News & Information

August in a holiday resort is always interesting – Today on the beach lawns the Dairy Show was attracting the crowds – just like it was 40 years ago and it reminded me of some films I had looked at recently.  The British Film Institute has films of a way of life in this country which has perhaps disappeared.  Search by entering the place you are researching.  You may be interested in  “One Summer in Somerset “ a film made in 1968 largely containing views of Weston-super-Mare.  Another film is of an unnamed village called  “Village Life in Somerset “ made in 1934 – probably somewhere in South Somerset. Other films include Birnbeck Pier in the 1970s and colour film of the Blitz on Bristol & Bath in 1942 (which starts with a brief look at Chew Magna) and shows  the demise of a house which had been in my family in the 19th century but was a casualty of the Bristol Blitz. 

Some Internet Sites worth exploring

• During July there has been the release by the National Library of Ireland of some images of Irish Catholic Records – they are not indexed so you have to browse through them and you do need to know which parish you need.  Some of the entries are of course in Latin and some are very faint and difficult to read but as with all research if you do locate an ancestor they are worth the effort.  They are free and a very important source for Irish research. Go to the National Library of Ireland  This explains the whole set up of these Irish records and is a really useful site to explain the background to Irish research.
• If you haven’t already tried Cyndi’s List possibly because of its American roots it might be worth trying the Cyndi's List UK pages for general sources. Not all the sites are free but you may well find something there of interest.  Just beware of the advertising links to Ancestry dotted about the pages.
• I was surprised to find a photograph of my gg grandparents’ grave in Wraxall on Ancestry under their “Find a Grave Index 1300-current”  Don’t forget that Ancestry is free in the Library.
• Just a word of warning about the Family Trees on Ancestry – do check before adding adding information from a tree to your own tree, there have been many reports of errors.  Even some of the sources on Ancestry need checking.  For example my grandfather was christened at Cam, Gloucestershire on the 1st Feb 1881 but the Gloucestershire Baptisms on Ancestry (although they do have the images) has it transcribed as 1st Feb 1880. Not an earth shattering error but I have offered a correction.   All transcriptions carry the possibility of errors as anyone who has tried to decipher handwriting knows..

Society Meetings

July

Lynda Hotchkiss kept everyone on their toes at our July meeting with her entertaining talk “A Family Tangle”.  Based on her own research she ranged over many generations of her family and with several examples of intermarriage between them it made a fascinating and intriguing tale.  After the meeting, one of our members reminded me of “He’s his own Grandpa” a song made popular by Phil Harris in the 1940s.  There is now a version of this song complete with family tree which you can see on Youtube.    However I think this is actually simpler than the family described by Lynda!

August

We have no meeting in August but we will still be at the Library every Saturday afternoon from 2.00pm to 3.30pm with individual help and advice so please come along if you are in the area.

September

Our next meeting is on September when one of our members, Peter Towey who has recently been elected as a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists – Congratulations Peter! – will be exploring the 18th century Chancery proceedings relating to the DARLEY family of Cornwall.