Backward step for public service at Suffolk record offices

Suffolk record offices are bringing in a new policy on 1 Jan 2011 that anyone wanting original documents on Saturdays has to preorder them. There is also a limit of 12 documents.

Apart from the lack of notice or consultation with users, how does this provide good service? Especially for those who can't visit during a week day or live outside the county. Suffolk has the least amount of records out of all the East Anglian archives listed online so many references can only be found at the record office. This includes most of the church probate records for the Suffolk archdeaconries prior to 1858, the majority of which have are still listed on card indexes and have not been filmed.

Most researchers won't know if they need an original document until they are in a record office. I can see many unhappy users. Defintiely a minus for public service in every way.

General News

It’s been a massively busy few months. I’ve just completed teaching my first assessed course for the new intermediate certificate run online by Pharos Tutors and the Society of Genealogists. The next one is on poor law records starting in February 2011. www.pharostutors.com

Also starting in February will be my series of House History workshops run in Norwich on Saturday mornings in collaboration with Dr. Sarah Edwards. Contact me for more information. Contact me for details.

I’ve also finished teaching a face to face course in Reepham, and have given a number of talks to different groups across Norfolk in the last couple of months.

Essex Record Office has just reopened after its annual stock take. The Norfolk Record Office is closed for stocktaking this week and next, so I’m catching up with the writing on my guide to tracing the history of a house. Also work in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex. It would be helpful though if my car didn’t chose this moment to play up! It is incredibly difficult to get from Norwich to places like Bury St. Edmunds on public transport.

I’m really enjoying reading Trevor Yorke latest book. This one is on memorials, tombstones and burial practices throughout the centuries (Countryside Books, 2010). It’s definitely going on my reading list for my next course on burial and cemetery records with Pharos (Dead and Buried, But Not Forgotten).

Gill Blanchard
BA (Hons). MA. PGCE (PCE).
AGRA member.

Past Search Family, House & Local History Research & Tuition
84 Rupert Street, Norwich. NR2 2AT
gblanchard@pastsearch.co.uk
www.pastsearch.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GillBlanchard

Sign up for my email newsletter at: news@pastsearch.co.uk
Author of Tracing Your East Anglian Ancestors (Pen & Sword, 2009)

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Online coourses with Pharos Tutors Aug & Sept 2010

Learn from Home, Search from Home with some of the top tutors in the genealogy world at a great cost.
Online courses in August and September 2010 via Pharos Tutors www.pharostutors.com are:

Dead & Buried, Not Forgotten: Cemetery & Burial Records with Gill Blanchard 2 weeks starts 17 Aug £24.99
One Place Genealogy with Kirsty Gray 3 weeks starts 31 Aug £32.99
Nonconformity with Michael Isherwood starfs 2 Sept 4 weeks £37.99 or £47.99 assessed
The National Archives with Guy Grannum 3 weeks starts 6 Sept £32.99
Organising your Genealogy with Barbara Baker 3 weeks starts 7 Sept £32.99
Genetic Genealogy with Chris Pomery 4 weeks starts 13 Sept £37.99
Manorial Records with Liz Carter 5 weeks starts 16 Sept £43.99

www.pharostutors.com

Programme of Family History Worshops at Norfolk Family History Society Autumn 2010 to Summer 2011

A programme of workshops providing an in-depth study of specific topics relevant to the family historian, ranging from the well known to the frequently underused. All held at the Norfolk Family History Society, Kirby Hall, St. Giles Street, Norwich.

Tutor, Gill Blanchard, BA. MA. PGCE (Adults). Venue: Norfolk Family History Society, Kirby Hall, St. Giles Street, Norwich. Each workshop costs £17 and runs from 9.30 to 2.30pm with a break for lunch.

Book early to avoid disappointment.

