News & Information

“If at first you don’t succeed try again” is a motto which Family Historians should keep in mind.  With so many new records being added to sites it’s a good idea to regularly check to see that you haven’t overlooked anything.   On the Research Forum you will see that I’ve posted a request for help to find Henry Austin HASE.  I did write about him in Buckets and Spades in November 2012 but had no response.  My interest in him was renewed last weekend when Findmypast published some more Criminal Records and there he was - in Liverpool.  As yet no one has come up with any suggestions on our site.  But on Rootschat,  where I put a similar request, someone has found him on the Liverpool Crew Lists which I hadn’t realised were on Ancestry.  He also appears on the 1881 census as a ship’s steward in Liverpool giving his place of birth as New York!

At the June Society meeting Dr Diane Brook looked at where we might find images of our family and gave us some food for thought about what we were doing to ensure that current images are being saved.  With digital images the naming of individuals in photographs is just as important but inclined to be overlooked.  If you would like a copy of the resources she suggested please contact me and I will email the list to you.  If you are unsure about how to contact me read the article about websites and the use of email addresses in the current edition of Buckets and Spades.  If you are not yet a member you simply click on my name and then the Contact button

Using your Library Card

Thinking about images and newspapers – have you looked at the range of sites which you can access at home using your library card?   Included in the list of available sites in North Somerset is the John Johnson Collection which is in the Bodleian Library.  I tried searching for “Weston-super-Mare” and strangely came up with a copy of the Girls’ Own Paper of 1907 which contained an advertisement for a hair restorer with a photograph of a satisfied male customer, R H NICHOLLS, who lived in Montpelier.  Subsequently checking his name and address on the 1911 census I found that he actually existed and the product had worked so well that he had married in 1908!  Wherever you live check with your local library to see what is available for you.

Newspapers online with free access.  Many of them received syndicated news items from this country so it is always worth looking – you never know what you may find.

  National Library of Australia's Trove website for Australian newspapers
  Chronicling America free access to American Newspapers
 Welsh Newspapers online - not all are in Welsh!
 The Gazettes  for London, Belfast and Edinburgh Gazettes and official notices.

By now you will have had the chance to read the latest edition of Buckets and Spades – I was particularly interested by an article by Colin Middle about Writers’ Cramp.  It does seem strange that there is a lack of pieces for the Journal.  I hope that Colin does contribute again but why not put Paul out of his misery and send in a small article about one of your ancestors or the way in which you have researched your family.  Social History is very much part of family History and the article by Sheila Mills about food from her childhood showed another way in which to review your own life experiences.

Similarly not many of our full members have contributed to our Research Forum either with a query or responding to someone else.  The majority of queries are from Affiliate Members - does this mean that our full members have no queries? 

Books based on family history

Reading about someone else’s experiences often suggests a way in which you might proceed.  I have just read a couple of recently published books based on actual life histories.  I read both in the Kindle format downloaded to my PC and really enjoyed them.

“Just a Boy from Bristol” by Michael Kelly rang so many bells with me as I was also born in Bristol at about the same time as he was and I shared many memories with him. 
The author of “The Daddy of all Mysteries”, Jess Welsby, is a little younger and was born in Liverpool but I was gripped with her search for her father.  She covers many of the issues of life post war in various religious communities and relates her methods as well as the results of her research.  She is careful to explain the background to her findings which clarified the reasons for decisions made by members of her family.

I have several similar books on my book shelves and they often give inspiration about the way in which a family story could be told.  “It was snowing when I was born” might be the opening line of my own story.  UKWeatherworld   is a site which looks at weather patterns and does have a forum devoted to weather in the past.  It is always a challenge to put your research into context and to add colour to your findings so it is necessary to look at the social and economic factors behind the bald names and dates of official records.  Even if you do not want to publish your family history it helps your own research to have these extra details.   The UCLA  has published some guidelines for oral history research which could  also be used as triggers for your own history – can you honestly answer the questions yourself?

