Newsletter – 25th
August 2022
Ancestry to offer DNA tests in 54 new
territories BREAKING NEWS
Half-price records from the 1921 Census
ENDS MONDAY
Why isn’t the 1921 Census free – or included in subscriptions?
Church Wardens’ Accounts: follow-up
Massive photographic archive saved by the
National Trust
How to find an article from a past
newsletter
What happens when identical twins marry identical
twins….
What do you say to a cousin you’ve never met?
Guest article: A Puzzle, and an Extraordinary
Coincidence
Inside the mind of a professional genealogist
Nothing to lose but your chains, rods, perches,
and poles
The LostCousins
newsletter is usually published 2 or 3 times a month. To access the previous issue
(dated 16th August) 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!
Ancestry to offer DNA tests in 54 new
territories BREAKING NEWS
In
an interview
with Forbes magazine, published yesterday, Ancestry’s CEO announced
plans to offer Ancestry DNA tests in 54 new markets across 5 continents,
including Italy, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Argentina, South Africa, and Japan.
It was also revealed that Ancestry currently has 3.8 million subscribers
globally, the highest number I can recall – though it’s still only a minute
percentage of the number of people around the world who are researching their
family tree (which is why posting your tree on Ancestry isn’t a substitute for
completing your My Ancestors page).
Half-price records from the 1921 Census ENDS MONDAY
There’s
another chance to access records from the 1921 England & Wales census at
half the standard price – until midnight (London time) on Monday 29th
August you can view and download images and transcripts at a 50% discount.
Not
only can you find out where your relatives were living and what they did for a
living, you can find out who their employers were and precisely where they
worked – information that you’re very unlikely to find on previous censuses (nor
is it usually given in the 1939 Register). The articles in my 6th
January and 10th
January newsletters tell you all you really need to know about this important
resource, but if you want to dig deeper there is even more detail on the Findmypast
site.
As
ever, searching at Findmypast is free: you only pay to view transcripts or
images. Since all the information in the transcripts is available from the
images I recommend you focus on the latter – especially since corrections and
other alterations to the census schedule frequently provide insights that you
can’t possibly get from a transcript. You also get to see your relative’s
handwriting – and their choice of ink.
Please
use the relevant link below so that you can support LostCousins:
HALF-PRICE
1921 at Findmypast.co.uk
HALF-PRICE
1921 at Findmypast.com
HALF-PRICE
1921 at Findmypast.com.au
HALF-PRICE
1921 at Findmypast.ie
Why isn’t the 1921 Census free – or included in subscriptions?
The
project involved three years of intensive digitisation and conservation work,
and is the largest digitisation project EVER to be completed by The National
Archives and Findmypast.
Most
of the work was carried out during the pandemic and – because of the restrictions
imposed by the Census Act, 1920 – the massive task of transcribing the
information contained in the digitised images couldn’t begin until a couple of
months before the release date.
Note:
this is the first census conducted under the 1920 Act to be released – never before
has it been necessary to work within such stringent limitations. In case you’re
wondering, the 1939 National Register was not a census, and so not covered by the
Census Act.
But
forget the scale of the census – consider the fact that because it’s such a recent
census many researchers will only need to look at a handful of households. For
example, none of my great-great grandparents were still living in 1921, so my
main focus was on my great-grandparents and grandparents – this meant there were
only 6 households that were really essential to my research.
Even
if there were a million people like me – and there certainly aren’t anywhere
near a million Findmypast subscribers – there were 8.5 million households
recorded in 1921, so the likelihood is that many households will only be viewed
once, and some not at all. In that context the standard charge of £3.50 to view
an image doesn’t seem at all unreasonable, given the time and effort that has
gone into the conservation and digitisation of the schedules, and the creation
of the index that enables us to find the relevant images.
Note:
bear in mind that even though you or I might pay £3.50, Findmypast won’t
receive as much as that after VAT and credit card charges are taken into
account – and then there’s the share of the revenue that goes to the National Archives
to fund other conservation and digitisation projects.
Against
that background the half-price offer seems quite a bargain!
