News & Information

The Huntspill baptism transcripts covering the period 1655-1712 are now available for society members to view online.

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

The December update includes some seasonal records, an update on what's new with the major website providers, what's happening at the museum in December and important news about the North Somerset free magazine provider.

Welcome to a special Christmas edition of the monthly update. We’re back!

After a brief hiatus when our website had “gone missing” we are back up and running. However, if you have posted anything since 7th November it will have to be posted again.

We had the AGM on Tuesday, and I hope a good time was had by all.

Seasonal records

It’s always interesting looking at the records to find seasonal names, and I have found the following:

1871: 196 St Thomas Road, Mile End

Joseph Horn, rope maker

Mary Horn

Jesus Horn, aged 8

There are over 50 Mary Christmas’s in the census records

In 1956 there was a Christmas Tree wedding!

Hove: March quarter: Peter M TREE married Joan R R CHRISTMAS

In 1849 there was a White Christmas!

Midhurst: June quarter: Caleb CHRISTMAS married Thirza WHITE.

Local History

At Weston Museum, there a strong Victorian heritage and the Victorians knew how to do Christmas. With a big tree, traditional decorations, the sound of carols and the smell of something mulled in the air! If you would like something a bit different from the hectic, modern side of the festive season, then join them for a Victorian Christmas experience!

Weston Museum is holding a Victorian Christmas Evening on Friday 15th December @ 17.00-19.30

Get into the traditional festive spirit by joining them for a special evening opening. Soak up the wonderful Victorian Christmas atmosphere of the museum lit up by twinkling lights around the big tree, whilst under the covered starlight of the glass courtyard ceiling.

Have a little nibble of the Christmas menu, enjoy a warming mulled drink and listen to some traditional Christmas carols. They will also have lots of stocking fillers and quirky gifts that you won’t find on the high street for sale in the shop. There will be special one-off offers for this evening only, so you can grab a bargain in your Christmas shopping!

No need to book and the museum is free entry, Merry Christmas everyone!

Over the weekend of 16th and 17th there is a Victorian Christmas Celebration @ 10.00-17.00.

See Father Christmas!

Father Christmas will be making a special appearance to reward children who take part in the special Christmas trail with a gift from under the big tree. Father Christmas will be joining his elves on the trails that start at 11am and then at 3pm. Spaces for this are limited, so they advise booking in advance. You can book and pay for a space by either popping in to the museum or by phoning the main number (01934 621028) from Monday 13th November. The cost of £2.50 per child includes both the trail activity and the special gift from Father Christmas at the end.

Make some Christmas crafts

They will also have family friendly Christmas crafts in the Learning Space for children to make their own Christmas cards and tree decorations. There will be different crafts for both younger and slightly older children. They will also be joined by the lovely duo from Rainbow Sands again, so children can make some Christmas themed sand art. The craft activities do not need to be pre-booked; you can drop in between 11am and 3pm. Set prices apply for some crafts, whereas others are for a donation.

Enjoy some festive food and buy some gorgeous gifts

The cafe will have a special Christmas menu throughout December and our shop will feature a wide range of gifts for you to find something quirky and different from the rest of the high street.

Recent New Resources

The Genealogist are beginning to release the Lloyd George Domesday survey.

Since the 1911 census was taken many properties in Britain's cities have been lost to us forever. London is a particular case in point where some of the landscape has been remodelled, in many cases out of all recognition. Whether because of German bombing in the Blitz, or property development in the years between, you may be at a loss looking on a modern map for where your ancestors lived or worked. Where once there were streets of small terraced housing, a plot may have been cleared for a block of flats or a massive office development.

As London drew in many people from all over the country, many of us will have an ancestor that lived here in the first decade of the twentieth century. In some cases the roads that they lived on have been demolished as the area disappeared under large developments that had no reason to follow the ancient street layouts. Until now it has not been easy to trace where an ancestor actually lived when their street has been absorbed under a new building.

When searching for your ancestor, a link to a modern map is not much help when it seems to indicate that your ancestor's house was on the main thoroughfare, when their actual lane, court or road had been a branch off it. Some streets may also have been renumbered in the intervening years and so a modern map could pinpoint the wrong building when the number allocated had previously been issued to a different house. Using a map from the period will be better at pointing to the correct plot than a modern map ever will be.

TheGenealogist has launched a new set of records called The Lloyd George Domesday Survey which provide a unique solution to this problem. By digitising a set of historic maps that are contemporary to the period, TheGenealogist allows family history researchers to pinpoint an ancestor's address on a highly detailed map that will zoom down to show the individual properties as they existed in 1910. These, together with their associated valuation books, are part of the IR 91 land tax records gathered in 1910 under the Finance Act (1909-10). Commonly known as the Lloyd George Domesday Books (but actually entitled the Duties on Land Values), these records will eventually cover the entire country with tagged maps that will reveal exactly where your ancestors lived. The books will also provide researchers with basic information relative to the valuation of each property, including the valuation assessment number, map reference, owner, occupier, situation, description and extent. To begin the project TheGenealogist are launching the City of London and Paddington maps along with the associated valuation books.

Also on TheGenealogist the full set of tithe maps are now on line.

FindmyPast, of course is the home of the invaluable 1939 register. Peter Calvert from LostCousins.com has republished his free guide to the 1939 register with updated information.

Also on FindmyPast they have announced that they have released the archives of Trinity Mirror Group which includes the Daily Mirror from 1903 onwards. These are available via the newspaper section of their website.

Ancestry

Ancestry have updated their FindaGrave index including a section on burials at sea. They have also released parish records for Suffolk from 1538-1850.

