Tracing Your Ancestors Lives: A Guide for Family Historians
Tracing Your Ancestors’ Lives is not a comprehensive study of social history but instead an exploration of the various aspects of social history of particular interest to the family historian. It has been written to help researchers to go beyond the names, dates and places in their pedigree back to the time when their ancestors lived. Through the [...]
WordPress for XYZ
WordPress for XYZ is a resource website made just for hobby bloggers. Whether you are a crafter, a genealogist, a photographer, a writer, a gardener, a foodie or a mom-to-be, whatever your calling is, you have a passion. You are excited about what you do and you love to blog about it. If this is you, then WordPress for XYZ is for you. If [...]
Pedlars Tinkers and Hawkers
From the feather man who went from town to town, cleaning bedding made of feathers, to the cat-meat men of London, to the rag and bone men, there was an eclectic group of people who made their living as pedlars, tinkers and hawkers. Travelling either on foot with a basket or barrow, or using a horse and cart [...]
Explore the 20 Next Big Things in Family History
While the family history records we research and the ancestor stories we uncover stretch back centuries, the tools of our trade remain bang up to date. Check out this round-up of the latest techniques and innovative technology with genealogy researcher Barbara J Starmans. Published in Family Tree UK in January 2017
General Paresis of the Insane
On 30 October 1902, John David Taylor lost consciousness and died the following morning. He was forty-four years old at the time of his death. In his chart, James Thomas Callcott, MD, the Head Officer of the Asylum wrote: He did not recover consciousness, and died this morning at 7:40 am in the presence of Mrs. W. Parkin, [...]
5 Steps to Rock-solid Research
Barbara Starmans explains the Genealogical Proof Standard, and how your family history will benefit from this expert, yet simple, approach. Published in Family Tree UK December 2016
Social History Course
Looking for a course that adds to your understanding of your ancestor’s life? The National Institute for Genealogical Studies is proud to announce a new course written by genealogist and social historian Barbara J. Starmans, PLCGS, Research: Social History. About social history Barbara Starmans writes, Social History is not concerned with politics and wars, or kings and presidents, but rather [...]
Crowdsourcing Your Brickwalls
Barbara J Starmans shares her tried and tested ideas for brickwall-busting by tapping into the collective knowledge of fellow genealogists. Published in Family Tree UK in February 2016
CSI the Prologue
Journey back only a short time in history, when esteemed judges and assembled juries had only the testimony of witnesses and sometimes the coerced confessions of the accused to rely on, and there can be little doubt that every now and then innocent parties were executed, and the guilty went free. These were the days before CSI, before [...]
In Every City, Village, and Hamlet
In the mid-nineteenth century, although officially part of British North America, British Columbia was a wilderness territory, effectively run by the Hudson’s Bay Company who controlled the fur trade throughout the Pacific North-west. The area was largely unsettled and the sparse population was made up primarily of aboriginal people, and a few hundred British settlers and trappers. But [...]
Saving what they could carry
In total, the Great Fire of 1922 consumed 650 square miles in eighteen townships in Northern Ontario. The towns of Haileybury, Charlton, North Cobalt, Thornloe, Heaslip and many other small settlements were completely destroyed. Englehart and New Liskeard were partially burnt but ultimately saved as the winds shifted direction at the last moment. Remarkably, only forty-three people lost [...]
Married to the Army
“A soldier is not to marry without a written sanction, obtained from his Commanding Officer. Should he marry without this sanction, his Wife will not be allowed in Barracks, nor to follow the Regiment, nor will she participate in the indulgences granted to the Wives of other Soldiers.” ~from the Account Book of William Bond, Bombardier in the [...]
The Best Advice in Six Words
The creator of the bestselling, short-form Six-Word Memoir series, Larry Smith, is back again with THE BEST ADVICE IN SIX WORDS, a poignant collection of universal wisdom, life lessons, and caution thrown to the wind.
The Social Historian
The Social Historian is a longform story website featuring social history themed articles across the centuries and around the world. Social History is not concerned with politics and wars, or kings and presidents, but rather with the lives of ordinary people. It is a view of history from the bottom up, rather than from the top down. Looking [...]
London’s Poverty Map
Barbara J Starmans looks at an online archive packed with stories of the poor and working class in London. Published in Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine in November 2014
Which Software?
There are so many choices now when it comes to family history software. How do you know which one to buy? Since you will be spending a lot of your research time working with your genealogy software, it is important to find the program you like and that works best for you. While some programs have advanced features [...]
Putting it Online
One rainy Saturday, I found an email waiting in my inbox. The subject line was “Most Wanted – John Bulmer (1823)” and seeing it, I felt a surge of hope that this might be the day that I would finally discover what happened to my three times great-uncle. The email I received turned out to be from one [...]
