Newsletter - 7th January 2019
Exclusive stories of 2018 - why so many people read this newsletter!
Save 10% on Findmypast's top
subscriptions EXCLUSIVE
Win great prizes in my New Year Competition EXCLUSIVE
Confidentiality of US census data called into question
Missing entries in the GRO's own indexes: a summary
Understanding how the GRO's indexes were compiled
Why it's better to search the birth indexes at Findmypast
The LostCousins newsletter is usually published
2 or 3 times a month. To access the previous newsletter (dated 25th December)
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):
Whenever
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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 -
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of this newsletter available!
Exclusive
stories of 2018 - why so many people read this newsletter!
A lot of new members have joined
LostCousins recently - largely thanks to existing
members "spreading the word" - so the first issue of 2019 provides a
good opportunity to revisit some of the biggest genealogy stories of 2018 which
appeared FIRST in the LostCousins newsletter.
Being first isn’t easy when a
newsletter only comes 2 or 3 times a month, on average, whilst competitors have
daily blogs. So I have to be more pro-active, seeking
out news and stories rather than waiting for press releases to arrive in my
inbox.
The first half of 2018 was
dominated by the identification of the Golden State Killer, and the
implications that this has for genealogy - thousands of blogs, newspapers, and
magazines commented on this development, whether or not
they knew what they were talking about (many didn’t). Rather than jump on one
bandwagon or another I took a practical approach in the first June edition of
the newsletter, pointing out that DNA is virtually meaningless in isolation,
and that the real key to identifying the suspect in the Golden State Killer
case came from the public family trees that his distant cousins had uploaded.
Food for thought!
There was good news in
September for family historians with ancestors from London - I discovered that historic
burial registers for the City of London Cemetery, one of the largest in Europe,
were not only available online (something I'd been campaigning for since a
handful of registers went online over a decade ago), but
were completely free.
In November I broke the news
that tens of thousands of entries were completely missing from the GRO's online
birth and death indexes - not just individual entries that had been omitted or mistranscribed (that's the sort of thing family historians
expect), but blocks of thousands of entries from the
same register volume. Not good news, of course, but recognising that a problem
exists is the first step towards getting it fixed.
Then in December there was
more bad news from the GRO - I revealed that the cost of certificates and PDFs
would be going up in February for the first time since 2010 (although in
fairness the increases barely keep pace with inflation). In the same month I
also disclosed how much money Essex Record Office collects each year by
charging for access to online registers, why this might tempt Suffolk to follow
their example, and explained why this would be bad for researchers.
But there was good news on
Christmas Day - readers of this newsletter received a free short story from
Nathan Dylan Goodwin, one of my favourite authors of genealogical mysteries.
During the year there were several
exclusive Masterclasses, articles that tell you what you really need to know
about certain topics - and leave out things that are more likely to hinder than
help (which is probably why What to do
with your autosomal DNA results is one of the most popular Masterclasses).
These articles are updated periodically and republished, but all of the
articles from the past decade are available online, and
can be found using the customised Google search at the top of any recent newsletter.
Sometimes I devote an entire
issue to an important topic. In May the 1939 Register also became available at
Ancestry, so the following month I reminded readers about the special edition
of this newsletter which gives the inside story of the Register, providing
insights that help researchers understand how and why it differs from a census,
and enabling them to search more productively.
In the autumn a series of
articles entitled Adoption Matters
began, looking at adoption from a whole range of different points of view - this
series, which has proven inspirational for many, will continue in 2019. You'll
find the latest instalment below.
There were also numerous
offers through the year, some of them exclusive to readers of the newsletter,
and some offering extra benefits to readers. Through my reviews I introduced
readers to books and authors that they might otherwise have missed, some
fiction, some non-fiction. Again, there are some examples below.
