Posted by Lawrence Gregory | Filed under Events, Family History, General Information
Scottish Catholic Records
16 Thursday Sep 2021
16 Thursday Sep 2021
17 Tuesday Dec 2019
Posted Archives, General Information, History
inThe Catholic Family History Society is delighted to present to the world, now free of charge
THE MARGARET HIGGINS DATABASE
OF CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND AND THEIR FRIENDS
1607–1840
See if your ancestors were recusant Catholics by following this Link
31 Friday May 2019
Posted Archives, Days Out, General Information, History
inA reminder that tomorrow (1 June) the North West branch of the Catholic Family History Society are holding their Day Conference in Preston at Fulwood Methodist Church, Watling Street Road, Fulwood, Preston PR2 8EA (Large Car Park at rear of Church).
Don’t worry if you haven’t booked, please feel free to drop in and join us.
Programme
1-00 pm Arrival and Welcome by Maureen Fitzgibbon
1-30 pm ON_LINE NEWSPAPERS: A VALUABLE SOURCE FOR FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH Lawrence Gregory M.A., Archivist, Newman Collection, Birmingham.
2-30 pm Afternoon Tea
3-00 pm SOURCES AND PROBLEM SOLVING Meet fellow family historians for discussion on established and new sources of information and advice on finding your ancestors. Bring your own research to show us! Discussion led by Brenda Hustler.
4-00 pm Meeting closes
Cost £8.oo per person (inclusive of all refreshments)
Enquiries – e-mail – jeansmith1934@talktalk.net
23 Saturday Feb 2019
15 Wednesday Aug 2018
Posted Conference, General Information, History, Meetings
in15 Friday Jun 2018
Posted Books, General Information, History
inIn aid of the Diocese of Nottingham, Sick and Retired Priests Fund, Canon Anthony Dolan has published Good News for the East Midlands – An account of the background to and the story of, the Diocese of Nottingham.
The book can be ordered from the address on the poster above, or from the website.
07 Monday May 2018
Posted Family History, General Information
inHaving been researching my family history since my teenage years, largely through Ancestry.com I decided in March, after much deliberation, to undertake a DNA test. The popularity of these tests for genealogical purposes has become very popular lately, particular as a result of television advertising
After paying my fee of £79, I received my DNA kit in the post, the test involves filling a test tube with saliva, I sent the test-tube back on 12 March and had the results within a month.
The results have three main areas.
This is supposed to pinpoint which parts of the world your DNA markers originate from. The results however are in my view slightly spurious, they undertake this test by sampling a couple of thousand individuals with long proven family backgrounds in different regions of the world, then match your DNA makers to theirs. Although this may seem like a very small sample base for a world population of more than 7 billion, apparently Ancestry has the largest sample base of any of the DNA companies.
Having traced all lines of my ancestry back to at least the 1700s (and many much further), I have found my background to be a quarter Irish and three quarters English.
These are my results from the Ancestry DNA story, the 27% Irish being as expected, however 65% from Western Europe, and only 5% from England, came as something of a surprise, I have found no European ancestry, only English so far, this is presumably suggesting that almost every single one of my English ancestral lines originated in Europe, a fact that I find unlikely.
This section matches you up to other people who have taken the test and who share DNA markers with you, delineated by siblings, 1stcousins, 2ndcousins, 3rdcousins etc.
It is in this area that for me the DNA test has been worthwhile, it connected me with four 3rdcousins (meaning we share a great grandparent). I contacted all four of these people, the first two I found were descendants of my father’s paternal grandmother’s siblings, including a line I had previously been unable to work out. The third was a granddaughter of my Mother’s maternal grandmother’s elder sister who had emigrated to America in the 1910s and the family had lost contact with – the family live in Buffalo on the banks of Lake Eerie, the final 3rdcousin turned out to be granddaughter of the illegitimate son of my father’s paternal grandfather’s brother, the discovery of this line has solved many mysteries in both our families.
The downside of this is that your shared matches have made their family trees private, as many people have, it is very difficult to work out family connections.
These it seems are linking you with distant cousins around a particular shared ancestor. I am still waiting for these to develop.
In conclusion, while I treat the DNA story with some dubiousness, for me the DNA matches have made the whole process worthwhile, after only a month I have made contact with distant cousins and have filled out some unknown lines of my family tree, and for this purpose I would recommend it.
12 Friday Jan 2018
Posted Archives, Family History, General Information, History
inFor genealogists, the United Kingdom Census records are probably the most valuable records presently available. At the moment the census records from 1841 to 1911 are available searchable online at various commercial websites.
The next census, which was taken on Sunday 19 June 1921, is due to be released in 2022, this is despite efforts by various bodies to have it released earlier, as had happened with the 1911 census. However the official government position remained that “its intention to release the entirety of the 1921 Census returns in 2022, in accordance with the non-statutory ‘100 year rule’ which was adopted to reflect this undertaking of confidentiality”. The census when released will provide full details of the 42,767,530 individuals living in the United Kingdom at the time.
This however will sadly be the final census that genealogists will see for more than thirty years for a variety of reasons.
