Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors talk for Society of Genealogists

I'll be giving an online talk to the London based Society of Genealogists on Saturday 13th May, at 2pm, entitled Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, which ties in with the release of my latest book. The talk is £10 to attend for non-members, and £6.50 for members. 

For more on the talk, and to sign up, please visit https://members.sog.org.uk/events/640a1c61a8ecf00007ea6041/description?ticket=640a1c61a8ecf00007ea6043.

To purchase the book in the UK, please visit https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Belfast-Ancestors-Paperback/p/23194. 

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Kensington and Chelsea, London, Poor Law Records, 1695-1921

There were a few English releases on Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) in the last month, but one that may be of interest to those with Scots and Irish connections down south is the following poor law records from Kensington and Chelsea:

Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, Poor Law Records, 1695-1921
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62488/
Source: The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: Local studies and archives.

About Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, Poor Law Records, 1695-1921

General collection information

This collection includes a variety of records from the Poor Law Unions in Kensington and Chelsea, England between the years of 1695 and 1921. Types of records available may include:

• Pension records
• Account books
• Paternity affidavits
• Creed registers
• Applications for aid
• Lists detailing contributions from donors
• Correspondence from parishes

While all records are in English, record formats will vary greatly. Many are handwritten, but newer records may be printed.

Using this collection

Records in this collection may include the following information:

• Name
• Age
• Birth date
• Birthplace
• Names and birthplaces of parents
• Date and place of parents' marriage
• Marital status
• Marriage date and place
• Spouse's name and birthplace
• Date of event
• Date of arrival
• Date of departure
• Names and relationships to next of kin
• Information about types of aid received

For further details, click on the above link.

Chris 

Pre-order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

June Perrin retires as CEO of the Society of Genealogists

From the Society of Genelaogists (www.sog.org.uk) in London:

Our Chief Executive Officer, June Perrin, has retired as of 16 December. Having been with the Society of Genealogists for twenty years, June first joined the Society to work with former Director Robert Gordon. They directed and refreshed the Society’s finance and HR operations. After Robert Gordon stood down as Director, June continued to guide the Society and became CEO in her own right.

The Society’s finances in the early years of the 21st century have remained precarious, as the hoped-for rewards of digitisation and growth weren’t as anticipated. June worked with several Chairmen and Trustees to guide the Society. It has always fallen upon June to implement and managing the difficult but necessary systems and personnel changes needed to keep the Society’s nose above water.

During her time as CEO significant partnerships and contracts were achieved within the Genealogical Community. These include digital publishing companies for SoG Data on our platform and in partnerships with Findmypast, FamilySearch and others. The Society’s web presence and digital offerings have grown apace and have been improved for members. The Society has become host to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain, the Irish Genealogical Research Society and is now an Affiliate Search Library for FamilySearch.

Having joined the SoG in the middle of our major refurbishment of the buildings, June oversaw the recent refresh of the building, the transfer of SoG storage facilities from London to Essex and latterly successfully negotiated the sale of the current building thus enabling the Society to lay the foundations for our transformation.

Highlights during her tenure include our centenary celebration in 2011 and the Society’s huge active presence at the major genealogical shows. These included our own event at the RHS Hall, eventually partnering with Who Do You Think You Are? and RootsTech both in the USA and in the UK.

As CEO and Company Secretary to the SoG and its trading arm SoG Enterprises and Secretary to the Fellows, June’s calm direction of the Society and her contribution to the Society and its members is much appreciated. June leaves many friends amongst the board, membership and staff.

Now she has decided to retire we all wish her the best in the future and hope she enjoys her life with her children and grandchildren.

June has been a great CEO for the Society and a terrific colleague. She has guided the Society through significant transformation and changes, and I am very grateful for her excellent stewardship.

Laura Doyle (right) has agreed to step down from the Board of Trustees and act as Interim CEO, effective immediately, until we find a permanent successor to June. Laura has been a member of the Trustee Board for five years including a term as Treasurer. A Chartered Accountant by training, she has spent 20 years in the City working as Investor Relations for FTSE listed companies. She has been involved in genealogy for some 25 years, custodian of the One-Name Study for the surname Blissenden, is a Trustee/Treasurer for the Halsted Trust and is currently working towards an MSc in Genealogical, Palaeographic and Heraldic Studies at the University of Strathclyde.

