Newsletter - 5th December 2018
Record office charges users £80,000 a year EXCLUSIVE
Will Suffolk follow Essex and milk researchers?
Findmypast offer 15% discount for
first-time subscribers
Would you rather not know the truth?
Considering a paternity test? This TV company will pay!
Can a child inherit mtDNA from their
father?
Breaking down brick walls with Living DNA
Save on Gift Subscriptions to Ancestry.co.uk or Ancestry.com.au
Family
Tree Analyzer now available for Mac users FREE
Transportation and marriage: postscript
Guest review: And Ordered
Their Estate
The LostCousins newsletter
is usually published 2 or 3 times a month. To access the previous newsletter
(dated 26th November) click here; to
find earlier articles use the customised Google search between this paragraph
and the next (it searches ALL of the newsletters since February 2009, so you
don't need to keep copies):
To go to the main LostCousins website click the
logo at the top of this newsletter. Everyone who received an email about this
newsletter is already a member, but new members are always welcome - it's FREE
to join, and you'll get an email to alert you whenever there's a new edition of
this newsletter available.
Record office
charges users £80,000 a year EXCLUSIVE
Essex Record Office is receiving almost £80,000 a year
in subscription fees paid by users of the Essex Ancestors service, which offers
online access to high resolution scanned images of parish registers, wills, and
electoral registers.
Note: this information
comes from a Freedom of Information request I submitted last month - you can
see the full response here.
It's a great deal for Essex ratepayers - but is it
such a good arrangement for family historians with ancestors from Essex, who have to pay a subscription of between £10 (for 24 hours) to
£85 (for 12 months) to access the unindexed records? For just over £100 a Findmypast subscription gives me online access to the
registers and indexes for Hertfordshire, Devon, and east Kent where some
of my other ancestors originated; for a little more an Ancestry subscription includes
the registers and indexes for several other counties of interest: Oxfordshire,
Gloucestershire, Somerset, and London (where all my ancestral lines converged in
the 19th century, though I'm not sure that any of them originated there).
Note: I've
only listed the counties of interest to me - there are many other counties
whose registers are online at either Ancestry or Findmypast.
Researchers often complain about the cost of
subscriptions to the major websites, but when I think of the billions of indexed
records I get access to at Ancestry and Findmypast - all for not very much more than I pay Essex for
a few million unindexed records - they seem quite reasonable by comparison. As
someone who is both an Essex ratepayer and a researcher - around a sixth of my
ancestors came from Essex - I'm worried that this 'tax' on parish registers is preventing
my cousins from finding out about the ancestors that we share.
Not everyone can afford to spend extra on top of their
existing subscription to Findmypast and/or Ancestry,
and some may not even know that their ancestors came from Essex. Whilst I don't
usually recommend 'All records' searches there are times when it's the only practical
way to make serendipitous discoveries.
Because the images at Essex Ancestors are unindexed (and
the indexes available elsewhere are far from complete), searching the registers
takes just as long as it used to in the old days (though admittedly it’s much
more pleasant looking at colour images and working from home). It's not a major
problem when people stay in the same parish for generation after generation but
- despite what some may think - it usually didn’t happen that way, and even
those who did stay in the same parish often married someone born in a different
parish.
Right now I'm up against a
'brick wall' on every one of the 20 Essex lines I've identified so far, and
even if the baptisms and marriages I've been unable to find are in the registers (and some won’t be)
it could take me several days to find even one of them.... all because the entries
aren't indexed. At the National Minimum Wage rate of £7.83 an hour that's
around £200 worth of my time just to knock down a single 'brick wall' - and considering
that behind every 'brick wall' there are at least two more it's a pretty daunting
prospect. OK, perhaps, for someone who would otherwise be spending their days
watching Bargain Hunt and Escape to the Country, but I have many
other demands on my time, as do most of the readers of this newsletter.
I'll admit that it’s more satisfying to make a
discovery the hard way - but then there's always the nagging doubt that there
might be an entry in another parish that's an even better fit. Unindexed images
ought to be a thing of the past!
