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Category: Resources

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HELP! I’m Stuck In A Tree! When To Consider Getting Professional Help With Your Family History

Stuck? Professional genealogist
Stuck in your family tree? A professional genealogist can help you.

When might a professional genealogist be useful to you?

You’ve always wondered about where your family came from, you’ve watched every episode of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?‘ from every country that produces the show, and you’re a ‘Long Lost Family‘ junkie. You’re a potential family historian. You’ve made a start on your family tree…or you’d like to…but there are things standing in your way. Sometimes it’s worth considering involving a professional genealogist.

You have the interest, but not the time.

We all struggle to prioritise our time these days, and with all the competing demands our hobbies often fall to the bottom of the list and become neglected (or never get started).

No time? Professional genealogist.
Use someone else’s time when you have none spare yourself!

Genealogy is a time-intensive exercise, and the less experienced you are, the longer it takes to find your way to and through all the records.

It may well be worth your while to outsource the family tree, or part of it, to a professional. This not only saves you time directly, but they are practised and efficient and likely to get the information and verify it in half the time of someone with less experience!

They can save you time by:

  • getting your tree started then providing you with recommendations on ‘where to go next’ with your research
  • analysing your work so far then providing you with recommendations on ‘where to go next’ with your research
  • if budget is no issue and you don’t mind missing out on the fun of doing any of it yourself, agree how far you want the tree to go and let them do it all!
  • finding your ancestor in a particular unindexed record you don’t have hours to trawl through
  • going to your family’s original hometown taking photographs of headstones and houses, and searching through all potential sources of information there.

You’ve hit a dead end

Dead End? Professional genealogist.
Can’t go any further? Someone can help you with that.

You’ve been working on your tree, and most lines are progressing well. But there’s just one branch that is messing with your head. Yes, it’s the ‘brick wall’ line. We all have (at least!) one. You’ve tried everything suggested here, but the wall remains firmly intact. Your other lines are getting neglected as a result.

What to do? Outsource the dead-end to a professional. A fresh pair of eyes who knows of sources you may not have tried, or who can at least eliminate some of the sources you haven’t had the time or resources to get to. You can get the wall knocked down AND be freed up to work on the rest of your tree!

A branch came from somewhere far away…

…and you don’t speak the language of the records, or don’t know what sources are available or how to get to them.

Immigrants? Professional genealogist
Galician immigrants, ca. 1911

This one is definitely a good reason to look for a local professional genealogist from that country. Even we professionals do this when we are outside our research comfort zones. My son has a family line from Germany. I have used Andrea Bentschneider‘s services when I need an expert in German resources local to Hamburg. It saves so much time and ultimately money (hey, I’d love to go to Germany to research but…)

You want to verify a family legend

Ever since you were a child, you’ve heard tales of how someone in your family tree was left on the steps of the local church as a foundling, or was transported as a convict, or ran off and joined the circus…can it be proved? Often, yes.

Family legend? Professional genealogist.
Get a professional to confirm Uncle Albert’s tall tales.

Getting a professional to dig into what may be some quite specialised record sets to find the answer can unearth some incredible stories. And even if the family legend isn’t quite right, usually there’s a germ of truth there. Often the real story is just as interesting.

Your DNA results are back…

…and you don’t have a clue what to do next! Analysing and using results from DNA tests uses quite different skill sets to traditional document-based genealogy and can be quite nerve-wracking for people at first, especially if they have no science background.

DNA results? Professional genealogist.
Have someone else unravel your DNA for you.

A professional genealogist with experience in genetic genealogy can be a great help in assisting you to unravel the match lists and find what you want to find.

You want to learn how to build your family tree

You may not actually want to hand over the fun of doing the tree to anyone else. You want to do it yourself but you’re not sure how to do it properly. Utilise the services of a professional to either assist you one-on-one, or you might find someone running group classes nearby (often in local libraries).

Want to learn how? Professional genealogist.
Learn from a professional so you can do it yourself.

They can help give you the research skills (including organising your research and citing your sources), point you to common resources (both general and local), advise on where to invest your genealogy subscription money for the best bang for your particular buck, and answer specific questions to may have. Then you can launch into your new hobby well-armed to build a strong and verified tree.

So there you have it. There are so many ways a professional genealogist may be able to help you kickstart, problem-solve or add depth to your family history. Can you think of any more? Comment below!

Next week, we’ll discuss what you should consider when selecting the right professional to work with, and how to get the best bang for your buck.

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Causes of Death and Old Medical Terms – Great Grandpa Harry Died of Phthisis, What Does That Mean?

causes of death
Leonardo da Vinci on his deathbed in 1519

Why investigate your ancestors’ causes of death?