July Dates

On July 8th some members of our Society will be visiting Worle School to assist in their Enrichment week and hopefully inspire the pupils to become interested in Family History.
On July 28th we will be welcoming Lynda Hotchkiss, a former genealogist with the Lincolnshire Archives who now lives in Worle, who will be talking to our society about family history research. 
Throughout July and August the Free Help Sessions will continue in the Library on Saturdays so if you are thinking of visiting Weston during the summer why not come to the Library and refresh or start your research.

Enjoy your Summer!

It was great to see so many of you  at the SWAG Fair in May. Huge thanks to all those members who helped out to make the event such a success.  The number of visitors who attended was an increase over two years ago - which bucked the recent trend of lower attendance figures for Family History Fairs.   On our stand  we were delighted to welcome several new members who joined us at that time and were able to help to break down some brickwalls and give advice to others about where to look next.  Of course, this sort of help is also available in person at Weston Library (in the Town Hall) every Saturday afternoon between 2.00 and 3.30 when volunteers are on always hand to give individual advice.  With the aid of the Library’s computers which enable us to use Ancestry and the British Newspaper Archive free of charge it doesn’t matter where your ancestors come from to get help.  Also with the extensive facilities of the Local Studies section of the Library covering all of North Somerset people researching local families find this a valuable starting place.  Original Parish records for North Somerset parishes are available on fiche so you can check out the transcriptions!  Maps, Directories and Electoral Rolls as well as Brian Austin’s Family Trees and much more besides. You don't have to be a member to get help.

If you can’t get to the library why not use our Research Forum where your question is seen by all visitors to the web site and someone may well have an answer or suggest where you might find it.

We reminded you last month about the visit of the North Somerset Archivist to the Library on Thursday June 4th but even if by the time you read this it is too late to order documents from the Somerset Heritage Centre you could still speak to her about your research.

Change of Speaker for June Meeting

Unfortunately, Dr Diane Brook was unable to come to our meeting in May but has agreed to speak to us in June instead which was going to be a Members’ Evening.   Several members were disappointed not to hear her talk and we thought it best to rearrange it as soon as possible.  Before he left for Cyprus, Mark Sayers had given us an outline of what he had hoped to cover in June about “Family History on the Go” and the use of Mobile devises but we will use that at a later date.

Tips For Research 

• Local BMD Indexes Do look at this site to see the increase in the number of areas which offer this facility. The traditional GRO index  gives the bare minimum of information but with the Local BMD Indexes it is rather different.  In some of them (Bath for example) you are able to see the mother’s maiden name for births as early as 1837 and the actual church where a marriage took place.  Be aware that if a marriage was in a non-conformist chapel a Registrar had to be present and so it will appear that the marriage was in a Register Office but that is just where the records are lodged. There is a debate at the moment supported by  Baroness Scott to introduce a certificate suitable for Family History purposes at a reduced cost – see the excellent Lost Cousins Newsletter for more details
• The web site of the LDS – Familysearch – shouldn’t be overlooked as a free resource especially where it offers images of original documents as well as transcriptions.England, London Electoral Registers, 1847-1913 is fully searchable electoral registers with images accessible free of charge. I’ve been able to track down one of our HASE family on these.  The 1891 entry even told me who his landlord was and how much rent he paid for two rooms on the first floor, unfurnished. 
• For all of you who have Irish ancestry - Irishgenealogy is a site to look at for background information and some searchable data
• Ireland’s Catholic Church Records -The National Library of Ireland has announced that it will give free online access to its archive of Catholic Church records, the earliest of which dates back to the 1700s. The records are considered the single most important source of information on Irish family history prior to the 1901 Census. They cover 1,091 parishes throughout Ireland, and consist primarily of baptismal and marriage records.   This has been promised for the Summer of 2015 – so watch this space
• If you have research links with America you may find this free site of interest – it is from the American Library of Congress and it has digital searchable images of newspapers from 1836 – 1922.  It is called Chronicling  America and I have found some fascinating details on it.  If you haven’t got family connections just try just searching for Weston-super-Mare – it’s always surprising what pieces of news were syndicated around the world.
• Try looking at the records of the Canadian Expeditionary Force if you are looking for one of the many young men who had immigrated to Canada and then served with the Canadians during WW1. There are two sides to these Attestation Forms - don’t forget to look at the second side