Note: it's
ironic that although Findmypast, Ancestry, and the
British Newspaper Archive are ALL available free of charge when you visit an Essex
library (and there are many other valuable resources available either in the
libraries or from home to holders of library cards), libraries in Essex DON'T
offer free access to Essex Ancestors.
Will Suffolk follow Essex and milk researchers?
It's perhaps a little unfair of me to pick on Essex,
whose online registers I've benefited from for the past 7 years, when what really
concerns me is that Suffolk might decide to go down the same route. You may
recall that last month I reported that this was their preferred option, although no
decision had been taken.
It's strange that there was uproar over the planned
closure of Lowestoft Record Office, which will probably impact on no more than a few hundred people, but there has
been relatively little attention focused on Suffolk's digitisation plans, which
could benefit tens of thousands of
researchers. Now, some might argue that for them to digitize their registers
and make them available online is a step in the right direction, even if they
are unindexed and only available on subscription - and, of course, they're
right.... but it also represents a lost opportunity to make the information
available to a far wider audience.
Let's look at some figures.....
the number of subscribers to the Essex Ancestors service in a year is
approximately the same as the number of LostCousins
members who have entered direct ancestors who were living in Essex at the time
of the 1881 Census. But when you consider that fewer than a third of the
readers of this newsletter have entered all of their
direct ancestors from 1881, and there are only 65,000 of you anyway, a quick
calculation suggests that Essex are only reaching a few percent of the active
researchers with ancestors from the county. It's unrealistic to think that
Suffolk would be any more successful if they too chose to 'got it alone'.
And if they did, those who have ancestors from both
Suffolk and Essex might be forced to make a difficult choice - I have even more
ancestors from Suffolk than I do from Essex. In fact, at least a quarter, and
possibly as many as one-third of my ancestral lines originated in the county - and
just to complicate matters further, some of my relatives moved between the two counties.
But it’s not about me - I'm just using my own situation as an example. Many of
those reading this will be in a similar position - and others of you might have
ancestors from Essex and Suffolk but not be aware of this, simply because they
arrived in London and inconveniently died before the 1851 Census.
Nevertheless there are two sides to every argument and
there could be others who think differently - for example, members of Suffolk Family History Society might have mixed feelings because the society currently earns a significant sum from the
transcripts they've licensed to Findmypast (and very useful
they are, even though the coverage is far from complete). I imagine they also
make a profit when they sell CD ROMs of their
transcripts at £15.32 at time - it would cost over £500 for a set (and that's just
for baptisms!).
I certainly sympathise with councils and their employees,
who are forced to operate on ever smaller budgets, but they should remember
that their success will also be judged by the quality
of the services they offer - after all, shouldn’t a public service be available
to as many people as possible? Unless there is a complete transcription of Suffolk
baptisms, marriages, and burials available online, those of us with Suffolk
ancestors will ALWAYS be at a significant disadvantage whoever hosts the
register images, and however much they charge.
Findmypast offer 15%
discount for first-time subscribers
If you've never subscribed to
Findmypast before you've got a treat in store - they’re
offering you the chance to save 15% on the regular price of any 12 month subscription.
Better still, when your subscription
comes up for renewal in a year's time, you'll be entitled to a Loyalty Discount
(currently also 15%), so provided there's no change in the price structure
you'll pay exactly the same price next year. There
aren't many websites that reward loyalty in this way - all too often the best
deals seem to be reserved for new customers.
I should mention that Findmypast have just rejigged the subscriptions at the
Findmypast.ie and Findmypast.com.au sites - they now offer Starter, Plus, and Pro
subscriptions. Pro subscriptions (or Ultimate British & Irish at
Findmypast.com) are like the old World
subscriptions - they include all the historical records and newspapers in Findmypast's worldwide collections, and so they're
identical whichever site you subscribe to. Starter
subscriptions vary from country to country, but they’re not recommended for an
experienced user like you - if you can't afford a Pro subscription (which is the only one to include newspapers) take a look instead at what the Plus subscription offers in your territory.
Can you take out a subscription
at a site other than your local site if it’s a better fit for your needs?
