Newsletter - 26th October 2018
Australian marriage certificates under threat URGENT
The Way Ahead: Future Challenges for Genealogy
Challenging assumptions about marriage law &
practice
Breaking down 'brick walls' using DNA
Who owns population and census data?
Missing pages from 1880 Census discovered
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Australian
marriage certificates under threat URGENT
Many of the records that
family historians now rely upon weren't created with genealogy in mind - but when
civil registration was introduced in England & Wales in 1837 the importance
of creating a paper trail to resolve inheritance issues was one of the key
drivers. The new marriage registers included information not previously
recorded, including the names and professions of the fathers of the bride and
groom.
When civil registration was
rolled out in other parts of the UK, and in other parts of the British Empire, the
information was often expanded - and some of the most detailed certificates are
issued in Australia.
But now there's a danger that
our descendants won't have access to the same information - it is proposed to
remove key information from marriage certificates, and it’s important that as
many people respond to the consultation,
which ends on Sunday 28th October.
As I understand it the
information that will be lost to future generations includes:
1) Addresses of the marrying couple
2) Occupations of the couple
3) Parents of the marrying couple
4) Occupations of the parents
5) Details of previous marriages
Although the consultation
only relates to the Notice of Intended
Marriage (you can see the revised draft here)
it's clear that there will be knock-on effects. Information that isn't
collected at the start of the process won’t be collected later
on - so the information will also be lost from marriage registers.
You can express your concern
by emailing the Attorney General's Department - you'll find the email address
on the consultation page.
I don’t know what the
motivation behind the change is, but it's clearly a retrograde step as far as
family historians are concerned, even though it's only the researchers of the
future who will be directly affected.
A LostCousins
member in New Zealand wrote to me recently asking for a breakdown of where the
readers of this newsletter live - and after I provided the figures he suggested
that I might like to share them with you:
United Kingdom 40,765
Australia 8,484
United States 7,008
Canada 4,327
New Zealand 2,838
Rest of the World 2,125
Looking at those figures you
can appreciate why it is that 1 in 3 matches between 'lost cousins' involve
relatives living in different countries (and usually on different continents). But
wherever we live, the thing that binds us together is our interest in family
history!
The Way Ahead:
Future Challenges for Genealogy
Last Saturday I attended the
inaugural conference of the Register of Qualified Genealogists (RQG), where I
heard some very interesting talks.
The RQG is a very different
from other professional bodies for genealogists in that membership is entirely qualifications-based,
as Ian Macdonald explained in his opening remarks (indeed, you've only got to
look at the long list of letters that he has after his name on the Corporate
Information page of
the RQG website to appreciate the difference).
Around 90% of the delegates
were female, so it was particularly interesting to hear Dr Macdonald refer to
the gender bias in genealogy that results from following surnames - which are
usually inherited from our male ancestors. The bias continues even today,
partly because tracing a female ancestor frequently requires us to find two
entries (marriage, then baptism), whereas we only need to find one entry
(baptism) to take the male line back another generation.
In the following articles I
report on two of the presentations that I felt were most relevant to me and to LostCousins members - after all, most of us aren't
professional genealogists in the sense that we charge for our services (I
certainly don't).
#1: Challenging
assumptions about marriage law & practice
The first keynote speaker was
Rebecca Probert, Professor of Law at the University of Exeter and a very
well-known figure in genealogical circles - particularly since the publication
of the eye-opening Marriage Law for Genealogists, in 2012.
It's a book that is never far from my desk!
Professor Probert challenged
some of the assumptions that we frequently make about marriage law and
practice: for a start, the fact that a couple married in their parish church
doesn’t rule out the possibility that they were Catholics or non-conformists.
Church of England clergy encouraged the belief that it wasn't a 'real' marriage
unless it took place in church, and it’s important to remember that 19th
century marriages weren't the big expensive events that they are today - some
vicars offered discounted or even free marriages in order to
attract couples.
We know from the religious
census of 1851 that about half of the churchgoing population was
non-conformist, yet even at the end of the 19th century the vast
majority of marriages took place in the parish church. One reason for
this was the added cost, complication, and inconvenience of marrying outside
the Church of England - parish churches were more numerous, and often more
accessible than register offices, and until 1898 it was necessary for a
registrar to be present at marriages which took place in non-Anglican places of
worship. Another bar was the fee for registering a place of worship - even
today there are over 5000 that are not registered.
You can’t assume, therefore,
that if your ancestors married in the parish church their children would have
been baptised in the Church of England - often this won't have been the case.
#2: Breaking
down 'brick walls' using DNA
Laura House, a qualified
genealogist who is currently completing an MSc focusing on genetic genealogy
gave a detailed presentation explaining how it's possible for an adoptee, or someone
whose father is unknown, to solve the mystery.
Whilst autosomal DNA tests
aren’t the only tests available, they're generally the most useful for solving
recent genealogical mysteries, because Y-DNA and mtDNA
tests only look at specific lines. Laura's advice is to test with Ancestry and
23andMe, and to upload the results to other websites - in other words, it’s
very similar to the advice that I've been giving through this newsletter.
