Their Family Histories Are Mysteries

Ancestry.ca commissioned a national genealogy survey of Canada with more than 1,000 respondents.

The results show that a staggering 39 per cent of Canadians cannot trace their roots back more than 100 years, and 20 per cent don't know where their families came from before moving to Canada.

The survey, conducted by MarketTools, also reveals that a surprising 24 per cent of Canadians don't know the maiden name of any of their grandmothers and 22 per cent have no idea what any of their grandfathers did for a living. [Link]

13 percent of respondents think that genealogists are doctors who perform Pap smears, and 2 percent spoke into the wrong end of the telephone.

Genealogist Needs Answers

Fiona Wilson is conducting an Old Family Photos Survey as part of her dissertation research. If you own photos of the requisite age, why not take a few minutes and help her out?

I am interested in researching my own family history and particularly intrigued by the Victorian photo albums in our family. This has motivated me to find out more about the information needs and behaviours of family historians with special regard to old family photos (c.1840-c.1901).

This questionnaire explores various aspects of the importance of old family photos to your family history research, questions about identifying and labelling old photos, and about storing both original and digital versions of these photos. The questionnaire is likely to take about 30-40 minutes to complete (dependent on answers) with a mixture of multiple choice and open-ended questions.

Celebrity Sells

An Ancestry.co.uk survey shows that 20% of adults in Britain are researching the histories of their houses.

The report said a number of urban myths are fuelling the interest, such as a suggestion that John Lennon lived in a yet-to-be identified house in Blackpool and a rumour that Bob Dylan once had a house in Crouch End, north London. [Link]

The head of an estate agency adds that having a celebrity among its past owners can increase a home's value by up to 10%. If the celebrity was a serial killer, subtract 10%.

44% of Canadians Distrustful or Ill-Informed

Genealogists in 2098 will find only 56% of their Canadian relatives in the 2006 census. That's the percentage of respondents that agreed to allow the release of their info after 92 years.

Nationally, 56 per cent of respondents said Yes, 32 per cent said No while the remaining 12 per cent did not respond at all. Prince Edward Island had the highest Yes response rate at 65 per cent while Nunavut registered the lowest at 51 per cent - 26 per cent of respondents there gave no reply at all.

[History professor Bill] Waiser said the "terrible" Yes response rate may be the result of the public's poor understanding of the issue.

"Not only did there need to be a better education effort, I also think that perhaps there needed to be more explanation on the census form itself, in terms of what was involved," he said. [Link]

Don't Know Much About Family History

A survey released today reveals that 43 percent of Britons don't know their grandmothers' maiden names, and 38 percent don't know what jobs their grandfathers held.

The poll, carried out by YouGov, found that the average British family's knowledge of its history went back just 128 years, or around three generations, to 1878. Those in the south-east of England keep a better track, with an average of 137 years' knowledge while people from Wales know the least, with an average of just 108 years.

Women also tend to have more knowledge of their families than men, with half knowing where their grandparents were born compared with 42 per cent of men. But despite the apparent lack of knowledge of family history, 80 per cent of those surveyed said it was an important subject and 72 per cent claimed to be interested in genealogy. [Link]

I shudder to think what the survey results would be in America.

Surveying the Genie Scene

You can get free access to NewEnglandAncestors.org for a week by completing this survey. When they ask "What is your favorite genealogical website and why?" the correct answers are "The Genealogue" and "Because I'm confident that someday he'll write something worth reading."

Ancestors Offer Career Counseling

Genes Reunited has been looking into the phenomenon of people sharing the same occupation as their ancestors.

In addition to large numbers of people who found they came from a long line of sailors, watchmakers and the like, it found that growing numbers of people were turning to their family trees for evidence of a “grand design” that would give them guidance on what kinds of jobs they are likely to be good at. Of the 3,000 respondents to a survey, 71 per cent said that they had come to their family history to seek out patterns, such as a bias towards a particular occupation or a penchant for a certain talent. [Link]

This would explain why Drew Barrymore thinks she can act.

Karolina's Survey

Polish grad student Karolina Walczyk—whose first attempt to elicit the help of genealogists was met with skepticism—has now very wisely created an online survey.

The multiple-choice questions she asks don't always cover all the possibilities (I started my genealogical research more than five years ago, but after elementary school), but the open-ended questions further down will give you a chance to lay out the details more fully. Unlike her previous attempt, this survey is completely anonymous—unless you want her to send you the results.

And as for those of you who doubted her good intentions, For shame!

[tagged: genealogy, family tree, ancestry]

The Grass is Always Greener in Ireland

A third of United Kingdom residents suffer from "plastic paddy syndrome," according to a recent survey. There is no known cure.

The survey, commissioned by Rankin Selection Irish Breads, found that nearly half of all English, Scottish, and Welsh people would prefer to be Irish.

Welsh emerged as the least popular with only 13% choosing it, while English was just in front with 14%. Scottish came second with a modest 29%.

A mutual love between the Irish and Scottish was also revealed with 58% of Scottish people choosing to be Irish and 72% of Irish people opting to be Scottish. [Link]

Poll: 27% of Americans Not Fascinated by Genealogy

From Ancestry.com press release at PR Newswire:

Americans' Fascination with Family History is Rapidly Growing
A Full 73 Percent of Americans are Intrigued by Their Family Roots

PROVO, Utah, June 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The popularity of family history is officially on the rise. That's the outcome of a recent poll by Market Strategies, Inc. (MSI), a national, research and strategic consulting firm and MyFamily.com, Inc., the Internet's most popular and comprehensive family history research and connection resource. According to the poll, 73 percent of Americans are interested in discovering their family history. This figure represents a 13 percent increase over a similar Maritz Poll that was conducted in 2000, in which 60 percent of Americans said they were interested in discovering their family history.

Questions and Ancestors
Is there royalty in my roots? When and where did these family traditions begin? Who gave me my red hair and freckles? People have all sorts of questions about their family history -- and many unique motivations to explore it. Of the people surveyed, 65 percent said their interest is due to simply hearing stories from relatives. Thirty-five percent have had their interest piqued after attending a family reunion or family event. Talking to a friend, colleague or family member who was researching their family history got the ball rolling for 29 percent. And 25 percent of respondents became interested in family history after just searching for their surname online.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]