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| No: 130 |
December 2016
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News December/January Seminars & Heritage Walks There are no planned activities for December and January. See the seminar program for more details and bookings for 2017. Access to the National Archives: Canberra collection Relocation of records to the new National Archives Preservation Facility (a fancy name for an off-site archive store) commenced in November and will continue until mid-2017. This could mean some records will not be retrievable during the relocation. New ENG/WLS GRO website The new website is now available with many enhanced features that may mean you will be able to find those missing records. The new site also has its own online index. More about this in the next newsletter. National Archives fee hike The National Archives of Australia has increased copying fees by a massive 172% for files exceeding 10 pages. 11–100 pages will now cost $75.90 up from $27.90. You may feel inclined to sign the online petition. I just read your latest newsletter and thought I would pass along a comment on the 'why' of using aliases. I have been using GEDmatch and genetic genealogy in general since 2013 so am not an expert by any means, but get by. I have tested several family members who are quite elderly and not interested in the tree but were willing to give me their DNA, they don't want their names out there for people to contact so I use aliases of both their birth surnames, in fact all of my kits follow the same pattern however I use my own name on my kit. Also, we have couple of adopted lines and for this purpose using a testers’ surnames works well. At FTDNA I include their GEDmatch number as a middle name eg. Rhonda A889678 Lucas, at GEDmatch it is LCH Lucas/Cummins. At first I used to use real names and found it awkward because I do have a few kits and when people wrote to me they were expecting me to be that person, so this works for us. Glad you made the journey to DNA and I look forward to reading your forthcoming newsletters. Rhonda PS we started at 23andme, transferred to FTDNA (and GEDmatch), and I am on AncestryDNA to catch matches there and encourage them to upload to GEDmatch for comparison, that is usually serious hard work! |
In
this issue: |
Graham Jaunay Services |
| DNA update Since the last newsletter, my mother's DNA results have been posted and in turn I have transferred them to GEDmatch. Her results have allowed me to sort my matches into four groups. Those who match my mother and I clearly belong to my maternal line. Those that match my paternal great aunt's grandson (my 2nd cousin) belong to my father's line. I am left with two groups. The first I assume (because no one has told me otherwise) are potentially paternal having linked to this side of my family more recently than my great grandfather—that is, my paternal grandmother's line, the Beasleys. I do not know if this is correct, but because all my matches in this group neither match my mother or my 2nd cousin, I cannot think of any other scenario. The final group is a quandary for me and clearly others because although I have sought answers none have been forthcoming. This small group match my mother but not me. I suspect that they may be from my maternal line and their matching segments have become too small to be picked up. In all cases I have not been able to progress or identify any further relationships. The problem as reported in the previous newsletter remains the same. The bulk of matches are with people who just do not have the paperwork or cannot be bothered answering my emails! Having said this it may be a specific problem with my family. Perhaps some have a gene that causes the host to avoid paperwork! I say this because parallel with my research I have also been undertaking my wife's DNA discovery too, albeit, far less enthusiastically, and already we have found distant cousins through matching plus paperwork supplied by both parties! In closing, I have in fact been able to progress my research on one line simply using the GEDCOMs two persons posted on FTDNA. Although no match was revealed with two people concerned, we have discovered we share my 6g-grandfather on my Scottish Gilmour line. The lesson here is to make sure you use all the features provided by each DNA site. Civil registration in Scotland Scotland was late in setting up a process for the government registration of births, marriages and deaths in 1855. This means that confirming individual's vital records prior to this date considering the problems with church records persisted for just that much longer. However, when the system finally emerged it was certainly far more informative than that south of the border which had been in place since mid-1837. In Scotland a number of attempts to launch a system prior to the enactment of the 1854 Registration Act failed for a number of political reasons not least of which was the reliance on the Westminster parliament who were less than keen to promote any Scottish legislation that may incur a cost on the British Government! Once the 1854 Act passed the country was divided into registration districts that were, more often than not, existing Church of Scotland parishes. Each district had its own registrar. In the cities, there might be enough work for a full-time registrar, but