News & Information

Past Chairman - Denzil Levers

It’s with sadness that we report the death on the 16th June of Denzil Levers, aged 94, who many will remember was the Chair of this Society at the time of the first SWAG Fair at the Winter Gardens.  He was methodical researcher and a valued member of our society.  We extend our sympathy to members of his family.  Denzil’s funeral service will be held at Milton Road Cemetery, Weston-super-Mare on Tuesday 4th July at 12.00 noon

Descended from Royalty and DNA Family History Research

At our meeting in June, speaker, Sue Burne, talked about her research which leads her to believe that her agricultural labourers in Norfolk were descended from members of Royalty – several of them in fact.  She recommended a book by Dr Adam Rutherford who was recently reported saying that:  "literally everyone of European ancestry is a direct descendant of one monarch: Charlemagne, who ruled much of Western Europe from 768 to 814”. 

The book Sue recommended was: “A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in Our Genes” which is now available as a Kindle and a review of which was published in the Guardian last year. 

There is currently much interest in the uses of DNA testing in family history research. At our next meeting, on Tuesday July 25th,  Dr Geoff  Swinfield, Fellow of the Society of Genealogists, and renowned authority on the use of DNA in family history research, will explain its value and advantages in discovering more about your family.

The excellent articles about DNA by Jenny Towey in the last two editions of Buckets and Spades give an introduction to this subject 

My Family Tree

If you have contact with young people there is still time to tell them about this.

Earlier this year the FFHS launched a competition aimed at children and young people aged between 5-16 years. It is hoped that with the help and encouragement of their older family members, they might develop an interest in family history. The My Family Tree booklet produced by the FFHS will help to start their research adventure.   There is still time to enter but please note the closing date is on Thursday 13th July 2017
To enter the Competition competitors must:   
   -  Submit a photocopy or scanned copy of a completed double page spread of their ‘My Family Tree’ booklet and/or the completed family tree chart as printed in the booklet
   - Write a short paragraph (no more than 450 words) describing what they enjoyed most about working on the booklet.
Free copies of the booklet can be requested via email to admin@ffhs.org.uk. Full details with links to the Rules and Entry Form are on the Home Page of our website. 

Who do you think you are?

The 14th series of “Who do you think you are?” starts on July 6th at 9.00pm with actor, Charles Dance as the first subject.  Other people to trace their family history are Clare Balding, Emma Willis, Lulu, Craig Revel Horwood, Fearne Cotton, Ruby Wax, Lisa Hammond, Noel Clarke and Adil Ray. The BBC states that “From the Australian gold rush to baking powder, from prisoners of war to African royalty, from long lost relatives to vanishing fortunes, our celebrities uncover the remarkable and compelling stories of their ancestors,”

LDS Family History Centres

The days of ordering a film or microfiche at a LDS Family History Centre are numbered: 

• On September 1, 2017, FamilySearch will discontinue its microfilm distribution services.  (The last day to order microfilm will be on August 31, 2017.)
• The change is the result of significant progress made in FamilySearch’s microfilm digitization efforts and the obsolescence of microfilm technology.  
• Full details can be seen here 

However, if you visit a LDS Centre you should still be able to use their computers to access relevant technology, premium subscription services, and digital records, including restricted content not available at home. 

The Familysearch Blog includes several interesting articles including Canadian Research, Immigration (into America) and an unusual look at Kitchen Tables as a part of your family history.

Irish Ancestors?

For those of you with Irish ancestors look at  Irish Genealogy News. So often people say that all Irish Records were lost – that is not quite the case and more are becoming available.

Avon Local History & Archealogy

The latest Newsletter from ALHA which is now on our site includes notice of this event which may be of interest to people with ancestors who lived in Clevedon.

SUNDAY 13 AUGUST – CLEVEDON

• Leader Jane Lilly – historian and local resident
• A Walk - a short wander through the seaside resort’s history, from medieval West End to Victorian pier.   
• Meet at 1:45pm At the West End Salthouse car park (BS21 7TY) near the Hotel gates on Old Church Road.

Jane is very knowledgeable about Clevedon history so this should be an interesting walk.

The Newsletter also contains a review of the Local History Day in April – you can read what I had to say about Weston High Street!

Weston Museum

The opening date for the refurbished Weston Museum has now been announced - it will be on Saturday August 26th with a celebratory Victorian Family Fun Day

Library Help Sessions

Finally, a reminder that the Help Sessions at Weston Library continue of Saturdays from 2.00-3.30; at Portishead Library on the 2nd Wednesday of each month from 2.00-4.00pm and at Worle Library on the 4th Friday of the month – The existing library at Worle is scheduled to close on Friday 28 July (when there will be a session from 2.00-4.00pm) with a provisional opening date for Worle Library and Children’s Centre in Mendip Avenue of Monday 14 August.

Radio Bristol published this interview yesterday and you may find it interesting.  Also this article appeared in Buckets & Spades and if you search our site with "WW2" (using the search box at the top of the home page) you will find other items including the memorial in the Cemetery to the Civilians who are buried there.

