Newsletter - 11th May 2018
Free access to the 1939 Register - at Ancestry!
Nearly 1 billion records free at Findmypast
Not just one, but two big genealogy shows in 2019!
Using information for a different purpose
How your information is used at LostCousins
Celebrate Mother's Day with a DNA test ENDS SOON
The life and death of two 104
year-olds
Be careful what you wish for…..
The LostCousins newsletter is usually published
2 or 3 times a month. To access the previous newsletter (dated 4th May)
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Free
access to the 1939 Register - at Ancestry!
Great news - there's now a
second source for the 1939 Register, one of the most significant releases of
recent years, but also one of the most challenging transcription projects
because of the need to respect the privacy of living individuals.
Ancestry launched their
version of the 1939
Register for England & Wales on Bank Holiday Monday, but kept quiet
about it until Wednesday, when they announced that it would be free until
midnight on Sunday 13th May. Not only can you search free of charge when you
click here,
you can also save the images. You'll need to register or log-in - but you won’t
need to provide bank or credit details.
Tip: always save images to your own computer rather
than simply attaching them to your Ancestry tree; images you attach to your
tree can only be viewed when you have a subscription which includes the
relevant record set.
Nearly 1
billion records free at Findmypast
Now that Findmypast
no longer offers exclusive access to the 1939 Register the quick link from the
top banner has disappeared and been replaced by a Free records link.
At least, that was how it
appeared when I looked earlier this morning - now it too seems to have
disappeared. And even when you find it, the free records search only searches a
selection of the records that are free.
Still, it’s nice to know that
nearly a billion of Findmypast's records are free,
even if searching them isn’t currently as easy as it could be.
Tip: searching at Findmypast
is always free, and you can learn quite a lot from the free results, such as
the preview of a 1939 Register entry. But perhaps most useful are the household
transcripts for the 1881 England & Wales census, as they set out all the
information you need for your My Ancestors page in a clear and neat format.
Not just one,
but two big genealogy shows in 2019!
Two new events were announced
on the same day - the news about Family
Tree Live came through in time for my last newsletter (you can read the
article here),
but it was only after the newsletter was published that I heard about The Genealogy Show, which will be held
at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham on 7th-8th June 2019. You'll
find the website here - at the moment there isn’t much information, but I'm sure
that will change before too long.
Whilst two shows sounds better than one, that's not necessarily the case - for
a successful show you need exhibitors, and there will be some companies that
simply can’t justify the time and expense of being at both. Will Ancestry and Findmypast be at both shows? I suspect they will in 2019,
but whether they exhibit at both in 2020 is a different matter.
I can tell you now that LostCousins won’t have a stand at either show - I had
stands at dozens of shows in my previous life, not just in the UK but as far
afield as Paris, Frankfurt, California and Chicago - and I know that I can
achieve far more as a visitor (or as a speaker, though so far
I haven't been invited to speak at either of the events).
I also heard this week about The Genealogy Roadshow, which is actually a TV programme - and aims to solve family history
challenges posed by members of the audience. I'm not sure it’s the right format
- magazines do a great job of answering readers' queries.
Using
information for a different purpose
Under data protection law
personal information shouldn't be used for a purpose other than that for which
it was collected.
Sounds reasonable, doesn't
it? Until you realise that many of the records that we use in family history
research are being used for a purpose other than the one originally intended.
Nobody envisaged that censuses would be used by family historians - the
government was collecting information for statistical purposes, to make it
easier to run the country effectively.
Nobody envisaged that army
personnel files and ships' passenger records would be made available on the
Internet - there was no Internet when the records we see were compiled!
Similarly, it’s unlikely that
anyone who uploaded their DNA to the GEDmatch website
envisaged that one day the information would be used to catch a serial killer
and rapist - I certainly didn't.
The Cambridge Analytica
scandal came about because Facebook data was misused - not by Facebook
themselves (though it would appear that they left the
safe door open) - but by others who exploited the trust of innocent users.
So, should there be an
outright ban on information being repurposed, even when it's for the public good?
I personally don’t think so - it would impede progress and cause real harm.
For all the fine talk about
rights being violated when the killer's DNA was uploaded to GEDmatch,
nobody can seriously claim to have been harmed - other than the suspect himself
(and since his DNA wasn't even in the database it wouldn't have made any
difference what the terms and conditions said!).
It would be interesting to
know how many people have withdrawn their DNA results from GEDmatch
since the furore over the Golden State Killer erupted - precious few, I
suspect. And it’s not just about finding the guilty parties - exonerating
innocent people is surely even more important, as this Innocence Project article
explains.
