Family Trees Online: My MyHeritage Website Example

I have long considered whether or not to put my family tree on a public website, for family members as well as others to access. One of the side benefits would be for backup storage. Websites such as Ancestry, MyHeritage, FamilySearch Family Tree, Genes Reunited, Geni or any of the other major genealogical repositories offer both access and reasonable security of family tree information. If the owner desires, data can be protected from public view or access can be granted only to selected individuals.

I do actually have my entire family database on a personal site using The Next Generation( TNG) software. I have not spent enough time to get it ready for viewing by others but the task is high on my to-do list. That site will be for family members only.

It did happen that my family tree ended up online by accident, something I wrote about in an article in the April 2014 issue of Chinook, the quarterly journal of the Alberta Family Histories Society. After suffering a loss of files, including my latest family tree data, in a hard drive crash back in 2010, I decided I would look at online storage solutions to protect against loss of valuable genealogical information. I had heard about a system called BackUpMyTree which, when installed on my computer, automatically created a backup of all of my data on a secure site. Among the benefits of using the system were:

·       The program would keep updating the file regularly, even when I was adding to or changing it.

·       My family history would be preserved if my own computer crashed again.

·       Previous versions would also be saved in case my current tree became corrupted or if I accidentally deleted any data.

·       The program would recognize any genealogy software I happened to be using.

·       I could access the tree from anywhere just by signing into the site.

·       Most importantly, it was safe and secure!

MyHeritage acquired BackUpMyTree in late 2011 and my family tree suddenly appeared on the MyHeritage website. All my data was there to view, as profiles of each family member or in a nice, pretty tree with lots of neat symbols. Not by just anyone, of course. I still had to grant access to people before they could see the actual family information.

A big part of MyHeritage is that the system automatically searches all family trees stored on the site and compares information on individuals in the various families. MyHeritage now has billions of records, from sources around the world, in hundreds of different types of databases. All can be searched for matches automatically! They are reported to the tree owners in two ways:

·   Record Matches – These find individuals in dozens of other websites or archives, such as newspapers or censuses.

·   Smart Matches – These match individuals in my family tree with hundreds of millions of profiles of individuals in other trees.

One can store a family tree on the website for free and still get the advantage of these searches. When matches are made a tree owner then can decide whether they will pay to see a particular item.

I recently took advantage of a promotion that MyHeritage offered to get a one year subscription. I updated my family tree by importing a new GEDCOM file and deleting the old family tree so that I would not get confused with which one I was using.

I presently have 2,786 Record Matches, for 1,830 people in 60 collections, with several hundred in each of such databases as Geni, World Family Tree, Find a Grave and the England and Scotland births and christenings from the 16th to 20th centuries. I also have 14,272 Smart Matches on 3,268 other family trees which I need to go look at. Some of them might give me the names of other cousins also researching various branches of the family. Many of the matches are for records I already have sourced, such as censuses and BMD information, but I have checked a few references and found some new information I did not have before.

There are some very obscure collections on MyHeritage – to me anyway – where matches occurred as well. One I had never heard of is called the Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Immigration Cards, 1900-1965. This one was for a 1st cousin, twice removed, who had travelled to South America in 1957. He was living in Prineville, Oregon at the time of his trip. There is even a photo of him on the card, along with his birth date, birthplace, parents’ names and occupation. OK, it wasn’t earth-shattering but it was kind of neat!

I believe my data has been well-sourced and properly documented. I currently have over 8,500 individuals in more than 2,600 families in my tree. But it is daunting to think about having to go through the fact-checking exercise again when confronted with, potentially, an enormous number of new records to review. It may be worth it but I don’t expect to be able to do it in just a few days!

Websites such as MyHeritage are places where one might connect with other researchers. Equally important to the search for new information about ancestors is the potential to find other family historians, perhaps remote family members, who are looking at some of the same people. The new age of genealogy is about collaboration – sharing resources, methods and data – and building family trees together.

I recommend people go to MyHeritage, or one of the other sites, and see what online storing and sharing is all about. You might find some new cousins to help you with your family tree. (www.myheritage.com)

Now all I need is the time to go through those thousands of leads provided by MyHeritage to see is there is any information of value.

Wayne Shepheard is a volunteer with the Online Parish Clerk program, handling four parishes in Devon, England. He has published a number of articles about various aspects of genealogy and is a past Editor of Chinook, the quarterly journal of the Alberta Family Histories Society. Wayne also provides genealogical consulting services through his business, Family History Facilitated.

