Should you pass on your family history research to someone who’s a stranger to you but with whom you may share a common ancestor? Rachel Bellerby of Family Tree magazine offers her thoughts.

Three times in the past year I’ve had exciting emails from someone with whom I share an ancestor, who’s reached out to me either via my online tree on Ancestry, or through a DNA test I did a couple of years ago. It’s always great to get that feeling that we family historians love, when the possibility of finding new ancestors or even overcoming a brick wall presents itself.

Each of my new connections has turned into a friendship, but that initial contact got me thinking, do some similar cases not turn out so well? Have there been times when people have shared their precious research only to regret doing so? This blog isn’t intended to act as a guideline for what to do, as only you can make that decision, but instead to offer some thoughts on different ways to proceed with a new genealogy contact and to show how these partnerships can work well when handled with care on both sides.

Hello, third cousin once removed!

As family historians we revel in inter-generation links and in those clues that can help us back to the next generation or on to a new ancestor. Many of us will have worked on our family history for years and most probably will have spent quite a bit of money in pursuit of our obsession. So how much should you be prepared to share with a stranger?

The first step when someone reaches out to you as a potential family match is to work out which common ancestor you share (if indeed, there is one). It would, of course, be a waste of both of your time should your new ‘cousin’ turn out to have no connection to your family at all.

But once you’ve made the connection and established which common ancestor you share, then your joint project can begin. Even if you’re communicating with someone who’s completely new to family history this should be a two-way process with both of you contributing in your own way.

The start of a beautiful friendship?

A good way to look at the process is to imagine how it would work if you were starting a new friendship in the non-genealogy or non-online world. Of course you wouldn’t spill your life story to someone you happened to sit next to on the train. In most cases, friendship builds as trust is earned and information about both your lives will naturally reveal itself as the relationship grows.

Each of us will have our own feeling about how much of our tree we’re prepared to share but it makes sense to bear in mind the worst case scenario – that someone could take all the information you’ve given them about your ancestors, copy it straight into their own tree and pass it off as their own work. How would that make you feel? 

The more generations between you and your contact and that common ancestor, the narrower the portion of tree you’ll be interested in. So don’t feel that you have to share your whole tree at once or even at all. Some programmes (such as Family Historian) allow you to section off areas of your tree to share with a contact and of course it’s essential to safeguard the privacy of anyone who’s still alive and is featured in your research. 

Another option is to ‘drip feed’ the information as the two of you share your findings (and maybe collaborate on a research project together). You might be surprised how much you can learn from someone who’s new to family history. Family stories and memorabilia pass down different branches of the tree and you could be lucky enough to gain access to photos and paperwork you didn’t know existed.

Let’s work together…

As I mentioned at the start, my three tentative contacts have turned into partnerships where I hope we’ve both gained something. I’ve found a new Irish cousin, which has been really rewarding since my own family had lost touch with its Irish roots. We never knew why my 4 x great-grandfather was known as the ‘silver king’ but my new-found third cousin has helped me uncover newspaper reports about this ancestor’s role as a provisions dealer in Ireland and his brushes with the law. 

In return I’ve been able to pass on family photos from my own branch, allowing this cousin to see descendants of the ‘silver king’ and I’m also going to photograph some gravestones over in Dublin next month to help him with his research.
I guess what  I’m trying to say is that I went against my natural instincts to share my research and I tried to think about I could contribute to the partnership even when it seemed I was receiving more than I was giving. Whatever stage we’re at with our research, we’re all on the family history journey together and I’m sure you’d agree that it would be a sad day if we thought we’d learnt all there was to know about our ancestors and their lives.

For free advice on tracing your family tree, visit Family Tree's website.

(image copyright Ahsmann)

 
In the latest issue of Family Tree magazine, editor Helen Tovey introduces a new project – creating a family tree matrix. In our latest blog, we share this great project with the Ancestry Hour community, helping you to find red flags and promising leads in your genealogy research.

Sometimes when we come to a brick wall in our family history investigations it’s because we can’t find the details we’re after to enable us to continue searching. At other times it’s because we’ve found details but aren’t sure which of the information or paths ahead of us is correct.
 
For instance, perhaps you have an ancestor that you’ve found under several (apparently unaccountable) surnames through their lives in the records? Or perhaps you have an ancestor whose age varies wildly. By gathering a matrix of information about a person and their relations you can recreate (or reconstitute) the family – analysing your collection of data for red flags to be worried about, or promising leads.
 
How to create your family tree matrix
 
The column and row headings listed below are examples of table headings that you may like to include, when creating
your own collection of data for you to compare.
 
In this instance, the concept has been designed to relate to just one person (though it can include cross-references
to other people). The idea behind it is to help you build up a collection of clues that can be analysed side by side, to help you spot evidence that’s more likely, or less likely.
 
