Blog
Archive for December, 2010
Start Your Family Tree Week: 31 December
Want to find out more about family history? You could subscribe to a family history magazine – or you might win a subscription to Your Family Tree magazine, BBC Who Do You Think You Are Magazine or Family Tree Magazine in our competition.
Here’s the penultimate question in our family history challenge:
Q: According to scotlandspeople.gov.uk’s occupations guide, what is a Pikman?
Search the occupations guide for the answer. Find out everything you need to know about our competition.
Now visit findmypast.co.uk’s Start Your Family Tree page to find out about today’s activity.
To celebrate bringing in the New Year, why not go along to Genes Reunited’s New Year’s Eve party? Between 6pm and 9pm today only on www.genesreunited.co.uk you can access all the records on the website for free including 1911 census householder images.
Special offers for you today:
Save 40% when you subscribe to BBC Who Do You Think You Are Magazine – just use this code: WHFMPW10. Offer ends 1 February 2011.
Try Family Tree Magazine for six issues at the special price of £22 (UK only) – saving 20%. Contact Freefone 0800 6128733 for details and quote FMP2010. Offer ends 31 January 2011.
Save up to 40% when you subscribe to Your Family Tree magazine using this link today. Offer ends 31 January 2011.
Start Your Family Tree Week: 30 December
Meeting up with relatives at New Year? Why not arrange for everyone to dig out and bring their old family photos with them? Then ask your older relatives to tell you everything they know about the people in the pictures. Write down all they tell you – but not on the back of the photograph itself as that could damage it. Take findmypast.co.uk’s handy family history interview guide (PDF) with you!
If a member of the family owns a scanner, ask them to scan each photo and then email the scans to the rest of the family with notes made from talking to the family. You could even take part in today’s family history activity together.
Don’t forget to enter our festive family history challenge for a chance to win a scanner from Pandigital and lots of other incredible prizes!
Today’s question is:
Q: How many people called Ida Snowball are listed in the 1901 census on findmypast.co.uk?
Search the 1901 census to find the answer. Find out everything you need to know about our competition.
Now visit findmypast.co.uk’s Start Your Family Tree page to find out about today’s activity.
Take a look at Your Family Tree Magazine’s guide to the 1901 census.
Today we also have a special offer for you from Francis Frith: choose from any of the local historic photos, maps, personalised books and gifts at www.francisfrith.com and get an amazing 25% off any of their products by using this promotional code: FMP2010. This code is valid until 8 January 2011 – make sure you don’t miss out! Why not share the code with friends and family?
Start Your Family Tree Week: 29 December
Today’s activity is all about finding who your ancestors married, when and where.
Visit findmypast.co.uk’s Start Your Family Tree page to find out more about today’s activity.
The next question in our festive challenge is:
Q: In what year did Florence Turtle marry Charles Dove?
Search our marriage records to find the answer. Find out everything you need to know about our competition.
How’s your family history coming along? Bitten by the family history bug yet? Did you know that there is a family history society near you where you can meet up with other enthusiasts and learn lots more? To find out where your local family history society is, visit the Federation of Family History Societies website. You might like to join a society linked to where your ancestors came from originally – they’ll have lots of resources and ideas to help your research.
Start Your Family Tree Week: 28 December
It’s 1911 census day at Start Your Family Tree Week! Search the England and Wales 1911 census now to find your ancestors. If your ancestors were in Ireland in 1911, try looking for them on the 1911 census for Ireland.
Today we have a special England and Wales 1911 census offer: until 9 January 2011 you can view a 1911 census transcript for 5 credits (roughly 50p) and an original 1911 census image for 10 credits (roughly £1). If you’ve signed up to the free trial, these records are already included.
Today’s question in the festive family history challenge is:
Q: How many people called Mary Christmas are listed in the 1911 census on findmypast.co.uk?
Search the 1911 census to find the answer. Hint: you don’t have to count them all – look at the top to see how many results your search has returned. Find out everything you need to know about our competition.
Now visit findmypast.co.uk’s Start Your Family Tree page to find out about today’s activity.
Start Your Family Tree Week: 27 December
Today’s activity is all about finding your and your ancestors’ births in our birth records.
Get the whole family involved: each look up your own birth record. If any of your relatives have never been online before, now’s the time to get them started. See lots of useful resources to help them use the internet.
If you were born in Scotland, look up your birth on the ScotlandsPeople website. If you have Irish ancestry, take a look at www.startyourfamilytree.ie
Here’s the second question in our festive family history challenge:
Q: How many people with the last name Partridge were born in Anglesey between 1837 and 2006?
Once you’ve found the answer by searching the birth records at findmypast.co.uk, keep a note of it and come back to the blog tomorrow for the next question. Find out everything you need to know about our competition.
Now visit findmypast.co.uk’s Start Your Family Tree page to find out about today’s activity.
Today we have two special offers for you:
ScotlandsPeople would like to offer all customers who have existing credits in their account the opportunity to re-activate and use the credits at no cost through the use of a voucher code. This will allow customers who have expired credits to take the opportunity to use these without making a purchase.
All customers who have existing credits can now use the free voucher festive which will re-set the credit expiry to 90 days in their account. Customers may use this voucher any time until 1pm on Wednesday 5 January 2011. The voucher may only be used once in each account.
For information on how to use the voucher, click here.
