#52Ancestors - Week 18 - Social

Finding out about the social lives of our ancestors can be immensely challenging.  While work and home often generated official records, leisure activities and social gatherings were less likely to be recorded in official documents.

While our ancestors' social lives are a challenge to uncover, there are resources available that can help you in your research.  Memberships of sporting teams, clubs and associations, church groups, societies and boards can provide valuable information.  For the wealthier class, social events were often reported in local newspapers, as were sporting results.  Newspapers can also provide context on the social activities available to our ancestors, even is they are not named in reports.

The following newspaper article reports on an amateur concert held in the town of West Bergholt, where some of my ancestors lived.  Chair J. T. Argent (John Thompson Argent) is one of my direct ancestors, and the pianiste of the evening, Miss Ada E, Argent was one of his daughters.

Another insight into the social lives of my forebears was in an article from the Essex Standard from Saturday 21 June 1884, reporting on a pigeon shooting match in which my Great Great Grandfather Walter Green took part.

So check out what is available to flesh out the lives of those we are researching.  The details of social lives provide so much more insight than simply dates and places - they bring our ancestors to life in so many ways.

Who Do You Think You Are Magazine

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 

• Find elusive ancestors Katherine Cobb shares expert advice for smashing brick walls and growing your family tree
• DNA Family Secrets We talk to Professor Turi King, co-presenter of the hit family history TV show
• School attendance records Did your ancestor bunk off?
• First Aid The origins of a life-saving movement
• Eureka moment "A DNA test revealed my grandfather's identity"
• Plus: The best websites for aristocratic ancestry, how to trace employment records, using habitual drunkards registers and more

#52Ancestors - Week 17 - Document

Documenting your sources and where you have researched is good advice every researcher (of any kind) needs to keep in mind. Keeping some kind of research log to document your work and discoveries is essential.  You need to know where you have been, where you found each piece of information, and just as importantly, know where you failed to find anything.  Knowing where you searched and what search terms you used can help you avoid reworking your research and help develop your methodology. 

If you have good research logs it is much easier when you return to a search several months or even years later as you have a clear understanding of what you have searched for, where you have looked and whether you have any uncorroborated leads to follow up. Without this, you can waste so much valuable time duplicating failed searches.

Documenting your research is also essential if you ever intend to publish a family history.  Many documents we download have some kind of copyright protection.  Often we are allowed to save documents from an archive, database or other resource for personal use only, with permission required if we intent to publish or otherwise reproduce the documents we have found.  This makes knowing where you located each document you intend to publish absolutely essential.

 So remember to always, always document your research.  On day you - or those who come after you in later generations - may be very thankful you kept good research records.

Family Tree US Magazine

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 : 

• Tree Talk - We asked what you’re hoping to find in the 1950 US census. Here’s how you responded.
• Tales of the Dead - A New Englander shares stories from cemeteries on TikTok.
• The Great Comet of 1950 - It’s the bee’s knees, daddy-O! The 1950 US census has arrived, bringing good genealogical tidings. Here’s what you’ll find in it.
• Nothing But the Truth - Separate truth from fiction in family stories with the tips in these three case studies.
• One tree to rule them all - Online trees are useful, but not an ideal place to store your research. Here’s the case for building one primary, offline “master” family tree that syncs with online trees as necessary.
• Case Closed - Using DNA databases along with traditional genealogical research, investigators are identifying criminals in decades-old cases. Here’s how they do it—and what it means for test takers.
• Viva Italia • A photo hints at an immigrant woman’s homecoming.
• Finding Resources with ArchiveGrid - ArchiveGrid is a free online catalog of 7 million archival materials from more than 1,400 repositories around the world.
• And more.

Transcription Errors

I've noted before that online trees need to be treated with a great deal of caution, as not everyone out there is a meticulous researcher and errors can be made.  It is worthwhile, however, to note that errors can also be made in original records themselves, and even more in transcribed records.

When official records are transcribed, generally there are several checks and safety protocols in place to minimise errors.  This does not mean that errors do not occur, and it is always wise to be alert for any anomalies.  Below is a screenshot of one such error I recently located.

This transcribed record for the baptism of Hannah May leapt out at me when I first located it.  Why??  Check the birth and baptism dates again.

Fairly high on my list of impossible things would be being baptised six weeks before you were born.  Something has been transcribed incorrectly in this record.  Possibly the dates are transposed and Hannah was born in July and baptised in August.  Possibly one of the months was transcribed incorrectly.  With no original image to check, I will need to dig further to find out.

So remember, never take any record you find as absolutely correct.  Human error is always a possibility, and finding corroborating evidence for any fact is a wise move.