Newsletter
- 11th September 2013
GRO
intransigence is nothing new
The
early years of civil registration
Sussex
parish records at FamilySearch
Ancestry update New Search to include Old Search features
Findmypast
discount offer continues EXCLUSIVE
"Britain
on Film" series restarts
Scots
picking up Cockney accent!
The
groom was a Lemmon, the witness an Almond
There's
one born every minute.....
Ancestry
borrows from Peter to pay Paul
Helen's
aunt is the 3rd oldest person in Britain
How
many living relatives do you have?
My Match Potential just went up
The LostCousins newsletter is
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August 2013) click here, for an index to articles
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GRO intransigence is nothing
new
I'm still reading Michael Sharpe's book Family
Matters: a History of Genealogy - it provides a fascinating insight
into the way that people researched family trees in the days before the
Internet, but what I find even more interesting is the way that history seems
to be repeating itself.
For example, there's a fascinating
account of the evidence that George Sherwood, the founder of the Society of
Genealogists, gave to the Royal Commission on Public Records. He reported that
he had spent 5 days researching at the General Register Office on behalf of a
client, during which he had discovered 3,774 entries relating to the surname Boddington. However his search failed in its primary
objective:
"First
by reason of the inadequate indexes. Second, because inspection of the records
themselves is not now allowed, although it was formerly. Third, because the fee
[....] for certified copies of the records required would have approached
£500."
Note: these days it would cost almost
£35,000 to obtain copies of those certificates
In their final report (1919) the members
of the Royal Commission had this to say:
"It is true that the
Act of 1836 provides that the indexes may be searched on payment of a fee, and
that this provision would seem to imply (as the Registrar General contends)
that the actual registers shall not be searched. Nevertheless, the Act permits
the local registers to be searched on payment of a fee, and in practice this
was permitted by the General Register Office itself prior to the year 1898
[....] We see no good reason in principle for
forbidding searchers to take copies at their own risk. The existing restriction
rests merely on financial grounds, and we think it should be removed."
Note: these days it's no longer possible
to search even the local registers - I'm not sure when that ceased, or on whose
authority (though I suspect it was the result of GRO meddling).
Sherwood argued that public records
should be available free of charge, and nowadays most of them are, provided you
are prepared to visit the National Archives or the local record office that
holds them. But there's no way to get access to the GRO's registers of births,
marriages, and deaths even if you're prepared to pay - you can only purchase certificated
copies of individual entries at £9.25 a time.
I personally don't believe that family
historians should be subsidised by taxpayers, just as I don't believe that I
should have to subsidise other peoples' hobbies - but I do firmly believe that
Government departments should be run efficiently. The GRO doesn't make a profit
selling certificates at £9.25 each, but I'm willing to bet that their Scottish
counterpart makes money from the Scotlandspeople site, which offers digital
copies of register entries for less than £2 each.
For me it's obvious that the GRO should
cast off their outdated attitudes and embrace 21st century technology, but
successive Registrars General have stubbornly insisted
that the law would have to change. Last month I spoke to my local MP about the
very disappointing response I received to the letter I addressed to the Home
Secretary, and he has agreed to follow up on my behalf - let's see if he can
get some sense out of the quill pen-pushers at the GRO!
Note:
James recently drew my attention to an interesting fact - in the past century
there are only about 70 deaths recorded in the GRO indexes for people with the
unusual surname Childers, yet over 20 of those deaths are in a single quarter
of 1943. Did the Luftwaffe drop a bomb on a family party, or was there a
suicide pact between distant cousins? Were they thought to be Germans because
of their unusual surname (which was adapted from Schilders)
and targeted as fifth-columnists? I managed to figure out the answer to this
puzzle quite quickly - I wonder if you can?
The early years of civil
registration
Audrey Collins from the National Archives
will be giving a talk on the early years of civil registration at the Family
History Extravaganza in Doncaster on 21st September that's being organised
by the Yorkshire group of family history societies. You can also hear expert
Chris Pomery talking about DNA, and professional
genealogist Ian Marson on "Further Sources:
Beyond Births, Marriages, and Deaths".
Not bad for £2 - there's even free
parking.
Note: you may recall that a while back I
recommended Audrey's excellent book Birth,
Marriage, and Death Records (written with David Annal).
