England

  • Scots Language

    May 29

    Part of one's family heritage is a native language. It doesn't mean you have to be fluent in an ancestral language but be aware of it and maybe a few key phrases. An example of a couple of declining languages includes Scottish Gaelic which has become the figurehead for minority languages in Scotland. This is sensible; it is a very old and ...

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  • BMD – UK Records

    Apr 7

    There is available the FreeBMD project for births, marriage and deaths in England and Wales. The records begin 1837 and cover to 1992. Note, not every date and year are completed yet, but they are being worked on, last updated on March 12, 2020. There are nearly 359 million records. Even if you had researched this source years ago, remem...

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  • In England – Before Divorce

    Mar 5

    It might appear to be a bit strange for a civilized nation such as England, but it was common practice for a marriage to end, not in divorce but rather the husband selling his wife. In the 18th century England, it became a practice since divorces were only for the wealthy and even a separation could be expensive for the ex-husband, paying for her ...

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  • Finding Letters

    Jan 11

    Always be on the outlook for any letters or postcards written by your ancestors. Besides having a small piece by having their writings / thoughts, it can give you insight to them as a person. A good example was the recent find of a letter to Father Chrisman at the North Pole (Santa Claus) on December 2, 1898, by a five-year-old Marjorie from Eastb...

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  • Weddings between Christmas and New Years Day

    Dec 27

    It is not always been traditional to have a June wedding. In Victorian England (from 1840s to early 1900), many weddings took place on Christmas Day and Boxing Day (a day after Chrisman Day when employers distributed money, food, cloth (material) or other valuable goods to their employees). Working class people typically worked six days a week in t...

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  • Criminals Sent to Australia

    Sep 19

    There were about 160,000 convicts were transported to Australia in total during the 19th century – to empty out the overcrowded English jails. Many people today can claim their ancestors of those English and Irish convicts. It is an interesting story whether you had such an ancestor or not. For what reasons would a convict be sent to the wilds o...

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  • United Kingdom – Census Database

    Sep 27

    Many of us have ancestors from the United Kingdom. With the census beginning there in 1841, it can be a great resource. The United Kingdom Census Database (FreeCen) continues to update it content, so there may be individuals you tried earlier to find and now they have been included in this free database. The many volunteers are still transcribing ...

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  • London Streets and the Tradesmen

    Jun 29

    Imagine you could view a drawing of an ancestor's business shop, their address for the shop, and the product they produced. Well, this is possible if you had an ancestor who had a shop on any London street between 1838 and 1847. It was John Tallis during those years who did illustrations and gathered the information of the businesses on the variou...

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  • English and Welsh Surnames

    Mar 31

    In America there are many different surnames from a wide assortment of nations and ethnic groups. For those with an English or Welsh surname (England and Wales) and Isle of Mann, there is an online free site to provide you more information about that name. This site will provide a ranking of some 270,000 surnames with the English or Welsh ethnic b...

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  • United Kingdom Unclaimed Estates

    Mar 27

    Did you have some recent ancestors who lived and died in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland)? If you did, there just might be some form of an unclaimed asset (estate) in their name that the UK government is holding until a relative claims it. Now you can't go back too far, there is a 30 year limit from time of death th...

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