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There is quite a lot going on at the moment and I thought that you would
like to read this.
It also gives me an opportunity to wish you all a Very Happy Christmas & a
Good New Year.
Richard.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 1911 Census latest - and a Christmas gift!
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:33:56 -0000
From: LostCousins [1]<info(a)lostcousins.com>
Reply-To: [2]info(a)lostcousins.com
To: [3]richard.chilvers2(a)ntlworld.com
Well, I certainly hope you haven't been suffering from a heavy cold like me.
Whether it's my age or the coldest start to a British winter in 30 years I
don't know, but it hasn't been a pleasant experience - and it's been
particularly frustrating because there's so much I've wanted to tell you
about!
But first, my Christmas present to you. From now until Twelfth Night
(January 6th) the LostCousins site will be completely free for all members,
new and old. Everyone will have subscriber privileges, and so be able to
contact other members who are connected to them. If the past is anything to
go by (and despite what Henry Ford said, it usually is), the number of 'lost
cousins' found during this period will be amazing. (Note: LostCousins may be
free, but as far as I know all other genealogy sites will be charging as
usual - please don't complain to me if commercial sites don't follow my
example!)
The more relatives you enter on your My Ancestors page, the better your
chance of finding some new cousins - and what a great Christmas present that
would be!
I suggest you start before Christmas - that way, when your cousins enter the
relatives you share and click the Search button they'll be matched with you
immediately! When you have a few spare moments please log in at
[4]www.LostCousins.com , and enter some more of your relatives from 1881
(so that your cousins will be more likely to find you). As ever, your user
name is your email address ([5]richard.chilvers2(a)ntlworld.com) and if you
can't remember your password you can get an instant email reminder by
clicking [6]here .
See the article at the end of this newsletter for more useful tips on how to
make the most of this opportunity.
IN YOUR DECEMBER NEWSLETTER
* 1911 Census due in the New Year
* Looking ahead to 2011
* Wartime recipes
* DNA controversies continue
* Newspaper archives free online
* Cornish parish records online
* New South Wales records
* Peter's Tips
* Make the most of your Christmas gift!
1911 CENSUS DUE IN THE NEW YEAR
As you probably know by now, 2009 will see the online release of the 1911
England & Wales census, which I'm certain will be even more momentous than
the release of the 1901 Census. What makes this census particularly special
is being able to see the forms that your ancestors filled in themselves - it
could well be the first time you've seen their handwriting.
No date has been announced, but the amount of coverage in the latest issues
of family history magazines suggests that an early date is being aimed for.
One thing I do know is that the whole census won't be released at the same
time - the census is being digitised in piece number order, so London will
be first, followed by the English counties, then Wales, and finally islands
and ships. I don't know how the pieces were numbered in 1911, but if it's
anything like 1881 we can expect to see the southern counties of England
first.
Initial access to the census will be through a dedicated website (
[7]www.1911census.co.uk ), and you'll need to buy credits - there won't be a
subscription option. At a later stage [8]findmypast.com will be the first
subscription site to have the new census, and findmypast.com vouchers will
be valid at the census site from the start - so if there's someone who's
still wondering what to buy you for Christmasâ¦..
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2011
The next British census takes place in 2011, and the government has just
published a [9]White Paper that - amongst other things - lists the
information that will be collected in respect of households and individuals.
If you live in Lancaster, Anglesey, or Newham you may have the opportunity
of taking part in a census rehearsal on October 11, 2009 (similar rehearsals
will be held in Scotland, and in Northern Ireland - although not necessarily
on the same date). Although the representations of genealogists have been
acknowledged, the government has reaffirmed that the census records will be
closed for 100 years, until 2112.
WARTIME RECIPES
The TV chef Jamie Oliver used to work in his parents' pub, which is just a
few miles down the road from LostCousins, so earlier in the year I watched
Jamie's Ministry of Food and his attempts to get the inhabitants of
Rotherham cooking at home. I don't know whether you saw it, but in view of
the current economic climate I thought it might be fun to take a look at
some of the wartime recipes promoted by the original Ministry of Food.
I won't repeat here the recipe for Rich Mock Cream that featured in an
article headed 'Festive Touches for Christmas' but if you want to remind
yourself of the privations of rationing click [10]here .
DNA CONTROVERSIES CONTINUE
Regular readers will know that I've long been concerned about the way in
which DNA tests are marketed, and last month the American Society of Human
Genetics set out their concerns in a [11]statement . My advice is to use
DNA analysis only to answer specific questions such as "Do these two males
with the same surname share a common paternal ancestor?" unless you have
read the ASHG statement and understand it.
