Family history as entertainment...?

Image by Kevin Ramirez from Pixabay

If you live in the UK, perhaps you’ve noticed the recent trend for family history-based TV programmes, particularly on daytime television.  These aren’t of the celebrity-focused variety like Who Do You Think You Are?, but instead attempt to answer family history queries for people like you and me.

The oldest of these is the BBC’s Heir Hunters, which has been running for several years now, and traces the work of various probate research firms, with the emphasis on the family trees which they build to try and identify potential heirs to unclaimed estates.  Although this has been an interesting show, it’s running out of steam a bit now as the format grows tired.  There are only so many spins you can put on the "elderly lady who led a fascinating life dies in a care home with no known relatives" scenario.

More recently, Channel 4 aired My Family Secrets Revealed, an Ancestry.com-sponsored series where a team of regular experts used various strategies (including DNA testing) to help people uncover their roots or debunk family legends.  These programmes covered several different stories in each episode, and were well-presented as the researchers sat down with the family to reveal what they had discovered about their ancestors, and whether they really were related to Elton John.  It had a good few surprises as previously unknown cousins were introduced to each other during filming.

The BBC’s Murder, Mystery & My Family, meanwhile, takes up individual cases where a family historian feels their ancestor has been wrongfully convicted (and usually executed).  It investigates the crime and trial of the subject’s great-uncle/grandma/other relative, using the skills of two barristers, official documents and contemporary newspaper reports, plus information provided by the family.  The case is then presented to a judge (well, a retired one) who renders his opinion as to whether the original conviction was a sound one.  The genealogist who has submitted the case is either delighted or disappointed at the end of the programme, but usually manages to see the outcome in a positive light anyway.

In Scotland, a new series that has just begun is The Generation Frame.  Each programme tracks the family history of two different subjects, enlisting the help of professional genealogists and archivists.  The cases highlight areas of interest to the family historian, such as poor law records or heritage sites (like Dundee’s Verdant Works).  A unique twist at the end of each episode is the unveiling of an artwork created exclusively for each subject, including drawings of their family members and locations with special meaning to them.  This is quite an emotional element of the programme, and threatens to out-Kleenex Long Lost Family, ITV’s not-quite-genealogy show.  It certainly makes this programme stand out as different from the others.

Some of these programmes may be available on their respective channels’ on-demand platforms, while non-UK viewers may not have access to some British shows due to licensing restrictions.  And then there are other countries’ editions of Who Do You Think You Are? (the American version is sometimes shown on the BBC or on the cable channel W in the UK), and genealogy-based programmes like the “reality” show Relative Race, which is broadcast in the United States but is available to watch online outside the U.S.

On the whole these can be informative and entertaining programmes, but if the format remains the same it can grow a bit samey and stale.  Approaching it from a different angle, as some of the newer shows do, can bring a fresh perspective on tracing the family tree and give you new ideas for breaking down brick walls in your own research.

Fan-Shaped Genealogy

There aren’t many genealogy websites that give everyone totally free access and tools, but FamilySearch does, including creating your own free account which you can use to share your family tree.  One of its other offerings is the printable charts, of which the fan chart is the most attractive (well, I think so, anyway - see the example above).  So here’s how to make yours.  First of all, take a couple of minutes to register your FamilySearch account if you don’t already have one.

Before adding your own family tree to the website, always search it for ancestors who may already appear in the huge shared Family Tree, saving you from adding them again.  Given the vast amount of records FamilySearch has acquired and shared, there is a fair chance that at least one individual in your own tree is represented in the FamilySearch tree.

Then, once you have identified the person whose ancestry you want to illustrate (this can be yourself), navigate to that record in the tree view.  Select the drop-down menu at the top left that says “Landscape”, then click on the type of chart you want to print – in this case “Fan Chart” – and display the number of generations you wish to include.  At the right of the screen, click on “Options” and choose “Print”.  A copy of the chart will appear on the screen in PDF format.  You can then save it to your computer, allowing you to view it on-screen, print it out, or email it to a relative. 

If you want a really large chart for your wall, you can print it in four A4 segments.  I printed mine in colour on A3 paper and framed it – good enough to display anywhere!  

Read All About It!

From Google Newspaper Archive

In the days before the Internet (remember them?), a key source of family history information was newspapers, particularly local ones that published announcements of births, marriages and deaths.  Nowadays, such proclamations are often made on social media, and you are more likely to find out about the latest addition to your family via Facebook than by a notice in the paper.

