1911 UK Census Now Online

The UK census for 1911 has been published online. Or at least, a substantial part of it. Scots records won't be available until 2011 due to differences in privacy laws. Welsh records, and those for some English counties have not been uploaded yet.

It's free to search the database, but there is a charge to view the results. So far, there is no sign of it being made available for free for a limited time as the 1901 census was.

Did your grandma eat baps, cobs or buns?

 It doesn't really matter, they are all the same thing - a bread roll!

OK, so you know who your ancestors were, where they lived, what they did for a living, maybe even what they did for fun and what they looked like - but how did they speak? Did they have a pronounced regional accent, or even use a form of dialect? Maybe they were very grand and only spoke the Queen's English?

The UK has a wide variety of accents and dialects. People in the north east of England sound very different to those in Cornwall or Edinburgh*, but even if you know this, it can still be hard to imagine just how someone may have sounded, especially if you don't have personal experience of hearing voices from a particular area on a regular basis. To give an example, for the first twenty years of my life I was pretty sure I knew how people from Yorkshire spoke, then I moved here and discovered I hadn't got a clue LOL

While it isn't possible to give you an exact replication of your ancestors voice, the following links may help you to understand how accents vary around the regions, and how they have evolved over the centuries.

Sounds Familiar - a collection of sound and audio which give you practical examples of a range of accents from various parts of the UK, and also examples of older pronunciations**.

Sound Comparisons - a collection of audio files demonstrating different pronunciations of the same words from various English (and Germanic) language countries.

The Routes of English - useful for anyone who can trace their ancestors back to the Middle Ages, this sub-section of the BBC site examines the evolution of English throughout the centuries and offers audio examples of how it might have sounded way back when.

* I was once told that the people of Edinburgh speak the best English in the whole of the UK. I have no idea if this is correct, but they do have a pleasant accent.


** I found the older samples from East Anglia particularly fascinating. A lot of my family came from that area, so it was really interesting to hear how they might have spoken.

A Twitter of Genealogists

Do you tweet? Or maybe twitter? In plain English, are you using Twitter? If you are, have you connected with other family historians?

What is Twitter? Twitter is a popular micro-blogging platform, which is quite hard to describe to anyone who hasn't used it, but I'll try. Think of it as a kind of global tea party where members communicate using public messages which are limited to 140 characters. People find all sorts of uses for the service, some chat to friends, some share useful links, others post research questions. It isn't designed specifically for genealogy - most users seem to be techy types - but there are number of family historians using the site.

How do I find these people? Very easily! If you go along to Twitter Search, and type 'genealogy' into the search box, you will come to a page listing all the people who have been talking, or tweeting, about genealogy. If you click on a user name - it's the link at the start of each message - you can go to their profile page and find out more about them. Don't go mad and befriend them all, take a look at their profiles to see what else they tweet about, click through to any blogs or websites they list, and if you think they seem interesting, then click the follow button.

You could also try searching for more specific subjects. I have had limited success doing this, but if your research interests are quite popular you may have more luck.

Now what do I do? I can think of two main uses for twitter for genealogists. First, you could simply use it to socialise with people who share your love of family history. If you are anything like me that is an end in itself because, despite it's growing popularity, it is still something of a minority interest. However, you could also make use of the collective wisdom of both your new Twitter friends and also their networks by asking research questions. And of course, you can share any useful resources you have found. If you include the hashtag '#genealogy' in your message it will be found by others who may decide to follow you too.

I don't understand all this terminology! No problem, here's a quick guide:

Tweet - a message limited to 140 characters.
Retweet - quite simply, the act of reposting a tweet.
Hashtag - an identifier such as #genealogy used to make it easier to search for specific subjects or words.
Follow - the act of connecting with, or befriending another twitter member.

Anything else I should know? Usually, at this point I would explain a little about networking and about the Twitter community being a two-way street. In other words, don't hesitate to ask for advice, but do try to offer help too, make your tweets a conversation, not a monologue. However, most family historians are very skilled networkers, so this advice is probably redundant. 

