Discover your

How to
Find Suffolk kin e Take your first steps in family history
Trace sporting ancestors e Hire professional researchers
August 2012 Issue 119
www.yourfamilytreemag.co.uk
Discover your...
Family’s marriages Catholic forebears
WWII heroes 20 EXPERT SOLUTIONS
Track down elusive ancestors X Find the records that matter
PLUS
48
THE 19ON
LONDPICS
OLYM
COVER
CATHOLICS ONLINE
Discover masses of
internet records with
our essential guide
UN
S
AMILY'
F
R
U
YO
ING
SPORT RY
HISTO
STONEMASON FAMILY
Unearth the records and
legacy of these skilled hands
ANCESTORS' LIVES
Readers unearth their
family's incredible stories
WORLD WAR II HEROES
Celebrating your ancestors' lives
and military achievements
Our promise to you…
Jargon-free advice
Whether you’ve just begun your journey
into your family’s past or are now a seasoned
researcher, you will inevitably come
We strive to make family history
accessible to everyone by providing
clear, easy-to-follow guides
Expert knowledge
Our writers are experienced family
historians, whose aim is to help you
get further with your own research
Value for money
Every issue, we cram in the best
advice, your real-life stories, the
latest news and reviews, and
much more besides
We listen to you
We want to share your family
history experiences, and hear
your views on the magazine
CONTACT THE TEAM
Your Family Tree,
30 Monmouth Street,
Bath, BA1 2BW, UK
+44 (0)1225 442244
Editor Adam Rees
[email protected]
up against what we refer to as an
ancestral brick wall. This could be a
forebear who goes missing, a date that
doesn’t add up or a record that just seems
to be incorrect.
However, most of these problems are fairly
common and often the answer is within
reach. On page 24 you’ll find our top 20 tips on smashing through
your brick walls so you can take your research back further. Let me
know if any of the solutions prove successful for you.
We also couldn’t forget the rather big event that’s happening in
London throughout August. To celebrate we’ve got two special
reader stories concerning their Olympic ancestors, a look
at tracing sporting relatives, and how different the 1948
London ‘Austerity’ Games was to the multi-billion pound
event of today. Whether it’s watching sport, going on holiday or
continuing your genealogical journey, I hope you have a great summer!
Art Editor Alex Duce
[email protected]
Production Editor Lizi Brown
[email protected]
Community Editor Annabel Andrews
[email protected]
Illustrations Garry Walton, Jez Bridgeman
Advertising Amber Slow
[email protected]
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND
CUSTOMER SERVICES
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or save up to £42 off on page 52
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19,813
Jan-Dec2011
Adam Rees Editor
[email protected]
www.yourfamilytreemag.co.uk
www.facebook.com/yourfamilytreemaguk
www.twitter.com/yourfamtreemag
Specialist contributors
Doreen Hopwood
Doreen is a former
professional
genealogist for the
city of Birmingham,
running family
history lectures
and workshops.
Audrey Linkman
Photographic
historian Audrey is an
expert in family
photography from
1839 to 1939. She
writes our ‘Image
from the past’ section.
Chris Paton
Chris is an expert
on Scottish research
and a professional
genealogist.
He runs the
Scotland’s Greatest
Story service.
AUGUST 2012
Colin Waters
Colin is a freelance
writer, historian
and published
author. He writes
our ancestral
occupations features
every month.
YOUR FA MILY T R EE
3
24
8
34
38
42
46
34 Your stories
Master of many trades
Our reader’s ancestor played
professional football, won Olympic
gold, and was also a success on stage.
6 Letters
Your views
18 Image from the past...
Commercial couple
38 Occupations
Stonemasons
Our postbag includes another Titanic
connection and we ‘toe the line’.
This month Audrey Linkman explores
the reasons behind these two portraits,
to see whether or not they’re linked.
Colin Waters helps you chip away at your
research into these skilled men, and how
you can find remnants of their work.
20 Inside
Sporting treasure trove
42 Your stories
Surfing and swimming
Keith Gregson takes us through the
records of the Whit Sports and shows
you how to find your own sporty kin.
Another tale of how online research
revealed Olympic success in our reader’s
family tree.
8 Agenda
UK Census Online launched
We get the scoop on the major new
website from the team behind The
Genealogist, plus new record releases.
4
16 What’s on in...
August & September
24 Cover feature
Find out about the latest genealogical
events and anniversaries. Plus, Else
Churchill examines the future of access
to wills: will it be off or online?
Break down brick walls
46 Family History Detective
Marriage licences and banns
Our 20 expert solutions to the most
common problems should help you
make a genealogical breakthrough.