However, our ancestors were firmly in the analogue age and not only used newspapers to communicate life events, but may have featured in articles about their achievements, successes, and perhaps even notoriety.  Depending on the publication and date, you may find information about your relatives’ exams, graduations, military career, court appearances, community service, employment and more.  You may even come across photographs of family members as they celebrated wedding anniversaries or were involved in important local events.

But, you may say, how does that help when I live too far away from my ancestors’ home town to visit their local newspaper archive?  This is where the Internet comes in.  One of the best online free sources is Google Newspaper Archive which holds digital images of the original publications.  It covers many areas of the world and you can search the whole archive by keyword, such as the town or county of interest, or the name of your ancestor if it was sufficiently unusual.  I tend to identify a town, select a newspaper title and narrow down through the decades, months and weeks to a date range where there may be a reference to a family member.  If, for instance, your relative was a clergyman, you might find him mentioned many times in family announcements as well as in reports of parish meetings and church events.

Other free online newspaper archives include

·       The Gazette – a UK official government publication beginning in 1665. This includes reports of bankrupts, civilian and military awards, marriages, and wills.

·       Trove – a searchable Australian collection of digital images.

·       Welsh Newspapers Online – National Library of Wales’ online archive of 15 million articles.

·       National Library of Scotland eResources – these include many digitised newspaper collections. Free registration allows Scottish residents to search and view images.

Thanks, Mum

Family historians often talk about the physical traits, personality quirks, and abilities which we feel we inherit from our forebears.  In my case, this blog is the result of the influence of my own mother who was my mentor and inspiration in all things financial – especially when it came to getting the most out of her money, and wherever possible, free stuff.  Today is her birthday and I thought I’d mark the occasion by sharing something that she found very useful in her efforts to save a bob or two.

A very handy way to find out what free offers (often time-limited) are available in the world of genealogy is to sign up for newsletters.  Nowadays these are usually in email format, such as Who Do You Think You Are? magazine’s weekly email.  Of course, many of these messages are thinly-disguised attempts to try and convince you to buy something, but very often they contain information and research tips that are useful by themselves.

For instance, a couple of weeks ago the WDYTYA? newsletter advertised the fact that for a limited time, MyHeritage was giving free access to its Danish and Finnish records. This week’s email highlights the Victorian film collection held by the BFI which they will release for free viewing on 24 May, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s birth.  What a fascinating archive that must be!

And of course there are many other family history-related organisations that try and promote their services by sharing news of events, special offers, or free access, such as archives and record repositories.  A top tip for signing up to marketing communications is to have a dedicated email address you use solely for this purpose.  That way, you will only need to see these newsletters when you choose to, they'll be much less intrusive, and the sender won’t have a note of the address you normally use.  So if a company persists in contacting you despite your requests to unsubscribe, it won’t be nearly so bothersome.

Thanks, Mum! 

Never Pay for a Family History Magazine Again

Several years ago, there were a good number of family history magazines to choose from in the shops.  Gradually, however, they have dwindled and merged until now only a few survive.  You’d be forgiven for thinking the publishers would realise that charging over £5 for a glossy with too many ads in it was at the root of the business model’s problem.  But apparently not, as the publishers show no inclination to drop the cover price; instead, they focus on trying to persuade readers to buy a subscription which will “save” them money by halving the cost of six months’ worth of their product. 

Fear not, however; there is an easy (and completely legal) way to get your fix of family history mags, at absolutely no cost to yourself – well, two ways, really.  Both come courtesy of the public library, although what’s on offer will vary depending on where you live.  My local reference library subscribes to plenty of magazines (including genealogy ones) which anyone is welcome to sit and read for as long as the library is open. 

If you are prepared to read digital editions of them, though, you can do so anywhere, via the library’s chosen provider.  RBDigital is the choice of many public library systems in the UK, and below is a screenshot of the history e-magazines my library offers*.  Once you have completed your local library's online registration, you can either download RBDigital’s free app to your mobile device, or simply sign in and read on your computer screen.  You can choose to receive emails notifying you when the latest edition of your favourite e-magazine is ready to download.  Back numbers of each title may also be available.

To me, it’s a much better alternative than grabbing an expensive copy of Homes & Gardens to flick through on the train.  And in case you were wondering, the digital copies of these magazines look exactly the same as the paper ones.  They have all the same text, illustrations and layout, with the added bonus that you can zoom in if the print gets too small for you.  So fire up your tablet and enjoy reading up on some history, completely free. 

*Other magazine titles and e-magazine providers are available

NB Sadly, Your Family History magazine has also been discontinued in the last few months.

Keep Control of Your Online Family Tree

Having your family tree available online to share with relatives is one of the major advantages of the internet for genealogy.  The alternative is packaging up a bundle of pedigree charts and paying a fortune to send them to your new-found cousin on the other side of the world. 