Monday 13th September 2010. Parish Registers

Monday 11th October 2010. Making the most of Census Records

Monday 8th November 2010. Workhouse Records

Saturday 20th November 2010. Illegitimacy

Saturday 4th December 2010. Parish Registers

Monday 13th December 2010. Removal Orders, Settlement Certificates and Settlement Examinations

Saturday 15th January 2011. Wills and Administrations

Monday 24th January 2011. School Records

Monday 14th February 2011. Newspapers

Monday 7th March 2011. Wills and Administrations

Monday 11th April 2011. Manor Court Records

Monday 9th May 2011. Illegitimacy

Saturday 21st May 2011. Removal Orders, Settlement Certificates and Settlement Examinations

Monday 13th June 2011. Prison and Court Records

Saturday 25th June 2011. Workhouse Records

The Parish Chest online course starts 14 July 2010 4 weeks £37.99

The Parish Chest: There was more to life than baptism, marriage and burial (#310)

http://www.pharostutors.com/coursedescriptions.php#310

The records and accounts of the parish make up what is collectively called the parish chest. From the reign of Elizabeth I the parish’s role in local affairs expanded to include many civil responsibilities that affected the lives of your ancestors. Parish officers - the churchwardens and overseers - raised taxes, kept accounts and managed parish affairs including maintaining the church, providing relief to the poor, setting local rates, repairing roads, maintaining law and order, and operating schools. You will discover other fascinating records as well, among them the wills of benefactors, militia records and parish magazines. This course explains how to locate parish chest records, describes indexes and finding aids, and discusses how to interpret and use search results. As a result you will build your family tree and expand your understanding of the parish and its day to day activities.

Instructor: Gill Blanchard

What is the Parish and what role did it play in your ancestors’ lives?
Churchwardens, Overseers and Vestry Records
Property and Land Records
The Parish Constable, School Records and Other Records

'Tracing the History of Your House and Home' - a new course

I am starting an exciting new course entitled Tracing the History of Your House and Home.

Having written house histories for a number of years I feel I’ve got the process down to a manageable series of steps which I can pass on to others.

House histories weave together many stories, but cover two distinct strands. The story of who lived in a home, what they did there and what social factors cause the occupants to change is one part. Secondly, the story of the structure of the building can reveal what rooms were originally used for and how a house has been modified and expanded over time.

I am joined by Dr. Sarah Edwards in teaching this course. Sarah is an architectural historian with eight years university lecturing experience, she has also taught adult education classes for the past five years.

Together we will guide students through using historical records and physical analysis to build up a complete picture of a house and its occupants over the ages.

The course runs over two terms, the first is 11 September – 4 November 2010. The second term is from 5 February – 2 April 2011. Tutorials take place between 10am-2pm every alternate Saturday in the Town Close Room, Theatre Royal, Norwich.

Four of the 10 sessions will be field trips with opportunities to try out skills in practical situations. The course costs £375 and can be paid in instalments. There is a £25 discount to those choosing to pay the whole course fee up-front.

Tutorial and field trip dates are as follows:

Term 1: September 11th to November 6th 2010
September 11th Theatre Royal
September 25th Theatre Royal
October 9th Field Trip
October 23rd Field Trip
November 6th Theatre Royal

Term Two: February 5th February 19th April 2nd
February 5th Theatre Royal
February 19th Theatre Royal
March 5th Field Trip
March 19th Field Trip
April 2nd Theatre Royal

Free Access to 1911 census & other records during world cup matches on Find My Past

Free Access to Find My Past website during world cup games. http://www.findmypast.co.uk/home.jsp

See their website notice:


CALLING ALL WORLD CUP WIDOWS AND WIDOWERS!


