Time for Tea

Interested in finding out the history behind one of most loved commodities?

 This month in the Stamp and Coin Mart, I discover that, after water, tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world. There are some fascinating facts to be learnt about this ancient brew and its appearance on postage stamps, so why not grab yourself a copy and put your feet up with a cuppa to find out more!

Time for Tea article on Page 70

Christmas Gift Ideas

This week Ancestors in the Attic appears in the National Archives Bookshop in their list of 40 Christmas Gift Ideas. Perfect for those relatives who want to delve deeper with their genealogical research.

Where There's a Will...

   I love old documents. Love the feel of the paper or parchment, love the handwriting and style of 'speech'... and I love the information that they can reveal. Discovering that an ancestor left a will is a real boost to the family historian and a great way of increasing your knowledge about your forebears and their relationships with their siblings and offspring. 

Old wills and probate documents can make fascinating reading!

   A will is a written statement detailing how a person wishes to dispose of his or her property and rights after death. It can reveal family links and details of personal possessions, and expose who was in or out of favour at a particular time by the kind of ‘goods and chattels’ which were bequeathed. By using the knowledge you’ve already gathered during your research you can even work out other family specifics such as who was married to whom, whether spouses, siblings or children had already died and even if new grandchildren had been added to the family. 

   From the 14^th century up until the 10^th January 1858, the proving of wills came under the jurisdiction of the Church so can be found deposited in a number of locations.  Enquire at the County Record Office closest to where your ancestor lived and died but also try www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/wills.asp when searching a wider area. Similarly, the National Archives of Ireland and Scotland should be able to help you, whilst www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk holds many Scottish wills from 1513 – 1901.

   From the 11^th January 1858 onwards, the Probate Act made the proving of wills a civil matter and across the country a Probate Court and registries were established. These can be obtained from the Principle Probate Registry in London or one of its subsidiaries. www.willsprobate.co.uk/grant_probate.html

The website www.thegenealogist.co.uk enables you to search wills proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury and allows you to view the original will online. The current coverage goes back to 1600 but will eventually cover 1384-1858.

   Remember...  Before the Second World War about 10% of the population left a will so if you’re lucky enough to find one relating to your family members then you may be able to uncover some unique data which is not recorded anywhere else.

Interested in finding out more? Why not try Family History for Beginners published by The History Press.

Researching Catholic Ancestors

This week, whilst researching some of my husband's family history I had difficulty following one particular line. It turned out that the ancestor in question was a Roman Catholic so I thought I'd post some top tips for those of you who think you may have Catholic ancestors in your tree.

   Between the mid 1500s and 1829, Catholicism in Britain was illegal. As a result, those of this faith were forced to operate ‘underground’ in private houses but did not always consider it safe to be recorded on any documents connected to the Catholic Church. The Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 reformed this law and removed many of the restrictions on worship and procedures. Some Catholic records can often be found alongside the Non Conformist records but first contact the Catholic Record Society http://www.catholicrecordsociety.co.uk/ whose volumes are all indexed individually or familiarise yourself with the resources available at http://www.catholic-history.org.uk/ The National Archives is always a great place to contact for assistance but your County Record Office should also be able to tell you what documents have survived in your region. Perhaps your ancestors were Scottish Catholics – then why not take advantage of the collection of parish baptisms from 1703 – 1955 which are online at http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ soon to follow are Catholic marriages, confirmations, deaths, burials and even lists of coverts – opening up a whole new avenue of research that previously may have been difficult to follow.

For more genealogical questions answered, why not have a read of Family History for Beginners.

Home Front Experience

   During the writing of my latest book for The History Press there were a number of people who were kind enough to give me access to their own images, or allow me to take photos of their memorabilia. One of those was Adrian Hughes, owner of Llandudno's World War II Home Front Experience.

   This fantastic living history museum is well worth a visit if you want to find out more about your ancestor's lives during this turbulent era. Enjoy a self guided tour - complete with torch to highlight some of the displays - all to the sights and sounds of civilian life via the old TV footage of Food Flashes describing the shortages at the time, and the 1940's music expected to boost morale during those dark days.
   The museum not only provides a nostalgic trip back in time, but through the numerous displays and scenes packed with original memorabilia and ephemera, you can see everything from the branded packaging of the sweets our young family members may have enjoyed to the tools and equipment our Land Girl ancestors may have had to work with.

The Home Front Experience shop

   For more details, this fantastic attraction is mentioned in Chapter 5 Regulations and Restrictions of my book Ancestors in the Attic, but why not visit Adrian's website at www.homefrontmuseum.co.uk for the hours of opening - I can guarantee that anyone with an interest in this period of our history will not be disappointed.

A great place to learn about our ancestors wartime past.

Writerly Quote 5

'It is perfectly okay to write garbage--as long as you edit brilliantly.'

- C. J. Cherryh.

What are your editing skills like? Do you have a secret method, or special editing tactics?

Do you prefer to edit as you go, or complete a workable draft first and edit at the end?

Share your top tips!

The Wow Factor

   Sometimes it is the small things that get writer's excited; other times it is the 'wow factor'. I had a 'wow factor' moment when The History Press posted a photo of their stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Twitter and an image of MY book was on their display. I was so chuffed. It's a great thrill to see the cover of your book advertised or displayed somewhere and I don't think the excitement of it ever goes.
   So when those writing days get tough and the words seem to be off somewhere doing their own thing, I'm going to look at this photo and think that all the hair pulling is definitely worthwhile!