There are a host of records concerning
your ancestors’ union besides the
marriage certificate.
YOUR FA MILY T R EE
AUGUST 2012
V I S I T U S O N L I N E AT W W W.Y O U R FA M I LY T R E E M A G .C O.U K
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54
66
58
76
60
62 Looking online...
Catholic records
82 Reviews
Books, websites and software
Due to being persecuted over the
centuries, their are masses of Catholic
documents and resources, many online.
We interview author Bobbie Neate,
review the latest Anthony Beevor book
and look at the new Reunion software.
54 Get started with...
Professional researchers
66 Research routes
Suffolk
94 Seeking
Readers need your help
If you’re having real trouble with your
research, it may be worth hiring a pro to
help. We show you how to go about it.
Despite not being one of the most
populated county, Suffolk has a wealth
of centres for family history research.
See if you can help other readers
with their brick walls and solve
your own.
58 Practical project
Preserve family recordings
72 Q&A
Ask our experts
96 Names
Evans
Interviewing your family members is a
vital part of genealogy. We show you
how to digitise these to keep them safe.
Your Family Tree’s team of experts
help you break your genealogical
brick walls.
Learn about the history of this popular
Welsh surname, and find out about its
variations in England and Scotland.
50 Subscribe today
Save money by getting your new
issue delivered to your door or
ipad every month.
60 Military history first steps
Battle of Primosole Bridge
76 Social history
The 1948 Olympics
98 Skeleton in the Cupboard
Three weddings and 20 kids!
In our new series we examine British
battles and the regiments who took
part. Here we look at the DLI in Sicily.
Just three years after the end of
World War II, London hosted a
successful Games on a budget.
Our reader discovers how after her
ancestor went on to marry illegally,
after he’d been found guilty of bigamy.
9000
S U B S C R I B E AT W W W. M Y FAV O U R I T E M A G A Z I N E S . C O.U K / Y F T P 2 G
AUGUST 2012
YOUR FA MILY T R EE
5
Contact information
How persistence paid off with one reader’s Titanic
research, observant readers and early deliveries
Your Family Tree,
Future Publishing,
30 Monmouth Street,
Bath, BA1 2BW
[email protected]
Twitter: @YourFamTreemag
Determination Reader Tracy
Dunne persevered with her
research to solve the mystery of
her relative on the Titanic
started with Scottish records e Trace banking family
How to Get
Unearth Quaker kin e Find births, marriages and deaths
Spring 2012 Issue 114
www.yourfamilytreemag.co.uk
(FUTUBSUFEXJUI
#.%SFTFBSDI
.BOYSFDPSET
0MENBQT
£5.99
SPRING 2012
Every month our
Editor, Adam, replies
to your letters on
everything to do
with family history.
Titanic discovery
This is a timely reminder to us
all to always check and re-check
our sources for ourselves,
rather than relying on other
people’s work or transcriptions.
A couple of years ago, I
discovered my daughter-inlaw’s 2x great-grandmother
had a brother who was a crew
member and went down with
the Titanic. As a fireman/stoker
Henry Dennis Witt would have
worked in terrible conditions
6
YOUR FA MILY T R EE
in the bowels of the ill-fated
ship. With the recent Titanic
100th anniversary, I bought a
book that outlined details of all
those who are buried or have
family burials in Southampton’s
Old Common Cemetery, which
have a memorial to their loved
ones lost on the Titanic.
This book gave details of
Henry Dennis Witt as well as
some information relating to
a claim by a “Mrs Fielder” on
the Titanic Relief Fund, as a
dependant sister of Henry Witt.
It showed brief details of the
claims she made and the results
of those, such as “payment for
nourishing food” and a “sum
towards new dentures”.
AUGUST 2012
I couldn’t find out who this
mysterious person was and she
certainly didn’t appear to be
a sister of Henry Dennis Witt
as far as my researches to that
date could find.
So, I went back over the
whole of his family and traced
marriages of his siblings and
even cousins to see if I could
find Mrs Fielder, but to no avail.
“It’s a good idea
to double check
the sources used
during your
research to avoid
any mistakes”
I contacted several other
people at Ancestry.co.uk who
were researching the same
branch of Witt family, and none
of those knew who she was
either. One researcher had been
searching for Mrs Fielder for
over 15 years after being given
the same information in a letter
to her cousin from the book’s
author at the time the book
was printed.
So, I went back to basics and
consulted the Titanic Relief
Fund Minute Book number
two, from which the details
were quoted and within a very
short space of time I saw what
I though was the discrepancy
– another crew member with
V I S I T U S O N L I N E AT W W W.Y O U R FA M I LY T R E E M A G . C O . U K
er
Uncovr
you 's
family al
crimin
past
Regarding issue 118’s
occupations on clergymen.
