Why not get the children involved in family history research?!
Hannah Baker, B.A. (Hons) History, PGCE, has joined the Pharos teaching team. With many years of teaching experience and a degree in Medieval History, Hannah brings a lot of experience to Pharos Tutors. Hannah will be teaching a brand new course, entitled Climbing Trees: How to get children interested in family history.
Most people with a love of family history know how exciting discovering the lives of their ancestors is. Bringing this to life for children is a great way to share it. The course explains how to get young minds past the pages of records and data, and into a living, breathing world of the past.
The course includes many cheap “make and do” activities and shows how to tie family history research into enhancing children’s scholastic skills. The course starts April 19, 2010 and lasts for four weeks.
Pharos Teaching & Tutoring started only 4 years ago with just five courses and three teachers and is pleased to announce that 2010 will see a programme of over 30 courses with even more in the process of development. There is something for everyone, with an expanded list of subjects and time periods. All Pharos courses are short, reasonably priced and designed to fit in with busy lifestyles. Full information is on the Pharos website www.pharostutors.com
The following are the courses on offer for 2010 (so far!):
25 February – The National Archives Catalogue – Finding People – 3 weeks £32.99
8 March – Migration in the British Isles – 3 weeks £32.99
11 March – Developing and Writing Your Family History – 3 weeks £32.99
31 March – The Poor, the Parish and The Workhouse: Records in the 18th and 19th centuries – 5 weeks £42.99
6 April – Discover Your Devon Ancestors – 4 weeks £37.99
14 April – Scottish Research Online – 5 weeks £42.99 (taught by yours truly)
19 April – Climbing Trees: How to get children interested in family history – 4 weeks £37.99
13 May – 20th century Surveys for Family and Local History – 4 weeks £37.99
14 May – Organizing Your Genealogy – 3 weeks £32.99
18 May – Tying the knot: Marriage and its records – 3 weeks £32.99
23 June – Enclosure Maps and Records for Family Historians – 4 weeks £37.99
6 July – Scotland 1750 – 1850: Beyond the OPRs – 5 weeks £42.99
14 July – The Parish Chest: There was more to life than baptism, marriage and burial – 4 weeks £37.99
2 August – Professional Genealogist: Become One, Become a Better One – 4 weeks £37.99
As noted the next Scottish Online course from your truly starts in mid April - places are still available! Full details about the course, with some previous students' feedback, can be found at www.pharostutors.com/coursedescriptions.php#102.
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
www.twitter.com/chrismpaton
Ancestry.com has announced that it has created an iPhone family tree application called Tree to Go, which can allow you to carry your tree on your mobile phone (i.e. an iPhone or iPod Touch with version 2.0 or later).
Ancestry's blog post has more information on what the new app can do, whilst the software can be downloaded via Ancestry.com's site at http://landing.ancestry.com/iphone/?o_iid=41203&o_lid=41203. (With thanks to Thomas MacEntee's Geneabloggers blog post)Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
www.twitter.com/chrismpaton
Graham and Emma Maxwell, of Maxwell Ancestry, have announced on their blog that they have completed mapping the censuses from 1841-1861 for Kelso and Yetholm (including Kirk Yetholm), and are now concentrating on Morebattle.
The censuses for these areas and many others from the Borders counties have been transcribed and made freely available at their website at www.maxwellancestry.com - the plan now is to link each census entry to a map hosted by the National Library of Scotland.
Love the name of Morebattle! In 1995 I worked as a researcher on the BBC TV series War Walks, and was stunned to learn that the Battle of Hastings never took place at Hastings at all, but at err...Battle! Typical of Scotland to go one better really. "Battle ye say? Battle?! We can fair better than that - more battle! Aaarghhhh!"
Possibly the placename has a slightly more reasonable derivation....!
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
www.twitter.com/chrismpaton
The Scottish Military Research Group has news of a forthcoming STV series called Scots at War, which commences its run on Tuesday January 26th at 9pm. Its not a twee look at how many guys once run around in kilts with guns, but a three part series drawing parallels between battles of old and modern situations, presented by Ken Hames. From STV's press release:
The first of the three hour-long programmes will begin by looking back nearly 400 years and drawing parallels between today’s current operations and historic battle’s.
Over his journey, Ken will look at how Scottish regiments tackle insurgents today and reflect on regiments of the 18th Century who had similar problems within their own borders and had to fight against fellow Scots at the Battle of Culloden.
Could be interesting! The full SMRG blog post, including the full STV press release, is found here.
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
www.twitter.com/chrismpaton
Dundee based Brightsolid's fortunes over the last year were the focus of an article in yesterday's Scotsman newspaper, which can be read at http://business.scotsman.com/business/Family-history-site-helps-DC.5989334.jp. Financial figures have shown that the group achieved a pre-tax profit of just over £2m on a turnover of £13.2m, following the acquisition of the FindmyPast website. The BBC has also picked up on the story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/8464875.stm.