They died, and they didn’t really do anything after that, so why take an interest in how it happened? Well, it’s all part of their story. As we know, family history is all about the stories. The lives our ancestors led inevitably culminated in their death and their cause of death can be a major part of their story. They can also tell us a lot more about the circumstances of their life.

Some people like to know the causes of their ancestors’ deaths for their own personal medical history. It’s true this can be useful. However, it is difficult to get a feel for what ‘runs in the family’ when earlier generations died at a significantly younger age. Until the 20th century, most people didn’t have the ‘luxury’ of living long enough to develop lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Genetic predisposition to disease is probably better determined by having a DNA test done. Then download your raw data and run the results through Promethease to discover your disease risks.

Changes in causes of death over time

Once we get back to the early 20th century and beyond, there are really two main causes of death:

  • Infection
    • no antibiotics
    • often poor sanitation
    • lack of access to clean water
    • the Industrial Revolution had led to crowded living conditions
    • vaccinations were not as widespread or sophisticated
    • According to the CDC, the top 3 causes of death in 1900 were pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB) and diarrhoea/enteritis.
  • Accidents
    • no workplace health and safety provisions in Victorian times and earlier (workers were expendable and easily replaced)
    • fast-moving machinery did not have guards or emergency stop buttons as they would today
    • explosions were not infrequent
    • As the Industrial Revolution progressed, new machinery did not always mix well with human failings. A member of my family tree well known for his clumsiness managed to die after being run over by Stevenson’s Rocket. Therefore he became the first person to die in a railway accident! Not just a story, but a whole book has come out of that tale…
causes of death workplace accident
Workers in the fuse factory Woolwich Arsenal

Where can you find the causes of death for your ancestors?

The most reliable source of the cause of death is the death certificate. It is also the most accessible and formal source containing the doctor’s direct diagnosis. The contents of death certificates vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and some contain more useful information than others. However, they all contain the cause of death where it is known. Sometimes the death certificate will point you to an inquest. If the inquest files survive for your ancestor’s case, these can be fascinating. They will not only give a fuller description of the cause of death but often the circumstances surrounding it. Therefore I heartily recommend tracking them down. Of course inquests were the exception rather than the rule and only done when the death was unusual or suspicious.

Other potential sources of causes of death include burial registers and occasionally memorial inscriptions. These causes are supplied by a family member, so may not be as accurate as the death certificate (or a less technical term or a euphemism may be used).

Newspapers can also be a useful source of details around a death. Was your ancestor was well known in the community? Look for an obituary. Was there a link between your ancestor and an epidemic (for example, the ‘Spanish flu’ of 1918) or an event (such as the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, a factory explosion or a mine collapse)? Your ancestor may or may not be mentioned by name in the newspaper coverage of these incidents, but at the very least you get some further background about what happened.

Old medical terminology (Wait…this cause of death is something I’ve never heard of…)

Here is a list of some of the more common archaic names for diseases you might find, along with the modern name you may be more familiar with.

  • Ague – Malaria
  • Apoplexy – Stroke
  • Bilious fever – Typhoid fever
  • Brain fever – Meningitis
  • Breakbone – Dengue fever
  • Bright’s Disease – Kidney disease
  • Camp fever – Typhus
  • Childbed fever – Puerperal fever
  • Chincough – Whooping Cough
  • Confinement – Puerperal fever
  • Consumption – Tuberculosis
  • Decline – Tuberculosis
  • Dropsy – Oedema (swelling), usually from congestive heart failure or kidney disease
  • Dropsy of brain – Encephalitis
  • Enteric fever – Typhoid fever
  • Falling sickness – Epilepsy
  • French Pox – Syphilis
  • General paralysis – Tertiary syphilis
  • Inanition – Starvation
  • Infantile paralysis – Polio
  • King’s Evil– Tuberculosis of lymph glands
  • Le Grippe – Influenza
  • Lockjaw – Tetanus
  • Lung fever – Pneumonia
  • Marasmus – Malnutrition
  • Mortification – Gangrene
  • Natural decay – Old age
  • Phthisis – Tuberculosis
  • Pott’s Disease– Tuberculosis of spine
  • Purpura – Puerperal fever
  • Putrid fever – Diptheria
  • Quinsy – Tonsillitis
  • Scrofula– Tuberculosis of lymph glands
  • Softening of the brain – Dementia
  • The Grip – Influenza
  • The Pox – Smallpox (usually)
  • Winter fever – Pneumonia
causes of death doctor
Doctor avoiding catching the plague by wearing a mask filled with herbs and carrying a stick to avoid touching the patient and keep the family away from him!

What is the most unusual cause of death you’ve found in your family tree? Comment below!

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Your Ancestors’ Wills – Part 2 – Finding Wills And Tackling Reading Them

Last week we looked at the uses of wills for family history research, and what you might hope to find in your ancestor’s will. This week, we’ll take a look at why they are often not used, and tackle the problem of finding wills.

