Bristol & Avon Family History Society

Bristol & Avon Family History Society: "Our Research Room is at the rear of the Bristol Record Office foyer. We have six computers, including three with internet access and 'Ancestry' subscription, and microfiche readers. Use of our resources is free to all and B&AFHS volunteers provide help and advice. Open Wednesday a.m., Thursday p.m. and a.m. on the first two Saturday of the month. Non-members welcome - just walk in. You can also buy a range of books, source materials on fiche and CD and vouchers to access records on the 1901 census and the familyhistoryonline websites."

Avon parishes - Horfield plus index: "Horfield
by Brenda Hardingham - (published in B&AFHS Journal 116 June 2004)

The parish of Horfield, formerly in south Gloucestershire, originally extended over what are now the Bristol suburbs of Bishopston, Golden Hill, Lockleaze, and part of Ashley Down."

Irish Newspapers

Ireland Newspaper Abstracts: "Ireland Old News"

Irish Death Notices and Obituaries: "This page is an index of 54,102 obituaries of people who were born and/or died in Ireland, or whose deaths were mentioned in Irish newspapers. The actual obituaries are not necessarily available online. They have been indexed from newspapers all over the U.S. and Canada, as well as Ireland and elsewhere, including 25,056 entries from The Cork Examiner of the 19th and early 20th century, and 1,947 entries from the 19th century [New York] Irish-American. Refer to the Publications List to identify the sour"

Genealogy Fair:Washington DC USA

Genealogy Fair: April 22 & 23, 2009: "Fifth Annual Genealogy Fair
April 22 & 23, 2009

National Archives Research Center,
Lobby and Pennsylvania Avenue Plaza,
Washington, DC (Enter on Pennsylvania Avenue)

This event is free and open to the public. No reservations are required.

WHEN: Two Days!

* Wednesday, April 22, 2009
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
* Thursday, April 23, 2009
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

WHAT: The National Archives will host its fifth annual Genealogy Fair. The fair showcases Federal records located at the National Archives and professional genealogy organizations’ resources for doing research on family history. We will announce the winners of the National Archives Awards for Excellence in Genealogy during the fair. The fair will provide information and guidance for experienced genealogy professionals and beginners. This event is free and open to the public in partnership with the Foundation for the National Archives."

Electoral registers

Electoral registers: "The British Library has the national collection of electoral registers from 1832 to the present day. The collection is complete from 1947 onwards, but patchy before World War 2.

Access to electoral registers is subject to restriction for 10 years after publication, to comply with legislation on Representation of the People, Data Protection and Human Rights. The registers are arranged by polling district within constituency. There is no alphabetical list of voters. The collection is therefore primarily used for historical and genealogical research, rather than for tracing living people.

The 'Guide to electoral registers in the British Library' (PDF format) provides detailed information about electoral registers and how you can use them. It explains their content and arrangement, how to identify the registers you need, how to find the British Library’s copies, and where else to try if the British Library does not have what you need."

Guide to UK electoral registers in the British Library - PDF format 92.23 KB

Velkommen til Utilis

Velkommen til Utilis: "Utilis leverer programmer og IT-understøttelse til slægtsforskere og slægtsforskning. Foreløbig drejer det sig kun om AO Værktøjer og kirkebogsindeksering.
Instructions in english

Lynn Christiansen has created some great documents for arkivalieronline and AO Værktøjer."

FTM Transferring Files

Ancestry.com Blog - » Family Tree Maker: Transferring Trees: "Whether you’re finally upgrading to a new system or you need to reformat your hard drive to get rid of a pesky virus (yep, that was me last week), at some point you’ll need to transfer your tree. And a few quick tips can help you move your tree–without losing any information"

GenForum is still worth checking out

GenForum - Google Search: "Over 14000 online forums devoted to genealogy, including surnames, US states, countries, and general topics."

