FindmyPast's appalling subscription rates restructure

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has restructured its pricing mechanism to offer two new subscription packages, which are likely to infuriate many regular users. 

The first, called Family Tree, costs £9.99 per month, but only allows you to access records that the site's hints tell you may be connected to you through your hosted family tree. The second, called Everything, is £24.99 a month, or £199 annually, and replaces the previous Premium package.

The unfortunate thing about the Family Tree package is that you are entirely reliant on the site's Borg drones (i.e. its algorithms) to do your research for you, which is absolutely NOT the way to carry out research if you wish to be in control of the process. 

You can read more about the changes at WDYTYA magazine's post at https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/news/findmypast-introduces-new-pricing-structure.

I would suggest that this one seriously needs an urgent rethink.

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 purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Ulster Historical Foundations adds new records to database

The Ulster Historical Foundation (https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com) has added 14,000 new records to its database, comprised of the following:

1) 4900 Roman Catholic birth records from Belfast and County Antrim, for the following areas: 

• Sacred Heart Parish, Belfast - 1916-1929
• Hannahstown, Co. Antrim - 1899-1929
• Holy Cross, Belfast - 1867-1899

2) 8,700 freeholder records, showcasing those registered to vote across various Irish counties from 1747 to 1837.

The databases are acessible at https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com/genealogy-databases/list.

(With thanks to Gillian Hunt)

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 purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

National Library of Scotland's new Mills of Britain tool

There's a new mapping tool on the National Library of Scotland mapping platform, entitled Mills of Britain (https://maps.nls.uk/projects/mills-of-britain) - the following is the blurb:

This new web resource shows the locations and details of over 15,000 mill sites mapped in 18th-19th century Britain. You can browse and filter the mill records by survey date, map symbology, mill type, as well as their distances from rivers. There is also supporting information about the project, its background, identifying mills on maps, the methods, and on accuracy and georeferencing. You can also explore more and access the data. The online resource was created through a collaborative project with the University of Glasgow and University of Wollongong, funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

The project covers Britain, rather than the UK, so Northern Ireland is not included, but Scotland is well served in the coverage. Pictured below is a grab from the site for the Mill of Airntully in the parish of Kinclaven, Perthshire. To the right are descriptiosn from three separate maps for the mill site.

Have fun exploring!

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 purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Forthcoming talk on the British civilian POW camp in the First World War at Ruhleben

Hi folks,

A quick heads up that I will be giving a talk to the Society of Genealogists in London, England, on the topic of British Civilian POWs in the First World War. The following is the talk description:

The First World War had a profound impact on civilians accidentally caught in its wake. Thousands of British and British Empire civilians, living or travelling in Europe, were suddenly rounded up and imprisoned in a makeshift internment camp on the outskirts of Berlin from 1914-1918.

In this illuminating talk, professional genealogist Chris Paton delves into the story of these 5,500 civilian prisoners of war—including over 1,000 merchant seamen—whose lives were forever changed by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Discover the hardships they endured, their resilience and the legacy of a little-known chapter in wartime history.

To register please visit https://members.sog.org.uk/events/6578c48c03db660008585914/description?ticket=6578c48c03db660008585916 - and I hope to maybe see you there!

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 purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Internet Archive is once again accessible

The Internet Archive looks to be back up and running in a useable fashion, although there is much work still to be done following the recent hack of the site. I have just checked the dedicated National Library of Scotland area at https://archive.org/details/nationallibraryofscotland, and it looks like all of its content is once again accessible.

The last update from the archive on its site was three days ago, written by Chris Freeland, Director of Library Services at Internet Archive:

In recovering from recent cyberattacks on October 8, the Internet Archive has resumed the Wayback Machine (starting October 13) and Archive-It (October 17), and as of today (October 21), has begun offering provisional availability of archive.org in a read-only manner. Features like uploading, borrowing, reviewing items, interlibrary loan, and other services are not yet available.

Please note that these services will have limited availability as we continue maintenance.

Hackers disclosed archive.org email and encrypted passwords to a transparency website, and also sent emails to patrons by exploiting a 3rd party helpdesk system.

The safety and integrity of the Internet Archive’s data and patrons remain our top priorities. As the security incident is analyzed and contained by our team, we are relaunching services as defenses are strengthened. These efforts are focused on reinforcing firewall systems and further protecting the data stores.