And through the Peter's Tips column newsletter readers
heard about my bargain-hunting, as well as my foraging and jam-making,. They also picked up other useful tips - such as the
refunds that are due to those who registered a Power of Attorney in England or
Wales between April 2013 and March 2017 (some readers got refunds of over £100
as a result of my article). These may not be exclusive stories, but there are
few family history newsletters that stray beyond the boundaries in this way!
So, if you’re a new member of
LostCousins, you've now got a better idea of the sort
of benefits that free membership provides - but please don’t forget that LostCousins is so much more than just a newsletter! Everyone
who receives an email from me telling them that a new issue has been published
is not simply on a mailing list, but also a LostCousins
member.
The primary reason LostCousins exists is to connect family historians around
the world who not only share the same ancestors, but
are researching them - and whilst there are many sites that offer to do this, LostCousins is still the ONLY site that can do it automatically
and with 100% accuracy, whilst maintaining a high level of privacy and
confidentiality.
Save 10% on Findmypast's top subscriptions
EXCLUSIVE
Until midnight (London time)
on Monday 14th January you can save 10% on a 12 month subscription to the Findmypast site of your choice when you opt for the Pro or
Ultimate subscription - the very best that Findmypast
has to offer.
Pro and Ultimate
subscriptions provide virtually unlimited access to ALL of
Findmypast's worldwide records and newspaper articles
- billions and billions of them. We all have relatives scattered around the
globe - before I began researching my tree I wasn't
aware of a single relative living outside of Britain, but now I am in touch
with dozens of living cousins in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA.
Nor did I expect to find my ancestors
and other relatives mentioned in the newspapers - my family aren’t rich or
famous - and yet, time after time I discover snippets of information that add
flesh to my family tree. Family history is so much more than drawing lines and
boxes on a chart - it's all about people, the people who have influenced who we
are.
This offer is EXCLUSIVE to
readers of this newsletter, but please use the links below to ensure that LostCousins can also benefit:
All Pro & Ultimate
subscriptions are the same. The offer is open to former (lapsed) subscribers as
well as new subscribers - but remember, you've only got a few days to take
advantage of Findmypast's generosity.
Tip: Findmypast offer
existing subscribers a 15% Loyalty Discount when they renew, so if you take advantage
of this offer you'll probably pay even less next year!
Win great
prizes in my New Year Competition EXCLUSIVE
This year's competition is
bigger and better than ever before, with an amazing collection of prizes to be
won - and the great thing about it is that to win, you only have
to do what should come naturally to any LostCousins
member, search for your 'lost cousins'.
(For those of you who've yet
to begin searching for cousins, this is a very good time to put your excuses to
one side and make a start, even if you can only spare 15 minutes - that's all
it took for a previous winner of my annual competition!)
Every direct ancestor or blood relative you enter on
your My Ancestors page between 21st
December 2018 and midnight (London time) on Thursday 31st January 2019 represents
an entry in the competition, and for everyone you enter from the 1881 Census
you'll get a bonus entry.
Tip: a 'direct ancestor' is someone from whom you are
descended, such as a great-great grandparent - most people just call them
ancestors; a 'blood relative' is a cousin, ie someone
who shares your ancestry.
Shortly after the competition
closes I'll start picking relatives at random from all
those entered during the period of the competition, and the lucky members who
entered those relatives will be able to choose a prize from the list below (the
first person out of the hat gets to choose first, the second person has next
choice, and so on).
Here's what YOU might win:
This year's most valuable
prize is a 12 month Pro or Ultimate subscription to the Findmypast
site of your choice (worth up to £156), offering unlimited access to over 8
billion records and news articles, including the 1939 Register for England
& Wales and the largest collection of British parish records anywhere online.
(generously donated by Findmypast,
Britain's leading family history company)
With a Pro subscription (known as an Ultimate
subscription at Findmypast.com) you can access any of Findmypast's
historic records and newspaper articles, as well as their modern (2002-18) UK
Electoral Register - and you can do this at any of Findmypast's
four sites around the globe.
