Family Tree UK July 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 : 

• Family Tree Live returns with two-day event
• Visit People’s History Museum’s 1926 General Strike exhibition 
• Delve into medical records
• Scribe AI now available on MyHeritage app
• Bring your Irish family history alive
• DNA Club news 
• Marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
• Following the money : a guide to taxation record sets
• Researching Your Ancestors Using Newspapers Online
• Why telling our story is the best gift we’ll ever give
• Staffordshire parish registers
• The Pitcairn Register : our book of origins
• Introducing the brand new Family Tree website 

Week 25 (June 18-24) The Ancestor Who Stays With Me - #52Ancestors

As we learn more about them, the stories of many of our ancestors stay with us.  For some, the story is positive - the achievements they made, the success they celebrated.  For others the story is more challenging - the obstacles they faced, the tragedies they overcame.  I find it is more the tragedies that stay with me.

My great grandmother Eliza Pummeroy (nee Beseler).  After struggling for a month after her husband's sudden death, Eliza took the step of applying to the local court for help, risking having her children removed from her custody and placed in an orphanage, something she was adamant she did not want.  The judges hearing the case awarded her 10 shillings from the poor box and committed the children to the department, with the recommendation they be handed back to their mother. 

My great great grandparents David and Eliza Mulholland, who had three children die as infants within a few weeks of each other - Henry who died 29 January 1872 aged 4 years 8 months, Margaret Jane who died 2 February 1872 aged 6 years 4 months and Thomas who died 14 February 1872 aged 1 year 2 months.  A stark reminder of the perils of childhood and how disease could carry off several family members in rapid succession - all three died of diphtheria. 

Then there is the Hines branch of my family tree, who I followed through the census records.  In the 1841 census parents James and Susan are alive and children John, Samuel, Albert and Hannah are listed with them.  Eldest daughter Susannah is not home on census night and so was not listed. 

The 1851census told a very different story.  Both parents had died, and the five siblings have been split up.  The two eldest children, Susannah and John, now aged 18 and 16, are living with their maternal grandparents and are listed as house servant and farm servant respectively.  Middle child Samuel, age 14, was found a home with relatives, and is listed as a lodger in the house of James Prentice.  His maternal grandmother Susannah's maiden name was Prentice (she is the Susannah Woollard listed above, who took in the two eldest children), and James Prentice is her nephew.  The two youngest children, Albert, now age 12 and Hannah, age 10, were  less fortunate.  Apparently there were no relatives willing and able to take these youngest children, and they are listed in the census as paupers in the Cosford Union Workhouse.  So not only have these children lost their parents, they have also been split up, the ones old enough taken by relatives and put to work.  The two youngest, not yet old enough to perform sufficient useful labour, are sent to the workhouse.

Tragic stories that stay with me.

Who Do You Think You Are Magazine July 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 : 

• The National Archives maps Weavers’ Rising
• DNA testing identifies sailors from the Franklin expedition
• New slavery records database launches
• Alan Crosby on the art of baby naming
• Get the most from death records
• Write a memoir in Six Easy Steps
• Assize Records 
• Was your ancestor in Nelson’s Navy?
• More great websites 
• The Napier Commission
• Forgotten women of Cambridge

Week 24 (June 11-17) Possibilities - #52Ancestors

When researching your family history, the possibilities are endless.  Each time I start researching - sitting at my computer, visiting an archive or repository or cemetery or library, each time I write or talk to a relative, the possibilities of what I might discover are what keeps me going.

Especially exciting is when new records become available, either online or newly released physical records.  What might I find?

This is the reason I regularly check what is new on all the databases I subscribe to, including Ancestry, which is available free to search at my local library via Ancestry Library Edition.

Finding out what is new on Ancestry is as simple as checking the card catalogue.

To get to the card catalogue, log into Ancestry (or Ancestry Library Edition at your local public library or research centre if you don't have a subscription) and click on the Search tab at the top of the page, then select the "Card Catalogue".

 

The Card Catalogue is a searchable list of all the record collections available.  Because of the way their databases are titled you can use the title search box to narrow all the resources for a specific place, such as "Victoria, Australia".  You can then browse through the various data sets, click on one which interests you, and conduct a specific search of those records for anything relevant to your family.

 

Using this method, I discovered that Ancestry holds the Victorian Divorce Records 1860-1940.

I immediately did a search of this specific record set for James Clark and came up with a listing for his divorce, complete with a link to the original documents.

Viewing the record was the bonanza - some 55 pages of statements and court proceedings and other documents.  Full details of the circumstances of the marriage and its breakdown, dates and addresses, and the final Decree Nisi that dissolved the marriage.  

