#RootsTech Roundup Part 3

Mar8 by thehistoryinterpreter

Ok so it was Saturday but I am still on Friday’s talks. I was relieved to reduce my watch list by three as I had put reshowing of talks that I’d already seen on my list. Wanda Wyporska’s excellent ‘Caribbean and African Enslaved People and their British Enslavers: A look at sources’, was a great but sobering start to the day. As far as I know, I do not descend from the enslaved or enslavers but along with everyone with European heritage, I have no doubt that some of my ancestors benefitted from the trade in enslaved people.

Having swapped to Paralympic coverage for a while, I went back to Friday’s Rootstech presentations with Kelli Bergheimer’s ‘DNA Misconceptions’. I found the information about inferred matching very interesting. This was the DNA talk that was most relevant to me, that I had listened to so far, even though it extolled the undeniable benefits of sibling and first cousin matches, which I will never have. Then it was time for ‘FamilySearch Full-Text Search – Your Golden Path to Ancestral Discovery’, an amusing and informative session from David Ouimette. I have used this before but there were some suggestions to make searching more efficient. This is still not fully accurate or refined but it is definitely a game changer. ‘Avoiding Research Pitfalls’ with Jana K Greenhalgh and Mindy Taylor came next. Once again, lovely to find US speakers using UK examples. This was packed full of possible pitfalls and worked examples. Another must watch for those starting out.

After that it was time for my own live presentation about researching English Family History 1900-1952. This is important even if you don’t have any British ancestry, as you may need to trace the trees of DNA matches in Britain. I was hugely relieved to find that the technology was working, it was fun to do and the feedback was positive. It was also great to find friends and online acquaintances in the live audience. If you missed it, or indeed any of the other talks, you can access the recordings.

There was still time for Diahan Southard’s ‘DNA Swim School – Part 2: Treading Water with Your Matches’, which built on part 1, with handy tips for working with groups of DNA matches.

Eighteen sessions down (including two of my own) fourteen to go.

#RootsTech Roundup Part 2

Mar7 by thehistoryinterpreter

News from yesterday. First the decision. Do I catch up on my unwatched sessions from yesterday or start today and fit in the missed ones as and when? Of course the ‘to watch’ schedule can only get longer as other people recommend things to watch. As eleven of the twelve on my list for today were 3pm or later, I decided to start with today’s 3am one and then try to fill in, although I did have other things to do today, not least do a final run through of my own RootsTech talk for tomorrow. This then is more part 2 than day 2 as most of these were Thursday sessions.

First then it was Kathryn Moore’s ‘Good Genealogists Don’t Guess: How to Evaluate a Record in 3 Simple Steps’. This was intended for newer genealogists but I wish it was fifteen minutes of essential listening before anyone was allowed to create an Ancestry or other online tree. Then it was back to catch up on some of Thursday evenings presentations, starting with ‘Tracing Transnational Lives: Bridging Records Between Countries’ from Allison DePrey Singleton. This covered a variety of lesser-known European and North American data sets and stressed the need to investigate the historical background when working with migratory ancestors.

Crista Cowan’s ‘What’s New at Ancestry’ was next on my list. She’s such an entertaining speaker. The innovations that are being rolled out include record and document transcription for documents that you upload, the ability to compare trees and censuses, the creation of AI stories and updates to the hints and person pages. There’s also a thing called Ancestry Preserve, whereby you can buy a box to send family treasures to Ancestry who will digitise the contents, be it audio tapes, 35mm slides and so on, for a price. This will then appear on your ancestry account. I can’t help wondering who then owns the copyright of these. 10 million records are being indexed by Ancestry each day. Do listen to Crista’s entertaining and informative talk to find out more.

‘When Nothing Found Means Something: Negative Search Results vs. Negative Evidence’ was next. With Diana Elder, taking us through a brick wall research process. This was a very interesting worked example. Having found out what was new and forthcoming (I don’t actually have any of the new features yet) at Ancestry, I moved to listen to Jen Baldwin telling us what was new at FindmyPast. This was more of an overview of what had been added over the past year, rather than what was to come, so I was aware of most of it. An incredible 100 million pages of newspapers are now available.

Still working my way through my Thursday watch list, next was ‘DNA’s FAN Club: Using Shared Matches To Solve Genealogical Mysteries’ by Paula Williams. Like most DNA talks the assumption is that people are working with numerous higher matches and have relatives closer than third cousins who have tested, so the advice wasn’t applicable to my situation but would certainly be helpful for others. Finally from yesterday, I listened to Heather Haunert’s, ‘Picture This: 50+ Image Ideas to Enrich Your Family History Story’, with plenty of ideas about things we could photograph to enhance our family stories. Some of the suggestions might have copyright implications, so would not be for publishing in a public forum. At that point I was RootsTeched out for the day and now I have to combine this with paralympic coverage, as well as Crufts but there will be another round up soon.

