Top Tips For Deciphering Old Handwriting

We are often ask why it it that we have so much success deciphering old handwriting.  Part of that is experience but there are also some good tips to help make this easier.

Check out the National Records of Scotland's website Scottish Handwriting which gives free tuition on Scottish handwriting.  Whether you want to do all the exercises or use it as a reference for the style of old letters, it is an invaluable aid.

During the 16th and 17th centuries in Scotland, most legal documents were written in Latin or Scots so it's important to become familiar with Latin genealogy terms and also to have a good Scots dictionary or visit the Dictionary of the Scots Language online.

If you are looking at a document online or scanned into your computer then it is normally possible to make a negative image of the original.  This can often decipher unclear handwriting.

Get used to the style of the writer. If you are looking at a long document then this is easy but if you are looking at a document such as a birth/marriage/death certificate then try looking for other records that you are interested in from the same location around the same time period.  You will often find a registrar is there for many years and so you have more examples of their handwriting for reading practice.

If you have trouble deciphering a word then write down what you think it is and then search for the word online.  This will often give you good results and also an explanation of any unfamiliar words.  It's also a great way of pinning down streets and place names accurately. 

If you are completely stuck with a word, it helps to try to break it down into individual letters.  If this still proves a problem, look in the document for that letter in other words where you have been able to read a word.

A fresh pair of eyes can help!  Not only if you are tired, though that can be a problem at times but by asking someone else to look.  Everyone has their own way of looking at things and sometimes they can decipher a puzzling word or phrase.

The vocabulary used is often different to the words we use now however if you read a document and find a word that is unfamiliar, it does not mean that you have made a mistake. Transcribe what you see and make an educated guess as to what it might mean in the context of the document. Once again, it is worth checking online for the meaning of words if you are unfamiliar with them.

Along with vocabulary, spelling, grammar, and abbreviations have all changed over the centuries - and more than once!  Sometimes there is no shortcut but to research these!

Find out how we can help you decipher puzzling words or documents by contacting us for a no obligation chat at kintree@ymail.com.

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Using Valuation Rolls To Unlock Your Family's Story

Many people are aware of valuation rolls but are not sure what they are or what information they hold that can be helpful for family historians. 

The Valuation Rolls were compiled every year from 1855 until 1987. Valuation rolls for the inter-census years 

1855-1856, 1865-1866, 1875-1876

1885-1886,1895-1896,  1905-1906, 

1916-1916, 1925-1926, 1935-1936

1945-1946, 1955-1956

have been indexed along with the years    

NRS, Edinburgh

1920-21, 1930-1931, 1940-1941, 1950-1951. 

At the moment, you can search the 

1885, 1895, 1905, 1915 and 1920 rolls 

on the Scotland's People website and all the indexed Rolls from 1855-1955 can be searched in the National Records for Scotland (NRS) Historical Search Room in Edinburgh. For more information, check on the NRS website.

So why might you want to use the valuation roles?

• They can help to track down ancestors.  This can be especially useful if an ancestor is known to be alive but has not been found on the census.
• It's useful for information on your ancestors for recent years where the census is yet to be released.
• It is also a way of finding out about the history of a house. It can be especially interesting if it is your house! 
• Finding out who were the owners of the property can reveal a lot about your family's history.  Did they own a property or were they tenants? 
• It can reveal if your ancestors were tenants of a house attached to a work place for example.  That can often explain why they might move locally if they go to work for a new employer. 
• If your ancestors owned a property or more than one property, it can give more of an idea of their financial position. 
• It's a way of finding out about the wider community in which your ancestor lived - shops, businesses, churches, schools, hospitals to name but a few.  The social history of the area can be great to build up a picture of your relatives.

For more information on valuation rolls, please contact us for a no obligation chat.

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Thinking Of Going To A Family History Event?

Visiting a family history event may feel a bit daunting if you have never been before but please take the plunge and go along!  Whether you are simply curious, have done some work or you are a veteran of family research, there will be someone worth talking to.

Family history societies are often the driving force behind these events and work hard to bring together all sorts of experts from local to national so do not feel that you need to have a connection to a particular geographic area to benefit from an event.  Along with stalls, there are usually talks and the chance to try out some websites.  You will often find that it's a good chance to see products for real that you may have thought about buying online.  

It's important to support these events if you can and especially when they are run by family history societies. These societies are usually run on a shoestring and the members put in many hours of voluntary work to make records accessible to us all so they deserve our support.

At the other end of the scale, for the first time, the "Who Do You Think You Are?" live show is coming to Scotland and will be at Glasgow's SECC from 29th-31st August.  Tickets are not on sale yet but when they do go on sale, they are expected to sell out fast so if you are planning to go, don't wait to buy your tickets. 

