Damaged Grave at Midsomer Norton

Posted on by August 3, 2017  

Alfred Vranch 1877 - 1956 and Florence Mary Jane Vranch (nee Axford) 1879 - 1957

This grave has been found in a damaged condition at the graveyard of St. John the Baptist Church in Midsomer Norton, Somerset. The grave belongs to Alfred Vranch who died 15th April 1956 and his wife Florence Mary Jane Vranch (nee Axford) who died 26th March 1957.

It is believed the grave was damaged during recent works by tree surgeons within the graveyard.

Insurers have already been contacted about the repair of another grave damaged at the same time so if family or descendants of Alfred or Mary Jane Vranch would care to get in touch here then the information can be made available to them.

Dig Even Deeper into Lulu’s Past

Posted on by August 18, 2017

Singer Lulu unravelled a family mystery on

Who Do You Think You Are?

Our records reveal even more.

Lulu’s appearance on

Who Do You Think You Are?

saw her return to her native Glasgow to get the bottom of a family mystery – why her mother had been raised by another family. Along the way, she found out much more than she bargained for and we’ve taken the findings even further using our fascinating record collections.


Lulu spent much of her time on the show researching her grandfather Hugh Cairns. Hugh was a Catholic with Irish origins who got himself caught up in the sectarian violence that was taking place between Catholics and Protestants in early 20th century Glasgow. Our newspapers have revealed the details of one such skirmish.



The Scotsman, 4 January 1917



Image © Johnston Press plc

Although we can’t be completely sure that this is Lulu’s relative (his age would suggest it is), it does give a clear idea of what brutal gang violence was like for Glaswegians back then. Lulu also discovered that Hugh had travelled to Boston as a young man with the intent of setting up a new life there but he only lasted 3 months and returned to be with her grandmother. We delved into our passenger lists to see what we could find.




Previous





Next

1920s Boston




We’ve unearthed two distinct shipping records for Hugh, an outward entry from the UK and an inward one from the US. Combined, they reveal excellent genealogical details including his age, address, nationality and occupation.

Learn:

Guides to Using Travel and Migration Records

Hugh’s relationship with Lulu’s grandmother, Helen Darling Cairns (née Kennedy), who came from a Protestant background, sounded like Glasgow’s answer to

Romeo and Juliet

. Both their families opposed their inter-denominational, ‘irregular’ marriage. Our Scottish newspapers highlight the attitudes such an arrangement would have faced at the time.



Sunday Post, 2 August 1925



Image © D.C.Thomson & Co. Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

Going back another generation, the pop legend researched her great grandmother, Helen R Kennedy who was a prominent member of Glasgow’s Ladies’ Orange Lodge. This was a massive movement in Scotland at the time and once again, we turned to our newspapers for more information.



Sunday Post, 10 July 1921



Image © D.C.Thomson & Co. Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.


Who Do You Think You Are?

series 14 continues every week on BBC One. Join us here, as well as on

Facebook

and

Twitter

, as we pick apart every exciting episode.

Where to Next?


How to Trace Scottish Ancestors


Expert Tips for Searching Newspapers


More WDYTYA? Discoveries

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Findmypast – Genealogy, Ancestry, History blog from Findmypast

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Finding Your Ancestors in German Directories – free webinar by Luana Darby, MLIS, AG now online for limited time

Posted on by August 17, 2017

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The recording of today’s webinar, “Finding Your Ancestors in German Directories” by Luana Darby, MLIS, AG is now available to view at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com/BCG for free for a limited time.

Webinar Description

In Germany, more and more directories are online. This presentation will tell you where to find them, how to work with them and how to interpret the information typical for German directories.

View the Recording at FamilyTreeWebinars.com

If you could not make it to the live event or just want to watch it again, the 1 hour 22 minute recording of “Finding Your Ancestors in German Directories” is now available to view in our webinar library for free for a limited time. Or watch it at your convenience with an annual or monthly webinar membership. 