Great article but it should
read that the rogues did not
“toe the line” rather than “tow”.
Best wishes
Geoff Taylor, via email
FIND YOUR FOREBEARS
Track down your family
Essential techniques that will ensure you find where your relatives lived
MILITARY RESEARCH
Discover mercenary relatives
who fought for foreign armies
THE GENEALOGIST
Behind the scenes with the
family run records website
Above Thanks to attentive readers of issue 118 who
It should be ‘toe the line’,
as, for example, in Army
parades where everyone has
to conform, literally standing
with toes on the line on the
parade ground. Not only was
conformity required, but it
was obvious when anyone
had ‘stepped out of line’.
Thank you for a magazine
that is as good today as it was
when it started, and which
includes material of interest
both to the beginner and the
expert alike.
David Hitchin, via email
Letters – Your views
After purchasing a couple
of certificates to prove my
theory correct, I followed
Mary Ann’s claims through
the Relief Fund over the next
three years to discover she
had been sent from her home
in Southampton, to a nursing
home in Worthing for two
months as respite from her
condition. She eventually
died from TB in July 1915.
So, the mystery of Mrs
Fielder has been solved at
last – she was assigned to the
wrong Witt! An easy mistake
to make, but one which has
caused many Witt researchers
to scratch their heads over the
last 15 years.
I contacted the author
of the book and gave him
the information that I had
discovered, along with copies of
the documents I had to prove
the mistake. He was most
pleasant about being corrected
and has now changed the info
in his database. He informed
me that unfortunately, as the
book will not be printed again,
the info cannot be corrected.
However, I feel sure that once
the word gets around to other
Witt researchers as to whom
July 2012 Issue 118
www.yourfamilytreemag.co.uk
Discover your...
Clerical forebears
Ancestor's home Mercenary kin JULY 2012
“A mix-up with
a surname can
throw a spanner
in the works
when it comes
to tracing kin”
family in Gloucestershire e Organise your research
How to Find
Decipher old handwriting e Unlock rate book secrets
£5.99
the surname Witt – William
Frederick (known as Frank).
He was hired to work as a coal
trimmer on Titanic and possibly
knew Henry Dennis Wit.
I hurried off to search for him
in censuses and found he was
born in Guildford, Surrey in 1877
to James Witt(s) and Emily née
Gough. One of his siblings was
named Mary Ann born 1865 in
Wiltshire and I found that she
married one Henry William
Fielder in 1886 in Hampshire.
Henry Fielder died in late 1911
leaving Mary Ann a widow with
severe health problems, which
included tuberculosis. It was
from this time I think that she
became financially dependant
on her brother.
EXPERT Q&A SECTION
Professional genealogists
solve your common problems
I refer to the picture on p10
of issue 118, in particular the
caption. It reads “Restored HRH
Queen Elizabeth II...”. This is
incorrect. The Queen is always
referred to as ‘Her Majesty’.
Best wishes
Ruth Appleby, via email
pointed out our incorrect usage of ‘tow’ and ‘toe’ in the
‘toe the line’ expression, as well as the misuse of ‘HRH’
Right Canadian reader Judy Vinish
Mann is delighted with the speedy
delivery of YFT; she only wishes her
postie treated it with more TLC!
Mrs Fielder was, it will no
longer cause a problem!
Tracy Dunne, via email
My philosophy is that you learn
something new every day, and
this is certainly the case with
both these observations. I
plead general ignorance and
we’re all glad at YFT to have
such an eagle-eyed and
knowledgeable readership
to keep us on our toes.
Speedy service
Wow, what a
tremendous piece of
research Tracy, I doff my
hat to your efforts. It just goes
to show that you should always
check information or
research you receive to
see if it’s 100 per cent
accurate, as we
are all fallible.
For example…
My issue 118 arrived
today! I’m very
impressed as I live in
Canada! The delivery
just keeps getting
better and better –
thank you YFT! Now
if I could only convince
the mailman not to fold
and crease the magazine in
half, I’d be even happier.
Judy Vinish Mann, via Facebook
Alert readers
In the centre
column of page
38 of YFT 118 (July
2012) there is the
expression “tow the
line”. This idiom is nothing
to do with dragging a piece
of rope.