What about bells and whistles? Twitter doesn't have any. I think the simplicity of the service is one of it's most attractive features, members don't have to cope with a steep learning curve because it is pretty much a case of what you see is what you get. There are numerous complementary services and tools though, for example: Twitpic, which lets you share images, or Tweetburner, which shortens long urls (useful given the character limit) and also tracks their use. You will find many more applications, tools and useful information at the Twitter Fan Wiki.

I hope you found this quick guide useful, if you have any questions don't hesitate to leave a comment.

Resources for tracing your Huguenot ancestors

Some time ago I promised to write about tracing ancestors who were immigrants to Britain and Ireland - finally, here is the first post in that series. I'm going to begin with a look at the Huguenots because, although a sizeable number of people in this part of the world are descended from them we rarely hear much about them.

Image: St Bartholomew's Day Massacre by Francois Dubois courtesy of Wikipedia.

Who were they ? The Huguenots were French Protestants (Calvinists) who fled their home country to escape persecution following the Wars of Religion. Approximately, 60,000 made their way to Britain and Ireland where they were broadly made welcome. In Britain, the largest Huguenot communities could be found in London, East Anglia and Warwickshire - they are credited with the development of the weaving industry in the latter.

I have a French surname, am I of Huguenot descent? Not necessarily. Prior to the arrival of the Huguenots, there were a significant number of people in Britain and Ireland who had French surnames. These were people who were either of Norman descent, or who were closely connected to the Normans in some other way, for example: servants, tenants or soldiers. If your surname can be traced back beyond the 17th century, it is more likely to be Norman. Having said that, many people in Britain and Ireland are of Huguenot descent, especially in the areas where they mainly settled - it is estimated that 25% of Londoners have a Huguenot ancestor.

How do I find out more? You can make a start by visiting the website of The Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland which contains lots of useful information for anyone starting to research in this area. The Family History page includes a number of really helpful files you can download.

 Image: Huguenot weavers cottages in Canterbury by Suzanne Knights

Further Reading:

• The Huguenots in London
• Huguenots message board (Also covers Walloons) 
• Online tour of a Huguenot's house
• A webring for Huguenot websites
• Huguenot names found in Devon 
• The Huguenot page on Wikipedia
  

Books:

• Ireland's Huguenots and Their Refuge, 1662-1745: An Unlikely Haven
• Huguenot Heritage: The History and Contribution of the Huguenots in Britain

Presentment Bills of the Archdeaconry of Nottingham

I have posted about the Presentment Bills of the Archdeaconry of Nottingham before, but only in passing. They are such a fascinating resource that I thought they really deserved a post of their own.

What are they: The presentment bills are a collection of documents created by church wardens in the 16th and 17th centuries detailing the names (and often other information) of people who had broken church law. Typical 'offences' would be such things as failing to attend church, failing to have a new baby baptised or indulging in immoral behaviour. As far as I know, all parishes maintained such records, but only Nottingham has created an online catalogue.

Which areas do they cover: The bills cover the Bingham, Retford, Newark and Nottingham deaneries. To find out which area your ancestors lived in try the table on this page.

How can they help: If you happen to have ancestors from Nottinghamshire, there is a good chance you will find some reference to them in these bills. Or, if not your direct ancestors, then members of their extended family. Some entries are quite detailed and will provide more than just a name. I have found spouses and occupations in entries pertaining to my relatives.

Furthermore, they can tell you a little about the kind of people your ancestors were. I discovered one branch of my family were regularly penalised for not attending church. This makes sense. The family were Anabaptist therefore they did not recognise the authority of the Anglican church and were classed as non-Conformists. Another branch received similar penalties, they were recusant Catholics. Of course, if your ancestors were penalised for non-attendance, that does not mean they followed a non-conformist religion. It could simply mean they were not particularly religious at all. Then as now, many people only really felt the need to attend church for 'hatches, matches and dispatches' and would have resisted attempts to force them to attend every Sunday.

You can find a longer and more detailed description of the bills here.