Webinar Memberships/Subscriptions

Webinar Members get:

  • On-demand access to the entire webinar archives (now 563 classes, 771 hours of genealogy education)
  • On-demand access to the instructor handouts (now 2,589 pages)
  • On-demand access to the live webinars’ chat logs
  • 5% off all products at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com (must be logged in at checkout)
  • Access to all future recordings for the duration of their membership
  • Chance for a members-only door prize during each live webinar
  • Access to register for bonus members-only webinars
  • Ability to view which webinars you are registered for
  • Use of the playlist, resume watching, and jump-to features

Introductory pricing:

  • Annual membership: $49.95/year (currently 50% off until August 20, 2017)
  • Monthly membership: $9.95/month

Click here to subscribe.

Register for our upcoming webinars (free)

  • How to do Mexican Research and Be Successful by Jonathan Walker. August 23.
  • Getting Started with Evidentia by Edward A. Thompson. August 30.
  • Top Tech Tips for the Technologist and the Genealogist by Geoff Rasmussen. September 6.
  • Finding Isaac Rogers by Nicka Smith. September 13.
  • The ABCs and 123s of Researching Your Ancestor’s School Records by Melissa Barker. September 15.
  • When Does Newfound Evidence Overturn a Proved Conclusion? by Tom Jones, Ph.D, CG, CGL. September 19.
  • WolframAlpha for Genealogists by Thomas MacEntee. September 20.
  • Quick Guide to Texas Research by Deena Coutant. September 27.
  • No Easy Button: Using “Immersion Genealogy” to Understand Your Ancestors by Lisa Alzo. October 4.
  • Southern States Migration Patterns by Mary Hill, AG. October 11.
  • Is Your Society Growing? Social Media may be your saving grace by Pat Richley. October 13.
  • Databases, Search Engines, and the Genealogical Proof Standard by David Ouimette, CG. October 17.
  • The WPA: Sources for Your Genealogy by Gena Philibert-Ortega. October 18.
  • Midwestern & Plains States Level Census Records by Paula Stuart-Warren, CG, FMGS, FUGA. October 25.
  • Is this the End? Taking Your German Brick Walls Down Piece by Piece by Luana Darby and Ursula C. Krause. November 1.
  • New York City Genealogical Research: Navigating Through The Five Boroughs by Michael L. Strauss, AG. November 8.
  • Using Non-Population Schedules for Context and Evidence by Jill Morelli. November 10.
  • British and Irish research: the differences by Brian Donovan. November 15.
  • Research in Federal Records: Some Assembly Required by Malissa Ruffner, JD, CG. November 21.
  • Understanding Alabama by Rorey Cathcart. November 29.
  • Finding Your Roots in Catholic Records by Lisa Toth Salinas. December 6.
  • I Thought He Was My Ancestor: Avoiding the Six Biggest Genealogy Mistakes by James M. Baker, PhD, CG. December 13.
  • Finding Your Nordic Parish of Birth by Jill Morelli. December 15.
  • The Law and the Reasonably Exhaustive (Re)Search by Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL. December 19.
  • Palmetto Pride – South Carolina for Genealogist by Rorey Cathcart. December 20.
  • Problems and Pitfalls of a Reasonably Shallow Search by Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL. December 27.

Print the 2017 webinar brochure here.

See you online!

Legacy News

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Legacy Tip: How to set the reminders

Posted on by August 16, 2017

Not that I needed it today, but more than once Legacy’s Birthdays, Death Dates, and Anniversaries reminders have come through for me in a big way.

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Found within the Legacy Home tab inside Legacy 9 software is a list of upcoming birthdays, death dates, and anniversaries. Today is both my grandparents’ 65th wedding anniversary AND my 20th anniversary. Happy anniversary to us!

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Not all 23,743 individuals in my Legacy family file will receive a reminder however – just those for whom I manually click the right checkbox.

To set a reminder for a birthday, open the Individual’s Information screen and add a checkmark next to Birthday Reminder.

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To set a reminder for a wedding anniversary, open the Marriage/Relationship Information screen and add a checkmark next to Marriage Anniversary Reminder.

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The reminders will now appear in the Reminders section of the Legacy Home tab. There are a few options to control when they appear. In the Legacy Home tab, click on the Options button in the upper right, and click on Options.