Although this does not include newspapers or the 1939 Register you can have free access to British and Irish Records on Findmypast from today until the 26th June.  The Findmypast Blog also gives helpful advice for further research.

I have had the following email from Anton de Man in Holland.  Can anyone help please?

"On September 18th 1944 an RAF plane was shot down at Strijen-Sas in The Netherlands.  The pilot died.  His name was Flying Officer Robert Hawksley HANNEY aged 19yrs.  His grave is in the cemetery in Strijen.  His parents were Charles Percival HANNEY & Dora Grace HANNEY who lived in Weston super Mare.

We are making a digital monument with tiles and on the tiles a QR code.  Under the QR code you can add the life story of F/O Hanney, but we would like to know his story before he entered the RAF.  We would like to find relatives or family of F/O HANNEY so we can make it a true life story."

If you have any information please contact Anton at antondeman@hccnet.nl

Brian Airey

The Congresbury Parish Cemetery burial & cremation MIs transcripts are now available for Society members to view online.

Please report any transcript errors to the author of this news article.

After our May Meeting, I received three messages from members apologising for missing it because of our change of timing.  For smany years our meetings have been on the last Tuesday of the month that they had forgotten that from last September we had changed to the 4th Tuesday.  Please make a note of the dates in your diaries and if you happen to be on holiday in Weston in June, July or September why not choose a date which matches our meeting?

Drawing Family Trees

Sometimes I’m asked about drawing family trees but not using a commercial Family Tree programme such as Family Tree Maker.  The Somerset & Dorset FHS has published some guidance for building a family tree which you might find interesting:  It uses Publisher but you might have other suggestions about how you would go about it. 

The National Archives

Would you be interested in a visit to the National Archives at Kew ? – we did not get sufficient members to make this worthwhile the last time we offered this but we have had some enquiries.  Please will you let our Secretary, Brian Airey, know if you would be interested in going to do some research.  When we know approximately how many would like to go on a visit then we can estimate a cost commensurate with the possible numbers involved. 

Family History Fairs

Although we are not having a Fair this year you may be interested in attending events from these two societies.

• Shropshire FHS Fair  on Saturday 03 June 2017, 10:00am - 04:00pm at The Shire Hall, Shrewsbury
• Wiltshire FHS Family History Day  on Saturday 10 June 2017, 10:00am - 03:00pm at the Steam museum - Fire Fly Ave, Swindon SN2 2EY

 Irish Ancestors?

It is often difficult to trace your Irish ancestors but Irish Genealogy News  is a useful site for keeping up to date with the ever-increasing amount of resources which are becoming available for Irish research.  It includes a link to an Irish Genealogy toolkit which is very helpful and takes you to the Top 10 free Irish genealogy databases online 

Changes to the availability of online facilities at home 

• Each month I look for new items for the Update but sometimes it’s time to revisit some favourite resources.  One of mine was the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography which until very recently was accessible at home via my North Somerset Library Card.   I note that Bristol and Somerset Libraries still have it available for their users so do check with your local library whether you can use it.  I already miss the ability to look up the lives of people whose decisions and actions may have influenced my family.  Similarly, the British Newspaper Archive is no longer available at the Library.  This is a great loss for those who have used it to discover, births, marriages, deaths, inquest reports, criminal proceedings and other events – even the results of flower shows -  in the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries and earlier which featured our ancestors.  People who live in Somerset still have access to the 19th Century Newspapers.
• One facility which is still available however is Zinio –  which enables you to read a large number of current magazines free of charge at home – it includes a magazine called “Your Family History”.  The May edition of which contains a very helpful article covering several pages on "Servants" and another on “The Catholic Heritage Archive” which is being promoted by Findmypast.  A new database of Catholic Records is being released in October but some are already available.  This site also allows you to read back copies so you might well find something which is useful to further your own research.

Help Sessions

Our Help Sessions in Weston, Portishead and Worle continue – please feel free to come along – you don’t have to be a member to bring your problems or to ask for help.  We are at Weston every Saturday afternoon, at Portishead on the 2nd Wednesday of each month and at the moment at Worle on the 4th Thursday but when the Worle Library moves location possibly in July it will not be open on a Thursday so we will change our day to the 4th Friday of each month.

Research Forum

Looking through the Research Queries for this month I noticed one which has had no replies - Doesn't anyone have any suggestions about KNOWLES of Yatton and Kingston Seymour? Where would you look for information about this family?  

Society Meetings

We had a very interesting and informative talk at our May meeting from Lynda Hotchkiss about finding Black Sheep in our family,  She outlined the various resources available and noted how crimes had changed over the centuries as had the treatment of miscreants.

At our next meeting on the 4th Tuesday evening of June, our speaker will be Sue Burne, the Chair of the Taunton Branch of the Somerset & Dorset FHS who will talk about her own family history which took her From Ag. Lab to Royalty – I’m not sure in which direction!