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 made it into the ads, as for me making it easier for people is one of the real joys of working at Ancestry.co.uk.

I started working in family history just as the first census records were going online.  Since then, we’ve gone from a situation where only those with enough money, time and dedication could discover their ancestors, to one where anybody can do it, mostly from the comfort of their own home. I’ve loved being a part of that transformation.

I typed in a name…

As another line from the TV ad says, getting started is as simple as typing your name and date of birth. You then move on to your parents and other close relatives, and before you know it you have the beginnings of a family tree.

We’ll then start giving you Ancestry Hints, to point you towards more information about your relatives in our records. We’ll help you discover where they lived, how they worked, and all the most important stories from their lives. Better yet, we’ll flag more and more ancestors, so you can keep growing your family tree all the way back to Tudor times.

If you haven’t tried yet, I urge you to give it a go this bank holiday weekend. We’ll give you 14 days free to see how you can get.

Get 14 days free

Authored by Russell James – family historian

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 it worked.  Parents did use their tokens to claim back their children.

Most of the tokens– playing cards, ribbons, letters – are safe with the children’s admission records but some – coins, medals and jewellery – were put on display in about 1860. Now for the first time both kinds are on display together at the Foundling Museum as an exhibition called Fate, Hope and Charity supported by Ancestry.co.uk.

The exhibition tells the stories behind some of these tokens, shows why parents had to abandon their children and looks at what they chose to identify their child.  It was perhaps a coral necklace to ward off illness or something very personal that they had carried around in their pockets like a thimble or a lucky coin. They took time before the parting to engrave a coin or to embroider a length of ribbon with a name and date of birth to make them into something personal. These small objects carry a strong message that for most families parting with a child was sad and painful.

This coin, a silver Charles II shilling, threaded with a yellow ribbon, was the token of Oliver Luke, admitted in 1758. Five years later his father, Richard Luke Esq, from Eynesbury in Huntingdon, (the RL of the coin) came to the Hospital with an accurate description of the token and the staff matched it to Oliver’s records. Due to the high infant mortality rates at the time many children whose parents returned for them had died, but Oliver was alive to be returned to his father.

I have found, with the help of Huntingdon Library and Archives,  that Oliver, born 1758, was not the only child of RL and ED. There were two more, one before (Peter) and one after (Thomas). Richard Luke had been married but his wife died in 1752 and in 1754 he was described as the ‘reputed father of a bastard child (Peter) born of the body of Elizabeth Dixey’, the ED of the coin. Both Richard and Elizabeth were excommunicated by the church for failing to answer charges about the birth of this child who was already dead by then.  Oliver was brought home in 1763, the third child, Thomas, was born and died in 1765 and Richard died in 1766.

Stories like this give us a picture of eighteenth-century family life we don’t see very often. You can understand why I enjoy so much working with the Foundling Hospital records and particularly with the tokens.

Dr Gillian Clark is an independent  researcher whose wider interest is in childhood outside the family home, particularly mother and baby homes, fostering and adoption.

Images: Foundling Hospital Tokens © The Foundling Museum, London

The Foundling Museum
Open Tuesday-Saturday: 10:00-17:00, Sunday: 11:00-17:00

Adult, £7.50, concession, £5 , free admission for children up to 16 years, Foundling Friends

www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk

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 report scanned and attached to another member’s public tree. I must say how much I appreciate that other researchers are willing to share.

It’s an 1820 Old Bailey record about Isaac and Ann Madell who were living in Morning Lane, Hackney at the time.  It seems Isaac and Ann were victims of a burglary in March 1820. Ann Madell, testifying at the Old Bailey, said that when she returned home from work a watch that had been safe in a drawer at home was missing.  She later saw that same watch in a pawnbrokers in Barbican (oops).  Robert Huxson, the pawnbroker, had given 14 shillings for the watch to a John Stapleton.

Stapleton was found guilty of stealing the watch worth 20 shillings and a handkerchief worth 4 shillings and was transported for 7 years!  To verify the details I looked to the Criminal Registers and all seems correct. I am left feeling that the punishment was harsh in proportion to the crime!

Much of our research is down to collecting facts and dates, but it’s so interesting when you find the stories.  That’s what is great about some of the more niche collections on Ancestry.co.uk –  your ancestors suddenly become real characters.

It also transpires that Ann and Isaac didn’t actually tie the knot until October that year, when he was a widower aged 66 (a good old age in those times). But at the Old Bailey she testified as the wife of Isaac.

There were some Banns recorded in 1816 but I can’t imagine what delayed the marriage by 4 years. How nice though to think of him finding companionship late in life – I don’t know how old Ann was or how long they had together – hopefully I can find out more.

I should admit that I intended to look for new records related to my Thames Lighterman ancestors going back from Hallett and Maynard families. I’m not really sure how I got diverted to Madells but I will try to focus my attention because it looks like the bad weather is here to stay!

