Ancestry.co.uk

[Wendyf]

Any long lost cousins popping up Kev?

This is the most recent update on mine, I'm slowly getting more northern, no wonder I'm more comfortable in winter than summer.

snapshot_www.ancestry.co.uk_1663397815554.png

[Big Kev]

Any long lost cousins popping up Kev?

2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th have popped up from my maternal grandmother's family. Nothing from the elusive maternal grandfather's side yet.

[plaques]

Amazing really when you think that Europe was always in a state of flux with countries changing hands at the drop of a hat. Mrs P would appear to be solid Tipperary/ Limerick but her name would suggest her ancestry is probably German or Swiss. Probably part of Cromwell's mercenary army. We will never know.

[Stanley]

Population movements can be queer things! I remember seeing some research done in the US while I was there which showed that most US citizens married someone from their immediate childhood vicinity. This in a 'melting pot' nation flooded with immigrants.

[plaques]

Its not all that long ago that 70% of people could not even write their names and if you go back to Shakespeare's time 1600 even he would spell it differently. Added to this if the person compiling the parish register had a different accent then the name would be spelt to suit that accent. What chance have you got when a relative would make their mark 'X' and someone else would fill in their name. Best of luck Kev.

[Cathy]

It’s like our connection to William Wordsworth - there are a good 30 different spellings of Wordsworth. Are we (many times) great grandchildren or was he a (many times) great uncle. One of our grandmothers spoke of her Auntie Janie , a grand-daughter of Wordsworth.

[Wendyf]

That's exciting Cathy, have you done a dna test?

[Stanley]

I was looking at your chart Wendy. It might explain why you are so good at shifting coal and logs.....

[Gloria]

We look very similar Wendy.

81CFA243-71A4-4A00-A11C-A32774026C88.png

[Whyperion]

Amazing really when you think that Europe was always in a state of flux with countries changing hands at the drop of a hat. Mrs P would appear to be solid Tipperary/ Limerick but her name would suggest her ancestry is probably German or Swiss. Probably part of Cromwell's mercenary army. We will never know.

Worth Looking at some of the (free too) Irish resources , including National Archives in London (some not digitised) for muster rolls in Ireland , there is more around than there used to be and non traditional Irish names will show up even on internet searches of the Irish Reaction out and other .ie websites. ( mine came up with unlicensed dogs in waterford - complete with burnt edges of the documents on the scans from the remants of the Irish Civil War destruction of the Court House in Dublin

[plaques]

Amazing really when you think that Europe was always in a state of flux with countries changing hands at the drop of a hat. Mrs P would appear to be solid Tipperary/ Limerick but her name would suggest her ancestry is probably German or Swiss. Probably part of Cromwell's mercenary army. We will never know.

Worth Looking at some of the (free too) Irish resources , including National Archives in London (some not digitised) for muster rolls in Ireland , there is more around than there used to be and non traditional Irish names will show up even on internet searches of the Irish Reaction out and other .ie websites. ( mine came up with unlicensed dogs in waterford - complete with burnt edges of the documents on the scans from the remants of the Irish Civil War destruction of the Court House in Dublin

The Irish especially round Tipperary and Limerick have some of the best archives there is. Her maiden name was 'Switzer' which we can trace back to Queen Anne's time. The American's have been trying to associate the influx of French protestants but in my eyes failed in any convincing manner. Her name was in Ireland before that period hence my Cromwell theory. Cromwell's army was mainly foreign soldiers. Being a mercenary doesn't have the same kudos as a religious group being save by a queen.

[Big Kev]

One of my intended projects was to put together a history of the house I currently live in. As usual there's far too many other things getting in the way, I may have to wait until retirement but that's a few years off yet. Another thing on the back burner

[Wendyf]

Always here to help!

[Big Kev]

That's very kind of you, thank you. I did look briefly at some of the cencus' but wasn't 100% on the door numbers and whether they changed at all. I suspect they may have done at some time as the terrace has newer looking houses at the Hare and Hounds end.

[Wendyf]

I've upgraded my Findmypast subscription to include full access to the 1921 census so I'm more than happy to do look ups.

