Researching an adopted ancestor can be challenging but there are steps you can take to learn more about their birth and origins. Ancestry ProGenealogist, Simon Pearce, offers useful guidance and resources from around the world for uncovering these details. Formal adoption was introduced in England and Wales on 1 January 1927 with the establishment of Read More
Scottish poet Robert Burns was born in Alloway, Ayrshire on 25 January 1759. Every year on his birthday people of Scottish descent the world over traditionally gather together to celebrate his life and work. Burns Night is not only a time to remember Burns himself but also an occasion to enjoy Scottish culture, including bagpipes, Read More
To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Blitz, Pro Genealogist Simon Pearce will be answering some of your questions on how to research your ancestor’s WWII story. How can I find out more about the RAF? – Annie If you’re researching the RAF, the Ministry of Defence is a great starting point. You Read More
To mark the update to the WWII Royal Artillery Tracer Cards collection, we asked Simon Pearce, military specialist at Ancestry ProGenealogists to offer his advice on how to decode the records and why they are such an important resource for family history research. About the Royal Artillery Tracer Cards I was excited to hear that Read More
The WWI Pension Ledgers and Index Cards (1914-1923) are the WWI records you never knew you needed. David Tattersfield of The Western Front Association explains how this collection came to be and the game-changing value of these records. A few years ago, the UK’s Ministry of Defence invited a number of institutions to take on Read More
Parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials are one of the main staples of the family historian. Anyone tracing their family tree back further than civil registration and the census in England will almost certainly look at these sources. Indeed, many of you will have spent hours scrolling through microfilms of registers in the pursuit Read More
Naomie Harris confronts the complexity of her Grenadian and Jamaican roots in her emotional episode of Who Do You Think You Are? Ancestry ProGenealogist, Joanna Cicely Fennell, revisits Naomie’s story and offers her tips for exploring Caribbean ancestry. This latest episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featured British actress Naomie Harris, best known Read More
June 6th 2019 marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the pivotal moment in WWII that began the liberation of German-occupied France and paved the way for the Allied victory and the end of the war. Also known as the Normandy Landings and codenamed Operation Neptune, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history, with soldiers Read More
May 12th is International Nurses Day – a chance to not only say thank you to the men and women who continue to work in the nursing field, but also to those who have served the medical profession throughout history. We dug into the UK, Historical Photographs and Prints, 1704-1989 collection to find these ten Read More
David Tattersfield, trustee from The Western Front Association, introduces the WWI Pension Ledgers to Ancestry, and explains the specific value of the Merchant Marine Cards by way of two key events from WWI history. Most British First World War historians focus their attention on the battles fought by the British and Commonwealth Armies in France Read More