Lesley is a Human Resources Manager which seems apt for genealogy and has been researching her family history for 10 years.  Most of her ancestors were from inner and outer London.  Aside from the satisfaction of collecting/organising data, the challenge of investigation and the excitement of discovery she likes to know about how her ancestors lived.

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 17^th May 1618. He was married and worked as a a horner –  someone who works with horn.

The difficulty was that Alexander wasn’t a forename that I could easily associate with any particular branch of the Cumberbatches. I hadn’t found his marriage in Cheshire or Bristol.

Hopefully these steps will give some insight into how I was able to find out more:

Here is the search criteria that helped. You’ll see I used an asterisk wildcard in the surname.

Scrolling down the results revealed

The striking coincidence is that these marriages occurred on 9 July 1614 and the bride’s name is Alice Hayes in all of the results. But why was she married in two places?

A quick review of both entries:

The entry says Anno d[omini] 1614 R[eign] Ja[mes] 12 [Twelfth year of the reign of James the First]

Alexander Cumberland unto Alice Hayes [July] 9

I figured that this would be one of those genealogical teasers. So I checked the other image:

This entry was transcribed as:

Name:   Alexander Cumper

Event Type:  Marriage

Event Date: 9 Jul 1614

Parish:  Arrow

Spouse’s Name:  Alice Hayes

But he names jumped out at me from the original record – it was Alexander Cumberbatche and Alice Hayes single p[er]sons. So I submitted a correction to make the surname Cumberbatche. Note in this old writing a letter that looks like an ‘r’ is a ‘c’. Compare the ‘c’ in Alice to the ‘c’ in ‘batch’ and see the ‘r’ at the end of Alexander and the ‘r’ in Cumber.

Where did the transcript ‘Cumper’ come from? This is easy to see if you separate the letters on different lines. Immediately below the ‘b’ in Cumber the high ascender for an old ‘s’ in ‘single’ on the line below interferes with the ‘b’ in Cumber. The transcriber read Cumper rather than Cumber and probably he or she could make no sense of the remainder of the surname ‘batch’.

So why were they married in two parishes on the same day? I turned to Google maps to discover where Arrow was compared to Alcester.

A quick check of The Phillimore Atlas & Index of Parish Registers confirmed that Arrow and Alcester were indeed separate and ancient parishes. However, they are adjacent to each other. Perhaps this marriage was recorded in both his and her parish registers.

His baptism

Feeling lucky, I searched for a baptism using the same criteria as before but adding Warwickshire as a place filter. But I had no luck with a surname CUM*. So I searched just for Alexander

After I confirmed that Alexander Chaumberline was a correct entry I carried on down the list.  I really have no idea what possessed me to click on Alexander Amberton, but here is what I found:

This is more difficult to read but it says:

[1586] Dec 3 Alexander the son of Nicholas

Cumberbach was christene[d] the third day of december

So Alexander Cumberbach was baptised 3 Dec 1586 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire and Nicholas Cumberbach was Alexander’s father. Now this Nicholas I know a little about! [Yes, I did submit a correction to Cumberbach]

The surname originates from a place in Cheshire called Comberbach. By the time it reaches Nuneaton in the Midlands it is recorded in parish registers as Cumberbach, Cumberland and Cumberbatche.

So thanks to the long weekend and a helpful Help and Advice article on how to decipher handwriting  I have been able to unlock more about the once elusive Alexander Cumberatche.

Bob Cumberbatch is researching every Cumberbatch from any time, any place or anywhere with the Guild of One Name Studies. He is a Committee member and Education Liaison Officer for the Guild, plus a member of the Society of Genealogists and a guest blogger for Ancestry.co.uk

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 1911 and 1901 Census records – perfect for the beginners out there.

I intend on paying particular attention to a character that has eluded me for a while.

xvij daye of Maye ao 1618

Alexander Cumberbatche, horner, ys admitted into the libarties of this Citty p[er] [by] the Consente of Mr Mayor Aldermen and Com[m]on Counsell Comm[un]ities painge the fine of three poundes, with this Condic[i]on, That he himselfe onlye shalbe Free, and [his] wyfe if she survive him, for her wydowehood, and that he shall not sell drinke nor keepe victuallinge, and hath p[ai]d £3 3s.

Alexander Cumberbatch paid to become a Freeman of the City of Bristol on 17^th May 1618. He was married and worked as a horner –  someone who works with horn.

The difficulty here is that Alexander isn’t a forename that I can easily associate with any particular branch of the Cumberbatches. I haven’t found his marriage in Cheshire or Bristol. Where did he come from and who did he marry? Also, a horner is again not an occupation that I can readily associate with another Cumberbatch family elsewhere.

Fingers crossed the bank holiday will allow me the time to uncover more about this fellow. If I strike it lucky I’ll report back all my findings – watch this space and good luck with your searches this weekend.

