MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER 2000

EDITION 3

	The latest news about genealogy in the UK.
	In September, we mentioned the PRO online catalogue , Pete Brown now gives some useful tips for anyone who wants to use it.
	Find out more about Britannia.com, a site packed with information about Britain and British History.
	A Place in History features a place of historic interest. This month we concentrate on Windsor a a town with Royal links for over 1000 years.
	This month Denise looks at Powerdesk , a feature packed replacement for Windows Explorer.
	Quick bits of information that may be of interest.
	Need a parish register or census to help your research, find out how you can obtain printed versions.
	Some of the new sites added to UK Genealogy.
	This month's guest articles feature the British Home Children of Canada and a Beginners Guide to Tracing your Scottish Ancestors

	Family History Library Catalog The LDS church have a catalogue of their holdings that you can search by place name . Simply type in the place you are researching and you will get a list of documents the LDS hold.	UK Genealogy Books On-line genealogy bookshop, in association with Amazon.co.uk
	1891 Census Need details of the film on which 1891 census records can be found? Genuki have a database of places in the 1891 census , some smaller ones are not included. This only covers England, Wales and the Isle of Man.	Genuki Excellent resource for UK and Ireland genealogy.
	Cornwall 1891 online The Cornwall 1891 online census project are looking for volunteers to help transcribe the 1891 census returns for Cornwall. You need a computer and access to a microfiche reader. The microfiche and specially written software will be supplied. Contact Michael Mc Cormick
	Free BMD Update The FreeBMD would like to borrow any Birth, Marriage or Death indexes covering 1837-1900 They will be scanned and the images sent out to helpers. The originals will be returned unharmed. Over 3 million names have now been indexed. More volunteers are always welcome. Contact Free BMD-Admin	Parish Locator Find the location of the place you are looking for
Advertise in this space Write for details	Pigot's 1830 - Oxfordshire Rod Neep has placed the entire Pigot's 1830 Directory for Oxfordshire online. This directory is just one of many rare out of print books Rod is producing on CD, it is part of the not for profit Archive books project . There are books that cover most UK counties.	IGI Search the IGI on-line
UK Multi Map On line maps covering the whole UK	UK Genealogy Mission Statement UK Genealogy aims to provide a concise and relevant source of reference for anyone wishing to trace their UK ancestors. We respect every individual's right to decide the extent to which they pay others to further their research, and strive to maintain a balance between commercial and non-commercial material.	Freebies for Genealogists Free software useful to genealogists

A Place in History		FREEWARE
Windsor A Royal connection with this area has existed for more than 1000 years, even before the Norman Conquest of 1066; and around 1070 William the Conqueror established a fortification on a chalk mound on a bend in the river, two miles from his palace at Kingsbury, Old Windsor. William I built a ring of fortresses within one day's march of London, of which Windsor is undoubtedly the finest. The Castle has been a royal residence since 1110 when Henry I began using it, transferring from the earlier court in Old Windsor. The town around the Castle remained small for several centuries, and it is only in recent years that new estates have been built to the west. The town itself, especially close to the castle, changed a good deal in Victorian times when slum dwellings at the foot of the castle were removed. The arrival of the railways made Windsor far more accessible from London and elsewhere, and so began the increase in tourism and day-tripping to town and to the open grass of The Brocas where many a fine picnic would be enjoyed, with views of Windsor and the Castle across the Thames, plus opportunities for boating and swimming. The text of this a rticle is adapted from the Thamesweb ( Royal Windsor Web Site ) site . Photographs Windsor Bridge (top) and Windsor Castle from the Home Park (bottom) are reproduced with their permission. Click here to see more photos.   Useful links for Windsor Windsor Castle The Official Royal Web Site The Royal Windsor Web Site Map of Windsor   Map of Windsor c1881 UK Genealogy Berkshire Genuki Berkshire     Prev ious places in history have featured Berwick upon Tweed and Caernarfon .		Powerdesk PowerDesk File Manager is a Window's Explorer replacement. The file manager provides you with single or dual pane file management windows, a powerful file finder, zip and unzip capabilities, a dialog helper, plus many other features. If you have QuickView or QuickView Plus , you can view many different types of files directly in the integrated PowerDesk viewer pane (QuickView comes with Windows® 95, 98 and NT).  A commercial Pro version is available, that includes an FTP client, a graphic format converter. and over 200 file viewers. The Ontrack website , also includes details of their commercial programs and information on how to cope with problems like hard disk problems and data recovery. Download the free version of Powerdesk - 1128kb file size Lockergnome - publishes a daily html or weekly text newsletter, full of tips and reviews of good quality software, freeware etc. My bible I wouldn't be without it. Format Win and some DOS . Denise Oyston Freebies for Genealogists
		Start your own FREE, private family Web site!

