With the start of 2024, I have decided to write some blog posts in a different format. It’s good to try something new, right? Naturally, each one will still be packed with useful stuff, all relating to family history. My plan is that each Jude’s Gen post will contain the following features:

• Editorial: my thoughts on a particular topic or piece of research.
• Genealogy News: I will be discussing a news item of relevance to family historians.
• Website Focus: I will highlight a useful website for research.
• Did you Know: This will reveal a fun fact or interesting piece of information.
• Media Moments: This feature will contain book reviews, podcast and video recommendations.

Please let me know how you like this post in the comments below or on social media.

Many thanks,

Jude

Editorial

Curiosity about the past is one of the main reasons we enjoy researching our family tree. Who were our ancestors, where did they live and what were their lives like? We are looking for answers to our questions. However, we often don’t see the full picture, as we don’t have all the facts. It’s also not always possible to know why something happened, or the reasons behind a particular decision. We can only speculate and come up with theories. As a result, can we be too hasty in passing judgement?

I was thinking about this recently when chatting with a 96 year old friend, Elizabeth, as she shared with me a family story that has intrigued her all her life. Her Uncle John was believed to have gone off to Australia in the late 1920s, leaving behind his wife and young child, Joan. He was never seen again. According to the family story, John had stolen some money from his workplace and when confronted with the evidence, he had been given an ultimatum by his employer. They would either prosecute him and he would have to appear in court and face prison, or he could leave the country quietly and no further action would be taken. Faced with this choice, John decided to leave. After his departure, his family regarded him with shame and as a child, Elizabeth was told to never mention his name. Similarly, her cousin, Joan, would never speak about her father.

With this story milling around in my head, I decided to see if I could find out more about John. I found that he had been born in 1889 and in 1915, he had enlisted with the Artist’s Rifles Battalion of the London Regiment. (At this point, I went on a slight tangent, reading up about the Artist’s Rifles, who have an interesting history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artists_Rifles). According to his attestation papers in series WO363, the First World War “Burnt Documents”, John was a mercantile clerk for a coal contractor in the shipping industry. After serving his country, John married his wife, Dorothy, in 1922 and they had one daughter, Joan in 1924.

I discovered that John had travelled on the ship, Hobson Bay, to Melbourne, Australia, on February 7th 1928. John was 36 years old and described as a traveller (commercial salesman). It appears that he was accompanied by no other other family member. I then found a reference to his death in Perth in 1969 in the Western Australia Death Index, which is available on both Ancestry and FindmyPast. John spent forty years in Australia, presumably with no or little contact with his family in England. It will be interesting to obtain his death certificate and see who is the informant. Did he marry again and have a second family?

It is easy to judge John. After stealing money, it appears that he abandoned his family and emigrated in order to make a fresh start, leaving his troubled past behind. However, are all the facts in the family story true? Did John really steal from his employer? Even if he did, his employer’s proposition was pretty stark and unpalatable. John had been put in an unenviable position and would not have wanted to bring shame on his family. Alternatively, perhaps he had left his family because his marriage had broken down. The family might have made up the tale to explain his absence. If the marriage had broken down, should he take all the blame? Despite John looking rather culpable, I’m conscious that no one has heard his side of the story. This has made me think about the need to exercise caution instead of rushing to judgement, when we view our ancestors and their lives.

Genealogy News

The genealogy community is rightly up in arms about the government’s crazy proposal to destroy all historic wills (unless the person was famous!) The press release last month announced that historic wills will be digitised and easily accessible to all but buried in the small print was the intention to destroy the original documents. Government departments are always looking for reasons to cut costs but this definitely is a case of penny pinching, pound foolish. There are so many reasons why this is a terrible idea. Newspaper articles, such as this one in The Guardian, provide more information and a selection of responses:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/dec/18/ministry-of-justice-plan-to-destroy-historical-wills-is-insane-say-experts

Luckily, it is not too late to save our wills. British citizens have the opportunity to sign a petition to the UK Parliament. If the petition reaches 10,000 signatures, the Government will formally respond and if there are 100,000 signatures, it will be debated in Parliament. Currently, nearly 5000 people have signed so please add yours too if you haven’t already signed:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/654081/sponsors/new?token=ibI6PfzWelv1lyB_NRyd

A consultation on the retention and storage of original wills is also currently underway: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/storage-and-retention-of-original-will-documents

The consultation period closes on February 23rd and responses to the proposal can be emailed to the Ministry of Justice: civil_justice_poli@justice.gov.uk

Please add your voice and ensure that these precious historical records are not destroyed.

Website Focus

Genuki: https://www.genuki.org.uk/

It’s an oldie but a goodie is my verdict on Genuki. Genuki is a virtual reference library that helps family historians find information online, as well as in physical libraries and archives in the UK and Ireland. It is free to search and is run by volunteers.

The website is organised hierarchically, on the basis of the historic counties of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. There is a historic description of each county and then links to different topics specific to that county:

• Archives and Libraries
• Census
• Church History
• Church Records
• Civil Registration
• Description & Travel
• Directories
• Gazetteers
• Genealogy
• Historical Geography
• History
• Law & Legislation
• Military History
• Newspapers
• Probate Records
• Societies.

The Gazetteer (also listed in the Top Menu), is especially useful, with hyperlinks to each parish so you can hone in on the resources of a particular place. To find the location of churches, cemeteries and religious organisations, go to the Church Directory, found under Churches in the Top Menu.

Some resources are not specific to just one county or parish. When you select UK and Ireland from the Regional Page Links Menu on the Home Page, an alphabetical listing of topics is listed either side of the map. Click on any topic for further information. This listing is also replicated on the regional and county pages. Topics with a triangle alongside contain links that do not have a geographic basis.

With so much to explore, Genuki is a website that you will want to return to time and time again. It is so easy to forget the abundance of resources that are available outside of the big genealogy websites and Genuki’s virtual reference library provides a vital service in helping you locate them.

Did you know

I was reading a student’s assignment on Methodist records this week and learnt about the poor stewards’ accounts of Horncastle, Lincolnshire. The poor stewards collected money to help poorer members and those who were sick or in need. In the accounts, there was also a list of other purchases needed for church events, such as sacramental wine, lovefeast cakes and biscuits! I had never heard of lovefeast cakes before but apparently, they were a type of fruit cake/loaf, served when Methodists got together to socialise, worship, sing hymns and enjoy food. You can find more information on them here, plus some recipes:

https://traditional-yorkshire-recipes.info/love-feast-loaf-recipes-from-yorkshire/

Media Moments

Could you be descended from Royalty and in the words of the actor, Danny Dyer, be entitled to wear a ruff? Find out the mathematical probability by listening to population geneticist, Dr Adam Rutherford in this engaging BBC Radio 4 podcast:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001ts5b

© Judith Batchelor 2024