These documents fill in the detail of the marriage breakdown and subsequent divorce and are a wonderful find!

While you are looking at particular datasets on Ancestry, it's a good idea to read the "about" section for more detail. To do this scroll past the search box and you'll see information about where the data came from and more details about what is in that particular resource. 

  

For example, the Rate Books 1855-1963 for Victoria, Australia are by no means complete, and the detail makes this clear.  While the list below is not the complete list of Rate Books available, it gives you the general idea that different areas covered different year ranges.  For the complete list, please check the card catalogue yourself.

There is nothing more frustrating than spending your valuable researching time looking for information that is not covered by the database, even though the broad description implied that it was there.  So try checking the description of some of the datasets available on Ancestry to see exactly what they cover - it may explain why you cannot find a records you were expecting to be available.

And remember - the possibilities are endless!

Week 23 (June 4-10) A Place That Matters - #52Ancestors

Society today is much more mobile than in previous centuries.  Many of my ancestors spent generations living in the one place, setting down deep roots in a place and a community.

The Argent family can be followed through the census records with both father and son listed as living at Newbridge Mill, West Bergholt in the 1841 census.  By the 1851 census John Jr has taken over the mill from his father and is listed as a miller and farmer of 100 acres living with his wife Emma, son John and daughters Emma and Ada, as well as 2 servants.  The same census lists John Senior as Miller and Farmer living in Crouch Street, St Mary at the Walls, Colchester.

Newbridge Mill, West Bergholt

John Thompson Argent continues to be listed as Miller and Farmer at Newbridge Mill in the 1861, 1871, 1881 and 1891 censuses, running this business until his death on 22 January 1894.  To this family, Newbridge Mill was a place that mattered.

My Green ancestors had even stronger ties to Fordham Hall (also called Manor Farm) in Essex, being tennants at the Hall for several generations.  Although they were not the owners, they were major local landholders and were the gentry of their small community.

Fordham Hall, Essex

The Green family of Fordham Hall farmed the land, kept a pack of foxhounds,and took part in many community events.  The article below, from the 'Essex Standard' on Friday 13 October 1837, mentions Isaac Green of Fordham as one of the judges at the annual meeting of the local Agricultural Society.

 

Week 22 (May 28-June 3) A Name With Meaning - #52Ancestors

Names running through families often carry extra meaning, and naming children has always been significant.  There were also fads among names - copying that of the current Monarch and their family, for example, or using a traditional name common in your own family, or following popular fads.  Horatio, for example, made a brief surge in popularity after Nelson's victory at Trafalgar.  Similarly, Adolf disappeared from German communities after World War 2.

The given names of our eighteenth and nineteenth century British ancestors were drawn from a surprisingly small pool.  The four most popular male names were carried by one in every two males, and the top thirteen male names were carried by 87% of the male population.

In the 1700s the top five names for each gender were :
Boys - John, William, Thomas, Richard and James
Girls - Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah and Jane

In the 1800s the top five names for each gender were :
Boys - John, William, James, George and Charles
Girls - Mary, Anna, Emma, Elizabeth and Margaret

Then there were also the commonly used spelling variations, abbreviations and diminutives.  For example, if you don’t know that Polly was a diminutive of Mary or that Nellie was a diminutive of Ellen and Eleanor and Helen, you may struggle to find your ancestors’ entries.  Harry for Henry, Bill for William, Fred or Alf for Alfred, Dick for Richard, Charlie or Lottie for Charlotte, Maggie, Meg or Maisie for Margaret.  Elizabeth was another extremely common name with multiple diminutives - Eliza, Liz, Lizzie, Betty, Betsy, Beth, Bessie, Lisbeth, Liza - the list goes on.  

I have one female ancestor, baptised Elizabeth, who was known throughout her life as Betsy.  This was the name she used in census records, her children's birth/baptism records, her own marriage registration and on her death certificate and burial record.  The only time I can ever find her referred to as Elizabeth is at her baptism.Betsy was the name with meaning.

Week 21 (May 21-27) An Unexpected Strength - #52Ancestors

Many of our ancestors showed unexpected strength when dealing with the adversity in their lives.  Without the medical, financial and social support we benefit from today, they had to call on inner strength and find a way to move forward.

One such ancestor of mine was Eliza Beseler.  I have written about her previously.

Eliza was born in 1871 in Learmonth, Victoria to Edward Beseler and Emma (nee Flower).  Eliza married Alfred Pummeroy in1895 in St Kilda, where Alfred worked as a plasterer.  They had four children before Alfred suddenly became ill with pneumonia and died on 6 Feb 1901, leaving Eliza in a desperate situation.

