What now for in-person genealogy events?

What will genealogy events become?

It feels like I’ve spent more years attending virtual genealogy events than attending them in person.

That’s obviously not actually true. My first family history event was a Who Do You Think You Are? Live back in 2011 when it was hosted at Olympia, London, but I didn’t know of anyone else going. I think I arrived, whizzed round the hall, saw all the company stands, saw Monty Don’s interview, and then left about 2 hours later slightly jaded by the experience – as I’d really fallen out of love with tedious marketing conferences at about the same time. It wasn’t until trying it the following year – having organised myself beforehand to attend some talks, and had taken time to interact on Twitter with other attendees before setting off on the train, that I found I really enjoyed it. Fast-forward many years and as Covid-19 and waves of its variants continue to infect and bring misery to so many around the world, the world has shifted a lot to a more digital delivery service mode.

From those that I’ve attended physically in the past (Who Do You Think You Are? Live, THE Genealogy Show, The Family Tree Live, The Big Family History Show, and my local history group events), and virtually in the last few years, I am confident that the expertise shared by speakers via live streaming, or pre-recorded video, or slide recordings, remains just as flawless as when it was given in person. The event speaker schedulers have continued to do great work to find and book competent speakers.

Maurice Gleeson explains how to identify which bits of your tree give you your X and Y matches.
Maurice Gleeson explains how to identify which bits of your tree give you your X and Y matches.

Virtual versions have not quite felt the same though, as it’s harder for even the most confident and charismatic speaker to bond with an audience or to react to the audience when they’re sat alone talking into yet another Zoom video call without any response. It takes extra effort to deliver a talk with energy and enthusiasm to a zero or invisible audience, particularly if this is the 6th take because you fluffed a word, a cat puked in the background (I speak with experience), or that Amazon Prime delivery driver needed you to take in your neighbour’s parcel yet again.

Ask the Experts - kind of like speed dating for genealogy answers.
Ask the Experts – a face-to-face consultation, and kind of like speed dating for genealogy answers.

On the plus side though, the range of speakers and topics they deliver has suddenly opened up to provide a much wider range to event planners and attendees. Suddenly, experts were stuck at home either through their own choice or via multiple or long term enforced lockdowns around the world (I hear you China and Australia!), and this allowed events to entice speakers who they’d not been able to book before, whether because of geographical factors including timezones, or because they were some of the more familiar genealogy or history experts who were held captive by the same rules as the rest of us.

Whilst we’ve all seen the atrocities of war in Ukraine, you can look towards the brilliant work of Natalie Pithers and her geographically spread team of volunteers during the History For Ukraine live event that streamed on YouTube for an entire weekend. This range and volume of speakers was undoubtedly a huge achievement – and I can’t imagine how much effort went into bringing 24 hours of history together. Such a broad range of speakers and topics can only enrich our understanding and interpretation of historical topics and challenge or help us to learn more about the context in which our ancestors lived.

Of course, the digital events aren’t quite the same socially. I too got bored of the millionth Zoom quiz held by friends in 2020. Within my familiar ‘circuit’ of genealogy events I missed the impromptu ‘tweet-ups’ that used to happen during the conference day, or the sudden bumping into someone who looks vaguely like their twitter avatar and having that ‘is that..‘ and ‘are you…‘ awkward moments. Whilst efforts have been made by some shows like The Genealogy Show to incorporate community discussion areas and chat functionality with speakers or with the commercial stands, the magic of being in-person is somewhat lost.

One of many ‘tweet-ups’ at a Who Do You Think You Are? Live show, Birmingham 2015.

With virtual versions of events now proven as technically possible – and how they have improved accessibility to those who are geographically, economically, or physically unable to attend in-person, what does this mean for in-person events in the future?

In an episode of The Family Histories Podcast from May 2022 titled ‘The Priest’ with Jill Ball, the aforementioned Australian genealogist, Jill, told me how the Lake Macquarie Family History Group had swiftly adopted online talks to its members and that she expects it will soon become more blended. I was pleased to hear that, and as a Committee member for The Littleport Society (a village community group), I know that our events stopped completely in April 2020 when Covid was devastating communities. Whilst we had one exhibition in July 2022, turnout was low, although there was by then a heatwave. Just prior to the pandemic arriving in the UK, I had signed up with MeetUp in a bid to reach out further with event promo – in a hope to get more attendees and perhaps some younger interest, but it proved pointless as events were discontinued, despite MeetUp’s regular attempts at trying to encourage me to keep the subscription going and switch to online events. The Society’s event attendance is small, and mostly elderly local people who receive the newsletter in print because they don’t have email.