In 2018 Findmypast started
selling DNA tests for the first time - powered by Living DNA, this autosomal test
offers the highest resolution analysis of your English ancestry (normal price £79)
(donated by Findmypast)
Also on offer is a 12 month subscription to the
British Newspaper Archive, the worlds largest online
collection of newspaper from the British Isles - by my calculations there are
over 360 million articles in this collection, which continues to grow.
(donated by British
Newspaper Archive)
ONE copy of Family Historian v6 (kindly donated by
Simon Orde, the designer and lead programmer of Family Historian)
Check out Family Historian now with a free 30-day
trial - just follow this link.
The winner of this prize will receive an activation code to turn the trial copy
into a fully-functioning version of this amazing program.
FIVE
autographed paperback copies of Hiding
the Past, the first novel in The Forensic Genealogist series from Nathan
Dylan Goodwin.
It's just over 5 years since I first became acquainted
with Morton Farrier, forensic genealogist - and almost exactly 5 years since I introduced
him to LostCousins members in my 17th December 2013
newsletter (you can read that original review here).
But if you're lucky enough to win one of these books signed by the author I'd suggest you don’t read it - instead download the
Kindle version and keep the paperback somewhere safe, because one day it might
be rather valuable!
FIVE 12 month subscriptions to LostCousins
If you already have a subscription
I'll extend it by 12 months
Even if you don't win one of
these prizes there's a far greater reward at stake, and it's one that everyone
can win - you could find a 'lost cousin'. Every single relative you enter is a
potential link to another researcher who shares your ancestry - and whenever you
click the Search button the LostCousins computer will compare every single entry you've
made against the millions of entries made by other members!
Tip: unlike some websites, which update their
databases at intervals, the LostCousins database is
updated instantly - there is no waiting, whether you're entering a new relative
or updating an existing entry.
This year your chances of finding a new cousin are
better than ever before - for example, when you enter a relative from the 1881
England & Wales census there's 1 chance in 15 of an immediate match!
If you're new to LostCousins, or
have forgotten how easy it is to enter relatives, see the Getting Started Guide
on the Help & Advice page.
If it takes you more than a minute or two to enter a household from the 1881
Census (and you’re not mentally or physically disabled) please ask for my
advice - there must be some misunderstanding.
Tip: although there's the option to enter lots of extra
information about your relatives on the second part of the Add Ancestor form,
it won't be used in the matching process. The optional part of the form is
primarily for your use. The only information I always enter, when I know it, is
the maiden name of a married woman - this is automatically added to the Index
of Maiden Names, so might help your cousins.
I'm often asked why the 1881
Census was chosen as the focus for the search for 'lost cousins'. It's a good
question - but I have an even better answer....
It's because, like almost all of the censuses we use at LostCousins,
the 1881 census is available free online - which means that anyone with an Internet
connection who has relatives on that census can search for their living cousins,
irrespective of means. (See the Census Links
page for a list of all the censuses we use - they cover England, Wales,
Scotland, Ireland, USA, Canada and Newfoundland. )
Why not use every published census,
to provide those who do have subscriptions with more opportunities to find
cousins? Because in practice it wouldn't work that way - it would create more
work for members, but provide fewer connections to
cousins. Why? Because to match two cousins requires them both to have entered
the same person from the same census - and the more censuses there are to
choose from, the less likely that is.
Here's another way of looking
at it: if you were going to organise a family reunion, surely
you'd ask everyone to turn up on the same day? And you wouldn’t ask them to meet
you in a location that is costly to get to, would you. because you know that would
mean that some people wouldn't be able to come.
LostCousins offers a special kind of family reunion - it brings
together relatives who not only haven't met, but in most cases didn't even know
that the other person existed. But it’s not like picking someone out of the
phone book, or the electoral roll - everyone who belongs to LostCousins
is researching their family tree, so you've got something in common before you've
even met!
