Genealogy Gifts for Christmas (and any other time)

Christmas is coming, and once again it’s time to rack our brains, trying to think of the best gifts for our nearest and dearest.  Rather than the same old novelty socks or yet another hat and scarf set, why not think about what your friends and relatives might like as part of their interests or hobby?  And whether you’ve got an experienced or a beginner genealogist on your gift list, there are plenty of ideas for genealogy gifts that will be very gratefully received.

Here are six ideas for genealogy gifts:

 1.  Genealogy Supplies. Whether it’s for the beginner or the advanced genealogist, there are many items that can be extremely useful for organising and displaying family trees and ancestral documents.  I recommend that you head over to MyHistory.com where you will find all sorts of gift ideas, including stationery and software.

2.  DNA Kits. Getting your DNA tested has become quite a popular part of the ancestral trail, and if your loved one has a limited budget for their genealogical searches, this may be something that they’ve not been able to spend money on.  I would suggest either Ancestry or 23&Me to get the gift of DNA testing.

3.  Genealogy Website Subscription. Genealogists need to use several websites to undertake their research, so why not buy a year’s subscription for one of the top genealogy websites so they don’t have to worry about it eating up their monthly budget?  Try Ancestry or FindMyPast.

4.  Genealogy Books. If you want to get someone started on their genealogical journey, there are plenty of books to choose from, whether it’s for the absolute beginner or the seasoned professional.  Below are a few ideas at Amazon.

5.  Family History Themed Novels. Is your genealogy enthusiast also an avid reader?  Why not kill two birds with one stone and buy them a novel or two with a family history theme?  Please excuse the shameless plugging of my own family history novels here – but try these at Amazon!

6.  Family History Courses. Again, apologies for the plugging of my own products, but if you’ve got someone in your family or friends list who’d be interested in finding out how to carry out their own research in the UK, then my Genealogy Course for Beginners would be a great start (Other courses are available 😉)

 

Genealogy is a hobby that lends itself to all sorts of gift ideas – and for all kinds of budgets.  I hope you find something here that your loved ones will love!

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Novels about Family History

Those of you who know me know that as well as being a professional genealogist, I am also a novelist specialising mostly in historical fiction, and some of my novels contain a family history theme.

I have always been intrigued by the way genealogy allows us to connect with history in a very personal way – a way that is often sadly lacking in the kind of history taught at school (well, at least it was when I was at school!) So, when I write stories with a family history theme, it is that connection that I like to focus on, very often taking my readers on a historical trip through time via the protagonist’s own ancestors.

In my new novel, Legacies, my main character begins an investigation into her family tree, after her uncle leaves her an old key, which has been handed down through the family over several centuries, though no-one knows what it opens. Published on 9th September 2019 on Amazon, the eBook version will be on sale at the special discount price of 99p until 27th September – so get in quick if you want a copy!

In my novel, Out of Time, the main character, Catherine, only becomes interested in her family tree when she meets the mysterious character, Will Days, who claims to have known each one of her direct female ancestors back to the early nineteenth century! How is this possible? Well, you’d have to read the book to find out 😊.

What I really enjoy doing is inserting chapters that are set in a different historical time period. So in this novel the first historical chapter is about Catherine’s mother in the 1960s, and then later on her grandmother during the Second World War, and so on.  I have done a similar thing in Legacies.  It’s fun writing little set pieces like this, and I enjoy creating a historical ‘cameo’ character set against the backdrop of whatever is going on at that time.

My first novel, White Lilac (currently only available for subscribers of my newsletter), is a novella based on a portrait of a Victorian woman, which so intrigues the modern day protagonist, that she begins an investigation into the woman in the painting, which results in a chance meeting with the subject’s great-great grandson.

Whilst my genealogy fiction books are not exactly historical fiction, in that they are not set solely in one time period, and much of the story is set in the modern world, they would suit anyone interested in both history and genealogy.

If you’d like to know more about my writing career, and my books, do visit my author website, rosamundebott.com where you will also find a link to subscribe to my newsletter and get a free copy of White Lilac.

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Free Genealogy – Is It Possible?

(There’s a FREE gift towards the end of this post, so please read on!)