We appreciate your patience and support as we work through these challenges. For ongoing updates, please follow our blog and official social media channels on X/Twitter, Bluesky, and Mastodon.

We stand with all libraries that have faced similar attacks—British Library, Seattle Public Library, Toronto Public Library, and Calgary Public Library—and with the communities we serve. Thank you for standing with the Internet Archive as we continue to fight back on behalf of all affected readers.

Good luck to the archive on its continued recovery.

(Source: https://blog.archive.org/2024/10/21/internet-archive-services-update-2024-10-21/)

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 purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Forthcoming National Records of Scotland events

The following events are listed on the National Records of Scotland Eventbrite site at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/national-records-of-scotland-13420221531.

Public tour: 250th anniversary of General Register House
Wed, 20 Nov, 12:00
HM General Register House
Free

This year, National Records of Scotland (NRS) marks the 250th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of General Register House on the 27th June 2024. One of Scotland’s most important public buildings, General Register House, has been the home of the nation’s archives for over two centuries and continues to provide public access to Scotland’s documentary history. Designed by Robert Adam, it opened its doors in 1789. The first purpose-built, public record repository in the British Isles, it has a good claim to being the oldest purpose-built archive in Europe still being used for its original function.

To celebrate, we are offering public tours over the anniversary year, June 2024 - June 2025, released quarterly. The history of this unique building, its place on Edinburgh Princes Street, and its continuing role as keeper of the nation’s archives, will be explained as attendees explore the striking central chamber, the Adam Dome, and are taken behind the scenes.

Tours will last approximately 40 minutes and must be booked in advance. Please note: visitors should wear comfortable footwear. We regret that the tour route through the building is not suitable for wheelchair users or those with limited mobility.

200 years of football in Edinburgh: Hybrid event
Wed, 4 Dec, 13:30
HM General Register House
Free

Speaker: Andy Mitchell, Sports Historian

This year marks 200 years since the Foot-Ball Club kicked off in Edinburgh, the world’s first known organisation dedicated to football. It was founded in December 1824 by John Hope, whose meticulous records of the club’s activities are preserved in the National Records of Scotland (NRS) among his extensive personal archive. This talk will celebrate the club’s bicentenary by exploring its origins, its members and its legacy, placing it firmly in the pantheon of association football heritage.

This talk is a hybrid event. For those attending in-person a small display of original records will be on show from John Hope’s archive.

There will be time for questions at the end.

Book places using the above Eventbrite page link.

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 purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Changes to the FamilySearch catalog

From FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org):

For over two decades, the FamilySearch Catalog has been a valuable research tool. Today, it handles more than 5 million searches each week. The highly customized system has been running on outdated technology that must be replaced.

How the Catalog is changing

The most noticeable change with this update is that the Catalog uses the newest FamilySearch place standards. Place standards provide a consistent experience for how place information is organized and presented. Standards must be updated regularly since place names around the world are changing.

How different place standards can affect your searches

Using different place standards can impact search results for some locations. Some places have slightly different display names than in the past. Other places could be grouped within a larger place. In these cases, you must perform an extra click or two to find the search results you desire.

Some places from the old Catalog are not in the new place standards yet. However, many of these excluded places are in the process of being added.

Benefits of updating the Catalog

With the new system, searches can be more precise and the results are sorted better. For example, doing a place search for China now returns resources in English and Chinese.

In the coming months, you will see updated and new collections appear. Besides usability improvements, we are also working to unify the search experience for digital, image, and physical collections. 

We are interested in your feedback

After you enter your search terms and click Search, look in the lower right of the screen. Find and click the Feedback button to ask questions or share your thoughts. Your feedback is important to us. We look forward to hearing from you!

(Source: https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/whats-new-with-the-familysearch-catalog; with thanks to Cinda Baxter and Elizabeth Shown Mills)

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 purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

National Library of Scotland Family History Fair

From the National Library of Scotland (www.nls.uk): 

The National Library of Scotland hosts several organisations from across the city for a drop-in family history event. 

Monday 28 October 2024
10:00 AM to 3:00 PM
George IV Bridge building
Free

The National Library of Scotland is partnering with colleagues from Edinburgh Central Library, Edinburgh City Archive, National Records of Scotland, National Museum of Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, and the Scottish Genealogy Society, for a family history fair.
 
This is an opportunity for people at all stages of genealogical research to hear from and interact with staff members from various archives in Edinburgh, who will talk through the various collections that they hold and services that they offer and explain how they can help with your genealogical research.