The Bells of St. Michael’s

One might be reasonably sure Nicholas Shepheard (1716-1786) would never have considered that Wayne Shepheard, great-grandson of his great-grandson, would have had an interest in the bells installed in the parish church at Cornwood, Devon – some 230 years later.

My family has deep roots in Devon, England – in particular, Cornwood parish in the southwestern part of the county. I have been able to trace my Shepheard ancestors back 11 generations in the area. Shepheards lived there from the early part of the 17th century until the early 1900s. I mentioned a few things about Cornwood and my ancestors in an earlier post here, titled How I Became an OPC, published on August 17, 2013.

For much of its history, the community and activities of the citizens of Cornwood parish centred around St. Michael and All Angels Church. It is here where new births were recognized through baptisms, marriages were solemnized and residents at the end of their lives were buried.

 

St. Michael and All Angels Church in Cornwood Parish, Devon County, England

(photo taken by Wayne Shepheard, 2004)

In a booklet published by the church it is described thusly:

The Church is built on the highest point of a low ridge overlooking the original village which, 700-800 years ago, would have consisted of a straggle of cob and thatched cottages, running from the present cross-roads down towards Langham Bridge on the road to Ivybridge, together with some ten outlying farms … The oldest part of the Church is the squat, slightly tapering tower. The remains of its lancet windows suggest that it dates from the early part of the 13^th century. It was probably part of an earlier building whose nave and chancel may have corresponded in size with the present nave. We know that the Church and three altars were re-dedicated in 1336. The addition of the final bay of the chancel, the porch, the vestry and, in 1984, a small annex against the north side of the tower, does not alter the basic design of the 14^th century church in the Perpendicular style which is characteristic of so many churches in Devon.

Many members of the Shepheard family were active in the Church’s activities over the centuries. Of particular note was the Nicholas Shepheard I mentioned above, my 5^th great-grandfather. He was one of the main landowners and leaders in the area, as well as a tax assessor and collector for many years. Nicholas was also the Churchwarden in 1770, when five of the six bells in the tower were installed. As a result of his being responsible to their manufacture and installation, his name was part of the inscription cast into these bells.

When we toured the church in 2004, some of the things I most wanted to see were the bells, as they had a personal and historic meaning to our family. A description of them in The Book of Cornwood and Lutton said that they “were cast by John Pennington IV of Stoke Climsland, [Cornwall] in 1770, and bear the name of Nicholas Shepherd [sic], churchwarden.” The bells were determined to be unsafe and taken down in 1939. They were sent to the foundry of John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough, Leicestershire, where they were turned and had new hangings made. The bells were rehung and rededicated, by the Bishop of Exeter, at a special ceremony, in April 1940. A letter from the Taylor company also indicated the bells bore the name of Nicholas Shepherd.

 

Left – Part of one of the bells showing the name of Nicholas Shepheard

Right – Wayne standing alongside one of the church bells on which Nicholas Shepheard’s name appears (Photos from Shepheard family files, taken in 2004).

I was curious about this because all formal documents that showed his surname spelled it the way I do. One of the local residents, along with the head bell ringer took me up into the tower where we could see the bells and clock first-hand. Much to my delight, as can be seen in the photo below, the bells indeed did show the name of “Nicholas Shepheard”.

Seeing the bells was a highlight to our trip to Cornwood. It is always a special experience when you can find your family name recorded for posterity in an important piece of the history of an area.

The bells can be heard at my Cornwood OPC website. Just click the box below St. Michael’s Bells on the Home page.

Wayne Shepheard is a volunteer with the Online Parish Clerk program, handling four parishes in Devon, England. He has published a number of articles about various aspects of genealogy and is a past Editor of Chinook, the quarterly journal of the Alberta Family Histories Society. Wayne also provides genealogical consulting services through his business, Family History Facilitated.

Reference:

Dobinson, M. [Ed.]. (1997). The Book of Cornwood and Lutton. Tiverton, Devon, England: Halsgrove.

Notes in the Burial Registers

Prior to the regulations instituted by Parliament for the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in Britain, in 1837, the main alternative to an actual death certificate was a parish burial record. In most cases only the name of the deceased and the date of his burial were entered. Generally one could assume that the death was only up to a few days prior to the burial but rarely was that event recorded directly.

Occasionally a vicar might make notes in the registers which might shed light on the manner of death or the relationship of the deceased to surviving family members. Such comments can add an important piece of information about the individual but they almost never make it into an index.

Unfortunately, not all vicars chose to make notes so records may not be complete in an area over several decades. Rev. Duke Yonge (1750-1823), of Cornwood parish, was very diligent in leaving comments in the registers. He served as the Cornwood vicar from July 1793 until his own death in December 1823. For over 20 years, we have a wonderful record of the causes of death.