Other organisations fared better, with The Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Family History Society adopting a schedule of Zoom talks, and other groups including the Family History Federation arranging talks including the inaugural The Future of Genealogy – Young Genealogists at the Helm conference in collaboration with the Society of Genealogists, designed to help younger genealogists to openly discuss what the future should look like.

Of course, putting on a big digital or in-person and digital event doesn’t come for free. It costs money, and a lot of it. Venues, marketing, technology, staff, speaker fees etc etc, and so being able to attract sponsors and/or commercial stands in the show is crucial for covering costs whilst also drawing in some extra attendees looking for those elusive exclusive show discounts. Whilst the costs are perhaps higher for companies/organisations to physically attend, they will be better placed to attract people to interact with them – to browse, sign up, purchase, or just raise awareness. Whereas, if companies are relying on online users to visit you virtually, it keeps the costs down, but doesn’t make you as prominent.

Day One of Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2014
Stands at Day One of Who Do You Think You Are? Live, Olympia, London, 2014

I struggle a little to imagine how or why commercial organisations would pay for a virtual presence at a genealogy conference unless they are paying to get interval video ads, or promo imagery around the screen in which the lecture is being given. Those are expensive to make, and may well be ignored by users who have ‘ad blindness’ or ‘skip finger’.

Whilst I’ve been thinking about this for a while, this week THE Genealogy Show have posted an open letter to the genealogy community via their social media, stating their current state of play. It’s a difficult situation to be in. Their in-person show was great, and a worthy successor to the retired Who Do You Think You Are? Live shows, but what could make shows like theirs work both for attendees who want talks, experts, discounts, all for a good price, and companies who want foot-fall, costs covered, profits and sign-ups.

I’ve never attended a RootsTech, so I can only imagine how that long-established physical and virtual show copes with the same dilemma. Let me know what you’ve observed in the comments if you’ve been to one.

I am old enough though to know of a small sub-set of (mostly American) family historians who lived a second life in er… Second Life – an online virtual world, particularly Patty Roy of the Genealogy News podcast (under her nom de plume of Dinah Larkham). I think I tried Second Life for about a week in the mid 2000s, and spent most of the time trying to stop my character from just staring at the sky or the ground, then I fell off a cliff and landed in a yacht, where i got stuck forever until someone then started asking for sex in the chat function. I swiftly deleted my account and never returned. Perhaps Mark Zuckerberg’s middle-aged crisis aka Metaverse will bring the answer to blended online/offline worlds, and we genealogists can all be reunited in the cloud? Naah, I doubt it.

What do you think the future of genealogy events will be?

UPDATE:
Given the interest in this topic amongst the genealogy community, I have added a poll, running for 7 days on Twitter (from 23rd August) to see how people feel about their next big genealogy conference attendance.

The Genealogy Show 2021 talk

Andrew is delivering a talk at The Genealogy Show 2021 on examining evidence in family history.

Hello folks, amongst recording The Family Histories Podcast, and appearing on the Hallowe’en episode of From Paper To People podcast, I’ve also recorded a talk for The Genealogy Show.

My talk ‘Missing, Mis-Transcribed or Buried Alive? A lesson in questioning evidence’ will run on Friday 3rd December 2021 at 5pm* (GMT) at The Genealogy Show website. I’ll be on hand whilst the talk is airing in the show’s chat channel where I’ll be giving you some additional information and taking your questions.

I believe that the talk (but not the chat) will be available to watch after the broadcast time and date for some time.

Andrew Martin - Speaker at The Genealogy Show 2021.
Andrew Martin – Speaker at The Genealogy Show 2021.

It’s a paid-for ticketed online event, so if you’d like to watch the talk then you’ll need to buy your ticket beforehand.

*This is correct as I type this, but please check the schedule closer to the time in case it changes.

We’ve been recording a podcast

A little update on why History Repeating has been quiet.

This blog has been quiet for a while. Sorry about that.

Aside from simply just spending ‘a few minutes’ (read: hours a day) working on my family tree, I’ve also been busy working on cataloguing The Littleport Society’s archive, and recording a podcast series called The Family Histories Podcast.

If you’re not a podcast listener – a podcast is an episodic radio-type programme that you subscribe to (for free), and then whenever a new episode is released, it appears on your computer, tablet, or phone queue waiting for you to play.

In fact, here is the trailer….

The first series of The Family Histories Podcast began in June 2021, and releases an approximately 40 minute episode each week. As I type this, we’re already 5 episodes in, and there’s two left of this series. We’re already planning series 2.

Each episode sees a guest join me (Andrew) to talk about their family history research, they then tell the life story of one of their most fascinatingly good, bad, or just plain ugly relatives, before ending the show with their current brick wall – where it’s over to the listener to see if they can help with a breakthrough.

Each episode also includes a special ‘goodbye’ for each guest… how could they refuse Andrew’s offer of help?

