Friends and Family History

 

Image by Fuzzy Rescue from Pixabay

The last few months have been full of catching up with friends I haven’t seen for some time, and in one case meeting a former work colleague I’d only ever talked with on Zoom!

While reflecting on these joyful catchups, I realised that although it wasn’t necessarily the origin of our friendships, it was certainly a shared interest. Here are some online family history resources in honour of these friends’ different ancestries. 

Pat

Although she has a variety of ancestral origins, Pat’s maternal roots are firmly in England. A key resource that I’m sure she’s used (I certainly have when researching English relatives) is Online Parish Clerks. Run by volunteers, these focus on specific parishes or counties, listing the whereabouts of records that cover the area. Warwickshire, for instance, has an excellent parish clerk site which gives the addresses of local archives and heritage centres as well as links to online record sources and reference websites. It also explains the OPC scheme and how to get involved, if you’re interested.

Amanda

There aren't many Englishwomen as proud of their Scottish roots as Amanda! She loves the county of Perthshire where her family hale from, which bonds us a bit as my maternal ancestry is from the same area. Keekin for Kin is a downloadable, free booklet produced by Perth & Kinross Council, aimed at those curious about their family tree. It’s beautifully produced and full of helpful pointers. It mentions Perth’s Black Watch Museum, and I can heartily recommend the archive services there – I’ve previously blogged about my experience at https://scotsancestors.blogspot.com/2022/04/on-trail-of-my-military-mcintoshes.html

Julia

American by heritage but Scottish by residence, Julia has recently been thinking a bit about her ancestry. I recommended the FamilySearch website to her, but in retrospect I should also have told her about the U.S. Library of Congress website. It hosts historic newspaper collections which you can search by keyword, as well as maps dating back to at least the Civil War era. Other collections include music, photographs, and moving images. It’s an absolute treasure trove!

Sheila

A proud Londoner, Sheila is slightly related to me by marriage 😁 and is a keen genealogist, which makes her a fantastic relative to have! Layers of London lets you explore the social history of her city, and it’s totally fascinating to look at the places where people used to live. Different aspects like health, housing, crime, industry, and war are highlighted, allowing you to search for a particular place, or just browse a neighbourhood or street through time. Warning: it can take up more of your time than you expect.

Claire

Born and bred in Ireland, Claire doesn’t need me to tell her about any of the available online Irish resources – it’s what she does for a living! However, I’m a bit of a novice when it comes to these, so it’s always a schoolday when I receive Claire’s e-mail newsletter. She shares helpful techniques for tracing Irish genealogy, especially using DNA, and addresses a variety of related topics in her blog. You can catch up with that, and subscribe to her newsletter at https://cbgenealogy.ie.

Oh, and Claire – Shropshire bastardy bonds 😉 

https://www.shropshirearchives.org.uk/blog/finding-old-poor-law-records