Newsletter - 27 August 2011
Success!
New-look findmypast cuts subs
Apprenticeship records
Free access to immigration records
Cemetery scandal -
time for change?
Reclaiming your ancestors' graves
Burial records online
Australian military records
Convict records free online
Presumed dead?
Family history courses
How to save at GenesReunited
Do you have Scottish ancestors?
Essex Ancestors - launch delayed
Peter's Tips
Stop Press
About
this newsletter
The LostCousins newsletter is
published twice a month on average, and all LostCousins members are notified by
email when a new edition is available (unless they opt out). To access the
previous newsletter (dated 16 August 2011) please click here. Each newsletter links to the one before,
and you can go back to February 2009 when the newsletter first went online; there
will shortly be an online index to articles thanks to the sterling efforts of
members Elizabeth and, especially, Gill.
Whenever possible links are
included to the websites or articles mentioned in the newsletter (they are
highlighted in blue or purple and underlined,
so you can't miss them). Note: when you click on a link a new browser window or
tab will open so that you don’t lose your place in the newsletter - if you are
still using Internet Explorer you may need to enable pop-ups (if a link seems
not to work, look for a warning message at the top of your browser window).
Success!
Quite a few members have discovered new
cousins since my last newsletter, and Marion's experience is typical:
"Many thanks for
connecting me to 2 cousins during the last couple of weeks. It was good to know
that there was someone other than myself researching my family ancestors. Also
great to know that is was not wasted time and effort, loading in the info from
the census. It really does work. Both "cousins" responded, and hopefully
we will have a long, pleasant, and helpful relationship."
Half the members who have found cousins
followed my advice to add extra relatives to their My Ancestors page - the other half were their lucky cousins! And
that's the key thing to remember - cousins have to co-operate even before they
are linked up, otherwise the connection will never be made.
Interesting
fact: if the average member had spent even half as long entering relatives on
their My Ancestors page as they did reading my last newsletter, then the number
of cousins found would have been far higher!
Even more cousins would have been found had
a greater number of members used their My
Referrals page to invite new members to join the site - in fact, it seems
that less than 10% of the people reading this newsletter have ever used their My Referrals page, which suggests that there's a serious misunderstanding
somewhere!
There are two key reasons to use My Referrals. The first is that you can
keep track of who has and who hasn't joined; the second is that if it's a
relative you're referring, you can avoid duplication of effort simply by
indicating which of the relatives on your My Ancestors page are also their relatives.
Something that takes you seconds will save your relative minutes.
What might stop you using My Referrals? I suppose you might think
that I'll sell your friends' email addresses to spammers,
or send them spam emails myself. I won't - in fact, the only
emails I'll send them are the ones you ask me to.
But in any case you don't have to give
me their email addresses - you can simply use My Referrals to generate a referral code that you give to your
friend or relative. That way I won't have their email address unless they
decide to join.
New-look findmypast cuts subs
In a surprise move
findmypast.co.uk have cut their subscription rates by about 15%, bringing the
cost of a 12 month Full subscription down to £109.95, equivalent to 30p a day. A 6 month Foundation subscription is now under £50,
or about 27p a day, though for most researchers it is always going to be worth
spending that little bit more to get the much wider coverage that the Full
subscription offers. Click here to see
the new prices.
But it's not all good news - the Loyalty Discount has also been cut, from 20%
to 10%. Nevertheless, you'll still be better off under the new system - and, of
course, rivals Ancestry don't give any loyalty discounts. It's still possible
to switch to a different subscription in the 90 days before your current
subscription ends, and to get a full credit for the unexpired
portion - a really handy option for anyone whose research takes an unexpected
turn.
You'll also notice that the findmypast site
has been given a new, friendlier, look. Were they inspired by LostCousins, I
wonder? We'll probably never know....
Apprenticeship records
Over half a million records
of apprentices have been added to the Ancestry.co.uk
site - they cover the years 1710-1811 and cover Scotland as well as England
& Wales.
They
have been extracted from the National Archives records of Stamp Duty paid on
indentures (you'll find the TNA Research Guide to Apprenticeship Records here);
however they don't include the many apprentices whose positions were found by
the parish, or by charities, because no Stamp Duty was due on such indentures,
nor will you find apprentices of London Companies. Also, many apprenticeships
were not governed by formal indentures, for example, where a lad was
apprenticed to his father or uncle.
The records include the name of the
master as well as the apprentice, and until 1752 the name of the apprentice's
father is usually listed - although sadly this information hasn't been indexed
(nor, more surprisingly, has the trade!).
Tip:
in my last newsletter I wrote about the 'Digital Microfilm' records that have
been placed online by the National Archives; if you don't have an Ancestry
subscription you can access the same records free at the TNA site, and whilst
they aren't transcribed or indexed, they are organised by date and location - which
makes them fairly easy to browse. (Thanks to Teri-Ann for that tip.)
Free access to immigration records
Between Monday August 29th and Monday
5th September Ancestry.co.uk
are offering free access to all their immigration records - you'll find more
details here.