I’m sure you will join me in thanking June for her service and to welcome Laura to the helm.

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and looking forward to 2021.

Edward Percival, Chairman , Society of Genealogists

(With thanks to Else Churchill)

Chris

Pre-order my next book, Sharing Your Family History Online, at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Deceased Online adds further London records

If your ancestors moved south to the London Borough of Lambeth, records from Streatham Cemetery, now available on Deceased Online (www.deceasedonline.com), might help with your research. The cemetery opened in 1893 under the Metropolitan Burial Act of 1852, which was instigated after the cholera epidemic of 1848 to 1849.

Whilst no new Scottish records appear to be in the works in the foreseeable future, Deceased Online is currently working on further records from England's East Midlands, London, the West Midlands, and the South East.

Chris

Pre-order my next book, Sharing Your Family History Online, at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin and London Gazettes join FindmyPast

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has added some major new newspaper sets to its site this week - although to access them you will need a Pro subscription:

London Gazette 1665-2018
Taken from the official UK government newspaper, unlock over 350 years of fascinating London stories in almost 34 million new records.

Scotland, Edinburgh Gazette 1797-2018
The Edinburgh Gazette is the Official Newspaper of Record for Scotland. In it, you can explore over 220 years of Scottish history and over 4 million individual records.

Ireland, Belfast Gazette 1922-2018
Delve into a nearly century of Northern Irish newspaper stories including business notices and the Queen’s annual honours lists in the Belfast Gazette.

Ireland, Dublin Gazette 1750-1800
Step back into 18th-century Ireland with records covering 50 years of news from the British government at Dublin Castle.

Together, these four Gazette collections bring a staggering 39 million new records to Findmypast this week.

Further details and links are available at https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/gazettes

Comment: going by the year range, the Dublin Gazette collection looks like that held by the Oireachtas library in Dublin, which I first blogged about being available online in 2015 (see http://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-dublin-gazette-from-1750-1800-is.html). The other Gazette editions are available also freely at www.thegazette.co.uk, but the search screen on FindmyPast looks to be a much less pain free experience! Without a Pro subscription, a basic search will still provide a date for a hit, so you can then consult the original at the Gazette website. The Dublin Gazette is a bit more of a pain, as you need to download the file from the Oireachtas library website, and they tend to be fairly large, although they are keyword searchable.

Don't forget that Iris Oifigiuil, the Dublin Gazette's replacement in the Repubic of Ireland after partition, is available online at www.irisoifigiuil.ie for issues from 2002-2020.

NB: Incidentally, a quick note of thanks to Gerry Quinn (@GerryQuinn10), who has pointed out an error on the FindmyPast Scottish Catholic records - the Sacred Heart Church in Bridgeton, Glasgow, is listed under Dunbartonshire when it should be Lanarkshire - hopefully FMP can amend soon.

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Society of Genealogists in London closes

June Perron, CEO of the London based Society of Genealogists (www.sog.org.uk), has announced that its library has now closed because of the coronavirus outbreak:

Coronavirus and the Society of Genealogists

Further to last week's announcement we have had a visitor to the Society who now feels they may have the Coronavirus (they have not yet been tested). He had no personal contact with anyone and wasn’t doing research so no material should be contaminated. However, we regrettably feel the time has come to close the Society until further notice.

We will carry out a deep clean and then keep the situation monitored but we feel we cannot put you, our valued members and visitors, at risk until the escalation and spread of the virus is bought under control.

Anyone who does develop any of the symptoms are advised to follow NHS guidelines and if you are in the age group regarded as vulnerable (over 60s) and particularly if you have any other existing health conditions to ring 111 immediately.

All events attendees will be contacted and given the various options open to them. We will be hoping to reconvene events when we are able to re-open but refunds will also be offered if you do not wish to wait until that time.

We will continue to offer the web services and staff will work remotely to service members where possible. This has happened quicker than we expected but I am hoping tomorrow after I meet with staff to go through the logistics I may be in a position to see if volunteers can man the help line more frequently.

Anyone who misses this notice and arrives tomorrow will be offered external refreshments before having to return home but I will be unable to let anyone in the building.

We appreciate your understanding in these unprecedented times and hope you all stay safe.

Monitor our web page here and our blog to see when we will re-open. We intend to revisit the decision each fortnight, the first review will be on March 27th.