The premise is to think about the facts that we’re after and to have a range of records in which we can search for
them. When you have a puzzle on your hands, this log will give you the scope and space to record your details in a
layout that’s easy to study at a glance. You may like to copy these details into Excel to create your own spreadsheet.
 
Spreadsheet information to include
 
COLUMN 1
Forename
Surname
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of marriage
Place of marriage
Date of death
Place of death
Place of burial
Spouse
Parents
Children
Address
Occupation
 
ROW 1
(with space in column 1 left blank)
Birth certificate
Baptism
Marriage certificate
Marriage (other; parish, banns)
Death certificate
Burial (other: parish, etc)
Family ‘lore’ (oral history)
Family records (birthday books,
Family Bible etc)
School records
Apprentice
Occupations
Electoral registers
Trade directories
Phone books
Newspapers
Census 1841
Census 1851
Census 1861
Census 1871
Census 1881
Census 1891
Census 1901
Census 1911
1939 Register
 
Good luck with your own matrix and we hope it helps you solve your family history mystery or eliminate those red herrings, saving your time and energy.
 
For more on Family Tree magazine, visit the website.
 
(image © Crazyphunk)

By Lynn Heiden

I am a collector of old photos, sharing them every day on Twitter & Instagram & I especially enjoy researching any that have family names & blogging about them with a hope that they may eventually be returned back to their families. So this past week has been such a joy.

The story started last weekend when I received an email from a lady called Caroline from Wiltshire about a Blog that I wrote back last August about Walter, Matilda, Kathleen, Betty & Daisy Bartlett, as a result of buying two postcard photos with names on from Old Postcards.  I was quite pleased I had managed to find out so much about the family who came mostly from Somerset, not too far from us in Dorset.

Caroline had Googled one of her family surnames BARTLETT & came across my Blog, she was astonished to see the photos & her family history.  Walter was her Grandmother's brother.  She gave me her phone number & we've spoken on the phone a couple of times this week, a lovely lady.  I posted the photos off to her & she was thrilled to have them back in the family. She has been researching her family history for a while now.  This is another family photo she shared with me to add to my Blog, showing her Grandmother's Wedding group & you can see Walter & Matilda far right.

I posted on my Facebook page & Twitter about this update to the Bartlett story & Old Postcards contacted me to say that after reading my Blog she realised that she still has more Postcards from the same family, so she sent me the links to a few still in her store which I have passed on to Caroline, brilliant!  So, hopefully even if she doesn't want them for her collection, she will still have been able to see the postcards that some of her Ancestors wrote, back in the times when they didn't have telephones to keep in touch.

Another friend on Twitter @book_magpie Gill Edwards, also contacted me to say that she had bought three of the same family's postcards from Old Postcards too & that if Caroline wanted them she would gladly post them on to her, which she did the same day, how wonderful of her!

Everyone coming together to help each other is exactly what family history people are so good at!  It echoes the ethos of #AncestryHour helping people every week find answers to their questions & queries.

Keep up the good work everyone.

If you haven't read the Bartlett Blog yet here's the Link: https://lynnswaffles.com/2018/08/24/walter-matilda-kathleen-betty-and-daisy-bartlett/
​
You can find Lynn online at Lynn's Waffles 
On Facebook ​ www.facebook.com/lynnswaffles/
On Twitter twitter.com/LynnsWaffles

Firstly let me start off by introducing myself for those of you that don’t know me!
 
My name is Paul Chiddicks, aged 54 and I have been researching my family tree on and off, for the last 15 years.  I am an #AncestryHour regular and also contribute a regular blog to Family Tree Magazine.  I am writing this guest blog for the #AncestryHour web page.
 
​Now go on admit it, everyone's “googled” their own name haven't they?? Well I certainly have.
 
Were you surprised with what you found??  Was there a lot more content about you, available on the Internet, than you ever imagined?? Have a look now, you might get a shock!

​I'm sure we all have at some point, googled our own name, so what I'm going to try and do with this blog, is take that process a little step further.
 
“Just Google it”, I must say that phrase at least several times every day, but where would we be without Google, or any search engine for that matter?
 
So let's explore how using Google in our research can open a few new doors for us:
 
1) Now I'm not going to sit here and explain to you how to use the various Google search helps, such as speech marks, the plus sign and minus sign, asterix etc, there are plenty of guides or “how to pages” available on the internet that will teach you the specifics of using Google.
 
What I am  going to try and do is, point you in the right direction of some different ideas of what to search for, hopefully some ideas that you maybe haven’t considered before, that might just knock down that brick wall for you.
 
2) So what should you consider? Well apart from individual names, experiment with searching for streets where your ancestors lived, also look at images as well as straightforward web pages, you might be pleasantly surprised at what you find.
 
3) As an example, my great-grandfather, Matthew Chiddicks, lived at 40, Shortmead Street, Biggleswade. Put that into Google and it leads you to this wonderful website listing the history of the properties in the street.