Why Are Wills So Under-Utilised?

To be honest, I think people are a little scared of them! The reasons that I have heard often boil down to misconceptions, or things that can be easily overcome. It’s worth the effort! Here are some of them:

‘They’re too hard to read’

True, the writing can be daunting when you first look at it. However, practice does make it easier over time. Here’s a nice little tutorial from the UK’s National Archives on how to read the old script in wills.

As we discussed last week, wills generally have a fairly set pattern in terms of content. My suggestion is to look at that first paragraph where you know the words are fairly standard and use it as a kind of ‘codebreaker’ for the rest of the document. That way, you can also cover patterns in individual writing styles too.

paleography

‘My ancestors weren’t rich, so there’s no point in looking for a will’

  • Anyone who was an adult, not insane or a criminal, and was male or an unmarried female may have left a will.
  • Men with any amount of property who had children would be likely keen to make a will. If they didn’t and his wife remarried, all his property would legally pass to the new husband and any children that man might have with his wife, leaving his own children unprovided for.
  • People often made wills if they were going into the military or a sea-faring occupation, or had any reason to believe they would be at risk of dying before their time.
  • Of course, this doesn’t mean that the majority of people made wills. It’s human nature to think you’re immortal, even today! Based on comparison with burial records, it seems that between 1 in 3 and 1 in 4 men left wills. That’s pretty good odds that you will find at least one in each family line even if not your direct ancestor. Remember the FAN Club!

‘There wouldn’t be much useful information in them’

It depends on what you mean by ‘useful information’. No, there are no vital records type dates in them. But remember, your ancestors are more than just dates and names. As we discussed last week, wills provide information about your ancestor’s relations and relationships, as well as an idea of his circumstances. And all written in his own voice.

‘I reckon they’d be expensive, they’ve been near a lawyer!’

You’d be surprised. Depending on where you are getting them from, they range from absolutely free through to about the same cost as a single birth, marriage or death certificate in most cases.

‘I wouldn’t know where to find wills’

Okay, there is some level of complexity in finding wills, as they are not usually all in one place for a single country. I am not even going to try to list all the sources for all the countries, or this blog will become a book! I would suggest taking a look here (and here for the UK only, and here for Australia only).

In a nutshell, the location of wills is dependent on the time period, the country, and the location within that country (e.g. county/state). Often they are found in national, state or local archives and record offices near the testator’s last known residence. Increasingly they are to be found digitised and online at some record office and subscription websites but there is still a long way to go.

Finding Wills In England

Probably the most complicated country for finding wills (and the one where most of my readers have ancestors) is England. Therefore, I’ll spend some time explaining how the location of English wills can be determined. If you can locate a will in England, you’ll find the rest of the world a doddle!

Finding Wills After 1858

After 1858, it’s simple. Go here. They’re all there and at about the same price as a certificate. All you need to know is the person’s full name and approximate year of death to find them.

Finding Wills Before 1858

Before 1858, wills were dealt with by the ecclesiastic courts (i.e. the Church). The country is split into dioceses for administration purposes. Each diocese has a bishop and a cathedral. The first step is to work out in which diocese the testator was living at the time of their death. A quick and easy way to do this is to use the FamilySearch Wiki. Enter the name of the parish in the search box and the ecclesiastical jurisdictions are listed in the box on the right of the parish page. That box also tells you the legal jurisdiction and the local archives which in most cases will house the wills proved within that diocese.

You should be able to order the wills online through the record office website in most cases, and if not you can do so by post. Wills for some dioceses are now online and more continue to appear all the time. Check the catalogues of your subscription sites regularly and remember Google is your friend!

Finding Wills When Your Ancestor Had Extensive Or Multiple Properties

If an ancestor had a property that extended across the border into other dioceses (or several properties around the country) his will went to a higher authority to be proven. Each diocese belongs to either the Province of Canterbury or ‘PCC’ (in the South) or the Province of York or ‘PCY’ (in the North). The provinces are headed by an Archbishop. If all his property was within one Province, that Province administered the will. If his property extended beyond one Province, the Province of Canterbury administered it. Also, all wills between 1653-1660 were administered by the PCC.

PCC wills are easy to get. If you have a subscription to TheGenealogist.co.uk or Ancestry.com (or can access either of them through your local library), images are accessible within that subscription. If not, go to the National Archives website and search your ancestor’s name. You can download the will for £3.50.

The National Archives in Kew, England

PCY wills are available from a less commonly known source, the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York, but the search and ordering is done through this link at FindMyPast. PCY wills cost £7.50 and are delivered electronically within a few days.

Finding Wills Means Finding Your Ancestors’ Lives

So as you can see, the hardest part is working out where the will is. Once you know that, it’s generally easy to get a copy. Then the hardest part is reading it, but with practice, you will find that gets easier too. If you need assistance, you can always call on a professional genealogist for help.

