YOUR FREE RECORDS

Welcome

There’s something undeniably special about visiting our ancestors’ final resting places. Read our guide to graveyards and we will help you step back in time

FAMILY HISTORY NEWS

Karen Clare reports on the latest genealogy news. Send us your stories by emailing them to editorial@family-tree.co.uk or post to our Facebook page at facebook.com/familytreemaguk

Campaign to save archives as consultation set to start

A campaign group is fighting to save a record office

Funding secures future of documents found in skip

A family history society has won Heritage Lottery funding

Family Tree indexes now online!

Want to refer to an earlier issue of Family Tree? You

MOVERS & SHAKERS

John Boeren, from Twitter’s #AncestryHour team, gives his thoughts on what the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) means for family historians

Charity marks 80 years of aid in times of crisis

Fascinating images, posters, uniforms and objects from

Family History Week wonders!

We hoped you enjoyed our hugely successful first ever

Irish indexes grow

The Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS) has

LATEST RECORDS RELEASES

• TheGenealogist.co.uk has launched thousands of records

LONG-LOST PHOTOS REVEAL PEER’S LIFE BEHIND THE GLITZ

The ancestral home of the flamboyant 5th Marquess of

Beyond t he of ficial record: rediscovering lost family papers

The official records can only take you so far in your family history research. Michael Heafford shows how it is well worth investigating whether more personal documents exist that might give you an insight to the personalities, interests and leisure occupations of your ancestors. What might you discover?

LOCKED UP! A life of crime

Pat Chrisfield was shocked to discover a great-uncle who was in and out of prison all his life. Although not guilty of crimes of the century, this was a man caught in a sad trajectory, trapped in a circle of poverty with little or no support, as online newspaper reports and other records go to show…

How did you do?

Read on to find out the answers to last issue’s Family Tree Academy challenges. Our Academy tutor David Annal explains all

Join the Family Tree Academy & become a skilled family historian

Running all through 2018, the Academy learning experience will help you discover more about the records, resources and research skills you need to become the best genealogist you can be. We have case studies for you to pit your wits against, documents for you to decipher, old handwriting for you to tackle, and more…

Your documents & sources challenge Studying records of the poor law

Your documents & sources challenge Studying records

Improve your palaeography skills

Your transcription chall enge

Seeking Harriet Thring

Your case study challenge

Taken a DNA test?

DNA tests are becoming evermore popular and useful as a tool for genealogists, but the results can seem bewildering too. Help is at hand, however! In our brand new series, family historian Karen Evans will be giving you really practical advice to help you make sense of your DNA test results for your family history research

Wharfedale Family History Group

Steve Miller introduces a Yorkshire group that helps family historians find new routes for their old roots, using both modern and traditional methods

Cemetery & graveyard research

There is something intrinsically rewarding about standing on the spot where your ancestor is buried. Celia Heritage’s guide will help you track down these precious final resting places

The lunch hour genealogist

Being busy doesn’t mean you have to neglect your favourite hobby, you can still learn in your lunch break! Squeeze just 60 minutes of family history into your daily routine and you’ll soon start to see your tree blossom. So settle down with your lunch and tuck into Rachel Bellerby’s genealogy treats

Finding Irish church records

Chris Paton provides a handy summary of sources and steps to help you locate Irish church records for researching your ancestors

Preserving our past

Pull -out guide to specialist groups

Researching the life of a ship

Hundreds of folk emigrated across huge oceans in wooden ships with uncomfortable quarters and inadequate rations, with hope in their hearts for a new start. Not everyone was a convict, not everyone rushed to chase gold. Those labourers, farmhands and unskilled city piece-workers were very brave to leave all they knew behind to grab a chance of a better future. Suzanne Hirst has devoted herself to researching one such ship, the Coromandel, and those who sailed in her all those years ago

Hitching a ride: Exploring British travel journals

Throughout the ages, many adventuresome souls have chronicled their travels far and wide. Melody Amsel-Arieli turns back the pages to view the landscape through their eyes

The Family Tree SUBS CLUB

Welcome to the Family Tree Subscriber Club page, where

A Treasure Trove Of Army Records

During 2018, Julie Goucher is spotlighting a website that is unusual, overlooked or simply fascinating, which can help you expand and bring to life your family history. This issue she discovers useful resources on the National Army Museum website

The feel of fashion

Learn about the clothing worn by your mid-Victorian ancestors as dress historian Jayne Shrimpton explores the fashions of the past

Explore the War Memorials Register online

Family historians can now search more than one million names and 30,000 war memorial photographs online, thanks to the newly launched national War Memorials Register. Ian Hook of the Imperial War Museum reveals how and why

Techy tips for family historians

Make the most of digital devices, websites, apps and gadgets, with genealogical web guru Paul Carter

Books

HUMAN ERRORS by Nathan H Lents

Gaol time

Simon Wills learns about a fascinating Scottish family history society project to capture the stories of local convicts over a period of nearly a century

The fraudster, the hotel & the RAF

Ostensibly a pillar of society, Jabez Balfour’s business dealings were so shady they led to the ruin of numerous families. Nick Thorne sees what the records have to say about this man of many parts

Twiglets

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

ADVICE…

With our experts Jayne Shrimpton, Celia Heritage and Tim Lovering

Tune into Secret Lives

Widen your research horizons! Take the chance to explore lesser-known pathways to the past at the upcoming Secret Lives conference

DIARY DATES

Find or post diary dates at www.family-tree.co.uk/Events

MAILBOX

The pleasure of miniature memories, the question of whether to let sleeping dogs lie, and more…

The knock on the door

In this month’s snippet Keith Gregson remembers the dreaded telegrams of WW1

Research at the Sharpe end

Diane Lindsay is an eternal student and family history is just one of the hooks upon which she hangs her passion to Find Stuff Out!