Tips on Connecting for an International Genealogical Research Project - A Covid research project

Researching Family History is a lovely project but it is often isolated and lonely. Collaboration is “more funner” especially during a covid pandemic. At the beginning of Covid I was approached to contribute to research on a prisoner of war (POW) escape project. The initial group comprised of men and women from the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Four people who had had grandparents or relatives in this event at Schweidnitz POW camp in Poland in WWI had started researching the circumstances and events. I was contacted due to a blog I had written on a third cousin Mark Strelley Fryar about the project. Even though my connection to this event was via a WWI British soldier, I felt I could get my teeth into the Aussie side of things as there were 6 Australian soldiers and Flyers involved in the escape.

Ruve's desk and her memorabilia

Since then (mostly throughout COVID lockdowns and isolation) five of us along with other interested parties have followed up on a World War I tunnel escape of 26 prisoners of war from Schweidnitz on 17^th March 1918. It was important to contact the “holders” of any hundred-year-old letters, photos, documents and memoirs. Usually these would be in the hands of aging children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. 

This is a little-known Prisoner of War escape story where British, New Zealand, Canadian and Australian officers who have been shot down or captured during their time in the RAF, AIF, infantry or Merchant Navy. They had generally escaped their way out of other camps into Schweidnitz Prisoner of War camp where the last of their daring escape plans was hatched and carried out in March 1918 The men were relatives of the researchers and throughout research and writing, we connected and pulled our knowledge and resources. The combined story is amazing.

Along the way we attracted photos, stories, records and memoirs from some other relatives who were glad to share and for us to go for it.  We were lucky enough to score some personal memoirs, letters, anecdotes, scrapbooks and articles. Basically, we were looking for “the last man standing” in each family- the keeper of the medals, facts, photos etc for men who fought over 100 years ago.

The results of a group search collaboration are fun. The combined skills produce a result, far larger than the sum of its parts.  Think about the synergy of many heads in such a diverse team. Some are fantastic communicators where personal Ancestry messages or emails to strangers are well received and often fruitful. Others are lateral thinkers and approach a problem in a more productive way.                               In other words, we all went down different rabbit holes. Of course, it helps to have a devil’s advocate to cast an eye over findings, to question or query assumptions.

The ability to access local research or different subscriptions add to the knowledge and scope of information found. For example, we discovered National Archives were free in the UK during and after Covid. We could all access up to the quota. Lots of research and Australian and New Zealand records are free to use and search especially war records and newspapers. Knowledge of this improved our chances of finding all that we needed.

Our inboxes were always dinging with correspondence. After all we were operating in at least 4 time zones. Files and comments were flying everywhere. We needed a system of organisation and storage.

Template for storage of files for each person on Dropbox

We used a cloud system called Dropbox to collate all our files. Everyone can access the team content through a single site. After an email had been circulated to all members with new information or files correspondence was summarised and files sorted in a systematic way on Dropbox.

We developed a standardised format for collecting and filed it on the Dropbox account based on this template. Occasionally we had to cull because of storage limitations, but it was okay because we had usually saved it to our own personal computers also.   Files and photos all in one easily accessible space – easily saved to our own systems too. Soon it was filled with the fruits of our research.

We were systematic in collating our research -Claude Asquith Captivity and photos

Similarly, on your own Personal computer be systematic with naming the files and storing them. A major folder called for example POW Project is ideal. Separate folders within this folder for each man eg Mark Strelley Fryar or possible general topics such as camp life. Separate out the other information into subfiles for each person eg Mark Strelley Fryar photos, war records, capture,  Red Cross records, repatriation.

One of our team was a wonderful “spreadsheeter”. Soon we had information about all the POWs coming in an out of prisons, the length of their stays, matching record numbers and photos in colour-coded spreadsheets.