In the burial registers of the four parishes in Southwest Devon I look after, as an Online Parish Clerk, only a small percentage of entries have notes about the deceased persons:

·         Cornwood – 702 of 4,616 entries (15%) between 1685 and 1993;

·         Harford – 153 of 639 entries (24%) between 1708 and 1933;

·         Plympton St. Mary – 1,778 of 15,963 (11%) between 1603 and 1963;

·         Plympton St. Maurice – 1,699 of 4,897 entries (35%) between 1616 and 1958

All of the registers for my parishes have been transcribed and the information put into spreadsheets; so I can sort and look at various items to see whether trends are present (did deaths increase in number or decrease during any period), whether certain diseases were present at various times, what family connections there might have been or whether other events affecting the populace occurred.

Families

Most of the entries have to do with who the deceased was related to. Many notes reference that those buried were the son of, daughter of, wife of or husband of a surviving member of the family. That is exceedingly helpful when trying to reconstruct families whose members had similar names to those of other families. It was not unusual for children to be named after their parents or grandparents so children often had the same names as their cousins.

Notes might be made of the individual’s occupation or employer which, again, is useful in determining to which family they belonged.

Those with more affiliations to nobility or senior members of the community were particularly noted. See my blog post titled, Nobility and Celebrity as recorded in the parish register, published 8 October 2013

Diseases

Of the diseases and epidemics that hit the area, cholera occurred in two main episodes in Plympton St. Mary and Plympton St. Maurice – July-September 1832 and June-July 1849. Few deaths occurred in Cornwood during those two periods, and no cause of death was recorded, so it appears the disease was confined to the area surrounding the village of Plympton. 

Smallpox killed nine people in Cornwood in 1770-71. The disease was not recorded in either of Plympton St. Mary or Plympton St. Maurice, however a large number of children and infants died between 1769 and 1771 leading one to wonder if smallpox played a role in their deaths.

In Cornwood parish, twenty-eight people died of phthisis (tuberculosis) between 1799 and 1823. Very likely more suffered as well both before and after these years, which was during the time Rev. Duke Yonge was vicar, but the causes of death were not noted. Again no such cause of death was recorded in the adjacent parishes of Harford, PS Mary and Plympton St. Maurice which might suggest the disease was confined to Cornwood.

There was an outbreak of scarlet fever in Plympton St. Mary from December 1850 to May 1851 during which 10 people died, nine of them very young children – two from each of three families, and six from the same village.

Other Information or Events

Sometimes the manner of death was an accident such as drowning, falling, from a fire or, more recently, in a car crash. In these cases one might want to look for a coroner’s report to get more information.

If someone just passing through died, a note might be written that they were a “stranger” to the parish. Those buried may not even have been named. I wrote about some of these entries on 25 August 2013 in a blog titled Some Unusual Endings.

Quite a large number of people (230) were buried in Plympton St. Mary between 1886 and 1953 “without the rites of the church” which might indicate they either had not been baptized in the Church of England, baptisms could not be confirmed or the individuals were of other religions.

In the Plympton St. Mary burial register, of the total 2,793 burial entries between 1922 and 1973, the actual grave locations were recorded for 1,058 individuals by the various vicars. This is very useful information for descendants seeking to find where their ancestors were interred.

Major conflicts were the cause of death of many individuals, both as soldiers, who were carried home for burial or regular citizens caught up in conflicts. Another of my blog posts, titled Military References in the Parish Registers referenced some of the older entries. During World War II, the dockyards of Plymouth were a major target of the German Luftwaffe. Between 1940 and 1944, there were 59 bombing raids resulting in the deaths of 1,172 civilians and another 4,448 injured. According to the notes in the Cornwood register, four of those killed in Plymouth were brought “home” to Cornwood for burial. The reason for their passing was noted in the burial register.

 

Portions of pages 83 and 84 of the burial register for Cornwood parish (number 2764/7) showing the names of four individuals killed during air raids in Plymouth in 1941.

(copyright owned by the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office)

Whenever possible, it is very useful for family historians to consult the actual documents where events were recorded about their ancestors. The old parish burial registers can be particularly valuable to add colour and explanation to a family story.

Baptism images reproduced here are used with the kind permission of the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office (PWDRO), the copyright-holder. Wayne Shepheard is a volunteer with the Online Parish Clerk program, handling four parishes in Devon, England. He has published a number of articles about various aspects of genealogy and is a past Editor of Chinook, the quarterly journal of the Alberta Family Histories Society. Wayne also provides genealogical consulting services through his business, Family History Facilitated.