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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: ChrissieL on Saturday 20 July 24 18:22 BST (UK)
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A new series of WDYTYA is scheduled for this summer not sure of the dates
Melanie Chisholm - Mel C from The Spice Girls
Olly Murs - singer/ songwriter
Vicky McClure - actress ( Line of Duty)
Jessica Ennis-Hill - Olympic Gold Medallist
Gemma Collins - The Only Way is Essex
Paddy McGuiness - comedian and presenter
Rose Ayling-Ellis - Strictly Come Dancing
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I was only thinking about this yesterday!!
There`s a couple on the list I won`t be watching!!
Looking forward to new episodes though.
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I've only heard of two of the people on this list, but I look forward to seeing them. I've often found that the episodes about people I've never heard of/don't like are the most interesting.
Thanks for the heads up BillyF.
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I shall give Gemma and Olly a miss. But look forward to the others.
I hope one day David Jason does WDYTYA.
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First up is Vicky McClure this coming Thursday 15th August. 9pm BBC1.
"Vicky McClure goes on an emotional journey to Taiwan to find out what happened when her great grandfather was captured as a Japanese prisoner of war in World War Two."
Tony.
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Excellent news. Even if I don't like the person I give all new episodes a go.
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I do hope that in the episodes they do not get hung up on WW1 activities.
When they make a young person the subject of WDYTYA it inevitably includes a large section on WW1, usually with depressing results.
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Biggles on top of that, Irish famine, slaves, Jewish ancestors.
It usually is a bit predictable.
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One of the tv listings magazines gave a synopsis of all the episodes and an in depth on Jess Ennis Hill. I could have just not read them but ….. I preferred it when no one except the programme makers knew what was coming and then it was all a surprise. Looking forward to the series though.
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Young or young-ish people seem to get selected a lot like Gemma Collins, Vicky McClure.
Not just the WW2 or WW1 story but the ones with the ancestor who was a religious leader. We need one where an NPE was discovered using DNA, that would make a change. One, for example, found that a grandparent or great grandparent was not the one listed on the certificate and baptism/census records.
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Thoughts on Vicky McLure last night.
OK it didn't go back very far but at least I thought she was believable unlike some actors they have had in the past who appeared to be acting all the time.
I think it will have stirred some unpleasant memories for people whose ancestors were Japanese POWs. I think many younger people don't know anything about the war against Japan.
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I thought it was interesting
I wanted to know more about her grandmother's birth father
This programme doesn't look at DNA matches to find now
It would be good to have a separate programme for that .
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Not watched it yet but have read up on some of what happened. Jean Crompton born December 1925 in Grimsby, birth registered in the first quarter of 1926, her supposed father Thomas Crompton was away at sea from January to July 1925.
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Coombs Not to spoil it for you but Thomas knew his wife was pregnant and told her they couldn't afford another child.
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Traumatic second half.
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I thought it was very moving and a great start to the series.
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I enjoyed it. Thought provoking too.
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Excellent news. Even if I don't like the person I give all new episodes a go.
Same here Milliepede.I think there is something to learn from each programme.
Not a fan of Danny Dyer but it was his story and he was eager to find out his family history.
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Quite enjoyed the first in this series. We saw a few familiar records on screen. The birth certificate was a "Somerset House" copy, so must have been in the family some time. How many others had the 1921 Census image in front of us before we saw it on the TV screen?
Appropriately the programme was aired on the anniversary of V.J. Day. Coincidence?
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Just caught up on the first episode, Vicky McLure. Really enjoyed it. She seemed genuinely moved when learning about her relatives. I had a great uncle who was a prisoner of war in Japan and I must admit I didn't know a lot about that war, so I will research more on that Thankfully, he came home, unlike Vicky's great grandad.
Chris
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Terrible to admit that I have lost a little enthusiasm for WDYTYA and didn't finish watching all the last series, never mind this new one ..... but I'll get around to it eventually!
(and I've worked for.them in the past too...)
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I watched the episode in full as Martin Lewis would say. Very good episode. Although I always feel with my own family tree to do my own research and not rely on professional researchers, others may want to hire researchers but I did once but decided to go it alone always. I can always book another trip to a part of the country where my ancestors were from and spend a few days at their archives like I have done many times before.
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A very interesting and moving episode.
I think that Porrit Street where Vicky`s grandmother lived was on the edge of an area known as The Kasbah. BY coincidence one of the streets in this area is Maclure Street.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaVLT5X2i5g&t=301s
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I watched it last night and enjoyed it - the husband at sea pregnancy theme struck a chord because that was a factor in another episode I worked on. Vicky McClure was obviously moved by what she discovered, which isn't always the case.
I noticed they didn't mention that the "father" was named on the grandmother's birth cert ......but that would have got into too complex an area for the programme to deal with ( and is further complicated by the informant not being the mother) !
