News & Information

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!