Qualified, Certified, Accredited, Member? Choosing a Professional Genealogist

When you need a little more help with your genealogical research than friends can give, it may be time to hire a professional.  How do you choose one?  When money changes hands trust matters.  There are no laws regulating who can do genealogy for money, so what safeguards can you rely on?  Do you just have to take a punt?

Fortunately, there are several organisations for professional genealogists whose members have fulfilled criteria for membership.  Membership requirements fall into three categories:

• Ethics
• Assessment by portfolio
• Academic qualification

I will restrict this discussion to organisations in English speaking countries, especially the United Kingdom and United States of America.
 

Ethics

All the organisations require members to abide by a Code of Ethics, also called codes of practice or conduct.  Members who seriously breach the code may be expelled.   

Ethical conduct is all about trustworthiness.  In What clients need to know about Professional Research, Anne Sherman explains the differences between private and professional research, and the duty of the professional to produce quality work under time and cost limitations.  Inexperienced researchers may not recognise the limits of their knowledge or ability to complete a project.  Dutch genealogist, Yvette Hoitink recently demonstrated ethical behaviour in a Facebook post:

I told a potential client today that she should not hire me. She wanted to prove kinship to a famous Dutch artist based on the same last name. Her own brick wall wasn't even in the Netherlands, and the name is quite common throughout Western Europe. Instead of taking her money on a wild goose chase, I recommended she trace back her own tree first and referred her to a colleague in the other country.

Agreeing to abide by the ethical code is the only membership requirement for the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG).  Unlike other bodies, APG welcomes a broad range of genealogy professionals, not just those who undertake research.  So, APG does not assess the wide-ranging skills of members.  Of the 2169 members currently listed, 391 reside outside the US, spread over the British Isles (168), continental Europe (96), Canada (81), Australia & New Zealand (28) and a thin scatter elsewhere. 

Assessment by Portfolio

Certification, accreditation and membership criteria vary.  Each organisation has come to different view on what is important and how to assess competence in genealogical research.  Membership levels reflect career progression, with certain benefits (e.g. use of logo, membership listing) reserved for 'full' members.  As things change, particularly educational opportunities, criteria may be updated.  Last year I posted an overview of  formal education in  Time for Formal Genealogy Education?

In the UK, the Association of Genealogists & Researchers in Archives (AGRA) requirements for full membership include: reports sent to paying clients, a research assignment set by AGRA, evidence of continuing professional development, and an interview.  The Strathclyde University postgraduate certificate in Genealogical, Palaeographic & Heraldic Studies and the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studied (IGHS) Diploma are deemed to fulfill parts of the requirements, so may be substituted for some of the client reports or research assignment respectively.  102 full members are currently listed.

The Association of Scottish Genealogists & Researchers in Archives (ASGRA) is open to genealogists practicing in Scotland.  Requirements for full membership include: a paid client report and 2 other studies, transcriptions set by ASGRA, and a statement of their genealogical business.  The postgraduate diplomas from the Universities of Strathclyde and Dundee were recognised in 2013 as fulfilling some requirements.  Pre-2013 graduates are required to submit 2 client reports, and post-2013 one client report.  One of the reports may have been completed as part of the course.  There are 18 full members currently listed.

Accredited Genealogists Ireland (AGI), formerly known as the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland (APGI) is open to genealogists who do full time paid genealogical work and reside in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland.  Full members may use the post-nominal M.A.G.I. (Member of Accredited Genealogists Ireland).  Requirements for full membership, described as accredited include one sample of a client report.  Education is advised, but not taken into account in the application.  Currently, there are 21 members available to take commissions.

Unlike in the UK, there are no formal genealogical qualifications at postgraduate level in the US, so education plays a different role in the process.

The International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen) divides the US and world into regions and tests applicants on their chosen region.  Requirements include prior research experience or education (1000 hours combined), a 4 generation project, 2 written exams and an oral review.  Those who successfully complete the process may use the post-nominal A.G. (Accredited Genealogist).  Renewal is required every 5 years to ensure the professional's skills remain current.  Of the 142 accredited genealogists listed, 105 reside in Utah, 34 in the rest of the US (in 15 states), and 3 in Europe.

Portfolio requirements for certification with the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) include document work (transcription, abstraction, analysis and research planning), client research report, case study (use of evidence), and a narrative kinship determination project.  The standards required for submission are published in Genealogy Standards, and the judging criteria for each part of the portfolio is comprehensively documented in the Application Guide.  After 5 years certification expires and submission of further work samples is required.  Certified genealogists may use the C.G.  post-nominal.  218 certified genealogists are listed, of which 213 reside in the US spread over 47 states, 5 live in Canada and 3 in Europe.