I've just noticed that it's available in Kindle format for about a fiver!
Sussex parish records at
FamilySearch
Over 500,000 baptism, marriage, and
burial records from 1538-1910 have been added at FamilySearch.
Although there are already nearly 1.3 million baptisms and marriages in the IGI (also at
FamilySearch), a quick check suggests that many, perhaps most, of the new
baptism and marriage records aren't in the IGI.
Tip:
when using the IGI untick
the box against "Community Contributed IGI" to exclude the less
reliable data submitted by users (some entries are complete conjecture).
Ancestry update New Search to
include Old Search features
Over 10,000 people responded to the
survey that Ancestry circulated following their surprise warning that the Old
Search was to be merged in to the New Search, and as a result they've added some
additional features to the New Search (or "current Search" as they
refer to it). You'll find full details here.
Thankfully the Old Search is still
available - so make the most of it while it lasts, especially if you've never
used the Old Search before (because you're likely to discover quite a few
records that you've been unable to find using the New Search). To switch
between the two searches select Search
All Records from the Search tab
and click the link at the top right.
Tip:
the requirement to select birthplaces from a dropdown menu in the New Search
seems to have caused distortions of the 1911 Census data. For example, about
400 people whose birthplaces are shown as Middleton, Derbyshire on the census
schedule are recorded as being born in Middleton, Lancashire. I suspect this
has happened because there is no parish in Derbyshire called simply
'Middleton', although there are several with Middleton in the name, such as
Middleton by Wirksworth. There are likely to be other
locations which are similarly affected.
Findmypast discount offer
continues EXCLUSIVE
You can still save 10% on new
subscriptions to findmypast.co.uk AND get a free LostCousins subscription when
you follow the advice in my last newsletter - click here.
The Guild of One-Name Studies has been
in existence since 1979, but it has taken until for the Society for One-Place Studies to come
into existence. If you're running a one-place study, whether for a town, a
village, or even just a street you'll be welcome to join the new society.
Tip:
you can also use LostCousins to further your study, whether it’s a One-Place
Study or a One-Name Study. See the Help
& Advice page for more details.
"Britain on Film"
series restarts
The 2nd series of this documentary
series based on the "Look at Life" films shown in Rank cinemas from
1959 onwards restarted on BBC4 on Tuesday 10th September - I missed the first
programme of the second half because it was erroneously billed in the Radio
Times as the 1st episode, rather than as the 6th.
I thought I was doing pretty well in my
research till I discovered that there are tens of thousands of Ancestry users
who claim to have traced their family tree back to Adam and Eve!
What's the most ridiculous thing you've
ever seen in someone's family tree? I've come across children who were
supposedly born before their fathers (perhaps I didn't realise that the dates
were BC?) and people who have been transplanted from the English county where they
were born to an American county which just happens to have the same name. But
what about you - is there a classic blunder that had you groaning, grimacing,
or grinding your teeth?
Note:
for the benefit of any readers who aren't familiar with Cockney rhyming slang,
"Would you Adam and Eve it" means "Would you believe it".
Scots picking up Cockney
accent!
Researchers at Glasgow University have
found evidence that Glaswegians who watch EastEnders,
a soap-opera based in east London, are starting to acquire some of the treats
associated with the Cockney dialect - such as "f" sound instead of
"th", as in "think".
Of course, there's nothing new about
accents and speech-patterns changing in response to migration, but the role of
television in the process has never before been fully appreciated. However the
researchers have hypothesised that simply watching a program may not be enough
- one needs to become emotionally engaged with the characters. I certainly
watched many series of the detective series Taggart,
which is set in the Greater Glasgow area, without acquiring any of the
characteristics of the Glaswegian dialect (or indeed an improved ability to
understand it).
You can read more about the research in
this BBC article.
Also, if you're interested in the English language you'll enjoy a book I'm
currently reading on my Kindle: Spell
It Out is not only about the idiosyncracies
of English spelling, it also looks at the history behind the spellings - much
of which comes down to changes in the alphabet in the Middle Ages. It's also
available as a conventional book if you prefer.
We're gradually getting used to the
concept of DNA analysis helping us to research our family tree, but you might
be surprised to know that words can also provide pointers to our origins.
