Here are a few suggestions for Keith to help resolve his dilemma: 1. Ask his cousin in Australia for as many details as possible about the Nortons who contacted them - full names, approximate ages, locations they/ancestors lived. Every detail could provide a clue. 2. Search records like censuses, BMD indexes, passenger lists for matches between the Norton family in Australia and Keith's known relatives. Look for shared names/locations that indicate a connection. 3. Contact the Norton family directly to exchange family tree information and try to find the point where the trees connect. Collaborating directly often yields the best results. 4. Consider DNA testing if paper trails don't provide conclusive answers.

1. U3A Genealogy
August 21st 2012

3. Census New relatives BMD
Information Information Information
Genes Reunited
Known Relatives
Information
Ask them
Your
Information
Find it
Other Sources Yourself Parish
Of Registers
Information Information

4. About 1840
LDS Microfiche Ancestry.co.uk
CENSUSES LDS 1881
Findmypast.com
PARISH FreeBMD
RECORDS Ancestry
CIVIL BMD
Findmypast.com
RECORDS
UKBMD
LDS Family Search Local BMD
sites
GENES REUNITED
GENUKI , FHS, GOONS, ETC
GOOGLE, ROOTSWEB and OTHER LISTS

6. Welcome
• Welcome
• Blog update, have a look at:
• http://rodneysgenealogyblog.blogspot.co.uk/
• Stuff from me
• Stuff from you!

7. Ancestry release Lancashire
registers
• Lancashire Births & Baptisms 1813-1911
• Lancashire Marriages and Banns 1754-1936
• Lancashire Deaths and Burials 1813-1986
• Lancashire Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials 1538-
• Lancashire Confirmations 1856-1922

8. Older & Wiser
• You may be aware from this U3A website
• http://www.u3a.org.uk/wiley-older-a-wiser.html
• that there are a series of books under the Older & Wiser
banner including one entitled “Family History for the Older
and Wiser – Susan Fifer”
• http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-
047068612X.html gives you more detail.
• The RLSP of this book is £12.99 in paperback form.
• For U3A members this book is available with a 40% discount
for 10 or more copies of a book, a net price of £7.80 a copy.
• Of course, this needs 10 of us to sign up for a copy.
• Are 9 of you interested in buying a copy at £7.80? (5
responses)

9. Malcolm says...
• Malcolm Robinson
• Information Librarian
• Northamptonshire County Council Libraries and Information
Service
• Northampton Central Library
• Abington Street
• Northampton
• NN1 2BA
• Tel: 01604 361447
• Fax: 01604 462055

10. Malcolm says...
• As part of the online resources we subscribe to at
Northamptonshire Libraries there are a few that may be
useful to local historians.
• As well as taking Ancestry and Find My Past (access in library
only) we have newspaper resources you can access from
home by using your library card.
• We take the Historical Guardian and Observer (back to 1791)
and The Times (back to 1785). These can be found on our
elibrary (www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/elibrary) under the
heading of Newspapers and Magazines.
• We also take the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(under the heading of Encyclopaedias and Dictionaries).
•

11. Genes Reunited Trees
Lost Cousins says.....
• A lot of members have written to express their
dissatisfaction with Genes Reunited's new online tree - a
whole range of problems have been reported.
• Whilst I don't have my own tree at Genes Reunited - readers
will be aware of my thoughts about online trees - I do have
access to some of my cousins' trees. I have to say that in my
tests I couldn't find any problems - but having recently
replaced my computer I've got a much faster PC than most
people, and this may explain the difference.
• I'm also told that it might make a difference which browser
you use - these days I normally use Chrome. If you only have
one browser on your computer it's about time you
downloaded another one - they're free!

12. Genes Reunited Trees
• One thing that really surprised me as I worked through the
correspondence was how many members rely on Genes
Reunited's online tree, rather than having a family tree
program on their own computer.
• I appreciate that it's superficially attractive to use a free
online tree, but no online tree can be as fast, powerful, or
easy to use as one that runs on your own computer. Time
and time again I get emails complaining that Genes
Reunited's tree doesn't do this, Ancestry's doesn't do that -
and they're all things that the simple program I've been
using for the past 10 years can handle without blinking..

