Webtember!

 

Coming up in September is the annual event hosted by Legacy Family Tree Webinars and MyHeritage - Webtember.  Every Wednesday in September, four different webinars will be freely available for you to watch, either live or recorded, whether or not you have a membership for Legacy Webinars or MyHeritage. 

Each week, these presentations will be on a theme, such as researching German records or how to improve your family history writing skills. Others are on topics like DNA testing or the records hosted by the MyHeritage website. These no-cost sessions will have plenty of tips for you that will help you grow your family tree!

Register in advance here where you can choose to sign up for one or all of the webinars, and get reminders when they're about to take place!

One important tip: Legacy doesn't use Zoom, but a program called GoToWebinar (or GoToMobile if you're using a phone or tablet). Information about this will be included in the confirmation email sent to you when you've registered for a talk. Make sure you read it thoroughly, and check out the handy webinar attendee guide - it has some good pointers on preparing for and joining your chosen broadcast, and how to handle any issues you may have.

These presentations are a great way to build your skills as a genealogist. There's always something new to learn!

Some Recent Discoveries

 

Image by SimoneVomFeld on Pixabay

You may already be familiar with some or all of these websites, but I’ve only recently come across them! I found them all really useful and enlightening, and have bookmarked them for future use.

A Dictionary of Occupational Terms Based on the Classification of Occupations used in the Census of Population, 1921

Some twentieth-century occupations may have changed their name, be very niche, or no longer exist. For instance, what’s a kapok worker? What’s kapok, for that matter?! What does an uncallower do? Which industry would a brilliandeer work in? Find out in the Dictionary of Occupational Terms that was produced to accompany the 1921 UK census.

Scottish Mining Website

A friend recently pointed me in the direction of this tremendous resource. It lists mines operational in Scotland for certain years in the 19th and 20th centuries, and has a mining accident section from before 1840 up until 1939.

Various resources such as government reports and newspaper articles are included throughout the site. One fascinating page lists miners’ wages and the cost of living from the 17th century until after World War Two. If your Scots ancestors were mineworkers, you’re sure to learn something new about the lives they led, as well as their work.

2025 Rhind Lectures on Scotland’s Place-Names 

I recently watched these lectures live. They’re sponsored by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and were free to view over the weekend when they took place. Now they’re available to watch on YouTube. This year’s theme was “Scotland’s Place-Names” and I learned so much about the survival of various languages in Scotland via the names that were given to places by their inhabitants and others. 

Several topics were addressed, including archaeology and religion. The lectures were delivered by Dr Simon Taylor, an academic in this field with over 30 years’ worth of expertise, and it was a pleasure to listen to someone so knowledgeable about his subject.

Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland

In a previous blog post, I extolled the virtues of joining a family history society – but other historical societies and heritage groups can also be of help to genealogical research. One such is the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland. Whether your ancestor was a congregant or a minister of a Presbyterian church on the island, the society has records and advice for your research.

You can learn more about the organisation and its purposes by viewing the slide collection which explains the origins of different forms of Irish Presybterianism.

The society also has an active events programme and some of their previous lectures can be found on YouTube.