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There are lots of things I don't think are explained sufficiently. Without picking holes in the last episode (which I did enjoy) I didn't understand how the grandfather who ended up in the Far East was accepted into the military. As a miner he was in a 'reserved' occupation. :-\
CD
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There are lots of things I don't think are explained sufficiently. Without picking holes in the last episode (which I did enjoy) I didn't understand how the grandfather who ended up in the Far East was accepted into the military. As a miner he was in a 'reserved' occupation. :-\
CD
Some men in reserved occupations would be enlisted because the skills they already had would be needed for the war effort. You can’t expect men with no experience to tackle difficult jobs without training, someone had to pass on those skills.
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As a miner he was in a 'reserved' occupation
Miners were coscripted that's one of reasons why the Bevin Boys were formed.
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Did we watch the same programme? ??? Men might have been conscripted to fill war time shortages and therefore remained in the UK under the Bevan Boy scheme however, men who were already miners were in a 'reserved' occupation. This man was not a Bevan Boy.
The man in this programme (somehow) was able to join the Army and was sent to the Far East, he was captured by the Japanese and (unfortunately) ended up in one of their mines, and had a fatal accident.
CD
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The 'becoming pregnant while husband is at sea' storyline mirrors an episode in my own family. There was a family story that my grandmother had such a child which was subsequently given up for adoption. My research proved that it was indeed the case, by using the same method that they did - I followed the Royal Navy records to reveal that my grandfather was at sea when the child was conceived.
The baby retained his birth name so I was able to follow what happened to him.
Martin
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Or you find the baby's father named on the birth cert died 3 years before the baby was born. My 3xgreat aunt's husband died in 1874 and she had a baby in 1877 and gave her late husband's name.
I have ancestors who were fishermen and watermen but it seems they were local ones in Essex and London. Although one of them may have travelled to Oxford one time, hence why he met an Oxford woman and they wed in 1866 in London then he took her back to Essex, unless they met in London.
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I did enjoy this episode very much. Vicky came over as a really nice lady and interesred in what the researchers had found for out for her.
California dreamin. Just to make a point here about miners serving in WW2. My husbands aunt married a miner in 1937. He served in Malaya and was killed in action there between 1st and 7th February 1942 aged 26. His body was never recovered and the aunt was left a widow at 22 with 2 little boys to bring up on her own.
Dorrie
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I enjoyed episode 2 much more than I do Paddy McGuinness's usual TV appearances. This may be because I knew many of the places visited. I didn't get to see the original registers though. Ordinary folk have to make do with microfilms!
I just wish that the programme makers explained how they located where in Ireland to start looking for records. ;D
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Andrew I think people will think accessing Irish parish records is easy.
Mind you I like the priest writing 'living in fornication' in the margin.
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I have come across several Baptisms where a note has been made, Born of fornication. I think it was in Essex but it was a long time ago. There were other very pointed comments about the lives of some of the parishioners. The incumbent must have been a Preacher of the Fire and Brimstone kind, making clear his disapproval.
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Fornication was the sin of getting a child on an unmarried woman.
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I wasn`t going to watch the Paddy McGuiness episode, but as I`ve watched every previous series I thought I`d carry on!
Some interesting parts to it, but it did make it look as if it is an easy thing to obtain all the information !!
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I did watch Rosie Ayling-Ellis but did laugh a bit when she said she was Italian when she had 1 Italian born 4xgreat grandparent. No trace of him before he came to the UK was found and where in Italy he was from. Apparently I heard Italian genealogy can be tricky.
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I did watch Rosie Ayling-Ellis but did laugh a bit when she said she was Italian when she had 1 Italian born 4xgreat grandparent. No trace of him before he came to the UK was found and where in Italy he was from. Apparently I heard Italian genealogy can be tricky.
Pretty good episode with Rose A-E, not as good as Paddy Mac but interesting.
At least it was my Great Grandparents who came over from Italy independently of each other, met here, married here and had 10 children.
UK census records plus Family Stories gave the area where they were from and I managed to find some records online and I am pleased that I now have all Italian 4xG GP’s.
Could never have got that far back without DNA and I still have a shedload of “Italian DNA Cousins” to incorporate into my tree but my goal is to link those sharing 50cM and above.
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Biggles at least your ancestor didn't have 17 children like Rose's did.
That family appeared very lucky and resourceful that 15 of the children survived to adulthood.
Also the pub landlady, I don't think many of her customers would upset her, a formidable lady.
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She is still of partial Italian blood even if not Italian herself. And an ancestor born about 1800 is actually comparatively recent seeing as some lines can get back to the 1500s or long before if you have a gateway ancestor. You have 64 4xgreat grandparents, so one of Rosie's 64 4xgreat grandparents was Italian.
For me it would not matter how far back it is, it is still an ancestor of yours. And all the more pleasing to find one came from or had land/connections to an area you feel at home with.
