Welcome

The chance to play detective is one of the many things I love about researching my family history. I’ve spent years searching for people in the census, and I’m delighted to share some of the tips I have learned along the way (see page 18). It really is worth trying to find people in every census, and should form the backbone of your research.

We’ve also got a fascinating insight into how companies come up with the ethnicity report you get with the results of your DNA test ( page 26), as well as our usual mix of practical features ranging from prisoners ( page 49) to performers ( page 63). And those of you feeling a little bit romantic this month will enjoy the history of Valentine’s Day cards on page 70.

However, the big news for us this month is that Transcription Tuesday is back! This year it falls on Tuesday 5 February, and we would love it to be a record-breaking year for participation. We’ve mixed it up a bit this time, so you can choose more than one project to support if you want. We are also working exclusively with the Railway Work, Life and Death project to try and transcribe one whole book in a day! You can find out more about Transcription Tuesday on page 16 or visit whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/transcription tuesday. We have probably all benefited from free indexes – now it’s time to give something back. Happy transcribing!