Familysearch – Browsable Images

• Australia - New South Wales 1928 Census  This is “browsable” - in other words - it isn’t indexed at the moment although there are plans to include a search facility.  You have to look through it page by page in the same way as we used to do before computers came on the scene.  As so many of the residents of Australia  at that time were immigrants, either by choice or transportation, the census states whether they were free or bonded, what ship they came on, their age, religion, the length of their sentence etc.  You choose the place and then look through each page.    For those of you who were at the May meeting when Female Convicts transported to Australia was discussed you may be interested in looking at the Parramatta census where the first pages list the convicts resident in the Parramatta Female Factory in 1828. The 2nd page of each entry should list livestock owned by the individuals entered but as these residents do not of course own any that page is blank. There are 527 females listed followed by a list of their children.  There are 63 children and their ages are given in months. 
• Tasmania, Civil Registration of Births, 1899-1912  Another browsable resource. Click on the place first.  The information given is slightly more than you would get on a British certificate at the same time as it includes the date and place of the parents’ marriage.

Family History Fairs:

The Society will be represented at the Wiltshire Family History Society Open Day on Saturday June 20th in Trowbridge.  If you are going do come along and see us - we are always ready to try to help with any questions about our area.

Project for the Summer months!

• Just in case you get bored with all the good weather - go through your family trees and enter the sources you have used to find the information.  I’m sure a lot of you have done this but it will make it easier to check your results.
• Do not add information from on-line family trees unless they give sources from original records!

This year the month of May brings the biennial SWAG Fair which will be held on May 16th at the Winter Gardens and brings the chance to refresh your research by talking to members of Family History Societies from all over the South West and South Wales plus commercial companies offering aids to research. Three talks on family history related subjects are also available throughout the day.  Come and say hello at our own stand where we will also be offering advice and listening to your problems.

Society News

Having welcomed Mark Sayers as our new Chair in the last update, we had our first committee meeting under his guidance.  Now, however, sadly we now have to announce that due to a work commitment he has had to resign from the post. He is moving to the Mediterranean (well, someone has to do it!)  We do wish you well Mark, and thank you for all the support you have given the society over the past few years – we will miss you and your wife.

We have never had a vice-chairman, a situation which we will have to resolve.  In the meantime, Brian Airey has reluctantly agreed to carry on as both chair and secretary until November – the revised date of the AGM.  If there is a local member who is interested in taking the chair (or can recommend another member who might be approached) please will they let us know so that they can be co-opted on to the committee before any election takes place.

Paul Tracey does a marvellous job editing our Journal, Buckets & Spades, and it is very well received, however, the content is up to us, the members.  If you have broken down a brick wall, discovered something interesting or amusing about an ancestor, looked into some aspect of the place where your family lived or worked please share it with us.   Reading about someone else’s experiences often gives a clue as to what we can do next to discover more about our own families.  Paul would prefer any articles to be submitted electronically as an email attachment (so that he doesn’t have to type the whole article again) using a 16 Font.  Contact him through the web page if you have any queries.

New Research Aids

• A companion to FreeBMD and FreeCEN - A new version of FreeREG has become available with an enhanced search facility and is well worth investigating. Freereg2 enables you to search for baptisms, marriages and burials in transcribed parish registers.  Surnames are optional which does mean that if, from a census, you know a wife was born in a parish between certain dates but do not know her maiden surname you can search for example for all the Marys christened in that parish at that time.  Not all parishes are included yet but you can find out whether a parish has been transcribed by clicking on Database Contents at the top of the page.  As with all transcriptions it comes with the warning that original records should be consulted to check the accuracy and to see any additional comments which might have been made at the time.
• If you have been following the queries and answers to problems on our web site you will be aware that recently it was highlighted that some marriage banns have been included in a database of marriages England Marriages, 1538–1973 being used by Familysearch, Ancestry and Findmypast – this can lead to a date and place being attributed to a marriage which hasn’t taken place in that particular church.  Banns are called in the parish of both the bride and groom.
• During April Familysearch  has added more parish records with images – always a bonus to be able to see original records
  • Cornwall and Devon Parish Registers 1538-2010
  • Derbyshire Church of England Parish Registers 1537-1918

Unfortunately the first one I tried which was for a marriage of an Israel GENT in 1863 in Derbyshire gave me the Banns register and not the marriage!  I was more successful with subsequent searches.