in most of the country the local registrars were inevitably part-time. The parish councils liked to appoint those who were already public servants because their qualities were known. The majority were schoolmasters or inspectors of the poor, but any suitable man who lived in and knew the locality might be appointed. Registrars were rarely provided with accommodation and had to set up their office in their own house or working premises. Such an arrangement could prove quite unsuitable. In 1855, the parishioners of Chapel of Garioch complained about the office of the registrar at the school at one side of a large parish and when people finally reached the office they are subjected to the very disagreeable necessity of disclosing the object of their visit in the hearing of his scholars in ... the schoolroom where they are taught. No chance of the neighbours not knowing their business. Every registrar could appoint an assistant registrar, to act in case they were indisposed, but women were barred from these positions. Registrars did not just wait until they were voluntarily notified by the families concerned of births, deaths and marriages. They were required to keep themselves informed of any such events happening in their district, to ensure that all were registered. As a consequence networks were often established with ministers, midwives and undertakers. Once a year in almost all registration districts, an examiner would arrive to inspect the books. They commented not only on the character and competence of the registrars, but also on individual entries of births, deaths and marriages, and on larger social matters that impressed. Their comments on the individual entries in the registers were sometimes in the nature of a clarification particularly when there appeared to be surname variations—a particular issue with some Gaelic names. The 1854 Act specified what particulars had to be registered. Fuller details were recorded than in England, making the Scottish registers of particular value for family researchers. For the year 1855, even more information was recorded in the birth, death and marriage registers than thereafter. It was soon realised that too much was being asked of the registrars and an Amending Act reduced the amount of detail they had to investigate. Entries in the birth and death registers were usually initiated by an informant visiting the registrar. The procedure for registering marriages was different. Before a marriage, the parties had to obtain a schedule, which was completed by the selected clergyman at the time of the marriage and then brought to the registrar for registration of the marriage. Clergymen of all denominations could now celebrate regular marriages whereas previously this had been somewhat restricted largely to the Church of Scotland. Some clergy caused problems, by not completing the schedule properly. In the 1850s, Free Church ministers were alleged to be careless in this respect, being openly hostile to the Registration Act, while the Church of Scotland and Roman Catholic clergy were keen for the new system to work properly. A registrar could be invited to attend the wedding with his register. Unlike England, irregular marriages could also be registered, provided their existence had been established by a court of law. This was the only option available by a couple who belonged to a religious sect which did not have an officiating clergyman. From 1861, the registrars were required to supervise the taking of the census in their districts. From 1864, they had to note on birth entries when a child was vaccinated. In 1866 they were required to make returns of epidemic diseases in their districts. From 1878, as an alternative to the proclamation of banns, a notice of intended marriage could be posted outside the registrar’s office. They were required at various dates to inform assorted government departments of the death of pensioners and medical bodies of the death of practitioners. From 1 July 1940, they were authorised to perform marriages. The system is managed by New Register House in Edinburgh and apart from birth, marriage and death records they also hold registers for marine births and deaths; war registers including deaths of Scots in the Boer War and the two World Wars; and births, marriages and deaths of Scots in foreign countries. The indexes can only be searched at the website, ScotlandsPeople who can provide an online downloadable version. Certificates can only be purchased from ScotlandsPeople. To access the indexes a subscriber has to purchase credits. Note that birth and marriage indexes 1855 to 1875 can be accessed via the FamilySearch at no charge. It should be noted that once a confirmed subscriber to ScotlandsPeople although one has to use credits for new searches and certificates, all previous searches and downloaded images are retained and can be accessed at no further charge. Access to the indexes lag by a year thus on 1 January 2015, the 2014 indexes were made available. However, online images lag by 101 years for births, 51 years for deaths and 76 years for marriages.
 A birth certificate showing baptismal endorsement.
 Page from a death registration book.
 Page from a marriage registration book. Note: Crown Copyright images are used with permission as outlined by ScotlandsPeople. |
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