7 Social Networks for Family Historians

Image courtesy of foxypar4

Family historians tend to make good social networkers - in other words, they are skilled at building connections with other people through social interactions. Bearing this in mind, it isn't surprising that as a group they have embraced the rise of Web 2.0, or in plain English, genealogists quickly discovered ways to utilise new websites and technologies which allow users to build communities of like-minded folk.

Over the last couple of years, a number of social networks have sprung up, some designed specifically for use by genealogists, others which are more general, but still extremely useful to anyone who wants to connect with other researchers, or find people who are researching the same lines. Today, I'd like to take a look at a handful you might find useful.

Facebook - Facebook is one of the most popular networks, and although not intended as a genealogy tool, it does have a thriving community of family historians who socialise, share advice and take part in writing challenges and carnivals. The site can also be a useful tool for finding long lost relatives. Since I have been a member I have been contacted by 3 previously unknown cousins who found me by simply using the name search tool. However, this might not work as well if you have a popular surname. There are also a small number of applications which members can add to their pages to display a family tree and/or find others who are researching the same lines, and a Blog Network application (you can see my network widget in the far right sidebar) which you can use to find interesting genealogy blogs.

Genmates - This is a new, but growing, purpose made network. Features include forums where members can post their research interests or ask for advice, blogs, events, photo albums and an events listing board. The site is very easy to use and you have the option of email notifications to keep you up to date with new messages and posts. Because of the ease of use, I would suggest this as good site for anyone who is new to social networking.

My Heritage - Another purpose made site, but this one is more sophisticated. Members can build a family tree, either manually or by uploading a gedcom, add photos, post to the message boards, contact other members, and download the accompanying family tree software package to coordinate their online and offline research. There is also a powerful search tool, but I've found it seems to concentrate mainly on US relevant resources - the site is still new so that may change.

Ancestry UK and Ancestry.com - Although, Ancestry is really designed for research, there are a number of community features which give the site a social feel. You can upload and share your family tree, leave message in the forums, or search for other people who share your research interests.

Geneanet - Particularly useful for anyone searching on the European mainland, you can upload your gedcom, use the forums, contact other members, and contribute to the wiki. The site is available in both English and French.

My Family - Made by the people behind Ancestry, features include photo albums, online family tree, discussion boards and video uploading. You have the option of keeping your tree private, only sharing it with those you invite.


Amiglia - I haven't used this site, but it seems to be similar to My Family. Features include family tree, photo albums, calendars and maps. There is also a tool called Family Facebook which displays all your friends on one page along with contact options.

Any suggestions of your own? Why not share them in the comments =>

Who's your 1000th?

I just posted my response to the 'Who's your 1000th' game over at my personal genealogy blog. Why not pop over, have a read and then tell us about your 1000th.

How to get the most from Google searches

I've been planning to write a post about how to make the most of Google searches, but discovered Robert Ragan has already made a video tutorial which demonstrates some really useful techniques - you can see that above.

I hadn't thought of using the misspelling 'geneology' in my searches - I'm a word nerd, I like to make sure I use correct spellings - but it is a good idea, because not everyone will spell the word correctly, and it would be a shame to miss useful information simply for the sake of one letter. On the other hand, I'd make an addition to combined searches in the shape of the term "family history" which has turned up some interesting results when combined with a surname.

A Twitter of Genealogists

Do you tweet? Or maybe twitter? In plain English, are you using Twitter? If you are, have you connected with other family historians?

What is Twitter? Twitter is a popular micro-blogging platform, which is quite hard to describe to anyone who hasn't used it, but I'll try. Think of it as a kind of global tea party where members communicate using public messages which are limited to 140 characters. People find all sorts of uses for the service, some chat to friends, some share useful links, others post research questions. It isn't designed specifically for genealogy - most users seem to be techy types - but there are number of family historians using the site.

How do I find these people? Very easily! If you go along to Twitter Search, and type 'genealogy' into the search box, you will come to a page listing all the people who have been talking, or tweeting, about genealogy. If you click on a user name - it's the link at the start of each message - you can go to their profile page and find out more about them. Don't go mad and befriend them all, take a look at their profiles to see what else they tweet about, click through to any blogs or websites they list, and if you think they seem interesting, then click the follow button.

You could also try searching for more specific subjects. I have had limited success doing this, but if your research interests are quite popular you may have more luck.

Now what do I do? I can think of two main uses for twitter for genealogists. First, you could simply use it to socialise with people who share your love of family history. If you are anything like me that is an end in itself because, despite it's growing popularity, it is still something of a minority interest. However, you could also make use of the collective wisdom of both your new Twitter friends and also their networks by asking research questions. And of course, you can share any useful resources you have found. If you include the hashtag '#genealogy' in your message it will be found by others who may decide to follow you too.