​http://www.biggleswadehistory.org.uk/Roads/shortmead_street_west.htm  ​Without using that type of search I might never have found this site.

4) Another search on an ancestral home at Plough Cottages, South Ockendon, brings up images of The Plough Public House, nestled alongside, are Plough Cottages, where Matthew Chiddicks also lived.

5) Use Google street view to locate where your ancestors lived and how the house looks today.  Take a screenshot of the image and you have a ready-made picture of your ancestor’s home.  Make comparisons if you have a picture of the same house in your photo collection.
 
6) Experiment with people’s names in conjunction with streets and areas that they lived in, again use a combination of web pages as well as images.  Look at Schools where your ancestors would have attended, look at school reunion sites as another alternative.
 
7) Consider your ancestors employment, look at companies they might have worked for, or occupations and Industries which they were engaged in.  Again be imaginative.
 
8) Don’t’ always abandon a search after one or two pages, look a bit further down the results pages that Google has provided.  I have searched my great grandfather “John Edwin Barnes” numerous times over the years.  My great grandfather died at Gallipoli during WW1.  A more recent Google of his name brought up an interesting find, he is mentioned in a book, Britain’s Lost Regiments, by author Trevor Royle.
 
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=q_3RBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT152&lpg=PT152&dq=%22john+edwin+barnes%22&source=bl&ots=uFbVrds1A-&sig=kc0tTogAzRBTxIS_5Eh6H_F4ohk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZ-_n1hNDVAhXGIcAKHUsgA7E4ChDoAQgnMAA#v=onepage&q=%22john%20edwin%20barnes%22&f=false

​Without this later search, I would never have known about the book. It was such a wonderful surprise. None of this would have been possible without the original Google search.
 
9) So, in summary, be flexible, experiment, look at all aspects of your ancestors life. School, work, occupation, where they lived, what they did, hobbies, where they possibly socialised, clubs and organisations for example.
 
Working Men’s clubs were a big part of life a generation or two ago, as well as sports and social clubs. Did your ancestors socialise here? Are there any photographs online?
 
One final example to end with.
 
10) My grandfather was Secretary of our local Labour Club, The Rook Hall Club, putting this into Mr.Google brought up this site
 
https://www.francisfrith.com/uk/grays/rememberinggraysandrookhalldellroad_memory-458191
 
I then contacted the lady that made the post in the article. She was now living in Australia.  By absolute sheer chance, she recognised my surname, her husband went to the same school as my Father.  They kindly sent me some fantastic images of my Father, in a series of school photographs and a local street party.  These pictures are priceless to me now, but without my original Google search, I would never have found them.

So why not spend an afternoon trying various searches, experiment, be flexible, be patient and you just might be rewarded with a wonderful surprise or two that you never expected.
 
Please let me know how you get on……..
 
Paul Chiddicks
Researching the names:

• Chiddicks in Essex
• Daniels in Dublin
• Keyes in Prittlewell
• Wootton in Herefordshire and London
• Jack in Scotland
• Day in Essex, Kent and Gloucestershire
• Barnes in Poplar
• Dodd in East London

 
You can find me on twitter @chiddickstree and my own family tree blog page is 
​ https://chiddicksfamilytree.wordpress.com

So, you’ve made a good start on tracing your family tree and found some fascinating ancestors, what next? Rachel Bellerby of Family Tree magazine shows you how to write up the history of your family to share with your relatives
 
You may be lucky enough to personally remember your Victorian ancestors and recall the tales they told, or perhaps your mother and father were brought up by parents who lived during this era. If you have some great family stories, consider writing them down for your own descendants to enjoy.
 
Even if family anecdotes for your ancestors are thin on the ground, you can still write up your family history by using your own memories as a starting point.
 
The planning stage
 
Whether you’re aiming to produce a small booklet or a complete family record book, the basics are the same: make a plan before you start to write.
 
First of all, who’s your intended audience? If you’re writing for relatives, you can stick largely to featuring your own ancestors and their immediate environment. However, if you hope to appeal to a wider readership, you might want to include some local history.

For simplicity, it’s usually better to concentrate on either your maternal or paternal line. Organise your research notes so that you can decide on a timeframe, the number of ancestors and different themes.
 
Starting to write
 
Before you begin, take a moment to consider your reader. You’re going to be taking the bare facts from certificates, censuses, directories, etc, and weaving these into an appealing account. A good way to start your story is to begin at an exciting moment.
 
Opening with words such as ‘Alice Hemingway was born on 1 October 1940’ will do little to engage your reader. Instead, a few extra words to put that fact into context could make all the difference: ‘Alice Hemingway made her entry into the world on 1 October 1940, in a busy hospital which was struggling to operate during the London blitz.’
 
You don’t have to write the story as an exact chronology; consider whether the tale of your ancestors might be better arranged into themed chapters such as marriage, childhood, working life, etc. You could also include details of local or national events to put the lives of your ancestors into context.