Possibly - I can only suggest you try. Just make sure that you click the
relevant link below so that LostCousins can benefit
from your purchase:
Ensure it says 15% discount applied - if it doesn't,
and you've never subscribed to Findmypast before, contact
me for advice,
One of the most interesting
aspects of this series of articles has been hearing stories from LostCousins members who have been frequent correspondents over
many years, but have never previously had occasion to
mention adoption. The first story in this issue comes from one of those
members:
"I
am an adoptive parent of 2 boys now in their 30s whom we were lucky enough to
adopt as healthy babies, one at 6 months and one at 2 months. They have had a
happy, supportive childhood but to date, neither have wished to trace their
natural parents.
"As
a child, my younger son expressed an interest in searching for his natural
mother when he came of age, but my older son has always rejected the idea
outright. (The boys are not genetically related.) The elder boy’s natural half brother (placed with a foster family who later adopted
him) contacted him on 2 separate occasions aged 16 and 19 in a bid to find their
mother, but my son had no interest whatsoever and on reaching 18, my younger son
had lost interest in tracing his natural mother. Obviously, as an adoptive
parent, I am happy that my sons feel content with the life we have given them
and have no desire to find their natural mothers, but if they did want to at
any time, I would support them fully in whatever capacity I could, because in
their position, I think I would possibly be curious to know more about my
heritage.
"Would
I be hurt if my children did search for their natural parents? I don’t know is
the honest answer. I would like to think not, but it would depend upon the
circumstances. If it was a matter of curiosity and the need to know where they
came from, then I could understand that, but if it resulted from a breakdown in
family relationships, then that would be upsetting and
I would feel that I had failed them. In my experience, adopted children feel
very aware of the fact that they have been rejected by their natural parents,
so for some, I think it gives closure to find that the reason for their
adoption was the mother’s desire to give their child a better life or the
demands of family that an illegitimate child is given away against the mother’s
wishes.
"In
the case of my son’s half brother, he wanted to trace
his natural mother and half brother in the hope of
finding a close relationship with someone he could genuinely feel belonged to
him. He was adopted into a family with 4 natural children and a set of adopted
twins whom the family also fostered prior to adoption. He felt that the natural
children ‘belonged’ and the twins had one another, but
he often felt isolated, but didn’t feel able to discuss the matter with his
parents. Whether he eventually traced his mother, I don’t know, as my son lost
contact, but as adoptive parents, if the reason for tracing a natural parent
was anything other than curiosity and a need to know where they came from, I would
feel rightly or wrongly that I had failed that child in some way.
"Some
adoptive parents I know well are totally against their daughter (now 40+)
seeking her natural mother as they feel that they have brought their daughter
up, looked after her and cared for her and the natural mother gave up her right
to her daughter’s affection when she offered her for adoption. They won’t pass
on any details regarding the adoption and out of respect for her parents, the
daughter has decided not to pursue the issue as she doesn’t want to upset her
adoptive parents, with whom she has a loving and supportive relationship.
However, the daughter is still curious and I suspect
will try to trace her natural mother after her parents have died, but currently
knows that her parents will be deeply offended by her interest. Their daughter
contacted me, as another adoptive parent and friend of her mother to ask what
her mother’s attitude would be, prior to starting the investigation process, as
she suspected her mother would be very hurt.
"No
parent or child knows what the search for natural parents will bring. Further
rejection is an obvious possibility, in which case the adoptive parents need to
be supportive, as I know this would upset both my children considerably. The formation
of a strong natural mother/child bond could feel threatening to an adoptive
parent, though where children have had a happy and loving childhood and remain
close to their adoptive parents, hopefully this shouldn’t cause problems as
long as the child makes it clear that they are not seeking to replace their
adoptive parents and there is an open dialogue during the process. After all,
without the selfless actions of the birth mother, adoptive parents wouldn’t
experience the joy of having a child in the first place. However, the process
is bound to be very emotional for all concerned and peoples’ feelings need to
be very carefully considered.
