I'd like to pass on information about a genealogy service which is easy & free. It may help you a great deal if you are researching your own family. Lost Cousins is the name - why not go & have a look?
It works by asking you to enter details of the census pages (e.g. the 1881 census of England & Wales) on which your ancestor appears. Anyone who matches with you will be brought to your attention, so you can share research.
Currently LostCousins can only help people who had relatives (not necessarily direct ancestors) living in the US, Britain or Canada in 1880-81, or in England & Wales in 1841.
Also, latest addition is the1911 census of Ireland.
View the excellent free newsletter here.
It is free to join Lost Cousins, and seems to be a very good idea.
Another way of matching up with other researchers is Genes Reunited (small fee), and an interesting one which matches up folk looking at the same geographical area is Ancestral Atlas. Do let me know if you give them a go - what do you think?
Showing posts with label Brack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brack. Show all posts
Sorry I haven't written
As you can see, I've been a bit busy recently. So no new posts.
(Click on image. Great puns at the end of that post, but do watch out for the language.)
Uncle Remus??
Thanks to relatives who have passed this note to me - it's "doing the rounds". So it may well not be true, but it's a nice story...
Judy Wallman, a professional genealogy researcher in southern California, was doing some personal work on her own family tree. She discovered that Congressman Harry Reid's great-great uncle, Remus Reid, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889. Both Judy and Harry Reid share this common ancestor.
Judy Wallman, a professional genealogy researcher in southern California, was doing some personal work on her own family tree. She discovered that Congressman Harry Reid's great-great uncle, Remus Reid, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889. Both Judy and Harry Reid share this common ancestor.
Just photos!
Many thanks to David for those great old family photos which he has scanned, and sent round the family! I've posted them here so that we can sort out exactly who is who.
More great photos
Thanks again to David who has all of his Dad's old photos and has been great at scanning them to send out!
Don't forget, if you want to see these images more clearly - they are a bit small - you just click on the image and it will open up to fill the screen. Then use the 'back' button on your navigation bar to return to the text.
Janet & Bill Keay (my grandparents) on their wedding day.
Don't forget, if you want to see these images more clearly - they are a bit small - you just click on the image and it will open up to fill the screen. Then use the 'back' button on your navigation bar to return to the text.
Janet & Bill Keay (my grandparents) on their wedding day.
Janet & William Keay
My Grandparents were both born in 1914 in Comrie, Perthshire.
William (Bill) Clark Keay was born 16th March 1914.Janet Brack died in Stockport in 1991, after she had suffered with Alzheimer's disease.
Janet Brack & William (Bill) Clark Keay married in 1939 in Comrie.
William (Bill) Clark Keay was born 16th March 1914.
Immediately, Bill was sent out with his regiment in France (WWII) - see photo in an earlier post of Bill in Uniform, and photos also from their wedding day. Wonder if he knew how close he got to the final resting places of his father & uncles?
His young wife, meanwhile was living with her elderly Mum (Janet McKerracher). Her father (William Spence Brack) had died in January 1940, and then her Mum died on 3rd November 1941 (aged 73) while Jen was heavily pregnant with her first child. I have heard the tale of how Jen & her Mum were sharing a bed when her Mum died. Jen laid her out herself, as folk did then.
The gravestone pictured here is at the Comrie burial ground. We can see that as well as Jen's parents, her brother John M. Brack (Jock) is also remembered here. He died 18th February, 1983.
In the weeks after her Mother's death, Jen gave birth prematurely to a tiny girl who was named Janette. She lived only 9 days, and is buried in the grave alongside Mum's parents. (A choice which led to a long-term split between Jen and her brother, very sad.)
We have her birth and death certificates - just 9 days apart. Her father, Bill, never saw his first child as he was away at war.
Bill & Jen went on to have 3 lovely children in Comrie, and in the 1950's they moved to live in Manchester, where Bill worked as a baker. They finally settled in Stockport, and there are now 8 grandchildren!
Here are links with some further reading on Comrie, on Perthshire, and on the Strathearn area generally.
Large guide to Perthshire genealogy resources - pdf file to download - go here.
His young wife, meanwhile was living with her elderly Mum (Janet McKerracher). Her father (William Spence Brack) had died in January 1940, and then her Mum died on 3rd November 1941 (aged 73) while Jen was heavily pregnant with her first child. I have heard the tale of how Jen & her Mum were sharing a bed when her Mum died. Jen laid her out herself, as folk did then.
The gravestone pictured here is at the Comrie burial ground. We can see that as well as Jen's parents, her brother John M. Brack (Jock) is also remembered here. He died 18th February, 1983.In the weeks after her Mother's death, Jen gave birth prematurely to a tiny girl who was named Janette. She lived only 9 days, and is buried in the grave alongside Mum's parents. (A choice which led to a long-term split between Jen and her brother, very sad.)
We have her birth and death certificates - just 9 days apart. Her father, Bill, never saw his first child as he was away at war.
