On many genealogy discussion forums, I see members dismissing out of hand any of the hints delivered to them on the major genealogy sites, stating that they come only from others’ trees and that they’re almost always wrong. This attitude is the opposite of those who happily accept any hint and see working through hints… Continue reading Don’t dismiss FindMyPast’s newspaper hints…
As regular readers of this blog know, newspapers are a key historical resource for me, especially those from the 19th and early 20th centuries. FindMyPast is my go-to for newspapers from the British Isles and recently, the company introduced a new feature to its newspaper database: Collections. I find them a step above the saved… Continue reading Genealogy – did you know…FindMyPast’s Newspaper Clipping Collections
A few weeks ago, FindMyPast added a Advanced Search feature to its Newspapers collection, which allows for a more nuanced search (click images to enlarge): Below you can see the old way of narrowing down your parameters, which only appeared after your first search (click image to enlarge): While there was a fair amount of… Continue reading Using FindMyPast’s new Advanced Search for Newspapers…
Over the past few days I’ve turned up two more newspaper articles related to my Ferdinando ancestors, one referring to my 2nd great-grandfather, John Isaac Ferdinando, the other featuring John’s son, Frederick, my great-grandfather. That both men frequently appear in the broadsheets of the late 19th and early 20th centuries is fascinating enough, however, in… Continue reading An interesting juxtaposition…
Recently I read a comment on a Facebook genealogy group stating that FindMyPast “is rubbish”. This remark angered me, however, I tempered my ire and merely pointed out that while the site might not have helped her with her family tree, it has value for many other researchers. The same can be said for any… Continue reading FindMyPast…definitely not “rubbish”…
I took last week off as we were enjoying a family weekend away – our first in several years. This week I notice that Amy’s 52 Ancestors prompt, Document, definitely relates to my previous post about cleaning up my database and taking things more slowly. I’ve chosen to go with the verb form, defined by… Continue reading 52 Ancestors – Document…
It’s hard to believe any genealogist out there, whether or not they have English/Welsh relatives, hasn’t heard of this week’s big release from FindMyPast – the 1921 Census of England and Wales. For many of us, it’s the highlight of our genealogical work, anticipated for years. Unlike in the US, and even Canada, census releases… Continue reading At long last – the 1921 Census for England and Wales…
As I’m sure many of you know, this week FindMyPast announced its release date for the 1921 England & Wales Census, the culmination of three years of work. While excitement abounded, so did disappointment, as even FindMyPast subscribers will have to pay to access both the abstracts and the images*. As I noted above, this… Continue reading Preparing for the 1921 England Census
Details are what genealogists/family historians crave. Names and dates are all fine, but other details give us scope and additional information for verification. Over the years, I have found newspaper research a huge help for discovering additional details. While newspaper articles and family notices featuring our ancestors can be rich resources, there’s another one that… Continue reading Newspaper adverts…a rich resource…
For those of you who are FindMyPast users, doubtless, like me you’ve noticed a fair number of changes to the interface over the last few months. Not only has the tree changed, but they’ve added some cool new features to the browsing experience. Only this morning I found another one that must have happened within… Continue reading New feature at FindMyPast…
writing my past 