Do you remember the defining moments when suddenly something clicked into place, or you learned something the hard way without reading about it or attending a class? I can count the following seven “aha” moments as some of my best learning experiences. 1. Don’t skip on collecting all relevant information. When I joined the Society… Continue reading The best family history advice I never had
Tag: family history
Stray Thoughts on the English census
Not that long ago, the large microfilm room at The Family Record Centre in London (God rest its soul) was humming with conversation and the clacker of the census films being wound forward or back. The 1881 census was the first to be surname indexed, (which took a large team of volunteers under the supervision… Continue reading Stray Thoughts on the English census
You are being studied
Genealogists are more used to doing the studying, rather than themselves being studied as a community or group. So it might surprise you to know that there are a number of academic social anthropologists who are studying us genealogists. Dr Fenella Cannell of the London School of Economics, published a very interesting paper in 2011… Continue reading You are being studied
Playing the elimination game
Which John Smith is mine? This article deals with the common problem of having too many candidates to choose from. How do you separate out this John Smith from that John Smith? Unfortunately, people in the past chose first names from a limited range, so it is possible to have three or even four men… Continue reading Playing the elimination game
The art of method
Bringing a little more method into your research helps with many common research problems. Firstly, any research should have a clear aim. The best researcher does not jump around among websites trying a bit of this and a bit of that to see what turns up, and switching families when nothing does, but instead starts… Continue reading The art of method