When researching your family history you may come across references in a parish register to an ancestor being ‘buried in wool’ or ‘woollen burial’. What did this mean? For centuries the woollen trade had been important to the wealth and prosperity of England, but with the introduction of new materials and foreign imports, some people thought [more...]
When researching your family history you may come across references in the UK census returns, directories and other archive material to your ancestor living a Model Lodging House. These were clearly lodging houses, but why use of the word Model? During the 19th century, Britain was undergoing tremendous social change caused by the industrial revolution, the [more...]
In 1930, Albert Einstein, the famous theoretical physicist, was dividing his time between living in Berlin in a five-storey house at Schöneberg, Haberlandstrasse, 5, then located near Berlin’s zoological garden, and his summer house at Caputh to the south of Berlin. The 1930 Berlin telephone directory lists him as: Einstein Albert Prof. Dr. Univ. -Prof., W30, [more...]
Here are two good sources for you to help you research the Scottish connections in your family tree. The first is The Scotsman archive. The archive provides every issue of the paper from 1817-1950. A whopping 600,000 pages. The newspaper is printed in Edinburgh. In this archive, each paper provides a broad review of Scottish, British [more...]
When researching your family tree you may come across a reference in the Victorian census returns, commercial directories or newspapers, to the occupation of beerhouse keeper. Sometimes it is also written as beer house. The Government of the 1820s and 1830s were keen to promote beer drinking instead of spirits, especially gin. Widespread drunkenness through gin [more...]
Researching your family tree is an interesting hobby, and for some it turns into an obsession with a determination to go back as far as they can. Some people move onto conducting a one-name study on their surname or family name and its variants. In other words, researching people who share the same surname. One-name studies [more...]
Family history researchers must be always ready to be shocked when they find a ‘skeleton in the cupboard’ while researching their family tree. Thieves, arsonists, bigamists and even murderers can be revealed. In the UK, types of records relating to their criminal past can be many and varied, and found in many different archives including the [more...]
There are a few of us who have made mistakes in our life and have seen ourselves appear in newspapers. Perhaps for court appearance, a criminal conviction, or a scandal involving our private life. Until a few years ago it was possible to go on with your life knowing that after 20 or 30 years it [more...]
Tithe Maps were drawn up in England and Wales following the passing of the Tithe Commutation Act, 1836. The Act changed the ancient method of paying tithes in kind to a rent-charge levied on landowners according to the value of their land. Tithe maps and the accompanying tithe apportionment document can help you research your family [more...]