News & Information

As I write this we are half way between Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night.  While we are involved in pumpkins, tricks, treats, bonfires or fireworks we can forget that at least Halloween has its roots in Pagan and later Christian festivals concerning the dead.  In some parts of Europe it is still the tradition to remember and honour the dead at this time.  Perhaps as family historians we do this all the year round - but I have noticed that on some published family trees whereas the birth and possibly marriage dates are noted the dates of deaths may be missing.

It is important to kill off your ancestors!  It is one way to check that you are researching the correct person.  It has been known for whole dynasties to have been based on a person who it was later discovered had died as a child and another person of the same name was actually the correct ancestor.

With Christmas coming I have recently thoroughly enjoyed a new book which you may like to suggest to someone as a gift for yourselves.  

"Granny Was a Brothel Keeper- Fifty Family History Traps"  was written by Kate Broad and Toni Neobard - it is humourous, up-to date, and full of useful advice and tips. 

A followup is promised called "Grandad was a Dwarf Strangler" - I can't wait! 

More details about it can be found on The Family History Partnership site where you can also find other publications relating to family history.

For those of you who are preparing items for our "Project 2014 - Remembering WW1" a source you may not have tried is the Canadian Expeditionary Force.   The web site of the Canadian Government "Library and Archives Canada" contains a searchable database of Soldiers of the First Word War.  As many young people who had recently emigrated to Canada from Britain enlisted when war was declared you may find details of them on this site (The enlistment form has a back and a front so don’t overlook the second side). 

We are looking for items for the June edition of Buckets & Spades, short presentations at the Members' Evening at the end of June and an exhibition at our Open Day in July 2014. Caroline Morris would be delighted to hear from you if you have anything to offer or have any queries.  Not only military connections but what was happening at home during this time.  To start things off – at our Members’ Evening in November please bring along any memorabilia you have from that time.

Familysearch is continually adding new items and it is worth revisiting their site from time to time – If you visit the site through  Familysearch  scroll down to the bottom of the page and select the area you are researching (perhaps United Kingdom and Ireland) you will then be taken to an alphabetical list of all available resources. Note that English, Channel Islands, Irish, Welsh and Scottish records are included under separate headings and there are separate county entries including Bristol. Some of the entries include access to images.

Some examples of newly available records on Familysearch - Access to these records is free. 

• Norfolk Parish Records. These records of baptisms, marriages and deaths span the years from 1685 to 1941. Also included are some marriage banns. Note: some of the Norfolk parish records include parishes in neighbouring regions of Suffolk, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. Some images are included.
• Sussex Parish Records. The records span the years from 1538 to 1910 and can be searched by name. These are primarily baptism, marriage and burial records.
• Derbyshire Parish Records. The collection spans the years from 1538 to 1910 and covers baptisms, banns, marriages and burials. Some of these are from Bishops Transcripts. These records can be searched by first and last name.

Familysearch does not only contain parish records as the following examples show.

• Canada Passenger Lists. Each record lists the full name of the individual, the date of arrival, port of arrival, place of birth and the name of the ship. Some of the original records contain additional information and some images are also available.
• New Zealand Immigration Records . These are ship passenger lists from 1855 to 1973. These records can be searched by first and last name.

A couple of other free sites from where information may be obtained:

• The Irish Genealogical Research Society's site is a good source for pre-civil registration marriages in Ireland and it is comprised of information from a variety of non-traditional sources such as chancery bills, diaries, deeds, marriage settlements, memorial inscriptions, wills, family letter and newspapers. Each record provides the exact source of the information. Access is free.
• The 1911 census of Canada is also available online with free access.

If you live in the Weston-super-Mare area and would be interested in visiting The National Archives again next year please let us know by using the contact facility on this site choosing “Secretary” as the category.If there is another archive you would like to visit as a group please let us know.

As we do each year, the Society will have a stand at the Rotary Christmas Fair at the Winter Gardens on Saturday November 23^rd This is a market featuring local charity, crafts and produce stalls, RAFA Band and Sunshine Radio and a raffle with free entry.

