Family Tree UK Magazine August 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 : 

• Professor Turi King Awarded Julian Bickersteth Memorial
• Crowd Cymru wins national award
• One-name website resource recognised
• Preparations underway for Family Tree Live
• Family historians invited to create time capsule
• Findmypast partners with Heritage Open Days to celebrate ‘Everyday Histories’
• ‘Pedigrees of paupers’ - Analyzing class and social mobility in the records
• Advanced approaches - Taking your research to the next level
• Putting your ancestors in their place - Agriculture
• A Legacy of the heart - Your Voice Matters part 2 
• Part 3 rural role models - like mother, like daughter
• Extra, extra! Read all about it!
• Building effective family trees from your DNA matches 
• Digging Deeper into sources - Learn how to get every last clue

Who Do You Think You Are Magazine August 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 : 

• Putting AI to the test
• London Library membership records go online
• British documents added to Memory of the World Register
• First World War soldiers buried after DNA identification
• Historic coal mining plans go online
• TheGenealogist adds British Railways magazines
• Toilet tales - Dealing with bodily functions
• AI: The answers at your fingertips? 
• Full text search at FamilySearch
• 6 free websites
• Lost in Ireland
• My journey began with a pedigree
• The Royal Naval Reserve
• British in India
• More great websites - fantastic sites you can't afford to miss
• Prerogative & Exchequer Courts of York, Probate Records 

Week 28 (July 9-15) Leisure Time - #52Ancestors

A fascinating and often difficult to research aspect of our ancestors' lives is what they did in their leisure time.  How did they relax and unwind?  Did they have hobbies?  Play sports?  Read? Take trips or go on holidays?  For many leisure time would have been rare and therefore precious - so how did they spent that time?

Newspapers have been a great source of information for me about my ancestors' 'play time' and leisure activities.  My Argent ancestors from West Bergholt took part in an amateur concert, reported below in the Essex Standard of Friday 7 January 1876.
 

A similar article reported on a pigeon shooting match in which my great-grandfather Walter Green took part - sadly he lost the match. 

Another newspaper report concerned another great-grandfather, Henry Arthur Pike, who was the umpire for his local quoits club in Bradfield St George.

All fascinating insights into the lives of my ancestors 'Play Time'. 

Family Tree US July-August

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 : 

• Trio of AI Tools from MyHeritage
• Irish Census released
• Roundup: New and Improved Websites
• Red, White and Blues
• Stories MoreThan Skin-Deep
• The 101 Best Genealogy Websites of 2026
• Learn all about the often-misunderstood ethnicity estimates
• 1930 US Census
• Whole-Genome Sequencing
• Publication-Hunting with Newspaper Finder
• Preserving Old Maps
• Finding Ancestors ‘Hiding’ in the Census
• 5 Steps to Find Your Ancestor’s Deed
• Citing Land Records

 

Week 27 (July 2-8) A Record I Read Differently Now - #52Ancestors

A record I read differently now - almost anything dating before about 1752!  Why?  The change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. 

Today, 1 January was regarded as New Year's Day and celebrated as such, but from the 12th century until 1751 the legal year in England began on 25 March (Lady Day). So, for example, the Parliamentary record lists the execution of Charles I on 30 January as occurring in 1648 (as the year did not end until 24 March), although later histories adjust the start of the year to 1 January and record the execution as occurring in 1649.

Most Western European countries changed the start of the year to 1 January before they adopted the Gregorian calendar. For example, Scotland changed the start of the Scottish New Year to 1 January in 1600 (making 1599 a rather short year). England, Ireland and the British colonies changed the start of the year to 1 January in 1752 (so 1751 was a short year with only 282 days). Later in 1752 in September the Gregorian calendar was introduced throughout Britain and the British colonies. These two reforms were implemented by the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750.

It is important to keep these dates in mind if you have been fortunate enough to trace you family back past 1752, as the calendar used at the time will skew the year in which events, particularly baptisms, marriages and burials, were recorded if they took place between 1 January and 25 March.

 
Consider the example of the baptism records above.  It records the baptism of Susannah, daughter of John Dixon and Susannah his wife on July 8, 1722.  It also records the baptism of Anna, daughter of John Dixon and Susannah his wife on March 17, 1722.   This is going to look very odd on a modern timeline, if you don't take into account that in the modern calendar, Anna is baptised on March 17, 1723 - approximately 8.5 months after sister Susannah and not 3.5 months before her.

Several of my older records make much more sense now that I read them differently.

Cork Graveyards Database at the Skibbereen Heritage Centre

Earlier this year, Skibbereen Heritage Centre added substantially to its Cork Graveyards Database, bringing the total to 109,385 burial records from over 170 graveyards throughout the county. All are free to search online.

The most recent additions to the long-running digitization project relate to North Cork and include burial records from the following graveyards:

Ballinakill, Ballyhooly, Ballynoe, Boherbue, Bridgetown, Brigown, Britway, Carrigdownane, Castlelyons New Cemetery, Derryvillane, Dromtarriffe New Cemetery, Dunmahon, Gortroe, Kilbrin, Kilcrumper Old Graveyard, Kilcummer, Kildorrery, Kilgrogan, Killabraher, Killathy, Killavullen New Cemetery, Kilphelan, Kilroe, Knawhill, Mourneabbey (The Abbey Cemetery) and St Gobnait’s (Gouldshill, Mallow). Scroll down to see the full list of graveyards included in the database. 

The Cork Graveyards Database is hosted on the Skibbereen Heritage Centre website and includes both searchable burial register records and results from several graveyard surveys. An interactive map shows each graveyard included in the project, most of which are cemeteries owned and managed by Cork County Council. Each cemetery is marked with a cross on the map. By clicking on a cross, users can read a short description of the graveyard and check the date range covered by its burial registers – a helpful step before beginning a search.

Individual burial register records typically include the name of the deceased, address, date of death and date of burial. Some entries also contain additional information such as age at death, occupation, the informant’s name (often a close relative), the registrar’s name and grave location. Where available, original register pages can be viewed and downloaded as PDFs by selecting “View Register”.

Week 26 (June 25-July 1) A Hard Choice - #52Ancestors

A hard choice faced by several of my ancestors was to emigrate from their homelands to the colonies of Australia.  What prompted these families, mostly with young children in tow, to pack up and move halfway around the world?  Two of my immigrant families would settle in one state of Australia, then pack up and move again several years later.  What prompted them to take that leap of faith and travel so far from their homelands, families and friends?  It would have been a huge decision to make.

My immigrant ancestors came from England, Ireland and Germany.  Land in their homelands would have been difficult and costly to acquire, so the prospect of cheap land for farming may have been a big motivator for them.  Many Germans also emigrated for freedom from religious persecution.  Then there are my Irish ancestors, who left Ireland a few years before the potato famine.  Again, I suspect Australia represented the chance for a better life, a chance to own land and improve the family's living conditions.

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 traveled across Bass Strait and settled in Victoria.

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. 

Travel by ship in the mid 1800s from Europe to Australia would have been a long and arduous journey for these families.  Their determination to forge new lives prompted them to travel such distances.  A hard choice indeed.