Newsletter - 29th November 2019
Errors in the
GRO's online indexes
Genealogists of the future, beware!
Colour tithe maps for Bedfordshire
Vicar reunited with 1964 Rupert Bear annual
Review: The Peasant's Revolting Crimes
Review: The Merchant's Daughter
The LostCousins newsletter is usually published
2 or 3 times a month. To access the previous issue (dated 22nd 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. If you're not already a member, do join -
it's FREE, and you'll get an email to alert you whenever there's a new edition
of this newsletter available!
Errors in the
GRO's online indexes
Nobody is perfect - we all
make misteaks. If you come across an error, or
something that you think might be an error, in the GRO's online birth or death indexes
you might want to read this page
at the GRO website (you can access it without logging-in)..
Genealogists
of the future, beware!
It's not unusual for parents
to give their children hyphenated surnames - though one can only hope they don’t
expect their children to continue the tradition, otherwise their grandchildren
could end up with a triple-barrelled surname like the explorer Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes
(or worse).
But in Australia a couple
have decided to blend their surnames together - as you can read in this Daily
Mail article,
Courtney Cassar and Laura Sheldon have given their daughter
Lyla the surname Casseldon.
This could be the start of
something big - for some time parents in England & Wales have been able to
give their child any surname they choose. Pity the genealogists of the future!
Colour tithe
maps for Bedfordshire
The Genealogist has added
colour tithe maps for Bedfordshire to a collection that also includes colour
maps for Warwickshire, Rutland, Huntingdonshire, Buckinghamshire, City of York,
Middlesex, Northumberland, Surrey, Westmorland, and the North and East Ridings
of Yorkshire (as well as black and white maps for most
of England).
.
You can save on a
subscription to The Genealogist, and get a free subscription to Discover Your
Ancestors online magazine if you follow this link.
I spend well over a thousand
hours each year helping LostCousins members to research their family tree, or
understand the basics of DNA - either through this newsletter or one-to-one emails.
Many have never paid a subscription, and some never will, but I'm happy to give
my help for free, as I always have.
But there is a quid pro
quo - I do expect you to help your own cousins by connecting with them
through your My Cousins page so that you
can exchange information, photos, and memories, and maybe collaborate on future
research into the ancestors you share.
Of course, your cousins don’t
miraculously appear on your My Cousins page - they get there as a result of the entries you add to your My Ancestors page. It's rather like the story of Aladdin - you provide the details
of your old cousins who were recorded on the censuses (primarily 1881), and
I'll give you new cousins in exchange. Not a bad
deal, eh?
I
want nothing, but I do expect you to do the right thing. An hour of your time isn’t
too much to ask, is it?
It's Black Friday, and the
sales are in full swing. But just because something is cheap doesn’t make it a
bargain - though nor can you be sure that a more expensive alternative is going
to deliver. When it comes to DNA tests you really do need to know what you're
paying for, and my job is to guide you in the right direction.
There are all sorts of
motivations for buying DNA tests, but if you're reading this article
you're almost certainly a family historian - so the likelihood is that you see
it as more than 'a bit of fun'. Indeed, you are
probably hoping that DNA can do for you what it has done for so many others -
knock down some of your 'brick walls'. The most popular DNA tests are autosomal
DNA tests, which means they can provide clues to help you knock down 'brick
walls' on any of your lines, typically going back up to 6 or 7 generations. This
is potentially extremely useful, because there are very few people who know who
all of their 128 5G grandparents were (I certainly
don't!).
All autosomal DNA tests are
very similar - they're based on the same technology. There are really only two things that matter - how many clues you will
find, and how easy it will be to make use of those clues.
What are the clues? They're
matches with genetic cousins, people who share one of more segments of DNA with
you. How many matches you get is partly determined by where your ancestors came
from, but mainly by which company you choose to test with. Matches are like
lottery tickets - the more you have the more likely it is that you'll hit the
jackpot - so it generally makes sense to choose the company that will deliver
the highest number of matches, and that in turn depends mainly on how many
people have already tested with that company.
The company that has sold the
most DNA tests is Ancestry: in fact they've sold more tests
to genealogists like you and me than ALL the other companies added together. You
might be tempted to test with a different company simply because your one of
your known cousins has tested with them - but there are two reason why this would
be a mistake. Firstly because it's unknown cousins that
you're trying to find (or 'lost cousins' as I would call them), and secondly
because most of the other companies allow you to upload Ancestry DNA results to
their sites.
Warning: although you can
upload Ancestry DNA results to other sites to find extra matches, you cannot go
the other way round - the only way you can compare
your DNA against all of Ancestry's 15 million customers is to test with Ancestry.
