News & Information

Halloween is over for another year  but if you want some background reading about witchcraft in the early years of the 17th  Century England then you might be interested in this book which tells the story of Anne GUNTER who I believe to be my 1st cousin 11 times removed! The  book “The Bewitching of Anne Gunter: A Horrible and True Story of Deception, Witchcraft, and the King of England, by James Sharpe was published in 2001 is based on a true storyIf your I managed to get a very cheap Kindle version earlier this year.  If your ancestor was a Witch or you are interested in the history of Witchcraft,  in particular Scottish Witchcraft, you may find this background reading of help.

Local History

• This autumn the Harptrees History Society is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of its Society by exhibiting more than 1000 years of local history at East Harptree Village Hall, Whitecross Rd, BS40 6AA  Sunday 12 November 11.30 - 5pm where there will be displays; archaeological artifacts; research work; DVD show; digital mapping talks; First World War and W.I. displays; Photographic archive of East and West Harptree, Bishop Sutton and Chew Valley before the Lake.  Members of our Family History Society will also  be on hand to offer assistance with family history research and with some of our resources.  Do come along and support them and us.
• There have been at least two Local History events during October , the Worle Local History Exhibition and the Congresbury Local History Weekend.   Both were highly successful and the result of hard work by members of the societies involved.    Both highlighted the interdependence between the people who lived in the area and the area itself.
• Information about other Local History events in our area is available from the  Avon Local History and Archaeology Group (ALHA) Newsletters which are on our web site
• The British Association for Local History has announced that back issues (older than 3 years) of their magazine, The Local Historian are now freely available to download.  Their first magazine, then called the Amateur  Historian,  was published in 1952 and has articles about the number of ancestors we can hope to find when researching and hints about how to put on Local History Exhibitions.  The newest one to become available to download – now called the Local Historian was published in Oct 2014 and also contains articles which provide interesting background information for any research into family life, including a study into whether living together was more common than marriage with the poorer parts of Victorian Society and a look at information gleaned from School Log Books. There is also an article discussing The Liverpool Women’s War Service Bureau and its work 1914-1918.

BMD Certificates

• A reminder about the PDF version of entries.  Birth, Mariage and Death Certificates  from July 1837 onwards are normally available as certificates which cost £9.25 each. The General Register Office has a temporary project to get the information online as a PDF for only £6.00. You can find further details, including the periods covered, at the GRO site.  The PDF service will continue until 12 January 2018 or, maybe, for longer.

Recent New Free Resources

• South Australia - Familysearch is now including free access to the South Australia, Immigrants Ship Papers, 1849-1940 – These are free and you can see the handwritten list of names, ages and occupations of people who entered or left South Australia during this period.  Search here but note there is a short gap in the middle with some years missing.
• South Africa – FamilySearch has added additional indexed records to their collection of civil deaths from Cape Province. The new additions span the period from 1895 to 1972. In addition to searching by first and last name, you can also scan the 2.2 million images in this collection. The images are organized by year of death and then by municipality. These records come from the National Archives of South Africa and contain a considerable amount of information, such as place of birth, intended place of burial, cause of death and residence. Access is free from Cape Province Death Records

Book Reviews

• I have recently been enchanted by a book about Weston which was published a year ago – A completely different look at the architecture of Weston  entitled Looking up Weston-super-Mare  written and illustrated by John Hickley.  Put it on your christmas present list! Visit this Bleadon Web site for more details.
• Another fascinating book was the subject of our last monthy meeting when Dr Adrian Webb, who was a member of our society some years ago spoke entertainingly and inspiringly about “Somerset Mapped: cartography in the county through the Centuries”, which he has written with Emma Down.  Lavishly llustrated with examples of maps and charts it explores how the county has been represented.  More details about the book here

Society Activities

• This photograph was sent to us from the Bristol & Avon FHS showing our stand with (from left to right) Bill Caple, myself,  Graham Payne, and Sue Dury offering advice about family history research at the Bristol & Avon Fair in September.

• Our Library Help Sessions continue throughout November and we look forward to being challenged with your queries – no question too small or too silly!
• A reminder that we will be at the Harptrees Open Day on Sunday 12th November
• The Society will be taking a stand at the Rotary Charity Christmas Fayre on Sat 18th November 2017 at 10.00 - 16.00 at the Royal Hotel
• Our next meeting, on Tuesday Nov 28th  will be our AGM and a Members’ Evening when you are asked to bring along items which have been handed down in your family and explain why they are important to you.  If you would like to use illustrations bring along a memory stick with powerpoint or just photographs and we can project them for all to easily see.  The latest edition of Buckets and Spades should also be available for you to pick up at that meeting if you have opted for the printed version.   As this is our last meeting before Christmas there will also be be a quiz and suitable refreshments.

Finally a reminder that plans are now going ahead for a visit to the National Archives at Kew on the 12th April 2018 subject to sufficient numbers to fill the coach and make it viable.  Please let Brian Airey or Peter de Dulin know if you would like to be included.  The National Archives is very near to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew so if you have friends or relations whose interests are more horticultural than historical bring them along!

If you have anything to add which you think might interest our members please add it as a comment to this item.