For example, say which monarch was on the throne when an ancestor was born, or how many people lived in your home village at the time your great-grandparents set up home there. Remember, not all of your readers will share your enthusiasm for dates, so ‘softer’ details such as local news, popular songs of the time and styles of dress will enliven the text.

You could also include excerpts from sources such as letters and diaries –allowing your ancestors to speak for themselves. And don’t be afraid to include the ‘black sheep’ among your ancestors – people’s faults and failings are another way of bringing the story to life. Having said that, beware of including information which affects people who are still alive and could be upset by the family’s story.

Finally, don’t forget to include information about yourself and your family, so that the story can be continued by your own descendants.
 
The finished product
 
Once you’ve completed your story, if possible pass it on to a friend or relative who can check it for grammatical errors. You can then consider which illustrations would help bring the text to life. Photos, letters, tickets and certificates can all help brighten up the pages and allow your reader to literally picture the family’s story.
 
When you’ve printed your final version, consider depositing a copy with your local family history society, particularly if you’ve included a large number of ancestors, as your work may help someone else researching the same surname.
 
Layout tips

• Consider using an index to help readers locate a particular topic
• List your sources
• Have a ‘further reading’ section for books you found helpful

 
Read up on it
Writing Your Family History, Gill Blanchard (Pen & Sword, 2014)
Write Your Life Story, Michael Oke (Hachette UK, 2011)

For more tips on exploring your family history, visit the Family Tree website.

(image copyright Thomas Martisen)

AncestryDNA has by far the largest autosomal DNA database at over 10 million testers and it is growing daily.  If you are interested in taking a DNA test for genealogy purposes or you have a DNA mystery to solve then it's essential to get into the largest database.  You cannot transfer into Ancestry as you can some of the other companies so you have to test with them direct.  They are offering their lowest price of the year for Black Friday so now is the time to buy if you've been holding off waiting for a good sale!
​
The price of the AncestryDNA test in the UK has been reduced by £30 from £79 to £49 for Black Friday
(please note that this does not include shipping which is £9.99 for a first kit and £4.99 for each additional kit in the same order - maximum ten kits per order)
*sale ends 26th November 

AncestryDNA are also running Black Friday sales in Ireland, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada:

Ireland: Price reduced by €40 from €95 to €55
Shipping €9.99 per kit and €4.99 per additional kit in same order
*sale ends 26th November 

USA: Price reduced by $50 from $99 to $49
Shipping $9.95 for a first kit and $4.95 for each addtional kit
*sale ends 26th November 

Australia & New Zealand: Price reduced by A$41 from A$129 to A$88
Shipping A$29.99 for first kit and A$10 for each additional kit
*sale ends 26th November 

Canada: Price reduced by C$60 from C$129 to C$69 (looks like lowest price ever for Canada!)
Shipping C$19.95 for first kit and C$10 for each additional kit
*sale ends 26th November 11:59pm E.T.
​
​Amazon UK also have Ancestry kits as a "Deal of the Day" on Black Friday so they are selling for the same price as the Ancestry website (£49):

MyHeritage are also having a Black Friday sale - they have reduced the price of their DNA kit from £75 to £49 in the UK and if you buy two or more kits free shipping will be included (if you only wish to order one kit standard shipping costs £9).   The sale price in Ireland is €49 with standard shipping of €9 for one kit but the same free shipping if you buy 2 kits or more deal is in force.  The sale price in the US is $49 and you can get free shipping by using the code FREE18 (US Only).  The sale was originally set to end on the 23rd but has been extended to the 25th now.
UPDATE: Amazon UK is selling MyHeritage kits HERE for £48 with free shipping as a Deal of the Day on Saturday 24th November (ends midnight).
UPDATE 2: MyHeritage have reinstated their £49 per kit and free shipping if you buy two or more for Cyber Monday

It's possible to transfer into the MyHeritage database for free from any of the other major companies - HERE is a link to upload your results to their site.  I would encourage anyone who has not yet taken advantage of uploading to do so prior to 1st December as MyHeritage are going to institute a small fee for extra features in the same way FTDNA does with their autosomal transfers but anyone who transfers in before the deadline will have the extra features grandfathered into their account for free.  It is well worth having access to MyHeritage's excellent tools especially their chromosome browser.  For more information on the changes read THIS MyHeritage announcement.
​

On the back of a brilliant Thanksgiving sale which ended yesterday FTDNA are offering a Black Friday sale on all of their test kits.  Their autosomal offering (Family Finder) has $40 off bringing it down to just $39 plus shipping until 26th November and shipping has also been reduced to $9.95.
​
Don't forget that FTDNA also have an autosomal transfer option so if you have tested at Ancestry, 23andMe (V3 and V4 only) or MyHeritage you can transfer into FTDNA and get all of your highest confidence matches for free.  If you would like access to all tools and FTDNA's ethnicity estimate you can get those by paying a small $19 fee.