My-History will give you 10% off when you purchase any of the family history products at www.my-history.co.uk. Just enter this code when you purchase any product: GJF384. This offer is only valid until midnight 28 December (UK time) so don’t delay!
Start Your Family Tree Week: 26 December
We hope you all had a lovely Christmas Day and that Father Christmas and his reindeer brought you everything you wanted.
Today the family history fun starts with an activity for all the family – young or old, internet whizz-kid or first timer online!
To kick off Go ON: Start Your Family Tree Week, here’s the first question of seven in our festive family history challenge:
Q: According to findmypast.co.uk’s handy family history interview guide (PDF), when is the perfect time to start your family tree?
To enter findmypast.co.uk’s festive family history challenge just answer the question we set every day between 26 December and 1 January, then send all seven answers together in one email with the subject line ‘festive challenge’ by 10 January 2011 to competition@findmypast.co.uk, including your name, postal address and daytime telephone number. The first entry opened with correct answers to all seven questions will win our first prize, and we have loads of runner-up prizes too! Look at what you could win and see Terms & Conditions.
Now visit findmypast.co.uk’s Start Your Family Tree page to find out about today’s activity and how to start researching your family tree.
If you’ve got children with you today, they’ll love the kids’ guide to family history (PDF) from the Society of Genealogists.
Take a look at Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine’s Start Your Family Tree Week page
Discover My Past Scotland January issue – coming soon
The January edition of Discover My Past Scotland magazine goes online on Wednesday 29 December.
This 40-page A4 issue is packed with special features and how-to guides to connect you with your Scottish Heritage, including:
- Robert Burns – birthplace of the bard
- Discover your Australian ancestors
- Safeguard your digital images – top professional tips
- Catholic relatives on record
- Our maritime heritage – a key resource for your research
- Spotlight on Stranraer
- Expert Q&A
- Family history newsround, library and events
Find out more about Discover My Past Scotland
December’s competition winner
We’ve picked the winner of our December newsletter competition in which we asked you this question:
‘We found a baptism record for ‘Mary Christmas’, born in Cambridgeshire in 1725. Can you tell us in which place she was born?’
Congratulations go to Sue James from Swansea who correctly answered ‘Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire’.
Sue searched our parish baptism records to find the correct answer. Sue wins a 12 month subscription to Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine.
Many thanks to all of you who entered – look out for the next competition question in our newsletter this Thursday.
Ask the Expert – Royal Field Artillery
Our military expert Paul Nixon, pictured below, answers your queries.
From David Franks in Stockport:
‘I hope you can help me. My mother’s birth certificate states that she was born on 30 December 1923 at 2 Crispin Court, North Hill, U.D. Colchester. My grandfather (Andrew Hughes), her father, claims that he was a driver in the 38th Battery of the Royal Field Artillery.
Her birth was registered in Colchester sub district Colchester North West on 1 January 1924 but my mother always said that she was born in India where he was stationed.
His marriage certificate shows that he married on 7 April 1923 and that his rank or profession was Private Royal Field Artillery No. 3703198, living at the Artillery Barracks, Colchester.
I think I have tried all avenues but I am unable to find out if they were in India at the time, if my mother was born in India and what campaign/war it was. I have spoken to someone at the Firepower Museum who says that 3703198 is not an RA issue number; it is from a batch issued to the King’s Own Royal Regiment and may have transferred to the RA until 1930.
I would like to see his service records but think I need a little more information. Can you offer any advice?’
Paul says:
‘The number 3703198 does indeed fall within the range of numbers issued to the King’s Own Royal Regiment (3701001 to 3757000). I can’t tell you exactly when that number would have been issued, but the number series was instigated in 1920.
Incidentally, the number range in use by the Royal Field Artillery was 721,001 to 1,842,000. Your best bet would be to contact the MOD with the details you have given here because his record should still be housed there and has certainly not yet been released for general consumption. As a relative, you should be able to obtain a copy of it, although you will need to pay a fee.’
If you’d like to send your question to our experts, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account. Unfortunately our experts only have time to answer a few queries each month. If yours wasn’t answered this time, you could be lucky next month!
Ask the Expert – missing enlistment papers
Our military expert Paul Nixon, pictured below, answers your queries.
From Don McMahon:
‘I am trying to find birth details of my great grandfather born in Ireland, who served in British Army. Details known: Michael McMahon, born approximately 1842. He enlisted in Depot 1st Battalion 9th Regiment of Foot (East Norfolk) on 13 June 1860, in Limerick, Ireland.
I am not able to find details of his enlistment papers. I need to find birth date, parents and place of birth. I hope you can help, many thanks in anticipation.’
Paul says:
‘The 1861 census gives a Michael McMahon aged 20, born at Cork, Ireland. On 7 April 1861 this Michael McMahon was a private soldier, one of 989 soldiers stationed at the Permanent Infantry & North Gate Barracks occupied by the 4th Depot Battalion in Canterbury, Kent. There is nothing on this census return, however, to tie in this man with the 9th Regt of Foot. Of course, it’s worth noting that the Chelsea Pensioners record set is literally just that: men discharged to pension. If Pte McMahon did not receive a pension – for whatever reason – he won’t be in that particular archive.’
If you’d like to send your question to our experts, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account. Unfortunately our experts only have time to answer a few queries each month. If yours wasn’t answered this time, you could be lucky next month!