Church Wardens’ Accounts: follow-up
The
article in the last issue – and the sites to which it linked – prompted Teresa
in Canada to write with her experience of this oft-forgotten resource:
“I
was delighted to read in the Lost Cousins Newsletter of 16 August that you
included some information about researching Church Warden Accounts. They are
included in The Parish Chest and I found them for the village of Necton in Norfolk at FamilySearch (on Film No. 2149277,
which has been digitised and can be viewed online).
“I
read the accounts from 1695 through to 1770 as I was searching for entries relating
to my Dungar family – and I found plenty: for
example, my ancestor John Dungar was given three
shillings in 1700 because he was sick. It was the only time that I found that a
Dungar had received any help from the Parish. There were
plenty of entries of Dungar children being given
pennies for killing sparrows and hedgehogs, which at that time were considered
vermin. I also found that Dungars (occasionally with
first name) who worked with others on common land to mend fences and make some
repairs to the Almhouses.
“More
generally I found quite a lot of entries of help being given to people who had
been shipwrecked. They had certificates so I assume they were given certificates
by the parish in which they had been ship-wrecked enabling them to get help in
other parishes as they travelled to their homes. There was also an entry of
slaves who were returning home. Other entries were for the poor, for repairs to
the church, letters being carried and also of monies received.
“I
highly recommend that family historians seek out these records, when they are available,
because they helped me to find out something about the lives of my ancestors
who were agricultural labourers. Many thanks for your excellent contributions
to genealogy.”
Thank
you, Teresa for inspiring us all to take a closer look at these records. It’s
also a good opportunity to remind readers about Stuart Raymond’s excellent book
on local history, which I reviewed
last month.
Massive photographic archive saved by the
National Trust
The
news coming out of Liverpool hasn’t been great recently, so this BBC article
about the archive of Liverpool-based photographer Edward Chambre Hardman was a welcome
change.
How to find an article from a past newsletter
One
of the questions I’m asked most frequently is, “How can I find the article you
wrote about such-and-such”?
The
good news is that you don’t need to enlist my help, because the tool I use to
find past articles from this newsletter is available to all – just look for the
search box near the start of this (or any other) newsletter.
Although
the search is powered by Google (and the first few results displayed will be
Google ads), it only search LostCousins newsletters – from February 2009 onwards.
As with any search, if at first you don’t succeed, try again – perhaps using
slightly different wording.
What happens when identical twins marry identical twins….
What
would you expect to happen when identical twin sisters marry identical twin
brothers – for example, would their children be identical?
Because
identical twins are formed from a single fertilised egg they have the same DNA –
whilst they only inherit 50% of the DNA of each parent, it’s the same half. There
would be little point in two identical twins taking the same DNA test because
their results would be so close that any differences would be the result of minor
inaccuracies in the test.
Note:
although low-cost DNA tests are well over 99% accurate, when you’re sampling hundreds
of thousands of bases pairs there are bound to be some errors.
By
contrast non-identical twins are no more similar than any other siblings –
whilst they each inherit 50% of the DNA of each parent, it’s a different random
selection. This is why when siblings take DNA tests they get different results
and often share different amounts of DNA with cousins – sometimes none at all.
Many
of you will have seen a recent news story about identical twin sisters who
married identical twin brothers – do a Google search for ‘quaternary twins’ and
you’ll find lots of articles, some of them free to read.
Legally
their offspring are 1st cousins, but genetically they’re much closer – as close
as siblings, in fact. So whilst it might be legal for the child of one couple
to marry the child of the other, I wouldn’t recommend that they did.
Double
marriages like this are exceedingly rare, so it’s unlikely that genealogists of
the future would be confused – and even if they were, it wouldn’t much matter
because each set of twins is descended from the same ancestors.
Ancestry
not only have the largest database of people who have already tested, they
integrate their enormous collection of family trees with DNA matches far more
successfully than any other site. For us, the users, it means that it’s much
easier to turn the mass of data into meaningful information – information that
can both help us knock down ‘brick walls’ and validate our records-based
research.
It’s
true that there are some tools other sites offer that you won’t find at
Ancestry, but that’s not a bad thing – using those tools effectively requires
an understanding of genetics and statistics that few of us will ever possess.
It’s like the difference between having to fix up your own car before you can
drive somewhere, compared with getting into a chauffeur-driven limousine. Sure,
you might not know how many horses there are under the bonnet, or what sort of
carburettor is fitted, but you’ll get to your destination far quicker, with far
less effort, and with fewer wrong turnings.
