As I write this I am watching the antics of three young seagulls on a neighbouring roof trying out their wings. They are flapping away furiously and occasionally have a tiny successful lift off but immediately they are back where they started. It’s a bit like family history research! I’ve been flapping away trying to break down some brick walls and so it was great at our last meeting to hear from members who had successfully unravelled their families. Thank you to Peter, Ann, Arlene, Anne, Pamela and Sue who shared the results of their research. It was interesting to hear how they had managed to solve their problems and it gave ideas of other routes to take.
August is always a quieter time for family history; we do not have a meeting but we will be at Weston Library each Saturday afternoon as usual. The web site has been very quiet as well – very few research queries – does this mean that you have no brick walls?!
In July, I had the pleasure of attending a granddaughter’s wedding and the whole day was a delight; joyous and uplifting. But it brought home to me the recognition of how impossible it is to know exactly what took place when our ancestors married. Sometimes, if you are lucky, a newspaper account will list the bride and groom, their attendants, what they wore, the church music, the guests, their presents and where they went for their honeymoon. More often all you have are the bare details on the marriage certificate and are left to imagine the ceremony. If, as happened in many cases, a North Somerset couple were married in Bristol and the witnesses were not relations or friends but those used for other weddings at that church – how was the service conducted? There was an article in the Telegraph in 2009 which explored some of the traditions of the marriage ceremony. You can read it here
Familysearch as a free site is very useful and does contain images of some of their resources. This article has just been published which explains how to find these hidden records which are not always obvious. Although the example given was for an American record the same method can be used to locate British records.
If you have been following Who do you think you are or have missed an episode you can read about them on FindmyPast. You do not need to have a subscription for this
- Boy George and his Irish Ancestry can be discovered by clicking on Boy George.
- Lee Mack’s investigation can be followed by clicking on Lee Mack
The Genealogist also has items about Who do you think you are:
- The one concerning Shirly Ballas can be seen without a subscription by clicking on Shirley Ballas
- The Genealogist also has items about people from previous series – they claim that the most popular one is about Danny Dyer!
MyHeritage has a useful article about the Irish Famine which you can access without a subscription by clicking here
Keep up to date with what is happening in Federation of Family History Societies by looking at their home page. If you scroll down you will find a link to their Really Useful Leaflet which - if you have never seen it- is really useful!
It was sad that the Family History Magazine which you could read online by using your North Somerset library card ceased to be published in March but there are so many other magazines available including the BBC History Magazine which you may like. You find them by going to the North Somerset Library Onlinelibrary and scrolling down until you get to eMagazines. All free of charge.
If you can add any ideas you have which might help other members to break down thhose brick walls please add them as a comment to this item,
The young seagulls have just taken off but have landed on the wrong roof and are now puzzled about how they got there. I said it was like researching family history!
Happy Holidays – See you in September.
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