Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2011

The fifth Who Do You Think You Are? Live runs from 25th-27th February 2011 at London’s Olympia.

The fifth Who Do You Think You Are? Live runs from 25th-27th February 2011.

This was actually the first time that I had been to Who Do You Think You Are? Live. I thought that I would go along to find out for myself what it was like, to catch a talk by Monty Don, and also ‘entertain’ my Twitter followers for a few hours live from the event.

After quite an early start from Huntingdon station, I got down to Earls Court in good time. The train for Olympia seems to take an age to arrive, but thankfully once you’re on it, it’s just a short trip. I knew that I was on the right track as this train to Olympia was packed at 10:30am.

I’ve been to Olympia loads of times before for marketing/technology shows, so pretty much know my way around the place. Upon arrival, i nipped upstairs to the gallery to take the above photo and a couple of others before checking out where the Who Do You Think You Are? Theatre was (it’s upstairs), where I had my ticket to see Monty Don.

I was pleased to look out across the hall to see some very familiar brands – of course the Who Do You Think You Are? magazine team were there, but also Ancestry.co.uk, FindMyPast, FamilySearch, Society of Genealogists, and a fantastic Victorian set, complete with staff in period costume belonging to Genes Reunited.

Amongst them were an array of other organisations that provide information on DNA testing, Caribbean ancestry, the fantastic Cassini Maps team and many many others.

The Society of Genealogists had paved the way for a plethora of local family history societies to hold stands there too – I was pleased to stumble across my chums Cambridgeshire Family History Society (CFHS) and Parish Chest – both of whom I regularly shop with.

Up on the gallery level could be found other organisations – identifying/dating photographs, war medals.

Celebrities at WDYTYA Live

I stumbled across Eric Knowles – the legendary antique expert. I swear he didn’t leave his little stand for a second! And caught some fleeting glimpses of Nick Barratt.

Monty Don’s talk was both fascinating and funny. You could tell that he had enjoyed every moment of his adventure with WDYTYA, and even told the stories of the bits you didn’t see in his episode, and about further research that had taken place after the episode.

I had planned to catch Tony Robinson talking with Ancestry.co.uk but by this time I was already flagging on my feet so decided to start my journey homewards.

I think it was well worth the trip and I had a really good day. I didn’t go there looking for any particular information though, but there were plenty of people with notepads and folders – perhaps making use of the Ancestry.co.uk advice, or the Ask The Experts team upstairs.

I would definitely go again, but maybe not annually unless there was something specific I wanted to see or buy.

A few bits of advice:
They were allowing re-entry as long as you kept your ticket, so by lunchtime when i was starting to get a bit hot, i was pleased to grab some fresh air and a little walk over the road to get some lunch.

It can get quite hot in there, but fortunately i’d put my jacket in my rucksack… and there was a stand selling icecream.

The queue for the Who Do You Think You Are? theatre gets quite long quite quickly, so give yourself plenty of time if you fancy getting a really good seat.

There’s quite a lot of seats upstairs if you fancy taking the weight off your feet for a few minutes.

FREE: Family History guide and cd-rom with The Telegraph

Free Family History step-by-step guide and CD-rom inside every copy of The Telegraph on 19th and 20th February 2011.

In association with Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, The Telegraph are giving away a step-by-step Family Tree guide and CD-rom, that will help you to trace your ancestors in only 14 days. Find out more about these great gifts at The Telegraph website.

Free Family History guide with The Telegraph

If that’s not enough, the fifth Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE event takes place at London’s Olympia between 25th and 27th February. I’m going to be going along on Friday 25th in a bid to catch talks by Monty Don and Tony Robinson.

Surname Saturday: BABBAGE

This unusual surname takes me on a rare journey out of Cambridgeshire and down to the South West – to Devon.

In approximately 1816, Mary Babbage was born in Holcombe Rogus, Devon. She was the daughter of John Babbage, a labourer.

On Christmas Day of 1839, she married Samuel Burnell at Combe Florey, Somerset, where she made her mark [x] and was noted as a labourer. With her husband, they grew a family of 11 Burnell children.

However, the challenge is in securing the correct John Babbage. Despite this unusual surname, it’s the forename that really makes things tough as there’s quite a few John Babbages to pick from. With Mary’s birth being pre-certification, I’ve not been able to locate (for sure) her mother either.