The family lived in rented housing and had little by way of savings.  With four children to look after, the eldest 4 years old and deaf and mute, the youngest (my grandfather William) only 2 months old, Eliza was unable to do much by way of paid work.  She took in washing to make a little money, and was given 3 shillings a week by the local Ladies Benevolent Society.  It wasn't enough.

After struggling for a month after her husband's sudden death, Eliza took the step of applying to the local court for help, risking having her children removed from her custody and placed in an orphanage, something she was adamant she did not want.  The judges hearing the case awarded her 10 shillings from the poor box and committed the children to the department, with the recommendation they be handed back to their mother.

This appeal was reported in several newspapers, including the article below.

The Argus, Sat 9 March 1901, p15.

How much courage and desperation Eliza must have felt to take the step of appealing to the courts for aid.  Standing before three magistrates to plead her case, knowing they had the power to take her children away, while still mourning the death of her husband.  An unexpected strength in the face of such desperate circumstances. 

Website Wednesday - Railway Work, Life & Death

The Railway Work, Life & Death Project is a joint initiative between the University of Portsmouth, the National Railway Museum (NRM) and the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick (MRC). The project also works with other institutions including The National Archives of the UK (TNA) and the RMT Union.

The project makes it easier to find out about workers and work on Britain and Ireland’s railways from 1855 to 1939. They provide data about what staff were doing on the railways, what happened to them and why, all revealed through the accidents they had. Working on the railways 100 or more years ago was incredibly dangerous, with hundreds killed and tens of thousands injured each year.

The Railway Work, Life & Death project has been able to make publicly available the work produced by the NRM, MRC and TNA volunteers. Between them, they’ve produced a database of over 115,000 individuals and incidents. The volunteers have extracted the details found in the records of accidents produced between 1855 and 1939 – things like names, ages, roles, companies and details of the accident or support provided – and entered them into the free database.

Week 20 (May 14-20) At the Cemetery - #52Ancestors

The information to be found on tombstones and in cemeteries cannot be discounted.  From visiting cemeteries in person to finding online cemetery records to uncovering photos of headstones, I have had some wonderful finds.  The information found on headstones can be remarkably varied in content, with anything from a simple name to the details of parents, spouse, children and dates and places of birth and death.  Sometimes finding one relative in a cemetery leads to the discovery of several more, with whole generations of family all buried in the same location. 

The photograph above is the Mulholland family plot in Eurobin, Victoria.  The plot includes two main headstones and several plaques.

The main headstone is for my great great grandfather David Mulholland who died 10 April 1902, age 71 and his wife Eliza Jane who died 30 October 1925, age 95.  Also included on the headstone are three infant children - Samuel Thomas, died 28 April 1879, age 3 months ; Margaret died 5 September 1885 age 10 years, and an unnamed infant son who died 26 January 1887 age 10 days.

The second, smaller headstone is 'erected to the memory of the beloved children of David and Jane Mulholland who died at Boggy Creek.'

Sadly, the three children named on the headstone all died as infants within a few weeks of each other - Henry Mulholland, died 29 January 1872 aged 4 years 8 months, Margaret Jane Mulholland who died 2 February 1872 aged 6 years 4 months and Thomas Mulholland who died 14 February 1872 aged 1 year 2 months.  A stark reminder of the perils of childhood and how disease could carry off several family members in rapid succession - all three died of diphtheria.

Family Tree US May/June 2026

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

Inside this month's issue : 

• Remembering What Matters Most 
• RootsTech 2026 Roundup
• Scribe AI : transcribing and translating records
• New partners for FamilySearch 
• Digitizing memories with Ancestry 
• Family Tree DNA: Enhanced Tests
• Getting Smart with AI
• Soul Searching
• The Course of Human Events 
• Four Score and 170 Years Ago
• Find Your U.S. Ancestors
• Loyal Royal subjects
• At Your Service - the lives of indentured servants
• 75 Best Websites for US genealogy research.
• Hair Apparent • A woman and her hair-filled brooch present a 19th-century dilemma
• Confirming Relationships
• Searching Newspaper Databases at Elephind
• And more... 

Family Tree UK June 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 : 

• 1 million entries in Scotland’s Criminal Database
• Is this really my ancestor?
• Preserving your family story for future generations.
• Walking a fine line Ethical dilemmas in genealogy
• Parish Treasures
• The case of the missing ancestor 
• A Genealogist’s Statistical Guide to the Irish 1926 Census
• Jessie Blackshaw - Beginnings in a Working County
• Booth’s Poverty Maps and the Stepney Union Casebooks 
• Spotlight on Devon Family History Society
• Dear Paul 
• Using shared DNA matches
• And more... 