Invest some time and effort into finding your ancestors’ (or their FAN Club’s) wills, and I really believe it will pay off for you! Your tree will be better verified, and you will know a lot more about your ancestors’ lives.

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Your Ancestors’ Wills – Part 1 – Where There’s A Will, There’s Information Galore!

old wills

I had a wonderful stroke of luck this week! I broke through a longstanding brick wall on my Field line, confirmed using my ancestors’ wills. As suspected, the middle name Palmer used across several generations was a massive clue. However, the partnership that brought it about was back at the turn of the eighteenth century and in a different place. Therefore, it’s taken a while to find it.

Because the find was not where I expected it to be, I was extra-specially careful to ensure I had all my ducks lined up evidence-wise. I couldn’t claim this Edward Field as my own just because he was born at the right time and married a Palmer. These are both common names, and extremely common at the time in the parish where I found them. They were both prominent families in the area, and both had many branches. Using ancestors’ wills and wills of others in these local families allowed me to pinpoint where they fit in, and why the name Francis popped up as the eldest son’s forename for several generations too! Now I’ve untangled all the Field and Palmer lines I can sense a couple of one-name studies in the wind. I know how I’m wired…

I spent all this week burying my head in wills, so I was reminded why it would be a good topic for this week’s blog. They are sadly often under-utilised as a resource, and often so rich with detail.

Why You Should Look For Your Ancestors’ Wills

Wills are a treasure trove of information. Some of the uses you can put them to are:

  • Confirming your research
  • Untangling family branches
    • Very useful when the same names are appearing over and over in different branches. Wills will often make it clear who is who.
  • Determining not only family relationships but often their quality
    • Who did they leave out that was still alive or who did they leave an insultingly trivial amount of money? (A caveat, a child ‘cut off with only a shilling’ may have received their inheritance already. Their parent may have set them up in a business or home, and the ‘shilling’ is just to prevent them arguing that they were left out of the will as an oversight).
    • Sometimes they used very blunt and/or revealing comments to explain why certain bequests were made. (See the snippet of another of my ancestor’s wills below as an example!)
  • Discovering the married names of the daughters
    • The testator would often list their children’s names. The daughters were listed using their married surnames. Possibly the husband’s name and the names of their children would appear too.
  • Finding an unexpected place of origin
    • The testator would usually give instructions regarding their burial preferences. Many just specified the local churchyard. However, if they had moved to the vicinity during their life they may have asked to be buried in a family vault in their original village’s church for example.
  • Hearing the voice of your ancestor
    • Not literally of course! But this is one of the few common documents where you will get a feel for your ancestor’s personality. It’s a lot more freeform than certificates for example. Unless your ancestor left a journal, diary or memoir this may be as close as you get to reading their thoughts and opinions in their own voice.
old wills charles girling
A snippet of Charles Girling’s will, naming his housekeeper’s five children (plus one on the way!) as his own. He clearly showed a will to live, rather poignantly also covering any further children he may have by her in this will.

What Is Contained In Your Ancestors’ Wills?

This can vary a little, but a formal will often follows this fairly standard pattern:

  • Their name, occupation and location
  • A statement that they are of sound mind
  • Their burial request
  • Who they appoint as their executor
    • Often a spouse or adult child if widowed
    • Sometimes a brother, brother in law or close friend
  • Instructions for distribution of their property, listing their beneficiaries
  • The date the will was prepared
    • This could be very close to the death date, or years before if they were organised!
  • The signature (or ‘cross’ if they were illiterate) of the testator and the witnesses.
  • The date probate was granted
    • This could also be very close to the death date if straightforward, or years afterwards if it was complicated or contested!

What Won’t You (Usually) Find?

  • Wills of married women
    • these are rare before 1882 as up till then, women did not have their own property. Anything they brought into the marriage became the property of their husband. Therefore she had no legal right to leave anything to anyone.
    • Wills of spinsters, on the other hand, can be gold, especially if there were a lot of nieces and nephews!
    • Once a woman was widowed, she may have had a will drawn up if she did not intend to get remarried.
  • A list of every possession
    • This is called an ‘inventory’ and is a separate document to the will. If it survives, it will be located in the probate file.
    • The inventory is well worth looking for, as literally EVERYTHING got listed. It provides a fascinating snapshot into your ancestor’s life. My ancestor John Girling (father of the Charles named above) made his own inventory. This was quite unusual and slightly OCD, as he also repeatedly updated it over the years. He went into excruciating detail which was great, as it revealed his previously unknown military life, but sadly not the identity of his mother. He noted the subject, artist and value of every painting he owned except her portrait, about which he was irritatingly vague.
  • Dates of births, marriages and deaths
    • This is not the document for finding these details. You may find out from the will that marriages have happened, or children are still minors, or other family members are deceased, but the dates will not appear. However, using the date the will was signed can help narrow down a timeframe for those events and help you locate them in the appropriate sources.

