Surname Tips (2)

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Julie Goucher
Surname Tips

Copyright – Julie Goucher 2019

For day two we are going to look at surnames in your family that might be suitable for a study. Maybe you want to focus on your own surname, or perhaps one you acquired through adoption or marriage. Maybe you have a brick wall in your family tree that you want to knock down.

Why not take a look at those surnames. Perhaps the names of your Great Grandparent? I did a quick search for my own Great Grandparents surnames and my husband’s. Here they are:

Butcher, Harris, Matthews and Elstone appear on my maternal side. Of those Butcher, Elstone and Matthews are registered names, Butcher registered by myself. Harris is not registered, but a member has recorded a surname interest.

Orlando, Virciglio, Licata and Nola appear on my paternal side. All these are Italian surnames and the only one registered is Orlando, which is registered by myself.

My husband Great Grandparents had the following names:

Goucher, Davies, Worship and Rhodes appear on his paternal line. Goucher and Worship are both registered. Worship is registered to me and I share that with my husband.

Whereas, Dinsdale, Redhead, Self and Kirtley are on his maternal line. Dinsdale is registered. Redhead is recorded as a surname interest by two members, one of which is me. Self and Kirtley are not registered.

So, how did you get on? Were any names registered or listed as a surname interest? If you have any interesting surnames please leave a comment below.

Posted in Genealogy, One-Name Studies, Surname Tips | 1 Comment

Surname Tips (1)

Posted on December 1, 2019 by Julie Goucher
Surname Tips

Copyright – Julie Goucher 2019

I thought that I would celebrate December, the Advent season with a series of surname Tips. The image here is from my Family Tree Magazine (UK) surname series which has just concluded. If you are a reader of the magazine, then stay tuned for my 2020 series. Back to Surname Tips, – one post will be shared every day up to Christmas.

The first tip is to recommend visiting the Guild of One-Name Studies website. The site is a wealth of information for both members and non-members. Members though, do need to login to the website to gain access to the members area.

There is a surname search feature on the website so you can see if any name associated with your family is being searched by a Guild member. If there is, why not email the member. You can also see if the surname appears in any of the Guild indexes. You can read the introduction material of the Guild and see further information about a One-Name Study or surname research.

So in between eating those mince pies and decorating the tree, why not visit the Guild of One-Name Studies website and dabble in surnames?

I will be back with Tip number 2 tomorrow!

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Family Tree Magazine 2019 – Surname Research Series

Posted on November 30, 2019 by Julie Goucher

FTXmasThe latest and final instalment of the Surname Series for 2019 has just been published. For those who have been reading each month I hope you have enjoyed reading it, as I have writing it.

This last instalment focuses on DNA Projects for Surnames.

For 2020 I am back writing for the magazine, but will be moving to a quarterly article which will be longer than the current series.

In those articles we will be building a Surname Study from the ground up focusing on a surname that does not appear in my family. Why not choose a surname in your own tree and research alongside me.

Do leave a comment if you are planning to research alongside me and share what surname.

This issue commemorates the 35th anniversary of Family Tree Magazine being published here in the UK. I have been a reader since the late 1980’s – according to my planner I bought my first issue in October of 1988. Back then I had no idea that I would eventually  write for the magazine. The magazine is a pleasure to be associated with.

Congratulations Family Tree Magazine!

Posted in Family Tree Magazine (UK) Surname Series (2019), Genealogy, One-Name Studies | Leave a comment

Book Review – Diary 1944, A Return Ticket to the Past by Carla Van Beers

Posted on November 25, 2019 by Julie Goucher

Diary1944Carla van Beers’ story begins when she finds a mysterious English diary from the Second World War in a secondhand shop in her native Netherlands. She delivers a mixture of intrigue and investigations as she describes her quest to trace the diary’s author. The diary was written in England, and maintained religiously throughout 1944. It has been transcribed in it’s entirety, and at the end of each week Beers shares what she has discovered along with any hypothesis she has made.

Beers includes her efforts to identify where the diary was written, and her journey to visit the area. She leaves her native Netherlands and arrives in England fuelled with enthusiasm, yet at the same time feels a certain anxiety about the success of her endeavours.

This is a slim book, and features a few black and white photos of the diary, a list of sources and literature of the background reading, a page of websites that I would have preferred to been written in a list format, and a series of acknowledgements.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and eagerly await any potential book two.

This review was published in the October issue of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine.

You can read the blog associated with the book HERE.

Posted in Book Reviews, Books, Genealogy, Who Do You Think You Are? (WDYTYA?) Magazine | Leave a comment

Ramblings from my Desk….. (25)

Posted on November 7, 2019 by Julie Goucher
Desk Ramblings

Copyright – Julie Goucher 2019

This is the 25th Desk Ramblings post that I have written and it was time for an image change. The use of my childhood Scrabble board in my Family Tree Magazine (UK) articles has been popular so I figured, if it is not broke, why fix it and created the new image.

