About Merrill White – Merrill has worked for FamilySearch for 21 years. He currently serves as a Product/Experience Manager focusing on youth and their families. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University and has a Family History Certificate from Brigham Young University-Idaho. During his career, he has managed the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, created and launched the FamilySearch Discovery Centers, and served as an Area Manager.
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Deaths at sea – Perhaps one of the most complex sets of records to research are those for a death which took place on board a ship. This talk examines the various records generated relating to both civilian and military shipping. Many family historians hit a research challenge when searching for such events so this talk paves the way to help you unravel the variety of records covering the subject.
About Ian Waller – Ian is a both a Fellow and former Chairman of AGRA (The Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives). He is also a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists (SoG) and a trustee and Chairman of the Education Committee. He has published several books in the SoG “My Ancestor” series including My Ancestor was an Agricultural Labourer, My Ancestor was a Mormon, My Ancestor was in the Royal Navy and My Ancestor was a Leather Worker.
Researching Women of the Caribbean – Family and the role of women from African and Asian diaspora in the Caribbean. Overview of the working women of the African and Asian diaspora in the Caribbean 17th to 20th century. Introduction to African Caribbean women, resilience and rebellion with and overview of the cases of Nanny Griggs of Barbados and Nanny of the Maroon, Jamaica. Local traditions and culture – interpreting records of local cultural practices and occupations. Women of the African and Asian diaspora in the Caribbean in newspapers. Recorded presence in pre- and civil registration records. An overview of some suggested online resources.
About Sharon Tomlin – Sharon began her love for family history and genealogy over 25 years ago. She has over 20 years of experience working with communities of African-Caribbean, Indo-Caribbean and select communities within the African diaspora in researching African and Caribbean (African and Indo-Caribbean) ancestry. She specialises in working with a wide range of cultures, communities and records of the Caribbean, United Kingdom, United States and Canada. She works and volunteers with individuals, across the public, private and voluntary sectors that include commissioned work in libraries, schools, community groups and organizations, television, The National Archives UK, and Familysearch. She has written and published contributing articles.
The MyHeritage Photo World – In the past year, MyHeritage has become the #1 platform for uploading, enhancing, and sharing old family photos. In this lecture, Daniel will give you a detailed tour of all the photo features MyHeritage offers. Learn to colorize black and white photos and restore faded colors with MyHeritage In Color™; to bring blurry faces into sharp focus with the Photo Enhancer; to record the stories behind your family photos with the Photo Storyteller™, and much more. Daniel will show you how with MyHeritage, you can breathe new life into old photos and revive your family’s favorite memories.
About Daniel Horowitz – Dedicated to Genealogy since 1986, Daniel was the teacher and the study guide editor of the family history project “Searching for My Roots” in Venezuela for 15 years. He was a board member of The International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) for 10 years, now is involved in several crowdsource digitization and transcription projects, and holds a board-level position at The Israel Genealogy Research Association (IGRA). Since 2006 Daniel has been working at MyHeritage liaising with genealogy societies, bloggers, and media, as well as lecturing, and attending conferences around the world.
Using parish and other records to determine how natural phenomena affected people and communities – Natural phenomena, including long-term changes to environment, gradual changes to physical habitats and disasters resulting from rapidly-moving events, have significantly affected the lives and livelihood of our ancestors. Finding information that demonstrate what events occurred and how they impacted people and communities is an important part in constructing complete family histories. Parish registers alone or in combination with other records normally consulted by genealogists can be useful in discovering what natural conditions affected procurement of food, shelter and employment or caused injury, sickness and death. Birth and death statistics can be most useful in illustrating both long-term trends in population growth or decline, and specific short-term events such as famine, epidemics, storms, floods and other natural disasters. The relationships of such data can assist in separating socially or politically related events, such as wars, from those caused by Mother Nature, like famines. Commercial data may indicate what environmental conditions were extant, especially over several years or decades. Rapid or cyclical changes in food prices, for example, brought on by shortages through drought or other events, might have severely impacted how individuals or whole communities were able to cope or even survive. Reports published in newspapers and periodicals will describe events that were experienced in local areas and across broad regions. They may also comment on resulting injuries, deaths or property losses.
Maps will be useful in showing whether families lived in areas subject to physical change, such as along major rivers or coastlines subject to severe weather or erosion. Both phenomena may have impacted lives and property. Scientific reports and historical analyses of climatic and other natural situations highlight how the environment and living conditions were altered. This presentation will involve a discussion of what types of information are available that show how natural phenomena impacted lives and livelihoods using specific examples of records and areas.
About Wayne Shepheard – Wayne graduated in Geology from the University of Calgary and spent over 40 years applying his knowledge and expertise in the exploration for oil and gas, primarily in Western Canada. Following retirement, he has spent much of his time involved with family history research, exploring families in North America, continental Europe and the United Kingdom.
Wayne is active in expanding his interest in and writing about natural phenomena and their impacts on people and communities. His view is that humankind has always had to adapt to the ever-changing physical environments in which they lived. In is his genealogical work, Wayne has been particularly mindful of stories concerning families that were both negatively and positively impacted by changes to their habitat and to disasters which sometimes overwhelmed them.
