Tracing Your Roots is the series that helps put branches on your family tree.
Sally Magnusson and genealogist Nick Barratt uncover aspects of the UK’s social history through personal stories as they follow the genealogy trail back in time, and give you the tools to explore your own family history.
Programme details
4 August 2007
In this week's programme:
The clotted cream murder
Parish Records
First steps in genealogy
The Alarming Case of Murder by Clotted Cream
A family tale of 'death by clotted cream' led Jane Clements on a detective hunt back to early 19th century Somerset. Parish records in Taunton revealed how a woman called Elizabeth Reed was murdered by her husband using clotted cream laced with arsenic. A newspaper article from the time provided all the gruesome details of the event and the subsequent court case. Jane was told by a great aunt, now deceased, that she’s related to the murderer – but how can she find out for sure? Nick Barratt advises.
Parish Records - a goldmine for genealogists
Reporter Lesley Hilton visits St John The Baptist Church in Broughton, Lancashire with local historian Andy Gritt to find out what Parish Records can reveal about our ancestors and the historical context in which they started keeping these records.
Family memories, and a musical dynasty
Sally discovers the potential goldmine of family information held in the long memories of your oldest relatives. Jazz musician Al Kirtley's recording of an interview with his 90-year-old mum sent him on a trail back through time which revealed that music runs in the Kirtley family. Along the way, Al turned up the manuscript for a Music Hall song which was performed, reputedly “with great success”, by an ancestor in the late 19th century. Listen again to hear Al's fine rendition of this rumbustious song.
Tracing Your Roots is the series that helps put branches on your family tree.
