Further burial records added to FindmyPast

The latest additions to FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk)

Greater London Burial Index
Over 31,000 new records covering 10 parishes across the Greater London area have been added to this unique collection.

Surrey Burials
Over 450,000 additional transcripts of burial records from the South East of England have been added to this exclusive collection. All parishes have been updated, significantly in some cases. Check the parish list for details of the parishes and timeframes covered.

United States BillionGraves Index
More than 2.1 million records have been added to our cemetery index for the United States.

Canada BillionGraves Index
We’ve also added over 97,000 records to our BillionGraves cemetery index for Canada.

Newspapers
Two new publications from England and updates to six other titles, predominantly in north-west England.

For further details, and relevant links, visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/burials-cemetery-records

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 expands its Free First Steps package

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

Extra Resources Now Added to TheGenealogist’s Free First Steps Package

TheGenealogist’s FREE “First Steps” package to encourage beginners to Stay at Home and research their Family Tree has been expanded with new records and images

TheGenealogist’s Free First Steps offer has proved incredibly popular among those looking to start a new hobby while staying at home in the pandemic.

Mark Bayley, Head of Content says: “We have been overwhelmed by such a positive response to our Free First Steps package and it has encouraged us to do even more. We have decided to help users trace back even further, adding yet more free resources”

Now you can extend your research as TheGenealogist has added a further two years of census for England and Wales, along with the original images! *

Also included is the Complete Birth, Marriage & Death records index for England and Wales 1837-2005, access to TheGenealogist’s image archive and a really practical subscription to Discover Your Ancestors digital magazines to use for 3 months. No card details, no subscription, just completely free.

People on social media are already talking about TheGenealogist’s First Steps:

“This will be a life saver for many people” - Gwyneth, Wales
“You are helping my lockdown (be) so much better and productive.” - Rachel, Coventry
“What a very generous offer” @Book_magpie
“Thank you. I can now do more family research” - Lorraine, New Zealand
“Thank you for this kind offer. I am finding it really helpful for researching my family.” J Tafe

Researchers can begin their discovery now at https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/first-steps/

The Free First Steps access will now include:

• Complete Birth, Marriage & Death records index for England and Wales 1837-2005
• English & Welsh Census Records to see where ancestors were living in 1891, 1901 and in 1911, now with images *
• TreeView the online family tree builder
• Image Archive of churches, places and people from the past
• A high quality monthly digital magazine packed full of stories, case studies, social history articles and research advice

TheGenealogist’s First Steps package will give those people beginning their journey on the compelling road to discovering their ancestors some free and very useful family history resources.

Find out more about this package at https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/first-steps/

Read the article: How to start your family history
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2020/how-to-start-your-family-history-1245/

*Images courtesy of The National Archives

(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.

Family Tree Virtually Live event on 17th/18th April

Family Tree magazine is hosting a replacement 'Virtually Live' event tomorrow and Saturday (17th and 18th):

The Family Tree virtually Live event will be held on 17 and 18 April right here on our website, bringing you a range of video tutorials and special offers.

We're not letting the current situation stop us, and whilst we're unable to meet up at Alexandra Palace for Family Tree Live 2020, we're still bringing elements of the show to you here on the website.

Family Tree Virtually Live in partnership with the Family History Federation.

Video tutorials, Friday 17 April

Weddings Work and Welfare with Dr Gill Draper (Running time: 27:35)
Weddings, work and welfare: parish life for family historians with Dr Gill Draper: Open up fresh ways to research your forebear’s lives and work using church records, from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.

Planning Your Irish Research Trip (Running time: 46:53)
David Ryan explains how to get around and which repositories to visit when planning an Irish research trip.

Turning Your Family History into a Book (Running time: 11:05)
Get tips on turning your ancestors’ lives into a compelling narrative with Ruth Badley. Learn how to write a family history for future generations to treasure.

More video tutorials to be revealed.


Video tutorials, Saturday 18 April

A Statistical Tool for Genealogy with Vincenzo Alfano (Running time: 21:54)
Are humanities condemned to not benefit from statistical modelling? Discover a ready-to-use tool to improve your genealogy research, with economist and family historian Vincenzo Alfano.

Researching Your Northamptonshire Ancestors with Angela Malin (Running time: 17:41)
Get specialist local advice to help you trace ancestors from the Northamptonshire region. Includes advice suitable for all family historians, wherever your ancestors may have lived.

Dr Gill Draper - Living the Poor Life (Running time: 36:32)
Learn how to use workhouse records to research lives under the New Poor Law's dreaded Union Workhouse, glancing back at researching earlier periods.

More video tutorials to be revealed.


