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Exploring your family’s past has never been easier
We’ve been running our ‘Boxes’ TV ads for a while now. I’m sure most of you have seen them – with the animated vines and leaves, and the iconic Ancestry box. One of the key phrases in these ads is ‘Exploring your family’s past has never been easier’. I’ve always been delighted that this line… Read more
A token gives up its secrets
I have been exploring the records of the Foundling Hospital since the 1980s – and still enjoy every minute of the time I spend on them. Recent work on tokens that parents left at the Hospital with their babies as identifiers 250 years ago shows that the system in place was a simple one and… Read more
The bad weather continues… but I can focus on my tree.
The predicted bad weather will be a rare opportunity to explore new records about my London-based ancestors. So many new records are now available for London on Ancestry.co.uk that a quick foray shows me I can add lots of data to what was previously exhausted research. To start things off nicely I have found a… Read more
The Results….Easter Weekend
Last weekend, I wrote about looking for a character in my tree that I was struggling with. I spent some much-needed time over the Bank Holiday researching him. As a reminder this is what I knew of him. Alexander Cumberbatche paid to become a Freeman of the City of Bristol on 17th May 1618. He… Read more
Easter Weekend – The LONG weekend is coming. What will you find?
The long Easter weekend is coming. A four-day weekend can be a precious opportunity to get things done. Traditionally it coincides with the start of the DIY season and bringing our gardens back under control. Do spare a little time for your family history research though. This weekend you can enjoy free access to the… Read more
Discover your family’s memories
Free access – 1911 & 1901 Census Records – All Bank Holiday weekend! Many of my earliest memories centre around my grandparents. I remember their enormous conservatory, the ancient grandfather clock that woke me up every time I stayed over, and especially their unruly pack of long-haired dachshunds. But despite all the time I spent… Read more
Righting a family history wrong…. in fifteen minutes.
I was nearing the end of my stint as an Ancestry Advocate on the stand at WDYTYA 2013, when a lady asked me to ‘help her find out where she had gone wrong’. … Let’s face it, we’ve all been there, haven’t we? She had obviously spent a great deal of time and money tracing… Read more
Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2013 – An Ancestry Advocate’s view
For me and my fellow Ancestry Advocates, the thrill of discovery isn’t just connected to our own family trees. Many of us have also researched the trees of our spouses as well as friends and near neighbours. Some have even offered their research skills as a charity auction item for strangers! Whoever we are researching,… Read more
Guest blog: Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue…
Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue… With Who Do You Think You Are? Live coming up from 22 February, it was time last week for the Ancestry Advocates to receive our latest briefing. The Advocates are a group of volunteers who help visitors to the Ancestry.co.uk stand at the show to… Read more
Guest Blog: What’s in a name? ARROWSMITH
Authored by David Spencer. David started research in to his family tree over 10 years ago and after collecting lots of names he decided to start looking to the Surnames it contained when he was thinking about what to give his parents for Christmas so he came up with the idea of a book of… Read more
Don’t forget you can search records, build your family tree and discover more about your family history over on the main site.
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