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!

From DNA myth-busting tips, to advice to help you smash your family history brickwalls, there’s so much to explore this issue!

MORE FROM US…

‘This is the community’s wealth’ • A new theory proposed by the team at National Museums Scotland, who have been studying the Galloway Hoard, gives insight to the Anglo-Saxons via their runic inscriptions

US WW2 draft registrations 1940-1947 indexed by AI • The handwritten records of 42 million service personnel from 33 states across the USA are now available on MyHeritage

Extensive Dunbartonshire collections now online • In April 2025 Ancestry realeased a wealth of digitised records for Dunbartonshire

Blenheim Palace celebrates 75 years of opening to the public

Wiltshire FHS baptisms & burials project complete! • Congratulations to Wiltshire Family History Society for their valiant volunteer work

Chalke Valley History Festival all-inclusive tickets • For the first time visitors to the show will be able to attend all talks at no extra cost.

DNA Club news • DNA Club news reporter Karen Evans shares news from the genealogy scene

RAF Museum Midlands secures £650k grant: plans include new Collections Hub • The new plans for the RAF Museum, Cosford, include a Collections Hub that will enable onsite access to the museum’s archives for researchers, visitors and conservators

Dear Paul • This month Paul Chiddicks looks at some thought-provoking entries in the marriage records, an unlikely birthplace and a bumper baptism

Transcription Corner

Family Tree plus

GUESS WHO? • Breaking down brick walls by elimination

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Tracing ancestors in the BRITISH ARMED FORCES • Join us for military historian Graham Bandy’s new military family history series to learn about the records to trace, and the research steps to take to learn more about your family members’ years in the Armed forces and support services. In addition, learn more about the clues to watch for to help you identify old military-related photos correctly.

Tracing ancestors in the ROYAL NAVY • In this first article in the series, military historian Graham Bandy will cover records and research advice to help you learn more about your ancestors who served in the Royal Navy.

COME IN NUMBER NINE • On the trail of her great-grandfather John Tonge, Gill Shaw moves on to Bolton and finally places one small, sad but significant piece of the puzzle

BIGAMY Anything you can do, I can do better! • Her curiosity piqued by the unusual surname Echalaz, Jacqui Simkins swiftly tumbled down a rabbit hole – and the only way out of the familial puzzle was to roll up her sleeves for some family reconstitution… Read on to retrace her footsteps into the past

A CHIP OFF THE old block • Genealogist and speaker Debbie Bradley tells us about the coincidences she has come across in helping people with their ancestral research, and invites us to ask ourselves whether we might find one or two in our own family histories

LEAVING A TRUE PART OF OURSELVES for future generations • ‘What will your great-grandchildren, your great-great-nieces and nephews. know about you?’ Janna Helshtein invites you to reflect on your life and the footprints you’ll leave...