• I happened to be looking for some Essex records last week and came across the web site called  “History House” which contains information about the history of Essex.  If you scroll down the page you will come to a section entitled Law & Order under which you will see a link to some searchable Essex Police Records.
• Whilst looking at Police service records try the Met Police site which has some helpful advice.  If your ancestors were known to the Police rather than served with the Police you might find the Black Sheep Ancestors site of interest.

Local News

In case anyone was thinking of visiting Weston to go to the Museum it has closed for 2 years to undertake a complete renovation but in the meantime anyone researching North Somerset families will find a mass of information in the Library which is now in the Town Hall.  The Local Studies section includes parish records on fiche for all the North Somerset Parishes, Electoral Rolls, Street directories and maps.  It is the only place where you can consult local newspapers which are available on film.  The earliest Weston Newspaper is from the 1840s and there is a complete collection of The Mercury and the Gazette right through the 20th century. 

Every Saturday there are members of this society on hand in the Library from 2.00 until 3.30pm to give free help and advice to anyone (you don’t have to be a member) about family history research and we have access to the Library edition of Ancestry to assist the search.

Our next meeting, on May 26th will feature a return visit from Dr Diane Brook who has been researching ways of finding and interpreting pictures of our ancestors. 

I am looking to book speakers for 2016 soon - if anyone can recommend a speaker or identify a topic which they would like included I would be very happy to hear from them.

As so much of our family history research is centred on Church Records it is fitting that we remember that during April we celebrate Easter.  Perhaps you will be visiting with relations and catching up on family events.  It’s a time for a fresh start and although you may have other commitments such as gardening, eating Chocolate eggs and Simnel cake and other activities taking priority you may be able to start planning a visit to a Record Office or to the area in which your family lived. 

AGM – New Committee

At our AGM, on Tuesday evening, as our constitution limits the time a Chairman can hold office, there was a change to our Committee in that we welcomed Mark Sayers as our new Chairman, Brian Airey became our Secretary  with David Milner continuing as Treasurer.  The remaining committee was returned unopposed. Our thanks must go to Brian who has been an Officer of the Society for many years.  

The AGM was followed by interesting offerings from members –

• Mark Sayers opened the proceedings with an illustrated description of his successful search for the elusive Albert SAYER and in doing so highlighted various helpful web sites, and how visiting the National Archives had enhanced his research.
• Peter Towey spoke about the GOONS, the Guild of One-Name Studies, describing how the Society functioned, the benefits to its members and others who may be researching the names which are covered by it.  More details from the GOONS web site 
• Arlene Pilgrim rounded off the evening with a personal look at her own research techniques.  Besides using some of the more usual web sites she also stressed the importance of looking at original records which may pick up comments which are not included in transcriptions.  Her visits to Record Offices have been particularly worthwhile with archivists suggesting records which she may not have considered.  Arlene showed an infectious enthusiasm for her subject as she took us through her various sources and illustrated her experiences with examples from her own family.

Both Mark Sayers and Arlene Pilgrim are amongst the volunteers who are to be found at the Library every Saturday afternoon (but not Easter Saturday). Even before the visitors arrive the blue shirted volunteers can be found practising their research skills!   If you are in Weston on a Saturday afternoon between 2.00 and 3.30 why not come along and see us – perhaps we can suggest the next step in your research.  We get some really interesting problems put before us and in tackling them the Volunteers learn a lot too!  Although we are based in the North Somerset Studies section of the Library it doesn’t matter where your family come from because the Library has access to Ancestry with its world-wide record access.

You can also get help of course by using our Research Forum.  I seems that many of the requests for help come from relatively new members - does that mean that the rest of you have no problems at all?!  Whilst thinking about our Research Forum please can I suggest that you type the SURNAME which you are researching in uppercase.  It does make the name stand out and may attract the attention of the casual viewer.