Stay tuned for the next gripping episode…

Next week I will be looking at and dismantling some of the reasons why wills are so commonly ignored, as well as how to find and use them.

In the meantime, has anyone found anything in wills that they never would have known without seeing their will? For me, finding out Charles Girling’s ‘wife’ was actually his housekeeper was an eye-opener, and has saved me countless hours of continuing searches for their marriage! Leave your comments below…

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Using electoral rolls in your genealogy research

Electoral Rolls. Polling station

Electoral rolls are a timely discussion topic since it is election day tomorrow in Australia! They can be a very helpful resource for finding ancestors, especially those who lived during the 20th-century. Other public sources may be thin on the ground during this era, therefore they can help to knock down a brick wall or two in your more recent family history.

Electoral rolls - Parliament House
Parliament House, Canberra

What are electoral rolls?

Electoral rolls are lists of all those entitled to vote in elections, whether at federal, state or local level. It is currently a legal requirement for all Australian citizens over the age of 18 to be listed (with their current address) on the Australian electoral roll.

Who was allowed to enrol to vote and from when?

Timeline:

  • 1902 – anyone over the age of 21, who were either born in Australia or had lived there for over 6 months and were subjects (naturalised by birth or subsequently) of the King. Exceptions: people of unsound mind, traitors, people serving a 12 month or longer sentence anywhere within the British Empire, and indigenous people of Australia, Asia, Africa or the Pacific Islands (except New Zealand).
  • 1911 – enrolment became compulsory for eligible voters.
  • 1918 – 1921 – added anyone who met the above requirements except for age but who had served in the armed forces.
  • 1925 – added natives of British India.
  • 1949 – added indigenous Australians who were on state rolls or had served/were serving in the armed forces.
  • 1961 – added indigenous people of Africa and Pacific Islanders.
  • 1962 – added all indigenous Australians over the age of 21. This was voluntary, but once enrolled it was compulsory to vote.
  • 1973 – the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18.
  • 1984 – all Australian citizens over 18 plus British subjects already on the electoral roll. Enrolment of indigenous Australians now also compulsory.

What is included on the rolls?

At the very least, you will find the person’s name, address and gender, along with that of any other people of voting age living at that address such as adult children. Depending on the year and the state, you may also find:

  • occupation
  • age
  • whether their address is a residence, freehold or household (possibly with further details)
Electoral roll
Electoral roll, Maryborough, 1900 (Source: Queensland State Archives)

How are electoral rolls helpful?

Electoral rolls can be considered a form of census substitute, because of the household details (for the adult occupants) that they provide. They can be especially useful to find parents of an adult daughter because they often lived at home till they married. Find the daughter, and it is likely that the adults of the same surname listed above her at the same address are her parents. Of course, don’t accept this as gospel, as relationships are not specified in the roll. For example, she may be living with grandparents or uncles and aunts. Follow up your research using these names to verify the relationship. Perhaps take a look at newspapers as your next step.

By finding people in electoral rolls from various years, you can track their movement (or lack of it) around the country, which will help you to know what local sources to consult and from when.

You have an address, or series of addresses, for the family now. Why not put these into Google Maps and see if the house they lived in is still there and what it looks like now?

Fewer other sources for this time period are available compared to earlier centuries, so it’s an important part of 20th-century research to consider electoral rolls.

Limitations of the electoral rolls

  • Coverage is incomplete, and coverage for the 19th-century electoral rolls of the individual colonies (now states) is particularly patchy.
  • Children of the household are not listed unless they are over the voting age.
  • Relationships between voters at the same address are not specified.
  • Sections of the community were not able to enrol to vote (see timeline above). If you had an ancestor who was not a British Subject or was indigenous, they may well not have made it onto any electoral roll.

Where to find the rolls

Some are available online. If you have a subscription to Ancestry or Findmypast you can find some there (if you don’t have a subscription you may be able to access their library edition at your local library. Other useful websites containing links to electoral rolls are Coraweb and Cyndi’s List.

It is well worth visiting state libraries and archives as they generally have a broad range of electoral rolls. You will find it helpful to check their catalogue online before making the trip so you know what time periods and areas are covered.

If you are looking for a living relative, you can access the current electoral roll at any Australian Electoral Commission office. Please note, you cannot copy any image you see there electronically but may do so by hand.

Electoral rolls. Polling station 2016
Polling station, Mebourne 2016 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

I hope you have found this topic useful and are now ready to not only do your civic duty tomorrow but also explore electoral records to help expand your family tree!