Change of provider for free magazines from Weston Library

The free magazines available via your library card are rebranded as RBDigital (from Zinio). It is now a joint subscription with LibrariesWest and there will be two genealogy magazines available: “Who do you think you are?” and “Your Family History”

Social events

Please remember to bring along your money for the Kew trip at the next meeting. Brian or I will be collecting your money.

I have provisionally booked the Worlebury Golf Club for 1st October for the annual meal. More details and costing in the New Year.

May I wish you all a Happy Christmas, and may your brick walls be broken down!

The Milton Road Cemetery burial transcripts covering the period 1896-1918 are now available for society members to view online.

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

Good news our website is back on line again.

There are a few issues which still need to be sorted for example loss of map.

In addition any articles etc posted since the 7th November will need to be uploaded again if they are still relevant.

Halloween is over for another year  but if you want some background reading about witchcraft in the early years of the 17th  Century England then you might be interested in this book which tells the story of Anne GUNTER who I believe to be my 1st cousin 11 times removed! The  book “The Bewitching of Anne Gunter: A Horrible and True Story of Deception, Witchcraft, and the King of England, by James Sharpe was published in 2001 is based on a true storyIf your I managed to get a very cheap Kindle version earlier this year.  If your ancestor was a Witch or you are interested in the history of Witchcraft,  in particular Scottish Witchcraft, you may find this background reading of help.

Local History

• This autumn the Harptrees History Society is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of its Society by exhibiting more than 1000 years of local history at East Harptree Village Hall, Whitecross Rd, BS40 6AA  Sunday 12 November 11.30 - 5pm where there will be displays; archaeological artifacts; research work; DVD show; digital mapping talks; First World War and W.I. displays; Photographic archive of East and West Harptree, Bishop Sutton and Chew Valley before the Lake.  Members of our Family History Society will also  be on hand to offer assistance with family history research and with some of our resources.  Do come along and support them and us.
• There have been at least two Local History events during October , the Worle Local History Exhibition and the Congresbury Local History Weekend.   Both were highly successful and the result of hard work by members of the societies involved.    Both highlighted the interdependence between the people who lived in the area and the area itself.
• Information about other Local History events in our area is available from the  Avon Local History and Archaeology Group (ALHA) Newsletters which are on our web site
• The British Association for Local History has announced that back issues (older than 3 years) of their magazine, The Local Historian are now freely available to download.  Their first magazine, then called the Amateur  Historian,  was published in 1952 and has articles about the number of ancestors we can hope to find when researching and hints about how to put on Local History Exhibitions.  The newest one to become available to download – now called the Local Historian was published in Oct 2014 and also contains articles which provide interesting background information for any research into family life, including a study into whether living together was more common than marriage with the poorer parts of Victorian Society and a look at information gleaned from School Log Books. There is also an article discussing The Liverpool Women’s War Service Bureau and its work 1914-1918.

BMD Certificates

• A reminder about the PDF version of entries.  Birth, Mariage and Death Certificates  from July 1837 onwards are normally available as certificates which cost £9.25 each. The General Register Office has a temporary project to get the information online as a PDF for only £6.00. You can find further details, including the periods covered, at the GRO site.  The PDF service will continue until 12 January 2018 or, maybe, for longer.

Recent New Free Resources

• South Australia - Familysearch is now including free access to the South Australia, Immigrants Ship Papers, 1849-1940 – These are free and you can see the handwritten list of names, ages and occupations of people who entered or left South Australia during this period.  Search here but note there is a short gap in the middle with some years missing.
• South Africa – FamilySearch has added additional indexed records to their collection of civil deaths from Cape Province. The new additions span the period from 1895 to 1972. In addition to searching by first and last name, you can also scan the 2.2 million images in this collection. The images are organized by year of death and then by municipality. These records come from the National Archives of South Africa and contain a considerable amount of information, such as place of birth, intended place of burial, cause of death and residence. Access is free from Cape Province Death Records

Book Reviews

• I have recently been enchanted by a book about Weston which was published a year ago – A completely different look at the architecture of Weston  entitled Looking up Weston-super-Mare  written and illustrated by John Hickley.  Put it on your christmas present list! Visit this Bleadon Web site for more details.
• Another fascinating book was the subject of our last monthy meeting when Dr Adrian Webb, who was a member of our society some years ago spoke entertainingly and inspiringly about “Somerset Mapped: cartography in the county through the Centuries”, which he has written with Emma Down.  Lavishly llustrated with examples of maps and charts it explores how the county has been represented.  More details about the book here

Society Activities

• This photograph was sent to us from the Bristol & Avon FHS showing our stand with (from left to right) Bill Caple, myself,  Graham Payne, and Sue Dury offering advice about family history research at the Bristol & Avon Fair in September.

• Our Library Help Sessions continue throughout November and we look forward to being challenged with your queries – no question too small or too silly!
• A reminder that we will be at the Harptrees Open Day on Sunday 12th November
• The Society will be taking a stand at the Rotary Charity Christmas Fayre on Sat 18th November 2017 at 10.00 - 16.00 at the Royal Hotel
• Our next meeting, on Tuesday Nov 28th  will be our AGM and a Members’ Evening when you are asked to bring along items which have been handed down in your family and explain why they are important to you.  If you would like to use illustrations bring along a memory stick with powerpoint or just photographs and we can project them for all to easily see.  The latest edition of Buckets and Spades should also be available for you to pick up at that meeting if you have opted for the printed version.   As this is our last meeting before Christmas there will also be be a quiz and suitable refreshments.

Finally a reminder that plans are now going ahead for a visit to the National Archives at Kew on the 12th April 2018 subject to sufficient numbers to fill the coach and make it viable.  Please let Brian Airey or Peter de Dulin know if you would like to be included.  The National Archives is very near to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew so if you have friends or relations whose interests are more horticultural than historical bring them along!

If you have anything to add which you think might interest our members please add it as a comment to this item.