In a nutshell, there are 3 steps:
Trees are often planted as part of commemoration activities. For this project, the aim is to grow the family tree of the missing soldier and plant it on a website where everyone can see it. In this way, the soldier's family tree becomes a memorial for him.
This genealogical memorial will involve tracing and documenting the soldier’s family tree and then posting a link to it in our Soldier Database. The tree can then be easily accessed by anybody wishing to research the missing soldier, especially by those who may have found his remains and are trying to identify him.
There are several websites that document the soldiers who fought in World War One. For example, the Lives of the First World War (LFFW) website is managed by the Imperial War Museums in partnership with FindMyPast and aims to commemorate all 8 million people who served in World War One. The Every One Remembered (EOR) website is run by the Royal British Legion and aims to commemorate each of the 1.1 million men and 800 women who died in WWI. Both of these websites previously accepted information and stories about individual soldiers submitted by the general public but sadly they are now closed to additional submissions.
- Select a missing soldier to work on (click here)
- Build his family tree (start with CWGC website)
- Plant his family tree (click here) in our Soldier Database
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| Avenue of Honour, Bacchus Marsh (from http://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/4957) |
This genealogical memorial will involve tracing and documenting the soldier’s family tree and then posting a link to it in our Soldier Database. The tree can then be easily accessed by anybody wishing to research the missing soldier, especially by those who may have found his remains and are trying to identify him.
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| The Every One Remembered (EOR) website commemorates the 1.1 million who died https://www.everyoneremembered.org |
There are several websites that document the soldiers who fought in World War One. For example, the Lives of the First World War (LFFW) website is managed by the Imperial War Museums in partnership with FindMyPast and aims to commemorate all 8 million people who served in World War One. The Every One Remembered (EOR) website is run by the Royal British Legion and aims to commemorate each of the 1.1 million men and 800 women who died in WWI. Both of these websites previously accepted information and stories about individual soldiers submitted by the general public but sadly they are now closed to additional submissions.
The current Pick a Soldier, Plant a Tree project is (in effect) a subset of the Every One Remembered project which is itself a subset of the Lives of the First World War project.
Let's take a closer look at the 3 steps involved in this part of the project:
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| Lives of the First World War (LFFW) website commemorates all 8 million who served https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org |
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| How the three projects are related to each other |
- Select a missing soldier to work on (click here)
- Build his family tree (start with CWGC website)
- Plant his family tree (click here) in our Soldier Database
Step 1 - choose a missing soldier
So first of all, you have to pick a missing soldier. You may know of one already. He may be in your family and he is already part of your family tree. In which case you have almost completed this part of the project and all you need to do is go to Step 3 and post a link to his family tree.
If you don't know of a missing soldier, you could consult our list of missing soldiers here and pick a missing soldier from the list. Discover how this list was put together here.
Be sure to notify us of any soldier you select to work on by copying & pasting the row with the soldier's information into our Contact Form.
Step 2 - build his family tree
Be sure to notify us of any soldier you select to work on by copying & pasting the row with the soldier's information into our Contact Form.
How to select a soldier from our online database
To see the video in Full Screen, click on the Play button,
then click on YouTube (and then the square icon - last on right)
To see the video in Full Screen, click on the Play button,
then click on YouTube (and then the square icon - last on right)
Step 2 - build his family tree
This is where genealogy comes in. You should aim to build the soldier's tree back several generations, at least to his grandparents. The tree does not have to be extensive - a basic tree could simply include the soldier, his parents and his grandparents. That's only 7 people.
If we assume the soldier was about 20 years old at the start of the war, he would have been born about 1895. And his parents and grandparents would have been born about 1865 and 1835 respectively. So you can expect to be searching genealogical records (e.g. census, birth records) going back to the 1840s at least.
If you are a seasoned genealogist, you will know about the various websites that offer tree-building software and access to records.
If we assume the soldier was about 20 years old at the start of the war, he would have been born about 1895. And his parents and grandparents would have been born about 1865 and 1835 respectively. So you can expect to be searching genealogical records (e.g. census, birth records) going back to the 1840s at least.
If you are a seasoned genealogist, you will know about the various websites that offer tree-building software and access to records.
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| Start with the CWGC website - it often has useful information about the soldier's family |
If you are new to genealogy, the Ancestry website has a series of lessons on how to start building your family tree. These are a useful introduction to genealogy and how the software and records on Ancestry can help you build a family tree for your soldier.
A good place to start with your soldier is the website of the Commonwealth and War Graves Commission (CWGC). This has a lot of biographical information about every soldier who died during the First World War.
A good place to start with your soldier is the website of the Commonwealth and War Graves Commission (CWGC). This has a lot of biographical information about every soldier who died during the First World War.
