May 1st was May Day and has traditionally been celebrated by dancing around a Maypole and choosing a May Queen. Did you join in as a child? Who do you think you are? - Live One of the parishes in our area, Hutton, always has a May Day Parade around the Village. It is interesting to consider how many of our ancestors took part in similar activities. However, I see in the Western Daily Press of 1867 this quote: “These good old village festivals are not so often as they ought to be. In days gone by their forefathers kept these festivals up oftner than they are kept nowaday, when there was feasting, and joy, and dancing round the May-pole.” So perhaps a longing for the “Olden Days” is not a new thing! However, I believe that many schools keep the old customs alive.
Who do you think you are?- Live
It has been announced today, May 3rd, that the “Who do you think you are Live Show” will no longer take place. Read about it here. It seems that not enough people attended to make it viable. Those of us who have attended over the years will be saddened but not perhaps surprised by this decision. It really was an event which inspired and encouraged further research. It is ironic that the parent TV programme “Who do you think you are?” whilst inspiring many to research their past has also made it all look too easy and thereby caused frustration when success did not come immediately. The advertising of some of the commercial sites which also make the research seem to be speedy has also caused people to think that they can find out all about their families without any help from others.
FamilyTrees
Family Trees on Familysearch. I’ve written before about family trees on Ancestry but there are also some free ones on Familysearch. You need to sign in to a free account and then when you search for information about an individual you may see a small tree icon in the far right column which denotes the availability of a tree including the name you are looking for. These trees have less information than the Ancestry ones but if there is an obvious error, for example, the mother was very young when the child was born, Familysearch will put a note to that effect. This is all explained on this Blog . Like all published family trees please be aware that errors can get in. It seems that once you are signed in you can add information to any tree.
Have you seen WikiTree? This is also a way of publishing your tree – has anyone tried it?
Old Books
I was interested to read last week that the sale of books was increasing and the sale of ebooks such as Kindle was decreasing. But before buying a book, particularly an out-of print one, it is worth searching to see if a digital version is available online for free at sites such as Archive.org you can search for the County you are interested in to find genealogical books and Google Books. It's worth investigating both sites - they have a lot to offer
Library Help Sessions
Our Library Help Sessions are continuing at Worle, Portishead and Weston. Please come in and see us – If you are thinking of visiting Weston during the summer perhaps you might like to drop in one Saturday afternoon. The North Somerset Studies Section in Weston Library is well supplied with street directories, copies of parish records for North Somerset on fiche so you can check any transcription you may be using. There are also family trees of local residents done by Brian Austin as well as files of information about schools, buildings and people etc. Local Newspapers are also available on film. We would love to see some of you there or if you have a query why not use our Research Forum? Having said that why not have a look at some of the queries we get on the site – could you help with a suggestion?
Although we do not have a presence there please note that Yatton library is now closed for refurbishment until about 14 August 2017.
Monthly Meetings
At our last meeting, Paul Tracey expertly explained some of the ways of using our web site and other members were prepared to offer advice about other internet sites. This was an experimental Members’ evening and we really would like some feedback about whether it answered any of your questions. Not many members moved around the various tables but perhaps having the chance to discuss your research with others was all that was needed. We have a similar evening planned later in the year concentrating on methods of recording your research. Let us know if you have a particular question you would like featured
Last weekend being a Bank Holiday has given a chance for some free time with Find my Past – there might be further opportunities with other sites during the Whit Monday Bank Holiday later this month.
At our next meeting we will welcome a return visit from Lynda Hotchkiss who will be talking about every genealogist’s favourite subject “Black Sheep”. We look forward to hearing her again.
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