Y-DNA tests are also on sale until 26th November as follows:

And finally the discount on their MtDNA Full Seqeunce test is $60 bringing the price down from $199 to $139 and this again runs until 26th November:

Living DNA are also having a DNA Day sale as follows:

UK: Price reduced from £99 to £69 plus shipping (£9.95 standard)

EU: Price reduced from €109 to €79 plus shipping (€12.95 standard)

US: Price reduced from $99 to $69 plus shipping ($9.95 standard)

Canada: Price reduced from C$149 to C$99 plus shipping (C$14.95  standard) 

​Australia: Price reduced from A$169 to A$119 plus shipping (A$14.95 standard) 

New Zealand: Price reduced from NZ$169 to NZ$119 plus shipping (NZ$14.95 standard) 

The Living DNA test gives a detailed regional breakdown of UK Ancestry and also includes Y-DNA and MtDNA haplogroup information.  LivingDNA's new Family Networks matching system is now in beta testing and all customers should have access to the matching database in the near future.  It is also possible to upload results from other major testing companies to LivingDNA and you will be able to take advantage of their new Family Networks matching database if you do that but you will not receive the detailed regional breakdown or Y-DNA and MtDNA haplogroup designations.  You can upload your raw data HERE.

LivingDNA also recently partnered with FindMyPast to be the provider of their new DNA test kit - the FindMyPast version of the test is also on sale for Black Friday as follows:

FindMyPast are selling their LivingDNA powered test for £59 plus £9.95 shipping per order (not per kit).  In Ireland the sale price is €69 plus €12.95 shipping per order.

This is the same test as the LivingDNA test and you will go into the LivingDNA database but be aware that the FindMyPast version does not include the Y-DNA and MtDNA information that the LivingDNA test does.  You can add this on for £19.90 in the UK or €24.95 but if you want the 3-in-1 test then it's cheaper to go with LivingDNA's direct deal at £69 (UK) or €79 (Ireland).  If however you don't want or need the Y and Mt information then the FindMyPast deal is better and, once again, you can upload to the LivingDNA database via FindMyPast HERE for free.

23andMe's Black Friday sale in the UK is offering £25 off their Ancestry only service bringing the price down to £54 per kit or £55 off their Health + Ancestry service bringing the price down to £94 per kit.  Shipping costs £9.99 (Standard). The sale ends on 26th November at 5am GMT.
UPDATE:  23andMe Ancestry only kits are also being sold on Amazon HERE with free shipping - they are not a deal of the day so it's possible the price will remain until the end of the sale.  The price for the Ancestry+Health kit is £103.99.

​In the US they are offering a Black Friday deal which ends on 25th November at 9pm PST: $30 off the Ancestry only service bringing it down to $69 and $70 off the Ancestry + Health service bringing to down to $129.  Shipping costs $9.95 per kit (Standard).  If you are in the US and want to get the Health + Ancestry test, however, there's an even better deal for Black Friday on Amazon - they're selling it for $99! This is just a 24 hour flash sale for Black Friday; you can see the deal HERE.

The Black Friday sale in Canada also runs until 25th November at 9pm PST; C$40 off per kit for the Ancestry only service bringing it down from C$129 to C$89 and C$90 off the Health + Ancestry service bringing it down from C$249 to C$159.  Shipping costs C$19.95 (Standard).

​There is currently no deal available for Ireland, other EU countries or on their International site.

MAJOR UPDATE: The 23andMe Black Friday sale ended on the 25th but for Cyber Monday they are having an even better flash sale!  Until Tuesday 27th Nov at 8pm GMT Ancestry Only kits are being sold with £35 off bringing them down to £44 plus shipping (£9.99 whether you buy one kit or more).  Ancestry + health kits are being sold with £75 off if you buy two or more kits bringing to total down to £74 per kit.  Ancestry + Health kits are also a "Deal of the Day" on Amazon though were you can pick one up HERE for £72.79 with free shipping until midnight GMT on Monday and there's no need to but 2 or more kits at Amazon. 

Ahead of the centenary of the end of World War I, Helen Tovey, editor of Family Tree magazine, shares her top tips on how to explore the Great War service of your ancestors.

Soon the World War I centenary Last Post will sound, 100 years on from the Armistice, 1918. At memorials in town squares and churches all over the world, many of us will say the words ‘we will remember them’. If you’d like to find out how to begin tracing your ancestors’ war years, it’s not too late to start.

Which World War I battles did your ancestor fight?

Of course, you’ll want to focus not just on the theatre of war, but on the events in which your family members saw action. Visit Wikipedia here to see a massive list of more than 300 military engagements during WW1, including those on land, at sea and in the air, from all over the globe. Link through to those of interest, for fuller information about each one.