A 10 minute intro to building your soldier's family tree
To see the video in Full Screen, click on the Play button,
then click on YouTube (and then the square icon - last on right)
Once the soldier's tree is complete, all that remains is to post a link to it in our Soldier Database so that anyone can access the data at any time in the future. In addition to his family tree, you might also wish to post a link to the following:
- any stories or biographical details about him
- information about any DNA-tested relatives of the soldier (see One in a Million - the genetic memorial)
- your contact details (e.g. email address) in case anyone wants to get in touch with you about him.
As an example, I have created a digital memorial (both genealogical and genetic) for a relative of mine (see diagrams below). He died in 1916 but is buried in a marked grave (i.e. he has been identified). You can see the actual memorial here (under the Stories section) …
https://www.everyoneremembered.org/profiles/soldier/61422/
Thanks for posting Maurice, it's a great project.
ReplyDeleteHi Maurice. My soldier is missing in that he was reported missing presumed dead at Gallipoli. No body found but is commemorated on a memorial. However he doesn't appear in your list.
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel - the list of soldiers is still in development at the moment. It initially comprised only of men who died on the Western Front and have no known grave so that's why you won't have been able to find your soldier. The aim is to include every single man listed across all memorials but it's going to take time to pull all of that data together. We have now gathered together all of the Gallipoli men, however, and these have now been added to the database so you should be able to find your soldier if you re-try the search. Thanks for your interest in the project.
DeleteHi Michelle. Just by chance I checked last night and saw the Gallipoli soldiers had been added (thank you). I've selected my great uncle and will get to work on his tree.
ReplyDeleteKind regards
That's excellent Rachel - thanks again for taking part.
DeleteMy soldier is missing even though he is recorded on the commonwealth graves commission site and the Imperial war museum site. He is Pte Lawrence (Laurence) Heenan killed in action in Belgium while with 10th battalion Argyll and Sunderland Highlanders
ReplyDeleteYou will find him here ... http://ec2-35-176-151-95.eu-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com/search-database-soldiers.php
DeleteHi, I've just completed a biography, family tree and genetic info for Henry Albert ALLPORT. Thank you for this opportunity.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nelly. :-)
DeleteHaving trouble updating the link to the every one remembered site - I copy in the URL as requested, but when I click update url it gives the following message:
ReplyDeleteLink to Everyone Remembered
Copy and Paste the URL from Every One Remembered
and then click Add URL
Could not update data: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '' at line 1 Not sure what to do next
Hi Maurice.
ReplyDeleteI've picked a soldier from the site and building a family tree. What website/s would recommend to leave the family tree on so that it is forever available to all? I have an account at Ancestry.co.uk, but what if I wanted to close my account?
Also another question please... once we have picked a soldier from the list do we select them on the list and let you know, even though we can't provide any family DNA information?
Thank you
Hi Casab
DeleteAncestry is fine. Even if you cancel your account, your tree should stay up there for others to find.
And yes, please select the soldier from the list and add the URL to his EveryOneRemembered page.
Thanks.
Despite your worked example I am not clear about sharing a link to an Ancestry Tree on the EOR site. As far as I am aware one can invite family members to view a tree but it is not possible to provide a general link. To view the example tree you have provided I need to sign in and you obviously made it work - how, please?
ReplyDeleteHi Colin, you have to copy and paste the link to your tree from the URL (address bar) at the top of the webpage. This can then be pasted onto the EOR website. People who want to access the link will need an Ancestry account and be signed in to it. Ancestry accounts are free so this should not be a problem.
DeleteThanks. I can see that a link to the tree as a whole may be better and easier than a link to the person, so the format would be https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/[NUMBERx]/family
ReplyDeleterather than https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/[NUMBERx]/person/[NUMBERy]/facts although both would work.
Ancestry is often free for 14 days then you have to pay!
The 14 days refers to the free trial of the records on Ancestry ... but anyone can have an account WITHOUT paying anything.
DeleteEvery day's a school day! Are you happy for us to link to online trees located elsewhere? Such as those at http://www.cpgw.org.uk/soldier-records/
DeleteAbsolutely ... a tree by any other name would smell as sweet. Any tree on any website can be used.
Delete:-)
Rachel did you work out how to do it? I am getting the same error message.
ReplyDeleteA number of the links on this website no longer exist - it is also quite confusing where it says "Plant his family tree (Click Here) in our Soldier Database" so Click Here takes you to Everyone Remembered which I can find the soldier I have researched but I cannot seem to add any information to his profile the site seems to be run by the Royal British Legion and only really contains the CWGC info - and when you click the Soldier Database link it just doesnt load as do a number of other links throughout the page.
ReplyDelete