Elkington Family updated

Elkington Family:

"This Website has been created to help those called Elkington or who may have relatives called Elkington

Some of the trees are taken from the works of Arthur Edward Hardwicke Elkington and his cousin, Christine Elkington, who worked tirelessly to record all the Elkington families known to them at the time of their work. Their notes have been used to form the records contained in these trees and backed up with Family Documents, Wills, Family Bibles, Church Records and Bishops Transcripts

Mini Histories, which provide a colourful background to the story of this family, have been carefully researched and documented by their families and local records. Most of the official documents start with the beginning of the Church Records in the C16 but various other documents have survived and whilst we cannot prove a direct line, it shows that the family has been in England since before the Norman Invasion. Every history has the tree of the person concerned at the end of it showing the source for that particular member and county he or she comes from originally

There are many Wills which have proved a useful source for identifying various members of the different families. In some cases it has proved totally not possible to read off words and a gap has been indicated by a blank but the overall result gives a more or less full picture of the Testators instructions

Trees covering families not in the United Kingdom are as correct as possible, but it has not been possible to be absolutely accurate with families outside the United Kingdom"

from my usenet email:-

Hi Everyone,  

I have now completed the first three generations of the Warwickshire Branch  of the ELKINGTON family.   I have included wills and Inventories of  each man of the first three generations.  

All children are named and opposite each of the founders of different  branches are the number of that tree.   In due course I hope to  publish the trees on the Internet site.   I think this should sort out much of the mis-information on the Internet and although I have based this on the works of AEH Elkington and C.M.Elkington,  corrections and additions have been made where appropriate. 

Many thanks to those members of the family and genealogists who have helped to compile these notes.   There is an address on the Website to write to if you have any queries and of course if you think you are descended from any  of the lines I would be pleased to hear from you.   

Regards

Judy  Elkington

Father met daughter after 30 years

Father reunites with daughter after 30-year search: "April Antoniou, 30, of Newnan, Georgia, and her father, Scott Becker, of Wichita, Kansas, have been making the rounds of television news and talk shows since their internet-aided reunion this month.

Antoniou and Becker told Atlanta television stations WGCL-TV and 11Alive they had been independently trying to find each other for years but with no success.

Antoniou said she had frequently turned to Google but had no luck because her father's name is relatively common and she knew very little about him.

But when she typed 'Scott Robert Becker Looking for April' into the Google search box a few days ago it landed her on a website created by her father seven years ago - www.aprilbecker.com - where he had left a message:"

Mozilla Suite is history

Mozilla Suite - The All-in-One Internet Application Suite: "You are currently viewing a snapshot of www.mozilla.org taken on April 21, 2008. Most of this content is highly out of date (some pages haven't been updated since the project began in 1998) and exists for historical purposes only."
better use FireFox and or SeaMonkey

Home :: The Netscape Archive: "* Official support ended on March 1st, 2008"

Google's Guinea Pigs

Google's Guinea Pigs | Mother Jones: "More than a dozen testing services have launched since 2006, and industry sales, according to one estimate, could hit $1 billion this year. 'Genome-informed,' personalized medicine is viewed by doctors and patients as the wave of the future, the path to wellness—or, to quote the slogan of one California testing company, a way to 'Live Better—Longer.' But will we really? Or is peddling genetic tests as the medical equivalent of an iPod simply a way to reel in enough people to serve a greater business model—in which the test is the proverbial free toaster, and customer data is the real product for sale?"

Free Military Databases

Free Military Databases for Veterans Day | WorldVitalRecords Blog: "Happy Veterans Day! The following list is of WorldVitalRecords military databases that are FREE for November 11-13, 2009. It’s a great time to research your veteran ancestor!"

Family Tree Statistics

Genea-Musings: Family Tree Statistics from MyHeritage.com: "These charts, and the supporting statistics can be very useful to researchers. They may point out problems with data in the database (for instance, my database apparently has a male age 13 marrying a female age 34 - probably not!).

I checked RootsMagic 4, Legacy Family Tree 7 and Family Tree Maker 2010 and did not see comparable family tree statistics capability (did I miss them? If they are there, they are pretty well hidden). Family Tree Maker 16 has a limited File Statistics capability, but nothing like the MyHeritage statistics. I think that this type of statistics analysis should be a standard feature of genealogy software."

Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2010

Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2010: "Tickets for Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE 2010 are on sale now!"

Welsh Genealogies

The Bartrum "Welsh Genealogies":
By Darrell Wolcott

Over the past 10 years, we have reviewed, collated, dissected and cross-referenced literally thousands of pedigrees related to Welsh families prior to 1400. Our work was done without access to the eight-volume work by Peter C. Bartrum entitled 'Welsh Genealogies - AD 300 - 1400' which some claim to be the 'final word'.