What this show can do which is beyond the financial means of smaller shows, is to bring together great numbers of national and international exhibitors under one roof, whilst still having a place for local family historians and societies.  It will be packed with genealogy experts, free workshops, a celebrity theatre and specialist exhibitors.

The event is being held in Scotland as it is Scotland's Year of Homecoming and Ancestry is one of the themes.  However, hopefully if it is a success it will come back again.

Andy Healy, Show Director of Who Do You Think You Are? Live, commented:

“I am extremely excited that our first show outside of London will be held in Scotland, and will form part of this special year of Homecoming celebrations. Who Do You Think You Are? Livehelps gnealogists, from beginners to experts, to further unravel their family history stories and I am delighted that we will be able to bring our interactive, informative and entertaining live event to a brand new audience later in the year.”

Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing said:

"There is tremendous curiosity to uncover family roots, especially in the USA, a country that boasts an estimated 9.4 million Scottish descendants.  The Year of Homecoming 2014 will provide a unique opportunity to encourage more and more visitors, both international and domestic to come and enjoy Scotland and will position Scotland on the international stage as a dynamic and creative nation. This family history event, Who Do You Think You Are? Live, will help tourism business across Scotland tap into the ancestral tourism market.”

Top Census Searching Tips

As experts in family research, Kin Tree are pleased to pass on some of our top tips for searching census returns. Don't forget though it can often save you time and money to ask an expert for help so please feel free to get in touch for a free chat. We offer hourly rates or packages so you are always in control of how much you spend.  Contact us at kintree@ymail.com

Top Census Searching Tips

Names

People's names were written down by the enumerators and so often names were spelt incorrectly or even misheard.  After that, these records have been transcribed and however good the transcriptions are, there is room for error and illegible writing!  It's a good idea to included the various options such as soundex that widens the return of names. 

Birth Dates

Even when you know a person's exact details such as their birth date, it is better to give a wider search for their birth year.  Sometimes there can be different ages given on each census as people were much more vague about details such as their date of birth. Also, it's worth remembering that depending on when their birthday falls, their birth year has often been calculated from the age at the time of the census and takes no account of whether they have had a birthday that year. 

Official Name Vs Every Day Name

Census records often recorded the name that a person was known by rather than their birth name. It could be something easy like Tom for Thomas or Peggy for Margaret but it can be enough to throw a spanner in the works.  It's always worth trying variations of the name to see if it produces results. 

Unusual First Names

It can be great to search for unusual surnames in general family research but within the census, an unusual first name can be a great bonus too.  If you are having problems, try putting only the first name in if it is unusual and it will often bring up the result for which you are searching.

Family Connections

Check out the census returns for other members of the family.  You may find your ancestor living with them!  Especially useful for tracking down younger and older relations.

Census Years

When you can select more than one census at a time then select to search only one at a time.  In most searches, the more years that the search engine has to search through, the less specific it is with the results it returns.  

Away From Home At The Census

Many people were absent from home on the night of the census.  This means they will not be recorded at the expected address.  They could be visiting someone, in the armed forces, hospital or prison, for example.

Less Is More!

Don't feel the need to fill in all the search information in the boxes provided.  If you do, it only takes only one thing to be different and you will not find what you are looking for. It's easier to refine your search further if you need to but sometimes it is necessary to simply look through a number of results to find the correct one! 

Different Site, Different Results

There are often multiple sites where you can search for census records.  Often a search on one can produce no results whilst on another site, the same search will bring up your record straight away. 

Don't stick to the same search variations

Things like a wildcard search, soundex, fuzzy matching are a good way to look for alternative spellings but each indexing method will always leave some variations out that you might expect it to include.  So remember to try all the variations if your favourite doesn't return what you are looking for.

Keep Notes

Record all the information on the census.  You can find that even those who seem like no more that casual visitors can be part of your family's story in the future!

Don't Give Up!

Even when you think that you have exhausted all avenues, remember to keep all the information you have.  There is new information available all the time which can help to track down your ancestors.

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Top Tips To Get The Best From A Visit To An Archives Or Genealogy Centre

It is great if you can go along to an archive or genealogy centre to research your family history work in person. 

Burns Monument Centre

A visit to look at bmd, census records etc at the Scotland's People Centre in Edinburgh, the Mitchell Library in Glasgow or the Burns Monument Centre in Kilmarnock can save you a great deal of money as you pay a flat fee and can look at as many records as you wish over the course of the day.  