As I mentioned above, our monthly meeting on November 26^th is a Members' Evening and we will be looking at and discussing your WW1 memorabilia and other family heirlooms.  As we do not have a meeting in December this is more of an informal meeting and we might even have some mince pies!  The latest edition of Buckets and Spades will be available that evening for you to collect.

The BBC have just announced they are doing a series of programmes through 2014 to remember those affected by World War 1 in our area.  They are going to be covering all sorts of aspects from those who went to war in the military to what people did at home.  This is very close to our project!  As they are looking for stories to include I would love to go to the BBC with lots of our stories.

Please do get in touch with me if you have a story about an ancestor from 1914. You never know it could be featured on the television!

Remember it isn't just about those who joined the forces but about those left at home or worked in factories.

Waiting to hear from you!!!

Caroline Morris

Memories of WW1 co-ordinator

Caroline can be contacted using the Contact Us facility towards the top right-hand corner of the screen, and select in the Category box Memories of WW1.

(Please do not attach comments to this posting but create a new News & Information item using the Category Memories of WW1.)

My Father in Law, Harold W. R Williams was born in Weston S Mare and served in the Parachute Regiment during WW2. He was living/working in Nottingham at the outbreak of War but returned to Weston after war ceased.

Link to the Paradata site where I posted his service record.

http://www.paradata.org.uk/people/harold-w-r-williams

He also received a scroll from the Mayor Aldermen and Burgesses of Weston S Mare recognizing his Loyal and Gallant Service, a copy which can be used if it can be uploaded.

I realise this is for WW2 but thought it might be of interest to those with relatives of where information on their service can be recorded.

Michael Oram

With the autumn comes a renewed interest in Family History.  As the leaves fall from the trees we all seem to be busying ourselves looking for the lost twigs (and sometimes the roots) from own family trees.  Another new series of  "Who do you think you are?"  has triggered off more interest and the now weekly Free Help Sessions in the Library are proving popular.

Family History is not just names, dates and places.  I’ve just filled in our entry for the Electoral Roll for this year and yesterday I was looking at the published Electoral Rolls for London (on Ancestry – available at many Libraries) for a William HASE who I knew from Baptismal entries was living in 16 Galton Street from late 1881 to at least 1886.  By 1891 they had moved.  The Electoral List told me that in 1888 he was stll there in rented accommodation – two rooms, unfurnished on the 1^st Floor for which he paid 4 shillings a week to a Mr TURNER who also lived at 16, Galton Street. I hadn’t realised that this sort of detailed information was available on some Electoral Rolls - it certainly adds some welcome colour to my research.

World War 1  Commemoration 

We have our own Project 2014 – The very fact that we are here today means that we all have someone who lived through the 1914-18 War.

What have you been able to discover both about conditions both for those serving men and women and for those who remained at home?  

This photograph shows my grandmother Florence Gertrude HILL nee PINNOCK dressed in her husband’s uniform at the start of the War; before he went to France.  If this photograph had not been properly named by my grandfather I would have been very puzzled when it fell into my possession! 

I know that my grandfather was gassed in France but unfortunately his service record has not survived but there can be some incredible detail to be found about those who served.  Our own web site does have information (for members) of those who are remembered on the War Memorial in Grove Park.   See here for those transcriptions which include details of family and service not just names. 

The newspapers also shed some light on life on the home front and the restrictions.  Did you know that if was an offence to sell bread that was too fresh after the end of WW1?  Apparently if a loaf was too new you wasted too much in slicing it. A baker in Burnham on Sea was fined for this

Don’t forget that by using your library card you can probably access, free of charge, the Times and 19^th Century British Newspapers in your own home.  Check with your local library to see what online services they provide. See here for more details

While talking about newspapers – there is a free site for Welsh Newspapers -  click here to look at it.   Before you say you haven’t any Welsh ancestors – in many cases news items are syndicated around the country and if you just search for “Weston-super-Mare” you will find over 14,000 entries!  It’s worth a try! The same applies to free Australian newspapers - click here to access that site

 News was reprinted from newspapers in this country so you might well find something of interest on this site as well. 

The Society’s stand will be at the Family History Fair organised by the Glamorgan FHS at Merthyr Tydfil on Saturday Oct 12^th and we should be delighted to see any of our Welsh members.  See  here  for more details.