I don't understand all this terminology! No problem, here's a quick guide:

Tweet - a message limited to 140 characters.
Retweet - quite simply, the act of reposting a tweet.
Hashtag - an identifier such as #genealogy used to make it easier to search for specific subjects or words.
Follow - the act of connecting with, or befriending another twitter member.

Anything else I should know? Usually, at this point I would explain a little about networking and about the Twitter community being a two-way street. In other words, don't hesitate to ask for advice, but do try to offer help too, make your tweets a conversation, not a monologue. However, most family historians are very skilled networkers, so this advice is probably redundant. 

What about bells and whistles? Twitter doesn't have any. I think the simplicity of the service is one of it's most attractive features, members don't have to cope with a steep learning curve because it is pretty much a case of what you see is what you get. There are numerous complementary services and tools though, for example: Twitpic, which lets you share images, or Tweetburner, which shortens long urls (useful given the character limit) and also tracks their use. You will find many more applications, tools and useful information at the Twitter Fan Wiki.

I hope you found this quick guide useful, if you have any questions don't hesitate to leave a comment.

8 Things About Me

Debra, The Ancestry Detective, kindly tagged me for the 8 Things . . . meme, here is my genealogy themed list:

1) Like most families, mine contains some with odd, or even rude sounding names. The most unusual would have to be Bransom Haggis (there are several of those), I've tried to find the origins of their forename - to answer the question, what were the parents thinking? - and discovered they/we are related to a family called Bronson, which might explain it. I also have branches called Dick and Bozom who sound like they walked off the set of a Carry On film.

2) I seem to have solved a family mystery. The story goes that my great, great grandmother, Catherine McShane had a huge argument with her brother Frank, which was so serious that they never spoke to each other again. In fact, Frank made sure they couldn't speak, by emigrating to America where he is rumoured to have died in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. During my research I discovered my great, great grandfather/Catherine's husband, John Rylands came from a Protestant family - the McShanes were Catholic - and his family were members of an Orange Lodge. I suspect the religious differences could have been enough to cause a serious family feud, which seems very sad.

3) Following on from that, it was surprising to learn just how important religion was to my ancestors. Not just in the sense that they had great spiritual beliefs, although many did, but in the effect it had on their lives, even to the extent that they became caught up in wars. I learnt about the influence religion had on the history of this country at school, but it was hard to really relate to the participants. Discovering their names and learning about their lives makes it so much easier to relate to those events.

4) Although, I've managed to discover a great deal about the English and Scots branches of my family, I know much less about the Irish and Welsh branches which is a disappointment. It's hard to research in Ireland because so many records are missing, and my Welsh relatives have really popular names - you try finding one William Evans in Denby LOL

5) When I was a child I had some odd ideas about the past. For example, I thought that during the Dark Ages it actually was dark, and that the first half of the 20th century was black and white.

6) I have inherited a love of tomato soup from my grandfather, along with hair that has it's own ideas about how it should be styled.

7) When I was growing up, my family visited our neighbour, Mrs Holtom, for a glass of eggnog every Christmas Eve. Those occasions are the only times I have ever drunk eggnog, and I'm still not entirely sure I know what it is. Maybe, I should ask Google . . .

8) I often wonder what our ancestors would think of the internet. Looking at my own, there are a few I can imagine would have taken up blogging, because they did seem to be the sort of people who made a habit of recording their thoughts. From a modern perspective, it is a remarkable thing. Not only does it give us a wonderful range of research opportunities, it also gives us the chance to leave a record behind that could be found by our descendants - if any of mine come across my scribblings they might wonder what kind of person they are descended from LOL

Resources for tracing your Huguenot ancestors

Some time ago I promised to write about tracing ancestors who were immigrants to Britain and Ireland - finally, here is the first post in that series. I'm going to begin with a look at the Huguenots because, although a sizeable number of people in this part of the world are descended from them we rarely hear much about them.

Image: St Bartholomew's Day Massacre by Francois Dubois courtesy of Wikipedia.

Who were they ? The Huguenots were French Protestants (Calvinists) who fled their home country to escape persecution following the Wars of Religion. Approximately, 60,000 made their way to Britain and Ireland where they were broadly made welcome. In Britain, the largest Huguenot communities could be found in London, East Anglia and Warwickshire - they are credited with the development of the weaving industry in the latter.

I have a French surname, am I of Huguenot descent? Not necessarily. Prior to the arrival of the Huguenots, there were a significant number of people in Britain and Ireland who had French surnames. These were people who were either of Norman descent, or who were closely connected to the Normans in some other way, for example: servants, tenants or soldiers. If your surname can be traced back beyond the 17th century, it is more likely to be Norman. Having said that, many people in Britain and Ireland are of Huguenot descent, especially in the areas where they mainly settled - it is estimated that 25% of Londoners have a Huguenot ancestor.

