Unearth the Past: A family history & genealogy podcast

Ep 13: Latest news and reviews from the world of genealogy

• Dr Michala Hulme • Season 1 • Episode 13

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Have you ever found an old, faded photograph of an ancestor and wished you could breathe new life into it? Imagine turning monochromatic memories into vivid visuals or even catalyzing static pictures into dynamic avatars. In this engaging episode, we take a deep dive into the world of MyHeritage, an innovative platform that can transform your understanding of family history. We not only explore its captivating features like photo colorisation, image enhancement, and avatar creation but also create an enthralling AI-narrated Deep Story animation of my Nana Mary.

Moving forward, we shift gears to delve into the exciting feature of MyHeritage, which uses AI to estimate the date a photograph was taken - it's like travelling back in time! To add more to your genealogical exploration, we explore Ancestry and Find My Past, a resource that now boasts an impressive collection of 231,000 new baptism records from Derbyshire spanning the period from 1524 to 1991. If you've hit a dead end in your family tree research, this episode offers valuable insights and resources. We wrap up by inviting your recommendations for future guests and stirring up the conversation around family history and genealogy. Get ready to journey back in time, rediscover your roots and enrich your family's legacy.

www.michalahulme.com
https://blog.myheritage.com/uk/2023/08/introducing-photodater-an-exclusive-new-feature-to-estimate-when-old-photos-were-taken-2/

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Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome back to an Earth of Past, a family history and genealogy podcast brought to you by me, dr Michaela Hume. So in this week's podcast, I'm going to be going round all the websites we know and love and I'll be sharing with you their latest news and record releases. So how has your week been then? Have you found anybody interested? Have you found missing ancestors? Have you found ancestors that you actually didn't want to find and now you've stuck with them because you're in the family tree? How's your week gone? I hope it's gone well. I've been working on a new case this week and you will hear it, I think, probably in September, when the person comes on the podcast. But it's a really interesting family tree and I'm loving, loving, working on it. Now I seem to remember and my memory is terrible and I know it's shocking, really considering I'm a historian but I do seem to remember that when I started this podcast, I said to you that I would give you all the latest news and record releases in the world of genealogy. Have I done that? Have I balls? So this week, that is what I'm going to do I'm going to go round all of our favourite websites. I've probably missed some, it's either because, a I've just forgotten them or, b they haven't got anything really interesting happening right at this moment. But if I have forgotten your favourite website, please drop me a message, let me know. And don't forget if you are enjoying this podcast, if this podcast is changing your life and improving your genealogy research experience, please like, please subscribe and download. Every download helps. We were 33 in the charts last week and we were in the 70s in America. Hello, all our American listeners, I really appreciate you listening and I have actually got some records I think may be interesting for you this week. So hopefully, stay tuned and you will enjoy it. There is a buzzy fly as I'm recording and I do apologise if you're picking it up on the microphone. It's really buzzy and I don't really want to kill it. I know I might have to if it keeps buzzing around the microphone. Okay, so let's get started then.

Speaker 1:

I've got a little confession to make. This week, I know I have subscribed to my heritage. Yeah, so the only two websites that I subscribe to and that I use a lot are Fimeon, past and Ancestry. I've been using them both for absolute years, but I've signed up for my heritage. Now you're probably thinking that when I signed up, the first thing I did was go on see if there are any new records, see if I could find any more anything else interesting about my ancestors. No, I didn't do that at all. I went straight to the photographic bit. Yeah, I went straight to the photo section.

Speaker 1:

I have been turning all my black and white photographs colour. I've been fixing them. I've made myself into an avatar. Yes, I'm not going to lie. Some of them, some of the avatars, worked well, some of them didn't. So some of them my face looks like a jigsaw puzzle and the others tended to work well, even though I thought I looked all right. And I said to me the half, I was like, look, I'm going to make myself into an avatar, what do you think? And he said I look like a pirate wench, so make of that what you will.