The most likely candidate being a John Babbage born 1783, who married Rebecca Vodden. If this is the case, then it leads the family to the parish of Ashreigney in Devon. This John appears to die on 16th January 1868, with his Will and Codicil being proved at Exeter in June 1869. Here it names Ashreigney again, titles him as a ‘gentleman’ and that his son, James Babbage ‘a yeoman’ is one of the Executors.

Computer Pioneer?

Some articles suggest that Charles Babbage (1791-1871) an English mathematician, philosopher, engineer and (proto) computer scientist may have been part of a Devon-based Babbage family from Teignmouth. Other reports talk only of London, where a Blue Plaque has been added to a property in Dorset Street where his house once stood.
Was this mathematical genius a distant branch of my Babbage tree? The jury’s out, but I’d love it to be true.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

POLL: At what age were you when you started your family tree/genealogy research?

POLL: At what age were you when you started your family tree/genealogy research?

I fall outside of the reader demographic for most genealogy magazines, as well as the demographic of genealogy websites. So, I was wondering at what age you first started your family tree/genealogical research?

The Mystery of Elizabeth Yarrow’s Gravestone

Elizabeth Yarrow’s death spans two years. Her age at death spans 8 years. Two churches registers, and a gravestone all give conflicting and some corresponding information. What’s the real answer?

I have a mystery to solve and hopefully the death certificate of an Elizabeth Yarrow, whose death is recorded in the June quarter of 1838 in St Pancras, will unravel it.

This gravestone stands in Stretham churchyard, Cambridgeshire, amongst many other Yarrow gravestones. There is something engraved near the foot of the stone but I can’t make it out now, and perhaps didn’t spot it at the time.

However, this stone appears to have some errors.

The Stretham burials transcript gives William Yarrow as being 71, and Elizabeth Yarrow (née Wright) as having been buried in 1837.

The Little Thetford burials transcript (Little Thetford being a hamlet of Stretham and it’s common for inhabitants to be buried at Stretham), gives a different story: “YARROW Elizabeth otp 50 wife of William farmer, died in London was carried home and buried at Stretham” (Nov 23 1837).

This gives two positive mentions of 1837, rather than the stone’s 1839. The Stretham transcript gives the right age for her, but not for him.

There’s no mention of William in the Little Thetford transcript.

Looking at FreeBMD, there’s only an Elizabeth Yarrow death (so far) available, and that’s the one registered in the June Quarter of 1838 at St. Pancras!

The GRO certificate is ordered… so lets see what it uncovers.

What do you think happened? Here’s a couple of my ideas…

  1. Maybe the stone was erected many years after William and Elizabeth deaths, and so family couldn’t quite remember?
  2. Elizabeth’s death was registered in the June 1838, because certification was new in late 1837 – perhaps they were resisting it (like some), or simply didn’t know that certificates had to be issued or how to go about it?

UPDATE June 2011:

The 1838 death turned out to be the death of an 11 month old child. No further along with solving this one.

UPDATE UPDATE: September 2017

I’ve got the appetite to revisit this case now, and now that the General Register Office offers a searchable index, I’ve spotted an ‘Elizabeth Yerroll’ who dies in The City of London Union, in the December quarter of 1837, aged 58.

Elizabeth Yerroll's death listed in the GRO index.
‘Elizabeth Yerroll’ died in London in the right year, at the right age. The dead can’t speak – so was she really ‘Elizabeth Yarrow’? Maybe I’ll find out…

That’s a tick for age, quarter, year, and location. If she was visiting London at the time and died, or was taken ill, would those with her have been able to convey a correct spelling of her surname in 1837, and would those writing it down have known any different or understood a fenland accent of the informant enough to realise it wasn’t ‘Yerroll’ but ‘Yarrow’?

It’s another £9.25, but I’m going to gamble and order this certificate. Fingers crossed!

Wordless Wednesday

Staff at Granger’s Fruit Preserving Co. (Ely), originally uploaded by familytreeuk.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: Chivers factory workers from 1952.

Chivers girls (1952), originally uploaded by familytreeuk.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: 8th December 2010.

Newman funeral group 1925, originally uploaded by familytreeuk.


A Victorian Christmas

I thought I’d take a look at last Christmas and bring you this video from the BBC’s “Victorian Farm”, featuring Social Historian Ruth Goodman.

Below is a compilation of Victorian Christmas treats to make.