How do I find out more? You can make a start by visiting the website of The Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland which contains lots of useful information for anyone starting to research in this area. The Family History page includes a number of really helpful files you can download.

 Image: Huguenot weavers cottages in Canterbury by Suzanne Knights

Further Reading:

• The Huguenots in London
• Huguenots message board (Also covers Walloons) 
• Online tour of a Huguenot's house
• A webring for Huguenot websites
• Huguenot names found in Devon 
• The Huguenot page on Wikipedia
  

Books:

• Ireland's Huguenots and Their Refuge, 1662-1745: An Unlikely Haven
• Huguenot Heritage: The History and Contribution of the Huguenots in Britain

Online Family History events

Just some news of a couple of online genealogy events you might enjoy.

• Looking 4 Ancestors is holding a blog carnival with a Canadian theme, to submit a post go here before 7th December.
• Another carnival at Smile for the Camera, this time (not surprisingly) with a photographic theme. "Choose a photograph of an ancestor, relative, yourself, or an orphan photograph that is your Stocking Stuffer and bring it to the carnival." Submit your post here before 10th December.

Why one should never wee in the dining room

If you enjoyed my recent post about the Middles Ages, you might like to read about the work of Daniel of Beccles. In about* the 13th century, Daniel wrote Book of the Civilised Man, the first English book of social etiquette. Within it's pages he went into great detail about the standard of behaviour expected of a chap who hope to make his way in society - I say chap because Daniel's advice does not seem to be aimed at women. In fact, I suspect he wasn't keen on anyone who didn't wee standing up**, but, I digress.

While some of the advice on offer seems quite obvious: don't pee in the dining room; some of it is in use today, for example: not talking with your mouth full. The original work was written in Latin, but there is an online translation along with an interesting accompanying essay on the website of The Foxearth and District Local History Society***.

* Contemporary accounts which coincide with references in the book suggest that it was written in the 13th century.

** Just realised, that should be people who wee standing up outside the dining room ;-)

*** The site also contains church records from Pentlow.

How Google Maps can help eliminate false leads

Click image to see larger map

I have noticed that, on the whole, my ancestors did not move around a great deal and tended to marry people who lived within a 10 mile radius of their home. While this isn't always the case, this knowledge can be useful when it comes to finding alternative locations to search for information. The problem is, sometimes my family lived in places I'm not familiar with, so even if I know they lived in Village A, but I find a record of their marriage in Village B, it isn't immediately obvious that I have found the correct people. This is when Google Maps can be very useful. Not only is it a great way to find and explore the home towns of our ancestors, it also features a route finding tool which shows you the exact distance between two or more locations.

The map above shows the results of a search I made for the distance between Rempstone and Normanton on Soar which are in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. Several branches of my family came from these villages, but because they are in different counties, I was initially unsure that the families were connected. However, as you can see, the two places are less than five miles apart.

Using distance as a way of eliminating incorrect results isn't foolproof. Sometimes people did travel very long distances but in my experience these tended to be people who had a good reason to do so, for example: soldiers, sailors and journeymen. Farmers, on the other hand, tended to stay close to home. Therefore, distance can be helpful but only when combined with other known facts.

Presentment Bills of the Archdeaconry of Nottingham

I have posted about the Presentment Bills of the Archdeaconry of Nottingham before, but only in passing. They are such a fascinating resource that I thought they really deserved a post of their own.

What are they: The presentment bills are a collection of documents created by church wardens in the 16th and 17th centuries detailing the names (and often other information) of people who had broken church law. Typical 'offences' would be such things as failing to attend church, failing to have a new baby baptised or indulging in immoral behaviour. As far as I know, all parishes maintained such records, but only Nottingham has created an online catalogue.

Which areas do they cover: The bills cover the Bingham, Retford, Newark and Nottingham deaneries. To find out which area your ancestors lived in try the table on this page.

How can they help: If you happen to have ancestors from Nottinghamshire, there is a good chance you will find some reference to them in these bills. Or, if not your direct ancestors, then members of their extended family. Some entries are quite detailed and will provide more than just a name. I have found spouses and occupations in entries pertaining to my relatives.

Furthermore, they can tell you a little about the kind of people your ancestors were. I discovered one branch of my family were regularly penalised for not attending church. This makes sense. The family were Anabaptist therefore they did not recognise the authority of the Anglican church and were classed as non-Conformists. Another branch received similar penalties, they were recusant Catholics. Of course, if your ancestors were penalised for non-attendance, that does not mean they followed a non-conformist religion. It could simply mean they were not particularly religious at all. Then as now, many people only really felt the need to attend church for 'hatches, matches and dispatches' and would have resisted attempts to force them to attend every Sunday.

