In the sixth independent review of the courses on offer through Family Tree Academy, #AncestryHour's professional genealogist and Scottish records expert  Fergus Smith  looks at Part One of Mary Evans' course on tackling brick walls.
​https://familytreeacademy.thinkific.com/courses/smash-through-your-brick-walls-part-1

Brick walls – where your research reaches a dead end – are a recurring bugbear of family history research. They’re also a staple of genealogy talks and webinars. All too often though, talks on the topic are simply a list of the speaker’s favourite lesser-used sources that researchers may not have used when investigating their ancestry. While this approach can be useful, it doesn’t really address the issue of why the researcher has hit a brick wall in the first place.

In her course for Family Tree Academy, Mary Evans takes a different approach. Rather than simply giving a somewhat arbitrary list of her personal favourite historical sources, she looks at a number of possible reasons for the existence of the brick wall.  She looks at a number of grounds for confusion, and in so doing, gives some suggestions as to how to circumvent them. As an example, one common mistake is to take information given in official records as entirely trustworthy. Experienced researchers know this need not be the case. The informant may simply have not known the correct information – this is particularly common in census records, where a single informant had to give information about an entire household, not all of whom – such as servants or lodgers – may have been his or her relatives. And sometimes, of course, informants lie, for all sorts of reasons, some of which Mary considers.

Names can also lead to problems for researchers. People may be known by nicknames or diminutive (as it happens this is particularly common in my own family, where some people, including myself, are known within the family by several different names). People may also change their names. This is particularly common among children of single mothers, or where a widowed mother remarries – children often then took the name of their stepfather. Likewise, ages and dates can cause problems for the incautious researcher.

At the end of the video part of the course, you can download a useful selection of questions and answers, offering up a range of further suggestions to help with your research.
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Overall, this course gives some handy tips for lateral thinking about why you may run into a brick wall, without getting too bogged down in specific examples of record sets that may help you break through. I would however make one slight criticism: the speaker uses a computer rather than paper notes for her presentation, and it is quite distracting when she turns to her laptop to prompt her for the next section of the course.

In the fifth independent review of the courses on offer through Family Tree Academy, #AncestryHour's professional genealogist and DNA specialist Michelle Leonard takes on the course covering our ancestors who served in WW1.
​https://familytreeacademy.thinkific.com/courses/wwi-ancestors-life-in-the-trenches

During the course of family history research we will all inevitably discover relatives who served in the First World War.  It casts such a large shadow over so many families we research in that time period that it’s essential to try to understand the experiences of our soldier ancestors and relatives.

This course provides a beginners overview of what daily life in the trenches was like for WW1 soldiers and took me just under an hour to complete.  It is split up into several sections and includes two longer videos (13-14 mins each) presented by distinguished military historian Andy Robertshaw.  These immersive videos, “Life in the Trenches” and “Fighting in the Trenches”, are the highlight of the course.  Andy's WW1 expertise shines through and he paints a vivid picture of the practicalities of day-to-day life in the trenches.  I was particularly impressed with the “Life in the Trenches” video which provides great detail on aspects of a soldier’s uniform, kit and food rations.  What do different chevrons and bars mean on a uniform?  How did the soldiers deal with lice? What was the food really like?  Andy answers these questions and many more with a few surprising details along the way.  The “Fighting in the Trenches” video is in the same vein but concentrates on the weapons soldiers used and the varied duties and routines they would undertake each day.

The remaining sections of the course are adeptly presented by Family Tree Magazine’s editor Helen Tovey.  The videos in these sections are shorter (1-3 min) and not set in the trenches themselves.  Helen covers some of the most significant documents for a WW1 soldier’s paper trail such as medal index cards, medal rolls, service records, silver war badges, the London Gazette, unit war diaries and trench maps.  Both Helen and Andy demonstrate that information on the original medals or memorabilia such as photographs and postcards can provide clues to aid your research.  Additionally Helen explains how helpful the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website can be but it’s a shame the Soldiers Died in the Great War (SDGW) index wasn’t mentioned as it’s another essential record set for casualties.  It would also have been useful for complete beginners if the sites that host particular record sets were highlighted. 

Halfway through the course a short “Test Your WW1 Knowledge” quiz provides a fun and helpful tool to ensure you’ve taken on board the information being presented.  Then upon course completion, as a bonus, there is a free downloadable guide (in PDF format) to the “Tommy's Kit in 1916” that can be kept for future reference.  This covers some of the same ground as the “Life in the Trenches” video but it’s beneficial to have a written version and it contains extra facts that make it well worth a read.
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Overall I found this an engaging, informative and interesting guide to life in the trenches and would recommend it to anyone who wishes to learn more about the day-to-day lives of our WW1 soldier ancestors and relatives.