An original spreadsheet of the escapees

An historian had already started off some Family trees for the men and I used my Ancestry account for tracing all the POW families of men in the escape sharing the links so others could access, add, and refer to information at will. We populated it with genealogical information, photos and records. As the number of stories expanded so too did the number of people being researched. It was all so interesting. My tree had all the men in one single tree but as several disconnected family groups. The tree was named after the Schweidnitz POW Camp.  Contact information was included to catch anyone who stumbled upon our main men. Hopefully they would have their interest peeked and they would make contact. A bonus is the Ancestry “tree hints” which attract others to us and provide information to us through their algorithms.

Murphy's family details on a tree up loaded to Ancestry to share

 Naturally, being during Covid, we were unable to face-to-face to communicate (I could easily have jumped on a plane and visited in a different time). We became experts at Messenger video chats and found that we could have very productive meetings and gatherings if we chose 7.00 am Australian time to converse.  In that time frame business was discussed with either a nighttime aperitif in England, a red wine in Canada or a breakfast or morning coffee in Australia and New Zealand. It was great to chat and touch base with one another individually or in a group from time to time, especially at Christmas. 

A 4 timezone catch up with and without alcoholic beverages!

 

Besides sharing via the Ancestry tree, I wanted to share our stories.

Schweidnitz  POW Camp Escapes and Escapades https://schweidnitzpowcampwwi.blogspot.com

We used the blog to get out our research story into a wider open public arena.  The Blog would end up being used to capture other researchers or interested relatives who would stumble to cross it after a websearch on a particular person or a search for Schweidnitz POW Camp. We wrote a series of short stories on the various characters involved in the escape plus some of the other people of interest which popped up during discoveries such as the Queen Mother’s brother and a fellow who later became a Catholic priest after the war. We rounded it off with camp stories, information about life in the camp and their eventual repatriation. We invited guest writers to contribute their stories.

The blog is a means of directing people to our incredible story, and to capture their stories. People can contact us once they have found us.  Interestingly, a Polish historical page found us and we are now working collaboratively with them via their Polish blog site. 

The Polish Schweidnitz History portal

A word of warning here – for all its benefits be cautious of what you want to reveal. Do not give everything away in a blog if you are considering writing a book, a huge report or screenplay. 

One of the team developed timelines for our research “chapters” and in view of our accumulated information makes it easier to gather up referenced information when or if the book finally comes along. Colour coded charts and a spreadsheet is also a great data sorter for this task.

I thoroughly recommend a collaborative project. These men couldn’t have planned such a massive escape if they didn’t join forces, cooperate, help others. Likewise, like our ancestors we colluded and joined forces- how proud they’d be.

 

Below is a summary of tips for collaboration.

• Develop resources on shareable ancestry trees such as Ancestry or Wikitree
• Organise a cloud share service for files such as Dropbox. Make sure to standardise and sort files using easy to understand file titles/names. These are particularly useful when files are large.
• Develop protocols for emails so that information is easily shared, followed up and retained.
• Beware of email overload- develop a system of updates occasionally for those who may not want to be flooded with every bit of data.
• Think of using blogs or Facebook groups to pass on information to others.  eg We have a Strelley Family Facebook page and the blog for people to receive updates. People can access new information at will or introduce new interested parties to the current information. Blog links and stories are easy to share.
• Instagram, X , Messenger are other options to explore.
• Catalogue information into stories. My kids like 1 page summaries – little bites keep their interest.

Some of the photos collected - from the Nobbs Collection

What are we going to do next?? 

With the world coming back to normal our project has slowed as we make up for lost travel. I'll keep the blog going with updates like this. Some researchers and contributors have been able to write about their relatives and interests and we are always open to more finds and information. This is a space to celebrate them.

One member is engaging a ghost writer to incorporate her grandparent's part of the story into a larger family history of war, immigration and farming history. 

Another is planning a book on the topic between trips. Who knows- I think it could be a good documentary or film.

The search is always open for more information and memorabilia. We'd love to place a War Memorial in the location of the POW camp but negotiating that between 4 governments is probably easier said than done. Poland in Spring in 2028 might be nice!

I recently had a copy of the blog series made into a book. It is added to my collection of stories from my other blog- something I'm really proud of. Any suggestions ?  Contact us