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Lyfelynes Family History – an interview podcast

I’m giving you a break this week from my written ramblings here at Lyfelynes Family History. However, you don’t get off that lightly, because I’m substituting verbal ones instead! Earlier this week I was interviewed by Adam Roach for his ‘Melbourne Northern Suburbs‘ podcast.

Recording a podcast

We chatted about all sorts of ‘things genealogical’, including:

  • Why someone might use the services of a professional genealogist
  • Research sites
  • DNA
  • Oral history
  • Verifying sources
  • Brickwalls
  • The excitement to be found both with genealogical breakthroughs and just the process itself!

I invite you to have a listen here.

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother’s Day from Lyfelynes Family History to all the mums in countries that celebrate this Sunday!

Mother and child
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An underutilized free genealogy resource – FamilySearch Digital Library

Firstly, an apology for not posting last Friday. My intention was to do an Easter-themed blog, but instead we were dealing with a family emergency. Sometimes even the most tragically obsessed family historian needs to prioritise the here and now over those that are long departed. Normal service is now resumed…

FamilySearch

Most people who are constructing their family tree are aware of FamilySearch.org. As a totally free genealogy resource, it is invaluable and becoming more so every day. Those of you who have downloaded my free guide to my Top 10 favourite genealogy sites know I love this one! Many of the records on the site are indexes, and you really need to find and cite the original documents to verify the information. But even these are a great finding aid to help you on your way. In recent years, the team at FamilySearch have been adding many original documents to the site (just look for the camera icon to see the images).

It is common for people to focus on the top two items in the drop down menu under ‘Search’. That is, ‘Records’ and ‘Family Tree’. This is where you find the indexed records available to search, and the collaborative family tree that people contribute to respectively. But FamilySearch contains much more than just these two sections and I’d like to encourage you to explore beyond this. I spend a lot of time lurking in the ‘Catalog’ section, where so much more is available to see, though much is unindexed and you need to be quite focused in your search. I will talk a little more about the Catalog on another occasion, because today I want to let you know about the ‘Books’ section.

FamilySearch Home Page
Where to find FamilySearch Books

The FamilySearch Digital Library – a great free genealogical resource

FamilySearch Digital Library page
The portal to free book bliss!

‘Books’ (or more properly the ‘FamilySearch Digital Library’) has become a delightful treasure trove of easily accessible information that you may have otherwise had no access to. FamilySearch has been working hard to improve this section. Over 375000 books, journals, family histories and local histories are indexed here. Most of these are fully accessible. Even those that aren’t yet fully available due to copyright have generous snippets of content available and can be useful. The number of items available to search will dramatically increase as they are checking copyright status individually for each book and making them available as quickly as they can.

Checking it out…

The section has become much more intuitive to use and easy to search. Handy hint: if you are searching two or more terms, don’t just list them one after the other or you will get a cumulative number of hits. Make it a Boolean search to find items containing both terms. For example, Swinbourne AND Birmingham rather than Swinbourne Birmingham.

FamilySearch search results
Example of search results

I was delighted to find that a journal (‘Midland Ancestor‘) that I have subscribed to since 1985 appears to have its full run available on the site, which saves me trawling through back issues looking for occurrences of family names as I discover them. Even more usefully it gives me access to issues published before I took up my subscription. I found this journal popping up in the results for nearly every search I did.

I also managed to find a couple of published family histories covering potential branches of my tree, which I will be checking against documentation to verify; several historical tomes mentioning ancestors by name, some with illustrations of ancient documents that they signed, and some wills and probate inventories.

So, last night I made the mistake of quickly taking a look before I went to bed. Many hours later… you get the picture.

New Genealogy Resource Found
Credit: Wendell Washer

Take a look…

So if you haven’t checked out this section of FamilySearch recently, I highly recommend you find some time (not within a few hours of intending to sleep!) and go take a look. You can thank me later…

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DNA Testing For Genealogy- Useful Tool or Load of Codswallop?

dna molecules

Genealogy research has traditionally been all about compiling written and oral evidence to find your family lines and support your hypotheses. In recent years however, getting a genealogy DNA test done has become very popular. Millions of people have now spat in a tube or swabbed their inner cheek to find related family members in their DNA matches or to satisfy an urge to verify their ethnicity. Is DNA testing for genealogy actually useful, or is it a marketing gimmick?

The value of DNA testing for genealogy

The trouble with relying only on documents and oral evidence is that they are all filtered through the people involved. People are humans, with human failings. There are reasons, both deliberate and accidental, why the information may not be accurate.

There are innocent explanations. For example:

  • The person may not remember accurately.
  • The person may not have known their birthplace if they were raised somewhere else. They may have assumed they were born in the place of their childhood.
  • If they were illiterate and relying on someone else writing things down for them, that person may have misheard because of accents, deafness or inattention.
  • If the document has been transcribed from an original document, errors can creep in with every transcription.