One of the most common genealogy searches made on Google is something along the lines of “trace your family tree for free online”.  It seems that there are many people eager to find their ancestors, but feel unable to pay the subscription fees for the major search websites.

So, is it possible to trace your family tree for free?  Is free genealogy a thing?

Well, there are some search websites that are free to use, that is true (you can see links to these at the end of this post).  You can also use the county record offices for free – though of course getting there can be costly.

But (you knew there was a ‘but’ coming didn’t you?), I have to say, that if you want to trace your ancestors with any degree of accuracy and detail, I would say, ‘No, free genealogy is not really possible’.  And if you don’t want to trace ancestors with accuracy and detail, I would want to ask, ‘Why do it at all?’

The trouble is, many of the so-called free websites are just free to search, and you have to pay to view the original document – or you can only view a transcript.  If you are going to take your ancestry tracing seriously, you really need to be viewing original documents, and that does, I’m afraid, cost money.

So, that was the bad news.  And the good news?  (I heard you ask)  Well, it is possible to trace your ancestors on a budget.  It will probably be a very slow process, but it is certainly possible to spend no more than £20 to £30 per month, which would include one subscription, plus a little extra for the occasional certificate or other ordered documents.

If you are very clever, you could book two weeks off, then take out one of the free 14 day trial subscriptions, and use those two weeks to use as much as you can of the free online records, and get as much as you can out of the website before the subscription starts.

However, if you have a gap between the earliest date you know of your family, and the 1911 census, then you will probably need to order at least one birth or marriage certificate (£11 for a postal copy at the time of writing) to establish the links back to that census so that you can view it on the free trial website.  Or, you may find that the information in the 1939 Register (if it’s included in the free trial) may help you there anyway.

If you want to trace your ancestry in the cheapest way possible, you’ll also need to know what you’re doing, because you don’t want to use up your free trial wasting hours and hours of search time.

FREE GIFT

If you are completely new to genealogy, I would therefore strongly recommend that you learn how to do it first.  And to this end, I have a free gift for you.

I run a beginner’s course in tracing UK ancestors at Udemy.com.  This usually sells for £24.99, but for 5 lucky readers of this blog, I am offering this course absolutely FREE.  Follow this link:

TRACING ANCESTORS IN THE UK – FREE

If you are too late to get this for free, do check the course link anyway, as Udemy often run their own discounts, so you may be able to get it at a low price.

In return for this gift, I would ask that you leave a review once you’ve finished the course.  Thank you.

As for the websites, here’s my list of free and subscription websites (where you can get a free trial):

FREE GENEALOGY WEBSITES

FREE UKGEN Projects:

FreeBMD:       http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

This is a free SEARCH service for Civil Registration (Birth, Marriage  and Death) indexes that have been held in England from July 1837.  However, once you have found the entry you are looking for, you will only have an index reference number.  You will need this to order the relevant certificate from the General Registry Office.  Each certificate                    can be ordered online at a cost of £11.00 for UK residents (see below).

FreeCEN:        http://www.freecen.org.uk/

A free census search engine.  Currently, only 1841 to 1891 censuses are available, and it is not complete.  The results will give you a transcript, which is very useful, but you will need to see an original document using subscription websites at a later date.  And if you’re just starting, you will really need the 1911 and 1901 census records at one of the subscription websites.

FreeREG:        http://www.freereg.org.uk/

A free parish register search engine.  Again, it is not complete, and you will only see a transcript in the results.  This is very useful for initial searches, and the transcript usually gives a lot of information, but you must look for the original document at a later date.

FamilySearch  https://familysearch.org/

Probably the best known and most useful of the free-to-search websites holding the largest collection of free genealogical data on the web.  This is the service initially set up by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints whose mission is to connect families and ancestors all over the world.  The service is totally free and you can make searches all over the world (though of course not all countries have complete records).  Results are in transcript form, so you will need to search for original records later.

FamilyHistoryUK       http://www.familyhistory.uk.com/

A community portal where it is free to post details of ancestors you are searching for.  It also has links to free search websites – but most of these are free trials for subscription sites, which I have listed below.

 National Archives       www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

This site has lots of useful, free information about tracing ancestry.  You can carry out a free search using their Discovery catalogue.  Some documents can then be viewed online for a small fee – but you will find that many larger documents are usually only available at the National Archives at Kew – or at various record offices around the country.  However, sometimes the information given on the index results can be quite useful without actually ordering the document.