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We live near to where the workhouse was in Exeter,in fact I worked on one of the last surviving wards in the early 80’s. We used to have to reassure patients it wasn’t the workhouse now. The children’s home was used as an auxiliary hospital during WW1.But was the school of nursing for pupil nurses when I trained,I remember my our tutor telling us about the flat. The old wards are used as offices now.
As for Aston ,my parents families both originated there
Barb
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I really enjoyed this episode with Olly Murs. An interesting story and some amazing records.
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I also enjoyed the programme with Olly Murs. It was interesting to see some research done in Eastern Europe, especially as it covered a very troubled period in Latvia's past.
Changing the subject, there is a picture in our local paper today of Olly Murs holding a pack of Pampers nappies. It is part of their latest advertising campaign, the picture was taken at one of our comically named places, Scratchy Bottom. ;D
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Like so many of the other "Celebrities" who become the subject of this programme, yet again I'd no idea who Olly Murs was, but it proved an interesting hour of viewing.
I do think that it's even more interesting if "they" can go back into earlier generations, but I'm sure all of us "Rootschatters" know that there are many dead ends and blind alleys. To many of us, older "celebrities" may be more interesting, too, their life experiences more parallel to many of our own, but I do look forward to each programme in these short series, and appreciate tham.
Thank you, BBC.
TY
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Just watched the Olly Murs one really enjoyed fantastic that he got to see all those documents.
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They need some older celebs and ones who can be classed as celebs such as David Jason and John Nettles or even Mr Cleese.
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Olly Murs:...... I found his episode very poignant, and was envious of the accessable record archives.
After the most recent programme, frankly, I was left wondering who in the world would wish to be influenced by the dynamic GC from Essex. (Her mother's life story is very sad.) I assume all the celebs are paid for agreeing to take part in the series?
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To me there was no comparison between the one on Olly Murs, which I thought very interesting and poignant and the programme last night. I had no idea who GC was. I didn’t think there was anything of particular interest, many people will have similar stories to her mother’s and grandmother’s. I’m afraid I found it so riveting that I dozed off before the end. 😴
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Yes, sadly, this latest episode of WDYTYA was not at all inspiring not like the previous ones in this series. I have found the other celebrities, even unknown to me, have been most enjoyable and informative to watch.
I do think the BBC have now decided that they need to put a certain message across whenever they have the opportunity.
Judy
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I feel that the majority of all the programmes featuring so-called celebrities are now scraping the barrel to find the celebrities. Some I have never heard of and others are not what I would have called celebrities.
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I've no idea who GC is either but WDYTYA are trying to appeal to a wide audience and this series has been quite varied so far. Yes, many people have similar stories with their mothers and grandmothers but that means it's something that people can relate to.
I'm sure many more celebrities have had their ancestry investigated for WDYTYA but it wasn't felt interesting enough to produce a programme.
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Looks to me like they are pushing the Mental Health angle, I suspect going right back to the beginnings of WDYTYA they wouldn't have covered that angle.
We will have to wait and see if it turns up with anyone else.
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Mental health issues have been covered in many previous programmes: Bill Oddie, Ruby Wax, David Walliams, Rob Rinder etc..
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Really sillywoman, so superficial - so was the programme! Worse than the Anne Reid one ages ago, who seemed to giggle all the way through!
I hope the next lot improves!
TY
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I wondered what her talent is?
I presume 'celebrities' have a talent.
Other than turning up at the opening of an envelope if she gets her photo in the media.
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I presume 'celebrities' have a talent.
Other than turning up at the opening of an envelope if she gets her photo in the media.
Brash, in your face exhibitionists. Usually either covered in tattoos, or have bodies pumped full of artificial substances.
I can never understand why girls, who would be otherwise very attractive, think they look fabulous with lips so full of Botox that they look as if they have rubber tubes stuck on their faces. Far from improving their looks they end up looking grotesque.
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We can't understand it either.
Judy
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I presume 'celebrities' have a talent.
Other than turning up at the opening of an envelope if she gets her photo in the media.
Brash, in your face exhibitionists. Usually either covered in tattoos, or have bodies pumped full of artificial substances.
I can never understand why girls, who would be otherwise very attractive, think they look fabulous with lips so full of Botox that they look as if they have rubber tubes stuck on their faces. Far from improving their looks they end up looking grotesque.
I agree and yet they will say they have X million followers on Instagram.
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She's not 'my cup of tea' (I'd not come across her before) but young people seem to be easily 'influenced' and the 'influencers' earn a lot of money from it.
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Gemma is 43, so is not exactly a "youngster" anymore but she does seem very common and does not have much class.
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Reality TV isn't generally my cup of tea either, but Gemma has a huge following meaning people who wouldn't normally watch WDYTYA will have tuned in to watch her story and perhaps been inspired to look into their own family history.
