22 November 2005 LostCousins Winter newsletter
Newsletter - Winter 2005
CONTENTS
* 1861 Census of Scotland online now
* Hints & tips – how to use FamilySearch
* Help charities - and help your fellow members too!
To visit the main LostCousins site please go to www.LostCousins.com
Was it really only a month ago that we announced the winner of the prize for entering the 250,000th ancestor at LostCousins? And yet we’ve already passed the 300,000 mark!
More members and more ancestors enable us to identify many more ‘lost cousins’, which is why we’ve been working hard to encourage new members to join. The brilliant 4-page feature in ‘Your Family Tree’ recently has brought a lot of new people to the site, as did the exclusive Ancestry offer, thanks to members who spread the good news on forums and mailing lists.
(At the time of writing the discount offer is still open - click the Ancestry logo on our home page, and if the discount is still available you’ll be taken to a special page on the Ancestry.co.uk site.)
To keep the momentum going we’ve got another exclusive offer - we’re GIVING AWAY 20,000 POUNDS worth of units at FamilyRelatives.org! It’s an opportunity to try out the most exciting new site of 2006 without spending a penny (see below for full details).
Christmas is a time when families get together, which makes it an ideal time to start researching one’s family history - particularly since the second series of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ will be broadcast by the BBC in January and February.
We’ve come up with a great way to attract new members, and at the same time raise money for good causes. We hope you’ll take part - you’ll find full details below.
1861 CENSUS OF SCOTLAND ONLINE NOW
The 1861 Census of Scotland is now online at the Scotlandspeople site (http://www.Scotlandspeople.gov.uk). With censuses from 1861-1901, BMD registrations from 1855, and parish records before that, it’s an essential site for anyone with Scottish ancestry. The only downside - it’s a pay-per-view site.
By the way, Scottish ancestors are still under-represented at LostCousins - so if you’re having trouble finding your Scottish relatives in 1881, please let us know, and we’ll do our best to help. We can also assist if you’ve found your relatives, but don’t have the census references.
It is now possible to buy a subscription to LostCousins. If you have a UK bank account you can pay by cheque or debit card; otherwise you’ll need a credit card (Visa or Mastercard). If you subscribe before the end of November and enter the code NOVEMBER you’ll get 14 months instead of 12, and you can also take out a Joint subscription (ie husband and wife) for the price of a Single subscription!
Full details were in our November newsletter - email us if you’d like a copy.
During your research you’re bound to come across amounts that your ancestors earned, paid, or inherited. But how can you get some idea of what that sum was really worth?
We’ve discovered a site that will translate amounts from any year in the period 1830-2004 into an equivalent amount in any other year. And it does it in 5 different ways, the most important of which are prices and average earnings. For example, suppose that you discovered that your ancestor was earning 1-2-6d per week in 1881 (that’s 1 pound, 2 shillings, and 6 pence for anyone who doesn’t remember our old money!).
Go to http://www.eh.net and click on ‘How Much is That’, then choose the second item in the menu. Enter the original year (1881 in this case) and the amount, then put 2004 in as the ‘Desired Year’ (since it doesn’t go up to 2005 yet). Click calculate, and you’ll discover that 1-2-6d in 1881 was equivalent to 73.49 today based on the rise in prices, but 511.08 based on the increase in average earnings.
Which suggests to us that in 1881 the average person was 7 times worse off than today, even though they worked nearly twice as many hours!
The popularity of different first names varies enormously over the years: there were only 10 Waynes on the 1881 Census, and not a single Kylie, whereas there were hundreds of Keturahs and Kezias, and even a few Nebuchadnezzars.
But in our researches we’ve come across a few names that really stand out on the census, such as the twin boys Romulus and Remus Ray, and the totally unique Census Brett, so called because she was just one day old on Census Day 1881.
What’s the most unusual name you’ve come across on the 1881 Census? There’s a year’s free subscription for the member who comes up with the one we like the best, and if you’ve already bought a subscription we’ll add not just one year but two! Email your entry to info@LostCousins.com before the end of November, and include the words ‘Unusual names’ in the subject.
The key to family history research is access to the very best resources. Last month LostCousins members had an exclusive opportunity to subscribe to Ancestry.co.uk, the best England & Wales census site, at a bargain price; this month we’re giving you a chance to try out the best births, marriages, and deaths site ABSOLUTELY FREE!