"You
have mentioned treading carefully with regard to
contacting birth families – we were advised to bring our children up always
having known they were adopted and to ensure that if they wished to trace their
birth parents, it was done through the proper channels. However, if the
father’s name was never on the birth certificate and the mother is not alive or
refuses to divulge his name, the only way to trace him might be via DNA and a
reason for tracing natural parents might be to ensure that adoptees are not unwittingly
romantically involved with siblings or half siblings. Another reason might be
to find out family medical histories. Others may have very different attitudes
and interests to their adoptive parents and as such might feel that they don’t
fit in, which again can make children feel that they want to seek natural
parents, especially if siblings appear to have more in common with their
parents and believe me, this is a difficult problem to solve, esp in the teenage years! Others can feel that their adoptive
parents perceive that they are failing if they aren’t very academic and it can
be difficult to persuade them that it doesn’t matter what grades they achieve,
only that they have done their best. Frequently they feel in these cases that
they might have more in common with their natural parents.........which can be
upsetting to adoptive parents.
"Having
adopted children often draws others to mention that they are adopted, but I
have yet to find anyone who has made contact with
their birth mother, despite knowing a lot of adoptees and adoptive parents.
Most, it seems either have no wish to know anything about the person whom they consider
rejected them or they think it might upset their adoptive parents, so don’t
want to pursue that route."
The second story looks at adoption
from the point of view of the grandparents:
"Our
grandchildren, a 6 year-old girl and a 3 year-old boy, are adopted. We were
impressed that when our daughter and son in law were being ‘trained’ we were
required to fill in a detailed questionnaire about our background and our
attitude to adoption and could have gone for an interview if we wished to
discuss anything. Our other daughter and a nominated friend of the adoptive
parents were interviewed in depth about their suitability.
"Our
granddaughter was 16 months when she arrived and we met
in a pub - because my daughter had been told not to have anyone else in their
home for a week and she couldn’t wait a week for us to see her! We were invited
to go to Court when the adoption took place where the Judge included us in the
welcome (my son in law’s parents are no longer alive) and gave our
granddaughter a teddy bear with ‘adoption bear’ on its T-shirt, then our
granddaughter invited us to a celebration tea with a few other relatives at a
posh hotel!
"While
our daughter was on adoption leave we went every week
and got to know the little girl well. I continued to go weekly when my daughter
started work again, staying overnight and babysitting for two days. We have a
close relationship with her and she calls us Gaga and Pa. My daughter was rather
embarrassed and tried to persuade her to call me Granny, but Gaga is her name
for me and I love it!
"Last
year our 14 month-old grandson joined the family - his fifth home in his short
life. The granddaughter had been longing for a ‘baby’ and they adored each
other from the beginning - even now the highlight of his day is her return from
school when he runs to hug her. Our grandson is particularly fond of my husband,
and when I visited recently and rang the doorbell he
opened the door and said “hallo Gaga, where’s Pa?” When I explained he wasn’t
with me my grandson shut me out!
"Of
course, we wondered how we would relate to adopted children - but if they were
our flesh and blood we could not love them more or be
more interested in their future."
Would you
rather not know the truth?
Wherever you look these days
there are stories about people who made unexpected - and sometimes unwelcome -
discoveries as a result of DNA testing (you can see one of them here).
But finding out that our
ancestors aren't who we thought they were doesn’t change who we are - because
we're so much more than a collection of DNA. Anyone
who has brought up children of their own will know that you can't just sit back
and allow your genes to do the work!
As family historians we're
used to making discoveries that our grandmothers would have regarded as shocking
- I've lost count of how many of my own direct ancestors were illegitimate! Sometimes
the only clues about our ancestors' lives beyond the bare facts in censuses and
registers are newspaper articles or other records of their misdemeanours - but
it doesn't necessarily mean that our ancestors were bad people (as anyone
familiar with Dickens' novels will know).
I'm not suggesting that discovering
that our grandfather isn’t who we thought he was is a cause for celebration,
but nor should it be regarded as a major disaster - there are plenty of people who,
prior to DNA testing, had no chance of finding out who their grandfather (or
even their father) was. Even today there are adoptees for whom the only chance
of discovering their parentage rests on DNA, because the records are closed, missing,
incomplete, or inconclusive - if they ever existed.
A good researcher will follow
the evidence - wherever it leads!
Considering
a paternity test? This TV company will pay!
I have been contacted by a
production company in London called Shine TV who are looking for people who are
considering getting a paternity test done. It will not involve going on television
- they're making a non-broadcast documentary pilot - but they will cover the
cost of the test and are also offering aftercare. It’s for a new programme
idea, "sensitively dealing with the realities of modern family
circumstances".
