Newsletter
- 25th August 2016
Celebrate
the Olympics with 33% off at Findmypast ENDS
SATURDAY
Bonus
offer: claim a free LostCousins upgrade
You
won't win any medals for synchronised searching!
Free
access to Findmypast's Australian records ENDS
MONDAY
Finding
burials is difficult enough, but…..
Access to
BMD information: the next step
Last
chance to save on DNA tests?
Guest
article: Recording for tomorrow
Review:
Lost Voices of the Edwardians
Preview:
The Spyglass File EXCLUSIVE
The LostCousins newsletter is usually
published fortnightly. To access the previous newsletter (dated 16th August)
click here; to find earlier articles use the
customised Google search below (it searches all of the newsletters since
February 2009, so you don't need to keep copies):
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). If one of
the links doesn't work this normally indicates that you're using adblocking software - you need to make the LostCousins site
an exception (or else use a different browser, such as Chrome).
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!
Celebrate the
Olympics with 33% off at Findmypast NOW ENDED
Team GB put in an amazing performance at
the Rio Olympics, winning more medals than at any time since 1908, and securing
2nd place in the medals table. Now it's your opportunity to put in a
superlative performance, not by leaping over hurdles but by knocking down 'brick
walls'.
You can save almost one-third on Britain
subscriptions at Findmypast.co.uk - and while this offer was supposed to end on Saturday
it's still available right now (9pm on Monday)! For example, a 12 month Britain subscription - which provides virtually
unlimited access to all Findmypast's British records, INCLUDING the 1939
Register, as well as their amazing collection of historic British newspapers - will
cost just £80.37, equivalent to just 22p per day (the full price is £119.50).
Note:
whilst you can also save one-third on a 1 Month subscription, the saving only
applies to the first month - and the 1 Month subscription DOESN'T include the
1939 Register. All Findmypast subscriptions are renewed automatically unless
you change the Continuous Membership setting (in the Personal Details section
of My Account).
There's a similar offer at Findmypast.ie
- a 12 month Ireland subscription providing access to all of Findmypast's Irish
records will cost a mere €76.72, compared to the full price of €114.50
To take advantage of these offers (and
support LostCousins) just click on the appropriate link below:
Note:
these offers are for new and lapsed subscribers only - they do not apply to
renewals.
I suggest you record the exact time of
your purchase in case the email receipt from Findmypast doesn't arrive (if it
hasn't arrived with 60 seconds then, take my word for it, it isn't coming). You'll
need the precise time of purchase in order to claim your bonus - see the next
article.
Bonus offer: claim a free
LostCousins upgrade
If you take out a new subscription to
Findmypast using one of the links above then I'll
reward you with a free LostCousins upgrade (paid for by the commission we
receive from Findmypast). Simply forward to me a copy of your email receipt
from Findmypast, making sure that it shows the precise time and date.
Fittingly members who cross the line
first will get the biggest rewards! Team GB won 27 Gold medals, so the first 27
members to claim will get a 12 month subscription;
they won 23 Silver medals, so the next 23 members to claim will get a 9 month
subscription, and they won 17 Bronze medals to the next 17 members will get a
free 6 month subscription. In the unlikely event that there are more than 67
members claiming then the remainder will get a 3 month
subscription.
WARNING:
if you use an adblocker, have disabled tracking in
your browser, or use a link other than those above then sadly we won't receive
commission from Findmypast and you won't qualify for your bonus.
Your LostCousins upgrade will commence
from the day you purchase a qualifying Findmypast subscription - unless you're
already a LostCousins subscriber, in which case I'll extend the expiration
date.
You won't win any
medals for synchronised searching!
Team GB won a gold medal for
synchronised diving - it was an amazing performance by Chris Mears and Jack
Laugher. Watching it reminded me how often cousins are simultaneously searching
for the same records, or trying to knock down the same 'brick walls'.
But there are no prizes for synchronised
searching - quite the reverse, in fact. We're likely to make better progress
when we co-ordinate our research with our cousins so that we're not going over
the same ground.
Of course, co-ordination depends on
communication, which means that we need to find our cousins first - and this is
where LostCousins can help. Finding your cousins through the 1881 Census is
easier now than it has ever been - but I can only connect you with your cousins
based on the entries on your My Ancestors
page.