Key records to seek in the archives and online

Essentially you’re on the lookout for these key archive records. Each of these is held in national collections, and digitised versions are available to view on the internet:

• Medal index cards – which will give name, rank, number, unit, medal entitlement. These are comprehensive and cover all ranks, officers and men. See Ancestry and National Archives.
• Service or pension records – which will give an outline of the soldier’s career (postings, promotions, dependents, physical health). An estaimated 70 percent of the soldiers’ service records were destroyed by fire following a bomb in World War II, therefore the odds are against you finding your man but you might. See Ancestry and FindMyPast.
• Unit war diaries – which give a day-by-day account of the unit’s activities and movements. Succinct and formulaic, these don’t mention individuals in detail and largely only officers by name. Other ranks are just referred to as, for instance, ’17 men’. Nevertheless, they are worth reading to get a feel for the unit’s activities – the peril and monotony of life in service, plus the chance to read diary entries for those key battles of history, or for the period around which your ancestor might have been wounded or killed. See Operation War Diary or the National Archives.
• Graves or memorials – if your ancestors died in the war, your first port of call should be the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, which lists the fallen, with name, rank, number, regiment, date of death and place buried, or details of the memorial on which their name is remembered.
  

Key treasures to ask family about

The wartime memorabilia that your family may hold can be extremely enlightening as to your ancestors’ service. If your ancestor has a common name, then these items can be even more valuable, helping you to identify key clues (such as regiment number, ship name etc) about your person.

Medals – ask around family members, including the wider family, as your ancestor’s medals may have been handed down a different branch of the family tree. Ask to see the medals or pictures showing the ribbons, medals and medal rim.

Photographs – official photographs weren’t taken of individual British service personnel so your best chance of finding a photo of your ancestor in uniform is to ask among the (wider) family again. if you can see the original, great, but if not ask for the clearest possible copy so that you can see the details of cap badge, shoulder titles, sleeve badges of rank, skills and so on. Each of these items will give you details and insights into your ancestor’s war years.

Other memorabilia – there may be letters sent back to family, photos, trench art (eg items made from the brass cartridges), cartoons, personal diaries, sweetheart badges or even a miniature soldier teddy bear mascot (given for luck to the lads by their families). Ask around and you may be in luck yourself in finding at least one of these items.

Find out much more about tracing your World War I ancestors in the November issue of Family Tree magazine – a centenary special.

(image © Bryan Ledgard)

Discover how to find new ancestors and hone your research skills with Rachel Bellerby of Family Tree magazine's guide to enjoying our hobby for free
 
As family history devotees know, tracing our ancestors can sometimes become a little costly. However, building your family tree doesn’t always have to come at a price, as we discover in this guide to enjoying family history for free.
 
Tutorials and courses
 
If you’d like to expand your knowledge and stretch your research skills, there are several free of charge options available online. The National Archives hosts free tutorials on reading Latin and old documents on its website, and also has handy audio and video guides on a range of topics, including the two World Wars, house history and criminal records.
 
A number of free online family history courses and tutorials run at different points during the year, one of the best known being Future Learn’s ‘Genealogy: Researching Your Family Tree’. Check enrolment dates on the Future Learn website.
 
Societies and events
 
The family history community is a welcoming one and no matter what stage you’re at with your research, you’ll find plenty of support if you know where to look.
 
Many family history societies run free helpdesks at local libraries and archives, and at their open days. Check the Federation of Family History Societies (FFHS) website for your nearest society. Some groups also offer free entry to one or two of their meetings before you decide whether to join.
 
Consider volunteering on a family or local history project in your area. Not only will you expand your own knowledge, you’ll also benefit from the skills and experience of your fellow volunteers.
 
Family history fairs held around the UK are another great source of help and advice, especially those which offer free ‘ask the expert’ sessions and family history workshops. A calendar of events can be found on the FFHS site.
 
Ancestryhour is a networking site which offers advice via the #Ancestryhour hashtag and website. The themed hour runs on Twitter from 7pm to 8pm GMT and at other times, a blog, newsletter and regular tweets offer help and information, including a regular blog from Family Tree.
 
Libraries and archives
 
The staff at your nearest local history library or archive have a wealth of knowledge and will be happy to help point you in the right direction with your research. Check the relevant website before your visit to see what help’s available; many sites have tutorials or guides which can save you hours of searching in the archives or catalogues.
 
Most large UK libraries, and some smaller local history or family history libraries, offer free of charge access to subscription websites such as Ancestry and Find My Past for library card holders. When researching at home, you can also take advantage of the trial period that most subscription sites offer.
 
Some repositories offer free help sessions or assistance with an initial query (usually up to half an hour’s research time).  Archive events or open days can range from orientation sessions for those new to using the archive, through to in-depth sessions on specialist collections.
 
