Family Tree UK Magazine September 2026

The latest issue of Family Tree UK magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.

Inside this month's issue : 

• Thousands of Indian First World War soldiers remembered
• Rare copy of the Declaration of Independence found at The National Archives
• Do you have a DNA connection to Ötzi the Iceman?
• Knitted wartime exhibition extended due to popularity
• English Heritage encourage us to send posctards this summer
• Marriages - Looking beyond the official record
• What did your ancestors do in War Weapons Week? 
• A practical guide to DNA Painter
• Part 4 From Home to Horizon 
• Poor Law Settlement disputes
• Recording your research effectively 
• Building confidence in DNA testing

Who Do You Think You Are Magazine September 2026

The latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.

Inside this month's issue : 

• Irish website adds 190,000 new records to its collection
• New house stories website launches
• Crowd Cymru wins archive volunteering award
• Ancestry adds Wiltshire electoral registers
• TheGenealogist releases early American records
• Clean living -  Alan Crosby explores soap's journey from taxed necessity to fragrant luxury
• Tales of the Unexpected • Family secrets come in all shapes and sizes
• What are the odds? How to use WATO
• How to set up a private tree on Ancestry 
• 6 resources to help you with unexpected results
• Tips and tricks for identifying matches with no trees 
• Researching Irish Canadians 
• My relatives were on board the RMS Lusitania 
• Secret Service Ancestors
• Caribbean Ancestry
• More great websites - Online resources you can't afford to miss

Week 33 (Aug. 13-19): Multiples - #52Ancestors

The prompt 'Multiple' bring to mind the marital history of Thomas May, my 3xGreat Grandfather.  Thomas married a total of 5 times, losing several wives in childbirth.

Thomas May was born 20 September 1762 in West Mersea, Essex and was baptised 16 October 1762 at the church of St Peter and St Paul.  He died on 27 February 1843 in West Mersea and was buried on 7 March 1843.  He outlived all 5 wives.

Wife 1 – Elizabeth Godwin
Born 1763 Thorrington, Essex
Married 27 March 1787 Thorrington, Essex
Died 25 August 1790 West Mersea, Essex
Children – Thomas, Edward

Wife 2 – Sarah Sadler
Born 1775 West Mersea, Essex
Married 1792 West Mersea, Essex
Died 7 January 1799 West Mersea, Essex
Children – Betsey (Elizabeth), Sarah, Hannah, John Tickell

Wife 3 – Henrietta Stevens
Born Unknown
Married 12 May 1801 St Mary, Lambeth, Surrey
Died 2 May 1812 West Mersea
Children – Henry John, Mary

Wife 4 – Susannah Balls Green
Born 7 June 1770 West Bergholt, Essex
Married 10 November 1818 Fordham, Essex
Died 11 February 1828 West Mersea, Essex
Children - Nil

Wife 5 – Mary Ann Pullen
Born 13 October 1791 West Mersea, Essex
Married 9 August 1829 West Mersea, Essex
Died 1838 West Mersea, Essex
Children – Edward, Sophia Mary Ann

It is his 4th wife, Susannah Green (nee Balls), where the relationships become truly convoluted.  Susannah's son Isaac (from her first husband John Green) was married to Thomas's eldest daughter Betsy (Elizabeth).  So Thomas became not only father-in-law but also step-father to Isaac, and his new wife Susannah became mother-in-law and step-mother to Betsy.

Week 32 (Aug. 6-12): Neighbors and Community - #52Ancestors

Wherever they lived, our ancestors were a part of their local community, although finding records of how they interacted with their neighbours can be sparse.  Census records are one resource for finding out about our ancestors' neighbours.

For example, below is the 1851 census for Isaac Green.

Isaac Green is a farmer, age 58, living in Fordham, Essex.  This census record tells me that his household consistes of his wife Betsy 57, son William 17, and servants Maryann Blakeley 45, Harriet Clark 30 and Betsy Woodward 17. 