Confidentiality
of US census data called into question
Family historians have come
to rely so much on information from censuses that it wouldn’t be surprising if we
sometimes assumed that census data was collected for our benefit. This has
never been the case, as was brought home to us when we tried to persuade the Office
for National Statistics to include a question about birthplace in the 2021 England
& Wales Census - which could well be the last of its kind.
The reality is that
governments commission censuses in order to be able to make more effective
plans. The first censuses were primarily about counting people so that they
could be taxed, or obliged to undertake military service - indeed, over the
Christmas period many of us will have heard these words from St Luke's Gospel:
And
it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar
Augustus that all the world should be taxed.
(And
this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
And
all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
There's some debate as to
whether this particular census took place as described
in the Bible - but it serves to underline the fact that censuses have been around
a lot longer than some people think!
These days censuses aren't so
much about raising taxes, but determining how and
where taxes should be spent. Accordingly census data
is sliced and diced according to the needs of local government, and even though
the data is anonymised, it can be possible - in theory, at least - to identify
specific named individuals by combining the anonymised census data with other
sources. Indeed these 'other sources' are so numerous and (up to a point)
comprehensive that after 2021 they may replace the censuses that we know and
love.
This article
from Science magazine describes how
the US Census Bureau plans to introduce inaccuracies into census statistics in
order to prevent the identification of individuals - something that many census
users consider unnecessary. It's not of direct relevance to family historians,
but it illustrates how our needs, and those of social scientists and planners,
can conflict with the privacy of individuals.
Missing
entries in the GRO's own indexes: a summary
In my newsletter of 26th November I mentioned that another block of missing
entries had been identified, but I haven’t provided more details up to now. There
are approximately 3000 births missing from volume 12 in the September quarter
of 1847 - it appears that of the 439 pages in the volume, only the entries on
the very first page are in the index.
Here is a summary of all the
blocks that I have identified as missing - you might want to bookmark this
article for future reference:
BIRTHS
1847 Q3 - the
whole of volume 12 is missing except for the first page (about 3000 entries missing)
1860 Q2 -
entries from volume 4B have been duplicated as volume 6C in Q4 (about 3000
entries duplicated)
1860 Q4 - all of the entries from volume 6C are missing (about 4000
entries missing)
1881 Q3 -
the whole of volume 3B is missing (over 5000 entries missing)
1881 Q3 -
the whole of volume 4A has been duplicated as volume 3B (over 7000 entries duplicated)
1902 Q4 -
most of the entries from volume 11A are missing (around 11000 entries missing)
DEATHS
1863 Q1 - most
of the entries from volume 2C are missing (about 2000 entries missing)
1863 Q1 -
entries from volume 1C have been duplicated as volume 2C (about 4500 entries
duplicated)
There are, of course, many
smaller omissions which affect individual entries or sometimes an entire page
of entries. If you think you may have found another missing block please follow
the procedure described in this article
before contacting me.
Understanding
how the GRO's indexes were compiled
Until November 2016 there was
only one set of GRO indexes for England & Wales, the quarterly indexes that
were compiled soon after the end of each quarter. Many family historians, myself included, had the privilege of handling the original
handwritten index volumes at the Family Record Centre, or at one of the previous
locations where they could be inspected by members of the public, such as
Somerset House or St Catherine's House. Some of the handwritten volumes were replaced
with typeset printed copies when they deteriorated; later indexes were typewritten.
The information recorded in
the indexes varied over time - for example, the age at death wasn't shown in
the Death indexes until after 1865, and the mother's maiden name wasn't recorded
in the birth indexes until the third quarter of 1911. Middle names were often
abbreviated to initials. It's fair to say that the paucity of information in
the early indexes often made it particularly difficult to identify the correct
entries, leading to frustration and disappointment for researchers.
It’s these original indexes which
are online at FreeBMD, Ancestry and other sites. Findmypast's indexes are based on those originals but with
some additions (see below).
