News & Information

Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum seek WW1 photos.

"We at the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum in Caernarfon are starting the mammoth task of looking for photos of individual soldiers from the RWF who were killed in the Great War.

We are trying to put each man’s name on display on a screen on the centenary of his death and would dearly love to be able to add a photograph of each man to go with his name.  It is a huge undertaking as there were over 10,400 men from the RWF that were killed.  But even if we only get a fraction of the photographs we believe it is worth doing.  Many of the RWF were from all over so we are asking please could you help?

Many families have photographs tucked away so this might prompt them to seek them out.  We accept scans or copies and any that appeared in newspapers, which often carried obituaries including photographs. We need as much information as possible to go with the photo to make sure we
fit the right photo to the right man – but sometimes a name and date of death might be all we need.

Email us on rwfmuseum1@btconnect.com for more details or to send us a photo.

You can also follow our progress on Twitter, Pinterest, Flickr  and Facebook "
 

Shirley Williams
Museum Education Officer
RWF Museum

Our Research Forum certainly came up trumps during January, as far as I was concerned, when a member from Australia was able to help me by locating the death of a relation of mine which had eluded me for several years.  It turned out that she had died and been buried in Wraxall – this was reported in the newspapers giving lists of mourners including her male siblings. It only goes to show that asking for help can have its rewards and another person may tackle the problem in a new way which brings results. I hadn’t known her married name (in fact I didn’t know she had married) so this was a marvellous find. Why not give it a try with any problems you may have?

Saturdays at the Library always bring something new and I have been made aware of a disaster during WW2 which had sadly completely passed me by.  The SS Lancastria was bombed in June 1940 while in anchor in St. Nazaire trying to evacuate military and civilian personnel just after Dunkirk.  Reports conflict about the number of casualties but 3,000-4,000 seem likely. You can read more about it on the site of the Lancastria Association .   Can anyone tell me where to find the Crew List for the Lancastria? We were looking for a surviving member of the crew.

Some of you may have been working on the request published by Caroline Morris to identify a Stanley ASHMAN, a victim of WW1.The solution was reported in Weston Mercury.  Thanks to Life Member, Brian Austin, an ASHMAN descendant who still lives in Weston has been contacted.  She came into the Library on Saturday because this interest in her family has stimulated her to do some of her own research.  So even if the DNA tests do not link her to the remains found in northern France we may soon have a new member because of it.

Unfortunately, due to illness, we were unable to take part in the Your North Somerset 2014 event at the Winter Gardens but from all accounts it was a very interesting day demonstrating the wide range of activities and cultures thriving in our community. 

• Can I draw your attention to the list of online Maps which Veronica Bowerman gave us following her talk in January?  You can see them here.
• If you are searching Irish Ancestry – have you tried this free site for Irish Genealogy? -  You can search by name and in many cases you are able to see the original records.  This is a really good site if you have Irish forebears because it takes you to various free sites.
• I’ve recently come across GenDocs which has some basic advice for researching in England and Wales including a list of occupations which may not still be in common use.

A Warning - Although some of the family trees which have been submitted online can provide tremendous clues for further research care must be taken in accepting them at face value.  I have recently been in contact with someone who had accepted a marriage from a tree as factual because it was the only one which fitted the names which he was looking for.  He couldn’t find another suitable marriage within the same time frame (pre 1837) in the free sites online.  We did eventually unearth another marriage between people of the same names which was included in one of our transcriptions.  The problem here is that every baptism, marriage and burial has not been transcribed yet and yours might well be the one which still has to be done.

Paul Tracey has been busy adding Journal articles to our web site – for example you can find all four parts of “Weston-super-Mare through Postcards” and other interesting items.  These may be of particular interest to new members who didn’t see them when they were originally published.

If any of you have a particular interest in the STUCKEY family of Clevedon or Kingston Seymour please let me know – I’m not promising that I’ll be including anything about them in my talk on February 25th but it would great to be able to add anything relevant!

The visit to the National Archives at Kew will take place on March 11th - There are still some places left – Please let Brian Airey know if you would like to join us.  Use the Contact us facility on the web site.

The next edition of Buckets & Spades will be available at the February Monthly meeting and will contain information about the AGM due to take place in March after which there will be a session about the latest resources which are available – if any of you can add to this please let us know.

Well 2014 has arrived and I am sure you have seen lots of news stories and forthcoming events to remember World War 1.  The BBC will be running special programmes across the network, both television and radio throughout the next four years.

To give you a taster of what is to come here is a special story of an amazing find involving a Weston-super-Mare family.

Please click on the link to read this special story.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-25779830

Don't forget your research.  We want to know all about what your ancestor did during the 1914-1918 war.  Remember it does not need to be a military person, we want to capture what life was like for all during this time in history.

Please let me know if you are working on some research.

Lets make our ancestors proud and find out as much as we can about their lives.

Caroline

January 2014 Update

A Happy and Successful New Year to all our members!  There is something very special about the time between Christmas and the New Year – The decorations are still sparkling and it is a time for reflection over the remains of the chocolates and Christmas cake.  How well did your family history research go last year?  What was your biggest achievement and what happens next?   January will start with a session at the Library on Jan 4th from 2.00 til 3.30pm – so do come along if you have reached a stumbling block in your research and would like help sorting it out.  Or perhaps over the Christmas season you have met with relations who have inspired you to start your family history research – we will be only too pleased to point you in the right direction.