Keep a look out also for free exhibitions which showcase library or archive collections to members of the public; these can be a great way to see rare material which you might not otherwise have come across. The National Archives has a great range of online exhibitions on topics including WWI military service tribunals, railways in the 19th century and life on the Home Front.
 
The internet
 
The internet is a great source of free of charge family history information, but do follow the golden rule of verifying any facts you find online before adding the information to your tree.
 
One of the world’s most popular family tree websites is Family Search, which holds millions of records kept by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You can create your own family tree on the site and search for ancestors around the world from the millions of names in the International Genealogical Index (IGI). Collections include BMD records, censuses, probate and court records, and military records. Although the focus is on US records, more than 100 countries are included in total.
 
Volunteers working on Free UK Genealogy have made available records of over 300 millions births, marriages and deaths; 35 million records from parish registers and thirty million individuals from censuses covering the years 1841 to 1891. The site is completely free to search and view.
 
There are also many creative sites with free ideas for the visual side of family history, such as scrapbooking, making charts and displaying photos. Martha Stewart has articles, videos and image galleries, whilst Pinterest has plenty of inspiration for displaying your family tree information and images in creative ways. 
 
 
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Recommended websites
 
We carried out a Twitter poll on #AncestryHour asking for favourite free of charge websites and got some great recommendations for sites which family history enthusiasts and researchers have found helpful:
 
Dusty Docs has links to free websites containing parish records from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. You can search by county, parish or town and there are also links to a surname database, a certificate exchange forum for unwanted documents, and a list of Chapman county codes, which are three-letter genealogy shorthand used to identify the UK’s counties on documents and registers.
 
The Families in British India Society website was suggested for its database of more than 1.2 million individuals, images of the ships which carried passengers to India, and ships passenger lists.
 
Irishgenealogy.ie re-opened in September 2016, offering free of charge access to Irish civil registration birth, marriage and death records. The search facility for this site allows users to search the indexes and records in a variety of ways, including using the mother’s maiden name (1900 onwards) to narrow down results; and searching by individual Superintendent Registrar’s District.
 
The Welsh National Archives also merits a mention for its free of charge images of wills, journals and mortgages. The site is also the home of the Welsh Tithe Map Cynefin Project  - a project to repair and digitize over 1,000 tithe maps and 30,000 pages of index documents, which will be freely available to the public.
 
The British Library Flickr site is the home of millions of copyright-free images from the Library’s collection of 65,000 digitised books; and there are plans to upload more images over the coming years.
 
Explore more than 160,000 maps from around the UK at National Library of Scotland’s maps website. Categories include county maps, town plans, Ordnance Survey, estate maps and military maps.
 
Internet Archive was recommended for its access to more than eleven million free books, with libraries including a World War II archive, Project Gutenburg texts, National Library of Scotland texts, and a family history library.

For more on tracing your family tree for free, visit Family Tree's website.

As anyone who has even dipped their toe into the world of family history knows, tracing your ancestors can be very addictive. Rachel Bellerby of Family Tree magazine has ten tips to help you share your skills and knowledge so that even more people can enjoy family history.

1. Volunteer at your local family history society
Family history societies are the lifeblood of the family tree scene and are run by volunteers who give up their time to help researchers tracing ancestors in a certain geographical area. There are lots of ways you could give your time to your local society, including helping to produce the newsletter or magazine, recruiting speakers for meetings, getting involved in one of the society’s projects, or that all-important job of helping with refreshments at society get-togethers.

2. Offer your services as a document transcriber
If you’d prefer your work to be home-based, why not volunteer your time as a document transcriber? Usually you’ll just need a PC, e-mail and internet access. Free UK Genealogy (which is a registered charity) currently has volunteer opportunities or you could contact your local family history society.

3. Take a DNA test
DNA is becoming an increasingly mainstream branch of family history and the more people who test, the better for anyone who’s taken, or is considering taking, a DNA test for family history. If you do take a test, you can help both yourself and your potential DNA matches if you’ve uploaded a family tree to your chosen family history site, so that both you and your DNA cousins can work out how ( or even if) you’re related.

4. Join a DNA project
Once you’ve had your test results back, you’re free to upload your raw DNA data, whether to a DNA project run by your test provider, or to another organisation which accepts data from your test provider. How do these projects help the world of family history? Well, your DNA could provide vital data to projects based on a particular surname, ethnic group, geographical area, or even a particular type of haplogroup. And of course it’s always interesting to follow the progress of such projects and find out how you fit in.

5. Start a one-name study
If you have a particular interest in one of the surnames in your family tree and you’re up for a long-term challenge, why not start a one-name study? After registering the surname with the Guild of One-Name Studies (for UK names) you can work at your own pace, collecting instances of your surname where it occurs, responding to enquiries from people researching that surname, and making your research available to other genealogists.