In November 2016 the GRO
launched new indexes of historic births and deaths which were newly compiled
from the registers they hold. Because they were compiled 'from scratch' it
meant that errors and omissions in the original quarterly indexes were unlikely
to be repeated, but inevitably new errors and omissions were introduced
instead.
But the biggest benefit is
the inclusion of information that was omitted when the original indexes were
compiled - every forename is transcribed in full, and in the birth the mother's
maiden name is shown from 1837 onwards (provided she was married to the father
of the child). In the death indexes the age at death is shown from 1837 onwards
- another significant improvement.
Things to bear in mind when using the new indexes:
- The various fuzzy-matching search options don't work very well -
don't expect to be able to find mistranscribed
entries.
- The GRO search only returns a maximum of 250 results, but you won’t be warned if there are more results that aren't shown.
- The age at death of children under one year old may be shown incorrectly
- there is nothing to indicate when the age is in days, weeks, or months
rather than years.
- Births identified as illegitimate are treated differently -
nothing is shown in the mother's maiden name field.
- In the early years of civil registration (prior to 1850) it isn't
always obvious from a birth register entry whether the parents of the
child were married, so in some cases illegitimate births will appear in
the index as if they were legitimate, and in others legitimate births will
appear in the index as if they were illegitimate.
- Occasionally the name of the registration district will differ
between the new indexes and the old; usually it’s simply a different way
of saying the same thing, but where boundaries have changed it may be a
different district altogether.
- Don’t make the mistake of looking at an entry in the original
indexes and trying to predict how it might have been mistranscribed
- it won’t be the same handwriting as in the register.
But despite the flaws in the
new indexes they've proved amazingly useful, allowing researchers to reduce or
eliminate the possibility of ordering the wrong certificate, and sometimes providing
so much information that it isn’t necessary to order the certificate at all!
Why it's
better to search the birth indexes at Findmypast
Although the birth indexes at
Findmypast are based on the original indexes, in many
cases they've added the mother's maiden name, even before 1911 - presumably
taking this additional information from the new indexes (other sites which host
the original indexes haven't done this).
If you've used the GRO
indexes you'll know that the search is limited and inflexible - for example you
can only look for males or females, not both, and you can only search a maximum
period of 5 years. Findmypast doesn’t have these
limitations, so it's particularly useful if you're looking for several children
born to the same parents, perhaps over a period of 20 years or more (since one
search at Findmypast could do the job of 8 or more
searches at the GRO site).
Another advantage of searching
at Findmypast is being able to search by county,
something you can’t do at the GRO site. You can even choose multiple counties (particularly
handy if your ancestors lived near the county border), or multiple registration
districts - something else that you can’t do at the GRO site.
Follow this link
if you want to experiment - you'll be amazed how much you can find out with a
free search!
The latest stories in this
series look at adoption from the point of view of the adoptive parents.
"We
have four children, two boys and two girls, now in their early 40's. My second
son, Harry, is adopted.
"As
Harry was partly black there was never any time that we could not discuss the
fact he was adopted. The fact that he may at some point in his life want to
find his birth parents was discussed and our support given for when it was the
right time. We would have willingly had an open adoption where he could keep in
touch with his birth parents but unfortunately, this being in 1976, the
adoption agency would not allow it. I always felt so sorry for his birth father
in particular as he had spent all the day with Harry
prior to us picking him up.
"The
first time Harry approached me about finding his birth parents was when he was
11. Upon asking his reasons he told me he knew his birth parents were very
rich, lived in a mansion and could give him far more things than we could. I
can't remember but he must have been refused something he really wanted at the
time!! I said to him that I felt that was not a very good reason and when he
came to me with a valid reason I would give him all the
help I could.
"When
Harry was 19 and had left home, he came over to see me one day to discuss
finding his birth parents. He was so careful to tell me I was his Mom and he
loved me, but he was curious as to who his birth parents were. As I had his
birth mother's details and I figured she would still be in the same town I told
Harry this and suggested I hire a private detective. It would only have taken a
day's work, I was sure. I was very surprised when Harry said he was not ready
for that and would contact an adoption service that would help him find his birth
parents.