There are also not so innocent explanations, usually related to ‘skeletons in the cupboard’ (often the most interesting parts of our family history!):

  • The person may be trying to hide illegitimacy. Society was less forgiving of human behaviour in previous generations.
  • The person may be trying to hide a criminal background even from several generations before. Even 50 years ago, Australians would be quick to deny any possibility of having a convict in their tree, despite Australia having been settled as a penal colony (of course, it’s a badge of honour these days!)
  • Sometimes people ran off to start a new life under a new identity, so any subsequent documents would be deliberately falsified.

DNA testing for genealogy can be a very useful tool to supplement traditional research methods. It helps eliminate the inaccuracies that can creep into them by removing the reliance on people’s word. “Science doesn’t lie, people do”.

My Personal Bombshell

Around 10 years ago, after 25 years of traditional genealogy research, I had my DNA tested along with several other family members. It turned out that the extensive research I had done on one branch of my family tree was completely wrong. It was correct for the people named, it was just that it turned out one of my grandparents was not related to me at all. Therefore that branch was not mine. I was devastated. All that work! And they were some of the most interesting ancestors (I thought) I had found! Back to the drawing board.

But you know what? I’m so glad I found out. The people in that branch that I know are still my family, I grew up with them as family and they always will be. But I can now have confidence that my tree is accurate. My other family lines have been verified by DNA, and with some diligent research, I have discovered the correct grandparent and a whole new family line to research!

Never be afraid to pursue accuracy, but be mindful of its potential impact on other family members. Think hard about whether they should know or would want to know if they were illegitimate before saying anything to them. They are from a different era when it could be a tremendous shock.

Where to get a DNA test done

There are several companies specialising in autosomal DNA testing for genealogy purposes. Currently, the five most common ones are:

  • AncestryDNA – this is the most well-known due to heavy marketing, and consequently has the biggest matching database. It used to predominantly have US customers, but the number of international DNA testers has grown in recent times as they’ve expanded their reach.
  • 23andMe – one of the oldest and most established DNA tests, also with a very large US-centric database.
  • FamilyTreeDNA – originally FTDNA offered Y-DNA (paternal line) and mtDNA (maternal line) tests only. In recent years they also have expanded into autosomal DNA tests, and this company now provides all three types of test should you want to also look at chasing specific lines or deep ancestry.
  • MyHeritage – a newer entrant into the marketplace, but with a rapidly growing database, and a very broad geographical range of testers.
  • LivingDNA – geared towards people of UK ancestry, this company is very new, and provides excellent ethnicity estimates, but is only just beginning to provide DNA cousin matching. One to watch, they have a whole new approach to matching, which should be extremely interesting when it gets up and running!

Recommendations:

I have either tested with, or uploaded to every one of these companies, and I use them all regularly. They have their own tools to help you analyse the data, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses.

Often individuals are only to be found in one of the databases as they only test once. Therefore if you are looking to find matches for a specific line, or indeed a specific person such as a birth mother, I recommend you get yourself into as many of the databases as possible.

Ancestry and 23andMe do not allow you to upload data from other testing companies. So if you can afford only one test, choose one of these. Once your results are in, download your raw data and upload it to the other three. You will get results there too and will be available in the database for others there to find. You may need to pay a small amount to unlock all the tools and features on the other sites, but it’s cheaper than doing a fresh test for each.

The other thing I would highly recommend is uploading your DNA to Gedmatch.com. This is a third-party site where you can directly compare your results with people who have uploaded from any of the DNA testing companies.

Get other family members tested if you can to build up a picture and allow you to work out which side of the tree your matches come from. If you have family from the previous generation(s) still alive, their DNA is twice as valuable with each generation you go back as their DNA is only half as diluted. Grandparents, parents, uncles/aunts and parents’ cousins are genetic goldmines! Don’t ignore your siblings, you and each of them only share half your DNA despite having the same parents – they will have genetic cousins that you don’t in their matchlist.

Most people are not genetics experts. It can be a steep learning curve. If I had to recommend just one book to get you started on understanding DNA testing for genealogy and how to get the most out of it, it’s this one.

Verdict – not codswallop.

DNA testing for genealogy is not meant to replace your traditional research. It is an extra tool for your belt. I have found it invaluable for knocking down brick walls, finding ancestors hidden from documentary sources, and giving me confidence that I am on the right track. If you haven’t already been tested, you are missing out on one of the major new genealogical breakthrough techniques of recent times. DNA testing for genealogy is here to stay!