#RootsTech Roundup Day 1

Mar5 by thehistoryinterpreter

For those who don’t know (and if you don’t, you’ve not been reading my blog long enough) RootsTech is the largest genealogical event in the world, with thousands of people attending live in Salt Lake City and many more taking part virtually from all parts of the globe. Many of the sessions are recorded and you can access these for free here. These remain online after the event, so you can watch presentations from this year and previous years at your leisure. This is a brilliant opportunity to learn more about research methods, sources, genealogy related technology, DNA, social history and much more. There really is something for everyone. Including a few talks from me!

I started the day with a 5am talk from UK researcher Davina Wilcock ‘Considering Location When Researching Your Ancestors’, a great introduction to the importance of place and as a One-Place studier, who am I to argue. Then at 6.30am my own pre-recorded session ‘Timelines for Genealogy; a powerful research tool’ went live. Excruciating as it is to listen to oneself, I did, thinking that I could comment and answer any questions in the chat. I could see other people’s comments but my screen lacked the blue ‘join chat’ button that others had.

At 3pm I had a clash, so I started with ‘The GPS in Practice: Examples of Reasonably Exhaustive Research’ with Angela Packer McGhie. The speaker gave worked examples of verifying evidence and analysing the reliability of records, defining reasonably exhaustive research. I appreciated that an English example was included. A very minor niggle, the speaker did refer to Bolton le Moor as a county. British geographical jurisdictions are confusing, particularly for those overseas and getting confused about them is common. She needs my session from 2025 ‘Where am I?: Are You Searching in the Right Place?!

Then it was back to catch up with ‘Poor, Pauper, or Pragmatic? Victorian Burial and Identity: interments in Philips Park Cemetery in Manchester 1866-1900’ with Dr Micala Hulme and I finally solved the lack of a join chat button. It seemed it was because my Family Search profile lacked my date of birth. It would have been handy to have been warned of this somewhere obvious. Interestingly, my own talk is suggested as a related talk alongside Micala’s. It was an interesting overview of Victorian burial practices with Manchester as a case study.

The first part of Diahan Southard’s DNA Swim School was next on my list. The session was very well presented and interesting but not relevant to me as she was focussing on looking for a 2x great grandparent. I don’t have any missing 2x great grandparents and only have one missing 3x great grandparent. The use of ancestral journeys, which she talked us through, is also less helpful to someone with 100% English ancestry. Nontheless, Diahan is a very entertaining and knowledgeable speaker.

Then I listened to a panel discussing Guidelines for the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Genealogy in 2026. The panel members and others are part of a Coalition for Responsible AI in Genealogy, who advocate for accuracy, transparency and privacy. A very balanced discussion, with the take away ‘Don’t let AI make the final decision for you’. Definitely a must watch. There were six more evening sessions on my schedule for day 1 but I decided to swap for Crufts and watch those later, one of the great positives of RootsTech. More tomorrow!

Image created using Canva

An Elusive Great Grandmother

Feb17 by thehistoryinterpreter

Fanny Thomasine Bishop was my great grandmother on my paternal grandfather’s side. I feel like I ‘know’ my maternal great grandmothers; there are photographs and my mother shared memories of these two women. In the early 1990s, I was in contact with Fanny’s granddaughter but their lives didn’t overlap and she could not contribute anything. Fanny lived until 1921 and even though the family were very much working class, it seems usual that not a single photograph has survived, or at least not one that I have been able to locate. Everything that I know about Fanny has had to come from documentary research. She does flit in and out of the records, largely through the lives and many deaths of her children but to me, she remains a shadowy figure. Yet she intrigues me and I would love to know her better. In an attempt to understand and appreciate the life of a women who experienced many tragedies, a woman who struggled with poverty, a woman who must have possessed incredible resilience and who only legacy is her descendants, I decided to try to write her story.