Because cousins come from collateral
lines - indeed, that's what makes them cousins - the relatives most likely to
connect you to your 'lost cousins' are the members of your ancestors' extended
families. So don't stop when you've entered your direct ancestors from the 1881
Census - add their brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, and cousins.
Free access to
Findmypast's Australian records ENDS MONDAY
Until midnight (AEST) on Monday 29th August
you can get free access to all of Findmypast's 70 million Australian records
simply by following this link (you'll need
to register, if you haven't already done so, but you won't be required to enter
your credit card details).
Finding burials is
difficult enough, but....
Finding the burial places of our
ancestors, even relatively recent ancestors, can be very challenging - because
in Britain a person's final resting place wasn't specified on their death
certificate (update: some early Scottish certificates do give this information). Indeed, the certificate won't even tell you whether they were
buried or cremated - and cremation has become increasingly popular since it was
declared legal in 1884.
Although the Cremation Society was
formed in London in 1874, the first person to be cremated in Britain was Jesus
Christ - I'm referring, of course, to the illegitimate son of the Neo-Druid Dr William Price
and his housekeeper. Restrained by outraged locals from burning the paraffin-doused
body of the infant on a hilltop near the Welsh town of Llantrisant,
Dr Price ended up in court, where he succeeded in convincing the judge that, as
there was no statute which outlawed cremation, it must be legal.
Note:
although I haven't yet found the birth and death of the infant in the GRO birth
indexes, this unusual story is confirmed by a court report in the Banbury
Advertiser on 21st February 1884 (you'll find it in the British Newspaper
Archive at Findmypast).
However, as you'll see from this 2009
BBC article on
cremation, it wasn't until 1902 that cremation was legally regulated. Since
then the proportion of people choosing cremation has steadily climbed:
according to a survey
published last week, most Britons would opt for cremation, and 79% of them
would prefer their ashes to be scattered (only 7% would want them to be kept).
Access to BMD information:
the next step
The General Register Office is
organising another informal meeting for stakeholders to discuss their plans for
future products and services - which family historians hope will provide
improved access to birth, marriage and death records for England & Wales.
Whilst I will be at the meeting, which takes
place at the end of next week, I won't be able to disclose the outcome as
attendees will be required to sign a Confidentiality Agreement. Whilst this may
be frustrating for readers of my newsletter, I hope that simply knowing that
the GRO are actively progressing the issue, and that I'll be there representing
your interests, will give you some comfort.
People Count was the title of Muriel Nissel's
fascinating 1987 history of the General Register Office, and it was an
appropriate title because the censuses from 1841 onwards were carried out by
the GRO (which is why most of them have an RG reference at the National
Archives - for example, the 1921 Census, which we hope to see in January 2022,
is RG15).
And people DO count when it comes to
censuses, because the value of the census depends on the population being
prepared to answer the questions truthfully, and to the best of their
knowledge.
Yet, as readers of this newsletter will
know, when family historians tried to persuade the Office for National
Statistics (who are now in charge of the census) that the 2021 Census, quite
probably the last ever England & Wales census, should include a single
question of great interest to the historians of the future, we got the brush
off. You can read a very comprehensive report here,
on the Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine
website.
Of course it isn't possible to include
in the census every question that members of the public might suggest, but
wouldn't it be a good idea if this final census included at least ONE?
After all, if it wasn't for us, there
wouldn't be a census!
Last chance to save on DNA
tests ENDS WEDNESDAY
The Summer Sale at Family
Tree DNA is still continuing but I've just heard that it ends on Wednesday 31st
August - so make sure you order your Family Finder test(s) before then. At
$69, reduced from $99, it's the lowest price I've ever seen for an autosomal
DNA test, and when you consider that they test around 690,000 base pairs it
means you're getting 100 tested for every cent you pay.
At the current exchange rate the cost
for a UK customer will be about £63 including shipping; when the price goes
back up it will be about £86. (Update: I should make it clear that they sell
worldwide - I gave an example in UK currency because two-thirds of the readers
of this newsletter live in the UK)
Tip:
you'll only be supporting LostCousins when you use this link
or the one above (or an equivalent link in an earlier newsletter).
If you're not sure who should test I'll
do my best to advise you - drop me an email, but make it quick!
Guest article:
Recording for tomorrow
This
article was contributed by LostCousins member Peter King - I hope you enjoy it
as much as I did.