Our approach has been to construct a timeline into which each succeeding generation must fit and which must closely parallel that of other families where marriage matches are claimed. And where persons can be securely identified, to chose a timeline which also accomodates Brut entries, extant grant and charter documents and official governmental records.[1]

Our work has disclosed a multitude of omitted generations in extant pedigrees, more than a few men who have been confused with men of the same patrynomic name and some who have clearly been attached to the wrong ancestors. Although the 'emendments' we suggest are not always supported by any prior authority, they are supported by logical reasoning and the resulting pedigrees are chronologically stable. In most cases, the reasons why those errors crept into the pedigrees can be seen and understood.

Recently, our library managed to acquire the Bartrum volumes mentioned above. After reviewing the work and comparing the pedigrees with our own constructions, it is clear his purpose was much different than is commonly supposed. We commend the work for its four volumes of indexes of names which reference the sources where they are cited. However, sources which did not agree with Bartrum's timeline are marked with ( ) which he says are 'incorrect'. We wish he had noted exactly what those citations said so we could decide for ourselves if they were corrupt or the alternate readings he accepted as 'correct' were, in fact, flawed. The four volumes are family charts, however, are little more than a compilation of what Bartrum thought the original pedigrees claimed. . . . ."

" . . . .

Like Bartrum, we have found the more ancient pedigrees contain much less problematical material than those compiled in the 16th century and thereafter. The works of Gruffudd Hiraethog, Gutyn Owain, Ieuan Brechfa, Robert Vaughan and others of the medieval period have kept extant much material which would have been otherwise lost. But none of those genealogists thought it important to adhere to a chronological timeline, resulting in endless repetition of material with patently impossible family constructions.

So long as today's researchers understand that Bartrum was NOT attempting to portray actual and feasible family charts, but limited his purpose to summarizing the material found in other manuscripts, his work can be very helpful. It should not, however, be cited as the principle source to "prove" any asserted facts. We have seen many cases where he linked unrelated men to the wrong same-named father. The citations were correct, their compilation into a chart was not.

One final observation: the charts and indexes are not a self-contained work. Lines and sources are carried back only until they connect to one of his two earlier works: "Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts" published in book form in 1966, and "Pedigrees of the Welsh Tribal Patriarchs" published in the National Library of Wales Journal, vol xiii, in 1963. Both those works must be at hand to complete the pedigrees which are continued in the 1974 "Welsh Genealogies AD 300-1400""

1939 Registration Act

1939 Registration Act:

"An Act to make provision for the establishment of a National Register, for the issue of identity cards, and for purposes connected with the matter aforesaid. [5th September 1939.]"

SCHEDULE.

MATTER WITH RESPECT TO WHICH PARTICULARS ARE TO BE ENTERED IN REGISTER.

1. Names.
2. Sex.
3. Age.
4. Occupation, profession, trade or employment.
5. Residence.
6. Condition as to marriage.
7. Membership of Naval, Military or Air Force Reserves or Auxiliary Forces or of Civil Defence Services or Reserves.

1939 Registration - soc.genealogy.britain | Google Groups:

"Guy Etchells

Nov 10, 2:51 pm
Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.britain
From: Guy Etchells
Local: Tues, Nov 10 2009 2:51 pm
Subject: 1939 Registration

I have just received the Information Commissioner's decision with regards to my request for information recorded in the 1939 Registration.

The Information Commissioner has found partially in my favour.

This means that it is illegal for the NHS Information Centre to withhold any information taken under the 1939 Registration if that information relates to deceased persons.

Cheers

Guy"

FamilySearch Indexing

FamilySearch Indexing: View Project: "UK, Warwickshire - Parish Registers 1754-1900 [Part 2]" sample image shows Coleshill

FamilySearch Indexing: Home: "YOU CAN HELP. No special skills or fixed time commitments are required. Volunteer when you can. Just register, sign in, and follow a simple process:

1. Select a “batch” of records to download to your computer.
2. Enter the requested information (names, dates, events, etc.) in the corresponding spaces.
3. Submit your completed index to the online system."

FamilyLink goes viral - Paul Allen (the lesser)

This Week: Ancestry IPO, FamilyLink goes viral, Navigating Facebook Platform changes | Paul Allen (the lesser): "his week is going to be amazing. Possibly, the most interesting week of my career. I’ll explain.

Ancestry.com is slated to go public on Wednesday. I always dreamed of being part of that IPO, but I’ve been out of the company (7 years) longer than I was in the company (6 years). But my excitement about watching a company I helped create trade on a public exchange is mounting. I cannot wait to see what happens when ACOM debuts on the NASDAQ this week.

I’m thinking about holding an IPO party at my house on Wednesday for the early Ancestry.com employees who are no longer with the company. It would be fun to reminisce a bit and see where everyone is now. If “public demand” for a party is high, I’m sure we’ll be able to pull it off on short notice. Between LinkedIn and Facebook, my blog and twitter, we should be able to get at least a dozen or two people to show up. If you’re interested already (and qualify as a “former Ancestry employee”), shoot me an email. (paul AT familylink.com) We’ll watch a couple of old company videos and hopefully some Tivo’d coverage of some of the business news about Ancestry from Wednesday.