GenForum - Home

Ball Families Living in England and Wales in 1891 - Ancestry.com
BALL Name Meaning and History

1. English: nickname for a short, fat person, from Middle English bal(le) ‘ball’ (Old English ball, Old Norse b{o,}llr).
2. English: topographic name for someone who lived on or by a knoll or rounded hill, from the same Middle English word, bal(le), used in this sense.
3. English: from the Old Norse personal name Balle, derived either from ballr ‘dangerous’ or b{o,}llr ‘ball’.
4. South German: from Middle High German bal ‘ball’, possibly applied as a metonymic occupational name for a juggler, or a habitational name from a place so named in the Rhine area.
5. Dutch and German: short form of any of various Germanic personal names formed with the element bald (see Bald).

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

Ball Family Genealogy Forum - hardly one family :-)
also
RootsWeb: Genealogy Mailing Lists: BALL Surname
and
Ball - Family History & Genealogy Message Board - rootsweb.com

the only relevant message for my own research was by me in 2004
BALL Bristol Gloucester Swindon England and Cardiff Neath Wales - Ball - Family History & Genealogy Message Board - rootsweb.com
and my own ancestor
RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project: WATKINS LAPHAM updated 2009:
"1 Thomas Buckingham Ball b: BET 1806 AND 1811 d: BEF 1851
+ Elizabeth Keene b: BET 1796 AND 1798 d: AFT 1871"

and my cousins of whom I still have not found any living descendants via Neath or Swindon

  2 William Thomas Stevens Ball b: BET 1831 AND 1832 d: BEF SEP 1901
     + Margaret Smith b: ABT 1836 d: AFT 1901
       3 Elizabeth Fanny (Ely) Ball b: 29 JUN 1857
       3 Frederick William Ball b: ABT AUG 1859 d: BEF 6 MAR 1861
       3 Margaret Jane Ball b: BEF JUN 1860
         + William J. Foyle b: ABT 1861
           4 Fanny E. Foyle b: 1887
       3 Ann Phipps Ball b: MAR 1862 d: JUN 1862
       3 Thomas William Ball b: SEP 1863
       3 Frederick Augustus Ball b: BEF SEP 1871 d: MAR 1890
       3 Minnie Phipps Ball b: BEF SEP 1871
   2 George Augustus Ball b: AUG 1833 d: JUN 1886
     + Sarah - b: ABT 1830 d: DEC 1916
       3 Fanny Bartley Ball b: ABT 1854
         + Aram Llewellyn Williams b: ABT 1853 d: DEC 1915
           4 Anne Williams b: ABT 1883
       3 George Thomas Ball b: JUN 1857
         + Maria Briant Hutchins b: ABT 1855
           4 Percy William Ball b: MAR 1880
       3 Willam Buckingham Ball b: DEC 1861 d: JUN 1863
       3 Edward Keene Ball b: MAR 1864 d: JUN 1922
       3 Anne Phipps Ball b: BEF MAR 1868
         + John Wynne Jones b: ABT 1868
           4 Edward W Jones b: ABT 1894

GenealogyBlog

GenealogyBlog
an old blogger - me
blogging a blogger - them (Leland & Patty Meitzler.)
blogging Dick Eastman:-

Eastman’s “Family Stories and Other Fairy Tales”

Filed in Genealogy How-To, Immigration/Emigration, Oral History on Apr.14, 2009

Dick Eastman just posted a very good article dealing with what he calls “Family Stories and Other Fairy Tales.” It’s educational and an excellent read - mainly dealing with our ancestors’ immigration to America and the stories that often surround it. Check it out.

and their nautamagazine GenealogyBlog: of April 15, 2009 is all worth a look

Funding libraries in USA

From Awareness to Funding: A study of library support in America [OCLC - Membership reports]: "OCLC was awarded a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to explore attitudes and perceptions about library funding and to evaluate the potential of a large-scale marketing and advocacy campaign to increase public library funding in the U.S". . . . . - report

PAF

Genealogy's Star: PAF is not dead -- yet: ". . . . with today's higher standards, especially in the area of source citations, I must say that PAF is very much lacking in desirable features.
For example, PAF provides the ability to cite a source only for selected events, none of the events entitled 'Other' such as Title, Married Name, Nickname, Cause of Death etc. have source links. Also, there are no source links for common dates, like Death, Burial, Birth and Christening. The link is on the place field which makes the unfounded assumption that both the place and date records were obtained from the same source.

