Researching in England

Researching in England

On occasion, I get a query about doing research in England.



As with any research trip, you get more out of traveling if you are well prepared before your trip. To get the most out of a research trip, you should know what you are looking for, and know where to find it.


If you are researching in the UK, there is a web site that can help you plan your trip:


Ancestor-search.info


In addition to tips on working from home, they include information on "How To" get organized, where you can find local and National Centers, Record Offices, Family History Societies, Parish Registers, Census Returns, Wills, scheduled talks, Calendar of Events, addresses, and local hotels.


For example, if you wanted to research Bristol, go to the section on "Record Centres" select "Record Offices," then "Gloucestershire." Scroll down and you will find the Bristol Record Office, with street address, opening hours, Bristol Record Office Online Catalogue, information about copying materials, web site for the office, the nearby University (library), and where to find bed & breakfast accommodations.


Very nice.


Some of the categories that you can find at this site:


"Organize yourself"


- Courses

- Family History Fairs

- Genealogy talks

- Planning for Archive visits

- Document Photography



"Local Centres"


- Record Offices

- local study centres

- LDS centres

- family history societies

- local history societies



"Sources of information"


- General Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths

- Census returns

- International Genealogical Index (IGI)

- National Burial index

- Parish Registers

- Wills and Other Probate Documents



"Researching from Home"


- Internet Sources

- Subscription sites

- CD Publications

- Microfilm & Microfiche

- Books

- Copy Documents



Plus information about National and International Centers of information.


If you want to plan a trip for research in the UK, this is a web site that could be helpful.

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HAM Counties of Origin in North Carolina video

HAM Surname

Counties of Origin
in North Carolina

I have posted a You Tube video of the Counties of origin of the HAM surname in North Carolina prior to 1830. From the book "A Short History of the HAM Surname in Virginia & NC."




It gives a quick overview of the migration pattern for the HAM surname in North Carolina prior to 1830. Lists names of first inhabitants with the surname HAM(M) by County.


As with the video on Virginia origins, I had to make a judgment call on which person to list and a few adjustments were made in order for the video to make better sense. Sometimes only the last name is mentioned, or the full name is mentioned in a document without any indication if the person actually lived there. In one case, a person is named, but the next year, three people were named as living in the County. Judgment call to include all three (1790 Franklin County). Richard HAM and wife Diana are mentioned in Granville, Bute, and Warren Counties. Should help to distinguish from the Richard HAM of Wayne County. As with (Old) Rhappahannock County in Virginia, Bute and Dobbs Counties were abolished.


A judgment call was made to to include them for this video. So, unlike the Virginia video, I attempted to include the now extinct counties of Bute and Dobbs.



The timeline on these extinct counties looks something like this:


------->1764-------> 1779

Granville -->> Bute County -->> Warren & Franklin Counties



------->1779------->1791------->1799


Dobbs -->> Dobbs & Wayne -->> Wayne, Glasgow & Lenoir -->> Wayne, Greene & Lenoir



Counties_of_Origin_North_Carolina.flv


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vc--suf01A


3.5 minutes, 5 MB


Music by Ilya Gordon, "The GetAway" & "Winterfell"


http://music.download.com/ilyagordon


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Parish Registers on line

Parish Registers on line

from the Internet Archive web site

Here's a genealogy related internet web site that is a thrill to see:



Internet Archive



They have an ongoing project to reproduce parish registers that have been long out of print.
Some of these can be purchased on CDROM from Broderbund, some can be found in our book, "A Short History of the HAM Surname in Virginia & NC."



They offer a small collection of Parish Registers, and is by no means complete.
But, if you'd like to have a copy of the Register in PDF format, or if you'd just like to search it in full text on line, you can do it at this site. (Nice!)



A short list of some of the titles:



Cornwall Parish Registers - (England) full text from the Phillimore Book, first published in 1905

Kent - Parish Register of St. Mary Chislet in England



Lancashire Parish Register #1 - from the Lancashire Parish Register Society

Middlesex - Parish Register of St. George, Hanover Square by John Henry Chapman, 1886

Middlesex - Parish Register of St. James Clarkenwell (part 1) by Robert Hovenden, Harleian Society, 1891

Middlesex - Parish Register of St. James Clarkenwell (part 2) by Robert Hovenden, Harleian Society, 1891

Register of St. Philip's Parish Charles Town, South Carolina, 1720-1758 by Alexander Samuel Salley (1904)



There are a number of parish registers located at this site. The list includes England, Ireland, Scotland, South Carolina, and Virginia. You can do a search for "parish register" among "All Media Types" to find a more complete list.



The only complaint that I could possibly have is that you have to contend with the typographical errors. The typing is usually pretty good, but at times it can throw you off.



Having many of these in our book, it is nice to have a personal PDF copy of these registers on my PC.






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