SUBCRIPTION WEBSITES

 Most paid websites have a choice of a membership fee where you pay a certain amount either annually or monthly – or a ‘pay-as-you-go’ system whereby you just pay for credits as and when you need them.  If you are planning on spending time on your family history very regularly, at least a few hours a month, then a subscription is your best choice.  However, if you are only going to be able to spend a little time now and then, it may be better to consider using pay-as-you-go credits.

FREE TRIAL WEBSITES

Ancestry          CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO FREE TRIAL

Probably the best known genealogy website due to its strong TV advertising and large collection of indexed material and original sources.  They have a 14 day free trial, after which you can pay for a year’s subscription, or in monthly payments.

Ancestry also has a service which allows people to upload their family trees which can then be searched and viewed by other members.  Be very careful with this.  Finding your family on someone else’s tree is NOT research.  You have no idea whether their tree is properly researched or accurate.  If you find an ancestor on someone else’s tree be sure to back up your finding by doing the necessary research.

FindMyPast    CLICK HERE AND SEARCH FOR THE FREE TRIAL LINK

A good site with many indexes and original sources, and also has a 14 day free trial.  Much of their data is also available on Ancestry, and Ancestry probably has the larger collection.  However, FindMyPast has a better newspaper archive and very good military records.  The subscription rates are slightly cheaper than Ancestry – but if you’re serious about family history it’s well worth using both – or subscribing to one and using pay-as-you-go on another.

SUBSCRIPTION WEBSITES with Free Search – No Free Trial

http://www.rootsuk.com/

http://www.ukcensusonline.com/

In summary, you can trace your family tree for free online for a short while, which will help you understand the process and find out what’s out there, but if you intend to do this seriously and make sure you are tracing the right family, it will be essential to spend money.  So, make sure you give yourself a monthly budget, learn how to do it, take it slowly, and you will have a hobby that will give you pleasure for many years to come.

 

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Why is Genealogy Important?

The Growth of Genealogy

why is genealogy importantI started my interest in family history when I was in my 20s.  This was in the 1980s, when the hobby of genealogy was generally reserved for the middle-aged, and those who could afford to travel to local archives, including St. Catherine’s House (now Television House) in London where the Civil Registration indexes were held.  Luckily for me, I worked for a while at Drury Lane Theatre, just around the corner from St. Catherine’s House, where I used to spend my lunch hour trying to find my grandmother’s marriage and birth!  I can’t remember ever wondering why I felt my family history was important, I just found the search fascinating.

The interest in genealogy has exploded over the last few decades, and that is partly because the internet has made it much easier to research many of our ancestors from the comfort of our homes.  Motivation to start the search has also come from programmes such as Who Do You Think You Are, which has proved popular on both sides of the Atlantic.

Buy why are we so fascinated by our ancestors?  Why is genealogy important in our lives?

If you’ve ever been pinned in a corner at a party by someone telling you all about their great-aunt Cynthia’s adventures as a suffragette, or boasting that their family line can be traced back to the Conqueror, then you may not feel that other people’s family history is as important to you as it is to them!  But our own family history can be a source of great satisfaction and fascination.

I have my own theories on why genealogy is important – both to us in a personal way, but also in a wider context.

The Personal Context

Firstly, on a personal level, we as human beings are fascinated by our own selves.  Psychology and personal development are big business, and on a lighter level, don’t we just love those silly quizzes in magazines or on Facebook that tell which Game of Thrones character we should be?

In some ways, I believe that genealogy is another form of self-analysis.  Our ancestors formed who we are.  We want to be able to see ourselves in our ancestors to make some sense of our own identities.  We love to see our own physical features in the old photographs of our ancestors, but we also love to find out whether they were like us.  I would love to know if any of my ancestors wrote stories, or enjoyed some of my other interests, such as history and the countryside.

We are the product of an enormous, ongoing genetic melting pot, and perhaps to some degree we have inherited much of ourselves through our genes.  However, there is another way in which our characters and behaviours have been inherited.  To a large degree, we are influenced by our upbringing.  For most people that will be their natural birth parents.  In turn, they were influenced by their parents, and so on.  So, our ancestors help to form us through our genes, and through our upbringing.