FINDING AIDS	NEW ADDITIONS
Using the PRO catalogue by Pete Brown The PRO (Public Record Office) is the central depository for national records, stored in London instead of at the local record offices. Records go back 1000 years and there is enormous potential for the genealogist. The PRO actually publishes many useful guides for genealogists. Since the old days of dust and paper slips at Chancery Lane, the new PRO at Kew is very accessible. An online catalogue now contains about 8.5 m records and is still growing. There is a series of Records Information Leaflets for the online catalogue , which has 2 main options, browse and search .Browse allows you to search the categories and find out what they contain. Search allows you to search for documents. The search screen is straightforward, but rather awkward. You have to use exact spellings to match the entry - it will not give you similar sounds, and you cannot use wildcard searches eg Northa* to search for Northampton, Northamptonshire and Northants. Similarly, you need to search for all possible spellings of a surname to be sure you cover everything. This can mean various permutations of names to get everything there is. The listings in the catalogue are only abstracts - often they do not give precise dates or places. To fill in the detail, you will need to go to Kew and study the original documents. This can be difficult if you're not used to it, and certainly time consuming. The advantages of the database are that its readily available online, possible to search, and very comprehensive. Parish Registers only start in 1538 (at the earliest), yet these documents go back way earlier. The disadvantages are that its not complete for all documents, not the easiest one to search, and only summarised for content. The catalogue on its own can give you some ideas on people and distributions, as well as particular events. I recently checked the catalogue for someone. With an unusual name, one document deals with a family member who was involved with planning Henry V's expedition to France (and Agincourt). You won't fill in your family tree from these records, but wow! Basically, this a powerful resource, too valuable to go unused when its all on the web. I suggest everyone checks this - for unusual names, great, but even my Northants Browns go back to the 13C in the catalogue. This article is adapted from a message posted by Pete Brown on the Midmarch-L mailing list   UK Genealogy and the PRO have lists of researchers to help with your Kew research. Our September edition had an article on using professional researchers .	History Links for Nottingham From Robin Hood and the Goose Fair to Jesse Boot and the Chartism movement; links to over 8 centuries of Nottingham's history can be found here. Welsh-American Genealogical Society (WAGS) WAGS was organized in 1990 to assist individuals researching Welsh ancestry anywhere in the world. UK Migration Statistics Between 1825 and 1849 the total number of British subjects emigrating was: Destination Number North American Colonies 808740 United States 1260247 Australia & New Zealand 185286 Other 30911 Total 2285184 Source: Her Majesty's Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners
BOOKS	SITE REVIEW
Parish Registers and Census Returns are some of the most important documents available to genealogists in the UK. Some have been published, mainly by Family History Societies, and can be bought online. Parish Registers Every Parish must by law keep records of Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals performed by The Church. Over 500 published registers can be bought from Amazon.co.uk . Click here for a list of published registers Census Returns The UK Census has been taken every 10 years from 1841. Only when a census is 100 years old is it made available to the public. Some Family History Societies have published indexes for places in their area. Click a year for a list of available titles. 1841 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 Family History Societies publish a wide range of other material. You will find a good selection at Genfair .	Rule Britannia! Britannia.com is far more than "America's gateway to the British Isles". Anyone with an interest in Britain and British History will find this site invaluable. Well written and easy to follow there is a wealth of useful information and lots of links. The site is divided in to seven main sections Travel Information Vacation Packages Virtual Tours London Guide British History British Life Shopping and more and each section is full of useful information from British Monarchs to a virtual tour of York

SNIPPET CORNER
The Fife Family History Society have moved their website to  http://www.fifefhs.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk Please update your bookmarks	Links to Lincolnshire now has an on-line research area. Searches of Lincolnshire parish registers, and civil registration indexes can be ordered on-line .	Write to us if you would like your news including in future editions.
New Zealand Genealogy Search Engine Search on-line New Zealand passenger lists and other genealogical resource pages at once!	Yorkshire: the Genealogists Library Guide is now available in 6 volumes from Stuart Raymond .	The Australian Family History Compendium has recently added a searchable database of Immigration to Victoria 1852-1879