13. Genes Reunited Trees
• If you really must upload your tree to the Internet, despite
all my warnings, at least make sure that you have a copy (in
Gedcom format) on your own computer. Ideally buy a family
tree program that does what you want and make it the
primary repository of your tree, so that the most up to date
and detailed version of your tree is the one on your own
hard drive (but make sure you keep copies elsewhere too,
for example on a USB drive or CD ROM). Whatever family
tree program you decide to buy, make sure you try it first -
all the best programs offer free trial versions

14. A Request from the Genealogy
Group to all other U3A Members
Genealogy Group Leader Rodney Fox is
planning a Group exercise for the autumn. He
is seeking a U3A member who has NOT carried
out research of his/her family tree. He plans to
have members of the Group do it for you!

15. A Request from the Genealogy
Group to all other U3A Members
The plan is to have members of the Genealogy
Group work together with the basic
information available that you can provide; to
research generations of ancestors using the
tools we have available, establish names,
places and dates to develop the family tree,
and then put all the information into a
database.

16. A Request from the Genealogy
Group to all other U3A Members
Of course, there is so much more to a person’s life
than just a name and set of dates. Group members
will attempt to find out much more about your
ancestors. What sort of life did they have? Were they
good at school? What did they do for a living? Did
they improve themselves? Did they move house?
Were they active in social, political or religious
circles? Did they fight in the war? Did they emigrate?
Did they die young? Did they leave a will? What was
the cause of their death?

17. A Request from the Genealogy
Group to all other U3A Members
• We then plan to pull the whole family story
together in a format that will become a family
heirloom.
• That’s our plan. Whether we can achieve all of
the above remains to be seen. We are, after
all, only amateurs.
• So, will you be our volunteer? Contact Rodney
at Rodney@usfoxes.com to express an
interest.

18. How will this help us?
• Increase our abilities to conduct genealogy
research
• Increase our experience of using the range of
research tools and databases
• Build up our skills at overcoming brick walls
• Going beyond genealogy to family history
• Learning to piece it all together

19. How will we do it?
• How do we select ?
• One? All?
• How will we gather the initial information
from the volunteers?

20. How will we do it?
• Someone to “own” the project”
• Someone for censuses
• Someone for BMDs
• Someone for parish registers.
• Someone to look for tombstones, etc and
burial records.
• Someone for checking out existing family
trees via Genes Reunited, Ancestry, perhaps
Rootsweb Mailing Lists.

21. How will we do it?
• Someone to gather and store information in
their genealogy application, which should do
all of the basics and produce an appropriate
book at the end of the exercise.
• Someone to explore religious background for
various ancestors.
• Someone to explore occupations for various
ancestors.

22. How will we do it?
• Someone to see if there are any wills for any
ancestors.
• Someone to check out emi/immigration for
the various families
• Someone to gather appropriate
photos/images for use in a final document

23. Workhouses
• Tony Sadler still working on the project of
increasing our understanding of Workhouses,
what they were, how they worked, etc
• Plans to be in a position for us to include in
our September agenda.

24. Daphne’s dilemma
• I have been looking at Elizabeth Vincent
• Details are as follows
• Born in Netherhampton in 1836
• Found in 1841 and 1851 census (all OK so far)
• I checked on another tree because I couldn't find her in
1861.
• There was another tree in ancestory which she was on, this
tree stated that she married Henry Hibberd in 1860.
• On this tree she subsequently had three children Henry
1861 Sarah 1863 and Ernest 1865.
•
• I checked and could find no evidence or any Marriage for her
•

25. Daphne’s dilemma
• I later found her in 1861 living with her brother George.
• This makes me think there must have been two Elizabeth
Vincents.
• My question is, if there is no record of any marriage on
record could there be records somwhere else?
• Can I check to find if there were two Elizabeths.
• This makes me also realise that it is no good just taking
someone else's tree to be correct everything needs to be
double checked.
• Incidentally, I found Ernest Vincent living with his uncle in
1891.

26. Keith’s dilemma
• I have a cousin living in Australia who has recently been
contacted by somebody over their who believes that they
are related. Knowing of my interest in the subject my cousin
mentioned it to me last week. All we know is that the family
in Australia are Norton-Bakers and that the relationship is
most likely on the Akers/Sadler side of my family (so might
also be of interest to Tony!).
• My Dad's youngs brother's middle name was Brisbane and
the family lore was that he got that in honour of friends
living there, but I now wonder if it was actually family.
• I have never explored the possibility of overseas relatives
and I'm not sure where to start