FROME Family History Group welcomed a return visit from Marek Lewcun to their September meeting.
Marek’s talk was on documentary sources for finding family ancestors in old documents. Marek, now an archaeologist but formerly the owner of a family history research business, illustrated his sources by taking us through them alphabetically with examples of many from his research into pipe makers. Some of the sources were familiar to us, but a great many offered the chance to take our research in a new direction or possibly to find an ancestor that had been alluding us. Suggestions included the following:-
Alehouse keeper’s licences or victuallers licenses began in 1552 and are held at city or county record offices.
Bastardy bonds are where any woman pregnant with an illegitimate child had to name the father who was then responsible for the upbringing and eventually the apprenticeship of the child.
Diocesan records; these are a series of records that may include a list of those who did not attend church or take sacraments
Hospital records may have survived from as far back as medieval times
Nonconformists records are often more detailed and in particular the Quaker records hold a great deal of detail. County record offices frequently hold minute books of their quarterly meetings in which one can find details of children who would be apprenticed and to whom, as well as a wealth of other information.
Manorial records; many cottages and tenements were still owned and governed by a lord of the manor well into the 18th century
Overseers of the poor. Overseers dealt with the administration of affairs relating to the care and maintenance of the poor. These records were contained in the parish chest but most of them have been transferred to the local record office.
Newspapers; the British Newspaper Archive are available online and cover papers from all over the country. The Frome Times, Taunton Courier and Wells Journal are among those titles available, with more are being added all the time.
Police records, the Bath Record Office has a huge collection of police records including summons books and evidence statements dating from the 1870s.
Settlement papers; a settlement certificate was required to move from one parish to another, the first parish guaranteeing to take you back should you become unemployed or a burden on the finances of the new parish. It was essential to know the boundary of the parish to establish where a person came from and whether they were entitled to poor relief. Some parishes still follow the custom of “Beating the Bounds”
These are just a few of the many sources Marek covered and he was thanked for a most interesting evening. Our next event on 31st October will be a members’ evening concentrating on occupations. If you have an ancestor with an interesting occupation, find out as much as you can and tell the audience about it. We will start with a short presentation on the Chiltern chair bodgers.
Our regular family history advice sessions continue on the first Saturday in the month in the library from 9.30am – 11.30am. Please book a computer with the library staff