In the specialised area of probate research (identification of heirs to estates), the Council for the Advancement of Forensic Genealogy (CAFG) governs the new ForensicGenealogistCredentialed credential, denoted by the post-nominal FGC.  Level IV CAGF members are eligible for the credential.  Of the 39 members listed, 12 are level IV.  Entry requirements (level I) include prior education at 2 approved courses (e.g. institutes, Boston & Washington university short courses), and a work sample.  Subsequent levels require further work samples, evidence of continuing professional development, and documented hours of forensic genealogical work.  By level IV, a total of 1050 work hours is required.

Academic Qualification

The newest professional genealogy organisation is the Register of Qualified Genealogists (RQG), launched on 10 March 2016.  Full members, who may use the post-nominal Q.G., have gained one of the accepted academic qualifications:

• University of Strathclyde - MSc or Postgraduate Diploma in Genealogical, Palaeographic and Heraldic Studies
• University of Dundee - MLitt or Postgraduate Diploma in Family and Local History
• Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies - Diploma in Genealogy

These formal qualifications have been benchmarked against Scottish, United Kingdom and European higher education standards and are evaluated at postgraduate level. 

Genealogy is a serious academic subject. In QuickLesson 18: Genealogy? In the Academic World? Seriously? Elizabeth Shown Mills made the case for the mutual embrace of genealogy and traditional academia.

Graduates of these courses are experienced researchers because they have conducted considerable practical genealogical research.  Karen Cummings describes her experience of the IGHS Diploma and the portfolio she submitted as part of gaining her qualification.  I can personally attest to the 5 studies and dissertation I completed for the Strathclyde Postgraduate Diploma, in addition to regular assignments.  Dundee graduates tell me the same story.

 

Conclusion

All these organisations seek to raise standards for the benefit of clients and professionals.  Membership of one does not preclude membership of others.  Each offers a different blend of benefits in continuing professional development (e.g. webinars, conferences, publications), networking with colleagues and promotion, with a different geographical bias.

Anyone who has made a commitment to ethical practice, demonstrated skills by portfolio or gained academic qualifications deserves respect.  Those who denigrate the commitment and achievements of professionals act to the detriment of genealogical community.  I hope this overview will assist potential clients, and those considering working as genealogists.  Below is a summary of where to access information on the organisations discussed:

Organisation	Ethical code	Membership requirements	List of members
APG	Code of Ethics	Membership	Directory
AGRA	Code of Practice	Joining AGRA	Directory
ASGRA	Code of practice	Applications Membership Requirements	Find a researcher
AGI	Code of practice	Admission	Fellows, members & affiliates
ICAPGen	Professional Ethics	Accreditation process	Find an AG professional
BCG	Code of Ethics and Conduct	Application Guide	Find a genealogist
CAFG	Standards of Practice and Conduct	Membership Levels	Directory
RQG	Professional Code	Accepted Qualifications	Profiles

Lost in 1939 - The Misleading Map

When Findmypast launched the 1939 Register, Infographic maps which pin-point the place of residence were heralded as a valuable extra.  My grandparent's household at 30 Manor Road, Birmingham is pinned like this:

See the problem? The pin is in Sutton Coldfield, not Birmingham.

Mapping locations is a revealing technique for family and local history when the source contains spatial information.  The 1939 Register contains 3 pieces of location information for each household:

1. Borough or district.  Counties were divided into four  types of units, County borough (C.B), Municipal Borough (M.B.), Urban district (U.D.) and Rural district (R.D.).  These units are listed in Understanding 1939 Registration Districts.
2. Enumeration district.  Boroughs and districts were divided into manageable areas for an enumerator to cover.  They are denoted by the E.D. letter code.  The One Place Studies blog published a helpful explanation of the 1939 enumeration districts and provide a list of these administrative units.
3. Street address. No explanation needed.

Extract of 1939 Register with location information highlighted

My grandparents lived in Stechford which was in the Birmingham County Borough.  A Vision of Britain through Time is a comprehensive resource for jurisdictions in the UK.  Sutton Coldfield was a Municipal Borough until it was merged with Birmingham in the 1974 re-organisation of local government.  In 1939 the boundary of Birmingham County Borough was:

Birmingham County Borough, with Sutton Coldfield and Stechford highlighted.  Source: A Vision of Britain.