You can access the video tutorials at https://www.family-tree.co.uk/how-to-guides/family-tree-live-virtual-conference/

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.

The MacGillivrays and Culloden

To mark the 254th anniversary of the Battle of Culloden...

A few years ago I enjoyed a bank holiday break in the Inverness area with my wife and kids. I have several lines of family from the vicinity, including Frasers, Camerons, Munros, MacFarlanes and MacGillivrays, who endured many ups and downs in their lives, none perhaps worse than the death of my great great grandmother, Janet MacGillivray (nee Fraser), who committed suicide in 1860 at the Bridge of Tomnahurich in Inverness - she jumped into the Caledonian Canal and drowned, being so distraught at the death of her daughter during childbirth. But the real mission for me was to explore the ancestral area of my MacGillivrays, in the parish of Dores, for the first time.

My five times great grandfather James MacGillivray, from the farmstead of Dunchea in the parish of Dores, married Ann Cameron on May 1st 1772 at her home in nearby Ruthven, before the couple settled at Dunchea, and later at nearby Bochruben. Although a birth record for James cannot be found, he was likely born in approximately 1750, just a few years after the tragedy of Culloden. On Saturday I spent a couple of hours within the parish, and located the modern farmsteads at Bochruben, Ruthven and Dunchea, within some of the most stunningly bleak landscape I have yet found in the country. There was light snow, and a biting wind - life would not have been easy back in the mid 18th century.

Whilst I have located several vital events shortly after 1750 for members of the MacGillivrays in Dunchea, almost certainly related to my family in such a small area, the records are sadly quite limited before this, mainly because most of the members of the clan back then were adherents to the Scottish Episcopal Church, the former aspect of the Church of Scotland prior to 1690 which continued in an independent form after the Glorious Revolution, and which remained staunchly Jacobite in its support. But what I had not previously realised prior to my visit was just how close to the centre of the MacGillivray clan territory my family locations were.

The chiefs of MacGillivray were based for centuries at Dunmaglass, in the nearby parish of Daviot and Dunlichity, and just over a mile and a half from Ruthven and a couple of miles from Dunchea. In 1746, Alexander MacGillivray of Dunmaglass led the Jacobite charge of the Clan Chattan confederation, of which the MacGillivrays were a long standing member, against the Hanoverian army at Culloden, where he lost his life. Realising just how close my family now was to the clan seat, I wondered what the chances were of my lot being caught up?

I visited Culloden, and purchased a copy of No Quarter Given: the Muster Roll of Prince Charles Edward Stuart's Army, 1745-46. The list of those who fought for Lady Mackintosh's Regiment, led by MacGillivray, records 26 MacGillivrays and several Camerons. Their places of origin were listed, with four MacGillivrays from Dunmaglass, a John MacGillivray from Aberarder, and a couple of Camerons from Dalcrombie, on the other side of Loch Ruthven from the farmstead at Ruthven where Ann hailed from.

James MacGillivray named his first son Donald, and my family, stuck almost religiously to the Scottish naming pattern, and so it is likely that my six times great grandfather was called Donald MacGillivray also. The name was certainly important, with a John MacGillivray also christening his son Donald in 1760 at Dunchea, and a possible sibling to James called Donald, also from Dunchea, marrying an Elizabeth MacGillivray of Gortleg in the same year. Of the 26 MacGillivrays at Culloden, six were Donalds, all from farmsteads in the area. Could one of these have been my ancestor, or related to him perhaps as a cousin?

Whether any of my ancestors were at Culloden I may well never know, but my family in Dores would almost certainly have suffered the same persecutions after Culloden as did all the Highlanders, being prevented from speaking Gaelic, wearing tartan plaids, carrying weapons and more. Having visited the area now, and having realised that many of the homes of those who were confirmed as having fought at Culloden were within walking distance of my ancestors' homes, it is almost certain that they at least knew many of those who fought there. Whilst I have no love for Bonnie Prince Charlie - or any monarch for that matter - I do have a lot of admiration for the loyalty of the MacGillivrays who fought and in many cases died on Drumossie Moor in April 1746.

Cuimhnich air na daoine o'n d'thàinig thu - here's to the MacGillivrays...

Touch Not This Cat Bot a Glove

Culloden

Culloden - where Alexander MacGillivray fell

Dunchea - possibly the original farm (HES has aerial photos showing imprints of a couple more nearby no longer in existence)

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.

Ulster Historical Foundation Q and A on Facebook

From the Ulster Historical Foundation (www.ancestryireland.com):

Facebook Q&A

If you have a Facebook account, don’t miss our Facebook Q&A on Friday 17th April from 4pm to 5pm (BST) where you will be able to ask our Research team any Irish and Scots-Irish genealogy queries you may have. Visit our page www.facebook.com/UlsterHistoricalFoundation nearer the time for more information.