My book cover is on the far wall, second down in the first column.

Creating Your Own Family Archive

If you're thinking of starting your own family archive, pop over to 

The History Press's Facebook page for my tips on where start.

Writerly Quote 4

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

- Douglas Adams

Are you organised? Do deadlines help, or hinder your writing? Does the knowledge that a deadline is looming increase your output, or instil you with fear? 

You can't avoid them so try to make deadlines work for you.

Top Tips for Visiting an Auction

  Have you ever wanted to buy ephemera or collectables that could illustrate your family tree or perhaps bring your ancestor's stories to life? Well, auctions are a good place to start.

   From trinkets and love tokens to letters and vintage luggage, you are guaranteed to find something new and unusual at each auction you attend. Whilst larger items are sold singly, smaller items may be grouped in lots so be prepared and set yourself a budget before you attend and STICK TO IT!

   Always do your research. Your local newspaper usually lists up and coming sales enabling you to get hold of a catalogue beforehand, detailing a description of the goods to be sold and a guide price on what each item is expected to fetch. Viewing often takes place a couple of days prior to the sale allowing 

you to inspect those pieces which interest you.

  Usually, bidding will open at a price started by the auctioneer but if he is unable to find any interest he will continue to lower the price until someone takes the bait – the figure will then gradually increase as other bidders join in. Don’t worry about the old tales of bidding on an expensive item which is way out of your league just because you scratched your nose – the auctioneer is experienced and knows how to spot a genuine bid.

 There will normally be a Buyer’s Premium - 10% of your winning bid plus VAT - which you will be required to pay along with your final bid price. Take this into consideration when you set your budget, but above all, have fun and try to acquire memorabilia which can help you to build a 'bigger picture' of your ancestral past.

 

Ancestors in the Attic

Fab news! My advance copy of my new book - Ancestors in the Attic -  has arrived!
It's great to see it in the 'flesh' and it really makes all the hard work worthwhile. It's also great to have all the research in one place and when I hit brick walls in my family history hunting, it will inspire me to try other avenues to try and add new facts and stories to my family tree.

From letters and diaries, military and wartime collectables to sporting, motoring and childhood memorabilia, the clues our ancestors have left behind for us to follow are endless. In this book, I hope to encourage you to dig out all those long forgotten items which have been tucked in drawers, hidden in the attic or abandoned in old suitcases, and dust them off to look at them again with fresh eyes.

Perhaps you are sceptical about the amount of information you can actually glean from your ancestor’s possessions and are purely interested in documental resources – if so, it has to be said that you could be missing out on vital clues that could open up a whole new line of enquiry for you to follow that you had previously not thought about, anticipated, or even overlooked. As genealogists we are always told to revisit our documentation, notes and the records we’ve collected at a later date to see if there is something we may have missed, or if new findings help us to make sense of early problems – so why not do the same with your ancestor’s possessions?

Whilst some items could reveal more than others such as the factual details contained in letters and diaries, there are those that can help confirm facts that you already have and strengthen your knowledge. Dates on hand stitched samplers, details on travel documents or relationships on greetings cards could fall into this category.

Now that you’ve established that there is more than one way to research the lives of your

 ancestors, use the simple tried and tested formula's in this book to get the most from both 

personal and historical items of importance. 

Writerly Quotes 3

Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don't see any.

- Orson Scott Card

How many new writerly ideas have you had today?

Unearthing Your Mayo Roots

If you've not yet picked yourself up a copy of the Irish Family and Local History Handbook, believe me when I say its a great resource for those trying to break down those puzzling genealogical walls that so many of us face when we've got Irish ancestors in our tree.

Covering everything from how to search the Roman Catholic Registers to understanding more about the estate papers and farming families of Ireland, you are guaranteed to find something of interest to you.

 My article - Unearthing Your Mayo Roots - concentrates on tracing those ancestors who lived in County Mayo, and touches upon the workhouses in that region where many of our ancestors took refuge .

   Due to Mayo’s mass emigration it has created a diaspora of people worldwide whose roots can be traced back to the county. Not all emigration was caused by the Great Famine – as far back as the 1700, Mayo emigrants settled in Monserrat and Jamaica whilst later, Australia, America and Canada drew those seeking new challenges and adventure. As a result, the Irish Genealogical Project has appointed two research facilities – The Mayo North Family Heritage Centre and the South Mayo Family Research Centre.

Mayo North Family Heritage Centre Enniscoe Castlehill Ballina Co Mayo Ireland Tel: + 353 (0) 96 31809 Fax: + 353 (0) 96 31885

South Mayo Family Research Centre Main Street Ballinrobe Co Mayo Ireland Tel: + 353 (0) 94 954 1214 Fax: + 353 (0) 94 954 1214

The resources available at the centres is staggering and a gold mine for anyone wanting to ‘push back’ further with their Irish roots. Alongside Civil Registration records and grave inscriptions there are Church of Ireland records from 1744, Roman Catholic records from 1794, Presbyterian records from 1819 and Methodist Records commencing ten years later. Dig deeper using Tithe Applotment books, Griffiths Valuation Tenements, Rent Rolls and lists of migrants. With over two million records housed between the two centres, the possibility of finding that next snippet of information which could open up a whole new avenue of your family research is vast. 

                                                         County Mayo