Tag Archives: research

When Digitisation Goes Bad Part II: Death’s Apprentice

Posted on January 27, 2022 by Lifelines Research

or…Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back Onto The Internet This is the second part of a blog post looking at some particularly bad examples of digitisation in the world of family history research. In the first … Continue reading →

Posted in digitisation, Document Sources, research, Soapbox | Tagged apprenticeship, documents, family history, genealogy, indexing, london metropolitan archives, research | 1 Comment

When Digitisation Goes Bad Part I: The Night Of The Living Death Duties

Posted on January 23, 2022 by Lifelines Research

This is the first part of the latest in a series of blog posts looking at the some of the problems behind the way that we access family history sources via the major commercial websites. In previous posts I’ve looked … Continue reading →

Posted in digitisation, Document Sources, research, Soapbox | Tagged death duty registers, documents, family history, genealogy, research, the national archives, tna | 4 Comments

Please Release Me…

Posted on January 7, 2022 by Lifelines Research

…being a very brief history of the releases of the English & Welsh census returns. We need to understand right from the start that the primary purpose of the census has never been to produce a resource for the benefit … Continue reading →

Posted in Local History, research, Soapbox | Tagged 1921 Census, census, documents, family history, genealogy, latter day saints, research, society of genealogists, the national archives, tna | 6 Comments

The Respectable Printer Of The Times

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Lifelines Research

This is the second part of the story of John Joseph Lawson, printer of The Times. In the first part, A Gross And Scandalous Libel, I covered his ‘trial’ in the House of Lords in 1831. In Part 2, I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in Document Sources, research, Stories | Tagged biography, Court of Queen's Bench, documents, family history, genealogy, John Joseph Lawson, libel, national portrait gallery, newspapers, research, The Times | 1 Comment

A Gross And Scandalous Libel

Posted on December 28, 2021 by Lifelines Research

I was watching some old episodes of Who Do You Think You Are the other day and I was particularly taken by the one featuring Ian McKellen; as engaging, enthusiastic and warm a subject as you could possibly hope to … Continue reading →

Posted in Document Sources, research, Stories | Tagged documents, family history, genealogy, House of Lords, John Joseph Lawson, libel, research, The Times | 1 Comment

You Don’t Know What You’ve Got…

Posted on November 26, 2021 by Lifelines Research

I realise that I’m running the risk of sounding like a broken record here but it seems like there’s always something else to say when it comes to assessing the work of the major commercial genealogical websites. Because it’s undeniable … Continue reading →

Posted in Document Sources, research, Soapbox | Tagged documents, family history, genealogy, london metropolitan archives, parish registers, research, st pancras | 9 Comments

The Last of the Moultings

Posted on November 21, 2021 by Lifelines Research

On 2 February 1974, a 72-year old woman called Gladys Elizabeth Moulting died in Canvey Island, Essex. I know very little about Gladys, except that she was the youngest of two children of George Henry and Harriet Amelia Moulting, that … Continue reading →

Posted in Local History, research, Stories, Surnames | Tagged Bethlem Hospital, census, documents, Evesham, family history, genealogy, parish registers, research, Surnames, the national archives, tna | 3 Comments

Incorrigible & Worthless

Posted on November 14, 2021 by Lifelines Research

Researching the lives of our military ancestors can be difficult at the best of times but when it comes to retelling the stories of the seven million men and women who served in the British Army during the First World … Continue reading →

Posted in Document Sources, research, Stories, Uncategorized | Tagged army, british army, documents, family history, genealogy, research, the national archives, tna | 3 Comments

You Had One Job…

Posted on October 10, 2021 by Lifelines Research

I’ll try to keep this brief. I’ve blogged a lot in the past few years about the problems with many of the databases on the major commercial genealogical websites and in particular the various county-wide English and Welsh parish register … Continue reading →

Posted in Document Sources, research, Soapbox, Uncategorized | Tagged cheshire, documents, family history, Findmypast, genealogy, marriage registers, parish registers, prestbury, research | 9 Comments

We Need To Talk About Ancestry

Posted on September 13, 2021 by Lifelines Research

Or … How The Major Commercial Genealogical Websites Are Killing Family History Research As a full-time professional researcher, I depend heavily on the resources that I’m able to access online, particularly those databases provided by the major commercial websites. Without … Continue reading →

Posted in Document Sources, research, Soapbox | Tagged ANcestry, documents, family history, genealogy, parish registers, research, tribbles | 25 Comments