Speaker 1:

Now there's probably going to be some of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, but if you go to the photo section on my heritage, you can do some amazing things to your photographs. Right, like amazing, so you can colourise them, and it works. I think it works pretty well. Actually, I colourised a photograph of my Nana years ago, actually paid Nana, it done and I'm just throwing it out there. It's not very good. She looks like a cartoon character. It's not very good. But I've just colourised a photograph about 10 minutes ago and it looks really good. The colours look natural. Nobody looks like a cartoon character. It looks good. So, yes, so we'll say, check out the colourisation bit.

Speaker 1:

You can enhance your photo. So you know, like if somebody's face is a bit blurry, you can click on the enhance button and it will make them all you know, in focus. Apparently, you can animate your photographs. Not tried that yet? There's also something called deep story and that enables your ancestor to speak. I haven't tried it. I might try it. So let's try it now while we're doing the podcast. Right?

Speaker 1:

It says upload a photograph. Right, let's upload a photograph. Let's upload a photograph, say, for example, of somebody of the period. Right? So am I. Let's put me down a ring, right? So I've uploaded a picture of Manana and it says, for optimal results, we are enhancing your photo. Okay, so they're enhancing. I've got what looks like a wand that's spinning around, so it's asking for some details.

Speaker 1:

So Manana is female. She's called Mary. I'll just wipe in her last name. I'm married now, you know, right. So I know she used to work at hospital, so you can now type in what you want the person to say. So I'm going to put hello, I'm Mary and I used to work at Monk's Hall, right, okay.

Speaker 1:

Then it's saying voice options. What does that mean? Oh, and you can pick. I think you can pick somebody to. You can pick a voice. The thing is, manana was from Liverpool. Oh, you can hear the voice.

Speaker 1:

Actually, let's see if we can get this to work. Right, what do you do? Create deep story. Right, so she's using AI. It's not going to let me put anything offensive, I'm not going to do that anyway. Right, okay. So it's creating the deep story. So, deep story is good, because if you want your somebody from the past to talk to you, it will do that.

Speaker 1:

As I say, the only problem is it's obviously not going to be their voice, is it? And my Nana was scowled. So if she's talking to me and the accent's not slightly over-buddling, I will be slightly concerned. Hello, I'm Mary Hughes. Oh, my goodness, it's just to work at Monson Hospital. Oh, my goodness, right, okay. So this is so strange. So my Nana is talking. I know my Nana died about. I've known early 2000s. Right, she is talking, but she sounds very posh, so I've picked the wrong voice for my Nana. She sounds hello, my name's Mary. My Nana didn't have that kind of accent, so I think I'd have to play around with it and try and see if I can find a voice that fits my Nana.

Speaker 1:

Now I have done on here I don't know if you've seen it on some photographs where the actual photograph moves, so the person in the photograph kind of turns their head and does a little smile. Yeah, I did that on my grandad and it was really, oh, it got me, folks, I'm not going to lie. Yeah, it really touched me, to be honest, in a way that I didn't think it would. I thought it was just some technology on a computer program, but no, I was blobbing my eyes out because it just reminded me of my grandad. It was honestly like he was turning around and smiling at me and my grandad died in the 90s. So yeah, it really really touched me. My Nana, yeah, so she turned her head and smiled, but it wasn't my Nana's smile, if I'm honest. It kind of looked like well, she was a bit sinister. I felt like she was going to come at me and he dreams and murder me. Yeah, she was a bit sinister, but my grandad, honestly, it was just him to the tee, but my Nana smiled, as I say, just wasn't quite like how my Nana smiled, so, yeah, so, anyway, that is amazing.

Speaker 1:

The only thing we can do that with a photograph, we can make a photograph talk. Wow. I mean wow. So the next thing is the AI time machine. Right, the AI time machine. Now, this time machine.

Speaker 1:

Basically, what you have to do is you upload your photographs portal, whatever you think, so we call it a portal you upload your photographs and then it turns you kind of into an avatar yeah, an avatar, I'm not gonna lie like a almost like a cartoon, you know, like a character type thing. Wow, some of them are amazing. I mean, there's one of them where I actually look like a queen, like a real queen. There's one of them where I'm kind of floating across a field and look like a fairy. That's quite nice. It is amazing. Like, literally, I'm an action figure in one.