Even if you are not able to go in person due to distance or time isssues, it can still save you money financially to pay a researcher to go on your behalf. Kin Tree provides this service and as experts in family research, we can make the most of your time and money.  

Sometimes there is a need to trawl through records for a certain individual as there is no obvious record when looking online. For example, it's not uncommon  to look through  thirty or so records to find  the correct one for one individual. Often the record can hold the key to your future research but it would cost a fortune online!  

Also, even without any real problems in identifying people, the cost of looking at these records online is far, far more expensive than a day at the record's office.

We can also pool a day's work between a few people who only need a few records looked up.  This can be especially cost effective even if you can visit a centre yourself. Why pay for a whole day when you only need an hour or two? 

If you do intend visiting any archive/genealogy centre it is essential that you go prepared! We have some top tips to make your visit as successful as possible!

• Many centres are very busy and you will need to book a place in advance so check to see if this is the case.

• In some archives, specific archive staff will deal with your requests for information or to look at materials so contact them in advance as you may need to book an appointment with them.

• Check with staff that they have the materials in which you are interested.  For example, in some areas poor relief records are extensive, others have none about specific people and others have patchy coverage.  Staff will be able to advise you what is available.

• Archive material is often kept in storage and staff may need advanced notice that you would like to see it as it may be stored offsite.  

• Don't assume that all archives or genealogy centres operate in the the same way.  Even within Scotland's People records, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Kilmarnock have different rules about how materials can be copied, opening times etc

• If you want to use electronic equipment, it can be helpful to check if there is a power supply that you can use.  This can vary even within the same building!

• A pencil and paper are essentials for family research! Old documents for example, can be very fragile so you may find that you are only allowed to use a paper and pencil to record the information.

• If you are not recording information electronically, remember to bring along blank copies of any potential documents may need eg family group sheets, family trees, bmd forms, census etc.  Other than that, plenty of paper, pencils, rubbers and a pencil sharpener!

• Think about what you are trying to find out, make a plan of what you want to achieve and make notes of any thoughts you have before you go.  These can be helpful for keeping you focussed when you are presented with new and exciting information!

For more information on how we can help you, please get in touch for a no obligation chat.

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Making Your Best Possible Family History Book

Creating a family history book is one of the most popular activities for family historians.  Not only does it provide a family heirloom to be passed down but also brings together all the hard work that has been done into one place.

Planning your book is not only about the people you will write about or the images that it will show but it is also about creating a book that will last throughout the decades or even centuries and so the materials from which your book is made is also very important.

Do you have any ageing books that are looking a little dog-eared or yellowing? Sometimes even they may have the odd torn page. Choosing the paper on which you print your book is crucial if you are to preserve your book is excellent condition for more than about 20 years.

At Kin Tree, we use archival paper to print family history books and other similar documents that need preserving. Archival paper is the type of paper used for storing legal documents etc where a document must last over a long period of time. The paper we use lasts for around 200 years and is not only specially manufactured to stop it becoming brittle or yellowing but also is stronger than normal paper so far less likely to tear.

The ink that is used for printing is also very important because there is not much point in printing on archival paper if your ink then fades.  Kin Tree uses archival inks whether in a printer or for handwriting pens. If you are printing your own documents then we would always recommend this type of paper and ink.

It's important also to have a good quality cover for your book.  A variety of covers are available but Kin Tree use spring back binders.  These are binders that although they look like a book, allow you to take the cover off so that you can add more pages if you find more information on your family that you would like to add at a later stage.

For more information on how we can help you create the best possible family history book, please get in touch for a no obligation chat.

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Did Your Ancestor Work As A Puddler?

Old occupations and their names can leave us scratching our heads or sometimes even raising a smile at the unusual names.  

We can learn much about our ancestors' lives from their occupations and they can provide a social history as people moved from agricultural based jobs to industrial and white collar work.

So how do we find out what our ancestors did for a living and what other information can we find out from their occupation?

Usually we find out our ancestors' occupations from birth, marriage and death records along with census records.  There are many other sources of information too such as trade directories and even family papers that have been kept over the years.

Matching their occupation to where our ancestors lived means that we can research local workplaces to find out where they are likely to have worked. In some cases there is only one possible workplace but even if it's not possible initially to find only one potential workplace, with a list of probable employers, there is every possibility of finding lists of employees or trade directories which can highlight where your ancestor worked.

Another aspect of this research is to look at the conditions in which your ancestor worked.  Was it dangerous?  How many hours did they work?  What was the pay like?

Using a "puddler" as our example, we can see how expanding this basic information will build up a picture of someone's life.

A puddler was highly skilled and dangerous occupation which required physical strength, stamina and sustained concentration.