Researchers in New Zealand have found
that by comparing words in different languages they can not only make
deductions about how languages originated, but also use this information to
hypothesise how ancient populations migrated. For example, the English language
and other Indo-European tongues seem to have their origins in the languages
spoken in Anatolia (now part of Turkey) 8,000 to 9,000 years ago, and which
spread as early farmers migrated both eastwards and westwards. This may seem a
long time ago, but when you consider that the 'deep ancestry' tests sold by
some DNA testing companies purport to tell you about where your ancestors were
living 30,000 or more years ago, it seems surprisingly recent in comparison.
You'll find more about this interesting,
but controversial, research in this New
York Times article
and the accompanying graphic
(there is also an article in this week's New
Scientist).
The groom was a Lemmon,
the witness an Almond
We've all got some interesting surnames
in our family trees. For example, when my great aunt Alice - who died 10 years
before I was born - married her 1st cousin Frederick Lemmon one of the
witnesses was an Alice Almond. It didn't stop there - their eldest son married
a Duck, Violet Duck to be precise.
Many of the more unusual (and often
embarrassing) surnames of the 17th and 18th centuries vanished during the 19th
century, and I often wonder whether it's coincidental that this was the century
during which the level of illiteracy in Britain declined dramatically. Or were
men with embarrassing surnames doomed to be lifelong bachelors?
There's one born every
minute.....
Over the years numerous members have
sent me copies of an email which purports to feature a true story about a
politician's great-great uncle who was hanged for horse-stealing. The name of
the politician varies, though the horse-stealing ancestor is usually (but not
always) called Remus.
Some members seem to have been taken in
by this spoof, other are merely forwarding "a joke". Personally I
think it is very dangerous to circulate untrue information whether it's a joke
or not, because you don't know how the recipients will interpret it, or what
they will do with it.
In my youth we used to have things
called 'chain letters', which nowadays would be called Ponzi schemes after a
1920s fraudster - although Ponzi-type scams date back much earlier (according
to Wikipedia there are two examples in Dickens). There will always be gullible
people who will fall for the most ridiculous stories and the most preposterous
schemes - don't take advantage of them.
Tip:
if you're unsure whether a story you've been sent it true, try Googling a key phrase; usually one of the results will be at
Snopes.com, a site that specialises in debunking urban myths and exposing
scams. Never forward an email without first checking whether it is factually
correct - there are always people with blinkered minds who will assume the
worst of people whose beliefs they don't share (make sure you're not one of
them!).
The heads of the National Archives and
of BrightSolid, the parent company of findmypast, are
moving on to new roles. I only once met Oliver
Morley, the departing head of TNA, and that was before he took over the top
job, but at least he was prepared to talk to me, unlike his predecessor. He's now
off to head the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, so perhaps we can look
forward to online images of pre-war driving licences and log-books?
Chris van der Kuyl,
who is moving from his position as head of BrightSolid
to a new role as a strategic advisor to DC Thomson (the owners of BrightSolid), also has interests
in the computer games industry - as I did for two decades from the late 70s to
the late 90s. Although we never crossed paths when I was in the games business
(he was probably still at school) he knows a lot of the people who worked for
me at one time or another, so when we first met it was almost like bumping into
an old friend.
Ancestry borrows from
Peter to pay Paul
Less than a year after Ancestry was
bought by a European private-equity group the company has announced plans to
borrow $250 million in order to pay dividends to its shareholders. Ancestry's
last published balance sheet
showed debts of well over $1 billion, at least double the company's tangible
assets, so borrowing more money only to pay it to shareholders doesn't seem the
most obvious step - but what do I know, it's 40 years since I worked as an
investment analyst?
To be fair, Ancestry's major assets are
their subscriber base and records - the value of which accounts for the
substantial intangible assets and goodwill in their balance sheet - so as long
as the company continues to grow I don't think we need to worry too much about
their finances.
Understanding the calendar is important
if you're a family historian. Of course, everyone knows that if the year is
divisible by 4 then there are 29 days in February - for example, there were 29
days in February 2012, but only 28 in February this year.
Even today, different calendars are used
in different parts of the world. If you were living in England, how many days
would there have been in each of these months, and why?
