A word from our Chairman
As I write in October there is much going on
in the family history world, so I’ve had a
little difficulty deciding what to write about. I’ve
chosen two subjects, the 1901 census and moving
to publishing on CD ROM.
1901 census
As many of you will already know, at long last
the 1901 census is back online and from our
experience in the Research Centre it is working
well. When we print images of the pages from the
enumerators’ books we have clear and crisp
results with the unfortunate black border.
However, some of you are finding difficulties
using the index. It seems clear to me that
contracting out work with a tight deadline to the
Indian sub-continent has not given high quality
results. It has been alleged that the entries
were transcribed twice and checked; if so, the
second transcription was largely a repeat of the
first and the checking was generally cursory. How
else can we explain a clear Charles on the image
being transcribed as George? Certainly the 1881
census project that so many of us worked on years
ago stands up very well in comparison. For the
1901 what I suggest is firstly that you use large
amounts of lateral thinking to try and find a way
through the index to your relative, they’re
probably there but mis-transcribed by either the
enumerator or transcribers. Next, that you save
and print the invaluable images of the census
enumerator’s book and avoid the transcript
except in certain special cases. A transcript may
be the best solution for an institution, as the
institution’s name does not occur on most
pages. We are continuing to sell the vouchers at
a 10% discount, at least for the foreseeable
future, and volunteers are on hand on Tuesday
evenings in the Research Centre to help you with
the 1901 Census and other genealogy sites on the
Internet.
Other genealogical sites include the recently
updated International Genealogical Index on the
FamilySearch website and the new
FamilyHistoryOnline site that you helped to test
(vouchers for this are also available from the
Society, but no discount for these — sorry!).
Moving to CD ROM
I found the results from the June
questionnaire you completed with your renewal
form very interesting. Our Society is already
taking some of the results on board and actively
pursuing a program to publish more on CD ROM.
Those of you who already have microfiche
readers may find it difficult to understand the
need to move away from microfiche to other media.
There are two very persuasive arguments:
First, the majority of our members have
computers that almost certainly have CD ROM
drives - they would rather, not have to buy a
microfiche reader if they could buy what they
need on CD ROM.
Second, it is all very well to say, ‘Visit
your local library’ but even there we’re
finding the microfiche readers are giving way to
Internet computers.
There are difficulties for those who don’t
want to use a computer. I could repeat the
argument that computers are now much easier to
use than they used to be but for some (you may be
one), I am left with a feeling that dealing with
a computer will always be unwelcome. And let’s
face it: even I would agree that it’s easier
for a novice to get something out of a microfiche
viewer than out of Adobe’s Acrobat Reader.
There are, after all, only four ways to put a
fiche in a viewer, you do have to figure out how
to open the tray and then find the switch to turn
the thing on. Even in a library there are
occasional problems, the magnification is not
what you need, a mirror inside became dislodged
when the viewer was moved, or the bulb has gone.
All these require moving to another unit or
asking for help from a supervisor. Finally you do
have to work out how the information is organised
on the fiche.
With library computers there are different
problems. What happens if you take your own CD
ROM to the library, or a Cyber cafe? Will they
let you use your CD ROM in their computer? They
might if they knew it was something safe like an
Adobe Acrobat file, but almost certainly not if
it needs to copy a program from the CD ROM to the
computer’s own disk drive as many need to do.
These search programs are all very different
and of varying quality. Sometimes you need to
scratch your head to get anything off the disk.
In the case of some, like the Nottinghamshire FHS
CDs, you might have to scratch quite hard.
For a computer novice in most libraries
finding information on the Internet is the
easiest way forward. The help on hand has been
taught to understand the Internet. Genealogical
information is as far away as clicking on Search
on the menu bar, typing in ‘International
Genealogical Index’, ‘FamilySearch’,
‘freebmd’ or ‘Genuki’,
pressing the Enter key and clicking on one of the
underlined links that soon appears. Nevertheless
we can and must continue to support those who don’t
want to use a computer. Our postal research
services will fill much of the need; we
understand why many of you prefer paper and we’ll
investigate the cost-effectiveness of short
production runs on paper.
Crew lists
Just published a Crew List CD giving seafarers’
details from the Crew Lists and Agreements from
1863 to 1913. The original files have been
collated to produce a master name index of more
than 269,000 records. The data has also then been
sorted into the records matching particular
vessels so that it is possible to follow an
individual’s career through the crew list
records, and work out which ships he served on.