Test with someone else and you'll end up paying for two tests, like I did.
But as I said earlier, it’s not
just about how many matches you get, but how easy it is to make use of those
matches - and that's where Ancestry win hands down. Ancestry aren't a DNA company
that has come into the genealogy business, they're a genealogy company that has
gone into the DNA basis - and one of the things they're particularly good at is
family trees. In some cases they'll be able to tell you that you and a genetic
cousin have the same ancestor in your tree - that's a 'shared ancestor' hint, and
whilst you won't have many of those it's better than none (which is what you'd
get at most other sites).
This year Ancestry introduced
a feature called ThruLines which takes things a step
further, making use of all the family trees in Ancestry's database, including
the trees of people who aren’t DNA matches (and might not even have tested) to deduce
how you are related to some of your genetic cousins, even though those cousins
don't have the same ancestors in their Ancestry tree. Opinions of ThruLines vary, but I have found them incredibly useful,
and I suspect you will too.
What else can you do at
Ancestry that's harder (or impossible) to do at the sites of other DNA
providers? You can search the trees of your genetic cousins by surname or birthplace
- this is a great way to focus in on the matches most likely to knock down
'brick walls', and because you'll have tens of thousands of matches you need to
be able to pare them down. Even if Ancestry didn’t have the largest database by
far, the way that DNA and family trees interact makes it so powerful (compared
to other providers)
.
The main criticism of
Ancestry DNA that you'll often see cited is that they don’t provide a 'chromosome
browser'. However it's not such a big deal - I was
using chromosome browsers for 5 years before I tested with Ancestry, but they
didn't enable me to knock down any 'brick walls', and I suspect my experience
is fairly typical.
Note: you don’t need an
Ancestry subscription to benefit from Ancestry DNA - the key limitation is that
you won't be able to see your cousins' trees without asking their permission. You
can also appoint someone else to manage your test. And finally, if you buy Ancestry DNA but
don't have a current subscription there's a good chance you'll be offered one at an
attractive discount.
Whether you have already
tested your autosomal DNA, or place an order this weekend, don't miss out on my
DNA
Masterclass - it will save you hundreds of hours and endless frustration, as
well as giving you the best chance of knocking down your highest 'brick walls'.
You don't need to wait for your DNA results to come through or even for your
kit to arrive, there's plenty that you can do right now, so be prepared!
Finally, if you're
considering an mtDNA test, my advice is to save your
money. But if you're thinking about a Y-DNA test see this recent article
for in-depth advice.
I hope you'll follow my
advice in the article above, but whichever DNA test you decide to buy you can
support LostCousins simply by clicking the relevant link or banner below:
Ancestry.co.uk
(UK only) - reduced from £79 to £49 (plus shipping) until 2nd December LOWEST
PRICE OF 2019
Ancestry.com.au
(Australia/New Zealand) - reduced from $129 to $88 until 2nd December LOWEST
PRICE OF 2019
Ancestry.com
(US) - reduced to just $49 until 2nd December
Ancestry.ca
(Canada) - educed to $69 until 2nd December
Family Tree DNA - save
up to 40% on ALL tests until 28th November; use this link from 29th
November
Findmypast.co.uk
- reduced from £79 to £59 until 2nd December
Findmypast.ie
- reduced from €89 to 9 until 2nd December
Findmypast.com.au
- reduced from $129 to $99 until 2nd December
Findmypast.com
- reduced from $89 to $65 until 2nd December
Wisdom
Panel Dog DNA - reduced by £25 until 2nd December when you use the code BlackFriday2019
The identities of more than
30 US servicemen who scrawled graffiti on a wall in Southampton 75 years ago have
been revealed by researchers. More than 70 names were scratched in the wall by soldiers
waiting to embark for Normandy following the D-Day landings. You can read more
about this 20th century archaeological here.
“The Moving Finger writes;
and, having writ, Moves on...."
Vicar reunited
with 1964 Rupert Bear annual
I buy a lot of second-hand
books, and it’s quite common for books to be inscribed with the name of the
original owner. This story on
the BBC website tells the heart-warming story of how an eagle-eyed book
purchaser succeeded in returning a book to the original owner, more than half a
century later.
Tip: there are lots of old
Rupert Bear annuals for sale on ebay - follow this link.
I spotted one from 1950 the year I was born. Next year is the centenary of the
first Rupert Bear cartoons - he's quite a survivor!