Sadly smaller units like enumeration district QBEZ are not mapped in A Vision of Britain.  Census enumerators books included a place to enter as description of the area covered, but I don't know if 1939 Register booklets did.  Browsing the 23 images in the district reveals that only pages with personal entries have been published, so the context of the enumerator's work is missing.  From the street addresses, it is possible to gain an insight of the area covered.  Seven roads are named: Lyndon Road, Manor Road, Church Road, Station Road, Rosemary Road, and Yardley Fields Road.

All of the roads in enumeration district QBEZ are incorrectly scattered around Sutton Coldfield on Findmypast's maps.  Here is a Google maps comparison of the real locations and Findmypast's locations:

Enumeration district QBEZ.  Roads denoted by lines are actual locations, those denoted by pins are the 1939 Regsiter locations

 
A road is a linear feature, so is better represented by a line than a point.  Road names like Manor, Station, and Church are common. There are even several Lyndon Roads. These roads have been matched with other roads of the same name.  Matching locations using a gazetteer, a geographical index of place names with co-ordinates or grid references, is fraught with difficulty.  Red House, Rosemary and Yardley Fields roads were all pinned to the same spot as the incorrect Manor Road pin.  It is likely that the more uncommon road names could not be matched, so were assigned to a pin thought to be in the enumeration district. 

Findmypast's pins mislead even when correctly placed.  A point or pin suggests accuracy, so one might expect it to identify a house.  An jurisdictional area like an enumeration district or borough is best represented by a polygon, a shape which denotes the boundary of the feature.

Mapping technology is now widely and freely available.  Findmypast used open source mapping software, Leaflet, to present the maps, delivering a smooth user experience.  That was a smart move.  Using the digitised historical maps from the National Library of Scotland and modern OpenStreetMap was another smart move.  All of that came free.

It is clear that the jurisdictional boundaries from A Vision of Britain weren't used.  Adding that data layer could have unleashed the power of spatial queries, eliminating the type of errors discussed here.  The data seems to be available only for academic use, but the website was built over a decade ago, so would greatly benefit from serious investment.  Investing in the development and expansion of A Vision of Britain would be, well visionary.

Standards Matter!

In December, Ancestry caused shock and consternation to Family Tree Maker users by announcing that the software was to be discontinued.  On 2 February, Ancestry announced that they had sold Family Tree Maker to Software Mackiev, who have been developing the Mac version for the last 6 years.  However, if you think you can relax and concerns can be dismissed, I suggest you think again.

The big issue, that of getting of your hard won data, complete and intact, out of Family Tree Maker, remains unresolved.  The release of unspecified updates have been announced, due on 1 March, but I do not hold out hope that a compliant GEDCOM export will be included.

Much has been written about the shortcomings of GEDCOM (Genealogical Data Communication), which is a dead standard because it has not been developed or supported since the late 1990s.  Despite years of agitation by independent developers, the formation of interest groups like BetterGedcom and FHISO, and many proposals for improvements, the major players in the genealogy industry have failed to co-operate in the development of a new genealogical data standard. 

A feeding frenzy of offers from other genealogy software vendors to FTM users followed the December announcement.  Sadly the widely touted idea that a GEDCOM file from FTM will perfectly transfer your data to another program is just not true.  Apart from the inadequacies of the GEDCOM standard, practically universal non-compliance with the standard further complicate data transfer.  In a series of 13 posts entitled Replacing Family Tree Maker, Keith Riggle is examining how to correct the faulty export and import processes for a range of genealogy software.  The comparison is presented as a crosswalk table. 

The take home message for the non-technical reader is that there should be no red or yellow blocks in this table. 

A program that does not comply is a shoddy product.  Customers, please demand better quality. 

Developers and vendors, please take a hard look at your product and ensure compliance, and work co-operatively to develop a new genealogical data standard.

A new functional genealogy data standard also needs to interact with other data standards.  Genealogists use archives, digital files and images, and geographic data all the time. Well established standards exist for archival (e.g. ISAD(G)), digital curation (e.g. OAIS),
digital image metadata (e.g. Metadata Working Group) and geographic information (e.g. Open Geospatial Consortium). 

Standards underpin many things we take for granted in daily life, including kitchen appliances that fit under the worktop.  Standards matter for genealogy.

Get Blogging!

As Worldwide Genealogy has just turned two, it is time to take stock.  Thanks to my co-authors this blog is still going strong.  The total number of page views currently stands at 170,000, which attests to a real audience.  At the end of 2014, the blog had attracted 38,000 page views.  Posts published in 2015 have attracted 41,000 views. Posts published in 2014 were also viewed a further 91,000 times during 2015.