Bob Cumberbatch is researching every Cumberbatch from any time, any place or anywhere with the Guild of One Name Studies. He is a Committee member and Education Liaison Officer for the Guild, plus a member of the Society of Genealogists and a guest blogger for Ancestry.co.uk.

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 with my grandparents, it never occurred to me to ask about their memories. When you’re young, you assume that your older relatives have always been old. You don’t think about what their childhood was like.

As I got older, I did start to wonder. I would have loved to hear about the people, places and pets they grew up with. Sadly they weren’t around anymore to ask.

I know I’m not alone. I must have spoken to hundreds of family historians who berate themselves for getting into the hobby too late – when all the first-hand knowledge has disappeared.

1911 Census

That’s why the 1911 Census is so important. It lets many of us see our grandparents – or even parents – as children, and explore the memories we never asked them about.

Far more than birth certificates or any other recent records, the census tells you about the homes they lived in and the lives they created there.

Most importantly, you can discover the people your grandparents shared these memories with – perhaps their own grandparents, your 2x great-grandparents. And of course, once you’ve found these older ancestors in 1911, you can go back and explore their earlier experiences in the 1901 Census, before working your way back to the first census in 1841.

Free access

Start discovering your family’s memories with free access to our entire 1911 and 1901 census records, all Bank Holiday weekend. You can find your relatives, read about their homes, occupations and relationships, and see the original records, written in their own handwriting.

To get started, simply think of a relative who would have been alive in 1911. Perhaps you have your own favourite grandparent, who you wish you’d asked about their memories while they were still alive?

Free 1911 & 1901 Census Records – Search now

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 her ancestors. She had all the birth certificates and census printouts for the family and had taken the trouble to go and visit what she thought was her ‘ancestral village’. Imagine her disappointment when a local researcher told her that he had already researched the family and she was not a descendant of that particular person.

Together we tracked back through the certificates and census entries – we confirmed we were looking for a gentleman born in Lyme Regis, Dorset in 1795, I think it was. The person she had found, on the IGI (International Genealogical Index) had the right name and was baptised in the right year but in a different, albeit close, village in Dorset.

We only had 15 minutes and time was running out. But there, on the right-hand side of our screen, were the ‘Suggested Records’ – a list of extra records that related to our initial search. One in particular grabbed my attention, a baptism in Dorset.

With bated breath we clicked on the link – would we simply be back with the person she had already found? No, it was a baptism for the same name and year but this time in Lyme Regis and with different parents.

She was delighted and so was I. Of course there’s no guarantee that this is the right man – her first check is the burial records to ensure that he was not a victim of the high rates of infant mortality. But it’s a great start!

To ensure you don’t go wrong, check out the Help & Advice Centre’s Ten common research mistakes:

Authored by Gill Grocott.  Gill has been researching her family history for more than 10 years, having taken over from her mother. Her research has been almost exclusively in the British Isles, one of the many surprises she has received is to find out that she is almost 100% ‘made in England.’

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, the pleasure gained from the exploration is never diminished.

That’s why a high point in my year is the few hours as an Ancestry Advocate at WDYTYA? Live. Each year seems to get better. Maybe I’m more familiar with the Ancestry.co.uk site than I was the previous year, certainly each year there is more content on the site to unearth and this year there were more visitors wanting input from the Ancestry Advocates.

Their wait has to feel worth it; standing in a queue for half an hour to get access to the stand means that visitors have a burning need to get to the next stage in their family tree, to verify a hunch or a tiny piece of evidence. As Ancestry Advocates we must work hard not to disappoint.

The visitors I met this year were more focused on what they were looking for and where they had drawn a blank. All the Ancestry Advocates have encountered brick walls and we know how frustrating that can be. Uncle Ted died, he must have done, why can’t I find the record of his death in the index?

On the show stand we meet a few people who have been researching their family tree systematically and methodically for many years, but the majority of visitors who want help are comparative novices, who aren’t yet as obsessed as the rest of us! Little do they know how many late nights and missed meals are in their future, as they build their family tree from this new evidence.

New connections are only one aspect of the quest. Family historians also want to understand the events and social forces that affected the lives of their ancestors. They want to discover and tell a story; this is the compelling and satisfying experience. The 1851 Census shows that my 2^nd-great-grand-aunt Louisa was a maid, yet by 1881 she is described as ‘living on own means’ – the family rumours are that she inherited from a mistress.

On the Ancestry.co.uk stand I helped a visitor find the outline details of the will left by his relative’s mistress in the National Probate Calendar; he will now visit the relevant Probate Registry and discover whether his ancestor inherited all or part of the huge wealth that was left in the will. Another strand of a visitor’s family story can be told, based on fact not just hearsay.