I could go on and on with issues with the program, but either you recognize its limitations and are willing to live with them, or you are oblivious to the limitations.

It is interesting that many of the newer programs preserve this lack of distinction between dates and places, possibly passing on their relationship to the PAF program."

FamilySearch.org - Family History and Genealogy Records
Personal Ancestral File (PAF) is a free genealogy and family history program. PAF allows you to quickly and easily collect, organize and share your family history and genealogy information.
Download PAF

stolen children

Al Jazeera English - 101 East - India's sold children: "Despite its impressive economic growth, India is home to over one-third of the global poor.

The World Bank estimates that about 456 million people are living below the poverty line, unable to access proper medical care, shelter or food.

And the most vulnerable among them are children.

In this edition of 101 East, we look at how trafficking, adoption and surrogacy affect India's struggling families, with children sometimes seen as a commodity to be sold."

Genealogy Industry Metrics

Genealogy Industry Metrics - Metrics and Tracking of the Genealogy Industry

Top 9 - All Genealogy/Family History sites (Alexa Rankings)

12 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

Internet-Genealogy Blog

Internet-Genealogy Blog: "Featuring DearMYRTLE's take on news and information published in Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy, Discovering Family History, and History Magazine."

DearREADERS,
WELCOME to this first posting of the Internet-Genealogy Blog, something Ol' Myrt here hopes will be a marvelous adventure as we learn to solve our ancestral challenges together with advice from some of the best genealogy columnists and researchers to be found. The home for this new blog on the web is http://blog.internet-genealogy.com. (Be sure to insert the hyphen in there!)

BLOG TOPICS
The basis for six blog entries each week will be quotes from the following Moorshead Magazines, Ltd.:

• Family Chronicle http://www.familychronicle.com
• History Magazine http://www.history-magazine.com
• Internet Genealogy http://www.internet-genealogy.com
• Discovering Family History http://www.discoveringfamilyhistory.com

And, of course, you can count on Ol' Myrt here to have an opinion or two -- thrown in for good measure.

still going strong as well DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog

Genealogy Technology

Genealogy Technology - Weekly Prompt #14 « Rootsfinder Family History: "This WordPress blog is the new home of my personal genealogy research."
For organizing my family trees, I use Reunion 9 for the Mac. Prior to my the switch to Mac, I used Family Tree Maker for about nine years.

FTM 2009 Bombing

FTM 2009 Bombing when going to reports. - Family Tree Maker software - Family History & Genealogy Message Board - Ancestry.com: "This has happened since FTM 2008, when I publish the whole program bombs.. pretty annoying, so I go back to the best software to date..FTM 16. Well every time I get the new update I think things will be better, but they still suck. Bombs. So everytime this starts up I end up restoring my computer before and giving a clean install to find out I still think the software is horrible. (2 versions and a few updates later). Anyhow, have yet to utilize this software since the latest update due the problems stated. Anyone know how to keep the report section from bombing without having to restore the machine... it gets old."

DomainMachine

ø Wikapedia .com - Official ø

WHAT?
DomainMachine - The Domain Traffic Analysis Tool

The European Library

Newsletter section - The European Library -: "In celebration of the current hosts of the EU Presidency, this month’s newsletter covers everything concerning the Czech Republic. As one of The European library partners, we are pleased to welcome Mr. Pavel Hazuka, Director General of the National Library of the Czech Republic – NKP - as our latest Chief Editor.