Bill & Jen went on to have 3 lovely children in Comrie, and in the 1950's they moved to live in Manchester, where Bill worked as a baker. They finally settled in Stockport, and there are now 8 grandchildren!
Here are links with some further reading on Comrie, on Perthshire, and on the Strathearn area generally.
Large guide to Perthshire genealogy resources - pdf file to download - go here.
Janet Brack's parents
So: I've found details of my Gran's parents. She was Janet Keay (nee Brack), born in 1914, Comrie, Perthshire.
We have a copy of the marriage certificate of her parents (William & Janet Brack). We also saw their gravestone in Comrie in an earlier post.
Also, I looked them up in the census return for Comrie in 1901 (28, Drummond St., Comrie), and in registry office indices…The following is a summary of the details I've found so far.
We have a copy of the marriage certificate of her parents (William & Janet Brack). We also saw their gravestone in Comrie in an earlier post.
Also, I looked them up in the census return for Comrie in 1901 (28, Drummond St., Comrie), and in registry office indices…The following is a summary of the details I've found so far.
More on the Bracks in Coldingham
Here I'm following on from this other post, where we first met William Brack (father of my grandmother) and his wife Janet McKerracher. From their marriage certificate, we found the names of William's parents; William Brack and Catherine (Spence) Brack.
I have seen that the couple married in 1868 in Coldingham (Berwickshire). We can calculate from other records that their son William was born in 1867, in Coldingham.
I have seen that the couple married in 1868 in Coldingham (Berwickshire). We can calculate from other records that their son William was born in 1867, in Coldingham.
Family History - how to get started on some of your own...
A guide to family history research (in the UK). See someone else's guide, too - on the FFHS site.
And No, I didn't do it the way I set out below - I made lots of mistakes and had many false starts!
Always remember the Genealogists' Code of Conduct.
And No, I didn't do it the way I set out below - I made lots of mistakes and had many false starts!
Always remember the Genealogists' Code of Conduct.
- As the King of Hearts said, it's important to "begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop".
- First ask questions of all the relatives you can find and make sure you won't be duplicating research someone else has already done,
- Then find all the original birth, marriage and death certificates (BMD) you can find, also documents such as old letters, photos, family bibles etc can give interesting clues.
- Keep careful records throughout, of course!
- The best place to start with genealogical research on the internet is Genuki as it covers everything.
- Research on the internet can begin with accessing further BMD data. It's best to start with the local indexes - see a rather patchy county-by-county access from here, or for direct access to local indexes try the library in the locality. Free access to the national indexes here, up to around 1911. Scottish BMD data is available here for a fee. Some useful information is accessible for Northern Ireland, here.
- If you find that there are several different people who all fit the age & location you are searching (eg 10 different John Smiths) then you'll need to try and narrow it down - that means more questions around the family, using the National Census, or paying for the certificates will mean you can see the full details on the certificate. (You can buy the BMD certificates you need from here (£7 each, but if you want to be sure, it saves a lot of wasted effort & time later!)
- It's really important to get your facts right!
- Then you can access data on family groups, occupations etc from Census returns (link here to GENUKI's guidance on the UK census). Always try & work backwards from what you know for sure!!!....Begin with the 1901 census, although access to 1911 census data is beginning to open up early - search online (pay-per-view) at Find My Past here. Data in the full England & Wales 1901, 1891 and 1881 censuses {censi??} are transcribed into searchable databases (free access to 1881 data via the Latter Day Saints website here, via FreeCen mainly for the 1891 census, and a limited service here on the 1901 census). These sources are good, but can be patchy - they are not yet fully transcribed, so you may like to buy credits for access to an image of the original 1901 document here, or all census returns at Ancestry.co.uk).
- Older Census returns can be accessed, back to 1841 in England & Wales via FreeCen (patchy) and also at Ancestry.co.uk.
- Then access to parish records can help to track relatives beyond 1837 (when BMD records began, or pre-1855 in Scotland) - these records are generally accessed in person locally, but some records are online (the Latter Day Saints site here, for example. Find out more here).
- If you know a relative was in the military, records can be searched:- in Ancestry.com (if you are a paid-up member); at the National Archives (for a £3.50 fee per search); or free at the Commonwealth Graves Commission. *NEW* Excellent guide to what's available online for researching military history; UK-MFH
- You may find some interesting stories; Workhouses, Immigration, Emigration, (also the Ship's List) Trials & Prisons. Old newspapers (e.g family announcements and their 15 minutes of fame!) are searchable online free, here
- Do make sure you Google your relatives (but, oh please, not this way!). Use the Advanced Search button.
- If you feel you need to find some family who are still 'with us', there are all sorts of resources for 20thC. researches, but for a fee - such as this site, the BT archive of old phone books, or 192.com to search electoral rolls.
- Don't forget to share your researches with family members - something you have found may trip a memory that lay hidden before. Also the internet can help you to unearth relatives with whom your family had lost touch. (eg GenesReunited, Rootsweb, also regional family history societies)
- Best of luck with your searches, but watch you don't take things too far!
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