Curious? Then either search your favourite podcast platform for ‘The Family Histories Podcast’ (it’s on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Podchaser etc) or alternatively you can find a list of platforms at The Family Histories Podcast website

Listening and subscribing is free, and unlike most podcasts, this one is free from advertising and funding requests. If you have been listening, then it would be great if you could leave a review on your podcast platform of choice (where possible) – especially on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Podchaser, as a review left on those sites boosts the podcast’s visibility and then helps other potential listeners to find the show…. and maybe find their family too.

Thank you, Andrew.

The AncestryDNA 2020 update

Ancestry have updated their DNA results a few times now, and this has changed my ‘ethnicity estimate’ somewhat each time.

Back in 2018, the change resulted in what looked like a really boring set of results for myself and my five testers. I lost all of my more interesting overseas location regions, and became 100% boring.

AncestryDNA 'ethnicity' split after the September 2018 update.
AncestryDNA ‘ethnicity’ split after the September 2018 update.

Despite this ‘boring’ outcome, it actually made it match the documented research much better given that in the research I’ve done – which for some branches covers ~400 years, not one of my ancestors has been born or married outside of England, let alone the UK. Most of those remained in Cambridgeshire and the wider East Anglia (something that Ancestry has highlighted in their results for a while).

The 2019 AncestryDNA update

In August 2019, their next update caused my results to diversify. My other family testers’ results did too, and it appears that the data surrounding Scandinavia was either increased in volume or had been refined.

My 2019 AncestryDNA results for my testers have become much more diverse again.

The Norwegian DNA origins reappeared, and my father’s 4% had shifted into double figures. Meanwhile, my paternal aunt’s Irish DNA vanished in favour of Swedish DNA (my father – her brother) also gained Swedish origins.

Back in 2016-ish, the results looked fairly mixed, but the categorisation of the regions were very broad. It’s only right that as more data comes in, the interpretation of that data gets more accurate.

AncestryDNA test results chart
The five original sets of DNA estimates from before the 2018 update, alongside my sister’s later set of results.

AncestryDNA 2020 update

With Ancestry’s new announcement in September 2020 that the results are changing ‘soon’, it’s possible to click through and see the changes now.

The change has altered the results significantly, but this is a positive thing.

Some of the regions have been broken down to a more granular level, which allows us to see Scotland and Ireland separately, and Wales extracted from England and Northwestern Europe.

Ancestry DNA results update 2020
My testers 2020 updated Ancestry DNA results.

Ancestry have taken to YouTube to announce this update to their DNA data.

Barry Starr announces the AncestryDNA 2020 update.

It’s always good to get an update on data and accuracy, although Ancestry’s new StoryScout feature very clearly needs some refinement.

Here, my 2x Great Grandmother Elizabeth Howlett, a Suffolk (UK) born daughter of a labourer, who married and lived with her Cambridgeshire (UK) farmer husband, widowed mother, and her many children, is given a fictional story of how she passed through Castle Garden as an immigrant in the USA.

Ancestry StoryScout
Ancestry StoryScout feature inspired by a parallel universe.

This is complete nonsense. She never left the fenland of Cambridgeshire, and the censuses, baptisms, marriage, banns, and burial records also on Ancestry, alongside my tree, has all the evidence to prove it wrong.

Those family history fans among us who scrutinise less and accept more willingly with a gleeful click, may ultimate find this feature to be a parasite.

Regardless of the changes to your DNA reporting and ethnicity estimates, and the accuracy of the information you see, remember this:

You are still you, and you are the now.

Thanks for reading,

Andrew

FindMyPast embraces the future with the personal touch

FindMyPast have unveiled a new look in a bid to make family history researching feel more personal to their users.

The popular family history website FindMyPast has rebranded itself, switching from the familiar blue, green, and white colouring to a dark blue, dark cream and orange instead.

Gone are the leafy greens reminiscent of most family tree sites, and the focus really does seem to be tuned up to the personal and human level. The ‘my’ is emphasised here in an orange handwriting (and there’s a ‘you’ on some screens too), and there’s new hand-drawn logos to help build on that personal, less corporate feel.

I guess with their expansion into building trees, sharing tree-to-tree info, and their recent venture into the highly competitive DNA testing, they need their audience to feel like their site is about personal information – ‘your’ family history. 

Change is always hard to embrace, and maybe you’re outraged. Maybe you don’t really mind. I’m in the latter camp. If this change helps shift the emphasis towards encouraging users to build trees, then I think that’s great.

Another popular family history website has a lot of ’empty’ users that have no trees, and seemingly no interest in researching – having been brought on board by a DNA test. If these changes by FindMyPast can help turn that tide for them, then I hope it does.