"The
waiting list for the adoption service was two years once Harry had submitted
his application; however, once he was at the top of the list it didn't take too
long to find his birth mother. They met soon after and Harry found he had one
brother from the same two parents and other siblings from other relationships.
He also met with his birth father and spent some time with him and his wife and
they got to know each other before his birth father passed away a couple of
years ago.
"I
have always felt happy that Harry could reconnect with his birth family. It has
not affected our relationship at all and he feels complete. He very often calls
me and says 'Hi Mom, I talked to Mom today' and gives
me all her news. I have been in touch with his birth father's wife who has
given me as much information as she can on Harry's birth family
so I can fill out his genealogy for him."
The term 'open adoption' isn't
defined by law in the UK, but this advice
sheet published by the Family Rights Group provides a lot of relevant information
(it is in PDF format). Has anyone reading this newsletter got personal experience
of an 'open adoption'?
In the second example it was
the adoptive parents who took the initiative in finding their daughter's birth
relatives:
"We
adopted one of our long term foster daughters in 1975, having had her since
1973. We never made any secret of the fact that she was adopted, and as she grew she began to ask more questions about her origins. I
told her what i knew in ways that were appropriate to
her age at the time the questions were asked.
"I
was already into family history and used to spend time in the Family Records
Centre when it was open. One day nothing much was going right but I had
some time to spare and, on a hunch, decided to look for our daughter's birth
grandmother - I found her on the electoral roll. When I got home I wrote to her, emphasising to her that I could not
guarantee that it would result in future contact, but asking if we might meet
so that she could fill in some gaps for me.
"She
was delighted and we met up. She told me about
her own background and family life, her daughter's life and the subsequent
children she had given birth to, the youngest of whom had also been
adopted. She also gave me some photographs - and I had taken some for
her. When I got home I wrote up our daughter's family
story, as far as I knew it from her grandmother. I gave it to her and talked to
her about her grandmother. The end result was that the
two of them later met up and got on like a house on fire.
"Of
the two middle half siblings, who had remained with their mother, the younger
one - a half sister - was desperate to meet our
daughter. She lives in Holland and so I arranged a trip so that they could
meet and spend time together. She later met her half-brother, the next one down
in the family. Whilst we were in Holland the sister we
were meeting was desperate to find out about her father. She had found a
newspaper article about the murder of a man in London and had questioned her
mother about it - her mother had finally admitted that the man was her father.
I told her that there would almost certainly be information available because
of the murder.
"Her
written English is not brilliant, having been taken to Holland at an age where
she was still getting to grasps with it, so I wrote a letter on her behalf,
which she signed, giving me permission to explore this on her behalf, including
accessing her Social Services file. As part of this I contacted the senior police
officer who had dealt with the case and he came hot-foot to see me. He was brilliant.
He understood her need to know about her father. He told me about all the
children he had found during the investigation who had been fathered by this
man and he also gave me his brother's contact details because he was someone he
felt could be trusted. As a result she met her uncle
and aunt, learned more about her father and was able to visit his grave
when she came over to England for a visit.
"The
Social Services file, which should have been redacted, not only told the story
that our daughter's sister wanted but also gave me details of the other child
who had been adopted. I contacted his adoptive parents (because he was then a
minor), and produced a similar booklet for him to the
one I had produced for our daughter. It was left to him to make contact if he
wanted to do so.
Our
daughter wasn't in any hurry to meet her birth mother but couldn't avoid it
when her grandmother became ill. It broke the ice a little because the focus
was actually on the grandmother and not on their
relationship. They did meet up occasionally over several years after that and
all four of the children were at their mother's funeral. They remain in
contact with one another. Their grandmother has also since died.
