tonne of still relevant and useful info from the past!

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)

Lost Cousins on English & Welsh BMDs online

Peter Calver's latest Lost Cousins newsletter has an interesting piece on why the creation of a plain copy based service for BMD records, rather than formal certified extracts - as offered at present with the GRO in the Republic of Ireland - is not likely to happen or necessarily a good idea. He again makes the point, widely felt by many, that a ScotlandsPeople type service for England and Wales would be desirable. The newsletter is available at www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/apr12news.htm

The GRO in Northern Ireland is already looking at creating such an option, so why is the UK Government so deaf to its citizens in England and Wales, when other parts of the UK are actively looking into it, or already have it? It's worth reiterating that the past attempt by the GRO in Southport to digitise and index its records in the birdbrained MAGPIE, EAGLE and DOVE projects was never designed to create a ScotlandsPeople type service - it was merely to help expedite order productions. A classic case of supply and demand, where the demand was ignored and the supply being delivered was itself botched and only half-completed. Sadly, it's a farce that may take some time to deliver a solution for those wishing to avail themselves of such a service.

As Peter wisely states "What we really need is for the GRO to focus on what might be done, rather than what can't be done". It's extraordinary to think that the National Archives, another government body, can be so forward thinking and proactive - unlike the GRO.

(With thanks to Peter Calver)

Chris

British GENES on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES and Twitter @chrismpaton

Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk and www.facebook.com/ScottishGenealogyResearch

Lost Cousins Christmas newsletter

Peter Calver's Lost Cousins Christmas newsletter is now out, mainly with census related stories, though also more on the GRO redundancies announced last week. To read the newsletter visit www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/xmas11news.htm

Chris