News & Information

The Banwell Wesleyan Circuit baptism transcript covering the period 1838-1897 are now available for society members to view online.

Please report anytranscript errors tothe author of this news article.

It’s July, and time for Wimbledon, gardening and holidays so is there time for Family History?  We all have priorities to make in the way we use our time, but life goes on and you are creating the family history of the future.  Are you recording the events which your descendants will search for?  With photography so easy now, are you saving and naming the people in your snaps?  Many photos are kept digitally and not printed these days and it is not so easy to identify individuals without a back to write on!  Many old photographs appear online with a request for someone to name the individuals, whether they are school photos, wedding photos or pictures of other activities, so this not a new problem. 

Kewstoke Local History Exhibition

There will be a Kewstoke Local History Exhibition in the main village hall at Kewstoke starting Thurs. July 11th to Sunday July 14th. It will be open from 10.30 am until 6.30 pm each day. Refreshments will be available.  Our Society will have a help Desk there throughout, but the local Kewstoke exhibits and resources will be plentiful and varied.   They will include a new display of W.W.1 & 2 & evacuees and where they stayed in the village. Many local family histories with photos. The usual Census entries 1841 to 1911. New information taken from the Parish Minute books. Lots of new photos and information about local buildings and events.

 Genealogy versus Family History

There has been a concentration lately on the DNA aspect of genealogy but if we think about the way in which our ancestors lived that will add another dimension to your research.  I have recently been reminded of a book published in 2016 by Janet Few, who has spoken to our Society several times.  It is called “Remember Then, Women’s Memories of 1946 and 1969 and how to write your own”  Janet worked with a group of 80  women who recounted their own experiences and consulted their diaries and photographs to produce a book which  describes life from their own perspective and may give you some tips on how to write up your own memories.  This holds good for men and women, although I suspect few men wore liberty bodices!

Serendipity

You never know what you will find when you are looking for something else!  In the Library last Saturday we were looking for information about activities on Birnbeck Pier.  We were trying to identify individuals in this photograph. 

Peter Lander of the Birnbeck Regeneration Trust had already identified someone with connections to Axbridge Workhouse – but we had also found that a woman assistant on the Water Chute had given evidence at an Inquest during the same year as the photograph – 1913.  David Tyler began looking through the Weston Mercury which is available on film in the library for more information and found an account that described the circumstances when a man fell from the Old Pier.  Much to my surprise one of the boatmen who tried to rescue him was named as J. HASE.   I think I can identify this boatman as my father-in-law’s eldest brother, but I had no idea that he had a boat at that time.  By the way, the air conditioning in the Library made the atmosphere very comfortable on one of the hottest days this year.

Helping others to help Yourself

I have found that answering queries on the Research Forum, by volunteering at one of our Free Help Sessions or by taking part in the discussions on our Facebook Group often takes me into new areas that can be helpful in my own research.   I have just been looking to see what new resources were available on the various sites and found that Find a Grave had new entries on their site and one of them just might be a direct ancestor of mine who died in 1798. 

This photo was put on last year and I’ve been looking for him since the 1980s!  The site is free of charge although it is included in the Ancestry offering.  It obviously pays to revisit sites to see if they have been updated.

Family History Societies

I know I’m talking to the converted here but belonging to one or two Family History Societies can be a tremendous help in your research.  Ideally, you should join one which holds meetings in the area in which you live so that you can attend meetings and meet like-minded people who share your interests and another which covers the area in which your ancestors lived as that one is likely to have resources to help you and members who have an in-depth knowledge of the area.

You don’t have to be a member of our society to access many parts of our website.  News & Information (including the Monthly Updates) and some Journal Articles are open to everybody.  Transcriptions are free for members.  Other Societies have similar areas that are open to all.

Some examples of other Societies’ offerings:

• The Bristol & Avon FHS has a database of information from unwanted Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates which can be searched online to give full details.  They include certificates from places other than Bristol and there is always the chance that your family name is included.  This is a Weston death certificate on this site  - there could be others!
• The Somerset & Dorset FHS has, as part of its website, a Society Blog with articles and features about the Society  and it includes some articles from “The Greenwood Tree” their Members’ Journal which may be of interest.
• The Devon FHS has a WWWBoard – which is a place where anyone (you don’t have to be a member) can post questions relating to Devon research. 

