Unlocking Your Family's Service In World War 2

Famous Piper Bill Millin 's
D Day landing at
Sword Beach, Normandy

With the D Day commemorations this weekend, it brings into focus the part played in World War 2 by many people's families.  

How do you find out about the part your family played in the World War 2? 

Well, it is a straightforward process to obtain your own service record or the records of your family who served in World War 2 as members of the UK armed forces.  

The process differs, depending on whether you are requesting your own records, if you are the next of kin of a deceased service person or if you simply have a general interest in an individual. 

The general rules surrounding all service records are that there is no fee for providing a copy of your own service record.  If the member of the armed services is deceased, again there is generally no fee to anyone who was the spouse or civil partner at the time of the service person's death.  This also applies to their parents if there is no spouse or civil partner.  Other people applying for a record will normally be charged a fee. At the time of publishing , the fee is £30.

There may be some other costs as you may need to provide a death certificate or perhaps proof of your own relationship to the deceased person and if you do not have these certificates then you will need to purchase them.

Applications go to the relevant service body and can take some time to be found as they are increasingly being asked for records for family history reasons. However, they will respond and in our experience, they are also good at providing information about the meaning of all the various abbreviations and terms. 

You need to give them as much information as possible to track down the correct person - especially if it is a common name. That's why it is important to know what information is important and Kin Tree can help you with this as we are experienced in helping with applications.

Under the scheme, and in recognition of the duty of care owed to the family of the deceased subject, for a period of 25 years following the date of death of the subject and without the consent of the next of kin, the MOD will disclose only:

• surname
• forename
• rank
• service number
• regiment/corps
• place of birth
• age
• date of birth
• date of death where this occurred in service
• the date an individual joined the service
• the date of leaving
• good conduct medals (for example, Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (LS&GCM)), any orders of chivalry and gallantry medals (decorations of valour) awarded, some of which may have been announced in the London Gazette

After this period, and if it is held, in addition the MOD will disclose without the requirement for next of kin consent:

• the units in which he/she served
• the dates of this service and the locations of those units
• the ranks in which the service was carried out and details of campaign medals awarded

If you have obtained the permission of the next of kin then the 25 year rule does not apply.

For more information on applying or if you want to learn more about the other records available on service personnel contact us at kintree@ymail.com.

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WDYTYA Tickets Now On Sale

Tickets are now on sale for Who Do You Think You Are's three day show in Glasgow at the SECC from Friday 29th August - Sunday 31st August. Regular readers will remember us mentioning back in March that the show was coming to Glasgow.

This show is a must for everyone interested in genealogy whether they are a complete beginner or a professional.  Along with the stalls displaying and selling all sorts of genealogy products and services, there will be talks on a wide range of genealogical subjects, experts to help you learn how to break down your brick walls and general advice on how to start your family tree 

All the major genealogical societies, archives, museums and major free and subscription websites will be there so if there is anything you need to know, then this is the place to be!

Tickets are available online or by calling 0844 873 7330. Advanced single tickets are priced £14 for adults, £24 for a two-day ticket and £30 for a three-day ticket, while children under 16 go free. 

If you can book by 4 June 2014, there is a discount on single day tickets where you can buy two for £20.  You need to quote either of these codes to get the discount: EB20 or WDM2420.

If you need any further help with your family tree or would like to find out more about how to make the most of your trip to WDYTYA, then please get in touch for a no obligation chat at kintree@ymail.com.

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Wills and Testaments - A Treasure Trove of Family History Information

Wills and testaments are an excellent way to find out more information about your ancestors. They can tell you about the types of belongings that people owned such as tools from their job, furniture, savings etc. Depending on the time period, it might also list property that is owned.

So in Scotland, what is a will and what is a testament?

A testament is basically a list of all the person's property and may also include a valuation of these items.

A will is the statement made before a person dies explaining how they wish their goods to be disposed of once they have died.

• If someone dies and has a will, it is know as a testament testamentar.  
• If there is no will then it is known as a testament dative.

Where do we find testaments in Scotland?

Testaments made from 1514-1925 have been digitally imaged and they are available to see online at Scotland's People.  They also give a good explanation and examples of testaments.  You can search for free i.e. you do not pay 1 credit to look at the summary of your search results in the way you do for some of their other records.  If you want to look at the detail of a specific record, then you will be charged to look at the record.   Records often have several pages of information but there is a standard charge to look at the whole document no matter how many pages.  If you visit a Scotland's People Centre then you will be able to look at these images too.

From 1926 up until records from 10 years ago, you need to visit the National Records of Scotland search rooms in Edinburgh.  Before visiting, it is worth checking their website for all the details that you will need to know to be able to perform a search.  It is also advisable to contact them prior to your visit to check the availability of records.

If you are looking for a testament that is less than 10 years old then you need to contact the Commissary Department, Edinburgh Sheriff Court, 27 Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1LB.

For more advice on wills and testaments contact us 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.”

Ever come across conflicting evidence and wonder what to believe?

Sometimes you can come across conflicting evidence when researching family history.

In Scotland, birth, marriage and death certificates give detailed information not only of the person or people registered in the event but also give details of the parents.

Death certificates are a common source of conflicting evidence.  The person registering the death is likely to be upset and can give the wrong information accidentally.  They may not know some of the details or guess at them.  Dependent on the registrar taking the details, they may have been encouraged to provide an answer so that no gaps were left!

However, even in birth and marriage certificates, details can bee recorded incorrectly.

For birth certificates, it is often only one parent who attended to register the birth and they may not know the details of their partner's family or some forget their marriage date!  

With marriage certificates, there may be problems as one person may have filled in the details for both even though each person needs to sign the forms.  

For any documentation, it may simply be that your ancestors could not read or write and they were reliant on someone else recording the details with no way for them to correct any mistakes.

So how do we deal with these types of problems?

Where we can corroborate the evidence then there is much more likelihood that this will be the correct information.  Sometimes of course, when it has been recorded incorrectly once, then it may be repeated if the information is simply copied.  However, what is far more likely is that it will be recorded incorrectly once and correctly on other occasions.

There may only be two pieces of evidence however so how should you deal with this? If you are recording a birth for example and have conflicting dates with no way to choose between the two, then record anything that is certain.  

John Hunter

Using the example of the renowned physician and anatomist John Hunter who was born in 1728, we find that his birth was recorded in the parish records as being 14 July 1728.  However recorded evidence shows he celebrated and believed his birthday to be 13 February 1728. 

On a family tree therefore we can record the year of his birth and the place as neither of these facts are disputed and are corroborated.

Keep a record of the other information and put a note in your files about the disputed date as you do not know what other information may come to light in the future to help clarify this.

If you are writing a family history book then you can record the date but add in the information about the conflicting evidence on the day and month of birth.  This can be an interesting item to include and most of us enjoy the mystery and to think about what might have happened!

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

kintree@ymail.com

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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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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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Keep Asking Those Family Members!

Every family tree begins with the information that you already know and normally the next step is to ask other family members for details.  Once you have these then it may seem like you will have exhausted your family's knowledge but nothing could be further from the truth.

At the start, we tend to ask for names and dates of birth, marriages and deaths.  If our relatives have documents or photos this is great too and most are happy to allow copies to be made.

People often think they are giving you everything they have but will later find, when clearing out a box or things in the loft, that they have all sorts of other items that can help to build your family's story.

There is normally someone in the family that is good at keeping family information so ask in your family about who is normally the best source of information. However ask everybody for information as everyone has their own experiences and knowledge that is unique to them. If anyone in the family passes away then sensitively ask if you could look at any family information that is found if a family member is going through paperwork, photographs or other items.

Old letters, diaries, address books, jewellery and medals are common finds from a clear out of a loft when a family is moving home or simply having a tidy up.  Sometimes there will be more unusual items too. All these items can help to build the details of your ancestors.  At Kn Tree we are expert in explaining the significance of objects from the everyday to the unusual and what they tell us about your family.

In amongst this treasure trove, it is also common to find more documents such as certificates also.  These things are often stored away carefully but are also often forgotten about until they are unearthed for some other reason.  So it is good to ask your relatives to remember your family tree research if they later come across anything related to your ancestors.

Older relatives are good sources of information on family life and other information however people often remark that these relatives can be reluctant to talk or have seemed to have forgotten any details.  Sometimes there may have been a family rift or an event and they do not want to discuss it or anything in relation to it. Never press on a particular issue but of course, it can also be that you do not know of an issue so don't know there may be a sensitive point.  

There are ways to chat though where you will not be stepping on toes and this can help with those relatives that are simply not great conversationalists too!

Try to avoid the type of question which makes it easy to say yes or no.  For example, do not ask

Did you like school?

Instead, you could ask

What was school like when you were there?

Similarly, if you want to know more about home life then a question asking about home life might not get much of a response if it was not happy or they are someone who is not much of a talker but by saying

What was it like in your neighbourhood when you were growing up?

This can be a great starting point to find out more about family life.  The social history of a family brings it to life more than simple names and dates. 

For more information on unearthing family treasures and talking to family members :

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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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