For the large part, this explains our interest in family history.  We are fascinated by our ancestors because we are fascinated with ourselves, and knowing who our ancestors are gives us a sense of identity and continuity.

The practice of researching ancestry has shown an increase in intelligence and confidence.

Interestingly, research has shown that a knowledge of our ancestry is good for our health.  The practice of researching ancestry has shown an increase in intelligence and confidence.  Thinking about how our ancestors survived difficulties far worse than our own can bring feelings of optimism about our own lives.

The Wider Context

It is my belief that studying our ancestry can also be of benefit to humanity as a whole.  Studying our ancestors can bring us into touch in a very personal way with the kind of lives that we may not have experienced in our own lifetime.  For example, some of my own ancestors lived in poverty in one of the worst polluted cities in the world in 19th and early 20th century Manchester.  Some of them did not survive to middle age.  By seeing this kind of suffering in our own family, surely, we become more empathic to the suffering of others in our own time.

And, let us take the tricky subject of immigration.  It seems these days that many people find it easy to be Nationalistic, to close borders, viewing immigrants as outsiders who should have no business with us.

If we can go back far enough, we are all the descendants of immigrants.

But the study of genealogy will reveal that most people will have immigrants in their ancestry.  An article in 2008 put the number for Brits as just over half.  But of course, it depends on how far you trace your ancestry.  If we can go back far enough, we are all the descendants of immigrants.

Many of those immigrants, whether it’s the Irish escaping the Irish Famine in the 1840s, or Jewish immigrants fleeing the pogroms of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, have come to this country seeking refuge in fear for their lives.  Often, they have been met with suspicion and prejudice.  People today, who view war refugees in the same way, should stop to think that their own ancestors were once in the same boat, so to speak.

So, yes, genealogy is important, for ourselves and for our humanity.

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Finding your English Ancestors

The Last of England by Ford Madox Brown

Over the centuries, the English have often emigrated to foreign parts, in particular the United States of America, or to Australia.  Many people who live in America or Australia will find that they have English ancestors, perhaps within the last century, or perhaps further back.  For example, many Australians find that their ancestors were transported as convicts in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  Or perhaps they were even the early settlers in the New World of America in the 1600s.

Researching your family in a different country can be challenging.  First of all, you need to find out, if possible, where they actually came from in England.  The point of departure on an immigration record is not usually going to be enough.  If you can, you need to find all the records you can in your country first, to see if you can get any clues as to where the family were living in England.

An exception to this would be if your immigrant ancestor’s name was so unusual that it can be easily found in the English records!

If you need help with your English ancestry, email me on rosbott59@gmail.com for details of my research service.  Or, if you prefer to carry out your own research, read on.

Once you have an idea of whereabouts in England they came from, you will need to familiarise yourself with the kinds of records you will need for the time period they lived in, and where you can find them.  If you have been using Ancestry.com for your research so far, you will need to widen your subscription to include records on Ancestry.co.uk.  Make sure you familiarise yourself with exactly what records are covered on sites such as Ancestry, FamilySearch and FindMyPast.  Not all parish records, or other records, are covered online, and this is definitely something you need to know!

Once you start your research, it is also very useful to find out more about the geographical area they lived in.  Awareness of the nearby villages and towns, and also the types of occupations available in the locality, will help with your research and give you a deeper understanding of your ancestors’ movements and motives.  Keeping Google maps open on a browser while you are researching is usually very useful if you need to see the proximity of parishes where a possible ancestor may have been born or married in, before moving to a place nearby.

The English census records back to 1851 are extremely useful for finding exact places of birth, and the 1841 census can tell you whether or not they were born in the same county, but before that, things can get very tricky if your ancestors moved around a lot.  If you’re having difficulty finding them in the parish records, other English records may need to be consulted.  For the wealthier ancestors, probate and land records can prove extremely useful in providing family relationships, but for the poorer families, sometimes apprenticeship records, poor law records, or even criminal records can provide clues to origins.  The National Archives website provides a very good search service where you can find out if there are any records available for a particular name, either online, at the National Archives, or at a local county record office.