You can find a longer and more detailed description of the bills here.

Examples: The easiest way to search, is to open the page you want to view and use your computers built in search tool. I clicked on the link for the Bingham Deanery for Easter 1608 and didn't find any of my relatives listed - they must have been behaving themselves LOL However, there a few interesting entries.

AN/PB 293/2/47 24.9.1603 Wilford
Summer and winter 1603/4
Churchwardens present the following: Joan Stafford, widow, a railer, a scold and an uncharitable liver.
Bound together with other documents from the same series, AN/PB 293/2.

Thankfully I'm not related to Joan - although I do wonder if she really was as unpleasant as that description suggests.

AN/PB 293/2/49 24.9.1603 Shelford
Summer and winter 1603/4
One churchwarden presents the following: Wm Smyth for detaining the surplice from the parish, and for using very uncomely words as 'turd in the churchwardens teeth', which was spoken in the church porch.
Bound together with other documents from the same series, AN/PB 293/2.

Not much to add there except to say Mr Smith sounds like a very rude man.

AN/PB 293/2/56 1603 (c) Barnby in the Willows
Summer and winter 1603/4?
Churchwardens present the following: John Burt and Alse Nealer for a common fame that John Burt said that he lay on the bed with the said Alse in the night time; Robert England for a slandering of his neighbour Edmund Ward, saying that he lived upon 'sheefts' and made a benefit of cavilling with other men, and the said Robert said with slanderous speeches on 10 July last that Edmund Ward had practised this two years to take his house on his head; the said Robert was slandered by Roger Richardson's wife that he came to her bed and would have lain with her, and that he brought her some plums in his hat.
No place name given; identified as Barnby in the Willows from names of churchwardens.
No date given; found in series of presentment bills from 1603 and 1604.
Bound together with other documents from the same series, AN/PB 293/2.

Trying to seduce a woman with a hat full of plums - it sounds like a scene from a Carry On film LOL I suppose this was the pre-chocolate era so the poor chap would have had to make do with whatever was at hand.

And finally, my favourite entry . . .

AN/PB 294/2/66 7.5.1607 East Markham
Easter 1607
Churchwardens present the following: Elizabeth Cowper for fornication with Thomas Browne, as she says; Nicholas Storke for being absent from church on the Sabbath day and being at bowls; we asked him a reason for his absence and he answered 'he can reade as much at hoam & that he knoweth our reder for no lawfull minister', but we know our reader has a licence by one Mr Dodsworth of York for Mr Field's absence.
Written in another hand above each of the names: 'emt'.
Written in another hand at side of page: 'R'.

If I were in Mr Storke's shoes I think I would have gone bowling rather than spend my Sundays with a bunch of people who felt the need to police my morals LOL

The Middle Ages - not as smelly as you might think

Leonardo da Vinci - Self Portrait

If you have been using the internet for any length of time, the chances are you have come across the email forward listing all sorts of horrible indignities our ancestors lived with and (in some versions) suggesting that these are the origins of modern sayings. To give you an example of what I mean here is one version of the essay:

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500's:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water..

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof When i t rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying .. It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, Dirt poor.

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a thresh hold.

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old..

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon. They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat..

Those with money had plates! made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer..

And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !

It's an interesting read. However, it is completely untrue. While some of it does sound plausible, there are a few clues that give it away, for example the inclusion of American sayings which are either not used in England, or which only became commonplace here in the 19th and 20th centuries. Furthermore, the period the essay is said to cover varies from sender to sender. Sometimes, specific centuries are mentioned, in other versions the essay is alleged to be a description of the whole medieval period.

The Middle Ages lasted from the 5th century to the early 16th. During that period society was not static and life in the 5th century was dramatically different to that in the 16th. Enormous advances were made in the fields of science and technology, which may seem quite basic to our modern eyes, but which did provide great improvements to the lives of those who were around at the time. It's easy to look back and assume people were smelly, primitive barbarians, but really they weren't. Remember Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century, not long after this, Copernicus developed a formula to prove that the earth was not the centre of the universe, and glasses (spectacles) and water mills had been invented. It was also a period of great literary and artistic works, both Leonardo da Vinci and Chaucer were Medieval folk.