S U B S C R I B E AT W W W. M Y FAV O U R I T E M A G A Z I N E S . C O.U K / Y F T P 2 G
I’m thrilled you’re getting your
issue at the same time as the
UK readers Judy. Alas, there’s
not a lot that I can do to
ensure British postmen and
postwomen take good care of
the magazines, let alone
Canadian posties. Q
AUGUST 2012
YOUR FA MILY T R EE
7
Genealogy news
Value The new website
currently offers the cheapest
annual subscription access to all
the available censuses
ONLINE
Census website launch
T
he launch of a major
data website sees a
new way to access
both census and civil
registration data. The UK
Census Online site (www.
ukcensusonline.com) is
from the same team behind
The Genealogist.
The new site offers what is,
at present, the cheapest
annual subscription package
offering access to all the
censuses for England and
Wales from 1841 to 1911 and
available birth, marriage and
death indexes for those
countries since 1837 (currently
8
YOUR FA MILY T R EE
up to 2005). A range of
packages is available, with
access to only the BMD indexes
for £6.95 a month or £39.95 a
year, just the censuses for
£14.95 a month or £54.95 a
year – or both for £19.95 a
month or £69.95 annually.
There are cheaper monthly
packages available elsewhere,
but the annual combined
price is at least £10 less than
rival sites at the time of
writing. UK Census Online
also offers monthly and
quarterly options.
The site is the brainchild
of Genealogy Supplies, the
AUGUST 2012
family-run business which is
behind The Genealogist (www.
thegenealogist.co.uk), the
nonconformist registers site
bmdregisters.co.uk and www.
genealogysupplies.com, among
others. All of the census data
at the site is available as
searchable transcripts and
high-quality original page
images. A feature of the new
site is a keyword search
facility, available only to
subscribers. Non-subscribers
can use a basic search, which
for censuses generously
provides age, jobs and place of
birth in the results for free.
Nigel Bayley, the managing
director of Genealogy
Supplies, told Your Family Tree
more about the keyword
search: “The ability to find an
entry by just a few search
terms like place or occupation
makes it easy to refine a
search. You can use the
keyword search to find the
record of an ancestor much in
the same way as you would
find a website using Google.
You enter key search terms
into one box and results are
shown in an extract form.
“As we transcribe the whole
record, you can see each
V I S I T U S O N L I N E AT W W W.Y O U R FA M I LY T R E E M A G . C O . U K
Agenda – Genealogy news
Above Sometimes even an old photo
offers enough information to track
down a family through the UK Census
Online site. This one reveals just a name
– Roswell – and a street – Jamaica St
Top right Using the name and street
as keywords, the site narrows down
the results to the best matches. One
of them fits perfectly: dairy man Eli
Rowsell’s family in Bristol, 1911
Right As well as transcripts of
censuses from 1814 to 1911, UK Census
Online provides high-quality scans of
the original pages. This one from 1911, is
in the house-holder’s handwriting
result’s full details before
having to click to view the
image, thus save a huge
amount of time trying to
read the handwritten entries.
The keyword refinement also
allows you to have extremely
relevant results.”
Mr Bayley gave an example
of how you can track a family
down using just an old photo
to start with – the picture
“
$%
&
'%
&”
above shows a dairy in
Jamaica Street owned by an
E Rowsell. This is enough to
use UK Census Online’s
keyword search to trace Mr
Rowsell and his family to
Bristol in the 1911 Census
return (above right) shows.
Mr Bayley added that
similar searches can be done
“without even entering a
name”. Inevitably family
historians will want to know
how this site differs from its
rivals, other than on price. Mr
Bayley explained: “Ancestry
hasn’t transcribed occupation
or the street address in the
pre-1911 Census and can’t use
as many refining terms.
Findmypast doesn’t provide
the range of options or the
keyword search facility.”
As for its relationship with
The Genealogist, Mr Bayley’s
team confirmed that UK
Census Online “is an
independent site with separate
and unique subscriptions”,
and users of the bigger site
won’t have access to the new
one. There are no plans for
pay-per-view access to UK
Census Online – subscribers
can access as many records
as they like without limit.
Although the site has ‘UK’
in its name, at present it
currently only covers England,
Wales, the Isle of Man and
the Channel Islands. However,
Mr Bayley added that the
coverage would hopefully be
extended to Scotland “as
licenses allow”. Q
WEBSITE
!"#
The Genealogy Supplies stable is putting pressure on its
rivals from its flagship site www.thegenealogist.co.uk as well
as from the newcomer UK Census Online. In June the site
celebrated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee by offering its
highest level subscription package, Diamond, for £50 off.
This offer is still running, until the end of September. To take
advantage, use the code ‘SUMMERSAVER’ when signing up
at the site.
The site has also added its SmartSearch technology to
birth registration indexes from 1920 to 2005. This allows
you to search for potential siblings or the marriage record of
a child’s parents with a single click from the birth index
results page. This could speed up cross-referencing family
members considerably.