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Organizing genealogy research

organizing genealogy research organize
organizing genealogy research pile of documents

Genealogy is one of those activities that creates a whole lot of ‘piles of stuff’ that increase exponentially with every generation researched. You need to work out how you’re going to be organizing genealogy research right at the beginning of your family history journey. Otherwise, you run the risk of not being able to find the information you’ve gathered when you need it. You may even miss vital clues that you may have overlooked first time around with documents. You could possibly end up purchasing multiple copies of the same document as you forgot you already had it. Somewhere.

Is there a standard method for organizing genealogy research?

It really doesn’t matter which exact process you use to get your research organized. So long as it works for you, and allows you to be able to access the information you have easily and reliably, there are many ways to do it. However, follow the golden rules below whichever method you choose.

Essential golden rules

  1. Keep copies of your work. Keep them in separate places. Heaven forbid, if your house burns down and all your work is lost, you will regret it if there is not a copy somewhere. Scan or at least photocopy all documents, photos, correspondence etc. What works for me is uploading scans to the family tree I keep online and attaching them to the relevant people. Scans of correspondence are backed up into my Google Drive.
  2. Preserve your documents with appropriate storage methods:
    1. use only ‘acid-free’ paper/cardboard and plastic sleeves
    2. do not use metal paper clips or staples which will leave rust marks
    3. never use sticky tape to repair tears (have you seen what ancient sticky tape does to paper?)

My suggested method for taming those paper piles!

A good place to start is with your existing pedigree chart, and assigning the ahnentafel numbers for each person. You’ve already talked with your relatives and obtained as much information as possible from them so you probably have three or four generations of basic information covered by now. You can create your pedigree chart worksheet by hand using printed forms, use a family tree program on your computer, or use a genealogy website and enter the information there. Even better, do all three and you have then ensured you’re backed up in several places. I have my main working file on Ancestry.com. I sync it with Family Tree Maker on my computer and regularly print out charts for family lines as they evolve. In fact, I have uploaded my tree to every site that I subscribe to. Therefore, if disaster strikes, the tree will survive. Somewhere.

So what is ahnentafel numbering? This is a method of ensuring that each ancestor has their own unique number and cannot be confused with anyone else. If like me, you have two 5x great grandmothers named Mary Smith on totally different branches of the tree, this is a godsend. And it provides a great starting point for your filing system.

You are number one. Your father is number two. Your mother is number three. Your father’s parents are four and five. Your mother’s parents are six and seven. And so on. Just number vertically down each generation of the pedigree chart. If you have a family tree program it will likely be able to generate them for you.

Next steps, get the filing bug…

Now, create a file for each set of parents. For example, your paternal grandparents (ahnentafel numbers 4 and 5) would have their own file. Into this, you insert all the documents and certificates you have for them, photos, newspaper clippings etc. In front of this, I place a ‘family group sheet’. This is a summary page of their vital information along with their children’s. You can find templates for family group sheets online, purchase them or generate them from your family tree program.

I also have a summary spreadsheet of all the documents I have for them that I can tick off as I get them. Great for knowing if I’ve captured people in relevant census records, have all the necessary certificates, have immigration data, wills, etc. It also, therefore, shows at a glance what I still need to potentially find.

The third item I include is a genealogy research log. Here, I make a note of what records I have searched and what was found. This can save you hours of reinventing the wheel. It’s a common curse for the genealogist to come back to a family line, forget what they’ve checked and check it again. Possibly multiple times over the years. The research log prevents that. Don’t forget to record negative results as well as positive. These are just as valuable and often provide clues themselves. Keeping a research log is also a fantastic way to keep your thoughts focused on your goals for this family line.

Now you have everything neatly organized, so when you plan to visit a repository, library or archive you can simply select the family folders you will need to take with you. Or just take your laptop or tablet if it’s all been entered online. Instead of having stacks of random paper at home, you have a filing drawer with all your files arranged. It may be by ahnentafel numbers, or by surname in a hanging file that includes each generation in individual folders ordered by ahnentafel. Whatever works for you! The main point is…it’s organized!

It’s never too late for organizing genealogy research!

If you’ve been doing your genealogy research for a while and never implemented an organization system, do not despair! It is always possible to ‘KonMari‘ your work. Set aside a few hours and dig through those piles. You may be surprised what gems you find now that you have more context to see where they fit!

My way is not the only way…

For more ideas, I recommend you take a look at the category for this subject at Cyndi’s List. She lists several sites with information on the topic, and you may find the perfect method for you.

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Free genealogy giveaway to new subscribers!

If you’re just starting out on your genealogy research journey, you may feel overwhelmed when looking for resources. How do you know where to begin? There are so many genealogy websites out there, right?

I’ve put together a list and description of ten of my favourite sites that between them cover lots of ground, are simple to navigate and provide a great starting point for your online family history quest. When you subscribe to my newsletter, you will:

  • receive each blog post hot off the press
  • get a FREE PDF copy of this invaluable guide

How can you resist? Go on, you know you want to…