In the fourth independent review of the courses on offer through Family Tree Academy, Dutch professional genealogist John Boeren looks at the course dealing with ethical dilemmas we all encounter from time to time.
​https://familytreeacademy.thinkific.com/courses/how-to-tackle-ethical-dilemmas-for-genealogy

​This course is interesting for all genealogists, whether new or seasoned. As a genealogist with more than 30 years of experience, I recently became interested in the WHY question rather than the HOW and WHAT questions. To say it in a different way: What are the psychological aspects of genealogy? One side of this complex question deals with why people are interested in their family history and dead relatives. The other side raises questions about ethical dilemmas that every genealogist encounters, whether being a hobby genealogist or being involved in genealogy for professional reasons.
 
How To Tackle Ethical Dilemmas For Genealogy is a video course. After a short explanation about the contents of the course, an introduction of the instructor followed.
 
The main part of the course is a 45 minute video that has all the features of a webinar. The instructor explains what ethical dilemmas are and which dilemmas we can encounter while searching for ancestors. She gives many examples of questions that genealogists can have, for example: are stories by family members reliable, how to handle information about illegitimacy, adoption and extramarital affairs, or what to do when DNA results show unexpected facts? Should you always tell the truth to family members or friends when findings might lead to awkward situations?
 
After the general introduction, two questions are further explored in 8 minute long videos. The first one deals with the situation when photos that you added to your on-line family tree, are used by someone else without asking. A panel of four persons and the instructor discuss options. In the second video the panel talks about adoptees. Should they look for their biological parents? I like the webinar-panel combination very much, because I can replay the videos several times to hear again what the instructor or one of the panel members has to say about a specific example. The use of a panel not only makes it more lively, it also makes it clear to me that different people have different opinions.
 
As a bonus I got the slides of the course, so that I can review them later. Even better, I also got an article by the instructor that was published in the February 2019 edition of Family Tree Magazine.
 
In the end the course made me think - again - about how important it is that genealogists share their experiences with peers. Especially in situation when ethical dilemmas are involved, it is always good to see how colleagues or friends think about the questions involved. As the instructor says: the answer is hardly fully right or fully wrong.

In the third independent review of the courses on offer through Family Tree Academy, 'enthusiastic amatuer' and queen of Social Media, Tara Frugalone, tackles the short course covering the introduction to the Society of Genealogists in London. https://familytreeacademy.thinkific.com/courses/explore-the-archives-sog

Amateur genealogists, even experienced ones, sometimes lack confidence in their abilities or feel inferior to professionals.  The Society of Genealogists sounds grand and potentially intimidating.  If you have any concerns about not being welcome, experienced or professional enough to visit the ‘Society’, however, I think Else Churchill, SoG’s genealogist who features in the twenty-minute video that is part of this course, does an excellent job as Society ambassador.

This course is aimed at both prospective visitors to the SoG library in London and potential users of their website.  The course is listed as being suitable for beginners and as an ‘enthusiastic amateur’, who is familiar with an archives environment, I would say it is pitched correctly.  The course is largely text based and broken up into eight short sections.  It begins with an overview of the different types of Archive repositories that can be found in the UK.  It then provides a background to the Society of Genealogists and an outline of its unique record collections and how to prepare for a visit.  The aim of this course is to introduce you to the Society of Genealogists and provide an idea of SoG holdings rather than the practicalities of handling old documents and using microfiche. 

It took me about 45 minutes to complete but that required a degree of discipline, i.e., not exploring all the links in detail.  If you prefer a more leisurely approach, then you could do it over a few hours or days. The course is certainly designed to facilitate both approaches.  I recommend that you start with the video under the lesson How to prepare for your research trip. Don’t worry about understanding everything at this stage; just soak up the lovely warmth and enthusiasm exuded by Else and know that you will be made welcome. Then start at the beginning and work your way through the rest of the content.

The Society of Genealogists’ website looks easy to navigate at first glance but it takes a little digging to get to some of the details you may need.  This course provides some very practical and common sense information along with links to key areas.  Advice to bring a packed lunch was particularly sensible as there’s no canteen/cafeteria on site!
I think this course is particularly well suited to anyone who is apprehensive about whether they ‘belong’ in a place like the Society.  Likewise, if you’re overwhelmed by the vast amount of information available on the SoG website and struggling to either navigate it or find the key pieces of information needed to plan a visit, this course helps you cut through to the essentials.  This is something that I think this FTA course does particularly well.  By far the best bit about this course, and I say this as someone who dislikes and will avoid YouTube tutorials, is the twenty minute video tour.  The course concludes with a brief summary of topics covered and a quiz to underpin key points.

