Well, I attended the WDYTYALive family history show in London on Friday 26th February. A busy and tiring day, but I managed to visit most of the stalls I had prepared questions for, and received welcome advice, before my first day’s seminar at 12:30am. The remainder I visited dodging between the seminar schedules.

Tony Robinson signing autographs

The actor and historian, and UK face of Ancestry.co.uk, Tony Robinson, presented The Journey of a Record at the Ancestry Academy, and visitors through the day could hear beginner, intermediate and advanced talks, with the main advanced presentation being given by genealogy and history expert Dr. Nick Barratt (personally, I felt a little too much cross-over between content of the latter two that I visited).

Gill Blanchard’s talk on Norfolk ancestors was welcome, since I may have to trace there (as confirmed by a visit to the Norfolk FHS stall).

The talk on the 1910 Valuation Survey (‘Lloyd George’s Domesday’) given by Peter Park was ‘different’ but useful, amongst other things highlighting how the occupier of property is not necessarily the owner, and that occupation could change a lot within a short few years.

All-in-all, another worthwhile visit, and the extra CDs I bought from KFHS have already this weekend yielded tree expansion and clarification around Birchington, Chartham and Challock!

Ancestry Intermediate

I have finally got around to updating my tree on Ancestry.co.uk ! It took a while to merge in (it has been a while since it worked in Family Tree Maker), but I got there eventually, hopefully without mistakes.

I can now make use of the ‘hint’ feature for my new data – something I find to be one of the best things about FTM. It’s a lot quicker than manually searching on their website!

Still, I will be attending some Ancestry seminars at the Who Do You Think You Are Live! exhibition in London at the end of February, so I hope to be better armed with the skills to make the most of their website.

Exhibition review at a later date ….

I was surprised the day I looked up my mother’s great-grandparents on the 1911 census. The data indicated that there were an additional three children who had not survived to 1911. But who were they, when were they born and when did they die? I was not looking forward to trawling through BMD records to locate them!

Well, the first question has been partly answered – two of the three children were a daughter called Ino Kate HOLLANDS, and a son called Uno Frank HOLLANDS. What unusual names!

How did I find them? Via the 1891 census on FindMyPast ! However, the data showed why I may not have found the household previously via Ancestry – the family was listed as HOLLARD! Thanks to FindMyPast’s improved correction submission system, I have now had this corrected.

Now to find child three and when they all died …

After trying so desperately to locate the family of my dad’s uncle Walter BALDOCK, I may have hit on something …

I had been searching Kent records (particularly Thanet, where they had lived) for marriage records, with no luck. I knew his wife was known as Jessie, but this could have come from anywhere. Nevertheless, I finally gained the patience to search systematically through Ancestry and FindMyPast.

And there I found it! Uncle Wally and Aunt Jessie were married in Norfolk  - Erpingham district, to be precise! Walter A BALDOCK married Jessie I ABRAM !

Now armed with a maiden name, I also found six daughters; we already knew the names of some, but this confirmed things, along with birth quarter-dates, a marriage and two grandsons. Of course, all this has yet to be verified.

I now hope to get the marriage certificate, and plan to further investigate the children to seek out possible marriages, further grandchildren, and maybe locate a family member living somewhere.

The Norfolk marriage is spooky, given my belief that the BALDOCK family may have some ancestry there. Maybe Jessie was from Norfolk? Or perhaps she was a Cromer seaside holiday romance?  The certificate will help …

Following the discovery of a BALDOCK pedigree back to c1600 on the International Genealogical Index (IGI), I believe I have now confirmed the authenticity of the data. This was achieved on my visit to Canterbury Cathedral Archives last Thursday to inspect copies of parish records and bishop transcripts. It has also filled in the names of some spouses.

This now takes the tree back eleven generations!!

In researching the data, it also brought to light a few surname variations – BOLDOCK, BOLDUCKE, BALDOCKE, BALDUCKE … Entering some of these in ancestry.co.uk has already raised some new avenues for investigation.

The next step will probably be to focus on these parishes to determine children & siblings.

A tree update with data additions determined from this visit will be announced soon …

I visited St.Dunstan’s church at Canterbury today, seeking CASTLE ancestry of my mother. Although I was unable to locate the relevant graves, I am confident of their existence from my sources. I believe that they are marked by some of the many weathered headstones.

Following this search, I moved on to nearby Blean and the churchyard at St. Cosmos & St. Damian. This was merely investigatory, with the possibility of locating a HATTON grave. Although I was unsuccessful in this goal, I surprisingly found a BALDOCK grave, for a couple I do not have, buried in the late 20th century. I now hope to trace these back for any possible links.

This week I entered a few searches into the International Genealogical Index (IGI) at familysearch.org and eventually came up with rather a surprise – a BALDOCK pedigree dating back to 1600!

The pedigree presented must however, like all IGI information, be treated with caution – since it suggested Joseph (b. ~1743) and his wife Elizabeth (m. ~1768) were both BALDOCK and had the same parents! It is not uncommon for LDS ancestries to be inaccurate, and “chosen” to fit the convenience of the situation… or just plainly erroneous in entry/submission.

Nevertheless, it provided me with dates and places, from which I can verify (or not) whether this pedigree is true ancestry for Joseph. I have recorded as such, for now (although not submitted online yet).

I spot another trip to Canterbury Cathedral Archives!

I have crossed the 1,000 milestone – the family tree has now reached 1,043 individuals covering some 256 families!

This was helped today by making considerable inroads into the ancestry of my mother’s (adopted) aunt, taking her birth ancestry back to the early 1600’s ! I have yet to confirm the information integrity – but I’m working on it!

Watch this space!

Well, I attended the show on Friday 27th February, as planned.

I was quite surprised how many people were waiting for the Olympia train on the Earl’s Court platform ! Everyone carrying their bags of files & paperwork to “ask the experts”.

On arrival, entry was trauma-free and straightforward. I had gone with a route planned out on the show map, but this soon went out the window, as I was rushing at the start to make sure I found the location of the 12:00pm seminar and got a ticket! All the rushing around and searching got me very disoriented (as usual at Olympia!), so I threw caution to the wind and just zig-zagged my way between the stands.

 
Generally, I thought the seminar timetable was far too full. I would have liked to hear the “Getting the most out of Ancestry.co.uk”, but it clashed with Else Churchill’s “I’m stuck! Tracing your elusive ancestor“

I picked up some tips, spoke to some useful people, learned of some useful websites (including The War Graves Photographic Project – http://www.twgpp.org/), came away with lots of leaflets, restricted my spending(!) and managed to speak to an Army memorabilia expert who identified the uniforms in a mystery photo which may be linked to Noel HAGESTADT.

If I have anything else bad to say (other than the full timetable), then it might be that it was very commercial. But then I guess that’s what the sponsors expect/want. I was advised to attend The Family History Event (http://www.thefhevent.com/ ) at the Barbican Centre on Sunday 3rd May 2009. You’re more likely to see your local family history society, since the exhibition fees are more affordable!

Hope anyone else who went felt their trip useful. Comments welcome.

I have (finally) just done an update to my online tree – but only on Genes Reunited. Of course, since I also use Family Tree maker (2009 now) as a backup (it’s background hint system is great and saves time), you’ll probably also find stuff on Ancestry too. This update correctly indicates (for now; unless proven otherwise) Margaret GARLINGE’s father as James.