The World Cup is now upon us and we thought it would only be fair to provide some entertainment for any non-football fans out there:


Whenever England play a match, you'll be able to access all our records for free!*


What you need to know about this fantastic offer:
- When England play, you don't pay: 30 minutes before each England game kicks off, all the records on findmypast.co.uk will be free to view for 3 hours
- You can view original images and transcriptions of all our records for free including birth, marriage and death records 1538-2006, census records including the 1911 census and our Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records 1760-1913 - to name just a few
- Normally you would need a subscription or PayAsYouGo credits to view our records - some of which normally cost 30 credits each - so to be able to see them for free is a rare opportunity
- Keep an eye on our blog for a competition question to enter during each England match. You'll need to answer all the questions correctly for a chance to win, so make sure you don't miss any. The prize is a goodie bag containing a digital camera, vouchers for a year's Full subscription plus much more


All you need to do to make use of this unique offer is register on findmypast.co.uk as you'll need to sign in to view the records. Visit our World Cup page for more information.


If you need a helping hand with your research, take a look at our video tutorials or our Getting Started page which provide clear advice on how to use our records.


We'd love to hear about any discoveries you make while our records are free to view - post anything you'd like to share with us and our readers on our Facebook page.


Please pass this on to friends, family or anyone else you think might want to make the most of our free family history records.


*All records available using our Full subscription (including the 1911 Census) will be free: Living Relatives searches and Memorial scrolls are not included.

Become a Better Genealogist

Become a Better Genealogist in England & Wales. Online course starts 10th June with Pharos Teaching & Tutoring. Tutor Gill Blanchard. Cost £49.99
http://www.pharostutors.com/

Become a Better Genealogist: Research in England and Wales (#101)
Genealogists who get results pay attention to methods, sources and the essential foundations of all research, history and geography. Regardless of how long you have been searching, there is something in this course that will make you a better genealogist. The lessons pay particular attention to how you tackle research problems, where you can find sources, and how to extract maximum value from online databases. Among classes of records discussed during the course you will discover some materials are available only in archives and libraries. You will learn how to locate original records, transcripts and copies. By the end of the course you will have acquired new skills and gained a better understanding of effective research techniques - from the present back to the 1830s.
Instructor: Gill Blanchard
Looking Around: Your Genealogical Landscape, present resources and past locations
Introducing Databases: large, small, free, paid etc.
Civil Registration
Directories and Electoral Registers
Census Returns
Parish Registers
Each lesson includes exercises and activities; a minimum of 1 one-hour chat session per week. See How the Courses Work.
STUDENTS SAID: "everything was well laid out and explained" "I enjoyed the support of the tutor and the other members of the class."Become a Better Genealogist: Research in England and Wales (#101)

Life, love and death on the ocean waves

The Index of Births Marriages and Deaths is one of the best transcribed and studied collections of documents in family history research. What many people often overlook is that there is also the index of Births, Marriages and Deaths at Sea.

A person being born, married or dying on a ship is often part of a much more interesting story than if such an event occurs on land. Findmypast.co.uk is setting up an online database where anyone can join in on transcribing records from the index of Births, Marriages and Deaths at Sea between 1854 and 1888.

These records could explain how a great aunt got onto a boat for America and came off with a different surname, or perhaps how a second cousin went on a voyage and returned with a child in tow. Clear instructions and a simple interface will be provided by the people running the project, so if you've got a computer and a broadband connection there's nothing to stop you getting involved.

New Certificate of Family History Skills and Strategies (Intermediate)

The Society of Genealogists & Pharos Teaching & Tutoring today announced a new joint programme, the distance learning Certificate of Family History Skills and Strategies (Intermediate).

The Society of Genealogists, in conjunction with Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd is now bringing its popular classroom programme to the Web. Following successful pilot courses last year, the Society and Pharos have teamed up to make available a full course of instruction, with assessment, to any interested genealogist anywhere in the world. First modules in the Skills and Strategies programme will be offered in September 2010. It will be possible to complete all 10 modules in an 18 month period.

The modules are listed here in alphabetical order. I teach two of these - The Poor, Parish & Workhouse and Wills and Administrations - and am really looking forward to being involved with this programme.