If you look at the household directly beneath Isaac's in the census, you find Edmund Woodward 59, wife Rebecca Woodward 55 and mother (actually mother-in-law) Rebecca Fairclough 77.  Edmund is a labourer - and yes, he works for Isaac Green.  Isaac's servant Betsy Woodward is Edmund's eldest daughter - shown in the 1841 census - who has gone into service up in the big house.  Following through the census, Betsy Woodward stays on working for Isaac Green for decades, through the 1861, 1871 and 1881 censuses until Isaac's death in 1882.

It would be all too easy to overlook this information and simply concentrate on the main family, noting family members and occupations and overlooking all that lovely extra information about Isaac's ties to his neighborhood.

Week 31 (July 30-Aug. 5): A Day in the Life - #52Ancestors

Newspapers can be an excellent source of finding out more about or ancestors daily lives.  They can provide information about not only the major events, but also about how they spent their leisure hours and the clubs and societies they belonged to. 

Included in my newspaper records, I found several articles relating to musical events and concerts in which various ancestors performed, especially my Argent branch of my family tree.

The article above is from the Essex Standard published Friday 7 January 1876 and has several members of my Argent family preforming.  My Great Great Grandfather John Thompson Argent was Chair or the event and his sister Ada Emily Argent was the pianist.

When my great grandfather James Nicholas Clark passed away in 1924 there were two death notices inserted in the newspaper - one from his family and one from the Masonic Lodge of which he was a member. 

Had it not been for this Masonic notice, I would never have known that James was a Mason.  It is also worth noting the spelling error - the heading of the Masonic notice has CLARG, not CLARK.  The family notice also gives me his occupation - Overseer at Brighton City Council.

Week 30 (July 23-29) Free Space - #52Ancestors

Free space in my family history records generally means I have work to do, a gap to fill, a mystery I have not yet solved.  Often when I am looking through my family history notes I will look for the free spaces and pick one in particular to work on and try to fill.

Perhaps it is a missing baptism or burial record, a gap in census records, an unusually long time between the births of children.  Any free space in an ancestor's timeline deserves investigation.

I find it is a useful exercise to go back through my notes, charts and timelines and look for free space, to see what I have missed or not followed up on as well as I should.  It is all too easy to follow the information I do have on to another generation or another individual, to go down the rabbit hole of a new discovery and not return to an individual whose information is incomplete.

Noting the free space in my family history helps to prompt me to go back, research more thoroughly and fill in the gaps, until hopefully on day all those free spaces are filled. 

Week 29 (July 16-22) A Source I Want to Understand Better - #52Ancestors

One particular type of record I have always had difficulty with are shipping records.  Over the years of my research I have slowly learned about these records, but locating my ancestors in shipping and immigration records has always been problematic.

For a couple of my ancestors, making the assumption that they moved directly from A to B let me astray, in one case for several years.  The family of my great grandfather, James Nicholas Clark, came from Bristol in England.  They left England at about the time James was born and eventually settled in Melbourne, Australia.  It took me several years of fruitless searching for their immigration details before I widened my search to find the family first arrived in Launceston, Tasmania, which is where James was born shortly after they arrived.  The family spent at least 5 years in nearby Port Sorrell before travelling across Bass Strait to settle in Melbourne.

So why is it so difficult to find some of our ancestor's immigration records?

• Consider alternate spelling of their name.  The clerk who recorded their embarkation or arrival was unlikely to ask about spelling and just recorded the name as he heard it.
  
• If the person travelled in steerage/was an unassisted immigrant/was a crew member who jumped ship, the details recorded about them may be scant or non-existent.
• Females, children, servants and steerage passengers were frequently left off the passenger lists altogether.
• Did they migrate in stages?  Not everyone went straight from A to B – some visited other points along the way, sometimes taking years to arrive at their final destination.
• Prior to 1852, ship's masters were not required to record the names of unassisted passengers travelling from Britain to the Australian colonies.
• Port Phillip District of New South Wales was established on 10 April 1837.  Victoria was not proclaimed a separate colony until 1 July 1851.  Check NSW records if your ancestor arrived earlier.
• After 1923 records of people arriving by sea and air are held at the National Archives of Australia.
• Not all records have survived the passage of time and remained legible.