There are many ways to find the birth, marriage, or death of an ancestor - but FamilyRelatives.org is by far the best solution we’ve found! The site not only has complete coverage from 1837-2003, the records from 1866-1920 and 1984-2003 (over 150 million records in all) are fully searchable!
What does this mean? Every single birth, marriage, and death in England & Wales between 1866-1920 and 1984-2003 has been fully transcribed – so instead of painstakingly working through quarter by quarter you can go straight to the relevant entries! This not only saves time - it saves money, too.
Since we started using the site we’ve found all sorts of ways to make use of this great new resource. For example, if you’re researching a rare surname you can get a list of all births, all marriages, or all deaths over the 55-year period from 1866-1920 instantly – and at a very reasonable cost.
Alternatively you might take advantage of the fact that, from July 1911 onwards, the mother’s maiden name is shown in the index of births to search for children of a particular marriage. Or you can try the Marriage Match for the period 1866-1911, which again reduces the amount you spend online.
Units cost between 7p and 10p, and whilst it costs 2 units to view a page of search results, there can be up to 20 entries on the page, all of them relevant. Remember that you only get the names you’re looking for, not pages and pages of names that just happen to be in the same region of the alphabet. You can restrict the search to particular regions of the country - or even specific registration districts - so that you don’t pay for results that you’re going to reject anyway.
Searching is free – you only pay to look at the search results (although if you’re like us, you won’t be able to resist peeking). Because the indexes are complete a search that comes up with 0 results can be extremely informative, yet it won’t cost you a penny!
What about other periods? Between 1837-65 and 1921-1983 you’ll be directed to the pages in the quarterly indexes where the name you’re seeking might be found - which is neither better nor worse other sites we’ve tried - and it costs just one unit to view each scanned page.
Another unique feature at FamilyRelatives is that your searches are saved for a full 3 months, which allows you to pick up where you left off (and view your previous research for free). And all images are in greyscale providing greater clarity and detail than the usual black and white images.
All in all it’s a great site, and one that we’re using more and more. But you don’t have to take our word for it - if you’re one of the first 20,000 LostCousins members to visit http://www.FamilyRelatives.org you’ll get 10 units completely free! This exclusive offer is a great opportunity to fill in some of the gaps on your family tree - and you’ll be surprised how much you can discover with just 10 units.
Here’s how to get your free units:
1. Go to http://www.FamilyRelatives.org and click on New Registration (or Login if you’re already a member).
2. Once registered or logged in go to the Purchase page
3. At the top of the page enter the Offer Code: LC2005 but leave the password box blank.
4. Press the top Continue button to display the exclusive offer of 10 free units for LostCousins members.
5. Select 10 units and press the Continue button at the bottom of the page.
6. That’s it - the free units have been added to your account and you can start using this great site!
From time to time new LostCousins members contact us because they can’t find the Search button.
Whilst the Search button can usually be found on your ‘My Ancestors’ page, it isn’t displayed unless you have entered at least one of your relatives from the 1881 Census. Why? Because that’s who we’ll search for when you click the button. Whether you’ve entered one relative, or one thousand, we’ll check every one against over 300,000 relatives entered by other members.
It’s not only fast, efficient, and 100% accurate - it’s also extremely fair. Most sites allow anyone to come along and search without contributing any information themselves, but at LostCousins nobody can search the information you’ve entered unless they contribute details of their own relatives.
Remember too that because searching is fully automatic, nobody but you sees the information you enter (this is a big improvement compared to other sites).
HINTS & TIPS – HOW TO USE FAMILYSEARCH
The FamilySearch site is one of the most useful family history sites there is for those researching their British ancestors – and it’s completely free!
However it isn’t the easiest site to find your way around, so we thought it would be useful to provide a quick guide. There are two key resources that we use all the time - the 1881 Census of England & Wales, and the International Genealogical Index, but to get the best out of each you need to search them separately, so whilst it’s tempting to use the Search on the home page, we’d strongly recommend that you don’t!
Instead, click on the ‘Search’ tab at the top, then click on ‘Census’ to bring up the ‘Census Search’ page. Select 1881 British Census from the drop-down menu, but note that whilst it’s described as the British Census, it doesn’t include Scotland (or Ireland).