My first tape recorder, reel to reel of
course, I built from a kit in 1961.
To test it, I had my mother reciting
poetry, father singing a song and my brother chatting. Mum & Dad liked
doing amateur entertaining, proved by an entry in a local newspaper of 1923
(thanks to Findmypast). Those recordings I have until this day -and of course
they're priceless. Christmas gatherings over a number of years were also
recorded.
The day that I registered my father's
death in 1967 was the day that my interest in Family History began; my mother
had died 2 months before. Like so many of us, I had left it too late to ask
them family history questions. Some years later, I recorded a chat with a WW1
comrade of my father's, who he met in France and was responsible for bringing
him to Cornwall. That was an eye-opener!
My father was one of 7 siblings and as
he moved from London to Cornwall, a lot of the relations came to Cornwall on
holiday and that's how I met one of his sister's and many first cousins. I
found more first cousins through my own research.
In the 70s and 80s my wife and I would
go on holiday by car and visit or stay with relations, taking my big tape
recorder with me and would chat to my first cousins and ask them about
themselves and the family, helped by photos and other memorabilia. It became easier when the cassette recorder
came on the market. Those earlier reel to reel recordings I gradually copied to
cassettes and now from the cassettes I make CD's and send them to the next
generation. A first cousin once removed in San Francisco, couldn't believe some
of the things that her mother talked about with me. By the way, many of the relations
came to stay with us.
You cannot separate family history from
local history and so I recorded chats with family friends and colleagues who
had left my birth area, as I had done. I
even recorded a chat to one of my Dad's bosses. The last service in two of our
local chapels and two researchers of my birth area from America visiting, I
also recorded. An elderly family friend
of many years, who used to live near where I was born, I drove around the area for
two consecutive days
and as we chatted in the car, I had a recorder going. His family love those
recordings and I learnt a lot more local & family history.
On retirement, we travelled to Australia
and a friend in Victoria had found me a new cousin just after we left home so I visited him
and this time it was recording with a camcorder.
Over a period of about 40 years, I made nearly 100 recordings
and spoke to first cousins & spouses from all my Dad's siblings and many relations
on my Mother's side as well and indeed also my wife's family. I'm sitting on a
huge Treasure Trove and often find out something new as I replay them. Most of the people that
I've recorded are no longer with us. Material from the recordings has helped to
turn my genealogy into family history.
Recording devices, even with video, are
so small nowadays and inconspicuous that if you have the opportunity, go for
it!
Review: Lost Voices of the Edwardians
Originally published in 2006 when a
handful of the contributors would still have been alive, this book now stands
as a memorial to men and women whose remembrances are presented, without
comment.
Rather than take us through the life of
each person in turn, we get snippets - some a few pages long, most just a
paragraph - which focus on a particular aspect of life in the Edwardian era
(1901-10). Most are ordinary men and women - the only thing that distinguishes
them is the fact that they survived long enough to record their reminiscences,
unlike the many brothers and sisters who died as infants, the mothers who died
in childbirth, or the men who were killed going about their work.
The chapters are thematic: under the
headings 'Childhood', 'Work', 'Home', 'Daily Life', Travels & Excursions',
'Politics & Suffragettes, and 'Military' we learn about different aspects
of Edwardian life - and from many different angles.
There have been many books of this type,
but Lost
Voices of the Edwardians extends to more than 400 pages, and has a very
comprehensive index (which I found extremely useful). I bought a second-hand
hardback copy from Amazon which cost me
just £2.62 including delivery, but when it arrived it looked almost brand new,
so I was extremely pleased. However it's also
available on Kindle if you prefer.
Anne Harvey, the author of Bittersweet
Flight is best known for the articles she writes for family history
magazines, but when I reviewed her first book, A Suitable Young Man in
January 2015 I was full of praise for the way in which she recreated the
atmosphere of the mid-1950s (you can read that review here).
In Bittersweet
Flight we meet many of the same characters, but the main character is
different, which means that we begin to perceive some of the events of the
first book from an alternative viewpoint. You don't have to have read the first
book to enjoy this one, but it would be an awful shame if you missed out!
Both books are available in paperback
format, but I read the Kindle versions (which are also cheaper). They're not
genealogy mysteries, like many of the books that I read for pleasure, but
they're just as enjoyable - family history is about people, after all!
