Step away from the sun

Welcome

It’s time to step away from that screen, get outside in the autumn air, and retrace the steps your ancestors once took, to learn more about the lives they led. Your genealogy adventure awaits you!

Tracing graves, memorials & records of death

Finding your ancestor’s date of death and their grave is really important – to help you complete the full set of records, plan a trip to visit their final resting place, and ensure you have the final piece to the puzzle of their life. Here Chris Paton outlines some useful sources to help you trace the records of death, burial and cremation

TUNE IN TO THE PAST

Cork Folklore Project is a community based oral history project in Cork city, Ireland. For the past 23 years it has worked to collect the stories and memories of the people of Cork. Family Tree spoke to David Ryan about this valuable work to record and archive these first-hand accounts

Tracing missing deaths

It’s common to have trouble locating the death of an ancestor, but tracing this vital piece of information is important to your clear understanding of each of your ancestors’ lives and your family tree. Here Simon Wills has created a handy checklist to help you trace the date, place and circumstances of your forebears’ deaths

Taken a DNA test? Now what?

DNA tests grow ever more popular and can lead to fascinating new insights about your ancestry. There is a lot to learn, but help is at hand with Karen Evans’ practical advice for making so much more sense of your DNA

New website sheds light on Prince Albert’s legacy

More than 17,500 photographs, prints and private and

WW2 Cabinet War Rooms visitor book is digitised

The original visitor book that was kept in the Cabinet

Peasants’ Revolt project wins nearly £1m funding

An innovative new research project is set to produce

Town’s backing secures local exhibition cash

An exhibition is to be held to celebrate a town’s mining

YOUR FREE RECORDS

WORTH £34!

Descendants visit Rorke’s Drift soldier’s long-lost grave

Descendants of a soldier who fought in the famous Battle

Genealogy websites: releases & offers

• TheGenealogist has added the Charles Booth Poverty

Families commemorate forgotten Jewish refugee camp 80 years on

TAP HERE TO VIEW GALLERY

Beacons tribute to British Home Children

Beacons of light are being lit across Canada and the

FREE VIDEO GUIDES

This issue we have three more free video tutorials

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Susie Douglas, founder of Twitter’s popular #AncestryHour, explains why autumn was an important time in our ancestors’ lives – and how it’s an ideal time for family historians to follow the paper trail

Mayflower 400 celebrations about to set sail

Exciting events have been added to the year-long programme

My post-war pilgrimage

After an inpromptu visit to Kensal Green Cemetery, Ray Westlake uncovered a childhood cousin he never knew he had and made a post-war pilgrimage to remember her young life

Are you descended from a Pendle Witch?

In 1612, 12 people from Pendle Forest, Lancashire, were tried in Lancaster for witchcraft. Their crimes included murder by witchcraft 20 years previously, the victim dying three months after being ‘cursed’, and murder by association of being near the person doing the cursing. They were tried without being allowed a defence and hanged on the evidence of a nine-year-old girl. Julie Aspin tries to glean clues about the truth, from the many myths that have grown over the centuries

Write your family history in 1,000 words!

Writing up our family history is something many of us wish to do, but it can be so hard to know when and how to begin, can’t it? So, to help you realise your goal of putting pen to paper, in the July issue of Family Tree we set you, the readers, the challenge of writing your family history in 1,000 words

My mother’s Croft line

With no further ado, here’s Stuart Cresswell’s 1,000 words on his mother’s father’s line – the Crofts

My family’s wartime plant nursery

Brenda Kearley, 95, relates the story of a memorable childhood to her daughter-in-law, Susie Kearley…

Twiglets

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

Faces in the light

As family historians we all dream of uncovering lost treasures, and John Thomson has stumbled on a gem of a collection. Helen Tovey asked him about his lucky find…

Spotlight on… Ryedale Family History Group

Ana Maria Richards introduces a family history group for those who live in or have ancestors from the Ryedale region of North Yorkshire

An author with aristocratic connections

Researcher Nick Thorne traces the author PG Wodehouse through the records by using the collections on TheGenealogist.co.uk

Coming next in FamilyTree

Discover the best websites for tracing your ancestors

Books

Helen Tovey and Karen Clare take a look at new titles of interest to family historians

DIARY DATES

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

Secret sketches from wartime archives

A family-friendly exhibition at Bletchley Park is showcasing

Your letters

Valiant vessels, witches, medals & more…

The Family Tree Notice Board

While holidaying in South Devon recently, assistant

Stitching memories

Diane Lindsay’s family history adventure sees her revelling in her husband’s Scottish ancestors, many of whom plied a needle to earn their crust

ONE-NAME STUDIES

This issue, in her ongoing series, Julie Goucher looks at methods for publishing and preserving your one-name study

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

British Alien Internees 1939-1945 records collection

Record collection of the month

Your questions answered

With our panel of experts Jayne Shrimpton, Kathy Chater, Kate Keter, Mary Evans and Graham Caldwell

Postcards – blogging about our ancestors’ ‘instant’ messages

Postcards have always held a real fascination for genealogist and web guru Paul Carter. Here he shows you how to piece together the clues they reveal, research their back story, and share your research with the web

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 join in with Family Tree Academy challenges

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

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

Unit topic: Maps & Land Ownership

Introduction

This issue’s theme is maps & land ownership

Now it’s time to put your research skills to the test. Have a look at the following documents and answer the questions below. The solutions aren’t all in the documents themselves; you’ll need to look at a variety of other sources to find most of the answers