The original objective was a daily post achieved by each of the 31 authors committing to post on a particular day of the month.  In 2015 most authors followed a bi-monthly posting schedule, with a few sticking with the original monthly schedule.  This change allowed 41 authors to contribute from the UK, USA, Canada, The Netherlands, Germany and Australia.  216 posts were published in 2014, but the number of posts dropped to 159 in 2015.  I wonder if the less frequent schedule is harder to keep to.  

Collaboration has certainly helped Worldwide Genealogy build an audience, but now is not the time to be complacent.  Reasons commonly given for bloggers giving up include lack of:

• commitment - making time 
• patience - not expecting instant results like a large audience or profit 
• persistence - most bloggers give up too soon 
• writing skills - requires practice
• passion for the blog topic - motivation

Passion for genealogy certainly is not lacking for this blog's authors.  Posts cover a variety of genealogy-related topics.  The most popular posts include discussions of technology, tools, resources, research methods and telling of family tales:
Digital preservation, or why I worry about Evernote
Using Time Lines as a Family History Writing Tool
My three Rs of Genealogy
Criteria for Assessing the Quality of Genealogy Websites and Online Data
Use FreeBMD postems to find new relatives
A Transcription Toolbox
Why the Genealogy Do-Over is not for me
Al Capone’s bullet proof car and my great-uncle
Saying Goodbye Too Soon

For anyone who would like to join in, the resource links in Want To Be A Geneablogger? are a good starting point.

Get Blogging!

Of Robins and Toymakers

European Robin

The European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) is commonly depicted on Christmas cards, especially in Britain where it was voted the most popular bird earlier this year in a poll proposing a national bird for Britain.  It may surprise you that the Robin is not officially Britain's national bird, because this country does not have an official national bird.
 

Not all Robins found in Britain are natives.  Most individuals that breed in Britain are resident throughout the year, but some migrate southward.  The British winter population of  Robins is supplemented by migrants from Scandinavia and northern continental Europe.
 

The Robin's red breast is a territorial signal borne by both males and females.  Both sexes hold separate territories in the winter.  Robins aren't born with a red breast.  They hatch from the egg naked and grow a spotted plumage in the nest.  A couple of months after fledging the birds moult their body feathers acquiring the red breast.
 

Juvenile Robin moulting into adult plumage, including the red breast

People who emigrated from the British Isles took the Robin's name with them.  Birds that have red breasts or other red markings, whether a related species or not, have been called Robins.  An example is the American Robin, which is really a type of thrush.
 

American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

So, the meaning words is not always what you expect.
 

To most of us, a toy is a child's plaything.  So, it is easy to imagine a toy maker as a Geppetto making Pinocchios.  However, there is a context in which 'toy' means something different.
 

The Oxford English Dictionary gives this definition:

Applied technically to small steel articles, as hammers, pincers, buckles, button-hooks, nails, etc. More fully ‘steel toys’

Another definition of 'toy' is:

an assemblage of numerous kinds of more or less useful wares, of small dimensions, and varying from a few pence to many guineas in value. It included much of what is now termed jewelry, small articles of plate, sword hilts, guns, pistols, and dagger furniture, buttons, buckles rings, necklaces, seals, chains, chatelains, charms, mounts of various kinds, etuis, snuff boxes, and patch boxes.

Both of these definitions of 'toy' are given in the context of Birmingham's industrial history.  So, if your ancestor was a toymaker in Birmingham or surrounding areas, he probably did not make Pinocchios.
 

Reference

Berg, Maxine. 2005. The Age of Manufactures 1700-1820: Industry, Innovation and Work in Britain. Routledge: London. p.231. accessed online (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jkOIAgAAQBAJ : 8 December 2015) 

From the Top - Explore Archives

This week the annual Explore Your Archives campaign launched here in the UK. Remember only a tiny fraction of historical materials have been digitised and made available online, so archives still hold many treasures genealogists need.  Learning to use an archive is really important.

I am prepared to bet that most of us were taught how to use a library sometime in childhood, but we learn to use archives as adults by trial and error. Libraries organise their books and other materials and have catalogues to help you find what you want. Archives also organise and catalogue their holdings, but do so differently.

Archives are organised using a hierarchy with several levels. Cataloguing archives, in four very easy steps illustrates the four main levels with rather natty photos. The levels are:

• Fonds or Collection
• Series
• File
• Item

Genealogists often focus on the single item, and forget the context in which it was created, used and preserved. Much valuable information about an item is in the higher catalogue levels, so explore them all.