Puddlers were also known a iron puddlers and they were employed in iron works to turn brittle pig iron into malleable wrought iron during the late 18th century and the 19th century.  This meant that they had to be skilled practical chemists along with being strong and have great endurance and mental strength in extreme conditions.

They worked long hours and were unlikely to reach the age of 50 given the dangerous conditions in which they worked.  It could be a relatively well paid job due to its skill and danger however not everyone was paid well as some employers took advantage of their employees.

Iron Puddler

The process of changing the iron from pig iron to wrought iron involved adding chemicals to the iron at a very high temperature and with no monitoring devices, the puddlers had to gauge for themselves when the iron was ready for the next stage of the process.

Puddlers had to stir a ball of some five hundredweight of molten iron to expose it to the flame and often had to carry the molten balls around.

There was no safety equipment in those days and the puddlers worked in extreme heat. The trade paper "Iron" noted in 1882 that in warm weather it was no uncommon thing to see a puddler drop down dead.

As one puddler called JJ Davies recalled:

 I am like some frantic baker in the inferno kneading a batch of iron bread for the devil's breakfast.

If you are interested in finding out about your ancestors' occupations, then please get in touch for a no obligation chat to find how we can help.

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Tracing 19th Century Military Personnel Records

One of our current clients has asked us to look for the details of an ancestor's military service in the 19th century.

It is possible to track down individual details alongside the general details of where people served in the 19th century even though individual service personnel were less well documented then than in later times. We have managed to track down the service details for our client's ancestor and have photos of his ancestor's grave which is located some many thousand miles away from Scotland. 

Many people joined the services in the 19th century but sometimes this does not sit easily with their descendants as it often involved the armed forces imposing rule on other countries' populations. This in itself though is not a reason to ignore this aspect of their lives.

There were many reasons why people joined the military and most people who joined up were certainly unaware of the life that they would lead overseas or the conditions that would be imposed on local communities.  Many were press ganged into the military and it is well documented that people were often plied with alcohol to entice them to take the king/queen's shilling.

Others joined because they believed the recruitment information that said that they would be offered a good life.  This was often true to a point.  Wages in industry could be more but there was an uncertainty to that life whilst the military offered an extended family along with a roof over your head, meals and clothing.  With a population shifting from place to place for work and dreadful conditions in many cities or poverty in the countryside, the military life could often seem like an attractive proposition.

Imagine what life must have been like for these recruits? Training tended to be square bashing without any specialist training for going overseas. They were sent overseas without any idea of when or if they would return.  For the officers, life was generally better but for the ordinary soldiers conditions were often basic and many died from disease or the poor conditions in which they lived.  In some cases, certain postings were seen as a death sentence whatever your rank.   

Thinking about how our ancestors coped with these conditions and what they must have thought of the politicians and senior military commanders who sent them to these places thousands of miles from home can be interesting and there are many documented accounts of conditions available from places such as the National Archives.

If you are interested in finding out about your ancestors' military service - in whatever century, then please get in touch to see how we can help.

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How To Write About Your Own Life

Whilst researching your family history is in itself an absorbing and interesting hobby, most people also hope that they information that they have collated will be passed on down through the generations.

It can be easy to forget about your own personal story or feel that you have nothing to contribute. Don't forget though that as you are interested in your ancestors' lives, descendants will be interested in your own story.  Although we might record the big events in life and find them easy to document, it is often the small things that you find out that make your ancestors' stories really come to life.

So how do you start to do this in a meaningful way? What to write about and what to leave out?  What if you don't feel confident in writing about your own life?

A great way to start is by thinking about one of your ancestors who you did not get a chance to meet and think about what you would have liked to ask them if you had been given a chance.  

Write down a list of questions - it doesn't matter if it's a long or a short list. Sometimes it can be difficult to think of questions but usually once you get started, it gets easier as ideas start to flow.  You can try to write your list all in one go or over a period of time. If you like to write electronically then write your questions using this format and if you prefer pen and paper then use those.  The thing is to feel as comfortable as possible with the format.

After this and in your own time, start to answer these questions but for yourself.  If you can't think of something to write about a specific question then leave it.  Most of us can write down a few words at least about places where we have lived or worked.  It doesn't need to be a long piece of writing if you don't like writing much.  Anything that you write will be precious to your descendants.

It can also be good for inspiration to think about how things have changed in your lifetime.  The rate at which technology is changing our lives for example, is surprising and any observations that you make about changes that you have seen would be interesting to future family historians.

Radio Times listing

So what kind of observations might you make? 

It could be something as simple as tv schedules.  It is not long since everyone relied on a weekly magazine or magazines to check out what their next week's viewing would be for example.