But just how available do you want your tree to be?  Should it be public?  That brings with it a lot of other questions to consider, such as the use (or misuse) of your hard-earned research findings.  So if you don’t want just anybody to have access to your tree (as is the case with FamilySearch), and you don’t want to pay a company to host it (like FindMyPast, Ancestry, or MyHeritage), what options are there?

Quite a few years ago I stumbled across a website called TribalPages which offers a free, private family tree hosting service.  It allows you to upload a GEDCOM file from any genealogy software and converts this into a tree and database for you to view on-screen, anywhere with an internet connection.  Unlike other paid-for services, there is no limit to the size of tree you can store on TribalPages.  Although the free package has a few restrictions on things like photos, you can invite anyone to view your online tree, password-protected.  The excellent privacy settings give you total control over which elements of your tree are visible to those you share it with, or to search engines, if you want to reach a wider audience.

As with most free sites, you’ll probably receive some marketing communications (although, be sure to tick the “No thanks” box when asked!) to try and get you to buy one of their other packages with more bells and whistles, but I’m sure you’ll manage to resist.  I certainly have, and having just uploaded an up-to-date GEDCOM file to my TribalPages tree, I’ve not regretted it for a minute.

NB There’s also a free mobile app, but I’ve not tried that so can’t speak to its usefulness or otherwise.  Let me know if you like it or not!

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Visit a Graveyard – Without Leaving Home

There’s nothing a family historian loves more than a wander round a graveyard.  Naturally, it’s best if the weather is dry and not blowing a gale, but as that isn’t always possible, why not take a virtual stroll among the headstones?  This is also a good strategy when you’re preparing for a cemetery visit.

Do an online search for any projects relating to the graveyard you’re interested in.  County and parish historical societies often record and share gravestone inscriptions from the churchyards and cemeteries in their area, with the names on them compiled in a searchable format.  Some include photographs too; a good example is Skye Gravestones – check out their offering for an idea of how such websites work.

I recently went for a walk through Clachan Shannda Burial Ground in the Outer Hebrides – from the comfort of my sofa.  All of this cemetery's 285 headstones have been indexed, photographed and added to FindAGrave.  As many of my ancestors lived in that area, I simply browsed the images, compared them to my family records, and was happily able to identify several relatives buried there.  Try searching the site for a cemetery in your ancestors' neighbourhood, and then look for your surname(s) within a particular graveyard.

Along similar lines is BillionGraves, who also offer a free app for your phone (or tablet) that allows you to contribute to their site by photographing and uploading images of gravestones. 

Both of these sites are worth searching as they cover different graveyards, depending on their contributors.  They’ll save you money, time, energy, and from being eaten alive by the local insects.

Trumpan Church and Graveyard, Isle of Skye

Free Online Courses

Learning online is very popular nowadays, and many e-courses are on offer to help family historians improve their knowledge and skills.  These are aimed at beginning and seasoned seekers, and can cover a breadth of topics or focus on just one.  Although most involve a significant financial outlay, I recently discovered one learning provider that runs free online short courses on a vast range of subjects (and not just historical ones, either). 

FutureLearn, in partnership with established universities and other organisations, allows you to sign up for the course of your choice and then have free access to the learning resources it contains for a limited number of weeks.  In my case, I chose to brush up my skills with their course on Early Modern Scottish Palaeography, and really enjoyed the "mini lectures" by one of Glasgow University’s professors, delivered via YouTube videos.  The fairly informal course website allowed me to interact with other students, ask tutors questions, and read material written specifically for the course, as well as journal articles.  After each tutorial came a simple quiz, designed to consolidate my understanding of what I'd learned. 

Of special interest here might be the six-week genealogy course FutureLearn offers in conjunction with the University of Strathclyde.  The sceptic in you is probably wondering why these courses are free.  The fact is that they operate as taster courses for the institutions who run them in the hope that students will be impressed enough to sign up (and pay) for longer, more in-depth courses.  However, there is absolutely no obligation to do so and no payment details are taken in advance, as is common with online "free trials" (you know who you are, Ancestry.com).

I really enjoyed refreshing my knowledge online like this; it suited my learning style, and gave me a chance to sharpen an important tool in my family history kit.  The only downside was the flurry of e-mail invitations to "Upgrade" so I could receive a certificate of completion and unlimited access to the course materials.  This, naturally, involved payment, and was easily overcome by use of the delete button.  And you can always unsubscribe from the e-mails if you no longer want any contact with the company.  

In future posts, I'll cover some offline ways to develop your research skills without shelling out.

Photo credit: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay