Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine not only explores the stories behind the popular BBC genealogy TV series, but also helps you uncover your own roots. Each issue is packed with practical advice to help you track down family history archives and get the most out of online resources, alongside features on what life was like in the past and the historic events that affected our ancestors.
Welcome
SARAH’S TOP TIP
CONTRIBUTORS
Letters
Who do you think you are
What’s On • Email wdytyaeditorial@ourmedia.co.uk to feature your upcoming event here
PICK OF THE MONTH • Improve your research skills with this online event
BOOK AHEAD • You can relive the 1940s in Lincoln in August
Ancestry adds 11 million Sussex parish records
Isle of Wight WW1 database completed
CAN YOU HELP?
NEWS IN BRIEF
Findmypast releases Wiltshire records
Durham History Centre project hit by delay
RootsIreland adds County Monaghan poor-list records
The National Archives and Arts Council England announce collaboration
Edinburgh passport records released
1943
329
Half a million
Six
Irish military pensions records published online
HAY AND HOLIDAYS • An old diary reminds us that our forebears didn’t always get much of a summer break
OUT OF THE ASHES • Nicola Morris looks back at the devastating fire at the Public Record Office of Ireland in 1922, and explains how long-lost documents are getting a new lease of digital life
FRAGMENTS FROM THE PAST • How the documents that survived the fire are being restored and digitised
REMEMBERING WHAT WAS LOST • Why generations of family historians owe the Public Record Office of Ireland’s assistant deputy keeper Herbert Wood an enormous vote of thanks
10 FREE WEBSITES FOR IRISH ROOTS • Online resources to take your research further
How to use 23andMe • Debbie Kennett takes a look at the health and ancestry reports offered by this pioneering testing company
FAVOURITE FEATURES • Find out more about some of the facilities that 23andMe offers
RESOURCES • Learn more about DNA testing
‘MY TREE INCLUDES CO V ER BREWERS, FARMERS AND CIVIL-WAR SURVIVORS’ • Since he was a young boy, Barnaby Rogerson has been piecing together the stories of his illustrious forebears, prompted by the tales of his great aunt Eve – and was amazed to find documentary proof for some of them, he tells Claire Vaughan
RESOURCES • These three sources were a big help in Barnaby’s research
MANORIAL DOCUMENTS • As the full Manorial Documents Register goes online, Ian Waller explains how to use the records to research your English and Welsh kin
LORD HENRY BROUGHAM 1778–1868 • Brougham had a major influence on the Act that led to the end of the manorial system
HICKLING MANOR COURT RECORD, 1745 • This document is held at Norfolk Record Office and is now freely available on FamilySearch (familysearch.org)
FIND RECORDS ONLINE • Ian explains how to use The National Archives’ indispensable Manorial Documents Register
RESOURCES • Take your research further
BRITISH ARMY • Jonathan Scott rounds up the key sites to learn more about your army ancestor’s service
EXPERT’S CHOICE
GO FURTHER • Nine more websites you can’t afford to miss
How to turn your tree into a website • You can easily transform a GEDCOM file into a fully functioning site for free, says Nick Peers
LOCAL INDUSTRY • Celebrating our ancestors’ work in key trades
RATE BOOK, 1843 • This overseers’ rate book for Bramley Parish, West Yorkshire, is held by West Yorkshire Archive Service. The book has been digitised and is...