I recently had the pleasure of visiting with some of my relatives in Bolton, England. The weather was a bit gloomy as the English weather can sometimes be, but Bolton is a city rich in history, and with a formidable industrial past, that couldn’t help but warm my heart. It’s a blue-collar city, and the inhabitants reflect that hearty down to earth character that makes it a pleasure to tuck unto a rich beef stew or share a few glasses, well pints (excuse my French), of ale with them. And that I did – more ale than stew I have to say. Now after admitting my fondness for the English brew, I feel I may have some trouble convincing you of the worthiness of my next observation. I won’t beat around the bush, I’ll come right out and say it – I saw elephants everywhere I went!

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"What a Witch" my friend as he slammed down the phone in disgust. Apparently the customer service representative from his mobile operator he had spoken with was having a bad day! His comment got the wheels of my genealogical mind a turning however, and I thought; "What if one of my ancestors was a witch"? It is not as impossible or as far-fetched a possibility as one might think. In fact, anyone having ancestors from Europe or New England during the colonial period could easily have a "witch" as an ancestor. The belief in witchcraft during the seventeenth century was one of the greatest tragedies and delusions recorded in history, and many innocent people were accused of and imprisoned and executed because of it.

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An unusual question you might say, but hopefully you’ll find the answer interesting. The short form of that answer is yes, of course, but the long version sheds much more insight into Ireland, its people, and its colourful history. The Emerald Isle as we all lovingly know her was populated and civilized by the Celts for at least a thousand years before the ninth century. The Celts lived peacefully on their island home at least until the year 795 when the first of a string of Viking attacks took place. The first assault took place on Lambay Island in Dublin Bay, a place that is today but a peaceful bird sanctuary.

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So often we get caught up in our daily schedules and workloads that we forget to take time out to have a bit of fun. This can also be true of our genealogy projects, and I’m guilty of this, as are many other genealogists. We get so concerned with finding facts and deciphering dates that we forget to have fun with genealogy. I was recently reminded of how much fun genealogy can be when I was searching for online archives. My search led me to a website that I have to absolutely share with you – British Pathé. Perhaps you are already familiar with this website, if not it is both a valuable genealogical resource, and a fun place to visit – especially if you like nostalgia.

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I was once hot on the trail of an ancestor, and had narrowed down my search to the Irish census reports. I was convinced I would soon have another confirmed relative in my family tree, when much to my dismay, I discovered that the census reports I was convinced I would find him in were destroyed by fire and explosion during the Irish Civil War in 1922. What was I to do? The first thing I did was panic –, then I got a bit angry – all that wasted research! When I finally calmed down I thought about all the time and effort I had put into tracking my ancestor and I decided I would not let it be wasted; at least not if I could help it. I would have to find another route to him, look in different sources, even different locations if I had to, and hope I could pick up the trail again. I eventually found my ancestor in some county records – a county history actually, but not before I had exhausted almost every resource I could think of. It was a long and arduous search, but on reflection I could have found my ancestor much faster had I asked myself a few of the following questions.

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Though the following may seem to be obvious, they are mistakes that are commonly and constantly made by researchers, especially beginners. All genealogists make mistakes, and will continue to do so, but there is a difference between honest blunders and serious, avoidable errors. As I pen this blog, I can’t help but laugh, as it is mostly from personal experience that I write. At first I was especially excited to find out if I was related to some famous person, and so I looked for as many famous people of my surname as I could. Sound familiar? Never mind, human beings do humorous things, and in the initial excitement of the desire to find out about our past, we are especially (at least I was) prone to such.

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During the course of your genealogical research you will or may have already encountered numerous websites, many of them personal sites constructed by individuals to display their own family history. It’s very easy to be inspired to create your own website displaying your particular research and genealogy, if so there are some important things you’ll want to consider before publishing your information on the internet. There are methods you can use to get a website or webpage up and running quite quickly, but before you fast track your research to the publishing stage, you might wish to read through this post first as these five factors will help your personal genealogy website or page to stand out from the crowd. This will in turn popularize your site with other genealogists so that they are moved to link to it; thus giving your site a higher profile on the net. One of the most effective ways of accomplishing this is to make your site unique.

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Seeking a Clergyman Ancestor in Britain

Previously I wrote about finding an ancestor who was a clergyman and highlighted some useful resources from Ireland that I used to find him. Writing about my experience got me thinking that there are probably a good number of people who may have ancestors who were clergymen, priests or other types of religious leader or shepherd. I have since decided to search for and share with you Ecclesiastical records from countries other than Ireland that may help you to find your own ancestor if he served as a clergyman. In this instalment I’ll investigate British Ecclesiastical Records, and in a subsequent blog reveal sources of American and Canadian Ecclesiastical records that may help you uncover whether or not you are the son, grandson, great-grandson, or at least related to, a preacher man! Let’s begin with the Church of England.

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