Apprenticeships & Guilds
Employment Records
Lists & Sources from Georgian England
Migration in the British Isles
Military Ancestors
Nonconformity in England and Wales
The Poor, the Parish and the Workhouse
Victorian Crime & Punishment
Wills and Administrations
17th Century Sources

Tutors include the well-known authors and genealogists, Gill Blanchard, Liz Carter, Else Churchill, Simon Fowler, Sherry Irvine, Michael Isherwood and Stuart Raymond. All have made significant contributions to the world of family history and bring a wide array of records knowledge and teaching experience to the online classroom.

The Skills and Strategies course is suitable for genealogists who have had at least two years experience in family history research in England & Wales and have mastered the fundamentals of census, civil registrations and parish registers but who now wish to move on to new records and a greater understanding of research methods and skills.

Students choosing to take all ten modules as a full programme with assessments leading to the Intermediate Certificate can sign up now at an introductory price of £450. This represents a saving of £42.90 on the full listed price. Each module is monitored by the Society to ensure excellent standards of content and teaching.

Students may, alternatively, choose not have work assessed and to take any arrangement of individual topics. Courses taken individually without assessment cost less.

To find out more or sign up for this great learning opportunity, visit http://www.pharostutors.com/

Information abut the course and a link for bookings can also be found on the Society of Genealogists’ website at http://www.sog.org.uk/


Helen Osborn, Managing Director of Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd, said today

“We are very pleased to continue and build on our collaboration with the Society of Genealogists. We know that many Pharos students are interested in working towards a certificate that acknowledges their achievements and that others are looking for a wider range of choice in online programmes. The Skills and Strategies course meets those needs, offered by organizations and teachers with shared standards of excellence.”


Else Churchill, Genealogist at the Society & tutor on the new programme, said today

“The Society of Genealogists is delighted join forces with Pharos to offer the highly regarded SoG courses and education programme to a wider audience than can attend the Society’s classes in London. The Skills and Strategies course will offer a practical opportunity for family historians to take their research further and to develop their own expertise and understanding of genealogical sources and techniques.

Contacts:

Pharos Tutors: Helen Osborn
Telephone: 020 8542 6552
Email: helen@pharostutors.com
Website: http://www.pharostutors.com/



Society of Genealogists: Else Churchill
Telephone: 020 7702 5488
Email: genealogy@sog.org.uk
Website: http://www.sog.org.uk/



Notes for Editors:

The Society of Genealogists is the National Family History Library and Education Centre. The Society of Genealogists offers a unique combination of research material, guidance and support for those interested in family history and the lives of earlier generations. It is a charity whose objects are to "promote, encourage and foster the study, science and knowledge of genealogy".
Founded in 1911 the Society now has over 12,000 members spread across the world.

More information about the Society can be found at http://www.sog.org.uk/

Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd was the first British organisation to provide online courses for genealogists. The Company is run by two professional genealogists, Helen Osborn and Sherry Irvine. Pharos exists to teach the best and most rewarding ways to search for ancestors in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and to help others discover as much as possible about the lives of their ancestors.
More information about Pharos and their courses can be found at http://www.pharostutors.com/

Writing Family History workshops

My Writing Your Family History course at the Norfolk Family History Society is now under way. Should be an interesting and stimulating few weeks.

If you missed out on this or couldn't get to Norfolk I will be running 3 Writing Family History workshops at the Society of Genealogists in London this summer. The first is 'Starting Out' on Saturday 3 July at 2pm. The second is 'Expanding Your Family History Biography' on the 17th of July and the third is 'Developing Your Writing Further' on the 31st of July.

The cost is £17.50 or £14 if you are a SoG member. Book via www.sog.org.uk Email events@sog.org.uk or Tel: 020 7553 3290

Norwich Family History Fair - 29 March

The Norwich Family History Fair is on at St Andrews Hall on 29 March, I shall be there along with representatives of many family history groups and businesses in Norfolk.