'The NKP is the largest and one of the oldest public libraries in our country. Its extensive collection covers over 6.4 million items (and is topped up with over 100,000 additional pieces every year). The library’s role is pivotal in professional, educational, research, standardisation and consultation activities within the Czech Republic’s library network.'"

The Ancestry Insider

The Ancestry Insider: You've Seen the Movie, Now Read the List: "Researchers at a state library in Sydney, Australia have found a copy of Schindler's famous list. While there is no single, original list, this copy has special significance. The list was found among the papers of Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler's Ark. Before Keneally wrote this book, Oskar Schindler's heroic story was largely unknown. The book and the story then inspired Steven Spielberg's famous movie. Keneally carried this 13-page copy of the list as he went about doing research for the book. He obtained this copy of a carbon-copy from Leopold Pfefferberg, number 173 on the list, who encouraged Keneally to tell Schindler's story. The carbon copy was produced along with the original in 1944 or 1945, during which time several copies were typed up. Carbon copies were created since the originals were submitted to Nazi officials."

NEW RootsWeb: Genealogy Mailing Lists: ANCESTRYCOM

RootsWeb: Genealogy Mailing Lists: ANCESTRYCOM: "Topic: Topics relating to the subscription service; Ancestry.com"

SHOESTRING GENEALOGY by DAE POWELL

SHOESTRING GENEALOGY: Genealogy Mistakes:
"Mistakes about national origin can confuse a family's history.

Your great grandmother may have denied a particular nationality because it was not 'the thing to be' in her day. Consequently, your grandmother might pass on to you what she believes to be the truth; in reality, though, great grandmother 'withheld evidence.'

One of the major drawbacks of family genealogies and histories, especially those published in the Nineteenth Century, is the lack of adequate documentation. As often as not, the author — in his zeal to trace the family back to the Mayflower or other illustrious beginnings — made serious mistakes. The most common one was assuming that an ancestor was the son of a particular man with the same name without proper documentation.

While vital records are the most important records for genealogists, their availability varies widely from area to area, as previously mentioned. An additional problem is that information found in them is not always accurate. Early records may not be complete, the person providing the information may have given inaccurate data either intentionally or by mistake, or other errors have occured in copying or indexing.

In using a census index, be certain that you have looked for your surname in all of its possible spelling variations. Remember also that indices, including those produced by a computer, are subject to human error. Every genealogist has a horror story about printed census indices; studies show that the error rate is high because of improper key punching or misreading of the original records. So if you don't find your ancestor in an index it doesn't necessarily mean that he cannot be found in the census. You may often have to search every name in a given county before you find him.

Gravestones, too, are sometimes erected many years after a person dies and may contain erroneous dates. Mayhap the stonecutter erred or was given the wrong information. Be careful, too, of printed compilations of cemetery records (this applies to other published material, such as marriage records), because errors can be made in copying, indexing or publishing."

Kimberly Powell, no relation, lists Top Ten Genealogy Mistakes to Avoid, in an article found at: About.com

Mistake #1: Don't Misspell the Word Genealogy . . . .

Gloucestershire Family History Society

GFHS Home Page: "GFHS Family History Open Day 18 April 2009

If your ancestors came from any part of Gloucestershire, whether the Cotswolds, the Severn Vale, or the Forest of Dean, then we are the society for you."

About AGRA

About AGRA: "The Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA) was founded to maintain and promote high standards of professional conduct in the field of genealogy and the reporting of historical research. Although originally its members were all involved in the profession of genealogy, in recent years applications for membership have been accepted from those engaged in other research disciplines. AGRA welcomes as members all those who can attain these standards and wish to promote this ideal by joining an association that is recognised for its integrity and expertise.

The Association, formerly known as the Association of Genealogists and Record Agents, was founded in 1968 and incorporated as a limited company in April 1998. In July 2001 the name was changed to The Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives to reflect more accurately the nature and scope of the members’ work, experience and knowledge."