(Source: https://www.nls.uk/whats-on/family-history-fair/; with thanks to Scottish Indexes)

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 purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Thanks to the three Ayrshire family history societies!

I had the pleasure of speaking at the joint meeting of the Ayrshire family history societies last Thursday in Troon, at Portland Church hall, in what I believe was the first such joint meeting since the pandemic. I was actually told that my recent blog post at the end of last year on whether Scotland's family history community was beginning to suffer from 'Long Zoom' was a factor in it being established (see http://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2023/11/is-scotlands-family-history-community.html), so glad to have helped if that was true! It was a packed hall, with folk having travelled from Largs, Kilmarnock, Troon, and throughout the county and beyond.

Ayrshire today is split into three administrative council areas, North, East and South, and the three Ayrshire societies are located in each, being Troon @ Ayrshire FHS (https://www.troonayrshirefhs.org.uk), East Ayrshire FHS (https://eastayrshirefhs.co.uk), and North Ayrshire FHS (http://www.northayrshirefhs.org.uk), which used to be the Largs and North Ayrshire FHS. All can help with research in their specific parts of the county, and alongside the resources that casn be found from Ayrshire's joint archive service at https://www.ayrshirearchives.org.uk.

The talk that I gave was a deliberately simplified introduction to how DNA can be useful in helping out with family history research. There was a simple introduction to what DNA is, and the sorts of tests available, with the majority of the talk highlighting three examples from my own family tree in Scotland and Ireland of just how DNA matches can help to unblock brick walls in research. The purpose was to simply show that DNA can be an important thing to test, and that it is best to do so sooner than later, particularly with elderly relatives, even if you don't quite know how to understand all the technical gubbins behind it at first - that will come, in time!

A huge thanks to all who came along, and to the societies for organising it, I hope it is the first of many more annual events to come! This year I have been able to give a few in-person talks, after several years of online pergatory, and whilst Zoom can be convenient, and reach members beyond Scotland and Ireland, it simply cannot replicate the sense of community that in-person events can help to foster on societies' own doorsteps. 

And I sincerely hope whoever laid out the food spread after the sesion will seriously consider catering for weddings and other events - it was magnificent, I'm not sure I've ever seen such an amazing feast at a society event!

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 purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Happy fortieth birthday to Family Tree magazine!

The UK's Family Tree magazine (https://www.family-tree.co.uk) is celebrating its 40th year this month with the November 2024 issue - happy birthday!

In this month's issue:

A.I. & Genealogy
Chris Paton looks at the world of ‘Artificial Intelligence’. Is it here to help us?

Finding your way around Findmypast
Genealogy tutor Jude Rhodes guides beginners and more experienced users around Findmypast’s key tools

Free & frugal tips, tools & tactics for family historians
Useful family history tips from the Frugal Family Historian Alison Spring for saving time and money

The life of a 19th-century soldier
Family Tree Academy tutor David Annal explores the life of a 19th-century military man

Twiglets
Gill Shaw turns her attention to (quite a) house history… okay yes, it’s a bit of a palace… that her erstwhile orphan great-great-aunt came to own!

Are you getting all the details you can from the 1939 National Register records
Richard Holt digs deeper into the 1939 Register for England and Wales

Spotlight on Leicestershire & Rutland Family History Society
Read about the latest society in our series, as they celebrate their 50th!

DNA Workshop
DNA Advisor Karen Evans helps readers with their DNA difficulties

Witch-hunts during the Little Ice Age
Were your ancestors accused of – or even executed for witchcraft? Wayne Shepheard and Karin Helmstaedt investigate

The life of George Smith, ARP warden
Janet Smith recounts the traumatic experience of her uncle George in his role as ARP warden

Photo Corner
Jayne Shrimpton helps to put dates to pictures from the past

And finally… Thoughts on…
Diane Lindsay has been thinking about her grandfather, and the many hats worn by this man who rarely spoke about the Great War

Comment: As noted above, in this issue I have written an article about the use of Artificial Intelligence in the genealogy world. It's not just about chatbots and art generating software, there is a lot of seriously interesting stuff going on behind the scenes!

For more on the latest issue, and to buy, visit https://www.family-tree.co.uk/store/back-issues/family-tree-magazine/family-tree-magazine-november-2024-issue-228/.

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 purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.