Back in the summer when we were in the midst of a heatwave, that is a heatwave by British standards – anything over 22 centigrade is too hot for me so I retreated to my office at home and started to catch up on some outstanding genealogical chores; which included digitising a document or two, making sure the information was in my Roots Magic database with correct citations and then adding to the paper to the recycling. I have not managed to do loads, but have made a slow start.

Scanning is brain numbing work. I pondered on all the things I know now that I did not when I started. All the hints and tips that would have made my life easier and drafted out a few blog posts for publishing in the coming days months.

This has been a mixed year. In July, we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary, not as we planned though, just earlier that week we went the the funeral of my mother in law, so the celebrations did not seem right. We did though have dinner out, just the two of us where we discussed the feeling of disbelief that 25 years has passed since we both said “I do” One similarity with the death of my own Mum, which occurred just a few months before we celebrated our 20th anniversary. Sometimes things just plan out that way, but what a coincidence.

I ordered a batch of wills from the Probate Service at the end of July. The price reduction from £10 to £1.50 meant that the Government department was rather busy as were the genealogists, who were ordering at speed. My first one arrived within two days, the rest though were about 8 weeks from ordering. Despite the wait, the information on several of the wills caused me to reflect what I already knew and establish what I did not know. The bargain price will remain until July 2020, though I want to get any wills ordered before that, in case the price changes again.

Back in July I was very surprised when I was contacted by the Society of Genealogists in London, asking if I would accept the honour of being the recipient of the Certificate of Recognition. The award was being made

“For exceptional services to genealogy and one-name studies, promoting methodology, aims, processes and strategies” 

I accepted and I await receiving the certificate. You can read about the other recipient in the October 2019 newsletter.

As I said, I was very surprised to receive the email, and deeply touched that someone felt strongly enough to nominate me. I get a great deal of enjoyment from researching my own family history and one-name studies. I also enjoy sharing the knowledge that I have, teaching the Introduction course for One-Name Studies for Pharos Tutors – in fact from 2020 I will also be teaching the Advanced One-Name Studies course and I am currently writing another course which will hopefully be available early 2020. It is not just about research and teaching others. It is also about the friendships you make along the way, and sharing mutual enjoyment. I am not someone who would shout successes from the rooftops, especially when I am actually just being me, but I did want to share this with readers and acknowledge the generosity of the Society of Genealogists – Even though I was touched to receive it, I was sad that my late Mum was not here to hear my news.

Reading the many lists in my notebook I see that I am in the middle of several posts that form part of a series – one about Oral History and the other about Data collection. I shall get those finalised and share them with you. Since 2013 I have written a column for the genealogical magazine, the In-Depth Genealogist. Sadly the magazine ceased publication. quite recently, but that prompted me to review the material I had written for them and I will be sharing that as part of my UK and Ireland Series, which will be new for 2020.

As I was having one last review of the Introduction to One-Name Studies course material, ready to upload today for the November intake, I received an email from a former student. The question was about receiving interaction from others. I dropped the person a response, but whilst I was getting all domesticated in the kitchen preparing for dinner, I came across an idea and when I have caught up on other matters, I will share that information with you.

I am sure there is other news, but I am going to close off here and hope to resume better service in the coming days!

Posted in Desk Ramblings! | 2 Comments

Family Tree Magazine 2019 – Surname Research Series

Posted on October 26, 2019 by Julie Goucher

Dec2019The December  issue of Family Tree Magazine has recently been published, and the surname series continues, with us looking at learning resources, which in turn assist in discovering the methodology of a One-Name study and surname research.

I have written extensively on this site and you can find those various posts HERE.

Family Tree Magazine (UK) is available from magazine themselves as a print or digital version.

The Pharos Introduction course to One-Name Studies starts at the beginning of November, and whilst the majority of focus tends to be on surnames with a British background I am finding that more and more people are sharing their European genealogy and registering those surnames. Either way, if you are wanting to explore the depth of a study and to make sense of it, do consider joining us.

We are almost at the end of my current series with Family Tree Magazine, but don’t despair! I am working on my 2020 series which will be published quarterly, but more on that later, during November.

Posted in Family Tree Magazine (UK) Surname Series (2019), Genealogy, Introduction to One-Name Studies (Pharos course 901), One-Name Studies | Leave a comment

Surname Research – Variants

Posted on October 18, 2019 by Julie Goucher
Image 1

Created by Julie Goucher 2019

When I registered the surname of Butcher with the Guild of One-Name Studies back in 2016 I had already been working on the surname.