If you want to know more about medieval life, try the following links:

• Snopes: Life in the 1500s - detailed debunking of the essay.
• Top 10 Lists: Top 10 Medieval Inventions - list of the most useful or important inventions from the Medieval period.
• About.com: Medieval Science - a selection of articles about science in the Middle Ages.
• Epact: Scientific Instruments of Medieval and Renaissance Europe - Online museum of Medieval instruments and equipment.
• Wikipedia: Medieval Art - Article and further reading about Medieval art.
• Wikipedia: Medieval Literature - Article and further reading about Medieval literature.
• Internet Medieval Source Book: Intellectual Life - List of sources for discovering more about the thinkers, philosophers and intellectuals of the Medieval world.
• Internet Medieval Source Book: Social History - List of sources to help you learn more about life in Medieval society.

Resources for finding your witches

In my post yesterday, I included a reference to a trial for witchcraft. Of course, the people who were executed on that occasion were not the only ones who were accused of such a crime and many people living today are descended from those who came to the attention of witch hunters. I have an alleged witch in my tree - a very long way back, you'll find her in one of the sources linked below - if you think you also have a witchy ancestor here are a few resources you might find useful.

• About.com: Hunting for witches in the family tree - A list of resources covering both Europe and the US.
• Historical Witchcraft Trials in England, The Channel Islands, Ireland and Scotland - Details of trials held in the British Isles.
• Essex Witch Trials - Focuses mainly on Essex which was almost the epicentre of witch hunting, but there is also some information about trials elsewhere in England. Also a lot of fascinating background information.
• The Pendle Witches - Probably the most famous English witches, this site provides background and history as well as details of the witches confessions. I visited Pendle in the early 80s and while I don't think it is in the grip of evil forces, it certainly has an atmosphere.
• The Witch Hunts - Lots of historical information about European witch hunts between 1400 and 1800.
• The Old Bailey Online - The online database of London's central criminal court includes details of some witchcraft trials.
• Fortean Times: Witchfinders - Malcolm Gaskill takes a look at witch finders including the most infamous, Matthew Hopkins.

It is important to remember that those who were accused of witchcraft were unlikely to actually be witches and would not have described themselves as such. The reasons for the witch hunting phenomena are varied, but those accused tended to be people who for some reason were outside mainstream society, those who followed non-conformist religions or those who were perceived to be getting above their allotted station in life or who fell out with the wrong people.

That Was A Year That Was

The online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, receives a lot of criticism for inaccuracy. To an extent this criticism is warranted, there are some bogus entries. However, Wikipedia is a good starting point for further research. It is particularly useful for adding background to your research because of it's pages devoted to the events of specific years, or even specific days.

I'm one of those people who like to add background to the lists of dates and names I compile. I don't think I'm unusual in this, most family historians do like to study local and national history, culture, etc. in an attempt to bring some colour to the basic details which are all many of us have about our ancestors. Even if we know more, it is useful to know what was going on in the society our ancestors lived in, often this information can help to explain why they did certain things, for example: moving to a new town. This is where a comprehensive encyclopaedia is extremely handy.

So, if you are curious about the world your ancestors were born into, pop over to Wikipedia, type a date into the search box, and browse the resulting page. To give you an example of what you might find, I did a search for 1682, the year my 8 x great grandmother, Elizabeth Holmes was born in Rolleston, Nottinghamshire. The page for that year includes a few interesting entries.

• March 11 - Chelsea hospital for soldiers is founded in England.
• September 14 - Bishop Gore School in Swansea, Wales is founded.
• October 27 - The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded by William Penn.
• October 31 - The city of Bideford, England two men and one woman were some of the last to be executed for witchcraft in England. They were accused of speaking in unknown languages as well as practicing knowledge beyond their natural abilities, and acting in peculiar manners. The woman, Guenevere Damascus, as well as her lover (name unknown) and their spiritual mentor were burned at the stake.

The latter entry tells me it was still quite a brutal and superstitious society, but the first two hint that it was becoming more enlightened. The third entry is interesting because it shows that even at that early date, the New World was growing and thriving.

While none of these incidents directly affected my grandmother they were, in a small way, indicative of the way her society functioned and what it was becoming.

5 Reasons why a family historian needs a blog or website

There are numerous websites which offer members the facility to upload a gedcom file and create an online family tree, so some might ask whether there is any point to creating and maintaining a stand alone blog or website. I say yes, and this is why:

1) Visibility: It's more likely to be found. I've noticed some of the places I have stored copies of my tree do not turn up on the results page of search engines. Your own site or blog probably will, which means long lost cousins are more likely to find you - and maybe share some valuable info!

2) Customisation: It's an obvious point, but an important one for some people. You can make your own site fit your taste and preferences more easily, and also decide what kind of material or content you wish to display.

3) Community: You can build up a community consisting of family members, friends and others who are interested in your research. And if many hands make light work, many historians make lighter research. Well, that's the theory anyway LOL

4) Sharing: You can share all the advice, tips and resources you have gathered on your journey. I often find the most useful information on a personal blog rather than a mainstream site.

