Writing

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 [...]

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

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 [...]

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 [...]