Week 19 (May 7-13) A Question the Records Can't Answer - #52Ancestors

While the records we find are vital to our family history research, there are many questions that the records cannot answer.

The records cannot tell us why our ancestors make many of the choices they made.  Why did they choose a particular profession?  Why did they marry their partners?  How did they choose the names of their children?  Why did they move, divorce, change their name, enlist in the armed forces.
Several of my ancestors made to momentous decision to emigrate to Australia.  While the records can tell us when they emigrated, and history might provide some hints as to why, the records cannot fill in the whole picture.

My great grandfather, James Nicholas Clark, was born in Bristol, England or possibly Launceston, Tasmania around 1856, just as the family emigrated to Australia.  James’s younger sister Annie Amelia Clark was born 31 March 1857 in Port Sorrell, Tasmania, where the family lived for at least 12 years before they crossed Bass Strait and settled in Victoria.  Why did they leave England and move to the other side of the world?

Then there is my German branch of the family tree.  Carl Friedrich Beseler, known in Australia as Frederick, was born around 1810 in Hanover, Germany.  He was a shoemaker in Germany and a farmer in Australia, arriving in Adelaide on 1 April 1848 on the ship Pauline from Bremen, Germany.  Passengers listed were Frederick Beseler, Shoemaker, Mrs Beseler and 5 children.  The family lived in South Australia for 7 years before travelling overland to Victoria, where they settled near Ercildown.  Several members of the family are buried in Learmonth Cemetery.  Why did they leave Germany for a country where they didn't even speak the language?

I would love to know what prompted these families, with young children in tow, to pack up and move halfway around the world, settle in one state of Australia, then pack up and move again several years later. For whatever their reasons, my original Australian immigrant ancestors made a huge leap of faith to leave their homelands and travel to a distant country, most with little chance of returning to their homeland if their new lives proved less than they hoped.  And the records can't answer why.

Who Do You Think You Are May 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 : 

• Who Do You Think You Are? 2026 celebrities announced
• Ancestry adds Shropshire electoral records
• TheGenealogist adds 77,000 Worcestershire parish records
• UK and Ireland in €5m archives boost
• New collection of 12 million soldiers’ records goes online
• A fun-loving Puritan 
• Make the most of the 1926 census of Ireland
• Understanding the value of historic wages 
• Labour economics during the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral 
• ‘Dad spent years in a TB Hospital 
• Apprenticeship Records 
• Thomas Coram 1668-1751 
• Parish Indenture, 1713
• Go Further - Nine more websites you can't afford to miss
• WW2 Royal Navy Casualty Logs 
• And more... 

Irish Lives Remembered Magazine

The latest issue of the free online magazine Irish Lives Remembered is now available.

Articles in this issue include : 

Declan Byrne – Remembering William Deans and the History of the Dublin Docks

Fiona Fitzsimons – Taylor-Made: The Swift Family‘s Irish Immigrant Love Story

Brigit McCone – Lover: Letters from the Scandalous 19th-century Irish Diaspora

David Caron – Dublin’s Stained Glass: Highlights by Harry Clarke

Katharine Simms – Saints and Scholars: the Magrath Clan and other Erenagh Hereditary Church Families

Eamonn P. Kelly – Domhnach Mám Éan, the Connemara Harvest Festival

Donna Rutherford – Genealog-AI: How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Family History

 

Week 18 (Apr. 30-May 6) Tradition - #52Ancestors

Many families have any number of cultural traditions they follow faithfully.  No matter where your family comes from, there will be traditions you will follow.  Some are specific to a particular area or nationality, some are religious, others are created within families and handed down.

Traditions govern much of our daily existence whether we’re aware of them or not. For example, we begin our mornings with some sort of ritual that gets us ready for the day, usually ending with (or involving) breakfast. Millions of people worldwide perform the sacred ritual of preparing coffee, without which, for me, life simply cannot exist. And many holidays are secretly devoted to surviving beloved family traditions so as not to disappoint 'the Family'.

I have previously blogged about Christmas, when my family always observed a traditional gathering.  For me today, Christmas means putting the tree up and decorating the house, cooking turkey and roasting veggies, mince pies and Christmas cake laid on.  Brightly wrapped presents are tucked under the Christmas tree to be opened (one by one with everyone present watching, to prolong the Christmas morning fun).  Some of my Christmas traditions have changed over time.  Tinsel does not feature in my decorations any more after the year my tinsel-obsessed cat caused a rather expensive Christmas day visit to the family vet.  The same cat has also resulted in the rule that my Christmas Tree is put up undecorated for a week until he has lost interest in it.

