January 2nd, 2012 
Linda Elliott 
An website which will be of interest to all those with ancestors from the Aborfield area of Berkshire. It has a parish history timeline, a page about the families who have lived in the village for generations, information about properties in the village, memories of the village by long time residents and much more. Always good to find a website specialising in “your” village.
http://www.arborfieldhistory.org.uk/index.htm
Aborfield, Berkshire, Local History, Family History, Genealogy
Posted in Local History, Where Did They Live? 
Tags: Aborfield, Berkshire, Family History, Genealogy, Local History 
No Comments » December 18th, 2011 Linda Elliott 
It’s all happening at once, first I learn about The Family History Show vodcast (see previous posting) and then I hear that the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) are launching a YouTube channel.
The channel is offering a series of lectures which are being presented in conjunction with the Open University Ireland. The first lecture is entitled “What is Irish Local History?” and the second is “Poverty”.
Sounds interesting and having them on You Tube is great for us who can’t get to PRONI to hear the original talks. Dr Janice Holmes has started a blog to accompany the lecture series.
The sound is a little tinny, but hey nothing to complain about when we have the luxury of top speakers talking to us in the comfort of our own homes!!
December 3rd, 2011 Linda Elliott 
I wanted to know what was happening in 1658 so did a Google search and came up with this website. What an excellent find, it has Timelines, Biographies, Military History, Links & Bibliography.
I now know what was happening in 1658 and why the person who was keeping the registers for the parish of Sparsholt in Berkshire was entering children as born not christened. Think it was getting a bit dangerous there to do much else.
David Plant is the creator of this site which has been in existence for 10 years. How come I haven’t come across it before? Anyway I know about it now and will use it as my main site for understanding what was happening during this disruptive period in English History. My compliments to David Plant for such a great site !!
Posted in Uncategorized, Where Did They Live? Tags: 1638 - 1660, Civil War, Commonwealth, David Plant, Family History, Genealogy No Comments » December 2nd, 2011 Linda Elliott ![clip_image002[5]](http://www.madaboutgenealogy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/clip_image0025_thumb.jpg "clip_image002[5]")
The British Library has launched a new blog containing stories of peoples lives gleaned from the vast collections that make up the library. It is not only the rich and famous that you will find here, but those folk who have had fascinating and/or unusual lives, but which have largely been forgotten. You will find murderers and missionaries, Napoleon and Slaves and much, much more.
Take a look, who knows what you will find and remember these stories are about real people so they have to be on someone’s family tree !
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/untoldlives/about-this-blog.html
October 29th, 2011 Linda Elliott It is all very well collecting names and dates of christenings, marriages & burials, but to really get to know your ancestors you will need to research the world they lived in.
Wikipedia is a website that I turn to before any others for such information. I generally first search under the name of the person, you may be surprised by what you find that your ancestor did – good and bad! Then I search under the parish in which they lived, finally I search under any events – wars and such like to complete my picture of them.
Take for instance Henry Pottinger, a name search gives me details of his birth, marriage & death, his parentage and career. There are links at the end of the page to pages on the history of Hong Kong and the Pottinger Baronets. A search on Mount Pottinger, County Down gives me data on the place where he was born and finally a search on the East India Company completes my quick, but effective research effort.
I recommend putting some flesh on your ancestors poor old dry bones using Wikipedia!
Posted in Take It Further, What Did They Do?, Where Did They Live? Tags: Family History, Genealogy, Pottinger, Wikipedia No Comments » September 29th, 2011 Linda Elliott 
When I lived in Fair Oak in Hampshire one of the old houses had a Fire Mark over the door in the shape of a sun. In the 18th century this was to show that the owners of the house had insured with the Sun Fire Office. I think the idea was that if it caught fire the company’s private fire brigade would arrive and put the fire out. I assume that if there wasn’t a Fire Mark for that particular company on the building they watched it burn!!
Anyway there is an index to some of these insurance policies online. You need to go to the advanced Search on A2A at The National Archives website
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/advanced-search.aspx?tab=1
and select the Guildhall Library from the repository list and then enter a “name” and/or “address” and the word “insured” into the all these words field.
I put in Pottinger insured and got 6 hits. One of which was this
Insured: William Pottinger, 27 Queen Street, Cheapside, tailor and draper. Other property or occupiers: Parish of Great Pornder, Essex (Law and others); Parish of Bloxham, Oxon (baker)
So enough to give you some idea if this applies to one of your ancestors.
There is a good leaflet about these records at http://217.154.230.218/NR/rdonlyres/E62730BB-5BFF-4ED7-8B7D-C7F4777A7805/0/48FIREINSURANCERECORDS.pdf
and an excellent article in the October 2011 edition of Your Family History magazine.
September 26th, 2011 Linda Elliott 
East Devon comprises 29 parishes and the Tithe Maps for these parishes have been digitised and are now freely available online. The site notes that the map for Rousdown is not at the Devon Record Office and the Sidford map is yet to be scanned.
A nice, straight forward easy to use to website with just one click to get you to the actual map.
http://www.eastdevonaonb.org.uk/dro/index.html
Posted in Local History, Maps, Take It Further, Where Did They Live? Tags: East Devon, Family History, Genealogy, Tithe Maps No Comments » September 25th, 2011 Linda Elliott So that those with family in Jersey 
don’t feel neglected by the previous post the excellent http://www.guernsey-society.org.uk website has a Wikipedia for Jersey.
Posted in Getting Started, Local History, Take It Further Tags: Channel Islands, Family History, Genealogy, Jersey, Wikipedia No Comments » September 25th, 2011 Linda Elliott 
What an excellent site http://www.guernsey-society.org.uk is for genealogists with Guernsey connections. There is a separate Family History Section and also a Wikipedia called Donkipedia. Lots to look at on this site; A – Z of Guernsey families with family trees, articles, old photos, articles and selected books available to purchase or online.
Take a look!
August 28th, 2011 Linda Elliott 
Have just found this rather useful website, it contains photos of churches and chapels, some are old postcards which give an idea of what the churches looked like before the modern day encroached on them.
Take a look!
Posted in Church Records, Local History, Take It Further, Where Did They Live? Tags: Chapels, Churches, Family History, Genealogy, Photographs No Comments »
Hi, I am Linda Elliott, a genealogist with 30+ years experience in ancestor hunting. I work as a professional family historian and have helped many people with their family trees. My aim with Mad About Genealogy is to share with you, the many website links, information and the latest genealogy news that I come across. I hope you enjoy your visit to my website and will come and visit on a regular basis.