I can only imagine what she looked like. Although I don’t have a photograph of her, I do have photographs of two of her children and three of her grandchildren. I also have photographs of her father and his siblings, her grandfather and, incredibly, her great grandfather, who lived to be ninety two, dying the year after Fanny was born. I am ambivalent about the use of AI. I have serious concerns about its impact on the creative industries and on the environment. I do however acknowledge that it is here and here to stay and perhaps I should be trying to understand it and through that understanding, be aware of its uses, its pitfalls and the ethical connotations. I can use those photographs of Fanny’s relatives and ask an AI agent of choice to create a period photograph that, in its opinion might be consistent with what the daughter/mother/niece of the uploaded photos might look like. Confession time, I tried this. The result was unnerving. Physically I strongly resemble my mother but I could see a resemblance to me. I asked someone who they thought the AI generated image looked like (without telling them that it was potentially anything to do with me) and they immediately named one of my daughters and not the one that looks most like me. I am not going to upload the result here, not even clearly watermarked ‘created using AI’. It isn’t something that I feel comfortable doing.

As part of investigating Fanny’s life, I considered her schooling and remembered that I did have a school photo that was given to me in connection with Fanny’s husband’s family, who lived in the same village. There was no date on the image and no names but it was meant to include the grandmother of the person who sent it to me and she was two years younger than Fanny. I investigated the schoolmaster, who was in post from at least 1871-1901. In this picture he looks to be in his late thirties or early forties, making the picture about 1870-1880. Unfortunately, school photographs look fairly similar from 1870-1910 and I don’t have the original to examine photographic techniques, or to enable me to research the photographer’s name. Fanny was likely to have been at the school from 1874-1882. So I have scrutinised this photo and if she’s in this photo I know which girl I would vote for. I would bet on which ones were her younger brothers too but I could be totally wrong. The resemblances I think I am seeing and resemblance is a tricky thing, might be because members of Fanny’s husband’s family would have been at the school at this time. So, are the circled children below my great grandmother and her brothers? I wish I knew.

I did enhance the child who could be Fanny, or indeed any number of other people and compared it to a picture of my father, her grandson, at a similar age. It has made the girl very blurry but I am happy with my guess, even though the words ‘clutching at straws’ come to mind.

What Comes Next for me in the Family History Part of my World?

Feb2 by thehistoryinterpreter

I often write about what I’ve been up to in the previous few weeks and sometimes get the response ‘I wish I’d known you were doing x’, so I thought I’d look ahead for a change.

Today, yes, today, I am starting a new presentation of my ‘Putting your Female Ancestors into Context course. This is five weeks of online study, almost all of which can be done in your own time. You haven’t missed anything if you want to jump in and come along for the ride. Here where to find out more. There’s a similar course about writing up your family history, starting on 20 April too.

On 26 February, I’ll be running a workshop for the Society of Genealogists that is designed for those who are interested in rural communities, or who have ancestors who were rural dwellers. We have a whole two and a half hours so, after an introduction, participants are let loose in small groups to research a specific community and its inhabitants. The techniques can then be applied to your own ancestors. I’ve done a shortened version of this before and it was great fun but we didn’t have long enough, so this is an extended version, with different geographical areas to investigate. You can book for this here.

Early March brings the annual extravaganza that is Rootstech and the online version is free to attend with hundreds of speakers from across the world, speaking on a wide variety of topics. You’ll find me speaking live but remotely at 3pm on Saturday 7^th about researching British ancestors in the Twentieth Century. I’ve also done a recorded short presentation about using Timelines for Genealogy, which should be available from 4pm on 5^th March. Recordings of talks I’ve given in previous years are also available. Do register to attend, there’s so much to learn.

April is going to be busy with the Really Useful Show in St. Ives (the one near Peterborough) and the Guild of One Name Studies Conference in Portsmouth. Bookings for this are remaining open for a few more days. I have a new talk to give for this ‘Preserving the Past for the Future’, about memories, heirlooms, family stories and photographs.

Also available to book is the Society of Genealogists’ Mental Health and Family History Day on 11 May, when I am joining some very talented colleagues to explore different areas of family history and mental health. I will be sharing some case studies of those who spent time in an asylum. If you’ve heard me talk on similar subjects before, I have found some new stories to include for this one. This is how to book for that one.

Looking ahead to the end of the year, on 13 November, I’ll be giving a talk about researching in Devon for Legacy Family History Webinars. You’ll be able to join me live for free but you might like to take out a subscription and view other talks that are part of Legacy’s “Year of the Genealogy Deep Dive”, featuring over 220 talks. Check out the full 2026 schedule and register here:

I also have far too many other talks to give to various groups, both in person and online. In between all this I have two exciting trips away and a ‘big’ birthday to celebrate. Apropos of that, I just had to apply to renew my driving licence. Good grief, honestly, if you are ten years away from this milestone, start now. It took forever. I made the mistake of doing it online, as I thought this would be easier and quicker than filling in the form on paper. Don’t, just don’t. Four one time pass codes to negotiate. Mid-way through I had to swap to my phone and download an app. I hate trying to do things on my phone. Then I had to answer a load of questions I’d already answered. The grumpy old woman hat was very firmly on by this point. To top it all, my application failed as they didn’t like my photo and I had to encounter yet more one time passcodes.

