Wordless Wednesday - How I participated in WDYTYA Live!

This was my set up for watching Tony Robinson's presentation over the Ancestry livestream.

Unfortunately, I was also looking after 3 children, having a radiator fitted and the internet connection was a bit intermittent so I didin't manage to see the whole thing. The part I did see was entertaining and I would like to see more of this type of presentation next year for those of us who don't make it to Who Do You Think You Are Live 2014.

Who Do You Think You Are Ancestry Livestream

As I can't go to Olympia for Who Do You Think You Are Live this year I'm looking at other ways I can join in the fun.

Ancestry have a live stream of some of their presentations here.

Here are the talks that are on

Friday 22nd February 2013

10:30 – 11:15 - TOP TIPS, Search more effectively, customise your tree and discover brand new site features

11:30 – 12:15 - PARISH RECORDS, Extend your family tree back before the time of censuses with these crucial local records

12:30 – 1:15 - Worldwide Records, Follow your family overseas with the most useful records from America, Australia and other key destinations

1:30 – 2:15 - Family Tree Maker, Grow your family tree and synch with the Ancestry.co.uk site with our bestselling software

2:30 – 3:15 - PARISH RECORDS, Extend your family tree back before the time of censuses with these crucial local records

3:30 – 4:15 - Exploring your family’s past, with Tony Robinson,
Hear Tony’s unique take on family and social history

4:30 – 5:15 - TOP TIPS, Search more effectively, customise your tree and discover brand new site features

5:30 – 6:15 - Family Tree Maker,Grow your family tree and synch with the Ancestry.co.uk site with our bestselling software

Saturday 23rd February 2013

10:30 – 11:15 - PARISH RECORDS, Extend your family tree back before the time of censuses with these crucial local records

11:00 – 11:45 - WORLDWIDE RECORDS, Follow your family overseas with the most useful records from America, Australia and other key destinations

12:00 – 12:45 - Exploring your family’s past, with Tony Robinson
Hear Tony’s unique take on family and social history

1:00 – 1:45 - Top Tips, Search more effectively, customise your tree and discover brand new site features

2:30 – 2:45 - Family Tree Maker, Grow your family tree and synch with the Ancestry.co.uk site with our bestselling software

3:00 – 3:45 - PARISH RECORDS, Extend your family tree back before the time of censuses with these cruicial local records

4:00 – 4:45 - TOP TIPS, Search more effectively, customise your tree and discover brand new site features

5:30 – 6:15 - Family Tree Maker, Grow your family tree and synch with the Ancestry.co.uk site with our bestselling software

Sunday 24th February 2013

10:00 – 10:45 - TOP TIPS, Search more effectively, customise your tree and discover brand new site features

11:00 – 11:45 - PARISH RECORDS, Extend your family tree back before the time of censuses with these crucial local records

12:00 – 12:45 - Worldwide Records, Follow your family overseas with the most useful records from America, Australia and other key destinations

12:55 – 1:35 - Family Tree Maker, Grow your family tree and synch with the Ancestry.co.uk site with our bestselling software

1:50 – 2:30 - PARISH RECORDS, Extend your family tree back before the time of censuses with these crucial local records

2:45 – 3:25 - WORLDWIDE RECORDS, Follow your family overseas with the most useful records from America, Australia and other key destinations

3:40 – 4:20 - Family Tree Maker, Grow your family tree and synch with the Ancestry.co.uk site with our bestselling software

Who Do You Think You Are Live 2013

So, it's that time of year again - Who Do You Think You Are Live (WDYTYALive) is back at Olympia. I won't be going this year but I will be looking at all the blog posts and following some twitter feeds to find out how it's going. It coincides with the half term holidays and I don't fancy trooping down to London with 3 kids in tow!!

Good luck to everyone going and exhibiting - maybe I'll get along next year.

Weather Wednesday - A bit of snow left on the ground

I'm slightly obsessed by the weather so I'm going to use Wednesdays to keep track of our back garden and the changing seasons.

I'm sure at some point I'll tie this into Genealogy but for now it's because I've got a bit of a wordblock and can't think of what to write about!!