If you do get stuck, then it may well be worth while employing the services of a local professional.  A genealogist who is based in England will have a deeper knowledge and understanding of local records, as well as some expertise in the history and geography of the local area, and the country as a whole.

My own services cover most of England and Wales, and also Scotland and Ireland (with limitations).  However, if I need access to local areas that are out of my reach, I will sub-hire a local genealogist on your behalf.  Email me at rosbott59@gmail.com to find out more.

Alternatively, you can find a genealogist for your area on the Members page of the Association of Genealogists and Research Agents (AGRA).

You might also be interested to know that I have a Beginner’s Course in UK Ancestry available at Udemy.com.  This course is mainly for people who are completely new to genealogy, but it would also be useful for anyone starting to trace English ancestry for the first time.

 

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Genealogy for Beginner’s Course – Tracing Ancestors in the UK

Tracing Ancestors in the UKI have recently published my step-by-step course, Tracing Ancestors in the UK on Udemy.  This is a step by step course in Genealogy for Beginners, and you can find out more here.

The course takes you through the first steps – from finding out what your current family already know, family photographs and charting  – to the most important resources you will need – Civil Registration records, Census Records, and Parish Registers.  You will be able to watch me as I search the records online, and start your own research while progressing through the course.

More information on my promotional video HERE.

If you have ever wondered how to start genealogy research in the UK, head over to the COURSE PAGE and take a look.  Udemy often put courses on offer – so you might be lucky and find it’s on at a discount.  But if you can’t wait, there’s many hours of detailed instruction at a very reasonable price of £144.99.

If you like the course, please remember to leave a review!

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A History of Surnames

History of Surnames

The Normans brought surnames to England

The study of genealogy mainly relies on the surname in order to follow a family line. However, in relation to the history of the United Kingdom, surnames have only been around for about 1000 years.

Before the Norman Conquest of 1066, surnames did not really exist. A person might be identified by where he came from, or what he looked like, so he might be known as Edmund of the red hair, or Godric from over the hill. So before 1066 names were not hereditary, making it impossible for the vast majority of people to trace a family history beyond this point, and for most people it would be difficult to trace beyond the 16th century as most documents using surnames do not really exist for anyone other than the very wealthy before this time.

After the Norman Conquest, William I’s barons were identified by their, or their family’s place of origin in France – so you would have names such as Robert de Beaumont or Hugh de Montfort.  After time, the ‘de’ would be dropped, and the place of origin became a surname.

The fashion for surnames began in these top ranks of society, and only gradually filtered down through all levels of society. It was not until the Middle Ages that surnames had become generally adopted by everyone, partly due to the necessity for identification as documentation increased.  In the lower classes, it was not just place names that were used.

If your surname sounds like a French place name, there is a possibility that you could be descended from a Norman baron.

Five Different Sources of Surnames

There are basically five different types of surname, and the source of your own surname will be from one of the following:

Place names

This is the most common surname root, and would have been developed from the place or area of residence of one of your distant ancestors. It could be the name of a place, such as Hill, Wood, Townsend, or descriptive, such as French.  If your surname sounds like a French place name, there is a possibility that you could be descended from a Norman baron.

Occupations

This is also very common but not always obvious, as many old occupations have vanished into obscurity. Examples of the more obscure names are Lavender (washerwoman) and Dexter (dyer). Some of the more obvious ones are Farmer, Baker or Carpenter.  Before surnames became hereditary at around 1400, these types of names might change from generation to generation.

Relationships

When a surname ends with the suffix, ‘son’, this indicates that an ancestor was named after the father. For example, Robertson means ‘son of Robert’. Some surnames that end with an ‘s’, such as Jones, also have the same origin. Occasionally, mother’s are remembered, as in ‘Annis’ (from Agnes) or Mudd (from Maud).

Nicknames

These types of surnames have derived from physical characteristics such as Redhead or Armstrong, or peculiarities, such as Cruikshank (meaning lame of leg). Long or Short are obvious family traits, and some surnames come from moral attributes such as Good or Gay (meaning happy in its old sense!)

Nature

A few surnames have their origins in animals (such as Bull), plants or fruits (Quince), perhaps because a person owned or grew them.

