RootsChat.Com

Discovered today Ancestry's new 'Recognise Ancestors' feature: the idea is that you can select a face from an uploaded photo which you are trying to identify, and Ancestry will scan other members' uploaded photos to try and identify a match.

It's obviously nascent technology, and I'd say "mixed success" is a generous assessment.

Of genealogically inconsequential interest is that it can identify some near doppelgängers - attached is a great-aunt, born in Kent in 1879 (on the right), which Ancestry has suggested could be what appears to be an earlier century Prussian woman in someone ele's tree. The likeness is indeed uncanny, in my opinion at least!

Any successes with this feature?

Hello all

I'm well aware that Telegraph announcements are generally available from around the mid-2000s via their simple announcements page - http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/  [which I admit to browsing intermittently to ensure the older cousins haven't pegged it just yet!]

However, I'm very interested in accessing announcements from the 20th century. A while ago, I followed some link to one of these online newspaper archives (I think it was a free trial) - and covered most of my family at the end of the 20th century/turn of the century. I'm attaching an example from 1994 [redacted for privacy] so you can see precisely the format they came in.

Ever the instant gratifier, I happily saved the relevant announcements and made no notes as to the website that enabled me to access them!

So 1) does anyone have a clue which site it was, or indeed any alternative site where older, pre-online publication Telegraph announcements can be accessed?

and 2) I believe the site I used only started coverage quite recently, perhaps the 1980s. I'd be extremely interested in locating older announcements too. Any clues here equally as appreciated.

Thanks very much for any and all pointers or suggestions!

Hi all

I have never been able to find my 2 x great-grandmother, Jane Mercer (1836-1929), in the 1851 census. I've tried the obvious tricks (removing surname from searches etc), but no luck. I'll post the details here, and hopefully some fresh eyes may help.

Jane was born in November 1836 in Frittenden, daughter of Robert and Mercy Sabina Mercer.

Jane appears with her parents in the 1841 census at Gold House, Frittenden: 472/22 Folio: 7 Page: 7.

Her parents are still there in the 1851 census: HO107/1619 Folio: 7 Page: 7. Jane's three siblings - Sabina, Robert, and George, are all there, but not Jane.

Jane is not with her maternal grandparents, James & Elizabeth Carpenter, at Witsonden in Frittenden. Her paternal grandparents were deceased.

George attended Ashford Grammar School in the 1850s. I wonder if Jane was away at school somewhere in 1851 - perhaps enumerated incorrectly?

Jane married in 1858 and I have her in the 1861-1921 censuses with her marital family.

The family has been extensively researched, I just need to hone in and find Jane in 1851. Or - if none of us have any luck - tentatively accept that she may simply not be recorded.

Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas, leads, very much appreciated.

Thank you!