I wonder if any of my ancestors were interested in the weather?

Sorting Saturday - Family Historian Software

I use Family Historian to store all my genealogy data.

I find that I can keep track of individuals and associated events really easily. I can attach source information to each event/fact and make a note of where I found the information. It also produces reports and diagrams.

This was handy recently as my parents were going to a family party in Ireland so I took the opportunity to produce a quick report of my mother's side of the family for her to take with her. Before she went she had a few queries on some of the data and I was able to easily track back to the source. She was able to chat through details and add information to her copy of the report which she brought back for me to add.

It turns out that one of her cousins is interested in family history so hopefully we'll be able to help each other out in the future.

I also printed a copy of 1901 and 1911 census entries for her side of the family to show her brother - again I was able to do this direct from my software.

I also use Family Historian in my One Name Study and build families once I have enough proof.

What software do you use to organise your family history?

Thrifty Thursday - Freebmd.org

One of the benefits of being a member of the Guild of One Name Studies is the chance to participate in the Marriage Challenges.

This is when another member volunteers to look up marriages in parish registers for a particular registration district. This is usually in the UK but I have seen some international ones.

Every month I take a look at the list of upcoming challenges to see if there is a registration district where I may have some TILLIN/TILLING/TILLEN mariages. (I have registered TILLING and TILLEN as variants of my name with the Guild.

This week I found out that the one of the new challenges is in a registration district of Mitford so I headed off to my favourite free genealogy resource.

My Thrifty Thursday tip is to use the website FreeBMD.

This website has transcriptions of the Birth, Marriages and Deaths Indices for England and Wales. It was the first website I found when I started looking at my family history and it is an absolutely brilliant free resource. It is all transcribed by volunteers and after having a go at transcribing a few years ago I really appreciate the effort and work that has gone into it.

It's also worth pointing out that the same information is available on Ancestry.co.uk but I'm not sure if you have to have a subscription or not to see it.

Unfortunately, when I searched Mitford Registration District for TILLIN/TILLING/TILLEN marriages nothing came up so I won't be sending any entries for this challenge. Maybe next time...
 

Wisdom Wednesday - Jump Right In!

I've found it a bit daunting to decide to return to blogging but I have been thinking about it quite a lot recently.

As part of my 2013 goal to be more organised I've been trying to follow some of the babysteps from the FlyLady which is mainly related to running a home, decluttering, organisation etc but I have taken one of her philosophies and applied it to blogging.

The FlyLady sends me emails throughout the day with hints about routines and tips and at the end of each one she says

"You are not behind! I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where we are. O.K.?"

And that is exactly what I've decided to do. 

When I discovered Geneabloggers.com (how I haven't found it before now I don't know!!) I saw the daily prompt as my way to get back on the blogging wagon and that is how I've ended up here with my Wisdom Wednesday post.
 
I've stopped procrastinating about planning all the content, social media, connections, comments etc etc etc....  

Hopefully this will get picked up and I hope I've got the right sort of "Wisdom" but here goes.

So let's stop procrastination and JUMP RIGHT IN!

Hello again - update and plans

Hiya,


It has been a while since I blogged but I am finally finding I have a bit more time to think about genealogy and how I would like to share it with you.

We are a busy family now - 3 children under 7!!! - so I have to be more organised with my hobbies but as they are off at school/clubs I actually have time to think about things.

My first attempt at improving my blogging organisation is to use the daily prompts at www.geneabloggers.com. I haven't done any more planning but I'm going to jump right in with one of the Wednesday prompts later on so watch this space!

I have been concentrating on my TILLIN One Name Study more than my own personal genealogy. I use Outwit Hub to scrape data, then Custodian to store the date and Family Historian to link family groups. I'll share my methodology and would be interested in finding out how it compares to other one namers.

Also, I'm interested in finding more UK genealogy blogs - I've been reading the same ones for a long time (and I really like them!) but it would be great to find some new ones.

So, I'll go and get organised for my first "real" post in a while.

See you soon

Jo