Not just my own links to the surname, but also the other facets of the study, and in particular the distribution of the surname across both the UK and the world.

Initially I did not register any variants, that was until I came across a divorce record for a couple with the surname Butchers. I had been placidly recording the Butchers references from the various databases and documents for years, just in case. As I read through the divorce record the male advised that he had married under the surname of Butcher and that was incorrect, his surname was Butchers. I then did a quick check of the data on FreeBMD for the surname Butchers.

From that information I drew the conclusion that Butchers was a corruption of the surname Butcher I therefore added it to my registration. All has been well with the study, until today…..

I came across an obituary for the surname BACHAR in a west country newspaper. I wondered if that could be a variant from the surname of Butcher taking into account a potential strong accent from the west country. I made a note of the obit, adding it to my database. I then did a quick check on FreeBMD, entering on the surname and searching all events and all England and Wales.

The results were interesting. There were 16 references across England and Wales, none before 1962. The results were also spread out, Devon, Oxford, Hampstead and parts of Essex. At this point I am going to include them in a separate database and upload to the Butcher website. Just from some of the first names, I suspect this is a Jewish family but only time and research will tell.

 

Posted in Butcher One-Name Study, DNA & Surname Projects, Genealogy, One-Name Studies | Leave a comment

Dear Kath, Love Ron: Letters 1937 to 1946 Edited by Mike Spathaky

Posted on October 15, 2019 by Julie Goucher
Dear Kath, Love Ron

Image courtesy of  the author, Mike Spathaky

A day or so ago I received an email from a fellow member of the Guild of One-Name Studies, Mike Spathaky.

The reason for the note was to let me know that his book, Dear Kath, Love Ron will be available from later this month. The book is the publication of the letters between his parents, during the period of 1937-1946 which is of course through the turbulence of the Second World War

I have not personally read the book, but I have ordered one which I have paid for. Copies of the book can be ordered directly from Mike via the book website which is linked above and from Amazon.

For those in the UK within easy distance of Leicester, Mike is hosting a book signing in WH Smith bookshop on Saturday 19 October.  Here is what Mike had to say:

There will be a launch and book-signing session this Saturday, 19th October 2019, from 12.30. to 3.30. p.m. at WH Smith bookshop, Fosse Park, Leicester LE19 1HY. (Free parking and not far from the M1 and M69 junction.) Please come and support this event if you are at all near enough to Leicester. It will be really good to meet old friends and make new ones.

Mike has a fascinating One-Name Study, for the surname of Spathaky, which is a surname of Greek origins.

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Researching Surnames – A Guide to One-Name Studies.

Posted on October 13, 2019 by Julie Goucher

Cover for Surname bookletOver the summer, I spent time working on a revised edition of the Surname Guide – A Guide to One-Name Studies.

The booklet will be available to purchase from the Guild of One-Name Studies and Amazon. The PDF version will be available to existing members of the Guild of One-Name Studies, free of charge just as soon as I have added it to the website.

It will also be available to new members, in their joining pack. The booklet is aimed at those new to One-Name Studies, but others perhaps might find it interesting, helpful or useful.

The previous version of this booklet was published in a shortened form and issued with all copies of Family Tree Magazine (April 2019 issue). Copies were also included in the delegate bags for attendees of the Guild’s 40th conference. Upon talking with one of the Guild’s Vice Presidents,  it was declared, that despite working on a study for 40 years, he had discovered something new!

Because the previous version had been so well received, it was suggested that a revised and expanded edition be written; this is that revised version.

Happy reading!

Posted in Books, Genealogy, Introduction to One-Name Studies (Pharos course 901), One-Name Studies | 2 Comments

Book Review – Son of Mine by Peter Papathanasiou

Posted on September 28, 2019 by Julie Goucher

Son of MineIn this beautifully written memoir Peter Papathanasiou tells the story of two lives: his own, and that of his mother. From a starting point in modern Australia, the book reaches back to the period after the Second World War, focusing on the history of Greece (where the author was born) and Turkey, including the complexities of boundary changes and the effects that they have on religion, language, identity and the social, economic and political position of the affected population.

The author pieces together his life and that of his family in a gentle and authentic manner that embodies what family really means. He explores the potential challenges that arise from decisions made in previous generations, and the impacts that they can have on the next generation – and on generations in the future.

Papathanasiou tells a very personal story with respect, love and acknowledgement of those who went before him. This wonderful account demonstrates once and for all that sometimes family is about much more than genetics; it is about sacrifice and love, on many different levels.

This review was published in the October issue of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine.

Posted in Book Reviews, Books, European Ancestors, Genealogy, Who Do You Think You Are? (WDYTYA?) Magazine | Leave a comment