Quedgeley News March 2012 Issue Number 189

7,100 Houses each month get a copy and all the doctor, dentist etc waiting rooms
Telling the Family Story by Christine Bentley
Genealogy, better known as family history, is one of the fastest growing hobbies , it’s also very addictive!
Some people haven’t got the slightest interest in anyone further back than their grandparents while others
are keen to know who they are descended from, what they did and how they lived. Rather than finding
that they are related to a Lord or a member of the Royal family, it seems people are pleased, (if that is the
word), to find that they have ancestors who were thieves, murderers or were transported to Australia.
How much more interesting to find that your four times great grandfather stole a sheep and was given two
years in prison than to know you’re descended from a Lord!
Years ago, the only sources for family historians were record offices, libraries or parish churches but now
there is so much information that can be accessed on a computer. While there is nothing wrong with looking
at the actual records it can be a long and arduous job and anything that makes searching easier has to be
welcomed. Many websites have images of the records so you can see for yourself what was written
perhaps two hundred or more years ago. Access to the census shows addresses and occupations and
gives an idea of the area in which your relatives lived and worked.
There are thousands of free to view websites that contain lots of information, meaning that family history
research can be done at no cost and websites like FreeBMD or Familysearch can be the best places to start to
find relatives. There is a huge wealth of information on websites like Ancestry or Find My Past but that is only
available for a fee. Credits can be bought in smaller amounts but they have time limits that have to be adhered to.
Anyone with a library card can access 19
‘Bliss’ ‘Bliss’ ‘Bliss’ ‘Bliss’ ‘Bliss’ Beauty Salon
Spoil Spoil yourself yourself with with with a a little little ‘ME’ ‘ME’ time!
time!
th century newspapers or the London Gazette as well as other
documents. All that is needed is their library number to access the Virtual Reference Library on
www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/libraries. Even if no relatives are found in the newspapers, it is
surprising to see that all the things we complain about today were being complained about 150 years ago,
the Government, crime, litter and bad roads, to name just a few.
The one part of family history research that can get expensive is the buying of certificates, whether birth,
marriage or death. Civil registration began in 1837 and while a lot of information can be found on family
history websites, a certificate can be useful as it gives information that otherwise wouldn’t be available. It
is always best to apply to the General Register Office or the local Register Offices. The GRO certificates
cost £9.25 each but, if you want them very quickly, the cost rises to an eye-watering £23.40. Some
genealogy websites often encourage the ordering of certificates via their website but this can be far more
expensive. One of the pitfalls of buying certificates is that you send away for one only to find that it’s for
someone with the same name but you know it can’t possibly be your relative, meaning that you have spent
£9.25 for nothing. It always pays to be as sure as you can before ordering a certificate.
One of the things to be prepared for when researching beloved family members is that your research can
throw up some facts that perhaps it was best not to know. Illegitimacy - when there is no father’s name on
a birth certificate or the birth of a child two months after what was obviously a shotgun wedding can raise
eyebrows if nothing else. Care has to be taken when passing on information to other family members
because what could be looked on as “not that bad” in these modern times could be a cause of great
embarrassment or distress to older people.
With my family consisting of farmers, bankrupt grocers
and with reports in the newspapers of failed court
cases and contact with women of easy virtue, I have
plenty of relatives to make my family research
interesting to say the least.
On behalf of Quedgeley Methodist Church
I would like to thank everyone who came to our
Christmas Fayre, donated items or helped on the day,
because of all the support we raised the magnificent
total of £1006. 00p. This will help with the costs of
keeping our Church open. THANK YOU ALL SO
MUCH.” Kathleen Marsh – Events Organiser.
Page 12
18 Mount Pleasant, Kingsway
Tel: 01452 723879
Please visit my website for
full list of treatments
www.blissbeauty.org