Family Tree UK Magazine

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 : 

• Time travel, memories & family history
• Explore the effects of traumatic events on our ancestors
• Curiosity, creativity and genius at the heart of the National Trust’s 2023 plans
• Private collection of Antiques Roadshow expert Henry Sandon to go under the hammer
• Can you help to save Trove? Support a campaign to save the National Library of Australia’s Trove newspaper database, which is threatened with closure later this year
• 2.4 million RAF records available to search online
• New search service for those with French roots
• Audrey Collins: a tribute
• All Change : ancestor money & measurements
• Tips & Tactics to prove your Family Tree is correct
• Acquiring clothes in the pre- and early- industrial age
• Note-taking applications for Family History
• And more...
  

 

Recording Historic Times

Over the past few years we have seen many difficult times, and I recently had a discussion with several fellow Family Historians about how we should record our memories and reactions for the future, so that generations yet to come can see how their ancestors lived through several years of crisis.

Hard on the heels of 2 years of Covid lockdowns, 2022 saw my home area suffer the worst floods in living memory.  While my home itself was not impacted, many friends saw their homes flood, roads and highways were cut, access to services cut, shops closed and like many I came under an evacuation order.  

 From the back windows of the Library where I work, we watched to Murray River flood parkland, the water creeping closer.  The photo above was taken standing at the back of the building - note the levee in the background.  Over several days the water crept higher and we prepared the building for potential flooding. 

This second photo shows the levee to the rear of the first photo as the floodwater rises over the top, flooding the land beyond.  As the water rose the community came together to frantically sandbag homes and businesses, a wonderful show of community spirit in the face of a crisis.

These are memories that need to be recorded as part of our family history.  We have all lived through a global pandemic and lived through or witnessed a number of historic times.  Recording our memories of such major events should be a part of our family history records, for the generations that come after us.

So please, get writing your memories.

Family Histories Podcast Series 4

In the seventh and final episode of Series Four of The Family Histories Podcast, host Andrew meets professional genealogist and author, Simon Last, who tells us why he turned professional and set up shop, about his love for war memorials, his work with The Western Front Association, giving tours of war cemeteries, and how he traces the otherwise abandoned people on old postcards.

 

Simon has chosen to tell the Life Story of his Grandfather Tadeusz Bialosiewicz, the identity of whom he discovered over 20 years ago, as Simon’s mother was adopted in 1949 via the Thomas Coram foundling hospital.

After using some tried and tested research methods of writing a letter and using the telephone, Simon found himself unexpectedly picking up the phone and speaking to his Grandfather for the first time.

What follows is a fantastic story of an adoption reunion going well, and how Simon and his mother, joined her new-found father and his Polish family.

I have greatly enjoyed this series, and hope that it will continue soon with a series 5.

WDYTYA 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 : 

• Start your Irish research Nicola Morris explains how to break down your brick walls and go further with Irish family history
• Walk in your ancestors' footsteps Chloe O'Shea on the joys of visiting where your ancestors lived
• Reader story Helen Murray's family hosted some of the most famous figures of the day in Cromer
• Plus: Researching illegitimate births, tracing textile mill workers, recording oral histories 
• and more

 

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 :  

• NARA Launches New Catalog
• The Newspapers Issue
• Titans of Industry - digitized newspapers.
• Headlining Search Tips
• Extra, Extra! - smaller newspaper databases
• Find Your U.S. Ancestors
• Ladies-in-Waiting - Find long-lost female ancestors
• Nicknames: Not a Given
• The UK National Archives - Here’s what to expect.
• US Censuses
• Searching Land Patents from the Bureau of Land Management
• Preserving Coins and Paper Money
• Places to Connect with Genealogists
• Testing at Multiple Companies
• 4 Things You’ll Find in Old Newspapers
• And More
  

Irish Lives Remembered magazine

Issue 58 of the free online Irish family history magazine Irish Lives Remembered is now available.

Inside this issue : 

• We remember the original musical peace activist, Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore - a Galway man who emigrated to America and organized what were then the largest concerts in history, with the ambitious goal of musically achieving world peace.
• Mary Lou McDonald is the current leader of Sinn Féin; a party once regarded as controversial for its paramilitary connections. Fiona Fitzsimons takes a look at her family tree, to better understand how she got to where she is.
• Folklore expert Ned Kelly traces the ancient pagan roots of Irish traditions of the midsummer solstice, from the goddess Áine to St. John the Baptist.
• Brigit McCone researches the history of the Irish in the Far East and turns up some fascinating characters.
• Robert Flanagan Stieglitz returns with the story of uncovering and commemorating great-great-grandfather Patrick Branegan's service in the American Civil War.
• Genetic genealogy expert Dr. Maurice Gleeson lets you know how you can help to identify and commemorate Irish veterans of World War One using DNA testing and online family trees.
• Nathan Mannion remembers the fascinating life of Wicklow woman Elizabeth leBlond, pioneering female mountaineer and filmmaker.
• Dr. Katharine Simms, author of Medieval Gaelic sources, introduces us to the medieval bardic poetry of the Gaelic aristocracy as a genealogical source.
• Can photo detective Jayne Shrimpton's skills date our reader's Ayrshire ancestors?
• Our new Heritage Highlight feature spotlights local institutions and lesser-known attractions of Ireland and the potential interest their archives hold for family history researchers. This issue, we look at the Michael Davitt Museum in Straide, County Mayo.
• Jessie O’Hara reviews the latest Irish records on Findmypast, including a new TreeSearch feature that helps you to connect your family tree to millions of others!
• Two readers' dilemmas are answered in our Dear Genie column,
• An excerpt from a Genealogical Publishing Company resource that reveals the deep Derry roots of fiery feminist journalist Nell McCafferty.
• Our Four Courts Press excerpt delves into the history of St. James's Hospital, Ireland's largest teaching hospital, and its past as an overwhelmed workhouse weathering the crisis of Ireland's Great Famine.
  

Ethical Genealogy

All families have secrets, and it’s almost inevitable that when we undertake genealogical research, at least some of those family secrets will emerge. The truth will come out.  Discovering family secrets might be fascinating, but they can also be distressing, upsetting and even confusing, for those involved. There may be times when we find it helpful to stop our research and reflect on what we have discovered and even question ourselves over what we should do with this newfound information. 

There is no easy answer to this problem, but it is something that we should all be aware of before undertaking any research. Many of us will have ordered a certificate or uncovered a newspaper article and discovered something that we were not expecting.  When that’s the case, what happens next? To tell or not tell, that is the question! The decisions we make can have an impact on relatives still living, and cause family disputes and distress.

Ethical dilemmas don’t just stop there. Another big part of the ethical dilemma that you might face when researching your family history concerns how much information should you publish online, either in a public tree for example, or a blog like this one. While some may find stories of a criminal ancestor, or one with health issues, physical or mental, to be fascinating, others may find such news confronting, especially when it is published online.

The opposite side of this dilemma is whether it is right to conceal information just because it is negative.  Should we not reveal that great great grandad James had a criminal past?  Should we hide the fact that Great Uncle Peter died in a lunatic asylum?  Should we not include in our records that Great Aunt Mary was divorced?

We need to find a balance between being open about our family history and not causing distress.  There is no such thing as a perfect family and none of us are without the occasional black sheep in our family tree.  When we are researching our family history we need to be aware that inevitably we will uncover uncomfortable facts, and we need to find a balance between not concealing facts and not causing harm or distress.