Type the name of the person you’re looking for in the boxes labelled ‘First Name’ and ‘Last Name’; how much more information you enter depends partly on how much you know (or think you know), and on how unusual the person’s name is. In general you should enter the minimum of information – the more you specify the greater the chance that you’ll miss the person you’re looking for, whether because of a transcription error, or because the information on the census was simply wrong.
Indeed, you should hardly ever specify a precise year of birth, even if you know the person’s exact birthdate. Ages on censuses were frequently incorrect, and in any case the way that the FamilySearch site calculates the year of birth is to subtract the age from 1881, which – considering the census was in early April – is usually going to give the wrong answer. Use the ‘Birth Year Range’ to provide some leeway – plus or minus two years is usually sufficient.
When should you specify the name of the ‘Head of Household’? It’s a useful way to narrow down the search when the name of the person you’re looking for is very common. For example, a search for ‘Mary Smith’ born in 1850 throws up 385 results, but if you specify ‘John Smith’ as the head of household you’ll have just 40 to look through. It’s also a good way of finding a family whose surname has been badly mistranscribed – leave out the last name altogether, but fill in as many of the other fields as you can.
Once you have found the person you’ve been searching for, and have displayed their ‘Individual Record’, click on the word ‘Household’ at the right of the page to display the entire household. We’d recommend that you print out the ‘Household Record’ for your files as it not only shows all the names, ages, occupations and birthplaces – it also gives the references you need to enter your relatives on your ‘My Ancestors’ page.
This article originally appeared in our Spring newsletter. In a forthcoming newsletter we’ll introduce you to the IGI.
HELP CHARITIES - AND HELP YOUR FELLOW MEMBERS TOO!
Christmas is a time when families get together, which makes it an ideal time for people to start researching their family tree. Would you like to help us introduce some of your friends and relatives to the joys and challenges of family history – and raise money for charity at the same time?
Here’s it works: we’ll provide you with sheets of self-adhesive labels that you can stick inside the Christmas cards you send (or on the envelopes if you prefer). For each person who joins LostCousins quoting the code on the label, and who then buys a subscription before Easter 2006, we’ll donate £2 (two pounds) to the charity specified by the code.
The six charities that we’ve chosen to support this year are (in alphabetical order):
The Alzheimer’s Society
Amnesty International
Childline
Oxfam
Shelter
Sightsavers International
The labels are in sheets of 24, and we can send you sheets dedicated to one particular charity, or mixed sheets with 4 labels for each of the 6 charities. Please make sure that we have your address so that we know where to send them. Here’s what it says on the labels:
Interested in your Family History?
Christmas is a great time to start! For advice and help finding others who are researching your ancestors visit
It’s free to join, and the free basic membership includes one-to-one help! Please enter the code CHILDLINE when you register.
If you participate you’ll not only be helping to raise money for the charity (or charities) of your choice, and introducing friends and relatives to a worthwhile hobby, you’ll also be helping to grow the LostCousins membership, which will benefit all of the existing members. Did you know that every time we double the membership the number of ‘lost cousins’ goes up four times?
How do you take part? Just send an email to info@LostCousins.com with the subject “Charity labels” and tell us how many sheets of each type you would like: ALZHEIMERS, AMNESTY, CHILDLINE, OXFAM, SHELTER, SIGHTSAVERS or MIXED
Remember there are 24 labels in each sheet. If requesting more than 5 sheets in total we’d appreciate a few words of explanation (perhaps you run a business, and want to include the labels in the cards you send to your customers).
Unfortunately, because of the high cost of Air Mail postage, this offer is for members with a UK postal address ONLY.
AND FINALLY......
Every time you tell someone about LostCousins you’re starting off a chain reaction. For example, that person might tell two others – and one of them might post a message on a forum. Another member of the forum might tell a friend – who then posts a message on a newsgroup. Everyone who reads that message (and all the others in the chain) is the ‘lost cousin’ of somebody – perhaps it could be you!
Thanks for your support over the past year – we couldn’t have achieved so much without your help!
The LostCousins Team
http://www.LostCousins.com
info@LostCousins.com
© Copyright 2005 Peter Calver & Lost Cousins Ltd
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?