AGRA membership: "write to the Secretaries:-

AGRA
29 Badgers Close
HORSHAM
West Sussex
RH12 5RU
United Kingdom

stating how many years you have been engaged in full or part-time professional research

The Affiliate Scheme was enlarged in January 2007 to encourage people
who are thinking about beginning a fee earning genealogical service."

HAPPY EASTER

When I stayed with my granny at Usk we would visit, clean up and put some flowers on the family grave for Easter Week.

Instead of virtual daffodils may I suggest readers post details of the location of ancestral graves known to them to relevant lists or notice boards.

Which will be usefully archived for descendants and cousins to find when you and I are long gone



from
<http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=jones_raglan&id=I116>

John Jones b: 1816 d: BET 1881 AND 1891
+ Mary Holmes b: 1816

probably St Cadocs Churchyard, Raglan, Monmouthshire, Wales

3 Edward Jones b: BEF JAN 1842 d: 18 JUL 1900
+ Mary Jones b: 1848 d: 12 MAY 1887
Rustic italiante cross in white marble near north wall
St Cadocs Churchyard, Raglan, Monmouthshire, Wales

4 Blanche Eveline Jones b: 5 JUN 1874 d: 5 JUL 1953
+ Alfred Henry Watkins b: 13 AUG 1862 c: 2 NOV 1862 d: 2 JAN 1935
5 Hilda Mary Watkins b: 19 MAY 1903 d: 21 MAR 1928
white marble cross - now lichen greened
by the war memorial and west wall St Mary's churchyard Usk

5 Alfred Henry (David) Watkins b: 17 AUG 1907 d: 24 SEP 1942
lost at sea HMS Somali

+ Alison Mary Lapham b: 16 MAY 1908 d: 22 DEC 1999
her ashes spread in her garden at 230 Widney LAne, Solihull by the apple tree - probaly under the corner of the new owner's double garage

==============================

=========

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=hughw36&id=I0375

St Mary's Llanfair Kilgeddin, monmouthshire Wales
WATKINS Family Grave is by the south eas corner of the church

Thomas Watkins b: ABT 1763 d: 20 AUG 1837
Rebecca Watkins b: ABT 1796 d: 6 MAY 1859
Thomas Watkins b: 4 MAY 1821 d: 28 MAR 1879
+ Margaret Bill b: BET 28 APR 1818 AND 1822 d: 11 MAR 1895
3 Thomas Watkins b: 1847 c: 19 DEC 1847 d: JUL 1934
+ Frances (Fanny) Maria Holmes b: 8 JUN 1851 d: 1921'

and with other descendants and siblings

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=hughw36&id=I0009

some of their children
Vivian Holmes Watkins b: ABT 1890 d: 20 FEB 1915
Cemetery:PONTYPOOL (PANTEG) CEMETERY Monmouthshire, United Kingdom
Grave or Reference Panel Number:A. 6.

http://www.cwgc.org.uk/detailed.asp?casualty=390149

4 Horace Holmes Watkins b: ABT 1891 d: 21 OCT 1914
Cemetery:YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIALIeper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Grave or Reference Panel Number:Panel 22

4 Mervyn Holmes Watkins b: BEF SEP 1893 d: 18 SEP 1918
Cemetery: DOIRAN MILITARY CEMETERYGreece
Grave or Reference Panel Number: I. E. 6.

========================
my mother's parents
Grave 64 Dark Blue AB , Canford Cemetery, Westbury-On-Trym, Bristol, England

2 Alfred Thomas Lapham b: 15 OCT 1872 d: 30 JUL 1961
+ Florence Caroline Evans b: 13 JUN 1877 d: 1 FEB 1956

FreeBMD Home Page

FreeBMD Home Page an ongoing project, the aim of which is to transcribe the Civil Registration index of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales,

from my email a good idea:-

"With all my certificates I go to Free BDM and add a "post it" with details
on the certificate and my contact address.
. . . . In Oz.