Archivists start at the top level and don't always have the resources to fully describe lower levels.  The best way of discovering what an archive holds is to look at the fonds level. The National Archives (TNA, the UK one) has over 400 fonds, which is somewhat overwhelming. According to the published guide 'Tracing your Ancestors in the National Archives' these are the fonds most commonly used by family historians:

I would like to see a summary like this one posted on every archive's website and displayed prominently in every search room.  I am sure UK researchers are familiar with some of the contents of the fonds HO, RG and WO. Have you looked at other fonds, and other series within fonds?  Take a close look at RG 101.

Sadly, online archive catalogues do not make examining fonds level entries as easy as it should be. To display all fonds in Discovery, TNA's catalogue, use the Advanced Search. A search term must be entered so I used the wildcard *, meaning everything.  Then I scrolled down the page and selected 'The National Archives' under Held by, which brought up further options. I scrolled a long way further and selected 'Department' under Catalogue Levels.  TNA confusingly uses the terms Department for Fonds and Piece for File. Once you have identified a Fond of interest, you can search using the reference.

Now it is your turn. Have fun exploring an archive!

Reference
Bevan, Amanda. 2006. Tracing your Ancestors in the National Archives. The National Archives: Richmond. pp 4-7.

Collaborative Geo-referencing of Maps

Last month Pat Richley-Erickson's contribution Google Earth for Genealogists brought our attention to overlays of historical maps available on Google Earth. The historical maps were georeferenced  to create overlays that are in the correct place. Once maps have been georeferenced, they can be compared and integrated with other mapped data, which can lead to better understanding of their contents. The best way to understand the process and its limitations is to try it for yourself.

The National Library of Scotland, British Library, David Rumsey Map Collection and other institutions use the online Georeferencer application for their collaborative map georeferencing projects. Due to differences in scale, projection and accuracy the historical map will not match a modern reference map. Imagine the historical map was printed on a rubber sheet, which you can stretch and pin it down to the modern map at known points. By the magic of mapping technology, Georeferencer does all the calculations behind the transformation.

An example from the British Library is a map of the parish of Thompson, a village in rural Norfolk, England a few miles from my home. It was published in a book about the history of Thompson published in 1892, but it was redrawn from an earlier map dated to around 1725 which shows open fields, a farming system from medieval times.

Having selected this map and opened it in the British Library georeferencer, my first job was to locate Thompson on the modern map and zoom in so I could see features marked on both maps. I started with the church, a good bet in rural England where churches may stand for centuries. Other features required some interpretation and local knowledge. Rivers and roads may change course so are not good candidates for control points. In this case the parish boundary has remained the same so points where it intersects other features or sharply changes direction are helpful. I needed to use several of the supplied reference maps and satellite images to find enough features for 10 control points.

Control points on the Thompson map on the left match reference maps and satellite image on the right.

The visualize tab gives 2D, 3D and side by side viewing options. The 2D option lays the historical map over Google maps, and the slider changes the transparency of the historical layer. The 3D option opens Google Earth in a small window, so you would do better to click on the 'Open KML in Google Earth' link. Notice many of the field boundaries follow older features. I had not realised that Thompson Water is a modern feature!

Overlay of Thompson map in Google Earth

A harder example, from The National Library of Scotland, is a map of Islay, an island off the west coast of Scotland, dated 1654. Many of the place names on the historical do not appear reference maps. Variant spellings of place names add to the challenge. Notice that the historical map appears distorted compared to the modern map.

Comparison of Islay map on left with modern map right, with control points

Eventually I managed to locate 36 control points. In the process I gained an insight that I would never have realised otherwise. This map was drawn from the perspective of someone at sea. The relative positions of settlements as seen from the sea is emphasized. At the time this map was made, sea travel predominated. Geographic accuracy is compromised and, even with a lot of correction, only achieves a poor match to the modern map.

Transformations of Islay map, increasing correction from left to right.  Left:affine, centre:polynomial, right: TPS

Is the 1654 map of Islay a bad map? It was produced before projections had been invented, so it is not really fair to expect it to conform to modern thinking.

All maps lie because representing the earth's surface on a flat piece of paper always requires compromise. Although we think of the earth as a sphere, in reality it is flattened at the poles and very lumpy. The mathematical transformation of geographic co-ordinates onto a flat plane is called a projection.  Projections preserve one of area, distance or direction while distorting the other two. The most familiar Mercator projection preserves direction, important for nautical navigation, but distorts the area of objects near the poles.

Ready to explore for yourself? Go and have fun discovering things were not as you thought.

With a Little Help from Friends and Strangers

Genealogist and family historians are a helpful bunch, but sometimes just asking for help does not have the desired result.  Advice about asking effective questions abounds, with specificity and respect as recurring themes.