Comments about her (and/or others) being grotesque, common and lacking in class are completely uncalled for. By her own admission she saw an opportunity and grabbed it, and good for her! People said the same about Jade Goody, and she turned out to have more strength and class in her little finger than many of the so-called 'elite'.
If you cant say something nice, don't say nothing at all!
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i agree that this episode could encourage more people to be interested .
I was interested in the mental health + fostering issues.
Its unusual to obtain such records within past 60 years
like myself she only wanted to find out about her bio grandmother + became thrilled with the more distant past .
the description of living conditions in Spittalfields + the victorian photos were poignant ,
i wish they did follow ups to these programs including some dna results leading to un veiling the bio birth fathers from past generations.
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Did not watch GC, and no intention of watching the episode ever.
She represents everything wrong with Social Media and pseudo “reality” TV programmes.
As a northerner the Essex accent is horrendous.
Superficial characters are of no interest to me.
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I think the problem will be that the kind of younger people who may be attracted to family history will be the kind who expect everything to be a) now and b)simple .
WDYTYA does make it look like getting all the information and documents is simple, the fact that they walk into a library, sit down with a historian who produces everything 'just like that' How long will they continue when they realize it doesn't work like that?
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Did not watch GC, and no intention of watching the episode ever.
She represents everything wrong with Social Media and pseudo “reality” TV programmes.
As a northerner the Essex accent is horrendous.
Superficial characters are of no interest to me.
Fortunately not every one speaks like that. I take part in the Essex Family History Society Zoom meetings and you don't hear it in there.
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As we know it does get harder the further back you go, but even 1837 onwards provides us with many challenges especially with common surnames. These so called celebs will have a team of researchers working on their behalf.
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I was a bit ‘nervous’ about watching this episode due to the negative comments about it, but it was very interesting I thought as it revealed the issues about the mental health admissions and she was reunited with cousins who had more photos and answers for her own mother.
It was interesting that they showed extracts from the I think it was fostering reports where they typed them up with a page number, which suggested there was more information that they didn’t show on the programme, but perhaps her mother might have been entitled to see the rest should she choose to.
Did anyone who did watch it spot what had happened to her Father - was he still on the scene, even though she didn’t need to research that side of the family.
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The fathers side was not mentioned.
I am disappointed by some of the negativity on this topic
There was a very interesting discussion on a Facebook group which was about the death in the workhouse and people's own examples .started by someone who was provoked to ask why her own relative had died in workhouse tho he was not poor .
The whole debate was questions answers & personal examples .
There was no discussion about the personality or accent of GC
I still don't know if people who could afford it actually paid for workhouse hospital treatment.
It seems feasible to me that paying patients would help subsidize care of the poor pre NHS
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I think the problem will be that the kind of younger people who may be attracted to family history will be the kind who expect everything to be a) now and b)simple .
WDYTYA does make it look like getting all the information and documents is simple, the fact that they walk into a library, sit down with a historian who produces everything 'just like that' How long will they continue when they realize it doesn't work like that?
As a 'young' person who does genealogy (34 now, 21 when I started) I've experienced the exact opposite. People think you need to be invited onto a program like WDYTYA to get access to common records like the census, BMD certificates, parish registers etc. Many people are surprised when I show them how 'easy' it is to get beyond their grandparents with a basic Ancestry/Find My Past subscription.
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If you`re lucky you can get further back than your grandparents using free websites.
I have a lot of Lincolnshire ancestors andwas able to see the actual parish records online until they changed the website, making it difficult to use !
I believe that other counties also have free records online.
Anyone who is really keen then can decide if they want to subscribe to Ancestry etc.
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I have a few ancestors from Lincolnshire who moved into London and Essex in the 1500s, thanks to wills and families being merchants. One Colchester ancestor of mine was from Algarkirk in Lincs originally, and a merchant ancestor of mine who flitted between London and Norfolk married a woman from Lincs.
I do miss being able to see the records online on Lincs to the Past. I am sure there were wills, but since they changed it I wanted to check an 1817 will in Lincs to see if a certain man was my ancestor.
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It`s now a very misleading website ( Lincolnshire Archives)! It looks as if you can access the images but I`ve never been able to achieve it !!
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It`s now a very misleading website ( Lincolnshire Archives)! It looks as if you can access the images but I`ve never been able to achieve it !!
I think there is a book with Lincs will beneficiaries index up to 1857 I think, but it is not available online. Hopefully one day Ancestry will release Lincolnshire records and wills, all in good time though.
I actually have a helpful way and that is to write up on unsolved or conjectured connections in my family tree and write up what I have researched, and PR's, civil reg, census, witnesses to marriages, apprenticeship records, poor law records etc. I have quick access to what I have researched so I do not double up on the research or forget things. While it will often be tough proving a link, the write ups do help.