Speaker 1:

I'm a fortune seller, a soccer player. I'm saying soccer because obviously this is American, but football, if we talk about it here in the UK, the ballerina ones were somewhat questionable. I'm just gonna throw it out there. It didn't quite look like me, and on some of the pictures not on all you could see where the AI you know it's not quite got the picture correct and my face looks like a bit of a jigsaw puzzle. I'm presuming that is because I've not uploaded the right pictures. In order to be able to do this to turn yourself into an avatar You've got to upload 10 pictures. It's quite a lot, isn't it? Of yourself. So I found that I just kept uploading the same pictures of me, so I didn't have that many, and some of them, you know, I'm sort of turning me head. So I think the problem with why you know some of the pictures aren't perfect is because, as I say, I didn't upload the right pictures.

Speaker 1:

There's also a time travel bit on the website which you can subscribe to and you will look like somebody from the past. Yeah, so you will literally travel back in time through the different periods of history. I've not done that yet. I might do that, but, as I say, it does cost more money than the package that I'm on, so it might have to wait.

Speaker 1:

I think most people will know my heritage from DNA, but what they can do to photographs is honestly fantastic. It's really good. Now, the reason that I actually ended up subscribing to my heritage today was because I was going around and I was looking at all the latest news, the releases, what's out there, what's coming up, is there anything we should be aware of? And one of the things that caught my eye which my heritage have just released folks is photo data. Photo data Now photo data is a new feature and it's where they estimate when a photograph was taken. Apparently, at the time I'm reading this, my heritage is the only genealogical site that is offering this. So it's the only genealogical site that is basically offering an estimation on your photographs.

Speaker 1:

It uses AI and also listen, I'm not you guys now, I'm not very techy right? Basically, I think what they've done is they've looked at thousands of definitely dated photographs, so they've got photographs where they know the dates. Then what they've done? They've identified things in those photographs from that specific period. So, for example, clothing it says on here hair styles, facial hair, furniture. So they're focusing on what is in that photograph and can they date it. Now the algorithm it provides an estimate for undated photographs between 1860 and 1990. That's really quite a big time period, isn't it? So they've done some research already on the photographs. They've tested out these algorithms and the AI, and what they've found is that their system is within five years of the actual day of the photograph, which is unbelievable, isn't it? So if you've got any photographs sitting in your drawer and maybe you're not sure who is in that photograph and you're not sure you know how to date it because nobody scribbled on the back in pencil, then it might be worth just trying this out. Now, hear me out.

Speaker 1:

So I have uploaded some pictures. Some are new, some are old. It wouldn't identify all of them. Not quite sure why Two of them. Well, let me tell us like two of them. I think I know why it definitely won't identify them and that's because they were photocopies. They weren't original photographs and I've got a feeling that that is something to do with it. Maybe it's just not quite reading it properly. Another photograph which was the original. I'm not quite sure why it didn't pick that up, but it didn't. However, it did with the others and I know the dates of the photos and I would say it was pretty damn accurate. I think it's only a couple years out either side. So if you are still going to date your photograph this isn't an ad, by the way, I've paid for my subscription my heritage don't even know that I'm talking about it it is worth checking it, checking out my heritage. If you are struggling to date those photos, or just turn yourself into an avatar, like I've done 300 of me knocking around now avatars what I will do. I'll actually put a link to the blog post on the estimating the photograph blog that I've read today. I'll put a link there and then you can have a look.

Speaker 1:

So, find my past then. What is new with find my past? We have got more Derbyshire parish registers brilliant, if you have an ancestor in Derbyshire. So they have 231,000, just over 231,000 new baptism records from across the county of Derbyshire which cover the years wait for this 1524 to 1991. I haven't been able to get my family tree back that far. I've gone to like 1700 and something, but that's as far back as I can go. But I imagine if you were able to get back to 1524. Wow, the Tudor period, folks on that, how far have you gone back? Is it just me that can't get past the 1700s? Have you managed to go way back, drop me a message, let me know.