It is not always easy to know in which of the above categories your surname originated. My own surname, Bott, is a very old name and its meaning is not obvious. However, it may originate from an old Frisian name of ‘Botho’, meaning messenger. I have read other possible meanings, though, so one cannot be sure.

When researching your ancestry, don’t forget that the spellings of surnames can change drastically over time.  Standardised spellings were not in place until relatively recently, and most people were illiterate, meaning that officials would write a name how they heard it.

There are a few surname databases on the internet where you can research the origin and meaning of your surname. Try http://www.surnamedb.com or http://www.britishsurnames.co.uk.

The authority on the origin of surnames is P. H. Reaney who has written several books on the subject. A Dictionary of English Surnames is a very good book to have at your side if you become fascinated by the surnames that you come across in your family history journey.

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Is It In the Blood? What Do We Inherit from our Ancestors?

What do we inheritRecently, FindMyPast released a fun little ap on their website where you can compare your photograph with an ancestor’s and see how your looks compare.  It set me to thinking what else we may inherit from our ancestors as well as physical features?

The answers are not necessarily set in stone, and it is interesting to note that there can be some argument over what kinds of thing are inherited, nurtured, or developed over a life time.  Well, I thought I’d put down my own ideas about how much we inherit.  Feel free to agree, disagree or put forward your own point of view!

LOOKS

What do we inherit?This is certainly the most obvious one, and it is generally accepted that we inherit our looks from a combination of our ancestors, often our parent or grandparents.  Sometimes it seems that a particular facial feature comes down a line.  I myself seem to have inherited the ‘Cregeen chin’ – a fairly prominent chin from my father’s mother’s family that you can also see in my father (to a certain extent), my uncle Alan, and my paternal grandmother.  I have two silhouette portraits of my paternal grandparents, and you can see the family feature in this.  In fact, my grandmother’s profile looks remarkably like my own.

If you have old photographs back to the 1800s, it is indeed fun to see where you have inherited certain looks.  There is a 12-year old great-aunt in one photo, that looks so like me when I was 12, that I did a real double-take when I first saw it!

If you have ancestors who were wealthy enough to commission portraits, then it is even more exciting to see something you see in the mirror every morning reflected back in a painting.  A distant cousin I met through an ancestry site sent me such a portrait, dated around the 18th century, from our Yorkshire Pickering ancestors.  Unfortunately, I cannot see myself in the pointed nose, and the crabby mouth – but there was something around the eyes that was slightly reminiscent of my father.

So, looks are a given – but what about…

SKILLS AND TALENTS

Oooh – interesting!  I think many of us would like to think that we have perhaps inherited a talent for something from our ancestors or wonder if a love of a particular subject comes down from further up the tree.  Obviously, we cannot inherit a specific knowledge, or even the skill, both of which have to be learned, but what about the desire for a particular career, or a natural talent for, say, carpentry, that seems to come from nowhere?

Speaking of carpentry, my father (who was an actor) was actually very good at knocking up the occasional small item or piece of furniture, and I have a very nice corner cabinet in my sitting room to prove it.  His father was a clerk, but his grandfather was in fact a carpenter and joiner by trade, and died a few years before my father was born, so there was no personal contact.  Coincidence?  Hmmm… I wonder.

What about the creative arts?  All of my close family are involved in some way in the arts, with my father an actor, my mother an artist, my brother a film maker and one-time actor and myself a writer (an also one-time actor).  With regards to writing, my father certainly had a literal turn of mind, and was known to write a few article and short stories.  Of course, it can be argued that talents within the nuclear family are perhaps ‘picked up’, learned through example, or copied because of close contact, rather than ‘inherited’.  I do, however, like to think that there may have been someone further up my family tree who picked up a quill now and then and turned to the written word, or even was adept at telling stories (if they were not literate).

The trouble with these kinds of talents is that it is exceedingly difficult to find proof of those talents in historical records.  The census records a person’s occupation, but we may never know what someone might have done by candlelight in the privacy of their own home.  For most people in the past – and very much still today – it was almost impossible to turn a creative talent into a career that would earn a living and bring up a family, and so these things would remain a hobby for those of them who had the leisure time, but for the labouring classes they would probably rarely have the opportunity to express them.