When I look back to start of my family history research in 1974 – No! – I know - I can’t be that old!!  My father retired that year and trying to encourage him to research our family I remember visiting a church where the parish registers were still kept in the Parish Chest.  My outstanding memory is the smell of those original parchment registers as they emerged from the dark dusty chest and the excitement in finding entries which we knew to be of our relations.

• Have you tried   Dusty Docs  ?   This is a site which leads you to free websites in the British Isles containing Parish Records.     When you find an ancestor who lives in another part of the country it is sometimes difficult to know what is available.  It’s a sort of one-shop site which can lead you to external sites which hold records of the area in which you are interested.  The Guides on the left hand side of the Home Page are also of interest.  For example – have a look at Genealogy Pox    One word of warning - Occasionally it will take you to site such as Ancestry which you can search without a subscription and then it asks for a fee if you want to see the details.   
• If you have an ancestor who lived in Bath you will be interested in the Bath Archives site  which now includes photographs of prisoners.  Not that I am suggesting that any of you have criminals as relations!
• For those of you who have ever wondered whether you could had a legacy waiting for you somewhere this is the link to the list of unclaimed estates on which the programme Heir Hunters is based
• We are planning a visit to Kew on March 11th  – look out for information about it.  Apart from the availability of records held by the National Archives, its library and free computer access for Findmypast and Ancestry   another reason for visiting Kew is that during 2014 the London LDS Family History Centre is based there.  More in formation of what is available at the London LDS FHC at Kew can be seen here 
• A reminder that we have taken a stand at the free Your North Somerset Event 2014 – which will take place on Sunday 26th January 2014 from noon until 4.00pm at the Winter Gardens in Weston.  By doing this we hope to raise awareness in North Somerset of what we have to offer and possibly to attract new members.  It should be an interesting and very varied day – do support us at it!
• I love maps and can spent hours pouring over them so I am particularly looking forward to our speaker in January. Veronica Bowerman  who has recently moved into this area from Henleaze in Bristol, will be talking about the use of maps in Family and Local history research.  You can read more about her on this site
• The Help Sessions at the library will continue each Saturday afternoon - don't forget that there are many sorts of maps available there including digitised tithe maps for all of North Somerset.

Just look at this map – it’s Weston in about 1887 – It shows clearly the differing density of the housing between the detached Victorian villas on the hill and the terraced artisans’ dwellings on the flat.  The sweep of the railway line with the excursion lines running into Locking Road (where Tesco and its car park is today). The importance of the position of Ellenborough Crescent with its view of the sea and the villas on either side of the private Ellenborough Park.  South of there you can see the beginning of the planning for development around what will be the Clarence Park area

Thank you to all those members who brought in items at our last meeting - it was really interesting to hear about them and the part they played in the history of your families.  The journal coming at that meeting is like an additional Christmas present.  Life member Brian Austin was delighted to find a photograph of his father included in Colin Middle's feature on postcards - apparently his father played violin in Harry Burgess's Orchestra - he was 2nd from the left in the 2nd row!.

Although we do not have a monthly meeting during December the volunteers will still be in the Library each Saturday except for December 28th to help anyone who wants to look again at their research or has reached a stumbling block.  It is very encouraging to see people leave the library with a smile on their faces because a suggestion has been made about where to look next or because a discovery has been made of a lost (or mislaid) relation.

If you cannot get to the Library, but have a problem, you can always try using our Research Forum – that way your query will reach a wider audience and all our members have the opportunity then to make suggestions for future research routes.  Please write the SURNAMES of the families you are researching in capital letters – that way they stand out and attract the attention of the casual reader.

• I’m not sure how many of you use a Kindle or similar for your reading matter these days but you may be interested in this offering  written by one of our affiliate members – who has contributed to our Research Forum in the past.   Called “To Weston with Love” it is an affectionate look at Weston-super-Mare.  Why not download a version and treat yourself to this over Christmas?
• The North Somerset Archivist will be in Weston Library on Thursday Dec 5th.  Book your requirements with her before Wednesday. Please contact Jane de Gruchy, North Somerset Archivist; Tel: 01823 278805 or by email
• For those of you who missed seeing the Weston-super-Mare Carnival in November you might like to take a look at this video it gives some idea of the spectacle which the Winter Carnival offers. What a pity we can't look back and see what was happening in Weston and district in the 19th Century but the newspapers do give us a little insight into life then.
• If any of you are researching family in Gloucestershire the index to births, marriages and deaths to be found here not only gives the maiden names of mothers from 1837 but also the actual churches where marriages took place. The same may apply to other counties who have participated in the UKBMD scheme (lots of useful information and links from this page).  There is a multi region search link covering 10 different counties but it is worth looking for other counties to see if they have a separate entry.
• We have taken a stand at the free Your North Somerset Event 2014 – which will take place on Sunday 26th January 2014 at the Winter Gardens in Weston.  By doing this we hope to raise awareness in North Somerset of what we have to offer and possibly to attract new members.  It should be an interesting and very varied day – do support us and it!

While you are enjoying Christmas just give some thought to which of your ancestors you would have liked to have invited to spend Christmas with you.  Perhaps they could be the basis of an interesting article for the next edition of Buckets and Spades the dead line for which is the 31st January. What makes them interesting? - how did you find out about them?

We all wish you a very happy Christmas season with perhaps the opportunity to ask some of your relations those all important questions about what they can remember about your family and then you will never have to say “Oh I wish I’d asked them while I had the chance!”