In Asking For Help The Right Way Barb Henry recommends avoiding opinion based "Which is best?"questions and notes the short life span of Facebook posts.  Marion Pierre Louis advocates providing an overview of the problem and thanking everyone for their help in Ancestors please! How to ask for help online.  In Writing Directed Queries Helen V Smith masterfully demonstrates how to be succinct while providing enough  relevant information in the order that the recipient needs it.

Respecting the time of those who answer starts with not expecting someone else to do the work for you.  Trying to solve the problem by yourself first, and checking whether the answer has already been given may result in not having to ask the question.  Addressing the question to people who are most likely to know the answer increases the chance of success.

I recently found an excellent tip for downloading search results from FamilySearch to an excel file. First I targeted the Facebook group Excel-ling Genealogists, the I searched the group posts for 'FamilySearch'.  Once logged in to the website, a button appears that allows you to download each page of search results.

Extracts from Excel-ling Facebook group.  Arrows on the right point out the group description and search box. Use the group description to identify specialised groups, and the search box to find posts.  Discussion on the left.

Extract of the question posed on Evernote Genealogists

In another successful interaction on Facebook, I posted a question in the Evernote Genealogists group.  The first response wasn't very encouraging, but after a few more people contributed, I found what I was looking for, and posted a screenshot extract to show the button.

Although people can and do learn by asking questions on social media, the formats of Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and others were not specifically designed for the purpose.  The two examples above were straight forward questions.  Many genealogy questions are more complex, requiring more than Twitter's character limit or Facebook's limited attention window.  Some social media groups and communities are moderated and have rules, but there is no easy means of indicating the quality of answers.  The number of  'like' or '+1' might indicate popularity, but without a 'dislike' or '-1', it is not a balanced measure.

There is an under-used platform for questions and answers that addresses the short-comings of social media.

StackExchange Genealogy & Family History Q&A

Stack Exchange is a network or question and answer websites, which developed from the no-nonsense world of computer programming in response to the need for expert answers.   The StackExchange Genealogy & Family History Q&A was started in 2012.  It is run by the genealogy community with the aim of building a comprehensive library of answers to questions about genealogy and family history. 

Unlike social sites, the focus is on questions and answers rather than discussion or social contact.  Anyone can participate by asking or answering questions.  Moderators actively guide participants and suggest improvements to questions, which keeps them on topic and increases clarity.

Participants earn reputation points based on how others up or down vote their contributions.  Good quality contributions gain more points and are rise to the top of the list.  For more details on the how the system works, take the tour.

StackExchange question page. Arrow on the left points out the user rating.  Arrows at the top right point out the search box and tags, 2 ways of finding content.

 

Responsible Answers

Remember to be critical of answers you receive.  Evaluate it just like all the other information you use in your research.  If you disagree or find an answer wanting, don't berate the person who tried to help you.  Sometimes, there isn't an answer, or you have not reached the person who does know.

The flip side to asking for help is answering questions.  Helping others is not about your ego, so keep your opinions and speculations to yourself and be honest in admitting (to yourself) that you don't know.  Good answers address the question, and are reasoned and well researched, so typically contain some references.

Helping and being helped are part of collaboration.  Both sides gain from doing their homework, taking time to compose clear, relevant and succinct questions and answers, and appreciating the other's efforts. Such respectful collaboration is a powerful thing.

Online Family Trees and Hints with Ancestry

The subject of online family trees elicits a range of responses, from warnings about their accuracy and tirades about poor researchers to glowing endorsements and tales of success.    Reasons for having an online family tree including cousin bait, collaboration, data backup, and tree building tools were noted by Hilary Gadsby in Online Trees. Why have one? My Experience.  Fran Ellsworth warned about relying solely on an online tree for backup in I Can Testify.

I target particular research problems by uploading limited family trees on Ancestry.  My Adams family tree is an example, consisting of just the direct ancestors of my paternal grandfather, Thomas Adams.  The difficulties of tracing a common surname in a big city are explained in Common Surname Trouble – Adams in Birmingham.  I was hoping another researcher may have helpful documents.  Sadly, no-one has made contact through Ancestry.

The tree includes Thomas' marriage to my gran, Mabel Coulson, and details of her birth, death, some residences and photographs.  While cataloguing her photograph collection, I wondered if matching pictures had been uploaded on Ancestry.

Adams family, an online tree on Ancestry

Mabel's ancestry hints include matches to 5 ancestry member trees, 1 census record, an index entry for birth and death, the church register for her marriage, and a completely spurious match to the 1908 city directory for Quincy, Illinois, USA. 