A couple of months ago the Society was represented during the opening week of the Big Worle Project and this photo has appeared in the current edition of North Somerset Life - we reproduce it here with permission from the magazine. Our presence in the Library every Saturday (as mentioned above) is an ongoing commitment but if you know of any other events in the neighbourhood where we might have a stand to publicise our society please contact Graham Payne who coordinates our appearances at Open Days etc.

The SWAG Fair at the Winter Gardens here in Weston on the 16th May 2015.  A description of what is available can be found on the SWAG web site.  SWAG stands for the South West Area Group of Family History Societies and this fair is held every other year and has over 40 stands, not only representing Family History Societies but also commercial enterprises which support research into genealogy.  There will also be lectures during the day on research techniques and allied subjects.

Visit to Kew

Last month, those of us who went to the National Archives at Kew had an interesting and profitable day.   I printed off some marvellous photographs of Weston-super-Mare which I hadn’t seen before.  I was able to look at (and photograph) some original records of people who had been recommended for bravery awards during WW2.  But, my attempt to read some 17th century chancery documents was less successful but nevertheless an experience!  Even those who were visiting Kew for the first time profited from their time there.  The archivists on duty were extremely helpful and patient with everyone.

Record Offices etc

• The Somerset Heritage Centre now has a Facebook Page where you can keep up to date on what is happening there.
• If your family have any connections with Bristol I hope you have looked at the Bristol Record Office Site and read some of the articles about what is on offer there – it includes an exhibition entitled Postcards from Bristol which will be on view from 17th March until the 17th July.  This exhibition is linked to the Know Your Bristol project which is such a rich resource combining and overlaying maps of the area and incorporating the Bristol Postcards. 
• There are plans to extend this project to cover “Know Your Place – West of England ” which would extend the maps to cover the old Avon County.  In the same round of Lottery Grants when Weston Museum  was awarded £1,096,000 to completely refurbish and modernise – South Gloucestershire was granted some funding towards their part of the project.

Social History

A personal bee in my bonnet -  The BBC is currently showing a programme – Back in time for Dinner  – looking at the changes in family food over the last 60 plus years.  I know that many who actually lived through the 1950s found the opening episode rather disappointing as it didn’t portray life as we remember it!  I realise that it is primarily an entertainment programme where a modern family was trying to recreate the 1950s and the result could not represent what everybody experienced at that time, but it did bring home to me the problem of getting to grips with the social history of our ancestors. 

I found fault with the programme because it

• Served cold liver - did anyone ever actually do that?
• Didn’t have a table cloth on the table,
• Had a mother who seemed not to have any basic cooking skills,
• Showed children who turned their noses up at bread and dripping!
• Took no account of the amazing resilience of the population to the hardships and shortages which had been experienced since 1939.

How much more difficult is it to portray what life was like in the Victorian, Georgian or even Elizabethan times when nobody can actually claim to know firsthand what life was really like?  The subject of Social History can be seen debated in this edition of History Today,  however this article is actually dated 1985 so perhaps attitudes and thinking have changed a bit since then? 

New Resources Online

• The scanned images of parish records which are appearing on Ancestry are filling in a number of gaps in my own research.  My mother’s family came from Gloucestershire and I have found some events concerning my great grandfather’s siblings which have made some interesting links.  The latest additions to Ancestry can be seen here.
• Among the latest additions to Findmypast are the Registers of the Bedlam Hospital in London.  You can read more about the Bedlam Hospital without a subscription (scroll down past the advertisement to join Findmypast) and it gives a fascinating background to life at that time for some people.
• The March Newsletter from Findmypast  is of particular interest because it talks about the plans to publish details from the 1939 Register which contains information about who was living in Great Britain during one weekend in September 1939.  This was later used to issue identity cards and was also used to create National Health Service Numbers in 1948. 
• If you have Irish ancestry - try this summary of Irish Ancestors which lists some of the Irish records which you can find online

Next Meeting

Our Speaker for the April meeting is Jonathan Pinnock who was intrigued to find a reggae singer who shared his surname.  We will hear his account of how he traced not only the reggae singer but also his own family history.  I will be particularly interested in this because my maternal grandmother's surname was PINNOCK but although both his relations and mine were living in Bedminster, Bristol at the same time I don't think that they are related.

