Newsletter - 19 November 2011

Should there be a LostCousins forum?

FamilySearch admit records are missing

ACT NOW - offers end Monday 21st!

All findmypast subscriptions under £99

Historic films free at British Pathé site

British Library newspapers in beta test

Plymouth & West Devon records close to launch?

Temporary closure of archives

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Another coincidence

Patently better

GRO update reveals little

Do you recognise any of these soldiers?

Key family history sites affected by bereavement

PayPal problems solved

Save 20% on old photos from the Francis Frith Collection

Peter's Tips

The LostCousins newsletter is usually published fortnightly. To access the previous newsletter (dated1 0 November 2011) please click here.

Whenever possible links are included to the websites or articles mentioned in the newsletter (they are highlighted in blue or purple and underlined, so you can't miss them). When you click on a link a new browser window or tab will open so that you don’t lose your place in the newsletter - if nothing seems to happen then you probably need to enable pop-ups in your browser.

To go to the main LostCousins website click the logo at the top of this newsletter - it's free to join!

Should there be a LostCousins forum?

Over the years a number of members have suggested that there should be a LostCousins forum, where members can give advice, share information, and generally talk about matters genealogical. Thanks to the increase in the number of LostCousins members who pay a subscription it is now possible to consider setting up a forum, provided that some of you are prepared to help out as moderators.

What I'd really like to know right now is how many readers of this newsletter are interested in a LostCousins forum. If you are, please don't write to me - instead go to your My Details page and change the setting against 'Join forum' from 'No' to 'Yes' (it's right at the bottom of the page, so you may have to scroll down to see it).

This will not only give me a good idea how much interest there is, it will also allow me to reward those members by inviting them to join the beta test of the forum, if and when it is set up.

FamilySearch admit records are missing

FamilySearch have at last admitted that some of the records included in the International Genealogical Index (IGI) at the old FamilySearch site are NOT included in the datasets at the new site. Whilst there are many new datasets at the new site, including some images, a recent email to LostCousins member Ruth revealed that some IGI records have not been included because of copyright issues.

In the circumstances my advice is to use both sites - each has a link to the other from its home page. You'll also benefit from the different search techniques.

ACT NOW - offers end Monday 21st!

There are two money-saving offers that end at 11.59pm (London time) on Monday, and as each can save you over £20 this isn't a time for indecision!

Are you planning to go to Who Do You Think You Are? Live in 2012? Tickets will cost an eye-watering £22 on the door, but until Monday you can buy TWO tickets for just £20 (plus a booking fee of £2 per order) when you click here and quote the code EARLY2420

But that's not the only offer that you'll miss if you blink....

All findmypast subscriptions under £99

Also ending on Monday: save up to £23 in total when you take out a new findmypast subscription and get a free LostCousins upgrade! The offer I have arranged brings the cost of even the most expensive subscription under £99, even though findmypast is the ONLY subscription site that currently has the complete 1911 England & Wales census (and, incidentally, it's included in EVERY subscription).

Whatever your reason for subscribing, make sure you get the discount you are entitled to - the screenshot below shows the code to enter and the prices you should pay (you will need to register or log-in at findmypast before you can enter the Promotional Code).

Ensure that you also qualify for a free LostCousins subscription (worth up to £12.50) by clicking on this text link or on the screenshot below or to go to the findmypast site (don't use a bookmark).

To claim your free LostCousins subscription - which will run for the same period as your findmypast subscription - send me a copy of the email receipt that you receive from them. If you are already a LostCousins subscriber I'll extend the expiry date by 6 or 12 months.

Note: these offers apply only when you take out a new findmypast subscription; they do not apply to renewals, nor can they be backdated or combined with other offers. Your free LostCousins subscription (worth up to £12.50) is paid for by the commission we receive from findmypast, so it is essential that you click the link or screen shot above just before you subscribe.

Historic films free at British Pathé site

Recently there was a TV documentary series about the famous Pathé newsreels which I found fascinating - but it was inevitable that in 4 programmes they could only show a small fraction of the hundreds of thousands of hours of footage that their cameramen shot between 1896-1976.

At the British Pathé website there are 90,000 films that you can view free of charge. When I mentioned the site a couple of years ago several members told me that they'd spotted relatives in the films - I wonder what stories I'll hear this time!

British Library newspapers in beta test

A privileged few were recently invited to take part in a beta test of the British Newspaper Archive website, the site through which more than 40 million newspaper pages will be made available between now and the end of the decade. If I told you that I'd been involved in the beta test I'd have to kill you, such is the secrecy surrounding the launch, but you might be interested in this quote from the website:

"The first stage of the British Newspaper Archive focuses on runs published before 1900 and will include titles from cities such as Birmingham, Derby, Manchester, Nottingham, Norwich, Leeds and York, along with local titles from London boroughs.