CONNECTION WITH PLACES

This is an interesting one.  Many years ago, when I was 14, I was lucky enough to spend several months with my parents in New York when my father was on tour there with the Royal Shakespeare Company.  One day, we took a trip upstate through Nanuet and towards Connecticut.  Massachusetts would have been too far, but I remember very clearly being intrigued by the pretty New England style clapboard houses, and my mother and I both feeling quite at home there.  It was not until many years later (about five years ago in fact) that I discovered that one of my mother’s ancestors had emigrated to Liverpool from Massachusetts where he had come from a long line of Stickneys who had lived in that state since the early settlers.  OK – we weren’t in Massachusetts in the 1970s, but that whole part of America known as New England, has a very distinct ‘feel’ about it which I love.

Similarly, I always feel at home in Ireland, where I have many ancestors.  Funnily enough, I also always feel at home in Scotland, although I have never been able to prove an ancestral connection.  However, I do believe that our McEwen ancestors probably originated in Scotland via Ireland.  Conversely, although I love France, I do not feel the same affinity with it, and it would never feel like home to me.  Not surprisingly, I have no ancestry from France.

I have heard other people say the same thing.  It’s a sense of something being vaguely familiar, or a feeling of being ‘home’.  It’s nothing to do with the beautiful countryside – I also have a similar feeling about Liverpool.  When waiting on the docks to board the Isle of Man ferry in my childhood, there was something about the grittiness and grime of the docklands and the Mersey that struck me somewhere very deep.  It was years later that I discovred my ancestors had lived and worked there.

I also have good sea legs, and I would choose to go somewhere via boat or ship any time over flying!  I have a long line of Manx fishermen ancestors on my father’s side, and my American mariners on my mother’s.

It doesn’t work for everyone.  Just because you may have had sailors in your family tree doesn’t mean you’re going to love travelling by sea, just in the same way that facial features are repeated in some, and not in others.

ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS

If it is true that these can last through generations, it is more likely that this is because we pick them up from our parents, but we are also influenced by our peers and/or by the general ideologies of the time we live in.

CHARACTER

There is often much discussion over whether our characters and personalities are created by nurture or nature.  In my opinion, this is a very complex issue and is very much a mixture of all kinds of things, including our parents (whether we copy or rebel), our peers, our schooling, or what we come into the world with.  Again, it may be difficult to differentiate whether any family characteristics are learned from our parents, or whether there is some inherent family personality type that is somehow ingrained in our genes.  The logical answer would appear to be the former, while the latter would be extremely difficult to prove unless you can find documents (such as letters or diaries) that express character in detail, and these are very rare.

 

SUMMARY

This has not been a very scientific investigation, and I have just been putting forward my own thoughts and experiences.  What I find interesting is that while it is easy to explain why we inherit facial features, and possibly pick other family traits from our parents, it is very difficult to explain why one can experience such a strong feeling about a place, even if a family have not lived there for generations, and even when you have no idea that they ever did (such as my American ancestors).

This makes me wonder whether there is something other than genes, some other ‘force’ that can pass through the generations, and therefore lend some credibility to the ideas of inheriting character or personalities, even though this could probably never be scientifically proven.

 

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Does Your Family Hold a Coat of Arms?

Today we have a guest post written by the team at Coat of Arms and Family Crest Search Read on to find out the history of heraldry, and how to find out if anyone in your family has ever had a right to bear arms:

If you are researching your tree for a coat of arms or family crest, then you really need to read the rest of this.  It is a common belief that every family has a family crest or coat of arms in their history.  This is not true in the least.  There really is only one way to know for sure whether your family has a coat of arms or family crest and that is through research.  It is actually rare for a family to have a family crest, even rarer for the family to have a right to use them, and rare for there to be a person in your family’s history that would hold a coat of arms.    Before we get into particulars, the background on coats of arms and family crests needs to be examined.

To truly understand the difference between a coat of arms and a family crest we will start with the definition of each.  As an example, we will show the coat of arms and a crest of the current royal family.  A coat of arms is defined as

“Heraldic insignia or devices. Coat armour = ‘coat of arms,’ originally a vest of silk or other rich material embroidered in colours, worn over the armour of a knight, to distinguish him in the lists or on the field of battle.”