My
DNA
Masterclass explains how to make DNA work for you, rather than the other
way round – in line with the LostCousins philosophy of achieving more whilst
expending less time, less money, and less effort.
If
you want to make things more complicated there are plenty of DNA gurus who will
tell you about advanced techniques, but these days I get along just fine
without them – and so can you now that over 20 million people have tested with
Ancestry. It was different in the old days when finding a new DNA match was an
exciting event – now we have so many matches that the biggest problem is
knowing which matches to focus on, and that’s why the simple, straightforward
techniques in the DNA Masterclass are so important.
Ancestry
have just launched a DNA Sale in the US, cutting the price to $59 plus tax and
shipping; in Australia and New Zealand the price has been cut to $90
(Australian), whilst in the UK you can still save £20 bringing the price down
to £59 plus shipping.
Remember,
you don’t have to decide who is going to test, so there’s nothing to stop you
doing what I do, and ordering an extra kit or two. This not only locks in the
price reduction, it saves on shipping costs.
This
offer is not exclusive to LostCousins, but you can only support LostCousins
when you follow the relevant link below:
Ancestry.co.uk
– SAVE £20 on DNA tests (UK only)
Ancestry.com.au
– DNA tests just $90 (Australia and New Zealand only)
Ancestry.com
– JUST $59 excluding tax and shipping (US only)
Note:
it’s not just about the commission that helps to support my work – the more
sales that are recorded as coming from LostCousins members, the more notice
Ancestry are likely to take of the feedback from LostCousins members when I pass
it on to them.
What do you say to a cousin you’ve never met?
I’m
often asked how to approach a new cousin – the most recent enquiry read
something like this:
“How
would you word a message to a DNA contact who probably doesn't even know of you
or your parentage? It could come as a great shock to find out they have an
unknown relative.”
This
was my response…..
I'm
assuming that in this case you're talking about a very close relative - closer
than 2nd cousin - since it wouldn't be a surprise, let alone a shock, to
discover someone more distant.
Whenever
you're communicating with someone always try to look at what you're writing
from their point of view. Why would they want to hear from you? Why would they
want to reply to you? How can they help you? How can you help them?
Obviously
you'll want to take into account whether they're researching their family tree,
and if so how long they've been doing it. It’s likely they only tested their DNA
recently, otherwise the match would have popped up earlier, so you might well
be the first person to contact them.
Consider
all the possible reasons why they might have taken a DNA test - are they
looking for answers, or was it just a 'fun' birthday present? Either way, they almost
certainly didn't test because they wanted to get bombarded with questions!
Also
consider the implied morality of the supposed relationship - might they feel
that you are in some way disparaging them or their family? Try to present it
the other way round so that, if anything, it's your ancestor who is perceived
as the naughty boy/girl. If you can't do that, don't mention it at all.
Make
sure you tell them enough about yourself that they'll feel comfortable replying
to a stranger. Never allow the other person to get the idea that you're chasing
an inheritance or trying to right a wrong.
A Puzzle, and an Extraordinary Coincidence
This article was sent to me by Pat, a long-time LostCousins member
– I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
I started my family history
research in 2002, just 20 years ago. There was a specific family question I
wanted to answer. It concerned my paternal great-great grandfather, but I hit a
brick wall at that time, and it has remained a brick wall to this day.
In the hopes of solving the
problem I did my DNA, and also that of a relevant 2nd cousin. My DNA
matches turned up 5 further 2nd cousins, 4 of whom I was easily able
to identify as from different lines. The fifth had a most unusual surname, Gxxxx, which was totally unknown to me. Inevitably he had
no tree, and failed to reply to my email.
However there were several other, less
close, matches with the same name, and one of these did reply to an email. From
her I learnt that my Gxxxx matches were all from one
family, living in Canada, but one older member of the family had returned to
the UK. I had enough information from her to do a Gxxxx
family tree, and I discovered that the family had emigrated from the same city from
which many of my family originate, and the individual who had returned to UK, Mr
Pxx Gxxxx, had been born in
that city. Apart from this geographic match there was nothing else that would
link the Gxxxx tree with mine. Furthermore at that
time we had no other matches in common which would have indicated which line of
my family was the one we had in common.
