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Welcome

What a perfect time of year! The chance to take stock of the past 12 months, and look forward to all that the next has to offer…

NEWS

Karen Clare reports on the latest genealogy news. Got

boundaries & borders of the British Isles

As the UK heads towards Brexit, Chris Paton looks at the changing nature of the borders within the British Isles…

piecing together the evidence

It is well worth the effort of gathering evidence from different historical sources to ensure you have the fullest possible picture of your family history, even if the basic ‘facts’don’t appear to match. Here Donald Davis examines a variety of birth records to see how reliable they are for arriving at the truth

Come & find out more about your family tree

The months are whizzing by and the plans for Family Tree Live are shaping up to look very exciting indeed… Read on to find out what we have lined up for you so far

If we memorialise even one…

With no person, no community, left to remember them, the names of many victims of the Holocaust have slipped from memory. Melody Amsel-Arieli provides details of the vital sources to search for clues about your family members and their fate

Books

Helen Tovey reviews a new book examining what it means to be human while Karen Clare takes a look at some incredible personal family history research stories and World War I reads

FAMILY TREE SUBS CLUB

Welcome to the Family Tree Subscriber Club. When you’ve joined Family Tree not only do you save money on your favourite family history read, you can also enter the ‘Subs Club’competitions – only available to subscribers to Family Tree

Spotlight on… the City of York and District Family History Society

Julie Seymour introduces the City of York and District Family History Society, which covers the city and many suburbs of this historic North Yorkshire city, carrying out project and outreach work as part of its busy events programme

Twiglets

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

Dear genealogist’s diary…

As we celebrate the new year, Caroline Makein looks back on a busy 12 months of genealogy. Follow her highs and lows of 2018 along with tips to make 2019 the year for researching your own family story more widely

Ringing in the changes Genealogy in 2019

As we ring in the New Year and welcome another exciting 12 months of genealogy research, we look ahead to developments in this fast-growing hobby. Karen Clare asked a range of family history experts and organisations to reveal what delights 2019 will bring for family history enthusiasts everywhere

To Hell and back

Becky Slack and members of her family took an emotional journey to visit the prisoner of war camp where her grandfather was held during World War II and found a new sense of gratitude and pride in his achievements

Solving the Jones Mystery With DNA

Emma Jolly’s Welsh roots left her with a sturdy brick wall in the form of her ancestor David Jones. But DNA research proved to be its breaking point…

Researching your ancestors’mental health

Understanding your ancestors is an important part of tracing your family history. Here Dr Simon Wills provides helpful information to help shed light on a once-hidden aspect of people’s lives

Discovering iconic documents of WW2

‘I started as an archivist, looking after documents

Your letters

A reminder to be prepared for surprises, especially when you least expect them

A resolute nitpicker

A life full of hobbies has left Diane Lindsay’s home a little untidy… but when it comes to her family history, she is super organised and determined to tie up every loose end

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. It’s time to tuck into Rachel Bellerby’s genealogy treats

Discover the answers to last issue’s challenges How did you do?

Find out the answers to last issue’s Family Tree Academy challenges – the end of year test in the Christmas 2018 issue. Our Academy tutor David Annal explains all

Join the Family Tree Academy & become a skilled family historian

This time last year we started the Family Tree Academy to help you discover more about the records, resources and research skills you need to become the best genealogist you can be – and you seem to have relished it! So we’re delighted to announce part 1 of new series in the Family Tree Academy for 2019. Read on to join in…

Taken a DNA test? Now what?

DNA tests grow ever more popular and can lead to fascinating new insights about your ancestry – but initially the results can be bewildering. Help is at hand, however, with Karen Evans’practical advice for making so much more sense of your DNA

Techy tipsfor family historians

This issue web guru Paul Carter suggests ways to join in with a national online project to help preserve the valuable names, dates and other clues on memorials, plus he explores a vast one-name study website to show what we can all learn from it

Your questions answered

With our panel of experts Jayne Shrimpton, David Frost and Mary Evans