Examples: The easiest way to search, is to open the page you want to view and use your computers built in search tool. I clicked on the link for the Bingham Deanery for Easter 1608 and didn't find any of my relatives listed - they must have been behaving themselves LOL However, there a few interesting entries.

AN/PB 293/2/47 24.9.1603 Wilford
Summer and winter 1603/4
Churchwardens present the following: Joan Stafford, widow, a railer, a scold and an uncharitable liver.
Bound together with other documents from the same series, AN/PB 293/2.

Thankfully I'm not related to Joan - although I do wonder if she really was as unpleasant as that description suggests.

AN/PB 293/2/49 24.9.1603 Shelford
Summer and winter 1603/4
One churchwarden presents the following: Wm Smyth for detaining the surplice from the parish, and for using very uncomely words as 'turd in the churchwardens teeth', which was spoken in the church porch.
Bound together with other documents from the same series, AN/PB 293/2.

Not much to add there except to say Mr Smith sounds like a very rude man.

AN/PB 293/2/56 1603 (c) Barnby in the Willows
Summer and winter 1603/4?
Churchwardens present the following: John Burt and Alse Nealer for a common fame that John Burt said that he lay on the bed with the said Alse in the night time; Robert England for a slandering of his neighbour Edmund Ward, saying that he lived upon 'sheefts' and made a benefit of cavilling with other men, and the said Robert said with slanderous speeches on 10 July last that Edmund Ward had practised this two years to take his house on his head; the said Robert was slandered by Roger Richardson's wife that he came to her bed and would have lain with her, and that he brought her some plums in his hat.
No place name given; identified as Barnby in the Willows from names of churchwardens.
No date given; found in series of presentment bills from 1603 and 1604.
Bound together with other documents from the same series, AN/PB 293/2.

Trying to seduce a woman with a hat full of plums - it sounds like a scene from a Carry On film LOL I suppose this was the pre-chocolate era so the poor chap would have had to make do with whatever was at hand.

And finally, my favourite entry . . .

AN/PB 294/2/66 7.5.1607 East Markham
Easter 1607
Churchwardens present the following: Elizabeth Cowper for fornication with Thomas Browne, as she says; Nicholas Storke for being absent from church on the Sabbath day and being at bowls; we asked him a reason for his absence and he answered 'he can reade as much at hoam & that he knoweth our reder for no lawfull minister', but we know our reader has a licence by one Mr Dodsworth of York for Mr Field's absence.
Written in another hand above each of the names: 'emt'.
Written in another hand at side of page: 'R'.

If I were in Mr Storke's shoes I think I would have gone bowling rather than spend my Sundays with a bunch of people who felt the need to police my morals LOL

That Was A Year That Was

The online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, receives a lot of criticism for inaccuracy. To an extent this criticism is warranted, there are some bogus entries. However, Wikipedia is a good starting point for further research. It is particularly useful for adding background to your research because of it's pages devoted to the events of specific years, or even specific days.

I'm one of those people who like to add background to the lists of dates and names I compile. I don't think I'm unusual in this, most family historians do like to study local and national history, culture, etc. in an attempt to bring some colour to the basic details which are all many of us have about our ancestors. Even if we know more, it is useful to know what was going on in the society our ancestors lived in, often this information can help to explain why they did certain things, for example: moving to a new town. This is where a comprehensive encyclopaedia is extremely handy.

So, if you are curious about the world your ancestors were born into, pop over to Wikipedia, type a date into the search box, and browse the resulting page. To give you an example of what you might find, I did a search for 1682, the year my 8 x great grandmother, Elizabeth Holmes was born in Rolleston, Nottinghamshire. The page for that year includes a few interesting entries.

• March 11 - Chelsea hospital for soldiers is founded in England.
• September 14 - Bishop Gore School in Swansea, Wales is founded.
• October 27 - The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded by William Penn.
• October 31 - The city of Bideford, England two men and one woman were some of the last to be executed for witchcraft in England. They were accused of speaking in unknown languages as well as practicing knowledge beyond their natural abilities, and acting in peculiar manners. The woman, Guenevere Damascus, as well as her lover (name unknown) and their spiritual mentor were burned at the stake.