The five public trees were produced by three members, Martin Adams, susandyson90 and Wilbur Moistner.  The only way of contacting these people is through Ancestry, as they had not included any links or other contact details in their member profiles.  The entries for Mabel were minimal with only the 1911 census as a 'proper' source. 

Looking at the tree as a whole rather than just one person, I found a wedding photograph for Mabel's sister, Hilda May Coulson, in two of the Ancestry trees.

However, neither of the authors of these trees were the original contributor of the photo.  Ancestry provides the username of the original contributor, which I really do like very much. 

Wedding photograph of Harold Henry Adams & Hilda May Coulson on Ancestry

In Mabel's photo collection there is a group photo of this wedding, which includes my grandparents.

Wedding of Harold Henry Adams & Hilda May Coulson on 23 March 1935 at St James, Ashted, Birmingham.
L to R: Hilda Adams (sister of groom), William Spiers (future husband of Hilda Adams), ?, Harold Henry Adams (groom), Hilda May Coulson (bride), Thomas Adams (future husband of Mabel, not related to groom), Mabel Coulson (sister of bride)

The original contributor of the photo does not now have it on his Ancestry tree.   His Ancestry profile provides a link to a private Tribal Pages tree, which contains the wedding photo and many others.  After I made contact he gave me access, and we both gained new information.  Thank you, Bob!

Why didn't Bob's tree match?  Well, the matching is still not very sophisticated, as illustrated by the Illinois record, and a different date of death for Mabel probably did not help.

Why didn't anyone make contact?  Those with matching trees don't seem to have copied from mine, so perhaps they did not find it.  Anyone who did find it could have simply taken the information, and weren't encouraged to make contact by my blank member profile.  I have followed Bob's example and added information to my profile. 

Member trees offer documents, like the photograph, from the private collections of descendants and relatives.  Apart from the information in the document, information on where it came holds important clues about who may have more treasures.  For me, this is the most valuable part of the much maligned Ancestry member family trees.

Who Fought at Waterloo?

Placing a person with certainty at a particular event presents challenges to the family historian.  When the event is as famous as the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815, there is the bonus of copious available research and records as well as the potential for confusion, tall tales and fabrication.

The Battle of Waterloo was the culmination of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, which started in 1792.  The French Empire expanded across Europe until the failed invasion of Russia in 1812, and defeat in 1814.  Conflict between European powers extended far beyond Europe, with the French taking the Louisiana territories from Spain in 1800 and selling the territory to the USA in 1803, and the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States.  After the French were defeated in April 1814, their Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to Elba.  European armies had been dispersed when Napoleon returned to France in March 1815 and regained power.  Britain had made peace with the USA in February 1815, but British troops had not yet returned from America.

The period between Napoleon's return and Waterloo is a very short time to muster large land armies and move them to the battlefield at a time when the horse was the fastest means of transport.  Consequently many men who served during the campaign did not participate in the battle. 

The four main European powers in opposition to Napoleon, Russia, Prussia, Great Britain and Austria, each agreed to provide 150,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, at the Treaty of Vienna on 25 March 1815.  By June 1815, the Russian army was still in Poland and the Austrian army was fighting the King of Naples, brother in law of Napoleon, in Italy.  Britain was allowed to pay for foreign soldiers to make up the British contingent, because troops in America could not be recalled in time.  Consequently the Anglo-allied army was made up of troops from The Netherlands and Belgium (17,000 men), and German states of Hanover (11,000 men), Brunswick (6,000 men) and Nassau(3,000 men) joined the King's German Legion (6,000 men), a British Army unit comprised mainly of German expatriates, and rest of the available British Army (25,000 men). 

Three armies fought at Waterloo: the French (ca. 70,000 men) versus the Anglo-allies (ca. 68,000 men) and Prussians (ca. 50,000 men).

Map of the Battle of Waterloo showing movements of the three armies

Waterloo Medals

According to The Numismatic Chronicle published in 1869, Waterloo medals were issued by the English (1816), Hanoverian (1817), Nassau (1815), Brunswick (1818), and Prussian (1813,1814,1815) heads of state.

Waterloo medals

These medals were issued to all ranks.  There are some differences between them in which military actions made men eligible for a medal.  The issue of thousands of medals generated records that potentially place individual soldiers at the battle.

French soldiers did not gain recognition until the issue of the Saint Helena Medal in 1857 to surviving soldiers of all ranks, who served between 1792 and 1815.  I found an incomplete database of soldiers granted the Saint Helena medal.

