5 April 2006 LostCousins Newsletter
Newsletter - April 2006
CONTENTS
* 1851 Scotland census now available
* 1841 England & Wales - latest news
* Old diaries prove invaluable
To visit the main LostCousins site please go to www.LostCousins.com
March was the best month ever at LostCousins, with nearly 2 million 'hits' for the website and more new members joining than in any previous month - which of course meant that more 'lost cousins' were found than ever before!
Whilst we'll do our best to help you with any queries you have in relation to your British ancestors, finding your 'lost cousins' is surely the most important (and rewarding) thing we do.
This was underlined by an uplifting story we heard just a few days ago from Fran in Surrey, who was absolutely amazed when she discovered a previously-unknown aunt through LostCousins. You can read about Fran's experiences in more detail below.
Also in this newsletter: there's a chance for you to get a free upgrade to subscriber status, just by doing what comes naturally!
It's almost 2 years since the LostCousins site first opened on a trial basis (the official launch was in September 2004), and we've got a great offer to celebrate our birthday on May 1st.
We're going to give away a year's free subscription to every member who during April uses their My Referrals page to tell their friends and relatives about LostCousins - provided one or more of them joins and finds a 'lost cousin' by May 1st.
Around half of all 'lost cousins' are found by new members, so this is an excellent opportunity to earn yourself a free upgrade to subscriber status, just by passing on the good news about LostCousins.
To enter go to My Referrals and click on 'Make a new referral'. Note that if you wish you can refer your friends and relatives without giving us their email address (though you can be certain we won't misuse the information - we have a strict privacy policy).
To claim your prize just send an email to competition@LostCousins.com quoting the referral code of the friend or relative who has found a 'lost cousin'. The closing date for claims is May 7th.
1851 SCOTLAND CENSUS NOW AVAILABLE
The 1851 Census for Scotland is now available at the Scotlandspeople site - see the website for details of what isn't currently included:
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?1263
Don't forget that a significant part of this census has been transcribed by volunteers and is available free of charge at the FreeCEN site (http://www.FreeCEN.org.uk).
1841 ENGLAND & WALES CENSUS - LATEST NEWS
The complete 1841 Census of England & Wales is going to be available at Ancestry very soon, possibly before the end of April.
This is the most difficult census to transcribe because the enumerators used pencil, and the microfilm can be almost illegible - so it's good to know that Ancestry's transcribers are making a special effort.
Don't forget that you can already search an index of the 1841 Census for Cornwall and Warwickshire at the FreeCEN site (and many other counties are available at Origins).
Fran wrote this week to tell us that - thanks to LostCousins - she was now in contact with her 94 year-old aunt and her family. It's a wonderful story, which we'd like to share with you:
"Neither of us knew the other existed, and she is the youngest sister to my departed dad, who had no idea she was alive.
"He was taken into care along with five of his brothers and sisters when he was a toddler, and never went home. As far as he knew he was an only child.
"I have met my auntie and she is really lovely and we both cried when we met. It was strange, but it felt like we had known each other for years not just for a few seconds.
"She has three children and named one of her sons after my dad and it is such a coincidence, but he looks and acts just like my dad - when I met him for the first time it was just like looking at my dad all over again.
"I also found out that two of my uncles were lost during the Great War - one of them went down with Lord Kitchener's ship, the HMS Hampshire, it was hit by a mine off the Orkney Isles, and bless him he was only 17 years old.
"My other uncle died at the Somme and he was only 18."
This touching story is a reminder that most 'lost cousins' are completely unexpected - you can never predict which relative might lead you to a 'lost cousin'. This is why we recommend you enter as many of your relatives as possible.
Here's a reminder of the key updates that we implemented in mid-March. They'll save you time and help us to provide you with an even better service:
(1) ENTERING ANCESTORS
We've acted on your suggestions, and made it much much faster to enter your relatives. In our tests we found that, thanks to the improvements, it now takes as little as 6 seconds to add a relative to an existing household!
That's the theory - but how does it work in practice? It's actually very easy! Once you've entered the first member of a household, instead of returning to a list of all your relatives, you'll see only the person you've just entered.
To add another relative in the same household click on 'Add Similar' or the + symbol at the end of the line. The usual input form will be displayed, but most of the information will already be filled in - all the census references and the surname.
In most cases all you'll need to add is a first name and age - no wonder it only takes 6 seconds!
To make it easier to check for errors and omissions the members of the household are now listed in the order that you enter them. So if you start from the head of household and work downwards, that's how they will be ordered on screen.
To enter a relative in a different household click on 'New Household', or choose 'Display All' to go back to the main My Ancestors page.
(2) BAPTISM DATES
No doubt many of the relatives you've entered on your My Ancestors page were born before civil registration began (1837 in England & Wales, or 1855 in Scotland). So you couldn't have a birth certificate - and might not even have an accurate birth date.
Now it's possible to enter baptism dates for any of the relatives you've found on the 1881 Census - whenever (and wherever) they were born.
(3) COUSINS
On your My Cousins page each entry is now marked with a symbol to indicate whether the person is someone you've discovered through LostCousins (a red star), or someone you already knew (a blue circle).
A ? symbol indicates that we don't know for sure whether that person is a 'lost cousin' or someone you already knew. Click on the ? symbol to tell us (if nothing appears to happen, try again, but this time hold down the Ctrl key while you click).
Entries in italics indicate an 'extended match', where there appear to be no common ancestors.
If you have any questions about any of the new features, or any suggestions for how we can make the LostCousins site even better, please email info@LostCousins.com
Did you or your ancestors press wild flowers, or draw pictures of flowers in a diary? An article in 'The Times' on March 18th revealed how such diaries are proving invaluable in helping British scientists to understand climate change.
For more information see:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2090988,00.html
We find your 'lost cousins' by looking for the overlaps between your family tree and the trees of other members. The more relatives you can enter on your My Ancestors page, the sooner we can work out which of our other members are YOUR cousins.
Remember that it's the brothers, sisters, and cousins of your direct ancestors who are most likely to provide the link to your 'lost cousins'. Look especially for the ones who by 1881 had families of their own.
We're here to help. Only today a member in Australia wrote to tell us what he thought of our free research and advice service:
"Thank you for your prompt and detailed reply. I am literally overwhelmed - you have given me more information and leads to other family links than I have had for years."
Remember that our one-to-one help and advice is available free to ALL members!
The LostCousins Team
http://www.LostCousins.com
info@LostCousins.com
© Copyright 2006 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?