Book Review: Ancestral trails : the complete guide to British Genealogy and Family History by Mark Herber This week in the post I received a wonderful gift from via my mum from my cousin in England: a copy of Ancestral trails : the complete guide to British Genealogy and Family History by Mark Herber. It has long been on my wish list, but as it's over 20 years old, published by The History Press in the UK, and still greatly prized by genealogists, it's difficult to find a second-hand copy and very dear to buy new.

Read why I was so excited to receive this book...at long, long last! #genealogy #genealogymethodology #BritishIslesGenealogy #familyhistory #GenealogyReferenceWorks

Making the right connections One of my favourite genealogy "teachers" is Connie Knox, who shares her vast knowledge and love of building family trees on the Genealogy TV channel at YouTube. Last week she released one of her most helpful videos yet: Genealogical Research Process Simplified. In it she walks us through the steps she takes each time she begins (or returns to) a relative on her tree.

#genealogymethodology #ancestrallineage #provinggenealogicalconnections #Beakefamilyhistory #EnglandFamilyHistory #GenealogyTV

Which Elizabeth Beake…Part 6 – a challenging case…. At long last, the final chapter in my three Elizabeth Beakes project. Since early July last year, the main focus of my research has been solving the puzzle of the three cousins named Elizabeth Beake who lived in East Kent during the 18th century. The discovery of several wills, administration documents, and even some newspaper mentions helped me positively identify two of the cousins and their husbands: …

Which Elizabeth Beake...Part 6 - a challenging case.... #BeakeFamilyHistory #KentEnglandGenealogy #genealogymethodology #familyhistorywriting

Which Elizabeth Beake…Part 5 – the final piece of the Beake and Tickner “puzzle”… Over the past few weeks, I've built out a family for Elizabeth Beake, daughter of William Beake and Mary Gibbs, and connected her to Thomas Tickner (?-1779), and illustrated much of my process in a succession of blog posts. The final pieces of evidence I've left til last, although I did allude to them in my October 27 post, Which Elizabeth Beake…Part 4…

#Beakefamilyhistory #genealogymethodology #KentEnglandGenealogy #familyhistoryresearch

Proving Parish Register entries incorrect… First, I apologize for any confusion this post, with its many people of the same name will cause and completely understand if you abandon reading it! In the genealogy world, it's generally acknowledged that the record created closest to the time of the event will be the most accurate. As we know, however, there are always exceptions to this unofficial rule.

Proving Parish Register entries incorrect... #genealogywork #genealogymethodology #familyhistory #KentEnglandgenealogy #Beakefamilygenealogy

Which Elizabeth Beake…Part 4… In my last Beake-related post, I outlined the various documents I managed to track down related to my cousin 7x removed, Elizabeth Beake, daughter of William Beake and Mary Gibbs (click image to enlarge): Elizabeth came from a very big family - she was the fourth child whose baptism entry I found in the register at St Nicholas in Ash-next-Sandwich.

Which Elizabeth Beake...Part 4... #beakefamilygenealogy #familyhistory #genealogy #genealogymethodology #KentEnglandgenealogy

Which Elizabeth Beake…Part 3…collecting evidence… Gathering the documents necessary to write this next profile took a lot of time and is a perfect example of how analysis and correlation are necessary to our process. Separating the eldest of the three cousins named Elizabeth Beake from the younger two proved fairly straightforward, based on her age and location (click image to enlarge): I was fortunate she remained in the same general area throughout her life.

Which Elizabeth Beake...Part 3...collecting evidence... #BeakeFamilyGenealogy #KentEnglandGenealogy #familyhistory #genealogymethodology

Mind-mapping the three Elizabeth Beakes…and their families… For the last few weeks, when not going down rabbit holes, I've been doing a lot of research about the three cousins, all named Elizabeth Beake, born between 1724 and 1730 in East Kent, England. This all started when I identified a 5x great-aunt, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Beake and Elizabeth Fuller, baptized in 1729/301 a decade before the couple married in the autumn of 1740…

Mind-mapping the three Elizabeth Beakes...and their families... #genealogy #Beakefamilyresearch #KentEnglandfamilies #genealogymethodology #mindmappinggenealogy

Building a FAN club from a will… My progress with abstratacting Robert Beake's will1 is slow. Early on I decided to change my earlier approach and break down the information into manageable blocks dictated by the type of details: People, Bequest, Properties etc..  Having read the will at least twice in its entirety, I realized Robert had provided me with a very full cast of characters, including his immediate and extended family, former in-laws, as well as his tenants (current and previous).

Building a FAN club from a will... #familyhistory #genealogymethodology #BeakeFamilyHistory