Because peace and mindfulness is needed to restore balance, I am excited to report that I have a pair of blackcaps, that have been seen several times in my tiny, concrete infested garden. Here’s a hurried, blurry photo, taken through two panes of double glazing, to prove it.

Up the Garden Path 17

Jan16 by thehistoryinterpreter

We’ve not been up the garden path for a while because it has been winter and I am not a winter gardener. There have been some minor changes. I’ve planted some bulbs in troughs. I was a bit late doing this and they aren’t showing yet, although others in the garden are coming through. I’ve tried yet again with snowdrops and ended up buying some already in flower. The jury is out on whether they will reappear next year. The bulbless troughs looked a bit bare, so I’ve popped some bright primulas in as well. Otherwise it has mostly been a case of syphoning out the ’pond’ (aka old Belfast sink) when it gets overfull and on a couple of occasions, breaking ice on the bird bath.

The birds get fed regularly and I have glimpsed blue tits again a couple of times, after an absence of several months. In the hope of enticing them back, I’ve got a new bird feeder that allows small birds in and keeps the bullies out. Sadly, the garden has its far share of large birds, with magpies, woodpigeons and jackdaws being daily visitors with herring gulls and rooks joining the party. Don’t get me wrong, I like to see any kind of birds but some more smaller ones would be lovely. Sparrows nest in the hedge and there’s been a wren bobbing about, as well as blackbirds, although I am missing the robin who hasn’t been seen for a while. As soon as temperatures reach double figures on a day when it isn’t raining, I will be out tackling the weeds. There are a great many growing in the cracks between the patio paving stones. I don’t want to repoint the gaps as then there’s nowhere for the rain to drain away.

One good thing about this garden is that there is something in flower all the year round. At the moment, it is the Camellias that are the showstoppers, although there are a few other things as a supporting act. The lemon tree has been popped in the shed for the duration as advised. Roll on spring!

Seasonal Shenanigans

Jan4 by thehistoryinterpreter

The past two weeks have been taken up with family visiting and visiting family. Now I am officially hibernating and trying to reset to ‘normal’. The holiday season has been full of family fun, festivities and board games but has not been without incident. First came the ritual of pre-visitor cleaning (is there any other kind?). I had identical cabinets in the two bathrooms, one now relegated to the shed as the new bathroom (finished just in time for the visitors) has built-in cupboards. I scrubbed a bit too vigorously at the top of the one in the ensuite and took the surface off (they are just cheap melamine flat pack things). I decided that this would irritate me so we swapped it with the one in the garage. Not altogether smoothly, as the feet aren’t glued on and fall off when the cupboards are moved. I discovered two years’ worth of dirt under the ensuite cupboard. Having removed said grime and replaced the cupboard contents I find that the top of the replaced cupboard is also scratched!!

Next, although it had never been used I decide I should rinse out the new shower. There’s a fixed shower head and one on a hose. I realise that I have no clue how the new shower works. There are two knobs to choose from. No handy H C label etc.. Note I am fully dressed – you can no doubt see where this is going. I manage to get water (hopefully cold) to come out of the flexi shower. My watch starts buzzing which means my phone is ringing – it tells me it is the fisherman of my acquaintance. Can I work out how to stop water coming out of the shower? Oh. I can get water to come out of the fixed rose instead, just a shame I’m standing under it. By the time I’ve twiddled the right knob in what seems to be the right direction, the phone has stopped ringing. I drip into the living room to ring back. It seems Chris’ car, that has been making an interesting noise for a while, has finally died (fortunately he is at home) fortunately too he has a ‘best’ car – unfortunately that doesn’t start either. I test my car battery as I haven’t used it for a while, yep flat as the proverbial. Three vehicles between us none of which work. If I drank I’d need a stiff gin.

Then, when visiting, I discover that I have neglected to pack any knickers. A supermarket visit should rectify this problem. It turns out that knickers have odd names to describe different styles. I rule out ‘Brazilian’, whatever that is and ‘Thong’. It seems my size is the most popular and that leaves me with very little choice. I end up with knickers that reach my armpits. Then there was somehow losing the key to the now repaired car, while we were on a caravan site. Luckily, it did turn up in a place we’d looked three times. You probably don’t want to know about me trying to mime breakdancing for a game called frozen unicorns, or us wondering if getting crackers with Kazoos in was such a good idea after all.