If you need a paternity test
to confirm or deny that someone is biologically related to you (or if you know someone
in this position) then please get in touch with the Assistant Producer Elle,
either by emailing elle.mower@shine.tv
or by phoning 020 7483 6752 - she'll be able to give you more information.
A recently-published article
in Nature Human Behaviour warns that
"With millions now using direct-to-consumer ancestry DNA tests, action is
needed to deal responsibly with unexpected paternity issues". But
sometimes when we're researching our family tree it's not always clear who the
mother of a child was.....
For example, my great-great-great
grandparents John Holmes and Hannah Read were blessed with an 11th child in
1851, by which time Hannah was about 43 years-old, and her husband a little
older. They called the child Harriet Lydia, as you can see from the GRO birth
register entry:
A year later Hannah died, and
the coroner determined that the cause of death was apoplexy (a stroke), brought
on by depression. Post-natal depression was as common then as it is now, and it
seems that the motherless child was looked after by John & Hannah's
second-eldest daughter, who was still living at home on the 1851 Census.
By the time of the 1861
Census the daughter had married, but she and her husband had no children of
their own, so young Harriet appears to have been adopted by them - she is certainly
shown as Harriet Clark in the census, and recorded as Edward Clark's daughter:
© Crown Copyright
Image reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, England and used
by permission of Findmypast
You can see that two of Harriet's
brothers were living with them - and her sister Mary is living next door with her
husband George Savage and their children. In the 1871 Census Harriet's middle
initial 'L' is shown, confirming that it's the same child.
© Crown Copyright
Image reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, England and used
by permission of Findmypast
But has the penny dropped? Have
you realised yet that Edward Clark's wife is also called Harriet - which means
that when John & Hannah's supposed 11th child was named they had two living
daughters called Harriet. It was certainly a popular
forename in the 19th century, but even so I'm not sure that any mother would
choose to have two children with the same first name......
However that's not the only mystery, because I found this
marriage in 1869:
© Reproduced by
kind permission of the London Metropolitan Archives and
Ancestry
There was only one Harriet(t)
Lydia Holmes whose birth was registered in England & Wales in the 19th
century - and my John Holmes was a 'bricklayer', which to a layperson is pretty
much the same as a 'builder'. And yet, if this is the same person, how come she's
shown in the 1871 Census as unmarried? Was the marriage considered void, I
wonder? I found a John C Richards on the 1871 Census who is a provision dealer
(not that different from a cheesemonger) and he is also shown as unmarried - so
did they hide the marriage from their parents (it wouldn't be the first time
I've come across this during my research).
Trying to prove that the
wrong parents are shown on a birth certificate isn’t easy, especially after
more than a century, but sometimes DNA can provide the proof - however, unless
Harriet(t) Lydia has a living descendant I'll probably never know the truth.
Can a child
inherit mtDNA from their father?
It's well established that
children inherit their mitochondrial DNA from their mother - at least, that is
what everyone believed until recently. But now there's evidence
that occasionally a child can inherit mtDNA from both
parents.
Fortunately mtDNA tests have always
been the least useful for genealogists, so this discovery isn't going to revolutionise
the way we use DNA - but it's further evidence that DNA can turn up in the most
unlikely places!
Although the Black
Friday/Cyber Monday weekend is the time of year when you'll find the very best
offers, some of the follow-on offers are quite attractive - indeed if you have
been mulling over Y-DNA tests but didn’t reach a conclusion in time you'll be
pleased to know that Family Tree DNA are continuing their $99 offer through the
holiday period.
Another offer that stands out
is the $89 offer for Ancestry DNA in Australia & New Zealand - this is only
$1 more than you would have paid on Cyber Monday. The Ancestry DNA test is the
one I buy for my own cousins - so it’s the one I would recommend to you (if you
have ancestors from the British Isles you'll find far
more genetic cousins at Ancestry than at any other site).
Please remember that you'll
only be supporting LostCousins when you click one of
my links to make your purchase.
