Do you have Jewish ancestry and want to know more about the Holocaust? My Story is a new website from the Association of Jewish Refugees, launched to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January. It offers a collection of free downloadable e-books containing the memoirs of Jewish refugees from Nazi persecution and Holocaust survivors. Based on oral history interviews, they allow the interviewees to tell the story of the suffering they experienced, their lives after the war and their journeys to seek refuge in the UK.
My Story first began collecting the stories of Holocaust survivors in 2017and currently over 35 members have either had their book printed or are waiting for their book to be created. All My Story books can either be read online in pdf format or downloaded as an ePub file.
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Sunday, February 9, 2020
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 6 - Out of Place
When searching for an elusive ancestor, it can be surprising just where people turn up. When whole generations of a family have lived in the same area, suddenly that elusive missing ancestor turns up somewhere completely out of place. During my research it has happened again and again - for one reason or another someone departs from the mainstream, heads out on their own, doesn't follow the predicted pattern and ends up somewhere completely unexpected.
From a mystery great great aunt who vanished in Melbourne and suddenly reappeared to marry in New Zealand to a family of forebears who were reported to immigrate to Melbourne from Bristol only to appear in Tasmania for 8 years in between to a great uncle who vanished from his family home in Essex, England only to turn up in Canada - sometimes people just end up out of place.
Tracking down those displaced family members can be tricky, especially when they turn up unannounced in a completely different country than the one you expected them to be in. When did they move there? WHY did they move? Why did no one else in the family seem to know where they had gone? I cannot say how many times I have heard people suggest looking further afield for a missing family member. Back in a time when so many people were born, grew up, lived and died in one small area, it is surprising how far afield some people traveled, often in search of a better life.
It may not even be an individual turning up in another state or country. Sometimes a missing ancestor is to be found in a prison or asylum, something many families tried to keep quiet about. In times past the 'taint' of having a family member imprisoned or committed to an asylum was a considerable social embarrassment, and many families avoided mention of such a relative for fear of attracting social stigma.
While it is true that many of our ancestors followed fairly predictable patterns, there were still the trailblazers, the brave individuals and families who struck out into the unknown. Seeking a better future, an escape from poverty or persecution, they uprooted themselves from all they knew and headed out into the unknown. And turned up out of place.
From a mystery great great aunt who vanished in Melbourne and suddenly reappeared to marry in New Zealand to a family of forebears who were reported to immigrate to Melbourne from Bristol only to appear in Tasmania for 8 years in between to a great uncle who vanished from his family home in Essex, England only to turn up in Canada - sometimes people just end up out of place.
Tracking down those displaced family members can be tricky, especially when they turn up unannounced in a completely different country than the one you expected them to be in. When did they move there? WHY did they move? Why did no one else in the family seem to know where they had gone? I cannot say how many times I have heard people suggest looking further afield for a missing family member. Back in a time when so many people were born, grew up, lived and died in one small area, it is surprising how far afield some people traveled, often in search of a better life.
It may not even be an individual turning up in another state or country. Sometimes a missing ancestor is to be found in a prison or asylum, something many families tried to keep quiet about. In times past the 'taint' of having a family member imprisoned or committed to an asylum was a considerable social embarrassment, and many families avoided mention of such a relative for fear of attracting social stigma.
While it is true that many of our ancestors followed fairly predictable patterns, there were still the trailblazers, the brave individuals and families who struck out into the unknown. Seeking a better future, an escape from poverty or persecution, they uprooted themselves from all they knew and headed out into the unknown. And turned up out of place.
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 5 - DNA
A lot has been said about Genealogy and DNA tests, and while a lot has been positive there has also been a significant amount of negative commentary as well. The issues that have arisen regarding privacy, informed consent and law enforcement access have caused great concern and discouraged some people from testing. Over the past few years I have blogged several times about DNA, both my own results and the ongoing law enforcement access issue.
For myself, taking a DNA test has largely just confirmed what I had already discovered in my research over the years, and has produced no major surprises. For a few others I know, that has not been the case. For one friend (who has given me permission to speak generally about her discovery) a DNA test had major repercussions when it led to the discovery that she was adopted. Her adoptive parents had never told her about her birth, and she had no idea she was not biologically related to them until she received her test results. She found no relative matches to several family members she knew had done DNA tests, and matches to people she didn't know, including 2 sibling matches to complete strangers. It was a lot to deal with and the entire family have had to come to terms with the discovery.