Review: The
Peasants' Revolting Crimes
I'd heard of, but not read, Horrible Histories, a series of blood-curdling
books by Terry Deary - and his latest work, The
Peasants' Revolting Crimes, mines the same rich seam. It's anecdotal
history, history in the style of QI rather than University Challenge.
At a time when half the
population of Britain is trying to turn the clock back to 1973, this book is a
reminder that you wouldn't have wanted to have lived in 1173 or 1373. The
rose-tinted view of Olde Englande - young maidens
dancing round maypoles, Robin Hood and his Merrie Men, chivalrous knights in
armour - is soon dispelled in this light-hearted compendium of crime and
punishment.
Although the subject is
serious, the treatment is light-hearted and thankfully most of the events took
place so long ago (the most recent tales are from the 19th century) that it doesn't
seem overly cruel to amuse ourselves by reading of the misfortunes of the
victims, and the - often gory - punishments levied on the alleged perpetrators.
The release of this book in
time for Christmas is probably not coincidental - it's the sort of book that might
well get a youngster interested in history, though I suspect most of the
readers will be adults. Either way, at under £10 including shipping it'll prove
a useful stocking-filler (see page 139 for the violent events that followed the
passing of the Stocking Frame Act of 1812). If you live outside the UK it won’t
be published until the New Year, but you can get it now from Wordery, whose
prices include shipping anywhere in the world.
Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Amazon.ca Wordery
Review:
The Merchant's Daughter
The author MJ Lee has penned
some of my favourite genealogical mysteries - the likeable heroine, Jayne
Sinclair, is a former police officer whose experience and contacts come in very
useful. In the seventh novel of the series Jayne is commissioned to research
the ancestry of a famous actress can trace her father's line back to 1066, but whose
DNA test has revealed an unexpected surprise.
It's a race against time -
the results of the DNA test are revealed on a TV programme which has already
been recorded, and is due for transmission in a week's time. But as so often
happens in these genealogical mysteries - there's someone who doesn’t want the
truth revealed, and this adds an extra dimension to the search. Don’t worry,
you won’t need to understand how DNA works to enjoy this book - indeed, Jayne
herself seems to know next to nothing about it when the story begins, so it's
just as well she has a friend who is an expert.
As usual MJ Lee has based his
book around historical events, as you'll see when you read the Historical
Note. Slavery was a blot on the British Empire, and it’s only thanks to the
efforts of men like William Wilberforce and their supporters, that the slave were eventually freed.
If - like me - you're a fan
of MJ Lee's writing you won't need my encouragement to
read this book. If you haven't tried his books before, why not start with the first
book in the Jayne Sinclair series? If you follow the link below
you'll find that you can buy the first three books in the series in Kindle
format for the bargain price of £5.99 (less than £2 per book - there are similar
offers in North America). You can, of course, also use the link to purchase the
latest book, and if you’re in the UK, the US, or Canada you can support LostCousins
at the same time.
Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Amazon.ca
Note: the new book will be
available in paperback very soon - earlier books are already available in
paperback format. But remember, you don’t need a Kindle to read a Kindle book,
only a computer, tablet, or smartphone - the software for your device is free.
I was hoping that there might
a Black Friday offer on the Crucial
X8 portable SSD - 7 times faster than a portable hard drive, and up to 100 times
faster than a USB memory stick, it's an attractive solution for those who can
never find the time to do backups of their valuable files. Sadly the best price
I could find was here on Amazon - and it was
no cheaper than when I last looked. Still, Christmas isn't far away (hint,
hint).
As I'll be 70 next year I was
delighted to read a recent article
which suggested that "70 is the new 65". I hope they're right - nobody
likes getting old.
I must admit I don’t play as
much sport as I used to, though thinking back to my childhood, my grandparents didn’t
do any sport, and what little sport my parents played was primarily to keep me
amused. On the other hand, people used to do much more walking than most of us
are inclined to do these days - I remember my grandmother, coming home and
putting her feet in a large bowl of water to which she had added powdered mustard.
I recently discovered a
racket sport called pickleball, which was invented in the US about half a
century ago, but is only now starting to take off in Europe. I've only played
for an hour, but it was great fun - has anyone else tried it?
This is where any
major updates and corrections will be highlighted - if you think you've spotted
an error first reload the newsletter (press Ctrl-F5) then check again before writing to me, in case someone else has
beaten you to it......
Peter Calver
Founder,
LostCousins
© Copyright 2019
Peter Calver
Please do NOT copy or
republish any part of this newsletter without permission - which is only
granted in the most exceptional circumstances. However,
you MAY link to this newsletter or any article in it without asking for
permission - though why not invite other family historians to join LostCousins
instead, since standard membership (which includes the newsletter), is FREE?