News & Information

Sadly, David Milner passed away last week and as this photograph indicates apart from his role as Treasurer of this society he had a deep and knowlegeable interest in the Battle of Waterloo.  He had compiled a register of British soldiers who served at the Battles of Waterloo and Quatre Bras or were in Flanders at the time and had excess of 40,000 names in the database.  I remember the last talk he gave to our Society included information about Joel FISHER who had murdered his wife in the Devonshire Inn in Weston (now the London Inn) but had previously fought at Waterloo and gave his Waterloo medal to his son the night before he was hanged at Taunton.   David was always generous with his research and there will be people in all parts of the world who have reason to be grateful to him for his help.  We will all  miss him. The picture shows him with the late Sheila Anderson, both stalwarts of our society advertising an Open Day several years ago.

I was sorry not to be at the last meeting but I gather the talk by Mark Bayley of S&N British Data Archive Ltd was well received and people gained from the experience.  Our next meeting is a  Members’ Evening and we will be looking at researching the female members of our families.  We’ve called it “Mothers, Sisters, Nieces and Aunts!” but please don’t leave out Grandmothers  - especially in families where they became the Matriarch of the family.  The females are often more difficult to research because of the name change but are so rewarding.  It was suggested recently that the Wills of Maiden Aunts were particularly useful because they often name the spouses and children of their siblings.  Please bring along to the meeting any information or artefacts relating to the women in your family.

While talking about women I came across something concerning a Sarah HAYNE (when looking for something else!)  on the Wedmore Genealogy Page where the Wedmore Chronicles written by the Rev Hervey are available. Look at the Vestry minutes No 153 for March 22 1822 and No 163 of Oct 24th 1823.  Do any of you own a relationship to Sarah HAYNE?

It’s always fascinating to look at Vestry Minutes and Overseers’ Accounts but for those you usually have to go to the Record Office serving the County in which your relatives lived

We had a very interesting visit to the Somerset Heritage Centre in May – thank you to Brian Airey for organising it - and now have a greater understanding about how these archives work and how we can benefit from viewing actual records.  

As I write this the 1916 Battle of Jutland is being commemorated – The National Records of Scotland has an interesting article about it    There are three names on the Weston Grove Park Memorial of men who perished during this battle. They are:  Petty Officer, Albert Arthur BAILEY and Ships Corporal 1st Class, Charles LEWIS (also known as SMART) who were serving on the HMS Indefatigable and Able Seaman William Reginald John CHANT who was on board the HMS Defence.  You can see more about them on our web site  or on Findmypast under their Battle of Jutland Records  although Albert BAILEY appears to be missing from that list

Ancestors' occupations or Way of Life

• The National Records of Scotland web site also has some very useful Research Guides and Background information which is interesting even if you do not have Scottish ancestors – Take a look at the page about Midwives for example
• If any of you have travelling ancestors have a look at the Romany Genes web site This site has an amazing amount of information on it and has some good background information – it includes transcriptions.
• I’ve had a couple of enquiries lately about researching medical ancestors.  This site may not find your individual ancestor unless they are a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in which case you can find them in a searchable database    from 1518 to 2004
• I think I may have made a connection in my own family tree with an Anne GUNTER who is the subject of this book “The Bewitching of Anne Gunter: A Horrible and True Story of Deception, Witchcraft, and the King of England, by James Sharpe.  – Who ever said that Family History was dull?   Perhaps I just enjoy getting sidetracked?

The new Help Sessions at the North Somerset Libraries have started, thanks to the volunteers , but with the holiday season approaching we could do with more to cover for individual sessions.  Please let me know if you can offer some help - the details of timings are in the May Update.