Category: family history
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Keeping the family trees in sync
I started building my family tree using Ancestry.co.uk, but fairly quickly decided that my reference database would be using the connected Family Tree Maker software on my PC. A new version of this comes out every year, and the latest is due out soon – in America at the end of September and in the UK two weeks later (according to Amazon, which says release date is 14th October). The differences between the annual versions can be quite small, such as minor enhancements to the reports » »
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Uncle William comes into focus
No longer in a pickle with the Cullums
No longer in a pickle with the Cullums It has been rather a long summer break for this blog – time to get back down to the writing. The only possible subject for this week is making contact with a genuine descendant of my great great grandmother Harriet Cutlock and her husband William Bishop Cullum (see Cutlock/Cullum page). Muriel’s daughter happened to stumble on this website as she was checking out the Cullum name and noticed that Muriel was mentioned. We have been exchanging emails » »
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Getting posted to the post office
Ancestry has just released the ‘British Postal Service Appointment Books’ data set which was transcribed by volunteers under its World Archives Project {1}, basically covering the period 1831 to 1969. I made a small contribution here, partly spurred by the knowledge that great uncle Arthur would appear somewhere in these records. Sure enough, I can easily find four entries for Arthur W Howes (born 1885 Norwich), although one of these is a repeat (in the original records, not a duplicate transcription). Here are the entries: May 1901: » »
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A progress check
At the start of the year, I set out family history research possibilities for 2011 in Looking ahead to look behind. Half way in, I’m more than pleased with the results so far. Here’s the tally Visit to the Tonypandy area, and Trealaw cemetery in particular. Tick – gathering a useful bunch of photos and data while there, and a splendid visit to a key local relation. There is still one or two blog posts to come on this, but the start is at A » »
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A snapshot of Bush Houses in 1911
The database of the 1911 census (England) on Ancestry, for England and Wales, is currently (June 2011) in a rather frustrating half-way state. The images of the individual records are online, organised by the original Enumeration District. However the information on the records hasn’t yet been transcribed and indexed, so you can’t directly search them by name (or by anything else). The census summary books, where the local census collector tallied up the records for each area, ARE indexed but they generally only give the » »
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A question of religion in Yorkshire
Parish records for West Yorkshire were released on Ancestry this week. Not many ancestors or distant relations in this area, and the few who were in Leeds had left Poland, presumably due to the persecution of Jews there. Parish records were of course held (and created) by the Church of England, so are very unlikely to include those of the Jewish faith. I had a look, just in case. There is no sign of the Brookstone family in these records, but the related Gladstones do appear. » »