I wanted to spend all day with some of the people I met at the show; I knew that between us we would have uncovered many previously ‘missing’ records in just a few hours. Nevertheless it was immensely enjoyable just to spend 15 minutes with each visitor I met. It was also very pleasurable to be called a ‘genius’ when I found lost father, whose name has never turned up in the Death Index, in the 1911 Census along with a previously unknown brother, grandmother and unmarried mother.

Authored by Jill Pack.  Jill is now a BBC Pensioner.  She was born and lives in London where at least 5 generations on both sides of her family were also born – mainly in Hoxton, Hackney, Notting Dale and Paddington.  She has been researching her family tree for over 8 years and has completed two courses in Genealogy at Birkbeck College, University of London.

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 smash through their brickwalls.

The Advocates arrived for our briefing by Ancestry.co.uk staff and the room was buzzing with conversation and excitement as newer members were welcomed and returning members reacquainted ourselves with each-other as we tucked into a glorious lunch. We are always so warmly welcomed by Aimee from Marketing, and the rest of the team.

We were welcomed by Jonathan, the MD – congratulations by the way, he shared that Who Do You Think You Are? Live! is the biggest family history show in the world and received 12,500 visitors last year, see here for a review: http://youtu.be/-SQfx5V7LF0

We were walked through the major groupings of records, some old, some new and some borrowed and given a taster of what is coming. Russell showed us how groups of records had been assembled into major categories to help us to find the people we are looking for in a more targeted way.

For instance, the screenshot above is the Military records portal page. It contains all the records available to help you find your military ancestors. I recognised “Master & Mates Certificates” as being drawn from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich where the Guild of One-Name Studies Maritime Records seminar was held.

What is borrowed? Ancestry.co.uk are syndicating and federating searches from other genealogical collections.

In the above screenshot you can see what has been recently added. At the top of the list is “Web: BillionGraves.com Burial Index”. You can now run federated searches across certain other databases from within Ancestry.co.uk. You get the transcriptions in your search results, and then visit the original website for the full record.

So what was blue? Guild members have been sharing their research into the origins and meanings of their surnames in a series of “What’s in a Name?” guest blogs on Ancestry. These have proved to be very popular with readers, with authors and with Ancestry.co.uk. Thank you to Emma for the positive feedback and encouragement and thank you to the Guild authors for sharing their research.

The buzz and excitement in anticipation of the show has been building for some time now. We Advocates are getting our own blog to share our experiences. Just one day to go!

Bob Cumberbatch is researching every Cumberbatch from any time, any place or anywhere with the Guild of One Name Studies. He is a Committee member of the Guild and is its Education Liaison Officer, he is a member of the Society of Genealogists and a guest blogger for Ancestry. He is passionate about his Caribbean and Italian ancestry; his wife has Irish ancestry, his daughter-in-law, Claire, has Welsh ancestry all of which makes his family history research “interesting”; Oh, and he is an Ancestry Advocate.

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 Surnames.  So he stared by making a list of all the Surnames in his Family Tree and then set about finding out the meaning of each one. So Far he has covered A to M and is currently working on N to Z.

ARROWSMITH –

Type – Occupational

ARROWSMITH is a rare English surname used to describes a maker of the iron points of the arrow, which were specially tempered in order to pierce armour.

This surname is NOT to be confused with the “Fletcher” who works on the other end of the arrow and is associated with the making of and attaching the flights. With this being the case one would therefore logically believe that there should be as many ‘ ARROWSMITHS’ as ‘Fletchers’ in the surnames list, but this is far from the case.  In the case of my own tree I have found in my research 3 ARROWSMITH’S and only 1 Fletcher. The reason for discrepancy arises because most original ‘fletchers’ were not makers of ‘flights’, but ‘fleshers’, people who cleaned animal skins to prepare the leather.

The guild list of England for the year 1400 gives ‘Arow-heders, maltemen, and Cornmongers’ as acceptable trades.

Alternative Spellings -  Aruesmith, Arwesmyth and Arrowsmyth

Also found as – Harrowsmith, Harrismith

Name Distribution of ARROWSMITH Families – According to the 1891 England and Wales Census the greatest number of ARROWSMITHS were located in Lancashire with 774 of 2672 which is 29% of the results.  This may account for why Henry Tudor of Lancaster beat King Richard 3^rd of York (figures show that there were only 141 of 2672 or 5% of ARROWSMITHS in Yorkshire) in the War of the Roses. His archers were better supplied.

Early examples of the recordings include: Roger le Aruesmith of Staffordshire in 1278, William le Arwesmyth of Essex in 1324, and Johanes Arrowsmyth of Yorkshire, in the 1379 Poll Tax rolls for that county.

Coming soon

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 Surnames.  So he stared by making a list of all the Surnames in his Family Tree and then set about finding out the meaning of each one. So Far he has covered A to M and is currently working on N to Z.