"Although
our daughter had no burning desire to meet her birth family, she admits that
she feels more whole now she knows about her family roots and knows her closest
family members. She hadn't realised quite how affirming it would feel to find
people who looked like her and, in the case of her sister, sounded just like
her. She has, more recently, done a DNA test and the day her results came out I
was able to identify her maternal grandfather, whose first name was all we had.
It appears that he also had at least ten children by different women around the
world! Thanks to DNA our daughter now knows her racial origins, as well as her
relatives, having had various garbled versions via Social Services!
"This
is only my opinion, but I would say that any adoptive parent who is so insecure
that they cannot cope with their child seeking their roots probably should not
have adopted a child."
The final story of this issue
also involves adoption in the 1970s, but in this case
there has been no attempt to connect the child with his birth mother:
"In
your recent newsletter, you invited responses from
Adoptive parents. I am one such – an adoptive father - and my son will be 40
soon.
"Back
then my wife and I were having problems conceiving, and decided after quite a
long wait, to go down the route of adoption.
We went through quite a few ‘hoops’ with the Childrens
Society (as it was then called), and eventually our contact came to us and
asked us what breed of dog we had. I
think she knew, as it was a West Highland Terrier: one of her expectant mums was about to
deliver, had decided she couldn’t keep the baby and wanted a ‘Scottish
connection’. We fitted that description
– I had started to do some digging into Family History (following up some
research my uncle had started – not that easy in the late 1970s), and there was
a possible link with Edinburgh back in Victorian times, not to mention a known
Scottish surname.
"So
– in a sense – family history research advanced our adoption chances (although
our Social Worker would probably cite the dog as conclusive!). With further
research and the benefit of the Internet, I have firmly established that my great-great-grandfather
was born in Fife, moved to Edinburgh in the 1820s and then came south to London
in the 1840s.
"
This,
of course, is only the start of the story:
given the joy that having a baby son gives, we soon had a daughter of
our own. Sadly
my wife died young (when our son was in his late teens), and now he is finally
a father himself. He is very loyal to me
and although as an adult I have let him have any information we held on his
natural parents, he has shown no intention of seeking them out. Whether that will continue as he brings up
his own son remains to be seen.
There will be more adoption
stories in future issues - I hope you’re finding them as interesting and informative
as I am. Adoption in England may not have been legally regulated until 1927,
but there are 19th century adoptions in every family tree - it's something that
indirectly affects all of us.
This heart-warming story from Alan shows that, despite
the scare stories we read in the press, DNA is an extremely valuable tool for family
historians who have gaps in their tree:
"As I approached the age of 74
I decided to try and answer a question that had bothered me since my late
teens. Was my mother's first husband, whose
surname I carried, really my father? To the best of my
knowledge I had only met him once, when I was about 14, and at the time there
was no hint that we had a connection - it was only afterwards that I found out
who he was.
"To start my quest I
decided to get a full copy of a certificate of my birth registration. I had
only ever possessed a short version which does not include the father's name.
The full certificate duly arrived with a blank space against my father's name.
"My next step was to undertake a DNA test through
Ancestry (as did my wife). After a couple of weeks my wife's results came in
but a full 11 weeks passed before mine arrived. On the surface our results were
similar, being primarily focussed on the British Isles and Europe. However, the
devil is in the detail and whilst my wife had 100+ 4th cousins, mostly in the
UK with ancestral migration patterns primarily around the South East of
England, mine showed 1000+ 4th cousins in the USA with migration patterns
focused in that country over hundreds of years.
"I proceeded to analyse some of the data
contained in family trees attached to some of my cousins and, after a long
learning process, came to the conclusion that Joseph M W and Martha A S were probably my great grandparents. The analysis is
summarised in the diagram below - I've shown the amount of DNA shared with each
of my cousins (the relationships shown are Ancestry's estimates, based on
averages, so don't necessarily correspond to the actual relationships):
"At this point my free trial with Ancestry came
to an end and I decided to try and come up with a strategy for finding my other
great grandparents, through more distant cousins, before committing money (also
Christmas was approaching fast). I felt fairly confident
that I could achieve this next step but accepted that I may not be able to
identify my father who may have to be shown as unknown in my much expanded
family tree. Then there was a breakthrough!