So the hunt for this Pxx Gxxxx began – social media, telephone
directories, newspapers etc. This was 3 years ago. Perhaps he had come back to
the same city, perhaps not. But there were no clues.
Then, 2 weeks ago, I got talking
for the first time to a couple who live over the road from me. I see them every
day and we sometimes say ‘hallo’ but nothing more. That is until he asked me
something about my former place of work, a university. He also, it transpired,
had worked in a university – in Canada. As he talked I had a hunch, and
eventually had to ask ‘what is your name?’ and, yes, you’ve guessed it – he is
Mr Pxx Gxxxx. Living over
the road for the last 3 years!
Of course we met up and shared
what information we each had, but still it was not clear where the relationship
was. I had taken each of his lines back 4 or 5 generations and there were no
names in common.
However one fact he told me, which
instantly clicked as being significant, was that his grandmother had married
twice. Without getting her marriage certificate I could not have known that, so
had assumed that the surname of her 1st husband (Bxxx)
was her maiden name. A quick search revealed
that there was indeed a marriage of a Mr Bxxx to a
girl with her Christian name, and that the said Mr Bxxx
died shortly before the 2nd marriage; and of course the 1st
marriage gave me her maiden name. Sure
enough there was the answer.
Sad to relate, this has not demolished
my big brick wall, but it is very satisfying to solve this puzzle that I have
been researching for the past 3 years, and amazing to discover the solution was
quite literally on my doorstep – what a small world!
Inside the mind of a professional genealogist
If
you enjoyed Pat’s story I think you’ll also like this wonderful blog
post by genealogist and author Dave Annal.
Nothing to lose but your chains, rods, perches, and poles
Most
readers of this newsletter live in countries which adopted systems of decimal
currency during the 20th century, but in the UK the change to a
metric system of measurement has proven more problematic – we still have a
70mph national speed limit on our roads and talk about pints of milk. Some products
are sold in 227g and 454g packs, equivalent to 8 ounces and one pound
respectively, though others are sold in quantities that make more sense under a
metric system.
In
the past it was even more confusing, with measures meaning different things
according to where you were in the country – take a look as this speech
by Lord Clinton in the House of Lords on 30th June 1921, and the
responses from other members of the House. Those examples relate specifically
to the sale of grain, but the confusion in earlier centuries was much wider
than that, with differences in measurements of length and area.
In
June this year the UK government published a consultation document
asking for feedback on the current rules regarding the use of imperial and
metric measurements – and if you want to respond you only have until Friday 26th
August to do so. People of my generation have had to deal with two sets of
measures – but would our descendants benefit from a simpler system?
My
first batch of Courgette, Apple, Lemon and Ginger jam turned out well – I didn’t
make any last year, so it’s good to have a supply again. They were our own
courgettes and apples, but the lemons came from the supermarket – my wife is
growing lemons, but they’re far too precious (and too tasty) to be used in jam.
One day we might grow our own ginger as well – so that just leaves the sugar…..
Encouraged
by that success, the very next day I made my first batch this year of Spiced Blackberry,
Elderberry, Apple and Sultana jam – one of my regulars. The apples and
elderberries were from the garden, as were some of the blackberries (the rest
came from various hedgerows). We don’t grow grapes, so the sultanas were from
the supermarket – but maybe in the future?
This
week I’ve been picking little yellow Mirabelle plums which were growing wild – food
always tastes better when it’s free. Despite everything one reads about poverty
and food banks, I hardly ever see anyone else picking wild fruit – often it
just rots on the ground. How very strange!
This
week I was reading a BBC article
about over-50s who are sharing houses as a way of saving money – it’s something
I had to do in my 40s when I was turning my software business around, so I know
a fair bit about the pros and cons. Which reminds me, there was a time when
taking in lodgers was common – just look at the censuses – but that seems to
have gone out of fashion.
I
reckon that the perspective we gain from our research into our family’s past gives
us a greater insight into the problems of the present – and the future.
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......
That’s all for now – but I’ll be back in a week or two with more
news from the world of family history. In the meantime, please stay safe – I’ve
heard far too many sad stories recently. To test, or not to test – that
is the question.
Peter Calver
Founder, LostCousins
© Copyright 2022 Peter Calver
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