Sources, evidence & proof: what is proof?

Many clients come to genealogists with family stories of connections to aristocratic families, or famous historic figures, that they want verified. These cases typically fall into two categories. Firs

What responsibilities should we bear in mind when researching and preserving our family history in the current age? It’s a question that many of us will not give a moment’s thought to when getting sta

I spend a lot of time talking about DNA and I love sharing my experiences with it, but occasionally I wonder what really makes genetic genealogy work for me. Below I’ve distilled my thoughts into four

There’s nothing more frustrating than finding yourself at a dead end when researching an ancestor. Often, it’s not because you’ve exhausted all possibilities, but rather because you’ve not realised wh

‘DNA isn’t a magic bullet,’ says DNA Detective Michelle Leonard. ‘Sometimes people think it’s going to be, and they think it’s going to “throw up the answers”.’ Occasionally this happens, ‘if you’re r

Matt Elton How do the kinds of records created now and in the recent past differ from those left in previous centuries? Jane Winters Records and sources now come in a whole range of formats. In some c