"I logged on to my FamilySearch account which I
have used extensively over the years for my wife's ancestors and those of my
mother. I searched under the names of my newly discovered great-grandparents
which revealed an extensive family tree. Ignoring the parents of my second
cousins, I carried out assessments on my Ancestry account to find out the
surnames of their children's spouses which occurred most frequently in my
cousins' attached trees. I hoped that this would help me find my other great-grandparents
when what may be the ultimate breakthrough occurred.
"The entry for a son of John W and Margaret B,
namely Eugene W, had a memory entry. This showed that he had gone missing
during a bombing raid on Cologne on 10th January 1945. This allowed a deeper
analysis of his service life which showed that he was stationed close to my
home town at the appropriate time. My birth was registered six days after he
went missing, one day after the date of the official report!
"Soon after finishing the above write-up another
second cousin DNA match appeared (~500cM), a 1st cousin once removed connected
through Eugene's sister. I was therefore highly confident that Eugene is my
father - I suppose it's a classic 2nd World War story.
"This newly discovered 2nd cousin immediately
responded to my message to her, through the Ancestry system, with an
overwhelming display of joy and encouragement. This first response from my lost
cousins turned what had started as an intriguing academic forensic
investigation into an emotional thunderstorm of tears and joy far beyond my
expectations.
"Through this first contact I have been in touch
her mother and uncle who continue to provide stories and photographs of my
father and our family - I wish I could show you some of our email
correspondence, and then you could better appreciate how much this discovery
means to all of us!"
Alan was trying to identify his father, but DNA can
also help to identify other unknown ancestors - for example, it enabled me to
confirm the identity of my great-great grandfather.
So often I get emails from people who say "DNA can't help me because I don't know who my
<insert ancestor here> was", and yet this is precisely the type of situation
in which DNA is most helpful. To misquote the lager advert, DNA reaches the
parts of your tree that conventional research can’t!
Note: when
you read 'Connectedness' you may notice that there's a parallel with this true
story!
It's less than 3 months since
I reviewed Ignoring Gravity, the debut
novel from Sandra Danby, but given how much has been happening in the world of
family history (to say nothing of the world-at-large) since then, it's not
surprising that it seems longer, much much longer!
That first story inspired the
Adoption Matters series of articles
that has been running in this newsletter since November, and the second book in
the series returns to the same theme - but whilst the character of Rose Haldane
provides a link between the two, she doesn’t feature until Chapter 4, by which
point the reader is inside the head of Justine (who is arguably the main
character in this wonderful book).
When we first encounter Justine
she is a highly-successful artist who has just been nominated for the Royal
Academy - but we soon discover that she is haunted by her past, and in Chapter
2 we’re transported back to her student days when the crucial events took place.
Her story is sad, but all too plausible - as anyone who has read the true-life
stories in Adoption Matters will realise.
Although Sandra Danby's
novels don't follow the standard format for genealogy mysteries
they have all the same ingredients - but in terms of writing style this book is
not only streets ahead of her first novel, it promotes her into my premier
league - and if the third novel in the series is anywhere near as good it will
confirm her position as one of my favourite fiction writers.
Read this book - you won’t regret
it. But do please read Ignoring Gravity
first, since it sets the scene for what happens in Connectedness. You'll find my review of Ignoring Gravity here.
Connectedness
is available either as a paperback or as a Kindle book - I chose the Kindle
version because I could read it on my phone, which was more convenient (and it
was cheaper). But whichever version you choose please use one of the links
below if you can:
Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Amazon.ca
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......
I hope you've
found this first issue of 2019 interesting - I'll be back soon with more news
and tips from the world of family history.
Peter Calver
Founder,
LostCousins
© Copyright 2019
Peter Calver
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