Living DNA, the biggest
British company offering genetic tests for genealogists (but one of the
smallest worldwide) has announced plans to switch to a different microchip from
a different US supplier. Following the change all samples will be sent direct
to a laboratory in the US.o:p>
Even when different test
providers use the same basic chip from the same supplier it's usually
configured differently - almost all of the estimated 17 million autosomal tests
that have been carried out to date (more than half of them by Ancestry) have
used chips manufactured by Illumina, but as many of you will already know,
there can be problems comparing results produced by different chips even when manufactured
by the same supplier.
The company chosen by Living
DNA for their next generation tests is Thermo Fisher Scientific (they use the
Affymetrix brand for their chips). Their chip will test over 759,000 autosomal
markers, and about 813,000 in all - a useful increase over Illumina chips that
might allow for greater compatibility.
It's too early to say how
genealogists will benefit from the change. At the current time Living DNA offer
the highest resolution ethnicity estimates, particularly for those of use with
English ancestors. However there aren't many
situations in which ethnicity estimates have helped to break down 'brick
walls'.
You can read more about
Living DNA's announcement in this blog entry.
Who owns
population and census data?
There's an interesting article
on the website of Free UK Genealogy (formerly known as FreeBMD),
the charity that runs the FreeBMD, FreeREG, and FreeCEN projects. It
was posted in August 2016 as a follow-up to an article the previous month about
their Open Data project, but I only noticed it today thanks to a Twitter post
by DNA expert (and LostCousins member) Debbie
Kennett.
Free UK Genealogy exists to
make genealogical data freely available, but there was an outcry from some of
their transcribers when they proposed making the data available to anyone, even
if some third parties intended to charge for access.
I covered this topic in some
detail two years ago - you can read my original article here -
but what I'm wondering now is whether the plans to make their data available to
others have been put on ice? If anyone from Free UK Genealogy is reading this
perhaps you'll let me know?
There have been a number of interesting discussions over on the LostCousins Forum recently - for example, over the past
week we've been talking about the pros and cons of public family trees.
One of the concerns often raised
by those who prefer to keep their tree private, and share it only with selected
cousins, is the risk of their research being stolen. The
counter-argument is that most information in family trees comes from publicly-available
records, so it can't belong to anyone - though that's a bit like saying this
newsletter can't be my copyright because all the words I use can be found in
the dictionary.
A family tree is, in effect,
a database - and databases certainly can be copyrighted. But whilst that might discourage
someone from stealing our research, does it also entitle us to publish the
information online for all to see?
That's a more difficult question,
because even if we don’t care about our own privacy, we have
to consider the privacy of others - and whilst we don't share our entire tree with very many people, every
single one of our living relatives shares part
of our tree. In publishing our own tree we're potentially giving away information
about living relatives, perhaps including details that some of them might
prefer to be kept private.
Withholding the names of
living people - as happens automatically when you upload your tree to Ancestry
- is a good start, but that alone doesn’t prevent family secrets being
revealed. Even when there aren't any illegitimacies or hidden relationships to
discover (though there usually are) it's still easy to fill in missing names
using the GRO indexes for England & Wales.
Another consideration is security.
Whenever we publish information on the Internet we run the risk that it might
fall into the wrong hands - and whilst many scams are amateurish others are extremely
convincing, particularly where large sums of money are concerned, such as a
pension fund, or the proceeds of a house sale. The more information that's
readily available the easier it is to put together a convincing scam.
For example, we’ve all
received inheritance scam emails or letters and put them in the bin, but I'm
sure that if somebody looked at my family tree they could come up with a far
more convincing story, one that might get my attention. After all, as family
historians we're continually coming across previously unknown branches of our
families - so it wouldn’t be that surprising to learn that a distant relative
has left a legacy.
So if you have an online tree, or are considering doing
so, think carefully about the implications - not just for you, but also for
your relatives. There may be something you can do to limit any possible damage.
At 11am on 11th November 1918
the Great War ended; many more would die from their wounds, and still more from
the ravages of Spanish Flu, but hostilities had ceased.
The 100-page November issue
of Who Do You Think You Are? magazine
has 7 articles related to World War 1, and no doubt there will be many more in
other publications over the coming weeks.
If you’re thinking of
purchasing memorabilia remember that the Royal British Legion has an official shop
- the Poppyshop - all profits from which go to the charity.
Missing pages
from 1880 Census discovered
13 schedules from the United
States 1880 Census listing 633 individuals have been recently discovered incorrectly
filed in Missouri State Archives - you'll find a link to the schedules here.
In the last issue I reported
research which has found that miscarriages are more common than previously thought
- and also linked to a story about a BBC journalist whose own baby was
still-born.