But as this thoughtful blog post
reminds us, there's always the danger that pushing the envelope too far will
lead to unintended consequences (thanks to DNA expert Debbie Kennett for
drawing my attention to it - you can read Debbie's own thoughts here).
How your
information is used at LostCousins
LostCousins has always offered a high degree of privacy and
confidentiality. Nobody (other than you and me) ever gets to see your My Ancestors page or your My Details page - the unique matching
system I devised nearly 15 years ago enables such accurate automated matching
that there's absolutely no need for other members to see your entries.
Even after you've been
matched with another member they'll only see your initials - they won’t know
your full name until you agree to correspond, and even then
they won’t have your contact details. Indeed you need
never share your contact details - once contact has been established you can
continue to message each other through the website indefinitely, even if
neither of you is a LostCousins subscriber.
There is one situation in
which I may share your name with another member - and that is if all attempts
to contact you have failed. This exception was written into the LostCousins Privacy Policy soon after the site opened so it
shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
Tracking down 'lost' members
In the
event that your email address no
longer works, or there is no response, I may attempt to contact you in other
ways, starting with the secondary email address you have provided (if any). I
may contact cousins you've been matched with to see whether they have your new
contact details; I may ask the member who referred you to LostCousins
when you joined.
If you provided a postal
address, or I can identify you in the public Electoral Register, I may send you
a letter - but before doing this I'll try to check whether you still live at
the same address (this is easiest in the UK where there are estate agents who
track property sales recorded at the Land Registry). If I can find your number
in the phone book I may call you, even if you’re on the other side of the
world.
I may try to contact you on
other websites including Ancestry, Genes Reunited, and Facebook; I often search
using Google. In fact, if a relative of yours is trying to get in touch with
you I'll do everything I can to track you down - since LostCousins
is all about putting people in contact!
Of course, I won't go to all
these lengths just because your primary email address stops working - I usually
only go through this process when another member who has been matched with you
contacts me.
What other members know about you
The only members who'll ever
know anything about you are the ones you’re matched with. But until you agree
to correspond they'll only know your initials, not your full name.
Members you’re matched with won't
see the entries on your My Ancestors
page, but they will know which of their own entries are shared with you.
The My Contact page for the
relationship shows how each member is related to each of the shared relatives (ie direct ancestor, blood relative etc) and if the Ancestor
Number has been entered for a direct ancestor that will also be shown. It also
shows whether birth, marriage, and death certificates are held - this is to
prevent your relative inadvertently purchasing a certificate you already own.
After you have agreed to
correspond with a cousin they will know whether you have taken an autosomal DNA
test or not (assuming you have completed this part of your My Details page). But they won’t have access to your results, nor
is there currently any facility in the LostCousins
systems for processing or sharing DNA results.
If you want to help me….
Please ensure that your
primary email address is up to date and working (bear in mind that some email
providers unilaterally block incoming emails, and may
not advise either the recipient or the sender when they do this - Hotmail are
probably the worst culprits). Include additional contact details if you
possibly can - a secondary email address and/or a postal address.
If you receive a message from
a relative but are unable to respond in detail because of illness or other commitments please send a holding reply if you possibly can.
If you want to help other members….
Enter the Ancestor Numbers
for your direct ancestors, indicate which BMD certificates you hold for each
relative, and complete the section at the bottom of your My Details page where it asks whether you have a taken an autosomal
DNA test.
If you are researching on behalf of a friend or
relative
Open a LostCousins
account on their behalf - assuming they give their permission, of course (you
can use your own email address). Never enter someone else's relatives on your My Ancestors page, even those of a
spouse - the LostCousins system won't work properly,
and you'll risk confusing other members.
Celebrate
Mother's Day with a DNA test
This Sunday is Mother's Day
in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - which means that companies which
offer DNA tests are offering discounts in those territories (or worldwide in
the case of Family Tree DNA).
It's worth mentioning that ALL of the tests that are discounted can be taken by either
men or women, so it's really just an excuse for a sale.
Please bear in mind that there's only ONE test I
recommend for first-timers - the Ancestry DNA test.
Why Ancestry? Because they
have by far the largest database, and the only way you can match your
DNA against those 9 or 10 million potential cousins is to test with Ancestry.
This is because Ancestry use a phasing algorithm to improve the accuracy of
matches, so they cannot accept transfers of test results from other companies.