The latter entry tells me it was still quite a brutal and superstitious society, but the first two hint that it was becoming more enlightened. The third entry is interesting because it shows that even at that early date, the New World was growing and thriving.

While none of these incidents directly affected my grandmother they were, in a small way, indicative of the way her society functioned and what it was becoming.

Money, then and now

I've just added a really useful link to the sidebar, Current Value of Old Money contains a wealth (sorry, bad pun) of useful information and resources for calculating the value of old money in modern terms. The resources provided include such things as average wages for specific jobs, prices of food and other essential items and one site I found particularly useful, Measuring Worth, which features a calculator you can use to automatically translate an old value into a modern one, or vice versa.

In 1638, my 10 x great grandmother, Sabina Worsley (mother of Anna Wigmore) was left a legacy of £1300 in her step father's will. She received this money when she married in 1640. Even today, £1300 would be a worthwhile amount, but back then it would have been equivalent to receiving £175, 768 in modern values. A very generous gift which must have given the newly married couple a great start to their marriage. But what about people who weren't so fortunate?

Most of my ancestors would have been lucky to see that kind of money in a lifetime, but how much, or little, would they have earned? In an article at the website of The International Institute of Social History, Jan Luiten van Zanden estimates labourers earned about 10 pence a day in the period between 1580 and 1626. In today's world, 10 pence a day would be worth about £5.57. Not a great amount, especially when you consider that the minimum hourly wage is currently £5.52. Of course, prices have also gone up, but just how far would that 10 pence go?

In an account taken at Southampton in 1625, we can see that 1lb of cheese cost 2 1/2 pence, and two lean chickens were 6 pence. Ale is also mentioned with the good stuff selling for 3 shillings for 18 gallons. The amounts shown on the page are often for large orders and the total costs reflect this. To get an idea of how much an individual, or family would spend you will need to convert the archaic measures into the standard ones used to day. And if you aren't sure how much a bushel is, or how many gallons are in a hogshead try this page.

18 resources for family history beginners

The following post is taken from an email I put together a while ago for a friend who asked about the best places online to start his research without spending too much cash. I know many of the sites listed will be obvious to someone who has been involved in family history research for a while, but if you are just getting started have a browse, I hope you find something useful.

I should say, my family are from the UK and Ireland, and the sites do reflect that, but some will be of use if you are looking in other parts of the world. I've included a number of free to use sites, because they can be useful places to start to look especially if you only want to find the details you need to send off for certificates.

