Family Tree UK

Learn how to trace your family tree! Every issue is packed with: family history research advice hands-on learning experiences to help you become an ancestor super-sleuth & step-by-step guides to show you the path to tracing the past. From vintage documents to the latest in DNA, we’re here to help you discover more! Get the latest in genealogy news, software, books, archives and expert answers. Plus enjoy those reader stories that remind what it means to trace your family story. Research & remember your roots with Family Tree!

Just such a fan of the FAN network

MORE FROM US…

‘Stately’ membership opens the doors to Britain’s historic houses

New register documents Britain’s slave-traders…

RootsMagic 12 launched

Archivists and historians honoured

…whilst Ancestry releases millions of enslavement records

NEWS IN BRIEF

Funding to preserve Black heritage in the Midlands

Registration opens for RootsTech

Neverending stories THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ‘BIT PART’ PLAYERS • In Family Tree Academy this month, David Annal reminds us that all our ancestors had a story to tell, and that examining the lives of the people around them can lead us to endless new tales that add life and colour to our family histories

DEMENTIA & MEMORY LOSS: How your family history skills can genuinely help • Discover how family history can help with the care of older people, and those living with dementia or memory loss. Professional genealogist Jude Rhodes has long experience of nursing and care of older people. Over two articles she will explain how to begin, through recalling memories and building a useful resource of memory triggers…

JANE AUSTEN & Regency female fashion • This month, costume historian Jayne Shrimpton explores the distinctive fashions of the Regency era, and shows how they were reflected in the works of one of England’s most treasured novelists

The Family Tree GIFT GUIDE • Find ideas for your wish list, or presents for others, in our handy gift guide packed with history-inspired treats and resources.

Dear Paul • In this month’s Genealogy Gems Paul Chiddicks tells us about the civil re-registration of births, a bizarre funerary monument, and a heart-warming letter to Santa Claus

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Part 7 FROM FARMHOUSE TO FRONT LINE • Welcome to our step-by-step guide with genealogist Julie Johnson. Over the months, she will take you on a journey – telling the story of an ancestor’s life, from cradle to grave. Use the worksheets accompanying the series, to help you gather similar records for your own ancestors so that you may tell their stories too.

That moment of discovery…

BOOK REVIEWS • Reflections on recent publications of family history and or wider history-based interest. Reviews by Kelly Southworth, Moira Allen & Helen Tovey

WHY NUMBERS MATTER making DNA add up • She may not have been keen on maths at school, but our DNA expert Karen Evans knows that numbers are crucial to understanding our matches, and she’s here to tell us why

CAVE DWELLERS • Wayne Shepheard regularly writes and talks about the effect of natural phenomena on the lives and livelihoods of people in the past. But what might have been the impact if families actually lived in close intimacy with Mother Nature? In this article, he explores the history of cave dwelling, past to present, concentrating particularly on a set of homes occupied in England until the 1950s…

THE PEOPLE WE DON’T RECORD Why friends and neighbours matter in family history • When we build our family histories, we often restrict our searches to direct family members. But as Pauline Jarvis points out, opening our research out to friends, neighbours, workmates and other associates can unlock a rich seam of...