In their own press release (issued today), FindMyPast reveal that through research they’ve conducted, 12% of Brits can’t trace their family tree beyond their own parents, and 38% can only trace it as far as their grandparents!

I think I was lucky, as I’d already got beyond those % by the time I was about 7yrs old.

Here’s the new look site in desktop (logged in)

The new look FindMyPast dashboard
FindMyPast, Dec 2019.

And here’s the site on mobile (logged out). Note the ‘my’ changes to a different handwriting for some views.

FindMyPast 2019 rebranded mobile website.
FindMyPast 2019, mobile.

For those of you like me who have been following this site for a long time, you might remember how their homepage looked back in 2009.

FindMyPast homepage 2009
FindMyPast homepage from 2009.

For those of you with longer memories, you might remember FindMyPast arriving as a brand in 2003, having previously been 1837online.

When the site changed in 2014, some people’s worlds imploded, and they were quick to vent their frustrations online.

Janet kicks off at FindMyPast's rebrand in 2014
I bet this person continued to use it really.

I just hope that like in 2014, and in the debacle that Ancestry had too, that they don’t have any major plans to change that search form!

In conclusion, I like it, i’ll miss the green and blue, but like any website, I’ll have forgotten exactly what it looked like within a few months and will be merrily using the new one.

As ever, thanks for reading, and happy tree surgery!

Andrew

Arsenic and Old Bureaus

When Sarah Brightwell’s curiosity got the better of her, it would lead her to an untimely end.

Sarah Brightwell was just 15 years old, when on 9th January 1844 in the village of Mepal, Cambridgeshire, and whilst in the employment of Mr William Brown (probably her maternal uncle or grandfather), she stumbled across a pile of firewood ready for burning.

This wasn’t just any old firewood though, it was the remains of an old wooden bureau that hadn’t been used for years. It was broken up and ready for burning to keep those cold fenland draughts at bay.

18th Century wooden bureau
18th Century wooden bureau

Amongst the debris though, was a small packet that caught Sarah’s eye. She picked it up – it’s contents much like a sugar. Sarah’s curiosity overcame her, and she tried it. It was arsenic.

Arsenic in the home

Arsenic was common in the home, and sometimes turns up in old wallpaper or wood preservatives. It may also have had a use as a poison for pests – so buying it was fairly commonplace. It is lethal if ingested.

Arsenic bottle.

If taken in large amounts, it can kill within hours. Numerous criminal cases have been recorded, but when in the home it could sit in its clearly marked container – there was even a market for ornately labelled containers – much like coffee and sugar jars today.

In this case though, we have to assume that Sarah did not check the packet for writing, or that she could not read. Upon it was written “Arsenic – Poison”. She took about a teaspoonful, experiencing “violent retching and pain” shortly afterwards, and “died in a few hours”.

Her death certificate, which was fairly common in that it was written for a child during the 1840s, has a full ’cause of death’ column, reading:

“Died from the affects of arsenic inadvertently taken by the deceased without any motive or knowledge of the effect”

Hugh Robert Evans Jnr, Coroner.
Sarah’s death certificate.

Sarah’s death hit the news, with the inquest appearing along two other terrible tragedies from the same Coroner’s session.

The jury, after a long investigation, were:

“fully satisfied that the poor girl, who was of very simple character, took the poison without any motive, and without any knowledge of its nature and effects, and returned a verdict to that purport”.

Inquisitions in the Isle, The Cambridgeshire Independent Press, 1844.

The newspaper inquest story ends with the line “The bureau had not been used for 30 years at least”. I hope it was swiftly burnt.

As for the other two cases in the inquest, both were for people who had burnt to death, one a 76 year old Elizabeth Kimpton of Ely, and the other happens to be another one of my relatives, Mary Hawkins, aged 10 years. Her story will save for another time.

The Genealogy Show 2019

Day One of the first ever The Genealogy Show at the NEC BIrmingham has ended, but what is the show like? Well, here’s my review…

I’ve been looking forward to The Genealogy Show for ages now – just one of the family history-focused UK events to step into the void left by Who Do You Think You Are? Live as it closed its doors in 2017.

It’s only a few weeks since Family Tree Live at London’s Alexandra Palace, and this time I’ve headed back to the NEC Birmingham – familiar territory for those who ventured to the latter WDYTYA? Live shows.

The lush green carpet welcomes you into the venue, a refreshing positive colour and one that befits those lofty boughs that form our tree obsession. Straight away you’re met by the Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine team and the team at LivingDNA on their stands. A quick glance beyond their welcoming faces shows you that the “big two” aren’t present here – with no dominating giant Ancestry stand, or elaborately themed FindMyPast stand. That’s fine… we know who those two companies are, and where to find them (maybe RootsTech?). I’m wondering how many people are drawn to these events because they want to see them specifically.