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Many of you, myself included, have wanted to be able globally set these reminders. In other words, instead of having to go into each person individually to set the reminders, it’d be nice to click one option to set a birthday reminder for a group of individuals. While this is not now possible, here is a way to save a few clicks.

Here is my list of Hashtags (go to Search > Search Hashtags):

2017-08-15_10-35-07

Notice that I have a hashtag called “Dad’s Descendants” which has a count of 31 individuals. From here, click on Create List. Now you have an alphabetical list of most of the individuals to whom I would like to add a Birthday Reminder. Just click on the Edit tab, check the Birthday Reminder box, then go to the next person and do the same thing.

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While not the perfect solution, it does highlight a couple of the other great features of Legacy – the Search/Name List and another reason to use hashtags.

Now, with my new MyHeritage hat on, and since we are discussing reminders, I’ve got to say that one thing they do really well, and even more so than Legacy, is with their reminders. Their birthday and wedding anniversary reminders are automated. They are set up such that your close family members are included (includes up to your 1st cousins). Those of you who have uploaded your Legacy GEDCOM into a new MyHeritage tree will get to take advantage of this. Reminders are shown in three views:

1) Tree View

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2) Family Events View

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3) In an occasional email

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I did have a recent success story with this. I neglected/forgot to add a birthday reminder for my Aunt Peggy in Legacy. Shamefully, I’ve never remembered on my own. Yet because I had uploaded my family file to a private tree on MyHeritage, I received an email reminding me about her upcoming birthday. For the first time ever, I send Aunt Peggy a birthday greeting. She responded to me with,

“Geoff…What an unexpected pleasure to hear from you. Thank you for the birthday greeting….”

Aunt Peggy, my grandmother’s sister, is now 87 years young, and is as sharp and witty as I’m sure she was many years ago. I’ve never had the chance to get to know her well, but now that we live closer to each other, I’m looking forward to developing our relationship.

So what are you waiting for? Open up Legacy and setup your reminders. You’ll soon be the one in the family who is known for remembering all of the special occasions.

Legacy News

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Free Access to 1 Billion Census Records this week

Posted on by August 15, 2017

I normally don’t mind who gets credit, but when there’s a billion free records on the line, I don’t mind giving myself a little public pat on the back. For the first time ever, MyHeritage is opening their entire collection of census records – 94 different databases containing more than 1 billion records, many of which are only available at MyHeritage – for free for a week – as part of their 8 billion historical records milestone celebration.

In the brief time we’ve been under new ownership, I’ve passed along many of your suggestions to MyHeritage management, including one of my own – “why don’t we show off your census records for free for a time?” I knew they had lots of records that weren’t available anywhere else, and this might be a nice way to introduce these exclusive databases to the public. Well…they listened, and between now and August 20, anyone can search these databases without the usually-required Data subscription.

You all know that much of our Legacy software’s success comes as a direct result of your suggestions. It looks like MyHeritage is anxious to continue this tradition. Of course, time will tell, but this is a great start!

Which records are free on MyHeritage?

Countries
US
U.K. & Ireland
Canada
Sweden
Finland
Denmark
Number of census records 700,465,273 213,519,384 28,167,687 46,583,546 33,428,981 62,057,547
Years covered 1790 – 1940 1801 – 1911 1825 – 1911 1880 – 1920 1657 – 1915 1850 – 1930
Exclusive to MyHeritage       Sweden Household Examination Books, 1880-1920 Finland Church Census and Pre-Confirmation Books, 1657-1915 Many of the Danish Censuses
Link to search Search U.S. Census Records for Free Search U.K. and Ireland Census Records for Free Search Canada Census Records for Free Search Sweden Census Records for Free Search Finland Census Records for Free Search Denmark Census Records for Free

Click on the links above to search the records, or click here to read their full announcement.

Legacy News

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New Legacy QuickGuide Now Available – Metal Paper Clips, Rubber Bands and Tape, OH MY! by Melissa Barker

Posted on by August 11, 2017

Legacy QuickGuidesTM have quickly become one of the more popular resources for genealogists. Each guide contains four (sometimes five, sometimes more) pages of valuable information covering a variety of genealogy research topics, dozens of clickable links, and are written by genealogists and family historians who are experts in the subject areas. We’ve added another new Legacy QuickGuide: Metal Paper Clips, Rubber Bands and Tape, OH MY! by Melissa Barker. Now choose from 89 Legacy QuickGuides!