The 1931 census has been destroyed – it was being stored in an Ministry of Works warehouse that on the night of the 19th December 1942 caught fire, not as is commonly believed as a result of the blitz, but simply due to an accident. An archivist from the General Register Office who surveyed the ruins after the fire reported:
You will regret to hear that in a fire last Saturday evening which gutted the Office of Works store containing our Census records at Hayes, the whole of the 1931 schedules, enumeration books, plans of division and miscellaneous material stored in cupboards etc were completely destroyed. Mr Farrow and I went down to inspect the remains yesterday and we are both satisfied that it would be useless to attempt any sort of salvage operation; we are leaving the Office of Works to clear and dispose of the debris in any way they think desirable.
The fire was not occasioned by enemy action and how it achieved such dimensions in a store in which special hydrants had been fitted and said to have been in charge of a fire guard of 6 paid watchers, is a mystery which will need investigation. It is hardly possible to imagine a more complete state of devastation than the scene presented to us in which it was impossible to see where some of the racks had stood and where the remains were nothing more than shapeless mounds of paper rubbish dragged outside the building by the firemen who tackled the fire and where even the least damaged sheets that were recognizable were charred to the depth of two or three inches on all edges.
The next census, due to have been taken in 1941, didn’t happen due to the War, although in 1939, the government department tasked with issuing National Identity Cards did construct a register of every person in the country at the time. Parts of the 1939 register is available online at Find My Past, but only the entries related to individuals born over 100 years ago, or who had died prior to 1991, however if you can prove the death of an individual since 1991, you can request their record to be opened.
Thus the next available census will be that taken in 1951, which not be available until 2052, another 34 years, leaving a massive gap for genealogists, that we will never be able to fill.
10 Wednesday Jan 2018
Posted Family History, General Information
inSince 12 October 2017, the General Register Office (GRO) has been piloting a new service for genealogists ordering birth and death certificates online.
Previously the only option available was to order the certificate and wait for a paper version to arrive in the post, the cost being £9.25 for standard delivery, or £23.40 for express next-day delivery.
The pilot service gives the option instead for a PDF version of the certificate to be made available online for a lower cost of £6. When your order is available from your GRO account, you will receive an email, and you will then able to view and download the certificate on your computer.
This example shows a PDF I ordered last week of my Irish Great Grandfather’s death.
The original plan was to pilot the service for three months and then to assess the demand. The pilot has now been extended, and hopefully it will become a permanent service and will extended to include other certificates, such as marriages.
19 Wednesday Jul 2017
Posted Days Out, Events, General Information, History
inHeritage Open Days 2017 will be taking place between the 7th and the 10th September this year.
As usual many Catholic churches are opening their doors giving people the opportunity to explore buildings usually kept locked while not in use. Please consider making use of this opportunity to support these sites.
For more information consult the Heritage Open Days website www.heritageopendays.org.uk
NORTH WEST
Lancashire
Hurst Cross, St Christopher RC Church
Sefton Park, Liverpool St Clare’s RC Church
Liverpool, St Francis Xavier’s RC Church
Old Swan, Liverpool, St Oswald’s RC Church
Wallasey, Ss Peter & Paul’s RC Church (The Dome of Home)
St Helen’s, Holy Cross & St Helen RC Church
Darwen, Sacred Heart & St Edward RC Church
Over Darwen, St Joseph RC Church
Cheshire
Stockport, Our Lady & the Apostles RC Church
NORTH EAST & YORKSHIRE
County Durham
Old Elvet, St Cuthbert’s RC Church
Old Esh, St Michael’s RC Church
Yorkshire
Hull, St Vincent’s RC Church
Hull, St Charles Borromeo RC Church
Northumberland
Old Gate, St Robert of Newminster RC Church
Tyne and Wear
Gateshead, St Patrick’s RC Church
Sunderland, St Ignatius the Martyr RC Church
Wallsend, Our Lady & St Columba RC Church
Blaydon on Tyne, St Mary & St Thomas RC Church
SOUTH WEST
Cornwall
Launceston, St Cuthbert Mayne RC Church
Somerset
Bath, Eyre Chapel
Wiltshire
Calne, St Edmund’s RC Church
SOUTH EAST & HOME COUNTIES
Berkshire
Reading, St James RC Church
Reading, Sacred Heart RC Church
Essex
Colchester, St James the Less & St Helen’s RC Church
Hertfordshire
Bishop’s Stortford, St Joseph’s RC Church
Kent
Folkstone, St Peter’s RC Church
Surrey
Effingham, Our Lady of Sorrows RC Church
Effingham, St Teresa’s RC School
Woking, Holy Cross Chapel
WEST MIDLANDS
Gloucestershire
Gloucester, St Peter’s RC Church
Staffordshire
Newcastle under Lyme, Holy Trinity RC Church
Burslem, St Joseph’s RC Church
Stoke on Trent, Sacred Heart RC Church
Warwickshire
Birmingham, St Chad’s Cathedral
Birmingham, The Oratory
EAST MIDLANDS
Lincolnshire
Grimsby, St Mary on the Sea RC Church