5) Background: This fits into a couple of other categories, but it's important, so I'll mention it separately. Having your own site or blog means you can add information which would not fit into a standard online tree. Subjects such as; folklore, history and culture provide fascinating background information which will help you create a more vivid and colourful picture of the kind of lives your ancestors lived.

So, over to you. Do you have a blog or website? What kind of information do you publish? Do you have any tips for anyone who is about to start their own?

Don't laugh, someone lives there

The Genealogue published an interesting post yesterday about the origin of the name of the Christmas Mountains in the US. The ironic thing about the theories is that one sounds quite reasonable, the other like the opening scenes of a horror film, but the latter is most likely to be true!

Here in the UK, we too have unusually named places. I grew up not far from the Worcestershire village of Wyre Piddle, which sounds awfully painful. However, the name actually comes from the nearby stream. Over in Gloucestershire, you can find the villages of Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter. As you can see from the photos on the page I linked to, they are chocolate box pretty, and don't look as though they could be the scene of a massacre. They weren't. The name probably comes from an Old English word, slohtre which means inferior - possibly a reference to boggy land.

I now live in Yorkshire, and the Tykes are not immune to funny names either. They have a Blubberhouses - there are several suggestions for the origins of that name. I thought it may be connected with whaling because of it's proximity to Whitby, but apparently not. There is also a Spacey Houses - I can't find anything about how the village got it's name. Perhaps it was founded by Kevin. If you know, do leave a comment.

If you are wondering about the name of an English town or village, try this site.

So what about your part of the world? Why not share your strange, interesting, funny or downright odd place names.

Money, then and now

I've just added a really useful link to the sidebar, Current Value of Old Money contains a wealth (sorry, bad pun) of useful information and resources for calculating the value of old money in modern terms. The resources provided include such things as average wages for specific jobs, prices of food and other essential items and one site I found particularly useful, Measuring Worth, which features a calculator you can use to automatically translate an old value into a modern one, or vice versa.

In 1638, my 10 x great grandmother, Sabina Worsley (mother of Anna Wigmore) was left a legacy of £1300 in her step father's will. She received this money when she married in 1640. Even today, £1300 would be a worthwhile amount, but back then it would have been equivalent to receiving £175, 768 in modern values. A very generous gift which must have given the newly married couple a great start to their marriage. But what about people who weren't so fortunate?

Most of my ancestors would have been lucky to see that kind of money in a lifetime, but how much, or little, would they have earned? In an article at the website of The International Institute of Social History, Jan Luiten van Zanden estimates labourers earned about 10 pence a day in the period between 1580 and 1626. In today's world, 10 pence a day would be worth about £5.57. Not a great amount, especially when you consider that the minimum hourly wage is currently £5.52. Of course, prices have also gone up, but just how far would that 10 pence go?

In an account taken at Southampton in 1625, we can see that 1lb of cheese cost 2 1/2 pence, and two lean chickens were 6 pence. Ale is also mentioned with the good stuff selling for 3 shillings for 18 gallons. The amounts shown on the page are often for large orders and the total costs reflect this. To get an idea of how much an individual, or family would spend you will need to convert the archaic measures into the standard ones used to day. And if you aren't sure how much a bushel is, or how many gallons are in a hogshead try this page.

5 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Message Boards and Mailing Lists

Message boards and mailing lists are brilliant places to find information, discover long lost cousins and get to know other family historians. If you haven't already done so, why not find a few which match your research interests and subscribe. Rootsweb and Yahoo are good places to look, or take a look at the links in the right sidebar for some of my favourites.

Once you have signed up, you may not have much information to share if you are just starting out, but you will find the posts helpful and often highly informative even if they aren't necessarily about your family. Most of the lists you join will have their own guidelines about the kind of posts which can be made to the list and the sort of behaviour which is expected of members. However, the following tips are usually applicable to all lists and should help you to get the most out of your membership.

1) Write surnames in capital letters. For example BLOGS, not Blogs. It is not always obvious that a surname is just that, some are also first names, or place names, or occupations. So Fred George, could be a full name, or it could be two forenames. Fred Carpenter might mean Fred who was a carpenter.

2) Write descriptive titles. Try to explain what your message is about in a short, succinct title. For example 'Fred BLOGS, date of birth?' lets other members know you are asking about the date of birth of someone called Fred Blogs.

3) Post to the correct list or board. If a mailing list or message board has been dedicated to a particular place, name or other topic, try to avoid posting unrelated queries there. People who are searching for their ancestors in Aberdeen are unlikely to know about yours from Southampton.