In the couple of years since I did my own DNA test (taken with Ancestry.com) there has been a few updates in ethnicity estimates. As more people test, more ethnicity information becomes available and (presumably) more accurate estimates can be given. The current ethnicity estimate for Ancestry.com customers was calculated in August 2019 and has 40,000+ reference samples and 1,000+ possible regions. The latest update saw minor changes in my ethnicity, with the English component increasing and the Ireland/Scotland and Germanic Europe components decreasing.
DNA matches have also been interesting. Last year one of my first cousins finally did the test - until then my matches had been second cousin at best. Third and fourth cousins were much more numerous, and I have exchanged information, stories and photos with several of them. Although I come from quite a large family (my father was one of ten siblings) few of my first cousins are interested in genealogy and had not done DNA tests. This brings home the reality that you can only match to others who have tested - and no matches to a branch of your family doesn't necessarily mean you are not related, it could just mean no one from that branch of your family has done a DNA test yet. Something to keep in mind.
For myself, taking a DNA test has largely just confirmed what I had already discovered in my research over the years, and has produced no major surprises. For a few others I know, that has not been the case. For one friend (who has given me permission to speak generally about her discovery) a DNA test had major repercussions when it led to the discovery that she was adopted. Her adoptive parents had never told her about her birth, and she had no idea she was not biologically related to them until she received her test results. She found no relative matches to several family members she knew had done DNA tests, and matches to people she didn't know, including 2 sibling matches to complete strangers. It was a lot to deal with and the entire family have had to come to terms with the discovery.
In the couple of years since I did my own DNA test (taken with Ancestry.com) there has been a few updates in ethnicity estimates. As more people test, more ethnicity information becomes available and (presumably) more accurate estimates can be given. The current ethnicity estimate for Ancestry.com customers was calculated in August 2019 and has 40,000+ reference samples and 1,000+ possible regions. The latest update saw minor changes in my ethnicity, with the English component increasing and the Ireland/Scotland and Germanic Europe components decreasing.
DNA matches have also been interesting. Last year one of my first cousins finally did the test - until then my matches had been second cousin at best. Third and fourth cousins were much more numerous, and I have exchanged information, stories and photos with several of them. Although I come from quite a large family (my father was one of ten siblings) few of my first cousins are interested in genealogy and had not done DNA tests. This brings home the reality that you can only match to others who have tested - and no matches to a branch of your family doesn't necessarily mean you are not related, it could just mean no one from that branch of your family has done a DNA test yet. Something to keep in mind.
Monday, February 3, 2020
Trove Upgrade
Many genealogists, especially those in Australia, are familiar with the wonderful website Trove. Trove, part of the National Library of Australia, contains historic newspapers, Government Gazettes, journals articles and data sets, digitized books, pictures and photos, music and video, maps, diaries and more. All can be accessed by anyone, completely free.
In mid 2020, the National Library of Australia plans to launch a new, significantly upgraded version of Trove. And for those of you who would like a sneak peek at the new site, a general public preview will be held from 14-24 February. Even more, there will be a guided tour of the upgraded website by the Trove team via a free webinar, held this Thursday 6 February from 1-2pm. You can book in for the webinar here.
As a regular visitor to Trove, I'm looking forward to seeing the new website and have already booked in for the webinar. I hope to post some feedback on the new website soon, after I have had some time to explore.
In mid 2020, the National Library of Australia plans to launch a new, significantly upgraded version of Trove. And for those of you who would like a sneak peek at the new site, a general public preview will be held from 14-24 February. Even more, there will be a guided tour of the upgraded website by the Trove team via a free webinar, held this Thursday 6 February from 1-2pm. You can book in for the webinar here.
As a regular visitor to Trove, I'm looking forward to seeing the new website and have already booked in for the webinar. I hope to post some feedback on the new website soon, after I have had some time to explore.
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Transcription Tuesday
Every year, the
people at Who Do You Think You Are Magazine hold Transcription Tuesday, where
they ask readers to join in indexing and transcribing thousands of unique
records throughout the day, helping to make them more widely accessible to
researchers across the globe. This year
Transcription Tuesday falls on 4 February.
Whether you can spare a
few minutes or a few hours, it's the perfect opportunity to delve into some
fascinating documents and give something back to the family history community.
No matter where in the
world you live, all you need is a computer, an internet connection and a
passion for genealogy.
This year, WDYTYA
is partnering with two of the world’s biggest family history websites – FamilySearch and Ancestry, via their free World
Archives Project. They are also working with
two smaller projects opening up records of the First World War – the Internment
Research Centre and Royal
Navy First World War Lives at Sea.