He volunteers as an Online Parish Clerk, handling four parishes in Devon, England. Wayne is the author of over 30 articles published in family history journals and magazines and has made presentations to many groups related to a variety of subjects. Information about these articles and talks can be found on his two regular genealogical blogs, Discover Genealogy and Mother Nature’s Tests.
Researching British India family history for FREE using online sources – Some three million Britons lived and served in India over the three and a half centuries of Britain’s presence there. Families in British India Society (FIBIS) Research Officer, Beverly Hallam and FIBIS Website & Social Media Manager Valmay Young, walk you through the key resources freely available online for researching your family history in British India without having to spend a penny. A couple of case studies will be included in the presentation to demonstrate these online resources and how much you can actually find out.
About Valmay Young and Beverly Hallam – Valmay and Beverly are both trustees of the Families in British India Society (FIBIS) which is a self-help organisation for those researching their family history and the lives their ancestors lived in India during the time of British rule.
Valmay is the society’s Website and Social Media Manager and has been researching her family history using original and online sources for over 20 years. She also started the FIBIS DNA project in 2012 after realising its potential in breaking down the all too common brick walls in British India research due to the lack of documentary evidence.
As FIBIS research coordinator, Beverly offers advice and assistance to those who are unfamiliar with the records of British India or who have hit that proverbial brick wall when researching their family tree.
Wartime volunteer medics – The men and women of the Voluntary Aid Detachment, FANY, Friends Ambulance Unit, Civil Nursing Reserve and Territorial Force Nursing Service were essential to the success of both world wars. This talk explains their essential contribution to the war effort and where to find records and details of their untold service.
About Ian Waller – Ian is a both a Fellow and former Chairman of AGRA (The Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives). He is also a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists (SoG) and a trustee and Chairman of the Education Committee. He has published several books in the SoG “My Ancestor” series including My Ancestor was an Agricultural Labourer, My Ancestor was a Mormon, My Ancestor was in the Royal Navy and My Ancestor was a Leather Worker.
Searching for Irish ancestors – Have you got Irish ancestors? This talk looks at maps of Ireland, the geography of the thirty-two counties and the separation of Northern Ireland from the Republic. Worldwide, millions of people claim Irish heritage and many are keen to research their Irish roots. This session will look at some of the key information that is available in the absence of key Irish census records. The talk covers Irish place names and surnames; how to order BMD certificates; and which Census fragments remain. The 1837 Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary will be revealed, and how to think laterally from clues within the detailed place descriptions. The invaluable census ‘substitute,’ Griffiths Valuation will be revealed, also the usefulness of dog licences, railways, Facebook groups and utilising information from Who Do You Think You are? Programme. An explanation of DNA testing along with DNA matching and collaboration. A number of ethical dilemmas will be explored, including asking whether Irish research is cultural appreciation or cultural appropriation?
About Dr. Penny Walters – Penny has been a University lecturer for 30 years in Psychology and Business Studies. Penny’s interest in genealogy started after having her first child and then wondering about her biological parents, as she was adopted. DNA testing has revealed 94% Irish heritage; and fascinating insights into her children’s heritage. Penny lectures internationally in-person, presents webinars, and writes articles about a variety of genealogy topics including ethical dilemmas, the psychology of searching, ethnicity and identity, adoption, Irish heritage, and mixing DNA results with a paper trail. Penny has authored the books: ‘Ethical Dilemmas in Genealogy,’ and ‘The Psychology of Searching’.
Pauper prisons, pauper palaces: life in the workhouse – The best-known, or most notorious, workhouses, are the so-called Union workhouses of 1834 onwards. In that year the New Poor Law obliged parishes for form unions and build (or adapt) large buildings which all poor people requiring financial help had to enter and stay in, instead of having their meagre wages in hard times supported by the parish overseer with small weekly cash payments (‘out-relief’). Before the Dissolution in the mid-16th century when ‘hospitals’ as well as monasteries had been closed, local hospitals had catered for the aged, infirm and sick who formed a large proportion of the poor.
After the Dissolution, parishes and particularly towns set up their own workhouses which catered for their own elderly and ill. Under the ‘Old Poor Law’ of 1601 parish overseers or churchwardens continued gave out-relief (cash, food or fuel) to the very poor, often sick, old or disabled, or housed the able-bodied in poorhouses where they were expected to work. We will briefly consider life in such workhouses but mainly consider what it was like to enter and stay in the Union Workhouses, for which there are very many documentary sources. We will also review how to find forebears in these sources, whether they were inmates, or staff such as governors, nurses, schoolmistresses or masters, or porters.
About Gillian Draper – Gillian works one or two days a week for British Association for Local History as its Events and Development Officer. She helps organise its now-virtual events including Local History Day. She also works with members and non-members of BALH to offer Ten-Minute Talks for their website. These talks cover a wide variety of places, periods and subjects. Gillian will also be giving a lecture in BALH’s forthcoming Local History Hour series, on the subject of Knole (a National Trust House and Park where she volunteers) and Jack Cade’s Rebellion in 1450. She often speaks at family history events with a focus on lesser-known sources and the lives of the poor in the 17th to 19th centuries.
In her spare moments Gillian is a medieval historian, an associate lecturer at the University of Kent and a Visiting Research Fellow at Canterbury Christ Church University. She carries out independent research for archaeological units and bodies such as Historic England and aims to publish as much as possible.