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.

RootsIreland adds North Dublin dog license holder records

From RootsIreland (www.rootsireland.ie):

New North Dublin Records

We are delighted to announce that 639 dog licence holders in North Dublin have been added to our database at www.rootsireland.ie/dublinnorth under 'Census Substitutes'. It includes the names and addresses of residents in the greater Swords area in the period 1923-24. It covers Swords, Malahide, Donabate and parts of rural Fingal and gives an insight into various townland names.

To search these records, go to dublinnorth.rootsireland.ie, choose 'Census Substitutes' and select 'Dog Licenses' from the 'Source' drop down list. Please Login and Subscribe if required.

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.

FamilySearch adds England Death Records 1998-2015 collection

FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org) has released a new collection of recent English death records, if your relatives or ancestors passed away down south. The collection contains 3,293,133 entries:

England Death Record, 1998-2015
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/3665073

According to FamilySearch's wiki entry for the collection, "This collection contains records from funeral homes in England. The data includes the date of death, a court docket number, and an event place. You can use this information to identify where the complete record can be found and attempt to secure a copy."

For additional records released this week visit https://media.familysearch.org/new-free-historical-records-on-familysearch-week-of-13-april-2020/

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.

Second Scottish Indexes conference planned for May 1st

Scottish Indexes (www.scottishindexes.com) has announced that it will be hosting a second online conference at the start of May:

Did you miss the free Scottish Indexes Conference last week? Join the Scottish Indexes Facebook group so that you don’t miss the next one on 1 May 2020 - http://facebook.com/scottish.indexes

Graham and Emma have also put together a short video highlighting some of the talks that took place on their previous conference. I turn up like a bad penny in parts, but some nice and knowledgeable people are also featured!

You will also find it online at https://youtu.be/_8knmdul-dM

More news soon!

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.

Mothballing archive provision in a pandemic

The National Archives (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) at Kew, near London, England, has a great article online through its blog entitled Sending the giant to sleep, in which members of the team describe how the archive prepared for a pandemic (yes, it was in the contingency planning), and what is being done to maintain its readiness as a national repository, in preparation for its eventual re-opening. You will find the article at https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/sending-the-giant-to-sleep/.

The archive sector is also documenting its own involvement within the crisis, with TNA requesting that archives across the UK fill in a survey to help it assess the impact of Covid-19 on archive provision. Here's the blurb:

The National Archives is conducting a brief survey into the initial impacts of the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.  We are keen to build up a national picture to inform our plans for support both now and in the coming months and even years. Please complete this survey to tell us how your service has been impacted so far.

We recognise that services are still adjusting to the rapidly changing circumstances and may still be establishing remote working practices for their teams. We have been impressed with the flexibility, adaptability and quick thinking that is clearly taking place, as well as the lengths people have gone to in safeguarding collections.

This is a first look at how services are working and we will follow up in 3-4 months’ time to see how services have adjusted.  It is our intention to undertake a more detailed review of these measures and to consider how business continuity planning may need to change based on the lessons learnt from the current crisis and its longer-term implications.

If you have any questions about how we will use this information, please contact asd@nationalarchives.gov.uk

The survey is available at https://smartsurvey.co.uk/s/7ADL72/

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.

Have you used... Scottish agricultural survey books?

In just a couple of weeks my next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, will be published. To pave the way, each week until publication I have been flagging up a key site or resource that you may not be aware of if you are new to genealogy, or which you may have overlooked if researching for a while, which might just help with your Scottish research!

This week... the General View of the Agriculture of the Counties of Scotland.

Several survey books were published in the late 18th century and early 19th century on a county by county basis for the Board of Agriculture entitled General View of the Agriculture of the County of... Each detailed the state of the agricultural industry in that area, including discussion on those working as labourers and farmers, the state of the land, and suggestions for improvements. Most are available to view on both Google Books and the Internet Archive; for example, General View of the County of Inverness, published in 1808, can be found at https://bit.ly/GeneralViewAgricultureInverness. A compilation of fourteen of the surveys from 1794, entitled General View of the Agriculture of the Counties of Scotland, Issues 1-14 is available at https://bit.ly/GeneralViewAgricultureScotland, and covers Fife, Galloway, the Hebrides, Central Highlands, East Lothian, Midlothian, Southern Districts of the County of Perth, Renfrew, Roxburgh, Selkirk and Tweedale (Peebles), along with an account for the Isle of Man.

Have fun!

* Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet is available for pre-order now at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Scottish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/17717.

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.