4) Use a signature message. But, only if it is allowed! Ask the moderator or list owner if you are unsure. If it is OK, append a short message - no more than 2 or 3 lines, including the surnames of a few of the families you are looking for, or a link to your online family tree. This can be a great way to find other people who have information about your ancestors.

5) Try to give back. If you are a newcomer, you may not have much advice or information to offer. However, you can help in other ways. Maybe you know about a particular occupation. Or maybe you have a lot of knowledge of a particular location - for example, your home town. Read the other messages on the list, and if you see one you can help with, send off an answer.

Those are my tips, if you have any why not share them in the comments :-)

18 resources for family history beginners

The following post is taken from an email I put together a while ago for a friend who asked about the best places online to start his research without spending too much cash. I know many of the sites listed will be obvious to someone who has been involved in family history research for a while, but if you are just getting started have a browse, I hope you find something useful.

I should say, my family are from the UK and Ireland, and the sites do reflect that, but some will be of use if you are looking in other parts of the world. I've included a number of free to use sites, because they can be useful places to start to look especially if you only want to find the details you need to send off for certificates.

• GENUKI is a UK and Ireland family history site full of useful links, mostly organised into counties, then sub-divided. It is a huge site, but worth looking around because it is packed with really helpful stuff. Read their beginners guide before you start, it is long but worthwhile because it is full of advice and tips about things you need to know.
• Cyndi's List is similar to GENUKI but has an international theme. There is still a lot of British and Irish stuff there, plus a range of other bits and pieces that you may find helpful for example: occupational information.
• UK National Archives is the main repository for records, censuses, military information and pretty much everything else that is, or has been recorded in the UK. You can search for free, but there is a small charge to view most records. The exception is anything held on A2A (linked below).
• Ancestry have some free searches, most you have to pay for, but you can find a lot using the former. At the moment the 1881 census for England and Wales is free, so are all the birth, death and marriage records from 1837 provided by the Free BMD. To search these go here. Remember, the dates given there are only the date of registration, and are divided into quarters. (You can also search this database at the link below, but sometimes it can become very slow due to the amount of traffic it receives.) You will be able to search the actual registrars transcripts, some later ones include such things as the mothers maiden name, or the name of a spouse, but not all. You need to be a subscriber to use these though. Ancestry also have wills, directories indexes from places such as universities and military records. Actually, they seem to add new stuff all the time so it's probably not possible to include everything here.
• Free BMD is a voluntary project to upload all birth, marriage and death records from 1837. It's not complete, but more and more data is being added every day. If you find a marriage record using the search on ancestry, Free BMD can be useful for finding the spouse. They list all marriages in a district in that date period, so if you know that Fred Blogs married a Freda you can usually match them up. Even if you don't know the name of the other person, you can at least narrow it down to a few potential candidates then use other records to find the right one. Once you have located the record you want you can use the link provided to send off for a full copy which will contain a lot more information for example: names of parents on a birth certificate, the name and occupation of fathers on marriage certificates.
• Freecen is a sister project of the Free BMD working to compile a database of census returns from 1841 - 1891. Once again, it's not complete, but I have found plenty of useful stuff there, and you get to see more info than you would on the Ancestry site which is really useful if you find you have several possibilities but need to see other information to be sure of a match.
• Freereg is a similar project but listing parish returns (baptisms, marriages and burials. Some records are brief with little more than a name and date, others are more detailed and include similar information to civil records.
• UKBMD has lists of local sites some of which have searchable databases. Plus you will find other useful info, some may not seem that important at first but as you progress it is helpful (and interesting) to know about such things as local industries, the location of churches and so on.
• Family Search has a range of records, the 1881 census and a lot of parish records. Just be careful. They also allow their members to edit the database, so check the source. If it is from a parish register or some other official document it should be accurate. However, if it was supplied by a member be wary. Some of this info is wrong. It is free to use, and can be helpful, just make sure you check the source and then double check the data.
• A2A is a database of directories, family documents, maps and other interesting stuff. It doesn't have any BMDs or census returns, but it is handy. For example you might find a relative who worked in particular trade and want to know more, this would be a good place to look.
• Historical Directories is similar but with an emphasis on trade directories
• There is also BOPCRIS - that has mainly government archives.
• And British History Online is another similar idea, but that allows you to bookmark texts for future reference. This is a great place to look for detailed county histories.
• OldMaps is a good place to get a look at the layout of an area in the past. If you find a street or area that isn't mention on a modern map, try having a look there.
• Rootsweb has loads of mailing lists and message boards covering areas, surnames, occupations and more. It is worth subscribing to any relevant ones because the members are usually very helpful.
• Rootschat is a family history forum with threads covering England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and their counties, plus occupations, surnames and other topics. Once again the members are friendly and will try to help you with any questions - in fact Rootschat offers a free look up service. (Both Rootsweb mailing lists and Rootschat are good places to go to learn more about your Irish relatives. I have found the online material to be less than helpful, and it's been more useful to join a list and find people researching the same names or areas.)
• The 1901 Census Decoder is a free programme which lets you search the 1901 England and Wales census - the idea is you can find all the member of a household before you send of for the record, sometimes people can end up on different pages, so you may not be sure you have found the family you are looking for.
• The Parish Locator programme is also free and you can use it to find all parishes within an area. It also details parishes of different denominations.