[Gloria]

Wendy, do you prefer Find My Past to Ancestry? I only tried it once and went back, I didn’t find it easy to search through. I know they have the 1921 census but I don’t know if that warrants me changing my sub which is due in late December.

[Wendyf]

I have both Gloria but if I could only choose one it would be Ancestry. Findmypast gives quite restricted answers to a search whereas Ancestry gives you every result and a couple of thousand more!
Findmypast is great for the 1939 Register and now the 1921 census. They also have a new address search for all census returns which is very useful for house history. My sub is a worldwide one which I think was cheaper than the worldwide Ancestry.
Stick with Ancestry, visit your library to use Findmypast or ask me!!

[Gloria]

Haha phone a friend. You’re right, go to the local library and use their sub. During Covid I believe you could use it via your library card but I never managed to connect to it.

[Big Kev]

I've upgraded my Findmypast subscription to include full access to the 1921 census so I'm more than happy to do look ups.

That would be lovely, thank you. Is it fairly straightforward to establish whether houses were renumbered?

[Big Kev]

I see that Wendy has advertised a House History session for January 28th. She has already provided me with a wealth of information about my current house but I still need to 'write up' a timeline. I reckon this session will give me the kick up the backside to get on with it

[Wendyf]

It would be good to see you at our House History drop in event Kev. The resources in our archive are mostly relevant to the Earby area but there will certainly be encouragement and support!
There is a poster pending with all the details....

[Gloria]

IMG_4434.png

[Tizer]

Thanks for posting the Ancestry offer Gloria. I might take up the offer. We did most of our family history research about 20 years ago and I was a member of Ancestry then. I exhausted most of what was available at the time and gradually drifted away from it. Then last year I saw something about RAF records for WW2 and wrote to the RAF for help on my father's service here and in South Africa. After some months I got an envelope with RAF in big letters on the front - it's probably raised my standing with our postman! That worked out well and it confirmed what my father had told me, corrected a couple of dates and added much I didn't know.

That prompted me to think again about my father's Lancashire ancestors in Mellor and Blackburn and my mother's South African ancestors. As we're getting such bad weather it's a good time to be tidying up what I've already got in my files and, as often happens, I've unearthed some connections I hadn't noticed before. I've got definite names for my father's back to the very late 1700s and some possibles to the early 1600s. A lady called Shiela Dewhurst helped with that. My mother's are more difficult of course but I had some help from a researcher in SA (Joy Nelson) and can trace ancestors back to the 1860s in SA. It gets tricky then because of Anglo-Dutch marriages and the Orange free State being a bit like the Wild West in America!

I saw you and Wendy discussing which was best, Ancestry or Findmypast. Do you think one would be better than the other for South African ancestors, or is there some other web site search better for non-UK? Also, I want to try and identify who moved from UK to SA and started the family line there. I've looked at a couple of Early Settlers groups on Google and found two men with the surname but that's all I could access 20 years ago!

Any comments would be welcome!

[Gloria]

Hi Tiz,
Can’t really advise on which would be better for South African research, sorry, maybe Wendy may have more idea.
I plumped for Find My Past this year, but don’t find it as easy to search as Ancestry, so will probably take up this offer.
I started my research about 20 years ago, and got really into it going back to early 1700s proven on my paternal line. I then drifted off it a bit, but then something pecks my brain and off I go again. I have two stumbling blocks who I keep going back to and hope something else has been found out about them.

[Tizer]

Thanks for your comments, Gloria. We seem to have travelled similar paths with regard to researching our family histories - very enthusiastic at the start, slowing down for 20 years, then drawn back in again. I'll take up the Ancestry offer, it's not much money to spend when you compare it to what we probably spend on our other hobbies!

By the way, my introduction to OGFB came from a recommendation on the Cemsearch Forum back in those early days from one of the OG members. I think it was probably you. Am I right? I remember Elaine and Joe's tales of how they used to park up a motor caravan in cemeteries and people would be surprised to see them brewing tea outside it in between their searches!