On the magazine’s homepage
they have a post with details of Transcription Tuesday and links to the
coordinators of all four projects about why they matter and how you can help.
So whether
you can spare a few minutes, hours or the whole day, consider taking part in
this year’s Transcription Tuesday and help make more records freely available
online to researchers everywhere. You
never know what you might find!
Sunday, January 26, 2020
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 4 - In the news
Newspapers have always been a magnificent resource for filling in the details of our ancestors lives. Even if you are not fortunate enough to find articles naming your ancestors, newspapers provide the details of life and the events that our ancestors witnessed and perhaps took part in. Details of city, town and village life are coloured and fleshed out by newspapers. What shops, services, industry and commerce were located nearby? What sort of events were held locally that our ancestors may have attended - things like dances and entertainments, church events, hunts, sports and so on. Newspapers don't just report the huge events that impacted everyone - smaller local newspapers especially gave details of the daily lives and local events our ancestors took part in.
If you are especially lucky, there will be stories and articles that name our ancestors and give details of things that they actually did and events they attended. Maybe one of our ancestors even wrote to the editor of a paper about a topic or issue they were passionate about.
I have always enjoyed searching through newspapers for articles about my ancestors and over the years an enormous number of old papers have become available online, often for free.
The variety of articles concerning family is amazing. From trade notices to estate clearances, sporting results to court proceedings, they provide fascinating glimpses into everyday life. Below are a few examples.
From the Ipswich Journal on Saturday 10 July 1784, my ancestor Christopher Prentice advertised to keep his elected position of Water Bailiff, a post he had held for 6 years.
William Hart, an innkeeper, advertised his new venture in the Ipswich Journal on Saturday 2 January 1796.
Isaac Green served as a judge for the local ploughing matches, reported in the Essex Standard on Friday 13 October 1837.
If you are especially lucky, there will be stories and articles that name our ancestors and give details of things that they actually did and events they attended. Maybe one of our ancestors even wrote to the editor of a paper about a topic or issue they were passionate about.
I have always enjoyed searching through newspapers for articles about my ancestors and over the years an enormous number of old papers have become available online, often for free.
The variety of articles concerning family is amazing. From trade notices to estate clearances, sporting results to court proceedings, they provide fascinating glimpses into everyday life. Below are a few examples.
Estate and probate notices were common, either advertising to resolve claims and demands on the estate or giving details of the sale of assets. Here Susannah, the widow of Mr John Noble, advertises in the Essex Standard on Friday 4 October 1850 to resolve her husband's estate.
Friday, January 24, 2020
Goodbye to the Rootsweb Mailing Lists
Those of you who have been researching your family history for a while will probably remember the Rootsweb Mailing Lists fondly. A decade of more ago they were extremely popular - a great place to ask questions, seek help and make contact with others researching your family. There were thousands of lists - covering countries, states and counties, specific topics and local areas. Over the years I have used many of them.
More recently the lists have faded somewhat, replaced by Facebook groups, and as a result many of the Rootsweb Mailing Lists have become inactive. Finally Ancestry, who have owned Rootsweb since June 2000, have made the decision to close the lists down.
More recently the lists have faded somewhat, replaced by Facebook groups, and as a result many of the Rootsweb Mailing Lists have become inactive. Finally Ancestry, who have owned Rootsweb since June 2000, have made the decision to close the lists down.
The following is an annoucement from RootsWeb
"Beginning March 2nd, 2020 the Mailing Lists functionality on RootsWeb will be discontinued. Users will no longer be able to send outgoing emails or accept incoming emails. Additionally, administration tools will no longer be available to list administrators and mailing lists will be put into an archival state.
Administrators may save the email addresses in their list prior to March 2nd. After that, mailing list archives will remain available and searchable on RootsWeb.
As an alternative to RootsWeb Mailing Lists, Ancestry message boards are a great option to network with others in the genealogy community. Message boards are available for free with an Ancestry registered account.
Thank you for being part of the RootsWeb family and contributing to this community.
Sincerely, The RootsWeb team."
The discontinuation of the mailing lists is the end of an era, and highlights how much the way we research changes over time. As the Ancestry Message Boards and various Facebook Groups and Google Hangouts take over, the old Mailing Lists have dropped in usage and popularity to the point where the owners have decided their day is past. Over a number of years they have served good purpose, however, and I for one will miss them. To all those people I have contact on the Lists over the years, to all the administrators who kept the lists running smoothly and for free, thank you for your time, your help and you enthusiasm.
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