Ancestry.co.uk
- £63 plus shipping until 11.59pm GMT on 25th December
Ancestry.com.au
- $89 plus shipping until 11.59pm AEST on 25th December
Ancestry.com - $59 plus
taxes & shipping until 24th December
Ancestry.ca - $89 plus shipping
until 11.59pm EST on 25th December
Family
Tree DNA - $99 plus shipping for Y-DNA, $49 for Family Finder until 31st December
Findmypast are also discounting their DNA tests, though not by
as much as on Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Their tests - provided by Living DNA -
offer the most detailed ethnicity estimates for those of us with mostly English
heritage. See this article
in the last issue for more details, and also the next article in this issue.
If you decide to order the Findmypast test please use the links below - the discounts
last until midnight (London time) on 17th December, but if you are in Australia
and want delivery before Christmas please order by 7th December; prices are in
local currency:
UK
- REDUCED FROM £79 to £69
Ireland
- REDUCED FROM €89 to €79
Australia
- REDUCED FROM $129 to $119
Canada
- REDUCED FROM $99 to $89
USA
- REDUCED FROM $89 to $79
Breaking
down 'brick walls' with Living DNA
Ethnicity estimates are
gradually becoming more useful, but can they help us knock down our 'brick
walls'? My scepticism in the last newsletter prompted professional genealogist,
author, and LostCousins member John Wintrip to tell me of his success:
"I
managed to break down a long-standing brick wall when my Living DNA test revealed
I had East Anglian ancestry that I was previously unaware of. As I had traced
virtually every other line back into the mid-eighteenth century or earlier, I
felt sure that this must relate to my elusive Cowling ancestry. This led me to
look at records for that area in more detail than I would otherwise have done.
I found that the date of death had been recorded in a pension record of
Kilmainham Hospital for Thomas Cowling, born at Foxton in Cambridgeshire, was
identical to the date of death of an individual of that name who had died in
Berwick-upon-Tweed, who I had identified as a possible ancestor about 15 years
ago.
"Without
the clue from Living DNA it is unlikely that I would have looked at this record
in sufficient detail."
Have any other readers been
similarly successful?
Note: you'll find my reviews of John's excellent books
here
and here.
If you want to emulate John's success see the previous article for the Findmypast test, which offers the same ethnicity analysis.
Save on Gift
Subscriptions to Ancestry.co.uk or Ancestry.com.au
You can save 20% on a 6 month
subscription to Ancestry for a friend or relative (and support LostCousins) when you follow the links below - these offers
run until Christmas Day:
Ancestry.co.uk
(UK & Ireland)
Ancestry.com.au
(Australia & New Zealand)
Gift subscriptions are for
new subscribers and cannot be used for renewals.
Family Tree
Analyzer now available for Mac users FREE
Written by a LostCousins member, Family
Tree Analyser is one of the most useful tools there is for family historians
- and because it works with GEDCOM files you can benefit from FTA whatever family
tree program you use.
But until now it has only
been available for Windows - now Mac users can also benefit from this invaluable
tool. Follow this link to the FTA website to
find out more. There's a lot of support for FTA on the LostCousins
Forum - if you've been invited to join there will be a Coupon Code and a link
on your My Summary page at the main LostCousins site.
Note: the current Mac version doesn't produce print-outs,
but I'm sure that will be fixed before long. Don’t let it stop you installing
the program - printing isn't essential.
I don’t think it would be fair
to comment on this recent case, which has been widely reported - but if you
haven't read about it, I suggest following this link.
Given the large sums of money
that can be at stake it's not unusual for matters to end up in court - see for
example this case
from 2013 which involved another TV heir hunter, as did this case
from 2014.
All of those cases involved reputable firms but - whilst
they're not as common nowadays - there are still inheritance scams around. Almost
7 years ago I found a very convincing scam website - and fewer than half of
readers who entered my competition were
able to correctly identify which of the three sites I listed were genuine. (The
scam site has long since vanished, but may have returned
under a different name.)
Transportation
and marriage: postscript
A couple of eagle-eyed
readers realised that Joseph Raffe's plan (reported
in the last issue) was even more half-baked than first appeared - because transportation
to the Colonies had ended more than a year earlier.