You don't need to be
an Ancestry subscriber - the only significant limitation is that you won’t be
able to view your cousins' public trees without out their permission.
But whichever test(s) you
decide to purchase please use the relevant link below so that you can support LostCousins - it won’t cost you a penny more, and you'll be
helping to keep this newsletter independent.
Ancestry DNA
Only AUD99 plus shipping at Ancestry.com.au
(Australia & New Zealand) - ends 13th May
Living DNA
Save 20% at LivingDNA with the code MOMSDAY4 - valid in the US, Canada, Australia & New Zealand only,
ends 14th May
Family Tree DNA
Save on Family Finder and mtDNA at Family
Tree DNA - ends 14th May
23andMe
Save 20% or get 3 for 2 with 23andMe (US and Canada
only) - ends 13th May
Author and broadcaster Adam
Rutherford, whose book A Brief History of
Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in Our Genes I reviewed
in September 2016, will be speaking at the June meeting of 'Greenwich Skeptics in the Pub'. Admission is free and open to all,
but there is a suggested donation of £3 to defer costs - and no doubt the
landlord will hope you'll also pass some of your money over the bar.
The venue is the Star and Garter at 60 Old Woolwich Road,
SE10 9NY - it starts at 7.30pm or thereabouts (you can find out more here).
I shall certainly be there if I can - I loved the book, and he seems a really interesting character.
The life
and death of two 104 year-olds
Daisy Staines lived at the Ashlyn
Care Centre in Harlow, Essex, for eight years before she died on 25th April
following a stroke. According to this BBC News article she
had dementia, and staff at her care home had a struggle to track down any
family members ahead of her funeral next Friday.
Eventually they managed to
track down her great niece, thought to live in Swansea - but sadly she is
'unable' to attend the funeral. But there will be many others there - an appeal
in the local newspaper has drawn quite a response from people whose paths
crossed with Daisy, so I suspect there will be quite a gathering at Parndon Wood Crematorium at 10.45am on 18th May.
This week London-born
scientist David Goodall, also 104 years-old, ended his life at a clinic in
Switzerland, having travelled there from his home in Australia.
Until recently he lived on
his own in a flat, and at the age of 102 he fought a battle to be allowed to
continue working at Edith Cowan University in Perth, where he was an unpaid
honorary research associate. You can read more about
his life and death in this BBC article.
In 1965 The Who sang " I hope I
die before I get old" in the classic My Generation. I
wonder if any of them will live to 104?
Be
careful what you wish for…..
Around 1981, when my software
business was starting to take off, I was selected for jury service - but I was allowed to
defer it because of my crucial role, and eventually it was cancelled
altogether. Being a great fan of Twelve Angry Men I've always regretted
missing out on the opportunity to find out what really goes on in the jury
room, and only a couple of weeks ago I commented to somebody that now, I'll
never know, as at 67 I'm probably too old to be called for jury service.
Apparently not - because
yesterday I opened an official-looking envelope to discover a Jury Summons. So,
the good news is that I'll probably get my wish after all - the bad news is
that I'll be stuck indoors right in the middle of summer.
I gather it's a good idea to
take a book to read - well, I've got a whole pile that's ready and waiting for
me to read and review! And, as Chelmsford Crown Court is only 15 minutes walk from the Essex Record Office, my journey won't
be entirely wasted in the event that we get sent home
early.
Recycling is nothing new - I
have vivid memories of saving milk bottle tops and 'silver' paper when I was a child
to help buy guide dogs for the blind - but these days there is so much more
packaging, some of it quite unnecessary, that we have to
be quite creative in reusing and repurposing rather than simply recycling.
For example, any plastic bag
that comes into our house gets reused several times, even if it eventually ends
up being used as a bin bag, and foil trays always go in the dishwasher for reuse.
And talking of dishwashers, did you realise that they use less water than is required
to wash up by hand?
One problem I haven't solved
yet is our recycled rainwater - we collect so much that using it a watering can
at a time isn’t very efficient, and we could really do with some sort of pump,
so that we can use a hosepipe. Any cost-effective suggestions?
Although my blood pressure is
about the same as it was 2 years ago (when I was told it was normal), I'm now
classed as having high blood pressure - at least, according to new standards adopted
in the US last year. The safe limit has been reduced by the American Heart Association
and the American College of Cardiology from 140/90 to 130/80.
A recent article in New Scientist (28th April 2018 p.25) suggests
that up to 80% of those who have been reclassified will be worse off - and
they're not talking financially, although that's also a likely consequence. The
American College of Physicians is also sceptical.
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?