Even if you're already an Ancestry subscriber, this offer should provide access
to records that would normally only be available with a Worldwide
subscription.
Note:
you'll need to register at Ancestry if you haven't already done so. It's possible
that if you're currently an Ancestry.co.uk subscriber you might have to
re-register using a different log-in ID to get access to worldwide immigration
records - it won't be clear until the offer starts.
Cemetery scandal -
time for change?
In the last newsletter I
wrote about an unnamed east London cemetery where remains of long-dead
individuals were being systematically transferred from the individual graves
their relatives had chosen to communal graves in a different part of the
cemetery.
I still don't know precisely which
cemetery was referred to in the article: members have highlighted several
cemeteries in east London where "re-organisations" have taken place,
are on-going, or have been proposed, including Tower Hamlets, Woodgrange Park, the City of London (in Manor Park), Manor
Park, and West Ham cemetery.
The stories I've heard about Woodgrange Park are particularly disturbing, and this article
by LostCousins member Kay was written at a very bleak time for anyone whose
relatives were buried at the cemetery; some of the other tales were so shocking
that they wouldn't have been out of place in a horror movie, and it was only
after long hard thought that I decided not to repeat them here. However, I
found a recent entry on the London
Cemeteries website which seems cautiously optimistic (indeed, it's worth
visiting that particular website wherever in London your ancestors are buried).
Here's what I've gathered about how the
system works: typically graves are left undisturbed until they are 75 years old
(though it can be as few as 50 years), and then if there is a shortage of space
the cemetery will try to contact living relatives before work commences.
However, there's a gaping flaw in the
system, one which you probably spotted immediately. As LostCousins members we all
know how difficult it can be to find living relatives - indeed, that's why I
founded LostCousins back in 2004. We might spend hours trying to track down a
single relative, and even then we might fail, despite having a wealth of
information that we've collected from BMD certificates, censuses, and other
records.
Can you imagine how much more difficult
it must be for cemeteries to track down living relatives when all they've usually
got to go on is a 75 year-old name and address? I'd be surprised if they manage
to track down living relatives of as many as 10% of the people who are buried
in their cemetery - it might even be less than 1%. At the same time, it's still
very difficult to find out where our ancestors were buried, because relatively
few cemeteries have made their records available online - and where only paper
records exist it might cost £15 or £30 for a single search, which makes it a
very expensive process unless you guess the cemetery correctly first time.
The number of online records is slowly
increasing, thanks to sites like DeceasedOnline, but isn't there a very good case for
forcing cemeteries to provide online access to their records for a reasonable
period - say 5 years - before they are allowed to carry out
"re-organisations"? This would allow descendants a reasonable
opportunity to put forward their views, an opportunity that for the vast
majority just doesn't exist under the present system. It would also allow them
to make alternative arrangements for the reburial if they wished.
One or two members have pointed out that
in earlier centuries it was routine for graves to be recycled, and argued it
was only Victorian sentimentality that changed the way we think. I'm prepared
to admit that things have gone too far when 'King Arthur Pendragon',
a druid in flowing robes, can go to the High Court in an ultimately
unsuccessful attempt
to prevent researchers examining 5000 year-old remains discovered at Stonehenge
- but I still don't think we should allow ourselves to be governed by the
morals and customs of an era when children were sent up chimneys and down the
mines, or when half the population of North America was enslaved. We also know
far more about our ancestors than our forbears could have known about theirs -
in many cases we have photographs and other mementoes.
I propose to contact the minister
responsible, Jonathan Djanogly MP (Parliamentary
Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice with responsibility for
burial policy), to make the case that in most cases the present system provides
no opportunity for relatives to express their views or make alternative
arrangements, and suggesting that making information available online would
help all concerned.
Do I have your support?
Tip:
I'm hoping to arrange an exclusive offer for LostCousins members with DeceasedOnline - watch this space!
Reclaiming your ancestors' graves
Have you ever considered taking over
ownership of - and responsibility for - one of your ancestors' graves? It's
something I wondered about when I saw my grandfather's grave for the first
time, even though it was very well-maintained - and after hearing Veronica's
story I'm more determined than ever to do something about it:
When I was searching for a
family grave in Croydon I found it was in great need
of restoration so I contacted the appropriate service and was told who their
recorded owner was - a deceased uncle; I was then able to apply for ownership
with the consent of any other living direct relatives (1st cousins in my case)
- that done I could then proceed with the restoration. I must now ensure that
ownership will pass on to A.N.Other in the family in
my Will.
Thank you, Veronica, for a great example
of what we can do for our ancestors.
Burial records online
With over 18 million entries, from over
9000 parishes, the largest collection of UK burial records is the National
Burial Index v3, a DVD ROM compilation of transcriptions carried out by
volunteers from local family history societies. It covers most of England &
Wales as well as the Isle of Man, although coverage of some areas (notably
London) is quite sparse.
About two-thirds of those entries are
online at findmypast, where you'll also
find Boyd's London Burials, a collection
of nearly a quarter of a million records, and the City of London Burial Index, with over half
a million entries - records that help fill the gap in the NBI.