Boy Soldier of WW1
I have examined the above named Recruit and find that he does not present any of the causes of rejection specified in the Regulations for Army Medical Services. I consider him fit for the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force. Apparent age, 18 years. And so began the WW1 military service of my great-uncle, Hector Bulmer on 24 January 1916, four days after his 16th birthday. Born in [...]
Testing the Genealogical Giants
Explore the Genealogy Giants – Are you getting what you’re paying for? Take a tour of Ancestry, Find My Past, The Genealogist, My Heritage, Origins and Family Relatives to find out which website is the one for you. Published in Family Tree UK in September 2014
Apps for Family Historians
With world-wide mobile traffic growing by 81% last year, it isn’t surprising that experts are predicting that by the end of this year, the number of smartphones and tablets will exceed the number of people on earth! With all that power in your pocket, how can you use your smartphone or tablet to catch up on your genealogy [...]
The Great Faces of Family History
Throughout the last five hundred years, many individuals have contributed to the creation of the wealth of records that we as genealogists turn to, in our quest to trace our family history in the UK. Their reasons for initiating the collections of information were usually politically or religiously motivated, rather than stemming from a desire to leave an [...]
Create a Bespoke Family History Map
Are you looking for new ways to share your family history with the non-genealogists in your life? Entice the younger generation to discover their ancestors and a slice of history with these collaborative mapping websites. Published in Family Tree UK in April 2014
How to Use Dade Registers
For descendants of Yorkshire families, the comprehensive Dade style registers created between 1777 and 1812 are an incredible legacy, and for all other researchers, they provide a fascinating glimpse into the social history of this time period, giving an insight into cycles of birth, baptism, death and burial, family naming patterns, mobility of the population and mortality, morbidity [...]
Know Your Way Around Discovery
With one of the largest collections in the world of historical government and public records, The National Archives UK, located in Kew, Richmond, Surrey, offers over 1000 years of history from England, Wales and the United Kingdom stored on a staggering 185 kilometers of shelving. Their website, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk receives up to 100,000,000 hits per month and is an [...]
Give the Gift of Family History
Traditions, warm-hearted reminiscences, and the joy of family are what make the holidays such an incredibly special time of year. This season of celebration is the perfect occasion to give the gift of family and to share your genealogy research with your loved ones in unique and innovative ways. Family history comes to life when the stories are [...]
Top 10 Gifts
Whether you are searching for the perfect gift for a beginning genealogist or looking for the latest and greatest gadgets for a seasoned family history researcher, you are sure to find something on this list that is just right. Published in Family Tree UK in December 2013
How to do a Timeline
Most genealogy software programs offer a pedigree view and a nuclear family view of the events in the lives of your ancestors. But your ancestors did not live in a vacuum. They shared life events with cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Their lives were affected by local happenings and influenced by world events. Why was your grandmother named [...]
Learn, Research and Share on FamilySearch
The FamilySearch website, familysearch.org, went online in 1999 with the first version of their searchable database of family history and historical records. It almost immediately crashed due to overwhelming popularity. Since the launch of the FamilySearch website, it has been continually updated and improved and it currently receives over 10 million visits per day and has more than [...]
How to Keep your Genealogy Research Safe
Preserving your family history research for the future is a daunting task. Technology is changing at the rate of knots, floppy discs are a thing of the past and even computers are being abandoned in favour of tablets and smartphones. Storing your research in a future-proof format is the answer, but where do you start? Well, never fear [...]
A Great Fraud Has Been Committed
On 11 March 1864, just before midnight, the Dale Dyke Dam collapsed and a great flood surged through parts of Sheffield in Yorkshire, causing extensive property damage and killing about 270 people. The affected area stretched from the dam, through the Loxley Valley, on through Malin Bridge and Hillsborough to the Sheffield town centre. The enquiry afterwards determined [...]
Evernote for Genealogy
In the Christmas 2012 issue, Barbara J Starmans revealed how she keeps her family history records in order using Evernote. Are your notes organised? Published in Family Tree UK at Christmas 2012
Organise Your Bookmarks in Dropbox
Every day, more and more genealogy content is being made available on the internet. New websites are springing up overnight and databases and digital images are proliferating. As we struggle to keep track of all this new information by adding each newly found website to our browser’s bookmarks, our copious lists inevitably become disorganized and muddled. Creating order [...]
Farmer in the Dales
It has been two centuries since my Bulmer ancestors, Thomas and Mary, raised a family and farmed their lands on the Yorkshire Dales, but every year, come spring, I can hardly wait to get my fingers into the damp earth and plant something green. Is the call of the land an echo from my past? Published by Lulu [...]
Out of My Tree Genealogy
Out of My Tree Genealogy News is a website where family history enthusiasts will find the latest news, website and software reviews, tips and tricks guaranteed to take their genealogy obsession to the next level.