Using British records, I present an explanation of the use of medal rolls and some other military records to determine if an individual was a Waterloo hero.

British Waterloo Medal Records

For the British, this was the first time rank and file soldiers were entitled to a campaign medal.  The British medal was intended for 'Waterloo men' of the British army and the King’s German Legion, who were present at the battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras on the 16th June 1815 and Waterloo on the 18th of June 1815.  In all 39,000 medals were issued, which included all officers and men who were in the Low Countries at the time.  Lists of eligible men, used by the Royal Mint to engrave the medals with the recipient's name and distribute them, were based on regimental muster lists, but there was confusion over which units were at the battle.

British Waterloo medal

The Waterloo Medal Book (reference MINT 16/112), used by Royal Mint, is available to download in sections from The National Archives for a fee.  A version published by The Naval & Military Press is apparently the source of Ancestry's " UK, Waterloo Medal Roll, 1815" collection and FindMyPast's "Waterloo Medal Roll 1815" collection.

The Waterloo Medal Book was a simplified list, containing name, rank and regiment.  It was derived from the army's own lists, compiled for the purpose of claiming medals by the regimental officers, typically with little more detail than name, rank and comments about wounds or death.  The "War Office: Campaign Medal and Award Rolls (General Series)" (reference WO 100) collection at The National Archives includes Waterloo medal lists in the subseries WO 100/14 (Cavalry, Wagon Train, Artillery and Foot Guards), WO 100/15A (1st to 52nd Foot) and WO 100/15B (53rd to 95th Foot, Rifle Brigade, King's German Legion).  These can be downloaded for free, but are not indexed. 

The TNA Campaign Medal and Award rolls are indexed and presented as the "UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949" on Ancestry.  Waterloo medal rolls can be accessed by browsing the collection or using the search form having chosen Service Region as  'Europe' and Service or Campaign as 'Battle of Waterloo 1815'.  Note that a large chunk of records relating to medals issued for service in India with the similar TNA reference WO 100/I4 have erroneously been included and indexed as part of the Waterloo medal rolls.

The medal rolls give a good indication of whether a person of interest served in the Low Countries at the time of the battle, but may not definitively prove the case.

Muster Books and Pay Lists for Ordinary Soldiers

The day to day records of the army are fabulously detailed.  The regimental pay lists record how each soldier's pay was calculated, based on rank, length of service, the number of days he served during a particular muster period and allowances.  In addition to medal entitlement, 'Waterloo men' were also allowed two years’ extra service in the reckoning of pay or pension. 

The records are housed at The National Archives and organised by regiment.  Most regiments active in 1815 are in series WO 12, but artillery and militia regiments are spread across several other series (see TNA's research guide).   A selection of muster books from TNA reference WO 12, dating from around 1815, are available as digital images in the "UK, British Army Muster Books and Pay Lists, 1812-1817" Ancestry collection.  It is not clear if the collection covers all regiments at Waterloo and it is only partly indexed.  The limited time spans leaves me frustrated as I want to track individual soldier's whole careers, not just a few years around 1815.

Royal Scots Greys depicted in "Scotland Forever"

The quarterly pay list (image nos. 103-142) for the 25th April - 24th June 1815 for the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys) reveals many men were killed on the 18th June, or absent from the muster of the 24th due to wounds.  Several men were "sent to Depot in England" on the 24th May, so missed the battle and are not listed on the medal rolls.  Later muster rolls note "Waterloo man" to help administer extra pay entitlements.

Army Lists for Officers

The official published Annual Army Lists document officer's rank and seniority.  Officers held a rank in their regiment, in ascending order, ensign (coronet in the cavalry), lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant colonel and colonel.  Promotion within the regiment required a vacancy, but officers could hold a more senior rank in the army.  Regimental colonels were usually generals in the army.  Seniority, determined by the earliest date of promotion, placed officers of the same rank in the command hierarchy and eligibility for promotion.

Many officers who served at Waterloo were rewarded with promotion, enhanced pensions for the wounded and allowed to count two extra years service for pay purposes.

The Army Lists are available for free download from The National Archives (reference WO 65).  The highly annotated 1815 list (reference WO 65/65) shows which officers were promoted and who they replaced.  Promotions dated 18 June 1815 are a tell-tale sign of service at Waterloo.  The 1816 list contains a long list of officers honorary distinctions (medals), which were also published in the London Gazette.  "Waterloo" is noted for regiments that participated in the battle.

These records are just a starting point.  If your ancestor is included in the medal rolls, you can rapidly determine their regiment and tap into some very juicy records.