(Thanks to the Anglo-Celtic Connections blog and Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter)
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
www.twitter.com/chrismpaton
Readers will be aware of the extensive coverage on this blog over the last few weeks concerning the 1939 national identity register for both the Scottish records and their southern equivalents.
Guy Etchells, who made the initial application and appeal down south, has suggested on Rootschat that it may be worth making an enquiry now on the English and Welsh side of things whilst the decision is still being made on how access will be provided. The simple reason is that you are likely to get it for free just now, before some new pricing model comes in.
English and Welsh returns can only be accessed by address (not date of death as with Scotland), so an application should state that you are interested in obtaining information on a particular address in a certain town or city under the Freedom of Information Act. The application should be e-mailed to the National Health Service Information Centre at enquiries@ic.nhs.uk.
Following Guy's advice, I made an application yesterday to find info on my grandfather's cousin, based in St Albans, and received an e-mail this morning form the NHSIC. The following are the key parts:
I am writing to acknowledge that your request for information was received by The Information Centre on 19th January 2010.
Your request is currently being considered. If The Information Centre is able to provide you with the information you have requested, then under the Freedom of Information Act you are entitled to receive it within 20 working days. We may need to contact you to clarify your request.
and
The Information Centre will not normally charge a fee to provide you with the information you have requested, unless the cost of dealing with your request is more than £450. If it appears likely that your request will cost more, I will write to you again asking if you are willing to pay the fees incurred, clearly setting out what those fees will be (in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act).
It's unlikely that a request will costs £450! In other words, now may be the time to adopt the ago old genealogical research technique of 'getting in like Flynn'...!
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
www.twitter.com/chrismpaton
Five graveyards based in Edinburgh are on the World Monuments Fund's critical watch list - Greyfriars Kirkyard, Canongate Kirkyard, St. Cuthberts Kirkyard, Old Calton Burial Ground, and New Calton Burial Ground. They are in an appalling state - for more, visit the WMF's website at www.wmf.org/project/edinburgh-historic-graveyards.
I must admit, one of the sadder aspects of Scottish genealogy is that Scotland's cemeteries are in a much worse condition in general compared to elsewhere in Britain and my own native Northern Ireland. Thank God for the thriving volunteers in Scotland (FHSs, Recording Angels, Moray Burial Research Group, etc) who transcribe the information contained on the various headstones.
(With thanks to Jonathan Foyle via Twitter)
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
The papers of the Society of Friends, for both Limerick and Clare, have been placed online by Limerick City Council at www.limerickcity.ie/Archives/ReligiousSocietyofFriendsQuakersLimerick/ReligiousSocietyofFriendsQuakersLimerickPapers/. The records include vital records for the area, and records from the famine period.
Included in the release are:
Minutes of Men’s Meetings (1779-1848)
Minutes of Women’s Meetings (1793-1881)
Ministers and Elders (1832-1853)
Record of Sufferings (1777-1857)
Account books (1805-1951)
Notices of Removals (1781-1864)
Births (1812-1912)
Burials ( 1812-1895)
Marriage Records (1812-1943)
Register of Deaths (1812-1952)
Relief Committee Minutes (1847)
Library Committee Minutes (1826-1842)
Limerick Monthly Meeting Miscellaneous Papers (1817-1852)
(Thanks to Dick Eastman's blog)
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
So we know about releases for the 1939 National Register now in Scotland, England and Wales - but what about the six counties of Northern Ireland, I hear you ask? I received the following statement from the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) yesterday:
"I can confirm that the National Register records in Northern Ireland are held by the Public Record Office (PRONI) but they are not currently available to the public.
"PRONI will need to consult with other organisations as it considers how they might be made available in the future."
There are currently no plans to have the 1939 records released just now, particularly as PRONI is about to undergo a major move to new facilities in Belfast's Titanic Quarter (with a nine month closure later this year to facilitate the move).
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Ooops - missed this news announcement from the National Archives at Kew last week:
The records of seamen who joined the Royal Navy between 1853 and 1923 can now be searched and downloaded from DocumentsOnline, The National Archives' digital records service.
While many of the records from the Registers of Seamen's Services (ADM 188) and the Continuous Service engagement books (ADM 139) have previously been digitised, we have only recently completed the collection by releasing the final batch of files (ADM 139/221 - 1027) online. This means that over 680,000 records on Royal Naval seaman are now available to search and download.
Many of the records reveal year and town of birth, names of ships served on and the period of time served in the Royal Navy. Even greater detail can be found in records from 1892 onwards, invaluable for those tracing their naval ancestors. Entries on occupation and physical appearance, such as hair and eye colour, height and tattoos can be found, and even notes made about 'character' and 'ability'.
The records are free to search, but there is a charge of £3.50 to download. The service records of Royal Marines and Royal Naval Officers are also available from DocumentsOnline.
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Why not get the children involved in family history research?!