On completion a four page guide to the benefits of researching in archives written by top genealogist Chris Paton is available to download and keep.  A stark reminder that ‘every record collection that is hosted by an online genealogy site is sourced from an archive repository somewhere’, and that records available online ‘are a drop in the ocean compared to what exists in the wider world’.
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The only downside for me was the course title, Explore the Archives – Your guide to visiting the Society of Genealogists as I expected something different. However, the introduction set me straight: it is an “introduction to the Society of Genealogists’ unique library and archive”, rather than a practical guide. I think the title Explore the Archives – the Society of Genealogists might fit the content better, and set expectations accordingly.  It is simply an introduction and it serves that purpose quite well.

In the second independent review of the courses on offer through Family Tree Academy, Susie Douglas, professional genealogist and Founder of #AncestryHour looks at the second of the short courses aimed at helping break brick walls. 
​https://familytreeacademy.thinkific.com/courses/smash-through-your-brick-walls-part-2

We all have problematic ancestors that’s for sure and the tendency can be to become so fixated by the information we cannot locate for a particular individual that we lose all objectivity!  Sometimes a fresh pair or eyes or a different approach to the problem is all that is required.  In her three short courses ‘Smash Through Your Brick Walls’ Mary Evans uses practical examples to talk through her thought process and approach to tackling problems we all encounter from time to time.

In ‘Smash Through Your Brick Walls Part 2’ Mary tackles common issues such as; locating places where births or baptism took place and reconciling these to Census entries; how occupational information can be both helpful and misleading; relationships that are not all they outwardly appear to be;  and the fact that our ancestors were quite capable of ‘manipulating’ the truth!

The course is made up of four bitesize videos of no more than ten minutes each – just the right length to watch during a break for a cuppa.  What they are not are in-depth discussions and I daresay an awful lot more could be said about the foibles of the records and historical recording systems.  The intention of the course, however, is not to provide the solutions to every scenario that may arise during the course of your research, but rather to encourage lateral thought and apply it to the sticking points in your own family tree.  Mary encourages caution in taking document contents at face value and suggests asking ‘what if?’, or ‘why?’ and to think outside the box.

The course is very much aimed at beginners and only tackles a few scenarios that may be encountered within the English and Welsh records in the post-civil and statutory registration periods.  Whilst jumping into Part Two does not present a problem, references are made to examples discussed in Part One, which would suggest the courses naturally progress from Parts One through to Three. 
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The bonus content of ‘7 Steps for breaking Brick Walls’ by Chris Paton is available to download on completion of Part Two – on that I have only one thing to say:  read it!

In the first independent review of the courses on offer through Family Tree Academy, Paul Chiddicks @chiddickstree tackles the short course covering 'The Census'.
​ https://familytreeacademy.thinkific.com/courses/discover-your-family-history-the-census

This course is suitable for beginners, intermediaries and even so called experts, I certainly learnt something new!  Even if you feel you know enough about the Census returns already, a little refresher and revisit can sometimes highlight things that you had forgotten and could help to inspire you in your own research.

The course works well with a mixture of video learning, working examples and written text which slowly builds up the student’s knowledge of the Census. This combined with an interactive quiz at the end of the main sections helps to confirm what you have learnt. The format works well and will benefit those that prefer visual learning, as well as those that prefer to learn by reading.

The introduction sets the scene for the course content and is followed by a general overview of the whole census process and why it was taken.  The course then moves through each Census year and lets you know what you should expect to find on a typical census return for each year in turn.  A great addition at the end of the first section is the explanation of the Census abbreviations and markings, great advice for beginners and also a good refresher for people such as myself, an enthusiastic amateur! Once you have completed the fun interactive quiz, you can move onto the very aptly named next section, “Digging Deeper”

Digging Deeper does exactly what it says and takes the knowledge that you learnt in the first section and expands it further, with lots of ideas and suggestions of how you can interpret what you find and apply it to your research.  This section also covers where to look to find the various census returns and, more importantly, includes some great advice on how to search effectively.   Search methods are key to finding your Ancestors in the census and this section contains essential information for making the most of the Returns.  The resource list is also a helpful addition and this section is again completed with a quiz to confirm the student’s knowledge.

The final section starts with a video that shows you how to take the next steps with your research.  It also introduces the 1939 Register, which although not a Census in its own right, serves to fill some of the gaps where the census returns were either not taken or, ones that were have yet to be released. The course is completed with a checklist which can be printed off and kept for future reference plus a handy data sheet of key Census dates which again, can be downloaded and saved.

So although initially aimed at the beginner, don’t be put off by the tag - there are enough useful references and reminders that would be of benefit to those classed as intermediates.  So why not sign up and improve your Census skills today and hopefully take your Family History Research to the next level.

A possible suggestion for a future online tutorial could be to explore “What happens when your Ancestor is missing from the Census?”
 
Paul Chiddicks - Reviewed 22 September 2019.

Should be feeling inspired to refresh your knowledge of the Census and perhaps learn a trick or too you can sign up to the course here ​https://familytreeacademy.thinkific.com/courses/discover-your-family-history-the-census