FAMILY HISTORY

Family History, or genealogy. can be defined as ‘the direct descent of an individual or group from an ancestor.’ However, we tend to look at this the other way round. We know who we are, but who were our ancestors? Perhaps many of can say: "Well, I know when and where I was born, I am pretty sure I also know when and where my parents were born, but my grandparents? I am really not sure." Our quest is not only to find our grandparents, but also then our great-grandparents, then our great-great-grandparents and so on, as far back as we can go . . . .

A fascinating hobby (and that can become very addictive, if one is not careful!) and our Group meets, at 10am, on the third Wednesday of each month in Ian Tomes’s home in Upper Weare. Meetings normally start with covering any administrative points and with individual members mentioning any new sources that have come to light or facts of general interest. One member at each meeting then updates us on the latest position as regards his or her research and we all then try and help with suggestions and advice, especially where the member has hit a ‘brick wall.’ After that the discussion becomes open and although the conversations spread we try and home in subjects of topical interest.

Our hobby in recent years had become much easier with the internet and a vast amount of data is now available on a very, very wide variety of websites. For example you can now look up the birth, marriage and death registration of every person in this country from 1837 onwards and also view every census from 1841 to 1911.

At the moment, we are limiting our activities to our monthly meetings, but some of us have visited family history fairs (there is one in Weston-Super-Mare every couple of years) and have been a number of times to the National Archives in Kew.

New members are most welcome (we can squeeze in a few more around our dining room table) and it really doesn’t matter if you have never tackled the subject before. We can get you started (and hopefully addicted!)

HOME