The records have been drawn from Crew Lists, Crew
Agreements and Log Books held in local record
offices in the British Isles and at the Public
Record Office, Kew. The vessel index can provide
surname, forename, date of birth, place of birth,
name of the vessel, previous vessel and date
started. No doubt a copy will soon be in the
Research Centre, but it is available at £29.95
from www.genealogy.demon.co.uk.
Gamekeepers Index
If you have a gamekeeper in your family you
may wish to know that there’s an index to
them which covers most of Berkshire. During the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries gamekeepers
had to have a licence from the quarter sessions
and this list of licences has been indexed for
most of Berkshire. In addition, on an annual
basis (usually in September), local newspapers
published the complete list of licensees. To
consult the database send a stamped addressed
envelope each name to Dolina Clarke, 22 including
a cheque for £3 for Portobello Grove, Fareham,
Hants P016 8HU.
Berkshire on the Internet
The Berkshire Record Office has a revamped
website at www.berkshirerecordoffice.org.uk.
If you intend visiting the Record Office it is
worthwhile using the onsite search engine to find
the precise records you wish to examine. The
Berkshire Local History Society has a new website
at www.blha.org.uk
which contains details of member societies as
well as a queries page. Strange Britain at ???
has pages on Herne the Hunter, and the history of
the ghost of Bisham Abbey’s Lady Hoby. The
Britannia website at www.cleaverproperty.co.uk/strange/berkshire/index.html
has pages on historic places and the people of
Berkshire. If you are interested in highwaymen
and footpads then www.outlawsandhighwaymen.com
contains the fascinating history of some of our
most famous highwaymen including Dick Turpin.
General Register Office (Scotland)
The General Register Office for Scotland’s
contract with Origins.Net for the ScotsOrigins
service expired on the 31st August. A new
contract was awarded to Scotland On Line to
create a new ‘Scotland’s People’
service, as ‘the official online source of
parish register, civil registration and census
records for Scotland.’ The new website at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/
contains almost 37 million names, the database
being one of the world’s largest resources
of genealogical information and one of the
largest single information resources on the web.
It provides a fully searchable index of Scottish
births from 1553 to 1901 and marriages from 1553
to 1951. In addition, indexed census data is
available from 1891 to 1901. From the results of
an index search made on this site it is possible
to save and print images of many of the original
documents, and order extracts of any register
entries of interest. Such requests are forwarded
automatically to New Register House, and the
requested extracts are mailed out.
Open University
The OU is starting a short course on writing
family history which begins in May next year. The
course is designed for beginners researching in
the nineteenth and twentieth century with an
emphasis on oral, visual and narrative evidence.
This course will help you to interpret and write
about family history. Further details can be
found at:
www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p
12.dll?C02A173.
Reading University courses
Sweet Suburbia: the rise of suburban Britain
1850-1950. Seven Tuesday afternoons from April 29.
The development of the rail network established
many dormitory suburbs around our towns and
cities. From these suburbs commuters would travel
to work creating new lifestyles and social change.
This course explores the development of suburban
life.
Exploring local history. Saturday day school
on May 17. This is designed for those wanting to
explore the history of their own town, village,
or street and also provides an opportunity to
meet others researching local history.
Telegrams and telexes
Earlier this year BT Archives appealed for
examples of telegrams and telexes related to news
of significant events, or which were sent to, or
by, people of note. They were also attempting to
find the oldest telegram in existence. The
earliest telegram so far identified is held in
the Essex Record Office archives. It is dated
1846 and was sent to Mrs. Harrison, a grocer,
informing her that her husband would be home by
the first train in the morning. You may not have
an earlier telegram, but you may well have one of
national significance, or one sent by an
important person. If you have then let BT
Archives know. Their address is BT Group
Archives, Third Floor, Holborn Telephone
Exchange, 268-270 High Holborn, London WC1V 7EE.
British Vital Records Index second
edition
The set of discs contains 10.4 million baptism
entries and 1.9 million marriages. Church and
civil records are included and entries range from
1530 to 1906. It costs £22.95 and is available
from the Church of Latter-day Saints, 399
Garretts Green Lane, Birmingham B33 0UH.
Apology
My apology for omitting the crucial page from
the accounts published in the September issue of
the Berkshire Family Historian. No excuses, it
was a careless mistake and I should have picked
it up before it went to print. The missing page
can be found on page 123 of this issue. Once
again my apologies.
Bracknell Family History Fair
Finally, don’t forget to visit us at the
Fair on Sunday Janury 26 2003.