The decorations will soon be back in their boxes for the next eleven months and we look to the new year. The international situation certainly isn’t anything to cheer us and we can only hope that those with some influence can turn things around and what seems to be an increasing number of maniacs, both those In power and those who support them, start acting like normal, civilised, compassionate human beings. I send good wishes and hope that you can make your little corner of the planet a happy, peaceful place. For those who are struggling, I hope that the light at the end of the tunnel starts shining brightly, or if you are stuck in that tunnel, you find a way to adjust to it that allows you some sense of equilibrium. May you all find and inhabit a happy place.

A sign of spring to cheer you all – taken on 30 December in Cambridgeshire

’Tis the Season to be Quizzing – so you think you know your family history? Final Answers

Dec20 by thehistoryinterpreter

If you’ve just arrived here, it may be that you’ve missed the questions for the a Family History Quiz. If you want to participate, stop reading now, or you will find the answers to rounds 5 & 6 below. Just go to round 1 and return here when you’ve done those questions.

Just some answers for you today then.

Researching Women

When was the married women’s property act passed? 1882
Which women were given the vote by the UK legislation of 1918? Women over 30 who were householders or wives of householders.
What was the minimum legal age for the marriage of girls, with parental consent, in England and Wales in 1928? 12, although the age of consent had been 16 since 1885.
In what decade did Marie Stopes open her first birth control clinic? 1920s
In what decade did The Sex Discrimination Act remove restrictions on women’s financial rights, making it illegal for employers, banks, financial institutions and landlords to discriminate against women? 1970s.

All the answers in the above round come from my Putting your Female Ancestors into Context online course, If you want to focus on your female ancestors, the next presentation of this course starts in February. You can sign up here.

What do these abbreviations stand for?

b.o.t.p Both of this Parish
GRO General Register Office (I should disallow General Registry Office but hey it’s Christmas).
PRONI Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
d.s.p decessit sine prole (died without issue). You can have a mark without the Latin.
FWK framework knitter.

This may be the final blog for 2025, so Season’s Greetings to all and special thoughts for those who find this time of year difficult.

’Tis the Season to be Quizzing – so you think you know your family history? Rounds 5 & 6

Dec19 by thehistoryinterpreter

You’ve arrived on day 4, the final day, of a Family History Quiz. If you want to participate in earlier rounds, stop reading now, or you will find the answers to rounds 3 & 4 below. Just go to round 1 and return here when you’ve done those questions.

Here are the final quiz rounds

Round 5 Researching Women

When was the married women’s property act passed?
Which women were given the vote by the UK legislation of 1918?
What was the minimum legal age for the marriage of girls, with parental consent, in England and Wales in 1928?
In what decade did Marie Stopes open her first birth control clinic?
In what decade did The Sex Discrimination Act remove restrictions on women’s financial rights, making it illegal for employers, banks, financial institutions and landlords to discriminate against women.

Round 6 What do these abbreviations stand for?

b.o.t.p
GRO
PRONI
d.s.p.
FWK

Now for the answers to rounds 3 & 4. All the answers to round 4 come from my Discovering more about your Agricultural Labouring Ancestors online course, There’s a chance to brush up on your ag. lab. knowledge in the New Year. You can sign up here.

Round 3 Old Occupations

What did the following do?

Pindar – looked after the pound
Fletcher – one who put feathers on the ends of arrows
Chapman – a merchant
Cordwainer – shoemaker – originally one who used leather from Cordoba
Badger – an itinerant seller of foodstuffs

Round 4 Agricultural Labourers

What was the name of the mythical person who was associated with a series of protests in the 1830s, that were directed at the introduction of threshing machines? These riots were predominantly conducted in East Anglia and the South East of England. Captain Swing
What is the name of the series of county by county books, published by the Board of Agriculture between 1790 and 1820, that provide background information for those with rural ancestors? The General View of Agriculture
What laws were repealed in 1846, reinstating a free market for grain in Britain? The Corn Laws
Where can you consult the National Farm Survey for England and Wales? National Archives Kew
Which English and Welsh census was the first to list the acreages of farms and the number of employees? 1851

Answers to rounds 5 & 6 coming up tomorrow.

’Tis the Season to be Quizzing – so you think you know your family history? Rounds 3 & 4

Dec18 by thehistoryinterpreter

You’ve arrived on day 3 of a Family History Quiz. If you want to participate in earlier rounds, stop reading now, or you will find the answers to round 2 below. Just go to round 1 and return here when you’ve done those questions.