Metal Paper Clips EtcMetal Paper Clips, Rubber Bands and Tape, OH MY! – 2.95  

Genealogists, like archivists, handle original records that are historical, genealogical, and many times, rare. The preservation of these records is the number one job of an archivist and should also be important to genealogists. Original genealogical and historical records are important to preserving our collective and individual histories. Documenting family histories with these types of records is very important and cannot be done if the records are not cared for properly. This guide is for anyone interested in preserving family records for the next generation to enjoy.

The Metal Paper Clips, Rubber Bands and Tape, OH MY! Legacy QuickGuide™ contains useful information including a review of the most damaging types of fasteners and instructions on how to remove them as well as resolve any damage issues. Also included are links to websites and resources covering resources and supplies. This handy 4-page PDF guide can be used on your computer or mobile device for anytime access.

 
Buybutton-144 

Now choose from 89!

Purchase for just $2.95

Buybutton-144

United States – State Guides

United States – other Guides

Europe

Religion

General

Legacy News

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How I use Hashtags to track my DNA matches

Posted on by August 10, 2017

Thanks to Michele Simmons Lewis, CG for this article.

Hashtags

(Click to enlarge.)

I track both my atDNA (autosomal) matches and my yDNA matches in Legacy using Hashtags.

When working with atDNA, if I know how the person matches me I go ahead and add their tree (their direct line) back to our Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA). I use a special Master Source to the new data called, “DNA Match – Lineage not confirmed.” As I have time, I collect the evidence I need to confirm their line and then I change the source citations.

Next, I add a hashtag to the tester and to each person in his/her direct line and to those in my direct line back to our MRCA. If there is more than one tester that has the same MRCA that person will get hashtagged on the same hashtag. I name the Hashtags like this…

MRCA – Graham, Albert and Mary Grantham
MRCA – Patton, Mathew and Caroline McMichael
MRCA – Simmons, James and Corrine Graham
MRCA – Simmons, William and Docia Perry
etc.

Now all of the testers with known MRCAs with me will be entered and the testers will be grouped by which MRCA they match.

I handle yDNA in the same way EXCEPT if I have a good yDNA match I will input the tester and his direct line even if I don’t know the most MRCA is. These testers and their direct lines will be entered as unlinked trees (Add > Add Unlinked).

These Hashtags look like this…

Simmons Group – Ephraim Simmons abt 1822
Simmons Group – William Simmons abt 1685
Simmons Group – William Simmons abt 1793
Simmons Group – James Simmons, Sr. 14 Aug 1764
Simmons Group – William G. Johnson NPE abt 1800

The name of the hashtag is the brick wall ancestor for each line. In the description field I have yDNA 67 marker match – TESTERS NAME (or however many markers they tested at) as well as some other helpful notes.

Since this is a SURNAME-based DNA test I also have many other Simmons groups as Hashtags and what I am looking for is any overlap. If I see that a certain Simmons has been hashtagged in more than one group that might give me the clue I need to start connecting some of the unlinked trees. Here is how I have these additional Hashtags set up:

Simmons Group – 10&20 Cons. LA Militia
Simmons Group – 13th Reg. MS Militia
Simmons Group – Amite Co, MS
Simmons Group – Bala Chitto
Simmons Group – Marion Co, MS
Simmons Group – Natchez District, MS
Simmons Group – Pike Co, MS
Simmons Group – Random Simmons’ (I don’t know how these guys fit in yet)Simmons Group – Silver Creek
Simmons Group – Washington Co, MS

I have all of the tester’s contact information entered on his/her address screen. I also create custom DNA events where I can record which company they tested with and their GEDmatch number if they have one. I can add screenshots of ethnicity reports and chromosome browsers results. I am also able to keep track of our correspondence in the Notes field.

I like keeping as much information as I can in Legacy which makes my DNA research less complicated.

Learn more about Hashtags

View the Hashtags section in this webinar or view the after-webinar party section in this webinar.

Legacy News

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