Tuesday 29 June 2010

Two more St George's Hanover Square marriages

Guild member Sian Plant has kindly sent me details of two further marriages she found as part of her Marriage Challenge for the St George's Hanover Square Registration District in London. The two marriages are as follows:

- 1906 St Gabriel: Beatrice Elizabeth Cruse, daughter of Frederick Cruse, chef, and Arthur Edward Taylor, warehouseman, son of Robert Taylor, gentleman.

- 1907 St Gabriel: Annie Belinda Cruse, daughter of Frederick Cruse, waiter, and George Albert Stevens, accountant, son of Joseph Stevens, electrician.

Beatrice and Annie are sisters. Their father Frederick Cruse was born in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, in 1849, and was the son of James Cruse and Caroline Walter. Frederick married Ann Youels in 1870 in the St Giles Registration District in London. Frederick's father James was born in 1817 in Ogbourne St George, Wiltshire, the son of Jonathan Cruse and Hannah Waite. Thanks to the dedicated research of David Cruse over many years the Ogbourne St George tree is now very well documented and can be traced back to the mid-1600s. The Ogbourne St George parish registers have unfortunately not survived prior to 1664.

Friday 11 June 2010

World Cup Special - free access to 1911 census

As a special treat FindMyPast are providing free access to their record collection which includes the 1911 England and Wales census. The catch is that the records are only available free of charge while the England matches are on so you will need to get your recorder set up if you don't want to miss any of the football action. The full text of the press release from FindMyPast is given below.
The World Cup is now upon us and we thought it would only be fair to provide some entertainment for any non-football fans out there:

Whenever England play a match, you'll be able to access all our records for free!*

What you need to know about this fantastic offer:

- When England play, you don't pay: 30 minutes before each England game kicks off, all the records on findmypast.co.uk will be free to view for 3 hours

- You can view original images and transcriptions of all our records for free including birth, marriage and death records 1538-2006, census records including the 1911 census and our Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records 1760-1913 - to name just a few

- Normally you would need a subscription or PayAsYouGo credits to view our records - some of which normally cost 30 credits each - so to be able to see them for free is a rare opportunity

- Keep an eye on our blog for a competition question to enter during each England match. You'll need to answer all the questions correctly for a chance to win, so make sure you don't miss any. The prize is a goodie bag containing a digital camera, vouchers for a year's Full subscription plus much more

All you need to do to make use of this unique offer is register on findmypast.co.uk as you'll need to sign in to view the records. Visit our World Cup page for more information.

If you need a helping hand with your research, take a look at our video tutorials or our Getting Started page which provide clear advice on how to use our records.

We'd love to hear about any discoveries you make while our records are free to view - post anything you'd like to share with us and our readers on our Facebook page.

Please pass this on to friends, family or anyone else you think might want to make the most of our free family history records.

*All records available using our Full subscription (including the 1911 Census) will be free: Living Relatives searches and Memorial scrolls are not included.

Tuesday 8 June 2010

More from St George's Hanover Square

Guild member Sian Plant has kindly sent me the details of another marriage she found for me in her Marriage Challenge for the St George's Hanover Square Registration District. The details are as follows:

- 1897 St Matthew, Great Peter Street: Henry James Cruse, 28, labourer, son of George Cruse, engineer, and Elizabeth Chapman, 19, daughter of George Chapman, labourer

I don't currently have any record of Henry James Cruse in my database. There is no birth registration in England and Wales for a Henry James Cruse though I do have a number of Henry Cruses born around the right time who are currently unaccounted for. I've not yet been able to find any trace of Henry and Elizabeth in the 1901 or 1911 censuses and I have also been unable to find any likely candidates in the earlier censuses with a father by the name of George. If anyone has any information on this couple do get in touch.

© Debbie Kennett 2010

Sunday 6 June 2010

Family Tree DNA Summer Sale 2010

Family Tree DNA have announced their sizzling summer sale which runs until 25th June. The following tests are reduced for the duration of the sale:

- Y-DNA 37 for US $119 (£82) (Regular price would be $149 (£103) )
- Y-DNA 67 for US $199 (£138) (Regular price would be $239 (£166) )
- Y-DNA 37 + mtDNA for US $159 (£110) (Combined test would cost $238 (£164) )
- Y-DNA 37 + mtDNAPlus for $189.00 (£127) (Combined test would cost US $269 (£191) )

To qualify for the sale prices kits need to be paid for by 30th June, 2010.

To see prices in other currencies you can use one of the many online currency converters such as the XE Universal Currency Converter.

The special prices are only available for kits ordered through projects. I would be happy to welcome anyone with the surnames Cruse, Cruise, Crews, Crewes, Cruwys Scruse or any of the other many variant spellings in my Cruwys/Cruse DNA Project. If you have a direct paternal or maternal line from Devon you are welcome to order through my Devon DNA Project. There are now almost 6,000 projects at Family Tree DNA, and a full alphabetical list of projects can be found here. Even if there is no project for your surname it is usually possible to find a suitable geographical project. I have compiled a list of geographical projects for the British Isles which can be found here.

If you are not familiar with the different types of DNA tests you might like to read the brief article I wrote for the Berkshire Family Historian which can now be found online here. In the meantime if you have any questions do get in touch.

© Debbie Kennett 2010