Resources from an Unlikely Source

[beejay]

I’ve come across an obscure source of research that I would like to pass on.

This involves a magazine called ‘Computer Active’. The magazine comes out every fortnight, therefore there are 26 issues per year.

Although ostensibly about computers, each issue now has one page, usually page 16, that devotes itself to genealogy sources online, titled ‘Grow your own Family Tree’.

This was a new feature in the magazine, starting from the Aug/Sept copy (No.535) of 2018.

To date there have been 42 articles devoted to a variety of aspects of finding new and obscure sources for family history, with many links to other online sources.

You may wonder what on earth I’m doing, droning on about a magazines that basically covers the subject of computers, and is now reduced to the history archives.

But this particular magazine produces a CD each year of the previous years’ 26 issues – nine articles on the 2018 CD and 26 articles on the 2019 CD; the 7 articles produced so far this year won’t be available on CD till next year.

Priced at £10.80 per CD, these CD’s can be purchased through Amazon UK’s website. The CD not only gives you access to the ‘Grow your own Family Tree’ articles, but all aspects for computers as well – which makes for an all-round fascinating read.

[Wendyf]

Are you still doing your family history Beejay? Thank you for recommending this magazine, though personally I only use online resources these days.

[beejay]

Still doing family history on and off; a friend of mine in Blackburn nudged me into joining 'Ancestry' about a year ago and I uncovered some new facts about my grandmother I didn't know. Plus, it's a mine full of info.

But I'm so busy doing other things that I've put the genealogy on the back-burner somewhat - I work from home compiling stats for a sports website which I'm racing along with currently, breaking that up with reading fiction novels and looking after the wife.

All the computer magazine articles gives links to other sites on the internet, such as the database of the National Newspaper Library, and how to find people in the census returns that aren't where they should be, and lots of obscure places to find info on the internet that are tucked away. Every article has at least one link to look at. I'll try and compile a list to post on here.

[beejay]

Here is the full list up to the 5th of April 2020

‘Grow Your Family Tree’ by Nick Peers

These can be found on the 2018 disc :-
No 1 – (535 – 29 Aug-11 Sep 2018) – Search Google for your ancestors.
No 2 – (536 – 12-25 Sep 2018) – Contact distant family members online.
No 3 – (537 – 26 Sep-9 Oct 2018) – Mind military ancestors online.
No 4 – (538 – 10-23 Oct 2018) – Turn info into an online tree.
No 5 – (539 – 24 Oct-6 Nov 2018) – Decipher old certificates and documents.
No 6 – (540 – 7-20 Nov 2018) – Flesh out your ancestors’ early lives.
No 7 – (541 – 21 Nov-4 Dec 2018) – Find foreign-born ancestors.
No 8 – (542 – 5-18 Dec 2018) – Repair photos of your ancestors.
No 9 – (543 – 19 Dec 2018-3 Jan 2019) – Map where your ancestors lived.

These can be found on the 2019 disc :-
No 10 – (544 – 4-15 Jan 2019) – Find misspelled ancestor names.
No 11 – (545 – 16-29 Jan 2019) – Unearth more info on your Irish ancestors.
No 12 – (546 – 30 Jan-12 Feb 2019) – Identify unknown people in photos.
No 13 – (547 – 13-26 Feb 2019) – Dictate and transcribe your research.
No 14 – (548 – 27 Feb-12 Mar 2019) – Transfer files to a new program.
No 15 – (549 – 13-26 Mar 2019) – Create an ancestor’s life story.
No 16 – (550 – 27 Mar-9 Apr 2019) – Automatically identify faces in photos.
No 17 – (551 – 10-23 Apr 2019) – Master birth, marriage and death records.
No 18 – (552 – 24 Apr-7 May 2019) – Publishing your family tree online.
No 19 – (553 – 8-21 May 2019) – Make your place names consistent.
No 20 – (554 – 22 May-4 June 2019) – Find travel and migration records.
No 21 – (555 – 5-18 June 2019) – Merge web records with your family tree.
No 22 – (556 – 19 June-2 July 2019) – Show your research is accurate.
No 23 – (557 – 3-16 July 2019) – Find where your ancestors are buried.
No 24 – (558 – 17-30 July 2019) – Fix problems with GEDCOM files.
No 25 – (559 – 31 July-13 Aug 2019) – Build a tree from just one document.
No 26 – (560 – 14-27 Aug 2019) – Build a family tree time-line.
No 27 – (561 – 28 Aug-10 Sep 2019) – Export data from your family tree.
No 28 – (562 – 11-24 Sep 2019) – Restart your research in a new program.
No 29 – (563 – 25 Sep-8 Oct 2019) – Sync your tree to phone and tablet.
No 30 – (564 – 9-22 Oct 2019) – Merge GEDCOM files into your tree.
No 31 – (565 – 23 Oct-5 Nov 2019) - Decipher census reference numbers.
No 32 – (566 – 6-19 Nov 2019) – Search Railway employee records.
No 33 – (567 – 20 Nov-3 Dec 2019) – Search old Trade Directories.
No 34 – (568 – 4-17 Dec 2019) – Create and customise your reports.
No 35 – (569 – 18 Dec-2 Jan 2020) – Colour-code your family tree.

Current issues, not no disc yet :-
No 36 – (570 – 3-14 Jan 2020) – Add head-shots to your family tree.
No 37 – (571 – 15-28 Jan 2020) – Find ancestors in old newspapers.
No 38 – (572 – 29 Jan-11 Feb 2020) – Link your ancestors in parish maps.
No 39 – (573 – 12-25 Feb 2020) – Add ‘then and now’ photos to your tree.
No 40 – (574 – 26 Feb-10 Mar 2020) – Create a horizontal ‘Pedigree’ chart.
No 41 – (575 – 11-24 Mar 2020) – Track down missing census records.
No 42 – (576 – 25 Mar-7 Apr 2020) – Create a descendant chart.
No 43 – (577 – 8-21 Apr 2020) – Link ‘RootsMagic’ to ‘Ancestry’.
No 44 – (578 – 22 Apr-5 May) – Write a Family History Memoir.

[Cathy]

????

[PanBiker]

Read the opening post Cathy.

[Cathy]

I did and I still think ???
Please don’t try to explain it to me.

[PanBiker]

I thought the OP made it fairly obvious and it's not hard to explain for anyone else who is in the dark.

It's a list of article titles covered in the magazines and available on CD.

Thanks for the info beejay.

[Stanley]

[beejay]

I just spotted a Typo I made in the list. Article No. 3 should read 'Find military ancestors online'.

Doing research on your computer about you're family's history is a good way of staving off the boredom of not being able to go out and about. You can have a rewarding and fascinating time, a lot of which is free to look at, all from your armchair.

[Julie in Norfolk]

I'm still doing my family tree (extended) and found a basic mistake looking for my GGGG Grandad's baptism. Now corrected, wrong people removed (oops) and a restart on that line. All I did was ignore some information, I was driven to look for specific information when I had, right in front of me, a better and more correct source! I've just had my dna done also and it confirms that I'm from the north of England, and that's reet gradley.

[Julie in Norfolk]

Just to make it clear, my resource from an unlikely source, the source was me!

[Stanley]

Very often the best place to look Julie. That's as long as you can trust your memory and took notice in the first place. When I eventually bottomed the paradoxes that made up my father's life story I realised how many clues we had had in the past but not recognised.