As I came to the end of the book the
only question in my mind was "Will there be another book in the series"? I
certainly hope so, because the characters that Anne Harvey has created deserve
another outing!
Update: I've just heard from Anne that
she does plan at least one more book in the series - hurrah!
Note:
you can support LostCousins when you buy these books (or any other Amazon
items) using the links below:
Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Amazon.ca
Preview: The Spyglass File EXCLUSIVE
The new Morton Farrier genealogical
mystery from Nathan Dylan Goodwin will be out on Thursday 1st September, but
you can pre-order the Kindle version now if you follow this link.
But whilst it hasn't been published yet,
I was privileged to be the first to receive a preview copy of the book - so I
know that it's a real corker. In fact, the first page was so overwhelming that
I had to stop for breath, and when I handed it to my wife to read she said it
was the most powerful description of the Dunkirk evacuation that she'd ever
read.
The Spyglass File is the 4th novel in the Morton Farrier series - and
whilst you don't need to have read the first three books, why wouldn't you? You
can see all of the books in the series, plus the novella that features
LostCousins, if you follow this link.
When Jeni Stepien
walked down the aisle on 6th August she was accompanied by the man who received
her father's heart in 2006, after he died in a car crash - you can read more
about this heart-warming story here.
But this wasn't the only donated organ
in the news this month - a lady in County Durham still has her mother's kidney,
which is going strong even though it's now 100 years old! Sue Westhead was just
25 when she was diagnosed with kidney disease in 1973, and her mother - then 57 -
agreed to donate one of her own kidneys so that her daughter could live. I
found this story
on the BBC News website.
Also in the news was the bride in
Wiltshire who had a ghostly image of her recently-deceased brother added to her
wedding photos - it's not something I'd personally recommend, but you can see
the outcome and read more the story here.
Coincidentally - or perhaps not - a joke
about organ donation was voted the funniest of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
According to this BBC story
Masai Graham won with the
gag: "My dad suggested I register for a donor card, he's a man after my
own heart."
But as a family historian I preferred
the joke (relayed to me by a friend who attended the festival) about the failed
conjuror who had two half-sisters....
Peter's
Tips
In the 10 days since my last newsletter
was published I've been busy picking blackberries and elderberries - and I've
made loads and loads of jam, including one old favourite (Blueberry & Orange),
and three that are new to me. The first new venture was a simple adaptation of
the Blackberry & Elderberry jam that I made for the first time last year -
this time I added the grated peel and juice of an orange, and I certainly feel
it is an improvement.
The next experiment was an adaptation of
a recipe for Spiced Blackberry & Apple jam which I found here
- I added some sultanas, and upped the cinnamon, in order to give it a more
Christmassy flavour. Finally, after potting most of the batch I added a couple
of thinly sliced Scotch Bonnet chillies to the remaining mixture and heated it
up again. The end product was somewhat milder than I expected - which was possibly
a good thing!
Of course, I've not just been making jam
- stewed Blackberry & Apple is delicious for breakfast with a spoonful or
two of low fat natural yoghourt. And as the wild Shepherd's Bullaces
are starting to ripen much of my spare time is going to be spent foraging and
cooking for weeks to come!
Coopers of Stortford is a national
company operating by mail order which just happens to be based in my nearest
town - so I sometimes go to their shop to browse or pick up a household item or
two. This weekend (from Friday 26th to Monday 29th) they are offering 15% off
everything, but for mail order customers only. Follow this link and use
the discount code IAW6H1
Finally, if - like me - you're wondering
why it was 'Team GB' and not 'Team UK' which came second in the Rio Olympics
there's a very detailed explanation here.
Friday 26th: you can get free access to Ancestry's
UK & Ireland records until Monday 29th when you click here
(although you'll need to register - if you haven't already done so - but you won't have to
provide credit card or bank details). The offer only applies at Ancestry's UK site.
That's all for now - I'll be back next
month with more news from the wonderful world of family history.
Peter Calver
Founder, LostCousins
© Copyright 2016 Peter Calver
Please
do not copy any part of this newsletter without permission. However, you MAY
link to this newsletter or any article in it without asking for permission in
advance - though why not invite other family historians to join LostCousins
instead, as standard membership (which includes this newsletter), is FREE?