February 2009

There’s lots to tell you about this month. But firstly, we’d like to remind you that you’ve still got just enough time to get your tickets for Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2009. In the meantime, you can read all about DNA Ancestry updates and discover how to attach your DNA to your family tree. You might be surprised to find that you’re not as British as you think if you read our British Redefined article. And you could search the New South Wales and Australia Certificates of Naturalization from 1849 – 1903, or the Canadian Civil Servants Lists from 1872 – 1900, for ancestors who settled abroad. Last but not least, we’re pleased to announce our 10 lucky winners of the ‘Victorian Farm’ competition.

• Get your tickets for Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2009
  
• DNA Ancestry updates
  
• Britishness redefined
  
• New South Wales and Australia certificates
  
• Canadian Civil Servants Lists
  
• And the winners are…
  

Don’t forget, Ancestry is once again proud to sponsor Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2009. With the largest gathering of TV historians and family history experts including Nick Barratt, Else Churchill and Geoff Swinfield available to guide you at the show, as well as over 200 exhibitors - this is a unique opportunity to fill in the gaps in your family tree and make your connection to events in history. And if you like star gazing as well as genealogy then quadruple Olympic Gold medalist, Sir Matthew Pinsent CBE, popular Soprano Lesley Garret CBE and celebrity TV chef Ainsley Harriot will be making an appearance to share their family history at the WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? THEATRE.

Tickets are available now for the show at Olympia from 27th February – 1st March 2009. And you can get two adult tickets for the price of one. That’s just £20*. So reserve your tickets today and come and see us at stand 607. And we’ll give you some top tips on how to get the best out of the site.

To get your tickets, just call 0844 412 4629 or click here and quote: ANCESTRY241 today.

*£2 transaction fee applies. 2for1 offer ends 20th February 2009. On door standard entry tickets priced at £20 each.

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We’ve been busy making some changes to DNA Ancestry, which we hope will bring you even more fascinating information from the service. You can now attach your DNA to your family tree, move through a FREE Ancient Ancestry Finder plus lots more.

If you’ve already participated in DNA Ancestry, attaching your DNA to you family tree couldn’t be easier. Simply log in to Ancestry and you’ll notice on your tree that there are nodes with the last name yDNA along the paternal line and mtDNA along the maternal line. This shows where your DNA will be propagated once you attach them. Just go to your DNA page and click on the ‘attach results to your tree’ link to attach them. It really is that simple.

Meanwhile, our new Ancient Ancestry Finder asks 2-3 questions and predicts your three most likely haplogroups. These are used to define genetic populations and are often geographically oriented. They also give a little information about the group at the same time. For a bit of fun, we’ve selected 8-10 questions for all users to answer about themselves. We’ll then collect the data and display the information for each group to give you an idea of how you match with others in your group.

To find out more click here.

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If you think you are a true Brit, then think again, because new research from Ancestry.co.uk reveals that one in 10 of us Brits are actually from French or German stock and half of us can trace our roots outside the UK – that’s a staggering 30 million people and yet 84% admit knowing nothing of our immigrant ancestry.

You might be surprised to know that the following British personalities descended from foreign immigrants:

• Camilla Parker-Bowles – The Duchess of Cornwall is descended from a French-Canadian carpenter named Zacharie Cloutier
  
  
• Boris Johnson – the Mayor of London has uncovered a wealth of immigrant blood in his family tree, including ancestors from Turkey, France and America
  
  
• Helen Mirren – the actress famed for her role as the Queen of England, was born Ilyena Vasilievna Mironov. Her father was from a long line of Russian noblemen.

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We’re delighted to announce the addition of the New South Wales and Australia Certificates of Naturalization from 1849 – 1903 to Ancestry’s worldwide records collection. It consists of a database of 6,271 records which are searchable by name, estimated birth year, country of origin and year of naturalization.

The granting of letters of denization or a certificate of naturalization gave the recipient the rights and privileges of a natural born British subject within New South Wales.

After 1849, any person born outside the British Empire, who resided in NSW for at least five years, needed to become naturalized in order to vote or own land. Prior to 1849, an Act of Parliament was required for an alien to own land. This process was known as Denization.

Applications generally provided the applicant’s full name, native place, occupation, age and the date and ship of arrival. Applicants were usually male from places such as China, the USA and countries from Europe and South America. Although it’s worth noting that anyone who was born in countries like New Zealand, Canada and Ireland, who were already British subjects, will not be found.

To see if the details of any of your ancestors are among these fascinating records click here.

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Another exciting addition to our worldwide records is the Canadian Civil Servants Lists which contain 78,659 individual records. These are the equivalent of today’s corporate intranets or internet site and are searchable by Name, Date of Birth, City and Province, List Year and by Keyword.

These books would have been used to find out who did what, when and where in the Canadian Civil Service from 1872 - 1900. And it gives you the chance to find out how an ancestor’s career progressed and even how much they earned. The departments covered range from Agriculture and Mounted Police force to the Inland Revenue and the Office of the High Commissioner for Canada.

To discover if one of your ancestors worked for the Canadian Civil Service, click here.

We’ll see you next month with more fascinating family history news.

The Ancestry.co.uk Membership Team

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