Almost half a million more parish records have also been
added to the site, which are available to Diamond subscribers.
These include over 130,000 records for Worcestershire,
100,000 records for Cornwall, 81,000 for Northumberland
and thousands more from a further six counties in England.
Fourteen more trade directories for England are now
available to Gold and Diamond subscribers, and the latter
can also now access a series of East India Company and
Scottish directories.
Other records recently added include lists of freemen and
burgesses, and the Air Force List for April 1918. Q
S U B S C R I B E AT W W W. M Y FAV O U R I T E M A G A Z I N E S . C O.U K / Y F T P 2 G
AUGUST 2012
YOUR FA MILY T R EE
9
Agenda – Genealogy news
RECORDS
BOOK
FMP puts up PoWs
!
"&&
(%$
$%))*))++
O
ver 170,000 records
of prisoners of war
from the two world
wars have been added at
Findmypast (www.find
mypast.co.uk).
For World War I, the data
covers 7,700 British Army
officers who were PoWs
between 1914 and 1918. The
records were first compiled in
1919 by bankers Messrs Cox &
Co – a missing cheque was
“*0121113
$,)
$%))+
))++
&”
often the first indication that
an officer had been taken
prisoner. The records also
include information about
some officers of the Royal Air
Force, Royal Naval Air Service,
Royal Naval Division and
officers of the Dominions.
The information usually
available includes name,
rank, service, section, date
the person went missing and
date they were repatriated (or
if they died in captivity).
Meanwhile, the WWII PoW
collection covers 107,000
records of the British Army
held in German territories
(other ranks as well as
officers), almost 40,000
Officers of Empire serving in
the British Army and more
than 19,000 other records of
British Navy and Air
Force officers.
The records usually
provide name, rank,
regiment, army
number, camp number,
PoW number, camp
type and camp location.
There are various types
of camp distinguished in
these records, from transit
camps to Stalag base camps
and Luftwaffe or marine
camps, and internment
camps for civilians.
Another
development at
www.findmypast.co.uk is a My
Saved Records feature, which
keeps track of the records you
have already viewed and paid
for since December 2010. New
non-military data at the site
includes 70,000 parish records
for Sheffield from 1767 to
1986. The Irish sister site,
(www.findmypast.ie), has added
a second set of Irish Petty
Sessions order books covering
criminal cases. Q
Around 150 cemetery plaques
stolen from Tonbridge
Cemetery in Kent in May
have been recovered by the
Metropolitan Police after a
raid on a scrap metal dealer in
Croydon. The plaques came
from a remembrance wall at
the cemetery. The metal in one
plaque is worth around £80. Q
WEBSITE
/%
Freed A British
soldier held as a
Japanese PoW, who
was released in 1945
Your Family Tree readers comment on issues that matter. To join in and post your findings
online visit our twitter page at https://twitter.com/#!/YourFamTreemag
Francoise Murat @FrancoiseM History of Interior Design @modamuseum is
online-browse by themes/collections – fascinating – not just for professionals.
www.moda.mdx.ac.uk/home
Britain from Above @AboveBritain @EnglishHeritage @RCAHMWales
and @RCAHMScotalnd have worked together on this exciting project #Aerofilms
Check it out! www.britainfromabove.org.uk
Mar @MarDixon Did you see the great news? @AskACurator 2 is taking
place on September 19th 2012 - Mark your calendars! #askacurator
www.askacurator.com/home.html
Tyne & Wear Archives @TWArchives We’ve refreshed our online catalogue.
New catalogues you can search include Bartram & Sons, Sunderland shipbuilders
www.twmuseums.org.uk/archives
YOUR FA MILY T R EE
AUGUST 2012
RECOVERY
,.
Twittertalk
10
The Guild of One-Name Studies
has published a new guide
book offering advice on how to
run a one-name study. Seven
Pillars of Wisdom: The Art of
One-Name Studies explains
how to collect and analyse
data, publicise the study
and preserve it. Visit www.
one-name.org/taoons.html. Q
A new website (reunitems.com)
is hoping to reunite people
with lost family heirlooms. It
invites people to list photos
and memorabilia, which site
visitors can bid for by auction
or in suitable cases receive for
free. The site is the brainchild
of a family firm in Glasgow. Q
TNA
"
The National Archives has
delayed switching off its old
online catalogue in favour of
the new Discovery system
(YFT 118, page 8). The old
system is now expected to
be turned off by the end of
September to give users
“more time to familiarise
themselves with Discovery”.Q
V I S I T U S O N L I N E AT W W W.Y O U R FA M I LY T R E E M A G . C O . U K