2016, Year in Review
2016 has been an interesting year, not just in genealogy, but in general as well. Looking back at the past year, I have achieved a lot on my tree so I thought I would share my highlights of the past year.
The main highlight in 2016 was, obviously, the release of the 1939 register on Find My Past. It is a very important database because it fills in a big gap; as the 1931 census was destroyed and there was no census in 1941. This gives us the opportunity to understand our relatives in a period where little may be known to us - over than BMDs.
A close second, is the GRO's release of their birth and death indexes giving us more detail than we ever had before. These are helpful when searching with common names as we can find deaths, after 1911, with middle names and be able to use mother's maiden name when searching for missing children, not mentioned on censuses.
On a more personal highlight, I undertook a project to find out more information on the Shire family of Somerset. My knowledge grew, even of close relatives, and allowed me to get a full understanding of this family as well as another, currently unconnected, nearby Shire family. I then went on to create a short book to give to my family members about their family over the past five centuries.
I also managed to knock down some firm brick walls, that many other family historians had fallen down at. The first being my Gauler brick wall that I was able to knock down with perseverance and a wider, more open, view. Despite only getting back a generation further; that was quite an accomplishment based on how the family moved around and it has given me an area where people of the surname lived - just unfortunately no record of my ancestor (yet)! Other brick walls overcame were my Rudland and Brown brick walls which took some beating!
I have also become the owner of a few family artefacts and photos, previously unseen to me! I am working on scanning them in my free time but I've still got a long way to go.
Also, I have started to create another website to host my family tree but that still needs a lot of work before it get's to a state I'll be happy to share it at!
The current series of Who Do You Think You Are, despite it being later than normal, it seems to be coming along nicely and has improved on last year's (2015) series.
My targets for this year include, improving my family tree website so that I can share it with family members, breaking further back with my Gauler line, scanning all the photographs given to me, getting in touch with more close cousins and breaking down some other brick walls.
Published: 5 January 2017
The main highlight in 2016 was, obviously, the release of the 1939 register on Find My Past. It is a very important database because it fills in a big gap; as the 1931 census was destroyed and there was no census in 1941. This gives us the opportunity to understand our relatives in a period where little may be known to us - over than BMDs.
A close second, is the GRO's release of their birth and death indexes giving us more detail than we ever had before. These are helpful when searching with common names as we can find deaths, after 1911, with middle names and be able to use mother's maiden name when searching for missing children, not mentioned on censuses.
On a more personal highlight, I undertook a project to find out more information on the Shire family of Somerset. My knowledge grew, even of close relatives, and allowed me to get a full understanding of this family as well as another, currently unconnected, nearby Shire family. I then went on to create a short book to give to my family members about their family over the past five centuries.
I also managed to knock down some firm brick walls, that many other family historians had fallen down at. The first being my Gauler brick wall that I was able to knock down with perseverance and a wider, more open, view. Despite only getting back a generation further; that was quite an accomplishment based on how the family moved around and it has given me an area where people of the surname lived - just unfortunately no record of my ancestor (yet)! Other brick walls overcame were my Rudland and Brown brick walls which took some beating!
I have also become the owner of a few family artefacts and photos, previously unseen to me! I am working on scanning them in my free time but I've still got a long way to go.
Also, I have started to create another website to host my family tree but that still needs a lot of work before it get's to a state I'll be happy to share it at!
The current series of Who Do You Think You Are, despite it being later than normal, it seems to be coming along nicely and has improved on last year's (2015) series.
My targets for this year include, improving my family tree website so that I can share it with family members, breaking further back with my Gauler line, scanning all the photographs given to me, getting in touch with more close cousins and breaking down some other brick walls.
Published: 5 January 2017
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*Note - No copyright infringement was intended. If there is a breach in copyright contact me through the 'Contact' section so it can be removed. All photos are Copyright © 2017 Harry Clarke. All Rights Reserved. The image for the homepage of this article is courtesy of Miss Rosen.