That's all! But if you have any tips or suggestions why not leave them in a comment :-)

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Spotlight on: Clergy of the Church of England Database

If you discover you are descended from an Anglican clergyman, there is an excellent database online which you can use to find out more about your ancestor. The Clergy of the Church of England database is free to search and in many cases the information provided is very detailed.

The link above will take you to the home page, from there click the link marked 'Database Home' in the left sidebar and then 'Search' on the subsequent page. Type your search into the box provided and if there is a match you will see the results in a list in the left sidebar. You simply click on a name to open up the full results.

I just tried a sample search using the surname 'Wigmore'. There are four results - all related to me, although, I'm not sure how one chap fits in - opening up the file for my great x 10 grandfather, Gilbert Wigmore, gives me some really useful information about him. For example, it tells me when he graduated from university and which college, when he was ordained, which ranks he held and in which parishes. This is all really useful stuff to know, and a great starting point for further research.

Looking at the dates pertaining to Gilbert, it is quite apparent that he would have served as a rector during the years of the English Civil War - and that opens up a whole new area of research. Which side was he on? Or did he do what many country vicars did, and try to stay out of it? I'm not sure if I will ever be able to answer those questions, but knowing what kind of environment he lived and worked in is very useful and does help to add some background and colour to the simple dates and statistics I already have.

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Scam Warning and Some Tips to Help You Stay Safe

I spotted this post over at UK Chat Genealogy warning of bogus sites mimicking genuine ones with addresses that are so close to the real thing only the most observant would notice the difference. Pop over and have a read, and take note of the urls used - whatever the reason for the fakes, it is unlikely to be to your benefit so you really wouldn't want to stumble into the wrong place.

This isn't the first scam to affect the genealogy community, and I'm sure it won't be the last. As with all things online and offline, there are unscrupulous people willing to exploit any situation. However, don't panic and don't let that thought put you off your research. Scams are quite rare, and keeping your eyes open for discrepancies can often be enough to protect you from them.

One more thing. Since I have been writing a family history blog, I have received a number of spam emails from people claiming to be professional genealogists, or offering membership of genealogy sites I have never heard off. If you receive similar emails from strangers, send them straight to the trash folder. They are often scams - it's known as 'phishing' - and by clicking any links contained in the message you are letting the scammers know that your address is live. Even worse, if you visit the site and input any data, that will then be in the hands of unscrupulous people. Not good! If you are unsure about the validity of a site or service mentioned in such an email, search Google (or another search engine) for information about it.

If you are using the Firefox browser, you can install the Google toolbar which now comes with a function called Google Safe Browsing which can alert you if you attempt to visit a bogus site.

A couple of useful freebies

When people begin to trace their family history, often the first purchase or download they make is a software package to record and track their finds. However, there is one other piece of essential software you will need, a .pdf reader. PDF stand for 'portable document format', and it can be used on a range of platforms without the overall appearance of the document changing. What is more, it is also widely used to display information on genealogy sites, so it is essential that you have a copy on your computer. Don't worry, this is not something you need to part with any cash for, you can obtain a copy for free by simply going to this page.

Once you have installed that, head over to Google Books, where you will find copies of many useful reference works, biographies, topographies and other useful material. This is a good place to go to find works that may contain background information about the places your ancestors lived, or the jobs they did, or even them themselves. Some of the books are only available in extract form, others are full books which can be saved or download for free.

Family History Link Shrinker

There are a number of sites which offer a link shrinking service - software which take a long url and turns it into a shorter, more manageable version, ideal for posting on message boards without stretching the thread and making it unreadable. However, now there is one especially for family historians! Head over to Rootschat, add your looong url, click the 'Shrink Link' button and hey presto, a nice short link. There is also a bookmark you can drag to your browser toolbar so you can access the service whenever you need it.

Searching a long list of names . . .

. . . is a lot easier if you use the built in search tool on your computer. To access it simply press CTRL and F at the same time and a search bar will open in Firefox or a search box in Internet Explorer. This makes it really easy to find the name you want in a long list, and to jump from one entry to the next.

My apologies to Mac users, I'm not sure how you can access the same feature, but if you happen to know, please leave a comment below.