12 January 2005 LostCousins Newsletter

Newsletter - January 2005

To visit the main LostCousins site please go to www.LostCousins.com

This is the first LostCousins newsletter of the year, so we’d like to start by wishing our members all the very best for 2005!

As we looked back at what had been achieved in 2004 we had to keep pinching ourselves. Was it really only 8 months since the LostCousins site first opened on a trial basis? And less than 4 months since we officially went live, in September? It’s amazing what - with your help – we’ve been able to make happen!

Over the past few weeks we’ve been conducting a survey of all the members who had found a cousin through the site during 2004. And whilst we’re still waiting for a small number of survey forms to be returned, the good news – the very, very good news - is that so far there hasn’t been a single instance in which a cousin we’ve found has proved to be unrelated!

There are plenty of other sites that will help you find people researching the same surname – or who just happen to have someone with the same name in their tree. But there is no other site that offers such accurate matching, or makes it so easy.

One of the respondents to our survey wrote:

“Your method of matching cousins is wonderful. It saves me having to trawl through the details to see if we have a potential link and therefore saves hours.”

Another put it very simply:

“I think the LostCousins method is great.”

This was a sentiment that was echoed time and time again. And the people we’ve quoted are not the lucky ones who found ‘lost cousins’ – they’re people who we’d put in touch with cousins they already knew about, the ones who by rights should have been disappointed!.

What has been demonstrated beyond any doubt, is that the LostCousins approach works – and works very well indeed!

OUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION

So far only a small minority of members have found ‘lost cousins’, which is inevitable with a new site. But each month the number doubles – and this happened even in December, which was otherwise a relatively quiet month.

During 2005 we aim to find at least FIVE TIMES AS MANY ‘lost cousins’ as we currently have members! We want all of you to find at least one ‘lost cousin’, and we know that many will find several (perhaps 10 or more). Just imagine what a difference this will make to your family tree!

Of course, the number of ‘lost cousins’ we are able to find depends in practice on how many ancestors have been entered, since that’s how the connections are made - and ultimately on how many members there are, as the more members we have the more ancestors there are to be entered.

HOW CAN I HELP?

There are very many different ways in which you might be able to help, but we recognise that everyone’s circumstances are different – so just choose the things that you’re most happy doing. You might want to print out the list and put a tick against the things you can do to contribute to the success of LostCousins.

TELL FRIENDS & COLLEAGUES - even if they aren’t interested themselves, they are sure to know people who will be

TELL RELATIVES – they can benefit from the research you’ve already done, and from the ‘lost cousins’ that you find

POST A MESSAGE ON A FORUM OR MAILING LIST – so long as it’s relevant (and within the rules) the other members will thank you for it

PASS ON THE GOOD NEWS – if you’re contacted, perhaps on GenesReunited, by someone who turns out not to be related, mention that you’ve found a better solution!

WRITE AN ARTICLE – several members have already written articles about LostCousins, and these have appeared in a wide variety of magazines

CONTACT YOUR LOCAL PAPER – local newspapers are always keen to print “human interest” stories

ADD A LINK – if you’ve got your own website, add a link to the LostCousins home page

ENTER MORE ANCESTORS – because the more relatives who appear on your ‘My Ancestors’ page, the sooner we’ll find your ‘lost cousins’

The success of LostCousins so far, and our even greater success in the future are all thanks to PEOPLE LIKE YOU!

NEWS

* The National Archives site now advertises pay-per-page access to scans of the 1881 and 1891 censuses of England & Wales. For a little over 7 pounds (including VAT) you can view 20 pages over a 7-day period. The service is provided by Ancestry, and appears to be identical to the service you would get if you went direct to their site, although this pricing option is new. You can search the indexes for 1881 & 1891 free of charge.

* Ancestry is close to completing the 1871 and 1901 censuses of England & Wales, and plans to tackle the 1861 census next. An annual subscription costs just over 70 pounds (including VAT) and offers unlimited access to Ancestry’s records for the UK and Ireland. It is currently slightly cheaper to pay in US dollars, but remember that credit card issuers usually add 2.5% to foreign currency purchases (Nationwide Building Society is a rare exception).

HINTS & TIPS

(1) Are you having trouble finding your ancestors on the 1881 census at FamilySearch? One limitation is that you can only specify the county of birth, and not the town or village.

Whilst Ancestry uses exactly the same index, the search facility is very different – it does allow you to specify a precise birthplace. Of course, there are also disadvantages – you can’t specify a range of birth years, for example. But when everything you’ve tried at FamilySearch has failed, the free index at Ancestry could provide the answer!

(2) If you search the indexes of births, marriages, and deaths at FreeBMD you can click on the name of the registration district to find out which towns and villages it includes. But did you know that you can also access this information on the GENUKI site?

GENUKI is one of the top-rated links on your ‘My Links’ page, but it can take a while to find your way around the site. The link below will take you straight to the pages which describe the registration districts in England & Wales:

http://www.fhsc.org.uk/genuki/REG/

(3) You probably know that the National Burial Index 2nd edition was released in September 2004 – but did you also know that you can search the index at:

http://www.familyhistoryonline.co.uk

This is a pay-per-view site run by the Federation of Family History Societies, and all profits from the site are returned to the local societies that provided the information. Apart from the NBI there are many other records that you can search, though these vary from county to county.

(4) Have you ever used ‘Refer a Relative’? If not, then you probably don’t realise how useful this feature can be.

The first advantage is that when your relative registers, their name will automatically appear on your ‘My Cousins’ page (and yours on theirs). This avoids the exchange of emails that would normally take place and the possibility of disappointment when a new cousin turns out to be someone you already know.

But an even greater advantage – for your relation – is that you can ‘send’ them the ancestors that you share. This means they don’t have to duplicate your efforts – the ancestors will automatically appear on their ‘My Ancestors’ page the first time they log in!

YOUR PASSWORD & EMAIL ADDRESS

To change your password, email address, or indeed any of the information you entered when you registered, visit your ‘My Details’ page. If you do change your password we suggest you immediately request an email reminder so that you have a record of the new password.

You can get an instant email reminder of your password at any time by clicking on “Forgotten your password?”.

By the way, when you ask for a password reminder, it has to be sent to the address we have on file (to protect your personal information). So please update your email address before you lose access to the old one.

A word of warning - even if you’ve chosen to be logged-in to LostCousins automatically, you will need to use your password from time to time.

SOME STATISTICS…….

The LostCousins site had over a million ‘hits’ in December 2004, making it one of the busiest genealogy sites in the UK. Tens of thousands of automatic searches were carried out, and the number of ‘lost cousins’ found in December alone was almost exactly the same as in all the previous months added together!

Thanks to all of you for your support, and especially to our ‘buddies’ who do an absolutely incredible job.

The LostCousins Team

Please do NOT copy or republish any part of this newsletter without permission - which is only granted in the most exceptional circumstances. However, you MAY link to this newsletter or any article in it without asking for permission - though why not invite other family historians to join LostCousins instead, since standard membership (which includes the newsletter), is FREE?