March 1st and St David’s Day – Let’s look forward to the daffodils which herald the spring and celebrate this day with our Welsh cousins.  Many of those who consider themselves to be Welsh today may find that they came originally from Somerset and other counties.  This site  shows the extent of migration into Wales during the 19th Century.  If you search the 1901 census you will find that 36,000+ people living in Wales said they were born in Somerset out of a total of just over 2,000,000.

I’m also looking forward to our visit to Kew on March 5th.  Through our Research Forum and coupled with a query from someone who came into the Library one Saturday we have been able to assist in some research being undertaken by TNA.  It involves this Research Query and I am hopeful that the people involved in some of this work will be on hand to talk to us about it. If anyone who is going to Kew would like to meet them please let me know beforehand.  This group of Railway Memorabilia is an important collection and it is interesting to realise that it had previously been housed in a garage about 100 yards from where I live and I knew absolutely nothing about it!  No one responded to the WINDEATT query but it is not too late if you know anything about this family or the family of Wilfrid Edwin HAYWARD they would be delighted to hear from you so that they can let family members know what is happening to the collection.

North Somerset Archivist's Visits to Weston

Unfortunately the date of our visit to Kew clashes with the visit of the Somerset Archivist to Weston Library.  The dates for 2015 are as follows :

• 5 March 2015
• 4 June 2015
• 3 September 2015
• 3 December 2015

If you are researching a Somerset family or location - Please contact Jane de Gruchy, North Somerset Archivist:  Tel: 01823 278805  or E-mail: Archives@somerset.gov.uk by Tuesday March 3rd to ask for documents to be brought to Weston for you.

You never know where an interest in family history may lead you. 

• The fascinating talk we had in February from one of our own members, Alan Bateman, about the PANTON Brothers and their tribute to their brother who died in WW2 was a mixture of research and history which was very well received by the Society.  You can read more about the subject of the talk - the Lancaster Bomber “Just Jane” on this site
• During February, I was excited to find a photograph on an Ancestry Family Tree of the tomb stone of my 7 x great grandparents Joseph & Ann TURNER in Winterbourne Churchyard near Bristol.  Joseph died in January 1726/7.  In a book entitled “The Goods and Chattels or our Forefathers” published by Phillimore in 1976 I found a transcription of an Inventory (the original document is in Bristol Record Office) of his belongings - to the value of £176.2s.4d. This was published as a result of an Extra-Mural Course run by Bristol University for the Frampton Cotterell  Local History Group  which surveyed the wills and inventories for the parishes in that area and now clearly demonstrates the links between family and local history.
• Later this year I have agreed to give a talk to the Local History Group of the Weston U3A about Weston High Street.  If any of you have ancestors who lived at any time in the High Street and/or have photographs of the High Street I would be delighted to hear from you.  A review of the High Street in 1923 shows some very familiar shop names – Mac Fisheries, Lance & Lance, Walker & Ling, Coulsting’s Bazaar, Brown’s Cafe, Podger & Davis, Leaver, Woolworth, Butter, Salisbury the Tailors, Over, Lipton, W H Smith, Boots, Stead & Simpson, Maypole, Marks & Spencer, Rossiter & Sons, Dossor, Cecil Walker, etc. etc.  – some of course are still there.  

New(ish) Web Sites

• The British Newspaper Archive  which you can access free of charge in Weston Library continues to add to its total online.  I’ve found it particularly useful for finding information about Inquests and Divorce Cases.  Obituaries are also very often extremely enlightening in the way in which they list the past history of the person who has died as well as the names and relationships of people attending the funeral.  Of course if you have a relation who fell fowl of the law you can also trace their progress through the courts!
• Some months ago I drew your attention to the Genealogist which had added the Tithe Map Apportionment Lists to its site and was promising to add the maps themselves.  Take a look at this background article What Land did my ancestor own?  The maps for Middlesex, Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Leicestershire have now been added and more are to come – watch this space!
• The Royal Navy Registers of Seamen's Services, 1900-1928  are now available on Ancestry.  Just to try it out, I searched for “SMITH” as a surname and found that the first two entries were using SMITH as an alias!
• A number of Parish Records for Gloucestershire have also been added to Ancestry during February these also include Wills and Inventories but here is a problem in that they are only the records of parishes under the Bishop of Gloucester and several parishes in South Gloucestershire are actually under the Bishop of Bristol and will not be included.  The Bristol & Avon FHS  has transcribed these and they are available for purchase on CD – However, you can also consult also these CDs in Weston Library or on the free site Familysearch the link I have given limits the search to English records.

