Professional Family History Research
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	News and Views
January 2011	This page provide information about the latest news regarding Anzestry's services, developments in family history research, tips for tracing your family history and other interesting pieces of information about genealogy.
	21^st December 2011	Christmas Christmas is a time for rest and relaxation after a busy year. It is also one of the few times in the year when people meet up with relatives who they do not see very often in the course of the year. These larger family gatherings are therefore a great occasion on which to ask more distant family members what they know about their part of the family and what they can recall about their parents, grandparents, and possibly even great grandparents. The more details you can amass from family members, the better informed you will be when it comes to commissioning research, or starting research yourself. Our ancestors’ view of Christmas was very different to the highly commercialised version we experience today. It was one of the few holiday days in the year and was often an occasion for a family event. Baptisms, and especially marriages, on Christmas Day was far more common than would normally be imagined, as at that time there were very few opportunities when an entire family could be gathered together. During the 18th and 19th centuries, with people working a six or indeed seven day week with no holidays, a wedding on a public feast day was not at all unusual. Of course, Christmas was not always an occassion for celebration. I have a copy of the death certificate of a namesake of mine (but no relation), Jeremy Palmer, who died at Buckingham on Christmas Day 1841. He was a 32 year old labourer, and was said to have died from 'decline'! <Return to top of page>
	25^th November 2011	Family History Talks Interest in family history as a hobby has probably never been so high. I regularly give talks and lectures on different aspects of the subject to family history societies and other groups and organisations and am always pleased to be asked to attend such events. If you are a member of an organisation that might be interested to hear some family history information, then please do get in touch to see whether a likely date can be arranged. The group does not have to be one already involved in family history research – I give talks explaining what family history is all about and how to get started in research to organisations and societies from outside of the genealogical world. If you are a member of a family history society, perhaps I can assist by providing a talk to your society on a particular aspect of research or group of records. The topics can always be catered to suit the requirements of the particular audience and its interests. Please give me a call or send me an email if you would like to arrange a talk. <Return to top of page>
	15^th September 2011	Pharos course - Australian Roots and Branches As I have mentioned previously, taking an online course is a great way to broaden your genealogical knowledge. The Pharos (www.pharostutors.com) range of courses cover a wide range of topics and details of their forthcoming courses can be found on their homepage. I will be tutoring one of the courses due to start within the next couple of months – Australian Roots and Branches, which commences on 4th November 2011. The course focuses on exploring Australian sources and helping people work back through the records to find their migrant ancestor and likely details of his or her origins. The course takes place over five weeks and is taught through a combination of lesson material, forum interaction and live online chat. If you think that this may be of interest to you, why not visit the Pharos site and register – I’d be delighted to see you on the course! Further details of the course can be found here. <Return to top of page>
	30^th June 2011	2011 Census The 16th national census of Australia will be taken on 9th August 2011, one hundred years after the first national census. Unlike other countries such as the UK where census records are a useful historical research tool for family historians, the Australian government routinely destroyed the census returns from 1911 - 2001 after the statistical information had been extracted from the records. In 2006, for the first time, people were given the opportunity to explicitly state that they wanted their census information presevered for future generations. If you want to help family historians in the 22nd century, then make sure that you tick the box requesting that your information be saved. Such census records will be held by the National Archives of Australia and will remain closed to public access for 99 years. More information about the 2011 census can be found here. You may also want to retain your own copy of the information you provide on the census form, so that this information will be available to your more immediate fmaily descendants during the next 99 years. <Return to top of page>
	29^th April 2011	Royal Ancestors Today is the day of the Royal wedding between HRH Prince William and Catherine Middleton. It is billed as the largest ever televised event and is expected to be seen by 2 billion people around the world. In the May issue of the excellent BBC magazine, Who Do You Think You Are? I wrote an article about the ancestry of Kate Middleton and how researchers can find links to royal pedigrees. There are an enormous number of people around the world who can claim links to Royal ancestry – and you may well be one of them. Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK and their former colonies probably have links to the British Royal family through what are known as ‘gateway ancestors’ – people whose earlier pedigree has been proven to link to the Royal family. If you can connect your ancestry to one of these gateway ancestors, then you are also connected to the Royal family. Researching such connections can often be a fun and interesting aspect of genealogy but it shouldn’t become a focus of all of your research. Researching with a set goal or end point in mind is never the best way to approach the subject – instead you should always be keen to follow the trail wherever it may lead you. Of course in years to come, if and when William and Kate become King and Queen, then there’s always the chance that you can claim a link to the Royal family if you can show your connection to one of Kate Middleton’s ancestors. Further details of her various lines of ancestry can be found here and here. <Return to top of page>
	18^th February 2011	Online family history courses If you undertake any research for yourself, you may have found that eventually you find yourself at a deadend. This is often because it can be difficult to know about the resources available and the research methods that may be required. To learn these extra skills, why not partake in an online genealogy course? Pharos is an organisation which runs many different types of family history courses, suitable for both beginners to the subject as well as the more experienced researcher. The courses are tutored by a team of expert genealogists with all of the teaching taking place online or via email - this means that where ever you live you can still take part. Details of the courses run by Pharos and the way they are organised and taught can be found on their website. Most courses last between 3 and 5 weeks and there are dozens of different courses on offer to choose from. <Return to top of page>
	14^th January 2011	Cruise into your family history Unlock The Past, an organisation promoting family history throughout Australia and New Zealand, is organising a genealogy cruise amongst the South Pacific islands in March this year. The cruise is, in effect, a family history conference held onboard the splendour of one of P&O's modern liners, the Pacific Dawn. If you fancy a holiday and want to learn about how you can discover more about your family history, then this may be exactly the occasion for you. The cruise, which will feature a full itinerary of talks and lectures from renowned genealogists, departs on 19th March 2011 from Brisbane and lasts for 8 days. As well as being able to experience life aboard a luxury ship, there are stopovers on several islands, as well as a full program of family history interest groups and activities. To find out further details about this exciting venture see the Unlock The Past website here - don't delay, there's not long left to book! <Return to top of page>
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