"Newspapers which aimed for county circulation - from Staffordshire to Sussex - will also feature prominently, providing an unrivalled picture of provincial life spanning the whole of the 19th century and supplementing resources already available online such as the UK census."

Plymouth & West Devon records close to launch?

A year ago I reported that findmypast and FamilySearch had agreed to digitise and transcribe the parish registers, Poor Law records, rate books, Apprenticeship indentures, and many other records held by the Plymouth & West Devon records office. At the time no launch date was given, but I expressed my hope that they might be available by the end of 2011.

No official announcement has been made, but an eagle-eyed LostCousins member Irene spotted some Plymouth records on the findmypast site, and eventually I managed to track down this page. Although the images of the register pages aren’t in colour, the quality of the scans I found was excellent - I could even make out the grain of the vellum. So far it seems that only registers for the Plymouth area are online (the entries I found were for Plymouth St Andrew's, and Stoke Damerel), but it's nevertheless a promising start.

Temporary closure of archives

A number of records offices have recently announced temporary closures (mostly for stocktaking) - these include Essex Record Office, Denbighshire Archive Service, and North Yorkshire County Record Office.

My advice is always to check the relevant website before you make any visit - I do!

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Since I first discussed double cousins and gave the example of two brothers in my tree who married two sisters, I've been flooded with many better examples, including Sarah's tale of the three Byly brothers who married three Metherell sisters in Devon, before they all emigrated to New Zealand.

Although nobody has come up with 7 brothers marrying 7 sisters (yet) Fay in Australia got more than halfway there when she told me about her great-grandfather Andrew Thomson who married Martha Games in 1869. In 1872 his brother William married her sister Alice, then in 1877 Alexander Thomson married Ellen Games, and finally in 1880 a fourth brother, Charles, married Elizabeth Moores - who was a half-sister of the other brides.

The truly remarkable thing about this story is that they were lucky to have a chance to marry - because the four brothers would never have been born had their parents not survived an eventful voyage to Melbourne from Scotland. Their mother Janet was pregnant with William when their ship sailed from Greenock on Census Day 1841 (which meant they just missed being recorded). The vessel encountered a pirate ship in the Atlantic Ocean, but fortunately it let them pass, however when fire broke out some time later they were all forced to abandon ship. Fortunately most of the passengers were rescued by a French whaler and they arrived in Rio de Janiero on 24 July - but with no belongings. However, thanks to the generosity of the locals, who donated over £1000, the passengers sailed for Australia again in late August, eventually arriving at Port Phillip on 22 October 1841.

Another impressive tale came from Katherine, who reported two brothers, their sister, and a niece marrying four siblings, whilst Michael wrote from Australia to tell me about his great-grandmother, who married three brothers - one after another. What he hadn't realised is that the second and third marriages were illegal - in Britain it wasn't legal for a widow to marry her husband's brother until 1921.

This neatly brings us back to my original double cousins story because my great-grandfather - the father of the two brothers who married two sisters - also married two sisters, and his second marriage (which took place in 1897) wasn't legal until the law changed in 1907.

Thank you to everyone who has shared the tales from their tree - and apologies that I've been unable to include all of them in my newsletter.

Another coincidence

A couple months ago I wrote about a number of coincidences reported by members, and whilst that correspondence is at an end, I couldn't resist telling you Vivian's story.

"About 8 years ago I was living on a tiny island just south of Brisbane. On the ferry I met a couple who were there on holiday for only 3 days. Maureen and I realised we were both English-born but we were astounded to discover our lives had criss-crossed for over 60 years.

"We kept in touch and at every meeting we discovered another connection: for example, her cousins were at school with my brother and future sister in law, and I worked in the same company as a relative of hers. We even bought the same dining room suite when we married in the 1950s, and both families spent holidays on Anglesey as both had relations there.

"Maureen and I have both spent a number of years living in New Zealand so in fact we have lived within a few miles of each other in 4 countries! We have also both spent a lot of time on genealogy.

"Having recently bought subscriptions to Find my Past and Lost Cousins I decided to look further into my maternal Great Grandmother's family. After only about one hour I found my 3x great grandmother had the same surname as some of Maureen's ancestors. I straight away emailed her and discovered that we share the same 4x Great Grandparents, making us not just good friends but also 5th cousins! We are still absolutely amazed our lives could be so connected but that we had to wait all these years to meet on a little island in Australia."

Patently better

After I explained earlier this month how to find patents registered by relatives I was contact by several members who discovered that their own relatives had been prolific inventors, including Jean who saw her great-grandfather's patents for the first time. I also heard from Bob, who told me how to get round the problem that the US Patent Office has only transcribed and indexed patents since the 1970s - Google Patents Beta allows you to search ALL of the patents released to date by the USPO - over 8 million of them!