Beyond these first two welcoming stands is a spacious hall – not quite the size of WDYTYA Live was – probably about 2/3rds the size. However, the space is welcome, and it’s comfortably filled with our friendly local history societies, and smaller family history related company stands.

The Twiggli Trees show stand
The Twiggli Trees stand was my favourite – bright, colourful, and nice lighting.

Some familiar friends are here – MyHeritage, the Railway Museum, FIBIS, the National Library Of Wales, and the GOONS. Pen & Sword, and stands with genealogy supplies are missing, which is a shame as they usually run some great deals (particularly on the final days of these kind of events).

The FIBIS stand
The FIBIS stand is always a delight to see – the team are so friendly and helpful.

Theres a lot of chairs, perfect for resting those feet (put your pedometers on, you’ll be surprised), or for those wanting to rummage through notebooks, or digest the arrival of a new piece of information or research strategy.

An Experts section is on the left as you come in, perhaps a little enclosed and therefore a bit hidden (half-height screens would have been better) but the free programme (yay!) has a handy floorplan to help you find it, and the lecture arenas, which are also enclosed – so no sneaky listening in!

The Photo Alchemist at The Genealogy Show
The Photo Alchemist was getting plenty of interest in photo restoration and colouring.

If you’re here for a wander round, hoping for inspiration you might not find enough for a whole day, but if you’re here to see a lecture (you can still buy tickets on the door), or to get help from the society stands or experts, then I think you’re going to have a great time.

Behind the scenes of a genealogy sleuth

I pre-booked two lectures for Friday – the first being author Nathan Dylan Goodwin talking on ‘Novelising Intrigues In Genealogy’, and this was a fascinating behind the scenes insight into how Nathan got hooked on genealogy.

Nathan Dylan Goodwin at The Genealogy Show
Nathan Dylan Goodwin talking about how he handles crimes that span history.

Like me and many, he got hooked on it as a young teen, and he explained how that inspired him to begin writing, eventually leading to what is now a highly successful genealogy crime series starring character sleuth Morton Farrier including books Hiding The Past, and The America Ground. His son now has a double-glazed tree-house, so things must be doing alright!

Inspiration for “the book”

In the afternoon I sat in on Gill Blanchard’s talk on ‘Writing Your Family History’ not least because I’ve aspired to write “the book” since my first Genealogy Resolutions way back in 2013… and still haven’t.

Gill Blanchard at The Genealogy Show
Gill Blanchard got us all thinking about the questions we need to consider answering when writing.

I’ve been long overdue to see Gill talk, as I have 2-3 of her books, as she’s written on Cambridgeshire and Norfolk researching, house history, and crucially, writing your family history. I found this fascinating, with tons of practical advice on how to avoid issues and how to prepare, and there was a contrast in writing approach to Nathan – with Gill writing in pieces, Nathan writing in order. I suspect I’ll be like Gill… but with about a billion post-it’s and word files.

Day Two will see me attending the lecture from Michelle Leonard on ‘How To Make The Most Of Your Autosomal DNA Test’

In my experience, family history is one of the most friendliest hobbies I’ve ever experienced, and it’s a pleasure to see old friends and make new ones at these events.

It was great to see lots of family history societies attending the show, which for many was the second large event in just a few weeks. As ever, they were helpful and friendly, and it was nice to hear how they were finding the show. I even caved and bought another data CD from my ‘home team’ the Cambridgeshire Family History Society, with a nice show discount too!

Shopping at a Family history society stand
There’s always a new set of records or a bargain to be found!

While I don’t know if there’s enough space for Family Tree Live AND The Genealogy Show to both survive the long term, I’m simply pleased that they’re having a good damn go at it in these post-WDYTYA? Live years.

So far, I think I’m enjoying the show a little more than I did Family Tree Live, but we’ll see how day 2 goes. So, I’ll be back for Saturday, and hope to see lots of you there.

Thanks for reading, and happy tree surgery!

Andrew

 

 

A Family Tree Live 2019 review

A review of the first ever Family Tree Live show at London.

Today was the first day of the first ever Family Tree Live show at Alexandra Palace in London.

The show is what felt to me like the first of the three contenders to being the ‘replacement’ for the now defunct Who Do You Think You Are? Live annual show that closed its doors after a long run in London and later in Birmingham.

For me, the journey to Alexandra Palace has a couple of changes that I needed to make on my train journey, rather than my direct route. On my trip today I befriended a traveling companion at Stevenage, when a fellow family historian from Lincoln asked me if it was the train to Welwyn. Discovering our same destination, we stuck together and talked about research and events we’d been to in the past. This helped my journey pass quite nicely, although it’s little more than an hour in total, ending with a nice walk up the hill along the edge of Alexandra Park to the venue. I think there’s a free shuttle bus.