The article prompted many remembrances
from member - including Elaine, who sent me this story:
My mother had a still-born son in December 1940 - in
the middle of an air-raid. I remember my dad telling me that it was a breech
birth and the midwife was wandering around the room wringing her hands, saying
“My God, what am I going to do” so my dad got on his bike and cycled down the
hill to the phone box to ring the doctor, but because there were no lights on,
as it was a total blackout, put a half crown (2/6d) into the phone box, instead
of a 1d. so jammed the phone. Eventually when he got to the doctor's, he told
my dad, “we will be lucky to save your wife, let alone the baby”. Apparently my brother was born with the cord around his neck
and didn’t survive.
My parents went on to have twin girls 2 years later
(of whom I am one)
After her mother died Elaine
found this poem amongst her belongings:
The BBC's award-winning
podcast, The Adoption, is now available
as text-based story. Following a real adoption as it happens, it provides an
insight into a world that most of us will never see.
But if you have the time, I'd
recommend listening to the podcasts instead - there are 17 short episodes of
about 8 minutes each, and you'll find them here (you'll need to
log-in or register).
The first novel from Sandra
Danby, Ignoring Gravity is not a
typical genealogical mystery, partly because it's about an adoptee tracing her
birth parents - a challenge that most fictional genealogists keep putting off,
presumably to keep up the suspense!
To be totally honest after
reading the first few pages of the book I was tempted to give up - but I'm glad
I didn't, because I was soon hooked, and even found myself reading in the car
on the way to York, something I don't usually do (don't worry - I wasn't
driving at the time). This isn’t the first novel I've read where an unpromising
opening has been the unlikely prequel to a jolly good story, and I suspect it
won’t be the last.
The tale is set in the early
Noughties, and revolves around two sisters who have recently lost their mother -
or rather two women who think they are sisters when the book begins.....
Rose, the elder of the two,
is a journalist who has worked her way up to a job as a reporter for a national
newspaper, The Herald; Lily is
married to William and desperate to have a child. Although their lives are very
different they're great friends, and this helps to keep them together even as
unexpected revelations threaten to pull them apart.
If it all sounds to you like
a story from Woman's Realm then
you're not far wrong, although it deals with topics and uses language that I certainly
didn't come across when reading my mother's magazines in the 60s. But the
characters are well-drawn, and mostly likeable - so I suspect you'll find it
every bit as enjoyable as I did. In fact, I'm already looking forward to
reading (and reviewing) the follow up, which was released earlier this year.
Ignoring Gravity is available either as a paperback or as a Kindle book. I read it
using the Kindle app on my smartphone,
and given the disparity in cost between the two version I'd suggest you do the
same - unless, perhaps, you’re going to be in Woking on 3rd November at the
West Surrey Family History Society Open Day, where you'll have a chance to
speak to the author and buy a signed copy (you can find out more about the Open
Day here).
As usual you can support LostCousins when you use any of the links below (even if
you end up buying something completely different):
Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Amazon.ca Wordery
If you have read MJ Lee's novella
The Silent Christmas (reviewed
last month) you might well have been reminded of it when you saw this BBC news item, about a
football belonging to a Norfolk team which was discovered washed up on a German
island.
And just yesterday evening I
watched the third episode of the BBC drama Press
in which a billionaire who is accused of sexual harassment manages to get an
injunction to prevent a national newspaper printing his name (the real life
story is here). And,
coincidentally, the paper is called The
Herald - just like the fictional national in Sandra Danby's novel (reviewed
above).
The 2021 UK Census won’t be
published before 2122, by which time I'll be dead and gone, but it nevertheless
matters to me that there are still no plans to include a question relating to
birthplace, since - as all family historians know - it’s information that's
crucially important when tracing our ancestors (even though what appears in the
census isn’t always correct).
The future matters: my wife
and I don’t have any children, but we still care about the world that we'll be
leaving behind for future generations, and I'd like to think that all LostCousins members feel as we do. Whether or not global
warming has been caused by humans - as most scientists believe - the reality is
that only action taken by humans can moderate the effects, at least on the
timescale of human lifetimes.
Unfortunately, as so often
happens, the debate over global warming has been framed by some as a political
issue - it isn't. It's actually about whether we're
prepared to put our own selfish interests so far ahead
of those of future generations that we risk creating an environment (physical,
cultural, and political) in which the very survival of the human race is in
question.
Look at it this way - if the
scientists are wrong, we might be a little poorer as a result
of following their advice and taking action to curb emissions. But if
the scientists are right, and we don’t do what they say, the effects will go
far beyond economics.
Recycling isn’t just about
putting things in the right bin - I believe in reusing packaging whenever
possible. For example, glass jars are reused for the jams and chutneys I make,
whilst suitable bottles are used for the sloe and bullace gins that I prepare
each autumn.
And though I wouldn’t buy
ready-meals at full price, I often pick them up from the reductions
shelves, typically at a quarter of the original price. I generally choose the
dishes in aluminium trays or plastic boxes with lids - all of these are washed
and reused, often many times, before eventually going in the recycling bin when
they reach the end of their useful life.
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 2018
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?