Don’t forget to read the queries on our Research Forum – you may pick up some advice for your own research and you may have some advice to offer in reply to others.  Can I repeat my plea for SURNAMES  to be entered in CAPITAL Letters?- it makes the information easier to read and distinguishes surnames from places

The next meeting is on Oct 29^th at St Paul’s Church Hall –the topic is the first Mayor of Weston-super-Mare, Henry BUTT, his life and times and his contribution to the history of Weston.  If any of you have memorabilia concerning him or Weston between the wars it would be great if you could bring it along. 

We start September with the good news that from the 1^st Saturday in September members of the Society will be offering free advice sessions every Saturday afternoon from 2.00-3.30pm in the Weston-super-Mare Library, in the Town Hall, Walliscote Road. 

• Bring along what knowledge you already have of your family and then by using either the Local Studies Library for North Somerset families or the computers with free access to Ancestry and the British Newspaper Archive and the many other sites now available for other sources we hope to find that missing ancestor. We can perhaps offer suggestions for further research. So if you are just starting out or are more experienced why not come in any Saturday afternoon. We’d like to see you. 

• Your family doesn’t have to have lived in Somerset but the local newspapers, tithe maps, electoral rolls, parish registers, street directories and Brian Austin’s research all are extremely valuable if they have lived here and may give you some idea of what you might be able to find in libraries in other parts of the country.

• If you have Bristol connections you may be interested to learn that the library has recently purchased the CD of parish records 1754-1837 from the Bristol Diocese transcribed and published by the Bristol & Avon FHS.  As so many people travelled to Bristol to be married from this part of Somerset you never know who you may find on those.

• We are very lucky that we have sufficient volunteers to cover each week but that doesn’t mean that we don’t need more! Because the sessions are not booked we never know how many people will come in – it depends whether someone has been inspired by one of the many programmes on the media which highlight the joys and excitement of finding out about your ancestors! – but if we have spare capacity it does mean that we can sometimes do some research for our members who do not live close enough to come in themselves.

• Many of us will probably use Google street view to try to find out where our family lived but of course the houses may well have changed quite a bit since they were there.  Have you tried Britain from Above?   – this is a series of photographs taken between 1919-1953 and although while looking at them I kept trying to zoom in or look at what was slightly outside of the picture they are a very interesting collection.  You can make out features in Weston-super-Mare which have since been lost and not all by the blitz! Look at the Knightstone Theatre, the Non-conformist Chapel in the Cemetery, The gas works and Lance’s Corner (on the corner of Waterloo Street and High Street). Just search for Weston-super-Mare – there are 72 photos.

• A reminder that the remaining Chapel in the Cemetery will be open to the Public on Saturday afternoon, Sept 14^th  The Society cemetery records will be available for you to locate your ancestor’s grave.

• There has been some publicity lately about the release of soldier’s Wills.  They will cost £6.00 each andyou can search from here .  The Soldier’s service number is given on the search page and if there is more than one entry for the name it would be wise to check the number against the Commonwealth War Graves Site  to make sure you have the correct one.  These have been released in time for the commemorative research which will be undertaken next year.

• A reminder that the North Somerset Archivist will be at the Library on Thursday Sept 5^th – if you haven’t already done so you need to order your documents by Tuesday at the latest Tel: 01823 278805  or email.   As her visits are not so frequent as they used to be please make use of this facility.

• The society will have a stand at the AGM of the Somerset & Dorset FHS on Sept 21^st so if you are going do come and say “hello”. 

• With no meeting in August we are now looking forward to our next meeting at St Paul’s Church Hall on Tuesday Sept 24^th when Pete Williams will be talking about his research based in the parish of Brean.

I know that several members are researching their Irish ancestry.  Earlier this year the Irish Genealogy Web Site was relaunched with an improved search facility and includes the following data.

• Church records
• 1901/1911 Census records
• Tithe Applotments
• Soldier’s Wills
• Griffith’s Valuations
• Ireland - Australia Transportation database
• Military ArchivesIt is continually updating its records. 
• Ellis Island
• National Photographic Archive from the National Library of Ireland

The site also gives valuable information about Irish research in general and has links to other related sites. It you have any Irish connections this site may well answer your questions.