The entrance is on the far side of the building, so if you’re attending tomorrow (Saturday 27th April), then expect to walk around the pretty Victorian facade, unless it’s raining.

Family Tree Live 2019 at Alexandra Palace.
Family Tree Live 2019 at Alexandra Palace.

Once in, get your printed ticket ready and you can make your way through to the hall, past a myriad of signs telling you to not take photos or film things without specific permission of the exhibitors. Ouch.

Stands, Space, and Seats

The first thing I noticed once into the exhibition hall was that there was plenty of space between the stands – a welcome addition after what had at times been a bit of a squeeze between stands at WDYTYA? Live. I arrived at about 10am and the show steadily increased in visitors over the next hour.

With this being a Friday, it’s hard to judge success, as many people may not have taken a day off work to attend. Fingers crossed that Saturday is a roaring success.

Like other shows, there were a large number of Societies with stalls – these are great for shopping some county data collections, or asking one of their stand experts for advice on county-level sources.

I headed over to the Family Tree DNA theatre and caught Donna Rutherford‘s talk on getting more out of an autosomal DNA test. Clearly a popular choice as I stood with others at the back.

Donna Rutherford at Family Tree Live 2019
Donna Rutherford talked about how to get more out of your autosomal DNA test results.

Donna’s talk gave me plenty of things to think about in how to best use the data in my matches, but also ideas on what level of cM to draw a line after and put on the back-burner. I’ll definitely go looking for the extra tagging in AncestryDNA to help me manage these matches as I have 6 tests, and 1 more to go.

Speaking of DNA tests, whilst there were plenty of talks, the big WDYTYA? Live test company, Ancestry were not present. FindMyPast weren’t either. Whilst this might be a disappointment for many (if only because you’re looking for more cheap test kits or subscription deals to buy), it did mean that other companies like MyHeritage, LivingDNA, and FamilyTreeDNA had a chance to shine instead, and I saw plenty of people at these stands.

I spent some time at the Railway Work, Life & Death Project stand, as they’re busy documenting railway accidents. Sadly, my Gt x3 Grandfather, James Martin‘s gruesome death at Black Bank, Cambridgeshire in 1868 was just a little bit outside of their remit, but I’ll be ready to hand over information if they ever get into the 1860s.

I also checked in on my annual genealogy show chums, Paul and Pam, to see how Name and Place is getting on. It looks like their exciting new project is about to be released into the wild, that will help researchers looking for data and information on the people in specific places – a kind of one-name study and one-place study resource. There also seemed to be a really nice link in with Ancestry for census images as supportive resources. Can’t wait to see it live!

The food was somewhat disappointing at the venue, with not a particularly great choice. The staff seemed to be somewhat in trauma when I tried to buy a tea. With Alexandra Palace being up on top of a hill, there’s not very much nearby, so apart from walking out of the hall and going to the venue restaurant, you’re stuck with a pair of sandwich and cake stalls, with tea and coffee.

I booked my show ticket online, which was really easy, but afterwards I realised that I needed to book my talk/workshop tickets too – and this was a separate system (of if it wasn’t, it wasn’t clear there were other tickets to buy when buying the main ticket), so I was left with chance as to which talks I could attend.

Family Tree Live showguide 2019
You get a free showguide for Family Tree Live as you walk in.

The free show guide revealed that nearly all of the Workshops were sold out at the time of print – these certainly looked busy, and for those that I spoke to who’d run one or attended one, they sounded like they were really useful.

The AGRA experts advice area was busy as usual, and I saw many familiar faces at tables giving advice. This is kind of speed-dating for family historians, with each expert offering practical advice on the visitor’s genealogy questions.

I also headed over to the The Postal Museum to talk about The Post Office Rifles, and I also stopped at the newly re-branded Family History Federation stand to chat to them about their work. I was delighted to be given this amusing badge, which I wore on the train home to much concern from my fellow passengers.

i seek dead people badge
The Family History Federation gave me this great badge!

Family Reunions

I’ve never been to a family reunion, but having been a family historian for… ugh… 24 years now (how the hell did that happen?)… perhaps everyone has been waiting for me to do it.

Having been going to shows like this for 10+ years, you get to meet up with familiar faces and meet new ones, and so whilst I saw my almost-as-distant-as-it-can-get relative Amelia Bennett, I also happened to sit down at a bench in the Village Green area opposite a woman reading through her notes.