Speaker 1:

Marriages they've also added some Derbyshire marriages again. Oh my goodness, this is going back further, 1510 to 2004. Wow, slap bang in the Tudor period. Hello, they've also added 108,000 new Derbyshire burial records spanning from 1539 to 1997. I wonder how easy it is to read those from 1539. It would be interesting.

Speaker 1:

They've also added some updates to the newspapers. So the Bath Chronicle there's been more years of that added the Croydon Express, the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, the Litchfield Post, the Liverpool Echo, the London Daily Chronicle, south Wales Echo and the Wexford and Kilkenny Express. They've added new years to those newspapers. I'm not going to talk about that in newspapers anymore because I'll cover that when I get the British newspaper archive. Fimeye Past have also I'll be quick with this just added more Devon and Leicestershire parish records. So if you are searching for parish records, fimeye Past is a great website. I check it out. As I say, they are adding records all the time. I think most Fridays they provide an update of their new records.

Speaker 1:

Family Search Family Search has expanded its free online archive. There are over 3 million new indexed family history records from Russia. There's also additions to other collections from Brazil, chile, colombia, costa Rica, gibraltar, guatemala, india, ireland, mexico, the Philippines and Uruguay. They have a real extensive range of worldwide records, folks, and it's free, so go on, check it out. It's always a useful place to start if you're not sure where to start.

Speaker 1:

Roots Island we are now in Ireland. So they've added new parish records for their Clare database. So if you have any ancestors, for example, from Bridgetown, there's new birth records from Bridgetown, new Key. We've got new Roman Catholic baptism records, which is fantastic. They now span from 1846 right up to 1900. They've also put on some new South Mayo records. They've increased their collection, which is great. Again, I'm talking here parish records. We've got baptism marriages and deaths. Also, some new Armagh records have been added Again parish records. We've got baptism marriages and deaths in Seago. We've also got hearth rolls from 1662. A list of landholders from 1709. Check that out if you are looking for your Irish ancestors.

Speaker 1:

Moving on Ancestry, hello, they have added new records to their military collection. The UK and Allied countries. World War II registers as prisoners of war and civilians held in Singapore from 1942 to 1945, is a new record. The collection contains registers of Allied prisoners of war who were held in Singapore between 1942 and 1945. The Japanese camp administrators originally created these records and most are handwritten. So what type of information are you going to get? You're going to get name, rank, unit, nationality, occupation, registration card number and dates of death. The five electoral registers have been updated, which is brilliant. All electoral registers are so useful.

Speaker 1:

Registration for voters in Scotland has been required since 1832, although obviously it depended upon if you owned property. It changed for men in 1918 when the restrictions were finally removed and that meant that men over the age of 21 were now able to vote. As I'm sure you're well aware, the franchise did extend to some women over the age of 13, 1918, but it wasn't until 1928 that the voting age was made and it was 21 years old, with both men and women. So what are you going to find on the electoral registers and what are some of the abbreviations? You don't tend to get loads of information. Often on the electoral registers you have to search by address. If you're looking at them in a records office it is different, obviously, if you're accessing them online, but you do get the address. You get the name of the person. Obviously, if they're on there, they're over a certain age, they meet the criteria that they can vote, but it is worth bearing in mind that there was no registers produced during the war years. You're not going to get any in 1916, 1917, 1940, 1941, 42, 43 and 44.

Speaker 1:

We also have more new records coming from Ancestry. We have new Scotland gravestones and memorials 1521 up to 2022. Brilliant, well done Ancestry. We love recent records. We all know when you're trying to find somebody in the present it can be really difficult. So that is fantastic. What are you going to get in these records? Pretty standard, really A name, a death date, death place, burial date and burial place.

Speaker 1:

Another new collection that's just been released from Ancestry is the UK and Allied countries World War II Liberated Prisoner of War Questionnaires from 1945 to 1946. I was looking at these before and these seem like really interesting records. I'm right up my street. So what are you going to get in these records? Well, you will get a sense of what it was like to be a prisoner of war, so you probably can get some real detail about the treatment of the prisoners at the time. You might get details about escapes. You know, did somebody try and escape? They try and escape and you are going to get some details about the condition in the camp. You may get the following information you may get name, rank, service number, ship name, unit name, birthday, enlistment date, capture date and place escape attempt details.