Halloween in Australia is a rapidly growing tradition, with a growing number of houses in my area decorating and being visited by neighborhood children.  Back when I was younger it was much less popular, and I never went 'trick or treating' as a child back then.

With no young children in my close family, the traditional Easter Egg Hunt no longer features in my life - although I will admit the odd chocolate egg still finds its way into my shopping trolley each year.  Watching the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal remains a feature of my Easter holiday.

Why do we continue to observe these traditions?  Why do I still cook a hot Christmas dinner in the often 40 degree heat of an Australian summer?  But that’s the beauty of tradition. It doesn’t need to be logical or make sense. It just needs to be done. In an increasingly unpredictable world, tradition offers a sense of stability. Tradition.

New on Ancestry - Prerogative and Exchequer Court of York Wills, 1389-1858

This collection contains images of wills filed in Yorkshire, England, between 1389 and 1858.  It includes 2,462,539 records.

Records in this collection may include the following information:

Name

Place of residence

Relationship to head of household

Will date

Probate date

The indexed information may help you confirm important dates regarding your ancestor’s death and estate processing. You may find additional information by looking at your ancestor’s record image. Your ancestor’s will may include names of family members that you can add to your family tree, and they can help to sort out how your ancestors were related. A will may also include an inventory of an estate’s assets, which may provide some insights into your ancestor’s financial status and lifestyle.

The majority of the wills in this collection are written in Latin.  Probate records were processed by church courts until 1858. The local courts typically handled the records of farmers, tradesmen, and the lower gentry, while the wealthy and aristocratic class had their probate records processed in the Prerogative Court of York. However, if a person owned property in the northern and southern provinces, their probate records were processed in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.

ANZAC Day

 
It is April 25^th again, and once more I find myself reflecting on the meaning of ANZAC Day.  While I stand and say the Ode today, I will be remembering not only my father and several uncles who served in WWII, and those of my family who went before them, but all of those men and women who have served, as well as those who serve today.  I will remember especially those who did not come home and all of those who came home forever changed, as well as those who did not see fighting, but served in different ways both at home and abroad.  

ANZAC has very much become a part of our national vocabulary.  The people who lived though that campaign were ordinary volunteers, just as Australia’s current veterans were ordinary volunteers.  They put their daily lives on hold to serve and protect us all, most with very little clear idea of just what they were volunteering for.

There are many resources available for those researching their family military history.  The Australian War Memorial has several databases available, including the Roll of Honour, Commemorative Roll, WW1 Embarkation Rolls and Nominal Roll, the Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Files, WW2 POWs and Missing Persons, and more.  The National Archives of Australia have the military records of many Australian military personnel from World War 1 and 2, and earlier digitised online.  The Commonwealth War Graves site commemorates the men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First and Second World Wars, ensuring they will never be forgotten.  There are many other websites and resources available as well.

Around the world many towns and suburbs have plaques, cenotaphs and memorials commemorating local men and women who have served and paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country.  How often do we stop as we walk past them in our daily lives and spare a moment to remember these people?

I am forever grateful to all of those who have served and sacrificed on our behalf. It is a solemn undertaking to be ready to put your life on the line for your Country. One that is deserving of our gratitude.

Lest we forget.

Week 17 (Apr. 23-29) Working for a Living - #52Ancestors

Discovering an ancestor's occupation can give enormous insight into their life.  Did they work on the land, have a profession, learn a trade?  Were they educated for their job, or serve an apprenticeship?  Or were they less educated and learned their role as they worked?

Census records can tell you about your ancestor's profession, as can trade directories, apprenticeship records, newspaper reports and more.

For several of my ancestors, the newspapers have given me much information about their work. 

Due to my previous research I already knew Christopher Prentice worked as a Water Bailiff.  I hadn't known this was an elected position until I found the article above, which was placed in the Ipswich Journal on Saturday 12 September 1778 thanking those who had elected him to the position for their trust.

6 years later Christopher was standing for election to the Water Bailiff position again and took out another notice in the Ipswich Journal applying for re-election.

Family Tree UK May 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 : 

• New funding for community archiving
• AI insights, data extraction and transcriptions with ScribeAI
• Better long-term preservation of adoption & children-in-care records
• Clues to a million wills
• New look website from photo expert Jayne Shrimpton
• Preparation for 2031 Census underway
• What’s for tea, Nan?
• One year on: new family histories from MyStories
• DNA Club news 
• Explore the world’s largest Y-DNA haplotree 
• The originals are the best 
• Life in Ireland in the era of the 1926 Census
• Staffordshire bound
• The Hidden Legacy of Titanic’s Crew
• Is it true, or are you barking up the wrong tree?
• And more