The event is an opportunity for the public to come and meet experts and fellow enthusiasts and learn a bit about their favourite topics in family history.

It is also a good place to go if you are looking to commission research or enroll on courses because it allows you to meet researchers and teachers and see exactly what is on offer.

The fair runs from 10:00am to 4:00pm and costs £2 admission for over 16s.

Vaccination Records Article in Ancestors Magazine

I’ve written an article on vaccination records in the upcoming April edition of Ancestors Magazine.

We often think of vaccinations as being part of modern medicine, but inoculation against smallpox was compulsory in England and Wales between 1853 and 1948, taking vaccination records well back into the Victorian era.

After the Second World War many other vaccinations became compulsory, in effect handing the baton of vaccination records from the smallpox jab to a new generation of vaccines.

Smallpox is probably the most famous vaccine in medical history because it was one of the first to be documented in a scientific way. From the 1770s onwards smallpox was widely feared in England because of its near one-in-three mortality rate and disfiguring effects on the body.

Scientist Edward Jenner noticed that the milk maids on the farmland surrounding his Gloucestershire home did not contract it.

Jenner’s investigations lead him to establish that they had all contracted the much less virulent cowpox when they were young, and for some reason this more benign disease protected them form smallpox in later life.

Jenner tested his theory on n 14 May 1796, inserting material from a milk maid’s cowpox blisters into an incision in the skin of eight-year-old James Phipps. Phipps contracted cowpox and suffered a slight fever, but afterwards he never contracted smallpox.

This inoculation works because cowpox and smallpox are similar in make-up. Once the body has developed the ability to recognize cowpox, including a set of antibodies to fight the pathogen, it has also done the same for smallpox. Thus upon infection by either disease the immune system reacts instantly and effectively to prevent it taking hold.

The use of cowpox to inoculate against small pox had been recorded in China and the Ottoman Empire since the 1500s, but Jenner’s great breakthrough was scientifically testing the method and starting the basis of modern immunology.

National Burial Index Third Edition

Burial records are part of the bread and butter work of genealogy; accessible to new starters and equally essential to the well versed.

The Federation of Family History Societies (FFHS) has just published its third edition of burial indexes. The National Burial Index (NBI) takes in 18.3 million entries from non-conformist, Quaker, Anglican parish, Roman Catholic and cemetery burial registers.

The entries cover 9100 burial locations in 50 counties across England and Wales. A copy of NBI3 costs £30, or £15 for those who already own the second edition. Over five million entries have been added to the Second Edition to create the Third Edition.

Even if the NBI leaves you cold the FFHS is a really interesting and worthwhile organisation. They draw together not only family history groups based around geographical area, but specialist groups such as one-name societies are also welcomed.

Individuals cannot join the society directly, instead you join an affiliated group in one of your areas of interest. If you’re looking for a group to join, the FFHS are good people to ask because they know which groups offer good quality know-how, resources and events to their members.

Who Do You Think You Are 2010 & Price Rise in Certificates

Who Do You Think You Are at Olympia 2010

This coming week Fri 26 Feb to Sun 28 Feb sees the Who Do You Think You Are Live show at Olympia. A must for anyone who can get to it. I will be there on stand 86 all weekend. I'm also next door to Pharos Teaching & Tutoring, who I run online courses for. I'm also presenting on the Friday on Norfolk Ancestors.

As well as founder Helen Osborn, who will be on the stand all weekend, other Pharos tutors to look out for that weekend if you want to pick the brains of some of the best in the business are Chris Paton, Scottish epert, Guy Grannum who teaches courses on Caribbean history and using The National Archives Catalogue, Simon Fowler, who is also editor of Ancestors Magazine as well as tutor and expert in military history and Hannah Baker who runs a course aimed at those who want to introduce children to genealogy.