GRO update reveals little

It will be at least 3 weeks before I receive a response to my latest Freedom of Information request, but I got quite excited when I heard the GRO had published an update about their digitisation project.

Sadly it didn't provide many clues as to what is actually gong to happen - only that a decision will be made during the present financial year.

Is there a chance that England & Wales registers will be available online, as registers from Scotland are? As I understand it that has never been on the cards - the GRO claim that it would be illegal. Then again, that's the standard response of any government body to a suggestion that they don't like!

Do you recognise any of these soldiers?

According to this Daily Mail article the Imperial War Museum is trying to find out as much as possible about 100 soldiers from the Great War whose photographs are included in an online exhibition. Do you recognise any of the names or faces?

Thanks to Karen for pointing out this article.

Key family history sites affected by bereavement

I am sorry to report that two highly-respected websites have been affected by the sad loss of the site-owners.

Derek Wilcox, who ran Blacksheepindex.co.uk passed away suddenly last month, and although the site is still online I understand that there is nobody who can continue his work, and that his widow has returned cheques that were sent.

Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, a site where users 'pay it forward' by helping others who may never be in a position to help them, became unavailable last month as a result of the illness of Bridgett Schneider, the main person behind the site. Sadly she passed away on 12th November, and though her husband hopes to get the site back online we must accept that at this time he will most likely have other commitments that take precedence.

PayPal problems solved

I'm glad to say that the problems I recently reported have been solved, and if you want to purchase a LostCousins subscription using PayPal, you now can.

Tip: if you are considering becoming a subscriber and are also researching your spouse's family tree make sure to link the two accounts together, as you'll then be offered a chance to upgrade to a joint subscription which covers both accounts, yet only costs 25% more than a single subscription.

Save 20% on all Francis Frith products

A couple of issues ago I included a sample photograph from the Francis Frith Collection in my Tips column (it was a 1903 photograph of the village where I now live), and this created so much interest that I've organised a discount offer exclusively for readers of my newsletter. Even if you've got no intention of buying any books, calendars, or historic maps, it's worth clicking on the banner below just to find out what photographs there are in the collection for the towns and villages where your ancestors lived! The discount code is LCFF2011

Peter's Tips

I often get emails from members asking about products I've mentioned in my newsletter asking "Are they any good?"

The simple answer is that I rarely write about products or services in my newsletter unless I've bought them or tried them out myself - otherwise what credibility would my recommendations have? That's why you'll often see tips about Tesco (where I do shop) but none about Asda or Morrisons (who don't have any stores in my area).

I started including non-genealogy tips when I realised for a LostCousins members struggling to justify the cost of a birth certificate, or an Ancestry subscription, it was just as helpful to be able to save £10 on groceries, or £100 on their electricity bill. That's why, as well as offering my own tips, I also encourage members to do their own research by seeking out independent and trustworthy resources, for example by reading reviews at Amazon, subscribing to Which? magazine, or using the Which? Switch website to find a cheaper gas or electricity supplier.

Recently I wanted to buy some after-shave for my 1st cousin's 60th birthday. It was an expensive brand, so even though it was for a special birthday I shopped around until I eventually found a site called CheapSmells that had it for virtually half price (and with free shipping too). It arrived promptly, and was well-packed, so whilst I can't express an opinion about the merits of the many parfums and eau de toilettes they sell, I can recommend the supplier on the basis that the prices for most items are heavily discounted - and not much more expensive, I suspect, than most Duty Free shops (without the hassle of trying to fit them into your hand luggage or worrying about allowances). For example, I noticed that Paco Rabanne eau de toilette, one that I've bought myself in the past, is £28.30 at World Duty Free, and just 65p more expensive at £28.95 (with free UK shipping) from CheapSmells.

Finally, if you're looking for a present for a keen genealogist such as yourself, how about a box set of Who Do You think You Are? which includes the first 7 UK series and the first US series - 66 episodes in all, and well over 60 hours of viewing pleasure. When I checked just now it was just under £50 from Amazon, which sounds like a bargain.

Tip: the DVDs will only work on a European DVD player, but as DVD players are so cheap nowadays that it might be worth buying one just to watch this series.

Stop Press

This where any last minute amendments will be recorded or highlighted.

I hope you've found my newsletter interesting, and that you'll keep writing in with tips of your own - many of the best articles in my newsletters are inspired by members. In the next issue I'll have the results of my jam-making competition - there were entries from both sides of the Atlantic including some very interesting combinations!

Peter Calver

Founder, LostCousins