Lockdown Stories

A toast to the ancestors, to family history & to you

Well it’s been quite a year hasn’t it,

The lunch hour genealogist

Being busy doesn’t mean you have to neglect your favourite hobby, you  can still learn in your lunch break! It’s time to tuck into Rachel Bellerby’s genealogy treats

Record collection of the month

Maimed Soldiers’ Petitions

Join the Family Tree Academy & become a skilled family historian

The Family Tree Academy is specially created to help you discover more about the records, resources and research skills you need to become the best genealogist you can be! Read on to find out how to join in with Family Tree Academy challenges

How did you do?

LEARN THE ANSWERS TO LAST ISSUE’S CHALLENGES

BOOKS & co

A selection of the latest family history reads with Helen Tovey & Rachel Bellerby

DIARY DATES

Join in with events from the family history scene

How to join a webinar

New to the world of webinars? Find out how to join one of these online events and access a whole new sector of family history

8 MILLION WELSH PARISH RECORDS ON ANCESTRY, MYHERITAGE & THEGENEALOGIST

Explore more than four centuries of Welsh baptisms, marriages and burials in the parish registers & discover the details for 14.5 million individual ancestors

Explore 12,000 Kent records -spotlighting ancestors at birth and death

FindMyPast’s recent record update comprises birth and baptism records

Over 2 million names included on new RAF release from The Genealogist

TheGenealogist has released 71 new Air Force Lists with over 2 million searchable names, as well as 385 extra war memorials listing over 31,000 names

Exploreover1.5millionindividualswithNorfolkparishrecordrelease

TheGenealogist has added over 1.54 million individuals to its Norfolk Parish Record Collection, released in association with Norfolk Record Office

WORTH £32! YOUR FREE RECORDS

At Family Tree we’ve teamed up with UK

Heritage Index reveals English towns with ‘heritage potential’

Places as diverse as a seaside resort in Essex and a former mill town in Lancashire are among those with the most untapped ‘heritage potential’, a new ranking reveals

UK age 90+ population now at its largest ever : new ONS data

A birth spike after World War I is now reflected in new figures released by the ONS, showing data for men and women aged 90 and over around the UK

42.2millionindexedNorwaychurchrecords released by MyHeritage

MyHeritage has announced the release of more than 42.2 million historic church records for Norway, covering the years 1815 to 1938

Are you more than a TICK IN A BOX?

Chris Paton reflects on his changing sense of identity, thanks to family history. Read on and consider how family history might have changed how you see yourself too

FISHING FOR my forebears

Following the twisting, turning tale that is family history, Melanie Winterbotham’s chance discovery that her ancestors ran a slave plantation in the Caribbean enabled her to unlock several centuries of her family tree and explore the working lives of her Tudor fishermen ancestors in Oxfordshire

Searching the Legacies of British Slave-ownership database

Search the website for biographical information about slave owners, and details and whereabouts of the plantations, and so learn more about the legacies of colonial slavery, the land and wealth involved, the owners – and the background to the lives of enslaved people

Prisoners DOWN UNDER

There is a wealth of sources to trace our convict ancestors transported to Australia, and Simon Wills offers a brief introduction to help you get started

Dear Paul

In this month’s Dear Paul, Paul Chiddicks takes us on a tour of weird and wonderful genealogy finds, from a sheep farmer who died of a broken heart after the loss of his  flock, to the bride and groom who wed after a ‘tedious’ courtship of over 40 years

Twiglets

Diarist Gill Shaw charts the rollercoaster ride of researching her family history

Your DNA Workshop

TAKEN A DNA TEST? Now what? Welcome to

Top 10 tips for studying the family photo album

Whether our family picture archives comprise orderly albums of old studio portraits and snapshots, or random prints squirrelled away in boxes, there is always scope beyond conventional photo-dating techniques for establishing firm time frames and learning more about our precious photograph collections. Photo-dating expert Jayne Shrimpton shares some fascinating advice to help you

The story of a north-east England street: 1860 to 2000

Ian Newton takes us on a tour of 150 years of his street in Stanhope, exploring the lives and occupations of previous residents and using maps and local newspapers to help bring the street’s past to life

Spotlight on... East Yorkshire Family History Society

Barbara Watkinson showcases the work of a society with more than forty years of history and an impressive publication programme, including over 300 monumental inscription projects completed and available to researchers

MY WHEN? WHERE? WHY? WHAT? WHAT NEXT? NOTES

It’s so important to write down your family history findings, so that you can grow your research, without wasting time or getting in a muddle. The research log and blank family tree layouts on these pages are to help you jot down your discoveries as you go

Your questions answered

With our experts Jayne Shrimpton, David Annal, David Frost and Mary Evans

Your letters

Medical heroes, memorial inscriptions & more

Twinkling memories of Christmases past

Diane Linsday peruses family photos of Christmas over the years, and recalls the memories held only in her mind’s eye... and thinks that this year she might begin to write it all down