Record Offices & their rules

I'm very supportive of record office rules about leaving bags in lockers, only using pencils etc. After all they are the guardians of our documentary heritage. When I worked in Norfolk Record Office I used to wish I had a pound for every time some idiot said "are you going to strip search me" because they didn't get why they should comply.

But, I've been on my travels again the last two weeks, so have been to several different record offices again, and it never ceases to amaze me how differently they each apply certain rules. One is photography. They all charge different rates and some don't charge at all (Lincoln for example). Most say no flash can be used. But the reasons given why are often different, with many staff not seeming to know why they don't allow it. Others won't allow you to use a tripod, usually because of space, which I get, but again the rationale varies enormously from place to place. Others have a special area where you have to photograph everything and show the staff what you are doing. Essex is one of these but their photographic table isn't big enough to put maps on!

Some will let you photograph the screen of a film or fiche reader. Others don't but don't seem to notice when people do. I've never got the point of doing this anyway as I've tried it and the quality is very poor.

Some don't allow photography at all, or only of certain items, whilst others insist photographs can only be taken by their staff for a hefty fee.

I think this is just one area where perhaps different record offices could share notes at annual meetings and perhaps come up with a more standardised policy that is based on common sense.

I think I'll leave my thoughts on booking policies for another time in case my blood pressure hits the roof.

Norfolk Family History Society's new online records

The Norfolk Family History Society are beginning to make the transcripts of parish registers held in their library available online. Members of the society can now access the first offerings at
http://www.norfolkfhs.org.uk/membersarea/intro.asp

I spent a large part of last week in the record offices in Cambridge and Lincoln. I was pleased to see Cambridge have added some new parish register transcripts to their already impressive collection. Compiled by the Cambridge Family History Society the new series include parishes from in and around Wisbech. As the original registers for most of these are held at the Wisbech and Fenland Museum and the films (where they exist) are often poor quality, this is very welcome news.

One of the parishes I searched in Lincoln was Whaplode. The vicar there had a habit of including comments about some of his parishioners on the entries. One great example was the baptism in 1817 of William "the bastard son of Maria Lown a widow". The vicar went on to say "NB. This abandoned Woman might be Married, but will not. The Banns of Marriage have been published, but she prefers a state of Prostitution! Remarking, or having remarked, that she is already a Whore; & can be no worse. Therefore she will remain as she is".

This will undoubtedly appear in my upcoming course on marriage records with Pharos, along with my theories on why she might have refused to marry, and how such records can be used to find out more about our ancestors.

Into the blogosphere

Welcome to my inaugural blog. I'll start off with an article taken from my January 2010 newsletter, but the blog will be getting bespoke content later this week, so check back soon.

A year gone and a year to come

One of the more difficult years of the recent past, 2009 has been weathered well in this corner of Norfolk. Firstly thank you to all my customers for their support over the past year. The fact so many are still commissioning me for research and attending classes in such austere times is very touching.

Looking at a brighter future, I’ve been invited to speak at Who Do You Think You Are Live, on 26 February. I will be presenting ‘Your Norfolk Ancestors: An Insiders Guide’ from 12.45 to 1.30 pm. The event is at OlympiaLondon, over the weekend of 26-28 February. I’ll have a stand there on every day of the event. The stand is number 86, next door to the nice people from Pharos Tutors.

Life hasn’t been all business, we’ve had drama and excitement on the home front. In August my partner Ian had a rather dramatic and worrying reaction to swine flu, or possibly Tamiflu. This rather put the dampers on our summer holiday. In the finest tradition of the NHS, the staff at the Royal Devon & Exeter hospital were fantastic. Our thanks also goes to the helpful staff at Sidmouth Folk Festival and all my customers who sent their regards upon hearing of Ian’s predicament.

Better family news came when my daughter Cáitlin decided to marry Jos, her long term partner. The wedding is in April, which will add a new Blanchard marriage certificate to be unearthed in the future. I’ll sign off this article by wishing everyone a happy new year and the best of luck in their family history endeavours and life in general.