ARCHIVIO DI STATO DI COSENZA

Portale della Storia degli Italiani - Home page
TITLE: ARCHIVIO DI STATO DI COSENZA
DESCRIPTION: Archives of Cosenza Province in Calabria, Italy. Index of birth, death, marriage and Army enlistments from 1800 - 1900. Registration required, but free.

ARCHIVIO DI STATO DI COSENZA - Google Search

Archivio di Stato di Cosenza: HomePage

Archivio di Stato di Cosenza: Indice dei Sevizi: "'Archivio di Stato di Cosenza istituito con legge organica sugli archivi del 12 novembre 1818 con il nome di Archivio provinciale di Calabria Citra, solo nel 1845 ricevette il primo versamento del fondo Intendenza a cui si aggiunsero i registri dello Stato Civile, quindi la documentazione dell'Amministrazione finanziaria ed altri documenti. Si può dire che solo dal 1861 -anno in cui fu avviato un primo tentativo di ordinamento e iniziato anche uno scarto- svolse pienamente il suo ruolo istituzionale di Archivio. Dal 1866 fu alle dipendenze dell'Amministrazione Provinciale, conservando la vecchia denominazione, che cambiò nel 1932 in Archivio Provinciale di Stato, nel 1939 in Sezione Archivio di Stato e finalmente nel 1963, con D.P.R. 30 settembre in Archivio di Stato."

and with my thanks to the email update from Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet

bloglines,rss,atom,newsreader,feed,aggregator,syndication.

βloglines | Preview of GENEALOGE
and HAPPY EASTER and thank you to our first ten subscribers

usenet news soc.genealogy.medieval

Frequently Asked Questions for soc.genealogy.medieval

soc.genealogy.medieval is an unmoderated newsgroup for the discussion of genealogy and family history among people researching individuals who lived in medieval times. The primary focus of the group is likely to be on Europe and neighboring regions, but postings about genealogy in other areas during this time period are welcomed.

The mailing list associated with the soc.genealogy.medieval newsgroup is GEN-MEDIEVAL. The newsgroup and mailing list are gated, i.e., all email sent to the mailing list also appears as a posting in the newsgroup, and all postings in the newsgroup (except those that originated with the mailing list) are emailed to the mailing list. See question 2 for information about subscribing to the mailing list.

All who have access to soc.genealogy.medieval or GEN-MEDIEVAL and are interested in genealogy in the medieval period are are welcome to participate.

The medieval period is loosely defined for the purposes of this group as the period extending from the breakup of the (Western) Roman Empire until the time public records (such as church, tax, and census records) relating to the general population began to be kept. This period would extend roughly from AD 500 to AD 1600, but these limits are not intended to exclude related topics of discussion lying outside of these boundaries, e.g., royal or noble genealogy in earlier time periods. A related mailing list is the GEN-ROYAL list, and questions relating solely to royal genealogy after about AD 1600 should be raised there.

The scope of the group reflects the different nature of genealogical research in the medieval period. Vital records and census records are not available for this period, and the researcher must rely instead on records of inheritance of property or tenancy, heraldic visitations, monastic charters, chronicles, onomastic evidence, and even numismatic evidence. The group is intended to address all these various facets.

• To search the GEN-MEDIEVAL mailing list archives, go to http://searches.rootsweb.com/gen-medieval.html

  A second archive, established in May 1999, threads the messages posted to GEN-MEDIEVAL since then. It is available at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/GEN-MEDIEVAL-L/. A description of both of these, along with the appropriate links, can be found at http://www.rootsweb.com/~medieval/arch.htm.

• Go to http://groups.google.com/groups?group=soc.genealogy.medieval to search the soc.genealogy.medieval newsgroup archives, which, due to a gating problem between the mailing list and the newsgroup, should contain the same set of messages from 24 January 1998 to now (the gating was unreliable prior to that). Be sure you click on "Search only in soc.genealogy.medieval", then enter your query in the query box, and click on "Google Search". All of the discussions on soc.genealogy.medieval are also available on that webpage, the most recent first.