6. Help out at a family history event
A great way to meet other family historians is to volunteer your services at a family history event. Up and down the UK, there are hundreds of family history events, ranging from society meetings to genealogy fairs, most of which are run thanks to the hard work of volunteers. You could help man a stand at a fair, offer your expertise as a speaker, or help welcome visitors to events both large and small.

7. Be a genealogy look-up
If your research often takes you out and about, consider offering your services to your local family history society. Many society members live far from the area where their ancestors once dwelled and would welcome the opportunity to have a photograph of an ancestor’s grave, or a quick look-up in one of the records held by your society; and you’ll be helping build the society’s coffers, as most people making these requests offer a donation to the society in question.

8. Join a help desk
Continuing the above theme, many family history societies run a help desk, either at their premises or at a local library or archives. Both new and experienced researchers will use this service and so if you have a good knowledge of the history of your local area, your insight could be invaluable.

9. Help someone break through a brick wall
Most of the large genealogy websites allow you to register the fact that you’re willing to take enquiries from others researching the same family. Helping other people tracing the same line not only benefits others, but may also provide you with valuable information about other ancestors or distant cousins you haven’t yet found.

10. Be open and honest with your research
Many of us lead busy lives and your opportunities to volunteer your time and knowledge at the might be limited at the present time. However there’s one way we can all benefit the family history world and that’s by trying our best to keep our family tree notes and findings organised, and being honest about any information which is open to interpretation, or not yet fully verified. Both your fellow researchers and your own descendants will thank you for a well-organised and carefully researcher tree!
 
(image copyright John Shier)

If you fancy trying something a bit different, or want a bit of a break from your usual research, why not make a single ancestor the subject of a research project, writes Rachel Bellerby of Family Tree magazine?

Most of us will have heard of, and might even be involved with, a surname project or one-name study. But have you ever considered on starting a research project which focuses on the life and times of a single ancestor in depth? It might be an ancestor who’s the subject of a family legend you’ve never been able to prove, or perhaps a person who’s proved something of a stumbling block when it comes to your research.

By concentrating on that person for a few weeks or months, you can use a variety of research skills to deepen your understanding of your ancestor, including:

• Using maps to follow your ancestor’s geographical journey from birth to death
• Exploring house history to find out more about the homes where your ancestor lived, and what life might have been like in their town or village
• Studying trade and occupation records to get a deeper understanding of your ancestor’s working life and what the job might have involved
• Looking at the wider picture, as you consider how historical events might have affected your ancestor, or even the big stories they might have read about in the newspapers
• Going beyond the census and birth, marriage & death records to flesh out the basic facts

 
Which ancestor should I choose?

Quite simply, it’s up to you – you might want to go on instinct and choose an ancestor who’s always fascinated you, or who seems to have a background story. All that matters is that you feel enthusiastic about the project, and ready to delve into that person’s life.

Most probably you’ll already have gathered the basic data on the person in question, such as following them through the censuses, and obtaining documents for their birth, marriage and death. Now it’s time to widen the search.

So, where to start? Your census data will tell you when and where your ancestor lived at ten-yearly intervals, so you could begin by plotting their various homes on an old street or town map. If you lose track of an ancestor between censuses, consider resources such as poll books or electoral rolls to check in on the person.

Trade directories might help you to follow the progress of ancestor’s career, or even just provide an insight into which trades and industries were prevalent when your ancestor was resident in a particular town or city. Victorian directories are rich in detail, even down to giving information on how often post was collected from pillar boxes, and how frequently the mail coach called into the town. The University of Leicester has an excellent selection of English and Welsh historical directories.

What records could I study?

Family Tree’s online guide to what records are held where shows you the range of records available, and how you can access them.

For example, you might have seen your ancestor’s death certificate, but have you checked whether they made a will? (which might mention other ancestors, as well as personal possessions). Perhaps that person’s death was mentioned in a local, or even national, newspaper. The British Newspaper Archive can point you in the right direction, and remember that many people are mentioned by initial and surname (rather than forename) in older newspapers.

Presenting your project

As your research progresses, you might want to present it in a different way to your regular family history. Because a one-ancestor project delves deeper into the human side of the story, it might well interest those relatives who might otherwise give family history a wide berth.

A scrapbook, loose-leaf binder or even a special notebook would allow you to create a This Is Your Life type presentation, adding information as and when you find it. There are no time or size limitations – this is a project which can fit into however much time you have available.

Top tips

• Don’t forget to add any information that you find to your ‘main’ family history research records – and also consider whether this new research throws light onto any other ancestors
  
• Use visual resources to enrich the project – maps, photographs, postcards and newspapers can all play their part. Traders such as Tuck DB Postcards and Francis Frith have a great range of street and town views
  
• If your ancestor’s home town is within a reasonable travelling distance, consider a genealogy road trip and see for yourself where that person went to school, spent their leisure time, married and was maybe even buried

For more research tips, genealogy challenges and case studies, join the free of charge Family Tree Academy.