We have received the following from the FFHS  - I am repeating it in full because of the useful advice it contains which applies to most counties not only Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire records arrive online

The first batch of images from Northamptonshire parish registers and bishops transcripts has arrived on the Ancestry website.

They relate to the period 1813 to 1912 and include these records, many of the earlier ones being duplicates:

• 781,205 Baptisms
• 478,523 Burials
• There are also details of 463 confirmations of people from four parishes.

The collections have all been indexed, so they can be searched and individual images downloaded in the ways already familiar to Ancestry users. A browse facility allows you to select a specific parish, choose between parish registers and bishops transcripts (if both are available) and proceed page by page as though you were looking through the original records.

Some key uses of the collections are:

• Locating vital events before the advent of civil registration in July 1837 – and later ones that you cannot find in civil registration indexes.
• Identifying children who did not live long enough to appear in a census (the alternative being to buy expensive civil registration certificates).
• The opportunity to check alternative sources, even where a record has been found.
• However, parish registers and bishops transcripts do not supply a complete roll call of births and deaths that took place in the county during the century starting 1813. Points to bear In mind are:
  • The practice of submitting bishops transcripts tended to die out in the latter part of the 19th century – about half of the parishes in Northamptonshire ceased to send in returns at some stage between 1865 and 1880.
  • Therefore, many events are recorded twice in the earlier decades, but considerably fewer as time goes by. For some places and years, parish registers are not available either.
  • Northamptonshire was a hot-bed of nonconformity, where many children were not christened in the Church of England.
  • Cemeteries were established in Northampton and elsewhere in the county from 1847 onwards. Their burials do not appear in parish registers.
  • As with most family history sources, it is great to have this data so readily available – but think about how you interpret it. 

Our next meeting will be on the 31st March which will include our AGM.  Do look at the latest edition of Buckets & Spades for the Agenda and for an amendment to the Constitution which is being proposed.  Following the AGM is a session on Research Techniques and Problem Solving – Please come with you own ideas on these topics to share with other members.

It’s always interesting to see the research queries posted on our site – Thank you to those who have contributed queries, please keep them coming and if you have any ideas about how to solve some of the questions please add a comment.   Do take a look at the Surname Interests  as well – sometimes people have put additional information under their entry.  For example,  look at the TILLEY entry with its link to another site. 

National Libraries Day – Saturday February 7th.  Why not visit Weston-super-Mare Library on this Saturday from 2.00 until 3.30 pm as we will be taking part in National Libraries Day with our Help Session.  The full range of activities available in the Libraries of North Somerset during February can be seen here.  Come along if you want to see what is available for researching local families – parish records for North Somerset Parishes, censuses, local newspapers, maps, books, directories, electoral rolls, family trees etc. can all be views in the Local Studies Room.  Access by computer to the Library Edition of Ancestry and to all the other online sites made available by the Library can be found here. It doesn’t matter from where your family originates we should be able to find something to help you. 

History of Worle Exhibition - If you missed the excellent Exhibition of Worle History put on by the Worle History Society during the Summer there is a chance to catch up with it again during the 10th – 14th Feb at Weston Museum from 10.00am until 4.00pm each day.  Free entry to the exhibition.   Even if you did attend before – go again - there is so much to see.  For more information about the Exhibition see here.