A family crest is defined as

“Heraldry. A figure or device (originally borne by a knight on his helmet) placed on a wreath, coronet, or chapeau, and borne above the shield and helmet in a coat of arms; also used separately, as a cognizance, upon articles of personal property, as a seal, plate, note-paper, etc.”

The crest is one component of a coat-of-arms, which can be used as a simplified symbol when the full coat of arms is too detailed e.g. on engraved cutlery.

The crest of Prince Charles of Wales outside of Scotland looks like this:

 

 

 

The crest of Prince William Duke of Cambridge

 

 

 

 

The Coat of Arms of Prince William Duke of Cambridge:

 

 

 

 

The Crest of Prince Harry Duke of Sussex:

 

 

 

 

The Coat of Arms of Prince Harry Duke of Sussex:

 

 

 

As you can see these are all from the same family; a father and two sons.  All of the crests and coats of arms are very similar with minor differences.  You can tell they are the same family unit but can also tell that each one is designed for that particular person.  Therefore, when you are looking for a company to assist you in your quest you need to make sure they aren’t representing just one for a single-family name.

Coats of arms were designed for shields carried by a medieval knight, and the crest was usually worn on the helmet, sleeve and armour.   Each design was unique to a specific individual.  Usually the knight only had the right to the coat of arms during his lifetime, but sometimes the knight was allowed to pass the design down to his male heir.  At that time, it became the family coat of arms.  By the 12th century many knights, clans and septs used a coat of arms when they went into battle.  In the 13th and 14th centuries families had started using a coat of arms that was a previous ancestor’s as a family logo, and they sewed these onto their flags that flew above their castles and manors.  Only the ancestors with distinguished titles such as knights, baronets, barons, viscounts, marquees, dukes, and princes were distinguished enough to have coats of arms granted to them by the kings of that time.  Once these families started using a coat of arms they were passed down through generations, even to the present day.

British rules state that only the firstborn can receive his father’s crest upon death.  Then to the firstborn grandson (or granddaughter (daughter) if the man had no son).  In several cultures, it is tradition when a couple marries that their crests are combined into a new crest with features from both.

In certain cultures, a man could give his crest to anyone of his choosing.  In Ireland you can petition the Heraldry Agency for the right to bear arms.  In the United States you may create your own crest and register it with a notary or clerk of any court before someone else creates the exact design.

To figure out if you have a distinguished person that carried a coat of arms in your family tree, the only true way is to trace your family tree and continue that trace for every generation to find out if there was a coat of arms issued or held by a particular ancestor.  You may have more than one ancestor that had a coat of arms, or there could be multiple coats of arms for any particular family.  Throughout the research it could be found that there are no coats of arms that are linked to your particular lineage.

At https://coadb.com/  they research and post all of the coats of arms that have been granted for a particular surname and individual that it was granted to.  They also have research staff that can assist in tracing your lineage to see if you are one of the lucky ones that are descended from a bearer of arms, as well as a design staff to create your very own coat of arms if that is what you desire.

 

 

 

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Explore the Past – at Worcestershire

Discover Your PastIf you have Worcestershire ancestors, or are particularly interested in Worcestershire history or archaeology, then consider yourself lucky.  The Worcestershire Archives (at The Hive ), have an excellent service, Explore the Past, to help you work out what documents you need and where to find them.  Added to that, they have produced a very handy introduction to the sources held at the archives, also called Explore the Past.

Explore the Past is downloadable in pdf form for a small fee and takes you through all the most commonly used types of sources held at the archives, with information about what each type of source can help you.

The Contents Section at the beginning shows you clearly all the different sections of the guide, and each one is clickable so you can go straight to the page you are interested in.  Once there, the pages are clearly laid out, with interesting images and concise information about that source.  There is also information on how you find and order the relevant documents either on the website or at the archives in person.

The guide also includes a section for Frequently Asked Questions, a handy glossary of terms, and a contacts page.

I found the guide was very clear to read, with bullet-point lists and large print, plus there are links to the relevant sections of the Worcestershire Archives website.

Finding your way around county archives is not always easy, and for the individual just starting out on any historical research, the range of different sources can be overwhelming.  The Explore the Past guide goes a long way to making the process as easy and stress-free as possible.  All other archives take note!

You can buy the guide HERE.

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