This week is also exciting because FamilyLink.com is going viral. Our FamilyLink.com Quantcast chart shows that we’ve had more than 6 million unique visitors since we debuted last month and we are just getting started. We think our Flash-based family tree tool is the funnest online tree ever created, and it is getting tons of usage. We hope to be a top Facebook Connect site soon. In fact, Facebook’s Wiki shows FamilyLink as an example of how to create invites and requests using Facebook Connect. Facebook has been an incredible platform for our company to build on."

Scottish Genealogy News

Scottish Genealogy News and Events (SGNE): PRONI clarification on closure in late 2010:

"The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) is concerned to note that inaccurate and incomplete information is being disseminated about its plans for preparing and moving the records to a new building, and the effect this will have on researchers. This note is intended to clarify the matter.

The on-site closure is due to begin in September 2010. PRONI has given twelve months forewarning in order to enable customers to plan their research programmes accordingly. Visiting groups and individuals will, therefore, know that they should not make plans to visit during the period of disruption, but that they may re-schedule to visit earlier or later. If later, then they will be visiting PRONI in its new premises with its much enhanced research facilities and improved overall service. There are well known deficiencies in the present service, owing to the age of the building and its inadequate storage facilities. A properly-conducted move and adequate time for testing new systems in the new building will lead to a much better experience for researchers.

It is important to realise that the temporary on-site closure will last no longer than 8 months. If the necessary work is completed before that, the re-opening date will be reviewed. . . . ."

Sources for genealogical research, both commercial and personal, are not restricted to PRONI. The 1911 Census, which covers all of Ireland, is now available on-line, at no charge, at www.nationalarchives.ie; the 1901 Census for Ireland will also be available before any disruption to PRONI’s on-site service takes place. These are key sources for family history. Another key source, Griffith’s Valuation, is also now on-line, again at no charge, at www.askaboutireland.ie.

Within PRONI, the recent launch of a number of 19th century street directories is another new and free on-line resource for family history research. Others will follow in the coming months, including the surviving fragments of three 18th century Census returns, adding to the PRONI sources already available on-line. There will, therefore, be a range of archive material for researchers to work on while they’ are unable to access PRONI’s premises.

OriginsTutorial

USA OriginsTutorial: "Pitfalls: be very, very careful when building your family tree. Just because someone kinda/sorta fits the description of your great-grandpa doesn't mean that you should attach him to your tree and thus run off in the wrong direction (which happens all to often). Allow your tree to grow at a steady pace, and it will be infinitely more solid (and real)... check & double check every piece of information!"

a good newbies page mostly for USA

UK Newbies start here

GENUKI: Newbies Guide by Roy Stockdill

Roy Stockdill's Newbies' Guide to Genealogy and Family History, although originally written for Yorkshire researchers, provides a lot of useful advice which is relevant to most areas of the UK.

always check sources to kill myths

from my Usenet email by Chris Reynolds:-

I provide a help service for people who have hit a brick wall with their Hertfordshire Ancestors. In a nummber of cases the problem arises because they have copied someone else's research without checking , That persn had copied from dsomeone else with out checking - and so on - and the first person in the chain had made an error - so everyone is wrong because no-ne had bothered to check.

I have just posted an example of what can go wrong on my web site - in this case a shipping clerk in 1635 recorded the names of people who went on board "The Hopewell", As more people arrived he recorded less and less detail about them, making (by 21st century standards) many spelling and other errors. One of these errors is obvious to anyone with a knowledge of 17th century documents and Hertfordshire place names. However the error is easily overlooked by those simply looking for ancestral names on the list. As a result 99% of the references I have found on the internet given the wrong place of origin for the ancestor - in most cases assuming that if an adult travels from a (non-existant) place they must have been born there!

Answers: The Myth of Stanstede Abbey (Hertfordshire Genealogy):

'"Conclusions

There is overwhelming evidence that there was no such place as Stanstead Abbey - and the two 17th century documents which name such a place were created under circumstances where confusion between 'Stanstead Abbey' and 'Stanstead Abbots' was very likely.

An online search found 2 web pages which used the information accurately as part of a family tree. At the same time about 200 web pages contained wrong or misleading information - an error rate of 99% !!!
There may be many other copies of the incorrect information on submitted family trees, and other sources

In researching your family tree you should note the words of the poem at the head of this page [The Hunting of the Snark, Lewis Caroll]. Saying something 3 times - or 200 times, does not make it true. If the information comes from a single source the truth, or otherwise depends on how reliable the source was when it was written, and the accuracy of any subsequent copying (perhaps by hand many years ago), transcription, indexing and interpretation.

Much of the family tree information currently on the internet has been assembled without proper checks and safeguards, often by people who are only collecting as many names as possible with minimal effort. Other people's family trees should be considered as potentially unreliable - particularly if the primary sources (i.e. the original contemporary sources) are not identified. The fact that the family tree is well presented, or has been entered onto the IGI is no evidence that it is correct.

Remember: It is important to understand each source - how, where, why and when it was written - to judge the potential accuracy of the document. Simply 'ripping out' the reference to someone whose name means he might be your ancestor from a document, index or published family tree and ignoring the context is a recipe for error."