Free Census access and Mining History

Image by Sabine from Pixabay

Until the 9th of March, Ancestry are offering free access to the 1921 England & Wales census to mark Women's History Month. If you haven't already searched this census for your relatives, it's definitely worth a dive, especially as it's free. However this is a shorter free run than Ancestry's standard 14-day trial subscription, and the sign-up procedure will be pretty much the same, plus the two-week trial gives you access to all Ancestry's records, not just the 1921 census.

My discovery of the week is the Eco-Museum of Scottish Mining Landscapes, guiding you on a virtual tour of the mining areas of central Scotland. Explore the site, and the mining communities, by clicking on the website's map. Plan and make your journey on foot or by bike, using the map's guide to industrial archaeology, geology, heritage, and, most essential, cafes along the routes. Parking and public transport access points are included to make the trip easier. Once the better weather is here I hope to try it out on the ground. The site is also looking for volunteers to build some of the walks in their local area. Their Facebook account highlights the latest developments.

The whole project (which also covers mining areas south of the border) is a tribute to our ancestors who laboured below and above ground to earn a pittance - no, it's not a pun - and provides a real-time way to experience and learn more about their communities and environment.

Help for Using the 1921 Census

Census Records by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images

It’s been a big week for genealogists with English or Welsh ancestors! The 1921 Census was released on FindMyPast and has been greeted mainly with rejoicing.  There have been some folk who want to be able to access it free of charge, but then they’d have to go to a library and scroll through miles of microfilm, since the charges pay for the digitising and indexing that has been done.  And of course, it IS free to access at three archives/libraries in England and Wales. 

There's plenty of online material explaining how to make the best use of the collection to track down grandparents and great-great-aunts (and in some cases, parents - you know who you are). Some of these free resources are listed below.

☙  Family Tree magazine posts an Introductory User Guide (although there is a charge to watch their “Celebratory Census Conference”)

☙  The National Archives hosted an expert panel discussion which you can watch back on their Facebook page

☙  FindMyPast’s YouTube channel has several videos about the background to the census and its digitsation project plus a short how-to clip. 

☙  They also have two Facebook live events coming up this week, on Wednesday and Thursday (both at 4pm UK time), where you can ask questions about the census and hear about some of the interesting finds made by the conservation team

Some of the most useful suggestions for searching the 1921 returns have come in the shape of social media posts by family historians sharing their tips.  Tune in to Twitter for #AncestryHour, either in real time any Tuesday at 7pm (UK), or by catching up using the hashtag later on, and you’re sure to see the census discussed and perhaps catch some ideas for research strategies.

Scottish Indexes Conference

In other online event news, this Saturday (15th) sees the latest Scottish Indexes Conference. It will run two showings of each presentation, morning and afternoon, for participants in different time zones.  The talks will cover topics of particular interest to researchers with Scots heritage, such as crofting, Edinburgh and Lanarkshire records.  Find out more about the speakers, and how to watch, via Zoom or Facebook on the Scottish Indexes website.