GUEST ARTICLES
"Waifs and Strays" by Perry Snow
How could anyone steal a child's identity? Millions of Canadians, Americans, Britons, and Australians do not know they are related to each other. There is a harrowing chapter missing from history books about the British Child Emigration Scheme. Between 1870 and 1948, over fifty childcare organizations deported 100,000 alleged orphaned, abandoned, illegitimate, and impoverished children to Canada ostensibly to "provide them with better lives than they would have had in England." Thousands of 6-to-15-year-old children were transported without their parents' knowledge or consent to work as indentured farm labourers and domestic servants until they were 18. There are an estimated 4 million Canadian descendants of the British Home Children. Many desperately seek their potential 20 million British relatives. Could you be one of these descendants? Is there a "British Orphan" in your family tree? An unknown number of children ran away from the farms to be swallowed by the vast US. They may have millions of American descendants who are literally cousins to an unknown number of Canadians, Britons, and Australians. For me, examining the psychological traumas experienced by British Home Children is very close to home as the child profiled in my book is my father - Frederick Snow. Neither Waif Nor Stray The Search For A Stolen Identity provides a personal and professional investigation of one British Home Child's life without an identity. It details my father's persistent lifelong efforts to obtain vital information that would have reunited him with his family in England, and the legacy I inherited after my father's death. Our search was typical of thousands of British Home Children and their descendants. Some children were fortunate to be treated as members of Canadian families, but more than half suffered from abuse and neglect. Neither the Canadian government nor the British sending agencies assumed responsibility for their welfare. Many were not allowed to go to school. Many others were not provided with adequate food, clothing, or shelter. They suffered a unique form of prejudice in Canada because of their presumed "tainted" origins. They were ostracized and accused of being carriers of syphilis. They were unwanted in England and unwelcome in Canada. My father became a ward of the Waifs and Strays Society when he was four years old. He never saw his family again. When he was no longer in care, he wrote to them and pleaded for them to ' help one who has been in darkness, and ignorant as to who he is.' My father wrote to them for 50 years and tried to get information about himself and his family.	He never had a birth certificate and had nothing to verify who he was for the first 33 years of his life. For the next 15 years, he carried a tattered To Whom It May Concern letter that stated his name and identified him as 'of British nationality. My father received his Baptism Certificate when he was 48 years old. He was unable to identify his parents or locate his family at the time of his death on his still-unconfirmed 85th birthday in 1994. It took a year for me to obtain his case file from the Children's Society, I discovered they withheld from my father the information he so desperately sought all his life. They didn't readily give it to me. They denied they had information, presented false information, and lied to my father and me. After four more years of searching, I finally identified my grandparents and located four uncles and aunts. I wondered why this organization didn't want my father to know who he was. I was intrigued by the lengths to which these agencies went to irrevocably sever family ties. I cannot understand why many of the sending agencies continue to withhold 100-year-old information that would allow millions to reunite with their families. I hope the successful conclusion of my search will inspire others to persist until they re-establish their familial ties. No one should live their lives without knowing who they are and to whom they belong. It is your birthright to know your heritage.     Perry Snow is the author of Neither Waif Nor Stray: The Search For A Stolen Identity which is published-on-demand on the Internet. Hard copies of the book can be ordered on-line from Amazon in the UK and USA .   Useful Links British Home Children Database National Archives of Canada Canada's Invisible Immigrants Young Immigrants to Canada Teresa Fisher 1897 - 1918 BRITISHHOMECHILDREN-L is a Rootsweb mailing list with over 300 subscribers worldwide who help each other with their searches. Subscribe List Mode Digest Mode
Return to Contents
Beginners Guide to Tracing your Scottish Ancestors The Murky world of Scottish Records by John Arthur
There are various important records which a genealogist will come across during the course of their research. This is by far not a concise list as genealogical research can include Wills, Land registers, ship passenger lists etc. However, these are of greatest importance by far. Statutory Records Civil registration of briths, deaths and marriages did not start in Scotland until 1855, 18 years after England, however the Scottish certificates normally contain more information. Birth Certificates contain date, place and time of birth; All given names of child; names of parents and occupation of father; date and place of parents' marriage; informant's name; usual address if different from place of birth; date of registration and name of registrar. district name and number; entry Number; . Marriage Certificates contain Date and Place of Marriage; Name, Occupation, Address and Marital Status of both Bride and Groom; Names of Parents of both Bride and Groom and Fathers' Occupations: Ages of Bride and Groom; According to Which Church the Wedding Took Place and Name of Clergyman Officiating; Names of Witnesses and sometimes Their Addresses; Date of Registration and Name of Registrar. District Name and Number; Entry Number;	Death Certificates contain Date, Time, Place and Cause of Death; Name of Doctor who certified Death; Name of Informant; Occupation of Deceased; Names of Parents, whether or not they are Deceased and Occupation of Father; Sometimes Name of Spouse but always Age and Marital Status; Date of Registration and Name of Registrar. District Name and Number; Old Parish Registers (OPR's) The old parish registers, which were compiled by the Session Clerks of the individual parishes where a person lived, are the prime source of information prior to the start of Statutory Registration (i.e. Pre-1855). The amount of information for each event recorded in each parish is variable (depending on the individual Session Clerk who was preparing the records) and are sometimes barely legible and, to complicate matters further, some registers are missing altogether. Census Returns Censuses have been taken every 10 years since 1841 and consist of a survey of every household. The information contained in the census returns gives, for each person staying at each individual address in Scotland on the night of the census, the following information:- name, age, Relationship to the head of household, occupation and place of birth. The latest Census Returns open to public access are those for 1891.
John Arthur is the webmaster for Scottish Family Research , a professional genealogy service based in Edinburgh .
Past editions of UK Genealogy News If you like this newsletter and want to see earlier editions you can read them online Edition 1 - September 2000 Edition 2 - October 2000

Visit UK Genealogy , our easy to navigate site. Lots of links, maps and other information.

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