Thursday, September 2, 2021

Findmypast Adds Contexts to UK Census Locations With New Feature

I received this from Findmypast today:

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Findmypast add new feature to help researchers learn more about where their ancestors lived 

·        Findmypast’s 1891, 1901 and 1911 census transcripts now provide key information on the surrounding local area  

·        Sourced from Findmypast’s Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales 1895, transcripts now provide valuable contextual information and colour maps on the cities, towns, villages and parishes our ancestors called home 

·        By automatically connecting census transcripts to over 25,000 Gazeteer entries from every county in England and Wales, Findmypast is helping researchers around the world paint a fuller picture of their ancestor’s lives  

 

Findmypast has today announced the launch of a helpful new update to their UK Census search that is designed to help researchers discover more about the places their ancestor’s called home.  

 

Now live on all 18911901 and 1911 English and Welsh Census transcripts, the new “Gazetteer” feature automatically matches relevant content from Findmypast’s Comprehensive Gazetteer Of England and Wales 1895 to the locations recorded on individual census returns.  

 

UK censuses are essential for discovering where your British ancestors and their family lived, often revealing the location of their home down to the name of the street and even the name or number of their house.  

 

While this information is key to piecing together their lives, many researchers, particularly those from outside of the United Kingdom, will find ancestors living in locations that they are completely unfamiliar with, making it difficult to get a sense of the local culture, landscape and what it was like to live there.  

 

By “zoning” each entry of the 1895 Gazetteer, Findmypast have been able to create a feature that brings the locations revealed by these censuses to life in vivid detail, allowing researchers to explore the cities, towns, villages and parishes that played a defining role in their family story with greater ease than ever before.   

 

With more than 25,000 individual entries and beautiful colour maps of every English and Welsh County, the 1895 Gazetteer can provide family historians with remarkable insights into where their ancestors lived their lives. 

 

As well as maps showing political boundaries, railways and geographical features, the gazetteer includes concise facts about each location, including but not limited to local history, notable inhabitants and principal trades. 

 

Of particular value for family historians is the attention paid to churches and other ecclesiastical establishments in the various parishes; this can provide invaluable help in identifying the likely locations of original records for places with which ancestors may be associated.  

 

There is also considerable historical information, mention of the main properties in each place, and the families associated with these properties. Victorian pride is shown by detailed statistics relating to commerce, shipping, manufactures and agriculture. 

 

Chris Brake, Head of Data Products at Findmypast said; “At Findmypast we are always keen to look beyond the records, and try to understand and provide more information on the context of people’s lives. The gazetteer on our later censuses (combined with the recently introduced historical maps) will provide a contemporary description of the location from a recent gazetteer - to offer our users a little more insight beyond just a place name on a census form” 
 

Now available on all 97 million English and Welsh census transcripts between 1891 and 1911, Findmypast subscribers will be able to read gazetteer entries within the census transcript itself or follow a link to the relevant image to browse maps and much more. 


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Disclosure: I have a complimentary subscription to Findmypast, and have accepted meals and services from Findmypast, as a Findmypast Ambassador. This has not affected my objectivity relative to Findmypast and its products.

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2021/09/findmypast-adds-contexts-to-uk-census.html

Copyright (c) 2021, Randall J. Seaver

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