She looked up at me, asked me if I was Martin.. and then introduced herself – as it turns out that she is a maternal cousin of mine that I’ve never met before. She recognised me as she’s a blog reader here and we’ve messaged each other before. I knew she’d be going, but this stroke of luck brought us together. We spent some time comparing tree notes on our mutual ancestor (my before heading off to our respective talks.  She’ll be starting her own blog soon 😉

Royal Visitor

It was a delight to see that the show even had a royal visitor – yes, Her Majesty the Queen and Empress of India was present and, if I dare to say, was looking a very young and spritely 199 years old!

 

Overall

I only booked one day, but I’m curious as to how Saturday will fare. With 3 shows to pick from this year, I wonder which one the family historian (as opposed to the professionals) will choose to go to most.

I liked the ticket price for this show – it’s the cheapest (RootsTech’s UK debut is by far the most expensive), so that’s a positive, but it also maybe means it’s the smallest. However, the quality of the Society stands is unrivalled, as these local groups know their topic inside out.

The missing FindMyPast and Ancestry stands allowed others to shine (FamilySearch seemed the biggest), but I wonder if this might disappoint those attracted to genealogy by the tantalising TV adverts.

The atmosphere was friendly and positive, the venue surroundings were pretty, but a few more stands, and menu choices would really help this show out. I’d recommend expanding the Village Green idea (which I loved), and perhaps a few smaller short talk spots.

  • Favourite part: Meeting my fifth cousin, twice removed.
  • Least favourite part: Chips or sad sandwich decision process.
  • Overall, 3 / 5, and would consider visiting again next year.

My Genealogy Resolutions 2019

So, it’s that time again where I pick out some particular things I’d like to achieve in my family history research during the next 12 months.

This is the 6th year that I have written Genealogy New Year’s Resolutions, so fingers crossed I will get to do some of them. Last year’s resolutions were not very successful, with life getting in the way of my research (how dare it!).

Still, without further a-do, here’s my resolutions for 2019:

1. Scan all my BMD certificates

This one is a carry-over from last year. I have a large collection of certificates, and there are many that are scanned, but not all of them. Last year’s effort was prompted by scanning them all and adding them as attached media in my MacFamilyTree software (putting the document right there amongst the data).

A photograph of Mary Crisp (née Tingey, later Martin and Watling), with copies of her marriage certificate to John Crisp, and the birth certificate of their only son, William Crisp.
A photograph of Mary Crisp (née Tingey, later Martin and Watling), with copies of her marriage certificate to John Crisp, and the birth certificate of their only son, William Crisp.

I realised that spotting the unscanned ones was hard, so I finally bought myself a pack of little green dots, and can now go through and dot them in the corner if/when they’re done – as each one is stored in a plastic A4 wallet. This will make this process much easier.

2. Get Talking

I do a lot of tech talks in my other life of working with search engines, but I don’t get to do talks about genealogy. I really want to change that – after all, I’ve been working in genealogy for about 23 years, and only about 7 years in my chosen tech niche.

I was recently voted by a lovely audience in Norwich as being able to clearly explain a really technical subject. I’ve had my eyes on the three big forthcoming genealogy conferences in the UK, and whilst two of them have already chosen not to have me on stage, I’m going to try pitching to the more techie one.

If this fails, then I’ll be looking to do some genealogy talks at smaller events in the area (let me know if you want to book me!). Fingers crossed!

3. Put the Littleport Society catalogue online

This one relates to my membership on the committee of The Littleport Society – a heritage society for the large fenland village of Littleport just north of the city of Ely. I’ve been on their committee since summer of 2015 (after 10 years doing their website), but now I’m working on digitising and cataloguing their collection.

Collective Access logo

I aim to get a searchable catalogue online in 2019 using Collective Access, in a bid to showcase the Society’s vast collection, celebrate the community’s history, and increase awareness of this history-rich area to a huge online audience.

4. Still start writing that book

Okay, ‘that book’ has been trundling along in my head for a long long time now, and I know that most people claim that they have at least one book in them. The stories I want to tell have begun to gain structure and so I need to put finger to keyboard and start writing them.

My mother, and first cousin twice removed (my late-grandfather’s cousin), have both already asked me to write things up for them about specific family groups, so it’s about time that I started doing this, and use those to evolve into a book.

5. Collect more photographs

This is one of my favourite resolutions, and it looks right back to what started my interest in researching – the faces to the names. From the loaned Victorian photos from my Great-Great Aunt that were on the dining table at my parent’s house in 1995, to the photographs emailed to me just weeks ago by my third cousin twice removed, it is wonderful to picture your relatives however distant. I want to print more of the photos as well as collect them, allowing me to build up a physical collection too.

 

Have you set yourself any genealogy research resolutions for 2019? Did you have any last year? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll stick with me in 2019. Happy New Year!