Visit to The National Archives on Thursday, March 5th. Travel details as before i.e. pick up 7am Locking Road Car Park, Lidl, Worle at 7.10am and Kenn Rd., Clevedon 7.30am.  We will leave Kew at 5.45pm and hope to be back in WsM about 9-9.15pm.  The cost will be £20 for members and £25 for non members.   Please let Brian Airey  know as soon as possible if you are going.  We need to fill the coach to make it viable.  We only go to Kew once a year and it is a good opportunity to see original records and to download documents for the cost of printing.  Someone said to me “Oh everything’s on the net now there is no need to go!”  Yes, a lot of it is – but not everything

• To see what is available use the Discovery Catalogue,   There are many documents which are available to download free of charge while at the National Archives.
• Try searching for the parish of your ancestors, limiting the search to the National Archives and just seeing what is available there.  I have found some interesting reports on schools.
• Try also searching for your surname coupled with the place they lived – I’ve found and will be looking at the attestation papers of one of my family which are not included in any of those available online.   
• Ancestry and Findmypast are also available for use at Kew - free of charge. 

New Records available

With so many additional records becoming available it’s always a good idea to search regularly to see if there is anything new.

• Do you have relations who worked in a Coal Mine?  Take a look at the Coalmining History Resource Centre   This is a free searchable site for mining disasters and casualties.  Well worth spending some time seeing what it has to offer. 
• If you have someone who died during WW1 - Ancestry has an index of the UK Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929.  This lists any money owing to deceased soldiers but next of kin and sometimes occupations are listed so can fill in gaps or enable you to identify men with similar names.  
• A  web site has been launched called “Prisoners of the First World War” comprising records from the International Committee of the Red Cross.  The belligerent countries involved provided lists of prisoners to the ICRC, which created an index card for each prisoner and detainee. You can search through all 5 million of them.
• I was recently in Thornbury and was told about this site called Thornbury Roots    If any of your ancestors come from around Thornbury in Gloucestershire you will find this to be a rich source of information.
• Also outside our area but possibly of interest to our members - There was a great deal of publicity in January  about a grave yard attached to the Bristol Workhouse at 100 Fishponds Road.  The records of these burials have always been available in Bristol Record Office but a group has now put an index to them online.  It was unusual for a Workhouse to have its own burial ground - most Union Workhouses sent the bodies back to their home parishes where they would have been buried in local churchyards .  The Bristol Radical History Group has made a valuable searchable database available and it is interesting to note that, contrary to the media’s interpretation, each burial is in a numbered (but unmarked) grave – not a mass grave.  Unmarked graves were not uncommon - Many of us will know that probably most of our ancestors’ graves do not have memorials on them either.  The site of this Burial Ground should be recognised but I think that making the list of burials available online is the best way of remembering those who were buried there.  It should be noted that the list is not a complete register of deaths in the Workhouse but it is a list of those buried in this site.
• Ancestry has just published an England and Wales, Death Index, 2007-2013 but this is not a complete index – it contains approximately 55% of the total number of deaths and has been compiled from a database of information obtained from newspaper obits and Undertakers’ records.    A similar partial index for a Scotland and Northern Ireland, Death Index, 1989-2013 has been published from the same source containing about 45% of the deaths in that area. This index also includes a small number of records for people in Jersey and the Isle of Man.  These indexes do not contain a GRO Reference but nevertheless they can be useful if your relation is included.
• More changes on Findmypast  to assist with the ease of searching.  Like all changes they will take a little getting used to – but they do allow you to gradually narrow your search.   Watch out that the default search is “World” you may need to change that “Britain” before you start.

Our Monthly Meetings

January finished with our first meeting of 2015 when Christine Thomas talked about the Colonial Cemetery in Hong Kong.  She has done extensive research about this cemetery and she traced the history of three men who had lived and worked in Hong Kong. As with all family history it was the richness of their lives which gradually evolved through her research.  Not just dates and names but aided by some relatives of these men who attended the meeting she was able to paint a full picture of their lives both in the Colony and in this country.  

At our meeting on the 24th February, the next edition of Buckets & Spades will be available for those of you who have opted for a paper version.  Other members will be able to read it online.  Our speaker in February will be member, Alan Bateman, who will be talking about his research into the Panton Brothers of Leicestershire and their purchase of a Lancaster Bomber in tribute to their elder brother who was killed during WW2.

Looking forward to March which is our AGM and Members’ Evening – We are looking for Members to share their tips and experience in researching their families. If you have found a useful source of information please share it with us during that evening – If you have a question which you would like discussed at the meeting please let Brian Airey know beforehand.