July Events

During July our Free Saturday Help Sessions at the Library will continue – and we welcome people with questions about their family history research and the question doesn’t have to be only about North Somerset as there is Internet access available.  If you do not live in the area and you have any queries which our volunteers at the library can answer please use our Research Forum on the Web Site to ask your questions and if we have time we can search for you.  The library has local newspapers on film but as they are not indexed, dates, as well as names, are needed to search these.  There is a complete set of Street Directories for 1900 – 1974 and Electoral Rolls from the 1940s where people can be identified.  With the Electoral Rolls don’t forget that only people who have the vote are included and the Rolls are arranged in Street order not alphabetical so searching can take time.  The library has extensive files about local people, buildings and events so if you can get there any Saturday afternoon from 2.00 – 3.30 (when we are there) or of course at any time during the week when you can do your own research you will find the visit worthwhile.

Our next monthly meeting will be on Tuesday 23^rd July when the topic will be the fascinating history of the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Light Railway known affectionately locally as the W.C & P.  The Speaker will be Paul Gregory who is the Secretary of the W.C & P Railway Group 

At the July meeting, it is hoped to have the latest edition of Buckets and Spades available for members.   As usual, we will not have a meeting in August but look forward to our next meeting on September 24^th when the topic will be War medals so you’ve plenty of time to discover which medals your relations received and why - and what questions to ask Peter Towey

If I have omitted any July events please add them as a Comment to this update.

The Yatton St Mary The Virgin churchyard monumental inscriptions are now available for society members to view on line.

Member Bill Caple has also taken photographs of the adjoining Yatton Parish Cemetery. These will be transcribed and upload in the near future.

Please report any transcript to the author of this news article.

It’s the 1^st of June and “Summer is a coming in” or so says one of the oldest English songs.  What are we going to do during the Summer?  Family History often takes a back seat during the summer when other attractions hold sway.  If you are mobile, why not make use of the fine weather to visit some of the places which your family knew in the past.  It’s strange how often when visiting a place where your ancestors lived you have a feeling of familiarity with the area.  Walk where they walked, visit places that they knew and learn the history of the area where they lived.  It all helps to understand their lives. 

Holiday Photographs

Do you have any photographs of parents or grandparents on their summer holiday?

This is my mother and her sister on holiday in (I think) Bournemouth in about 1923, with my grandparents.  I really do not know why my mother was wearing dark stockings on the beach!

Visit an Archive

Why not also arrange to visit an Archive to find out more about your family – not everything is online!  You might look at Overseers' Accounts, Wills or perhaps even Bastardy Accounts if they have them.  These may name the putative fathers of illegitimate children.

Overseers’ Accounts

I recommend you look at the Overseers’ Accounts for the parish in which your family lived.  They are only rarely transcribed but give such an interesting insight into the lives of ancestors.  They will tell you what taxes they paid to support the poor and if poor themselves what help they received. For example, there is an outline of the Overseers’ Accounts for Shropshire which explains why they are so difficult to transcribe.

Brian Austin has transcribed the Overseers’ Accounts for St John the Baptist of Weston-super-Mare which is available on the shelves in Weston Library in book form and is arranged in alphabetical order which makes them easier to consult than the actual Accounts

Somerset Wills

Many of the Somerset Wills were lost during the blitz but some can be found with other documents like deeds of property.  Weston Library has a copy of a book by Sir Mervyn Medlycott of an index to Printed and Manuscript Copies of Somerset Wills, which he compiled in 1993.   Check also with the Somerset Heritage Centre Catalogue online to see what else is available. Search with your ancestor’s name.  You can also search the Discovery database on The National Archives for documents that may be lodged in other local repositories.

Visit of North Somerset Archivist to Weston Library

A reminder that the next visit is on Thursday the 6^th of June and you have just about time to order any documents you wish to see. More details can be seen here.

Free Online Resources

The Family History Federation, of which our Society is a member offers this section on Free Online Resources   It’s worth taking a look at it.

How to Prove your Family Tree Connections

There is nothing more frustrating than finding information online – perhaps in a submitted family tree which seems to be your family only to discover that there are errors in it.  Worse still if you accept it and do not realise that there are errors!  This seems to be happening more often now with the increase of DNA inspired research. This article will give you some ideas about how to ensure that your own family trees are error free by using the Genealogical Proof Standard.  If you spot a mistake in a submitted family tree you can always try to explain to the owner why you think there is an error.  You may find that you don’t get a reply or that they insist that they are correct, and it is you who are wrong, but others may thank you for drawing attention to it. 