The use of DNA in policing is also controversial - earlier this month the
European Court of Human Rights decided that the UK's national DNA database
should not routinely retain samples taken from people who were suspected of
a crime, but not convicted. Yet just this week the killer of Rachel Nickell
was convicted, 16 years after the murder, thanks to improvements in DNA
techniques - and the murderer who killed schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton in 1991
was also convicted less than 3 weeks ago thanks to the discovery of his
son's DNA on her purse.
The ability to recover information from DNA samples is improving rapidly -
last month scientists at Pennsylvania State University reported that they
had produced a rough first draft of Mammoth DNA working from tufts of hair
from two woolly mammoths which died in Siberia between 20,000 and 60,000
years ago. Meanwhile efforts to sequence Neanderthal DNA continue, and
within the next couple of years we may find out whether Neanderthals ever
interbred with humans.
Who knows what DNA will be able to tell us in the future!
NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES FREE ONLINE
More and more newspaper articles are being made available online, and all
those I'm going to write about today are completely free to users!
One of the biggest ventures is the [12]Australian Newspapers Digitisation
Program , which has a beta site giving access to over 3.5 million articles
from 1803 onwards. In Canada the University of Victoria is leading a project
to put [13]online articles from the Daily Colonist (also known as the
British Colonist, and now the Times Colonist) and other Vancouver Islands
newspapers from 1859-1921.
The archives of the [14]London Gazette are also online. Best known as the
newspaper where official notices of bankruptcies are published, there are
also editions for Edinburgh and Belfast.
But by far the biggest archive I've discovered is [15]PaperofRecord.com , a
project now owned by Google, which has over 21 million newspaper pages -
most of them from Canada (but publications from the US, Mexico, and Europe
are also in the list). Google, of course, also has [16]Google Books , which
allows you to search the text of millions of books and magazines including
some which are transcriptions of parish registers, or record births,
marriages, and deaths - so you may well find some of your relatives listed
(I even discovered that I'm mentioned in some extremely obscure
publications, so you may be too!).
CORNISH PARISH RECORDS ONLINE
I don't know whether you've come across the concept of an Online Parish
Clerk before, but in the words of Peter Christian (writing on the GENUKI
site) they're volunteers who "provide a focus for the transcription of
historical records at parish level".
Michael, one of our Australian members is an OPC for one of the Cornish
parishes, and he recently told me about the work that he and his colleagues
are doing. They're not just coordinating transcriptions, they're making them
available online - and even where the entries are already in the IGI you're
likely to find extra information, because they have transcribed the entire
record including (for example) marginal notes made by the vicar, and the
names of marriage witnesses.
If you have any connections with Cornwall I'd thoroughly recommend visiting
[17]www.cornwall-opc.org
NEW SOUTH WALES RECORDS
One of the best Australian sites is the [18]NSW State Records Authority ,
and although they charge for copies of actual records, there's a lot you can
find out just by using the free searches. There can't be many British
families that don't have Australian connections (and vice versa) so it's
worth checking the site out - perhaps you'll find a whole new branch of your
family!
PETER'S TIPS
Last month I briefly mentioned my September article, in which I explained
how many British pensioners can get themselves an extra week's pension,
worth upwards of £90 for most people. Many members seem to have missed that
original article, so here's what I wrote:
"Most state pensions are paid 4-weekly in arrears. But did you know that
it's possible to have your pension paid weekly - and in advance? To switch
to weekly payments call the Pension Service on 0845 60 60 265, or see this
[19]article on the Age Concern website for more details."
If you missed that opportunity to get some free money, you may also have
missed my article about saving money on your fuel bills using the free
[20]Switch with Which website. It is so easy to switch to a different gas
or electricity supplier, and often you can save 10-20%, which is a big
saving on some of your biggest bills.
One of my other big bills was water - until I had a water meter fitted.
Since then my bill has been 50% lower! You're most likely to benefit if
you're rattling around in a big house, because many water bills are still
based on rateable values - but your water company should provide you with a
ready reckoner that will enable you to figure out if you will benefit.
Finally, here's a tip that could save you money on the 1911 Census. Some
records offices and libraries may still have stocks of the old 5 pound
findmypast.com vouchers, which offer 50 units (10p per unit). If you buy
units through the [21]findmypast.com website the minimum is 60 units, but
they'll cost you 6.95 - which is nearly 12p per unit. However, it's worth
noting that the best deal currently available seems to be 280 units at
24.95, or under 9p each (through the findmypast website), so if you're
likely to be looking up lots of entries in the 1911 Census, that could be
the way to go.
MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR CHRISTMAS GIFT!
Few gifts are as exciting, or as meaningful, as the discovery of a new
relative. Now just in case anyone reading this hasn't twigged how the
LostCousins system works, here's what we do - we match up members who have
both entered the same relative from the census on their respective My
Ancestors pages. It's quite simple really - if you and another member are
both related to the same person, then you must also be related to each
other.
So what's stopping you finding your living relatives, your 'lost cousins'?
Obviously they won't all be LostCousins members - but a fair number of those
who are actively researching their family tree will be (and of course those
are the ones you really want to find). In practice - and you may find this
hard to believe - the most common reason we can't match up two members who
are cousins is because one of them (not you, I hope) hasn't entered any
relatives at all.
In fact there are 20,000 members who haven't entered a single relative. Not
even one! Considering it would take them less time to enter an entire
household than it did to register with LostCousins in the first place I find
that truly amazing - and I really hope that my Christmas offer will provide
them with the incentive they need to make a start. After all, anyone who's
unable to find their relatives in 1881 can always ask for help from the
LostCousins 'buddies'.
Few members can claim to have entered all of their relatives from 1881. It's
usually the collateral lines that are forgotten - yet in practice these are
the branches most likely to lead to 'lost cousins'. Less than 10% of your
living relatives share an ancestor who was still alive in 1881 - and that's
why it is so important to enter the brothers, sisters , and cousins too
(especially the ones who had families of their own in 1881).
Last, but not least - have you considered telling other researchers about
LostCousins? As the site's free for the next fortnight there couldn't be a
better time! [22]Genes Reunited claims to have 9 million registered
members, and even though there are probably less than 10% who are actively
researching their family tree, that's still a lot more than the 68,531
members that we have at LostCousins. Most of their so-called 'hot matches'
are spurious - even they wouldn't dispute that - so what a great opportunity
for you to tell the people you've been matched with about a site that has a
99.9% record for accuracy!
That's all for now - I hope you've found this newsletter interesting and
useful. Have a great Christmas!
Peter Calver
Founder, LostCousins
[23]peter(a)LostCousins.com
[24]www.LostCousins.com
You have received this newsletter because you are a registered member of
LostCousins. If you would prefer not to receive our occasional newsletters,
or would rather receive an edition that matches your interests more closely,
please change the preferences on your My Details page
--
Richard Chilvers.
Guild of One-Name Studies, West Sussex Representative
One-Name CHILVERS study at [25]http://www.chilversgenealogy.co.uk
CHILVERS e-mail group at [26]http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/c/chilvers
.html
To read about the CHILVERS DNA testing project go to my web site or directly to
[27]http://www.familytreedna.com/surname_join.aspx?code=A30597&special=true
References
1. mailto:info@lostcousins.com
2. mailto:info@lostcousins.com
3. mailto:richard.chilvers2@ntlworld.com
4. http://www.LostCousins.com/
5. mailto:richard.chilvers2@ntlworld.com
6. http://lostcousins.com/pages/login/forgotten.mhtml
7. http://www.1911census.co.uk/
8. http://findmypast.com/
9. http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-census-questionnaire-conten...
10. http://www.fortunecity.co.uk/meltingpot/oxford/330/ration/ratn2.html
11. http://www.ashg.org/pdf/ASHGAncestryTestingStatement_FINAL.pdf
12. http://www.nla.gov.au/ndp/
13. http://web.uvic.ca/vv/newspaper/index.php
14. http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/Home.aspx?geotype=London
15. http://paperofrecord.com/
16. http://books.google.com/
17. http://www.cornwall-opc.org/
18. http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/indexes_online_3357.asp
19. http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/AgeConcern/Documents/IS16PaymentofpensionsAp...
20. http://www.dpbolvw.net/8j98hz74z6MOUWQUNOMONSWRUWU
21. http://findmypast.com/
22. http://www.jdoqocy.com/3g103zw41w3JLRTNRKLJLKOTNSNQ
23. mailto:peter@LostCousins.com
24. http://www.lostcousins.com/
25. http://www.chilversgenealogy.co.uk/
26. http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/c/chilvers.html
27. http://www.familytreedna.com/surname_join.aspx?code=A30597&special=true