Now with television guides available on your television set, catch up television and guides and news accessed online in a variety of ways, it would be interesting for future generations to know how much these magazines were a part of every day life. 

Your descendants will treasure your thoughts and memories even if they are simply a few notes on a scrap of paper.  However, it is also possible to expand on this by writing it up or by getting it written up into a fuller piece. Even if you don't have personal photos etc to add to this, a little research can easily be done to add some images.

At Kin Tree we are experts in writing up family stories so even if you are only looking for some advice or guidance, please get in touch for a chat.

For more information on researching  and writing about your family tree:

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Why Cross Referencing Is Important

OK, we are going to say it.... Some family research is not exciting!  However, we are going to qualify that by saying, the bits that might seem less fun can actually turn out to be the most exciting as they can solve a few puzzles.

The bits that can seem less exciting are often when you need to write down all your facts and cross reference them.  It can be, for example that you have all the birth, marriage and death records for a couple and have found all their children too.  You may have also checked some census records and they always seem to live in the same place.  It may seem pointless to write down the details from every census but it can be remarkable what you find.

This can be particularly helpful where there has been some unclear handwriting on a record.  Perhaps a name that is unclear on one record shows up more legibly in another. This can be of particular importance when it is pre statutory BMD records.  There can be little information on church records, especially about women.  Maybe you have recorded a marriage and the woman's mother's name is not clear.  you take a stab at it but without an accurate name, you can look no further for records. At another time, you record a census record where an unexpected name turns up.  By cross referencing, you can check if it relates to the name that was unclear.  Even thought the census record should record the relationship with the head of the household, it is very common for these to be recorded incorrectly or even transcribed incorrectly. 

It is not simply handwriting that is a good reason for cross referencing. One one occasion, we had a census record where a child's birth was recorded.  Before the census, the child's father had died.  We had not found a record of his death but his widow had remarried and had noted that she was a widow on her new marriage certificate.  Later, we had tracked down her late husband's death (he had died abroad) and through cross checking, we realised that he could not be the father of the last child as he was dead before this child could be conceived.  We had not looked further into this child's birth at this stage as it was the sibling of the ancestors that we were researching.  It turned out to be an interesting story, if sad.  The child had been born in the poorhouse but through these records, we were able to piece what had happened to the family after the father's death.  Only by cross referencing all the information on this family were we able to piece this story together fully.

For more information on researching your family tree:

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How Social Media Can Help Your Family Tree Research

Social media can help you in your family tree research  in a number of ways. 

1. Keeping You Up-To-Date

Genealogy sites such as Kin Tree, Ancestry and Find My Past have Facebook and Twitter pages along with blogs where you can keep abreast of all the latests news.  Even if you don't use them for anything else, it's worth checking these out and connecting with their pages t make sure that you don't miss out.

2.Tracking Down Living Relations

If you have an idea of where an unknown relative is based then a search on social media can be very fruitful. It also has the advantage of allowing them to check you out and to see you are a genuine person and not a scammer.

3. Surname Groups

Social media is full of groups who share the same surname.  This can be helpful in a number of ways.  Firstly, you can find out about the surname and where people are located in the world. Secondly, you may find a family connection. Lastly, other people researching the same surname may be able to give you pointers or have information on the family name that is useful to you.

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4. Historical and Geographical Groups

There are many social media pages out there who are interested in events or places with which your ancestors were connected.  most are friendly and helpful and can fill you in on details that you may not have found anywhere else.

5. Answering questions

Try putting in a search on Twitter for example, for something for which you have questions. In this example (below) the phrase "Seaforth Highlanders" was used and below gives you a flavour of the results.  You can select to look for people called "Seaforth Highlanders", where the phrase is used (as we did) or to look for images.

Bonnie Saunders ‏@Glasstreasures21 Sep

Here is today's feature for you. This is The Seaforth Highlanders Badge Plate. I hope you all enjoy and... http://fb.me/2s3HTQSFK 

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•  Reply 
•  Retweet 
•  Favorite 

We Are The Dead ‏@WeAreTheDead20 Sep

Pte. Eric Oswald Cleugh (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada). Dec. 27, 1942.

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Valour and Gallantry ‏@VC_GC3 Sep

VC: Lance Corporal Robert McBeath (Seaforth Highlanders) First World War http://bit.ly/Xy46jh  #VC

Retweeted by ScotsMilitaryHistory

6. Ask A Community

There are many social media communities out there or a variety of topics where you can simply ask a question.  People are generous with their help and will be glad to help you find information or point you in the right direction.

At Kin Tree, we are experts in the use of social media so please don't hesitate to contact us for more information.

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