Of course, by the mid-19th century
onwards most London churchyards were full, so after that date most burials took
place in the suburbs, in places like Brookwood
Cemetery in Woking, at one time the largest cemetery in the world (with its own
train service), and the City of London Cemetery in Manor Park. Tracking down
where your ancestors were buried is much more difficult after 1850. The London
Metropolitan Archives burials at Ancestry are five times as
numerous for the period 1813-1853 than for the period 1880-1920, despite
a massive increase in population.
Other major collections of burials at
Ancestry include West
Yorkshire, Liverpool,
and Dorset.
I've mentioned in earlier newsletters
some of the local authorities that have online indexes of burials. One that I
haven't mentioned previously is Eastleigh Borough Council; this link came from James
who also tells me that West Ham Cemetery records are due online in the next few
months.
Australian military records
You can access the records of Australian
soldiers who fought in the Great War free at the National
Archives of Australia site.
The Office
of Australian War Graves offers free photographs of Australian soldiers'
graves - though only to relatives.
Convict records free online
The free Convict Records site is based
around the British convict transportation register compiled by the State
Library of Queensland - it records about
three-quarters of the 160,000 convicts transported to Australia between 1787
and 1867.
Alexander found the records of his black
sheep ancestor at Tasmanian Archives
Online. It's not the easiest of sites to use, but
once again it's free!
Tip:
Tasmania was previously known as Van Diemen's Land.
Presumed dead?
If somebody was missing for more than 7
years they could be declared dead, allowing their spouse to remarry - and as sentences
of transportation were usually for at least 7 years, there are many cases where
convicts remarried in Australia even though they still had a wife and family in
England, or where the wife remarried.
Indeed, when Alexander found that his
great-great-great-great grandmother had remarried he assumed that his great-great-great-great
grandfather had died - it was only later, after researching in workhouse
records, that he discovered that he had been transported.
Yet another instance of misleading
information on a marriage certificate!
Family history courses
LostCousins member and professional
genealogist Celia Heritage has recently announced her programme of autumn
courses, which for the first time include an online course. See the Heritage Family History
website for full details.
How to save at GenesReunited
When I first subscribed to Genes Reunited
over 8 years ago the subscription was just £7.95 for 12 months; now a Standard
subscription is £14.95 for just 6 months (which, by the way, is 3 times the
price of a LostCousins subscription should you decide to support us).
However, you can make a substantial
saving - if you subscribe to Genes Reunited for 12 months at a time it's only
£19.95!
I know that still sounds expensive
compared to what it cost in 2003, but what hasn't gone up in that time? I
suspect the only online subscription that hasn't increased in all that time is
the LostCousins subscription - it has always been £10 for a single account, or £12.50
for a couple with linked accounts.
Do you have Scottish ancestors?
A new series of Digging Up Your Roots begins on BBC Radio
Scotland in January 2012, and the producers are looking for people with an
interesting ancestor - or just a good tale to tell about their family tree.
Email diggingupyourroots@bbc.co.uk
if you are able to help.
I'm looking forward to findmypast adding
transcripts of the Scottish censuses - they are supposed to go online before
the end of this year. Why? Because although I don't have any Scottish connections
I know that it will be a great opportunity for LostCousins members to make
connections.
Currently the chance of finding
relatives through the Scotland 1881 census is a lot lower than for those of us
with English ancestry - and I suspect that will change as the censuses become
more readily available.
Essex Ancestors - launch delayed
The launch of Essex Ancestors, the proposed online register service from the
Essex Records Office which was due to start around now has been delayed by
"a couple of months".
However, the subscription prices have
been announced: £5 for a day, £15 for a week, £25 for a month, £50 for 6 months
and £75 for a year. It sounds expensive compared to sites like Ancestry and
findmypast which offer far more records, but on the other hand it will still be
cheaper for me than a 50 mile roundtrip to Chelmsford.
Peter's Tips
When you subscribe to LostCousins before
the end of the month you can get an extra month free - enter the offer code AUGMENT on the Subscribe page and you'll be offered a subscription that lasts
until the end of September 2012, rather than the usual 12 months - but you
won't pay a penny more.
Tip:
save even more with a joint subscription, £12.50 for both husband and wife
Of course, you don't have to be a
subscriber to join the LostCousins project and search for cousins who share your
ancestors - but it does mean that when you find a new cousin you can contact
them without waiting.
Alternatively get a free subscription by
entering my jam-making competition - see the article Jam tomorrow
in last month's newsletter.
Unusually Amazon haven't
increased the price of Family
Tree Maker 2011 Platinum as they usually do just after I mention it in
my newsletter - it's still on offer for just £29.99. I can't recommend the
software (I've never used it), but the free 6 month PREMIUM subscription to
Ancestry that's included is worth almost £60 - so it's an incredible saving.
Stop Press
This where any last
minute amendments will be recorded or highlighted.
I hope you've found my newsletter
interesting, and that you'll keep writing in with tips of your own - many of
the best tips in my newsletters come from members.
Peter Calver
Founder, LostCousins