Exhibitions and Shows

• The Genealogy Show  The Genealogy Show is taking place at the NEC, Birmingham on June 7^th and 8^th – if any of our members are attending please will you let us know of any particularly interesting and useful stands
• The Family History Show – South West  Nearer to Weston and perhaps nearer home to some of you The Family History Show – South West will take place on Saturday 6^th July at UWE Exhibition and  Conference Centre, Bristol.  We are not having a stand there but we hope that our members may take to opportunity to attend to experience what these shows have to offer.
• Kewstoke Local History Exhibition  There will be an exhibition in Kewstoke Village Hall from the 11^th to the 14^th July organised by the Kewstoke Local History Group at which our Society will have a Help Desk run by Graham Payne and others.  We look forward to meeting many of our members there.

Free Help Sessions

Our Volunteers in the Library are there each Saturday from 2.00 p.m. until 3.30 p. m. to help anyone – members or not – with their family or local history research.  Even if you are not researching local families do come into the library to see what is available to interest you or to discuss your research with others. 

Research Forum

This has been very quiet again during May – Only 4 queries and 2 of them were from me!   It would be helpful if replies to any queries could be sent to the website unless they contain information about living people because that way others can benefit from the suggestions made.  Having said that, no one answered my queries either directly to me or to the web site.  If our members really do not have any research queries perhaps they might consider giving some examples of recent successful research which might assist others. 

Next Society meeting – June 25^th

Books with a genealogical theme are riding high in the charts these days and I for one find them exciting reading.  We are lucky to have in Weston a published author who is going to talk to the Society at our next meeting about her experiences in writing her latest book.  We look forward to hearing Lois Sparshott again.

Finishing on a high this month – I hope very much to resume attending meetings very soon as I have successfully completed the course of chemotherapy.  I am so grateful for all the messages of support which I have received and am looking forward to seeing you all again.

The Berrow St Mary's new churchyard monumental inscriptions are now available for society members to view online.

Please report any transcript errors to the author of this news article.

It's May 1st - How many of you have danced around a Maypole?  Did your ancestors?  May Day will be celebrated here on Monday 6^th May with many traditional events.  The crowning of May Queens or Princesses and Morris Dancing.

Family History Federation

• Following its re-branding from the Federation of Family History Societies the Family History Federation has published its Really Useful Leaflet 2019 which includes a list of useful Web sites many of which are free to use but where payment is involved the “£” sign is used to show this.
• Our Members can also read the Latest Federation Newsletter on our web site – just click on FHS Newsletters in the left hand column on our home page

Helpful Hints

• About a year ago Findmypast published a Blog covering 6 Common Genealogy Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them).  In case you missed them I've included a link to them because we all make mistakes!
• If you are researching Wedmore families you might find this interesting – Dr John Westover  of Portch House Wedmore kept a Journal of information about the many patients he dealt with between 1686 and 1700.   It includes the cost and the cures he offered and makes fascinating reading. 
• The Genealogist has released some new Records which they have called Little Dorrit, Dickens and Dad’s Debts - They are new Criminal records reveal the dark side of debt in the past
• Ancestry has a new collection of historical postcards from the United Kingdom & Ireland 1893-1963.  There are several from Weston-super-Mare and district.
• Winscombe has always been a large parish in this part of Somerset and the Winscombe and Sandford Parish Council Web site offers a historical aspect to aid in your understanding of the background.  It includes a mention of a book which can be read online by Francis Knight called "In the West Country". It covers a wide area with chapters on Winscombe, Woodspring Priory highlighting the rural nature of the landscape. 
• I have been very impressed with the free web site ColouriseSG which takes black and white photographs and gently tints them.  They do not claim that the colours will be the same as the original subject but it is very good on skin colour and natural background and really brings old photos to life.  Do try it. 

 Society News

• A reminder that I am collecting information about marriages which took place at Wadham Street Baptist Chapel.  Please let me have details of any which you have found during your own family history research.
• The Free Help Sessions at the Library were quieter over the Easter Break but they will be available every Saturday afternoon between 2.00 p.m. and 3.30 p.m. All you have to do is to come in to Weston Library - in the Town Hall - and just bring your query with any information you have already found.
• If you can't make the library then why not use the Research Forum?  That also has seen less use recently but we do have some extremely knowledgeable members who wold be delighted to share their experiences with you - you only have to ask.
• The next Monthly meeting on Tuesday May 28th is presented by Clive Burlton who has written and helped to present a documentary about Bristol's role in the WW1.  Clive lives locally and will cover aspects of the Great War and the effect it had on Bristol and how Bristol reacted to the challenges. 
• The ALHA Newsletters, which can be accessed from our web site, (see link in left hand column of home page) give more information about local events which may interest you.
• If I have omitted any events and information please add them as a comment to this Update.