Discover Your Ancestors

Issue 012

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Welcome again to Discover Your Ancestors Periodical, your monthly companion to family, social and local history. This issue completes our first full year of the Periodical, and I’m delighted to say that we’ve had lots of encouraging feedback, as well as growing in both pagination and numbers of subscribers. We’re also brimming with plans for future issues!

In the meantime, in this issue you’ll find the usual rich mix. We have an interesting piece by Kirsty Gray about the technology that powered the Industrial Revolution, and how it affected people’s lives; and her colleague at the Society for One-Place Studies, Dr Janet Few, explains what such studies are and why they are so interesting to conduct.

We’ve learned in a previous issue that school records can be fascinating to explore, and this time we have extracts of Victorian school log books from Leicestershire, which at once make school life in the 19th century seem both familiar and remote. All that and plenty more as ever…

Also, don’t forget that Issue 3 of our annual printed edition, packed with more than 30 features across 164 pages, is out now in good newsagents across the English-speaking world, as well as available to buy direct via our own website at discoveryourancestors.co.uk. Happy reading!

Andrew Chapman, Editor.

Articles

Powering the Past

The Industrial Revolution transformed the world and the way in which millions of people lived. Starting in Britain in the mid-18th century, its effects were more revolutionary than any other development since the discovery of agriculture more than 5,000 years ago.

One place, many faces

Family historians normally focus on their own direct ancestors but these people did not live in isolation. They had neighbours and workplaces, they lived in villages with churches, schools, shops and institutions. In order to understand families of the past, they need to be 'put in their place’ by investigating the localities of which they were a part. One-place studies differ from traditional local histories in that they focus on people, their relationship to their communities and to each other; thus bringing family and local history together, to the benefit of both fields.

Following the plot

This spring saw the launch of The National Collection of Tithe Records at TheGenealogist.co.uk. For the first time you can now search more than 11,000,000 records and view the original documents online.

Class conscious

When Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837, education was, at best, an ad hoc affair. Whereas wealthy families could afford to pay for private education, for most of the population schooling was dependent on geographic allocation and the generosity of local benefactors. In the early 19th century, Sunday schools, charitable schools and ragged schools had all attempted to provide a basic education for children from poorer families. By 1851, over 17,000 National Schools had been opened by the Church of England. British Schools provided a similar education for children of Nonconformist families.

Paris of the West

During the 1860s to the 1880s, San Francisco began to transform into a major city, starting with massive expansion in all directions, creating new neighbourhoods such as the Western Addition, the Haight-Ashbury, Eureka Valley and the Mission District, and culminating in the construction of Golden Gate Park in 1887. The city’s famous cable cars were built around this time in order to traverse the city’s steep hills while connecting the new residential developments. San Francisco also grew in cultural prominence at this time as famous writers such as Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Ambrose Bierce, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Oscar Wilde spent time in the city.

April 2014's books

This fascinating, fully illustrated volume is the definitive guide to every aspect of the workhouse and of the poor relief system in which it played a pivotal part.

Place in Focus: Southampton

Southampton’s history is intertwined with its location on a major estuary with an unusual double high-tide, and by its relative proximity to Winchester and London, the ancient and modern capitals of England.

Break the Brick Walls: Occupational Records

Researching an ancestor’s occupation can reveal a lot about their social status and how they lived. People often had surnames which derived from the occupation of a distant ancestor - such as Butcher, Fletcher or Carpenter. Crucially, finding occupations can help to distinguish between two individuals of the same name, and certain skilled occupations or trades were passed down through generations, providing evidence of family kinship.

Additional Information

Other Formats

You can buy a printed version of the annual Discover Your Ancestors bookazine directly from the publishers, please see www.discoveryourancestors.co.uk and click on ‘Order print copies’ at the bottom.

Editorial Office

Discover Your Ancestors Publishing,

PO BOX 163,

Shaftesbury,

SP7 7BA

E: [email protected]

W: www.discoveryourancestors.co.uk

Discover Your Ancestors – The Family History Show

The Family History Show, York!

Saturday 22nd June 2024
10:00 –16:00 (GMT)

Put your research questions to an expert, watch a talk, speak to a local society, archive or genealogical supplier.

Free talks all day, held in a large lecture hall.
Free Experts on hand to help with your queries.
Many family history societies, archives and companies will be attending from all over the country.

Special Offer! Buy tickets for £8.00 (£12.00 on the day)

Buy your tickets early and get two for the price of one!

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Future Events

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Discover Your Ancestors Periodical is published by Discover Your Ancestors Publishing, UK. All rights in the material belong to Discover Your Ancestors Publishing and may not be reproduced, whether in whole or in part, without their prior written consent. The publisher makes every effort to ensure the magazine's contents are correct. All articles are copyright© of Discover Your Ancestors Publishing and unauthorised reproduction is forbidden. Please refer to full Terms and Conditions at www.discoveryourancestors.co.uk. The editors and publishers of this publication give no warranties, guarantees or assurances and make no representations regarding any goods or services advertised.