Speaker 1:

Moving on to Fold 3. Now our USA listeners will be probably familiar with Fold 3. Its Ancestry's military arm, I suppose. So if you are in the States, you are going to get new military records from the United Kingdom, which is fabulous. You are going to get, for example, records from the London General Hospital in 1917, during World War I. This collection contains the details of just under 7,000 men. It reveals their regiment and you also get their rank, also their Ireland Army Census of 1911, the Worldwide Army Census of 1911, the UK Rolls of Honor 1914 to 1920. You are also going to get the UK Highland Light Infantry Chronicle from 1908 to 1920. You are going to get the Times List of Casualties from 1914 and you are also going to get the University Rolls of Honor from 1914 to 1918.

Speaker 1:

Newspaperscom have also added a couple of new newspapers. So you have got the Greensboro News and Record and the paper resulted in a merger from the Daily News, which was an afternoon paper, and the Daily Record, which was a morning paper. The dates for those are. Well, it started in 1905, 1906. The archive dates back to 1905, 1906. There is also another new newspaper. It is called the Daily Item. That is from Lynn in Massachusetts and the issues date back to 1877. So that will be fascinating to see how Massachusetts history has changed over the years.

Speaker 1:

Now the BNA has released quite a lot of new records. I am going to try and run through them. So we have got and these are just some of the titles. By the way, they have added quite a lot either new titles or new years over the past 30 days. But you have got the Alwick Mercury, the Adderstone News and Herald, the Bognoregis Observer from 1897. You guys know I was filming in Bognore. If you saw the show it was on Channel Morphole a couple of weeks ago. That paper would have been really useful, let me tell you.

Speaker 1:

You have also got the Berry Free Press from 1980. Again, brilliant because it is just a bit more current if you are trying to find somebody. The Buxton Advertiser, the Buxton Herald there are new years out for that. The Chichester Observer new years for that. Croydon Express, derbyshire Courier, east Kankazette, the Edinburgh Evening News. They have got some new, or should I say they have added some new editions of some Irish newspapers, which is great, which is the Galway Observer. Also the Hamilton Advertiser, the Holborn and Finsbury Garden from 1875, that has been added. The Huddersfield and Holmforth Examiner I know actually rather well the Huddersfield Daily Examiner they have put quite a few years in there and also some more modern ones from 1977, sorry, from 1977 up to 1979. It is a similar kind of thing. It goes with more Hull Advertiser, 1839, that has been added.

Speaker 1:

The Southbank Express, southbook Standard, south London Observer, the Stockport County Express from 1942 and the Staley Bridge Reporter, which is somewhere that I know of. It is quite local to me, so I probably will just have a look at that. It was definitely the Stockport one because I was born in Stockport, so that is interesting. Also the Surrey Mirror, the Wiltshire County Mirror, some Welsh newspapers that I'm not even going to try and pronounce because I'm sure not do them justice. So that is it, then, for my roundup of the latest news.

Speaker 1:

As I said, the reason that I didn't go into the British newspaper archive in too much detail is because Rose from the British newspaper archive will be joining us next week. She's our guest on the podcast. I am now going to spend the rest of the evening turning all my black and white photographs into colour. I might even make everybody an avatar. Who knows, I might even get people talking in different accents just to make me smile. Anyway, folks, you have a lovely, lovely week. I hope you enjoy my weather, hasn't it been beautiful, beautiful for the past couple of days.

Speaker 1:

If you are stuck on your family tree, would you like some advice? Or you just want to get in touch with the show? Please do that. Please drop me a message. You can do so via my website, wwwmakaylahumecom. If you want to support the making of this podcast, please visit my Patreon account, which is wwwpatreoncom. If there's anybody who you would like on the podcast we've not had on yet. If you want me to chat with them about their family history, let me know. We are pretty much, I think, up until the end of September. However, if you want them, I shall reach out and see if they'll come on and chat to us about family history, genealogy and their history. So have a good week. Folks, really enjoy your researching. It is addictive. We all end up thinking we're detectives. I still think I'm an extra on murder, she wrote Keep researching and have a good week, take care.