To be fair, even if they
could read, and many couldn't, most people in the 19th century couldn’t afford to
buy a newspaper (in 1841 fewer than 55 million newspapers were sold in the
entire year) - so without Facebook, Twitter and TV their knowledge of news and current
affairs must have been very limited. By comparison we live in a golden age - or
rather, we would, if it weren’t for fake news and the effects of filtering.
The
third of Dan Waddell's novels to feature genealogist Nigel Barnes, Blood Reckoning begins with the death of
a murderer in an apparent suicide - but Detective Chief Inspector Grant Foster was
involved in the original investigation 20 years earlier, at the start of his
career, and not only does he suspect foul play, he sees it as an opportunity for
him to tie up some loose ends.
Meanwhile
Nigel Barnes is working on an apparently unrelated case when something happens that
puts him in danger and sets him on the trail of the birth parents he never knew.
It reminded me of Black Earth Rising, even though this
book was originally written and published in French a few years ago, so can't
have been inspired by it. In fact, there are several themes which chimed with
recent events - it was quite spooky - and watching the first episode of the TV drama
Mrs
Wilson last week I was again struck by the similarities.
Once
I started reading Blood Reckoning I couldn't put it down, and I suspect you'll
feel the same way! But I strongly recommend that - if you haven't already done
so - you begin by reading the first two books in the series, as they're far too
good to miss. Follow these links to re-read my reviews of Blood
Detective and Blood
Atonement - and when you’re ready to place an order for any of the books
please use the Amazon links below so that you can support LostCousins:
Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Amazon.ca
In
a future newsletter I'll be reviewing the novella Blood Underground - and I also hope to have an update on the 4th novel
in the Nigel Barnes series, which Dan was already working on when I spoke to
him last year.
Note: if the name Dan Waddell sounds familiar
it's because he wrote the book to accompany the original series of Who Do You Think
You Are?.
Guest review:
And Ordered Their Estate
I don’t have time to read and
review every book that's recommended to me, so when Mary wrote enthusiastically
about And Ordered Their Estate: A
Fictional Account of the Tolpuddle Martyrs by
Sheelagh Green. I asked if she would be prepared to write a review for the
newsletter:
"I
had heard of the Tolpuddle martyrs but knew no
details. I borrowed this book from a friend who was sent it by the author.
"In
England life around 1840 was very hard for those who were working on farms and
estates. Cottages were tied to jobs so
if a father died or could not work the family often became homeless. Pay was low and sometimes wages fell, making
life so miserable for many. Poaching
local game was common with very stiff penalties for the perpetrators. This is
the background to what happened to the Tolpuddle
Martyrs - a small group of workers who decided to meet and to get organised to
make representation to the moneyed gentry for fairer wages.
"As
the story is told in the book, once this became known one landowner coerced a
worker called Seth Fielding to join the group and report back. Then a legal
technicality was used to charge the six men, with the unfortunate Seth having
to give evidence against them - or pay the consequences. The six were deported
to Australia and their families were supported by a charity set up nationally
to carry on their fight.
"After
a few pages I got used to the old language, and off I went into the realms of history
as seen by the poor who worked in rural England. The story flowed very well,
and I liked the way the two narratives of the men in Australia and Seth in
England intertwined. Very clever, and so readable. As it was less than two hundred
years ago it was quite shocking to see how the settlers in Australia behaved to
fellow settlers, convicts and the indigenous population. Life back in England
was not a lot better but this book really made you feel you were there - it was
so very well researched."
Like Mary, I vaguely remembered
the story from school history lessons, but there's a lot of background
information on the web, such as at the Tolpuddle Martyrs
Museum website - however,
it’s probably best to read the book first. It's available as a hardback, a
paperback, or an e-book, with the Kindle version costing just £2.32 in the UK.
Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Amazon.ca The
Book Depository
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I'm afraid there's no room
for Peter's Tips in this issue, but
you won’t have to wait very long for the next edition. In the meantime, enjoy
the articles, and don't forget that LostCousins isn't
just a newsletter, it's a site where people who are researching the same
ancestors can connect - just half an hour of your time could produce amazing results!
Peter Calver
Founder,
LostCousins
© Copyright 2018
Peter Calver
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