• GENUKI is a UK and Ireland family history site full of useful links, mostly organised into counties, then sub-divided. It is a huge site, but worth looking around because it is packed with really helpful stuff. Read their beginners guide before you start, it is long but worthwhile because it is full of advice and tips about things you need to know.
• Cyndi's List is similar to GENUKI but has an international theme. There is still a lot of British and Irish stuff there, plus a range of other bits and pieces that you may find helpful for example: occupational information.
• UK National Archives is the main repository for records, censuses, military information and pretty much everything else that is, or has been recorded in the UK. You can search for free, but there is a small charge to view most records. The exception is anything held on A2A (linked below).
• Ancestry have some free searches, most you have to pay for, but you can find a lot using the former. At the moment the 1881 census for England and Wales is free, so are all the birth, death and marriage records from 1837 provided by the Free BMD. To search these go here. Remember, the dates given there are only the date of registration, and are divided into quarters. (You can also search this database at the link below, but sometimes it can become very slow due to the amount of traffic it receives.) You will be able to search the actual registrars transcripts, some later ones include such things as the mothers maiden name, or the name of a spouse, but not all. You need to be a subscriber to use these though. Ancestry also have wills, directories indexes from places such as universities and military records. Actually, they seem to add new stuff all the time so it's probably not possible to include everything here.
• Free BMD is a voluntary project to upload all birth, marriage and death records from 1837. It's not complete, but more and more data is being added every day. If you find a marriage record using the search on ancestry, Free BMD can be useful for finding the spouse. They list all marriages in a district in that date period, so if you know that Fred Blogs married a Freda you can usually match them up. Even if you don't know the name of the other person, you can at least narrow it down to a few potential candidates then use other records to find the right one. Once you have located the record you want you can use the link provided to send off for a full copy which will contain a lot more information for example: names of parents on a birth certificate, the name and occupation of fathers on marriage certificates.
• Freecen is a sister project of the Free BMD working to compile a database of census returns from 1841 - 1891. Once again, it's not complete, but I have found plenty of useful stuff there, and you get to see more info than you would on the Ancestry site which is really useful if you find you have several possibilities but need to see other information to be sure of a match.
• Freereg is a similar project but listing parish returns (baptisms, marriages and burials. Some records are brief with little more than a name and date, others are more detailed and include similar information to civil records.
• UKBMD has lists of local sites some of which have searchable databases. Plus you will find other useful info, some may not seem that important at first but as you progress it is helpful (and interesting) to know about such things as local industries, the location of churches and so on.
• Family Search has a range of records, the 1881 census and a lot of parish records. Just be careful. They also allow their members to edit the database, so check the source. If it is from a parish register or some other official document it should be accurate. However, if it was supplied by a member be wary. Some of this info is wrong. It is free to use, and can be helpful, just make sure you check the source and then double check the data.
• A2A is a database of directories, family documents, maps and other interesting stuff. It doesn't have any BMDs or census returns, but it is handy. For example you might find a relative who worked in particular trade and want to know more, this would be a good place to look.
• Historical Directories is similar but with an emphasis on trade directories
• There is also BOPCRIS - that has mainly government archives.
• And British History Online is another similar idea, but that allows you to bookmark texts for future reference. This is a great place to look for detailed county histories.
• OldMaps is a good place to get a look at the layout of an area in the past. If you find a street or area that isn't mention on a modern map, try having a look there.
• Rootsweb has loads of mailing lists and message boards covering areas, surnames, occupations and more. It is worth subscribing to any relevant ones because the members are usually very helpful.
• Rootschat is a family history forum with threads covering England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and their counties, plus occupations, surnames and other topics. Once again the members are friendly and will try to help you with any questions - in fact Rootschat offers a free look up service. (Both Rootsweb mailing lists and Rootschat are good places to go to learn more about your Irish relatives. I have found the online material to be less than helpful, and it's been more useful to join a list and find people researching the same names or areas.)
• The 1901 Census Decoder is a free programme which lets you search the 1901 England and Wales census - the idea is you can find all the member of a household before you send of for the record, sometimes people can end up on different pages, so you may not be sure you have found the family you are looking for.
• The Parish Locator programme is also free and you can use it to find all parishes within an area. It also details parishes of different denominations.

That's all! But if you have any tips or suggestions why not leave them in a comment :-)

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Spotlight on: Clergy of the Church of England Database

If you discover you are descended from an Anglican clergyman, there is an excellent database online which you can use to find out more about your ancestor. The Clergy of the Church of England database is free to search and in many cases the information provided is very detailed.

The link above will take you to the home page, from there click the link marked 'Database Home' in the left sidebar and then 'Search' on the subsequent page. Type your search into the box provided and if there is a match you will see the results in a list in the left sidebar. You simply click on a name to open up the full results.

I just tried a sample search using the surname 'Wigmore'. There are four results - all related to me, although, I'm not sure how one chap fits in - opening up the file for my great x 10 grandfather, Gilbert Wigmore, gives me some really useful information about him. For example, it tells me when he graduated from university and which college, when he was ordained, which ranks he held and in which parishes. This is all really useful stuff to know, and a great starting point for further research.

Looking at the dates pertaining to Gilbert, it is quite apparent that he would have served as a rector during the years of the English Civil War - and that opens up a whole new area of research. Which side was he on? Or did he do what many country vicars did, and try to stay out of it? I'm not sure if I will ever be able to answer those questions, but knowing what kind of environment he lived and worked in is very useful and does help to add some background and colour to the simple dates and statistics I already have.

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