Andrew

Updated AncestryDNA Ethnicity Estimates or How To Feel Less Interesting

AncestryDNA have updated their data sets, resulting in changes to many DNA test ethnicity results. I tentatively log in to find out just how much duller i’ve become…

I remember unceremoniously dribbling into my little tube thing back in 2015, and encouraging my mother to do the same. We were both amused by the idea of being DNA tested, and finding out whether we might be Scandinavian.

When the results came back about 6 weeks later, we were pleased, and I took great delight in mocking my mother – a Daily Mail reader – that she was part Eastern European, and therefore every time she bought a copy of that rag, she was in fact hurting herself!

AncestryDNA 'Ethnicity Estimate' results and map.
My AncestryDNA ‘Ethnicity Estimate’ results and map in 2015.

Over the next year, I also coaxed my father in 2016, my mother’s sister, my father’s sister in 2017 whilst she was visiting from the USA, and eventually cornered my sister and via team pressure from my parents, she did the dribble for our sakes in May 2018.

My Father's AncestryDNA Ethnicity result in Lego
My Father’s AncestryDNA Ethnicity result.

This gave me 6 sets of DNA results, but between the 5th and the 6th set, Ancestry updated it’s result data. This meant that for 5 of us, the DNA ‘Ethnicity’ of us all was about to get far “less interesting”.

Less interesting?

Obviously, refining techniques in the galloping field of science is ultimately a wonderful thing. It’s the right thing to review how the tests are carried out and seek improvements to scientific accuracy.

It’s also ethical to update the test results when the accuracy is improved, but in doing so, for my family, it’s made us far less geo-genetically diverse.

AncestryDNA test results chart
The five original sets of DNA estimates, and my sister’s later set after the earlier 2018 update.

Now, as I type, AncestryDNA have updated their data again. In doing so, it squeezes further on the final percentages of interesting little origins hiding in the DNA of my father and my paternal aunt, and removes some of the impossible results that my sister had been assigned – Caucasus and Native American – that none of us (who are definitely all related to her) showed!

AncestryDNA 'ethnicity' split after the September 2018 update.
AncestryDNA ‘ethnicity’ split after the September 2018 update.

I’ve gone from being 61% “Great Britain” in 2015, to being 100% “England, Wales & Northern Europe” in 2018. I’ve very sadly lost my Scandinavian and Irish genes, although my father and his sister have kept theirs respectively.

Regional Data

In what AncestryDNA give as ‘Migrations’, most of my family are listed as ‘East Anglia & Essex’. My mother and sister include ‘East Midlands’. Aside from Essex (tsk!), the rest fits perfectly with the paper trail.

Meanwhile, my results over at LivingDNA, where I uploaded my AncestryDNA test data to back in January 2017, give me a repeat of some of the regions. Their estimate is that I am 95.7% Great Britain and Ireland, and 4.3% showing up as Scandinavia on a map. This GB part sees East Anglia (where about 90% of my paper-trailed entire family history is from) leading the origins way at 53.9%, and South Central England (which covers Somerset and Devon) showing up as 15.4%.

LivingDNA Cautious Region Map of UK
My LivingDNA regional mapping has similarities with AncestryDNA claims.

Interestingly, the Somerset and Devon area, is where my Burnell, Babbage, and Evans families are based, and the Burnell and Babbage families repeatedly provide me with AncestryDNA matches. Interestingly, LivingDNA show me Ireland and in the wider view, Norway are covered – matching what I used to see from AncestryDNA, but what I still see in my father and his sister’s results today.

Dr Karl Kennedy and DNA Tests

The genetic data pool is getting bigger as AncestryDNA and LivingDNA break into new audiences.

AncestryDNA have regularly boasted about the X millionth ancestry tester, and in the last fortnight, they’ve had heavy product placement in the Australian soap Neighbours, and are currently running a long-lost half-sister plot line between veteran character Dr Karl Kennedy, and Magda Szubanski’s guest character Jemima. Magda of course, was subject to a brilliant episode of the Australian version of Who Do You Think You Are? (recommend you watch it!).

The different companies are still battling out the price war – with kits appearing in more UK High Street shops, and of course now Amazon.

Data scientists, like the scientists back in the DNA testing lab, are constantly evolving their methods, ethics, and techniques, to bring a clearer and truer picture to what we are.

I have one kit left, and I have some ideas who I could ask, but top of the list is my grandfather’s cousin, who is genetically closer to my Giddings and Tingey families than any of those tested so far. She’d also be the first person I’ve tested to have a different parent line, so I’d need to watch out for false leads.

Whilst I’m sad to have lost my fantasy ancestral tour list, and my parents have lost their over-dinner conversation opportunities, we should celebrate the science that strives to bring us truth.

I think I’ll cope with being less Scandinavian, and less Irish.

After all, I’m still exactly who I was before I dribbled in 2015.