Kind Regards
June Perrin, Chief Executive

Keep an eye out for further updates on the Society's website at www.sog.org.uk/about/coronavirus.

(With thanks to @valmayuk via Twitter)

Chris

You can pre-order my new book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 (out April). Also available, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

TheGenealogist uploads new property records for Greenwich

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

New Property Records for Greenwich

TheGenealogist has just released over 57,700 individuals from the Greenwich area into its Lloyd George Domesday Survey Records on the Map Explorer™. These fully searchable property records enable researchers to find where ancestors from Greenwich lived in the 1910-1915 period. This release now brings the total coverage of Lloyd George Domesday Survey Records to over half a million individuals.

By using TheGenealogist’s powerful Map Explorer™ family history researchers searching for where their ancestors lived in the period before the First World War are able to see the actual plots for buildings and explore the district as it was in that period on large scale OS maps linked to the field books containing descriptions of the properties.

Researchers often have difficulty discovering where ancestors lived as road names can change over time. World War II Blitz bombing saw areas destroyed and these sites were altered during redevelopment, making them unrecognizable from what had been there before. Lanes and roads were often lost to build estates and office blocks. The changes over the years can mean that searching for where an ancestor lived using modern maps can be a frustrating experience, as they won’t pinpoint where old properties had once stood.

The Map Explorer™ benefits from a number of georeferenced historic map overlays and modern base maps, allowing users to see how the topography has changed over the years by simply sliding the opacity controls.

The Lloyd George Domesday Survey records are sourced from The National Archives and are being digitised by TheGenealogist.

TheGenealogist’s Lloyd George Domesday records link individual properties to extremely detailed maps used in 1910-1915

• Full descriptions of each property with its valuation recorded in field books
• Locate an address previously found in a census or street directory down to a specific house
• Fully searchable by name, county, parish and street
• The maps will zoom in to show the individual properties as they were in 1910-1915
• Transparency sliders enable you to compare and contrast modern and historic street maps,
• change the base map displayed to satellite or hybrid to more clearly understand what the area looks like today
• Overlay with a range of old maps to see the wider area as it had once been
• Allows you to display county or parish boundaries
• Searching for an ancestor identifies their property with a green pin
• Check neighbouring properties by clicking the red pins and selecting ‘View Transcript’

Read the article: Greenwich property records reveal the lost past much changed by the blitz, bombs and the building of a historic landmark
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2020/greenwich-property-records-reveal-the-lost-past-1233/

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

Chris

You can pre-order my new book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 (out April). Also available, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Rootstech to return to London in November 2020

From Rootstech (www.rootstech.org):

RootsTech Returns to London in 2020, Opens Early Registration.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT (26 February 2020)—FamilySearch is excited to announce that RootsTech will return to London in 2020. The three-day event will be held on 5–7 November 2020 at the ExCeL London Convention Centre. Learn more about RootsTech London 2020, or register at RootsTech.org/London.

“RootsTech London 2019 was a pilot test for us, and it was a tremendous experience,” said Steve Rockwood, FamilySearch International CEO. “The event proved to be a great way to bring people from all around the world together to celebrate the joy of family discovery.”

Attendees made connections and personal discoveries, and businesses formed new relationships and partnerships—all critical to the growth of the family history industry internationally.

“We’re excited to build upon what we learned and expand the event further at RootsTech London 2020,” said Rockwood.

In 2019, nearly 10,000 attendees from 42 countries participated, with another 1,300 people tuning in remotely online. More than 60 exhibitors demonstrated their products and services in the exhibition hall.

RootsTech London 2020 will offer inspirational keynote speakers and more than 150 informative classes taught by industry experts across the three-day event. The exhibition hall will host companies from around the world showcasing a wide variety of family and family history-related solutions and services. The full conference programme and keynote speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

“RootsTech London is for everyone,” said Jen Allen, event director. “We’re focused on providing opportunities for all to discover their family and deepen their sense of belonging and connection. Whether you’re an experienced family historian or just a little curious and want to learn things about yourself or your family that you’ve never known before, there’s something for you at RootsTech.”

(With thanks to FamilySearch - original news release at https://media.familysearch.org/rootstech-returns-to-london-in-2020-opens-early-registration/)

Chris

You can pre-order my new book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 (out April). Also available, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.