(a) February 1900
(b) February 1800
(c) February 1700
(d) February 1699
(e) September 1752
The member who sends in the best answer
will win a Francis Frith
2014 calendar featuring 12 photos that you choose from
the 365,000 in their collection. Keep it for yourself or give it to someone you
really care about.
Helen's aunt is the 3rd
oldest person in Britain
When Helen started to research her
family tree she was greatly helped by a handwritten tree that her father's aunt
had prepared. Amazingly Auntie Kathleen is still going strong at the age of 112
- she's the 3rd oldest person in Britain.
I understand that although Kathleen was
born a couple of months too late for the 1901 Census (and almost 6 months too
late to be a Victorian) she was interested to see her own entry on the 1911
Census schedule that had been handwritten by her father.
There's a list of the oldest people in
Britain here. Is
there anyone from your tree on the list, I wonder?
How many living
relatives do you have?
On average we each have between 2000 and
5000 living relatives who are 5th cousins or closer (a 5th cousin is someone
who shares our great-great-great-great grandparents). I figured all this out
many years ago, and of course as I've researched my family tree I've been able
to identify more and more of those cousins - although I've still got a long way
to go. I expect your experience has been much the same as mine.
But something I didn't fully realise
until recently is that my ancestors must have had a similar number of cousins.
Perhaps not quite so many, as people died younger - but then again, families
were much larger in the late 19th century.
Ironically, with all the online resources
at my fingertips I've got better chance of finding out who
their cousins were than they would ever have had!
My Match Potential just went up
My Match
Potential has recently increased from 5.8936 to 5.9535 - without me
entering any more relatives to my own My
Ancestors page. This increase in my
chances of finding cousins is entirely due to the efforts of other LostCousins
members who have added to their own entries.
However, a quick check suggests that less
than 6% of the readers of this newsletter have made ANY new entries during the
past 30 days. Less than 25% have made any entries in the past year!
I know it can't be because the other readers
don't care about their cousins, and it certainly isn't because they've already
entered all of their relatives from 1881 - so I can only assume that they don't
fully understand how LostCousins works. Here's how it is supposed to work......
It really couldn't be much simpler - and
remember that not only is the matching virtually 100% accurate, the whole process
is completely confidential (nobody sees your name or the data you've entered).
Steve Robinson, author of the incredible
readable genealogical mysteries starring Jefferson Tayte,
and who lives just 20 miles down the road from LostCousins, tells me that he
has just tied up a four-book deal with Amazon Publishing. They'll be
re-releasing his first three books under their own Thomas & Mercer imprint
whilst Steve focuses on finishing his much-awaited fourth book. Well done,
Steve!
I know that thousands of LostCousins
members have bought and, more importantly, enjoyed Steve's books and that like
me you're looking forward to his next book. However if you're one of those who
has yet to discover these unputdownable books, click
this link
(or this one
if you don't live in the UK) to see just what you're missing!
Note:
Steve would like to thank everyone who has posted reviews of his books - I
understand they were a big factor in creating this wonderful opportunity.
These days one of the few ways to earn a
high return on savings is to open a regular savings account with a high
introductory rate. Last year I opened one with the Nationwide Building Society
that has been earning me an amazing 6% - but knowing that this rate comes to an
end shortly I've been looking at other alternatives.
The best I've found is Zopa, the long-established peer-to-peer
lending site that combines low rates for borrowers with high rates for savers,
simply by cutting the costs to the absolute minimum. Since I first wrote about
Zopa in my newsletter in July 2012 they've introduced Safeguard lending, which
supposedly eliminates the risk, though as none of the people I've lent to have
ever defaulted it's not something that has been uppermost in my mind.
I've started transferring the money in
my Nationwide savings account to my Zopa account, where
it should earn me around 4%, perhaps a little more. Whilst the money is tied up
for a longer period than in an instant access savings account that's not
necessarily a bad thing since I don't see interest rates rocketing any time
soon.
Please note that I am not a qualified
financial adviser - I'm merely telling you what I've done with my own money
since it would be churlish to keep it to myself!
This where any late
updates will be posted, so it's worth checking back after a few days.
I hope you found this letter interesting
as well as useful - most of articles are suggested or inspired by members, so
do please keep writing in!
Peter Calver
Founder, LostCousins
© Copyright 2013 Peter Calver
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