But... where else can you find information on your ancestors? Below, in no particular order, are a few strange and not so strange resources for finding ancestors.
Books:
Yes, the good old book can give so much information but quite often are over-looked because in order to find that one bit of information you have to trawl through pages and pages. However, if you have a brick-wall, finding a relevant book could be the key to unlocking a stumbling block in your research.
So what book do you look for? Think about the clues your ancestor has left. What was their occupation? Have you found them listed as a journeyman on one of the census? A journeyman is someone who has just finished an apprenticeship and is in-between jobs so to speak. Say for instance your ancestor was a journeyman watchmaker, there should be records showing his (or her) time as an apprentice. Many of our ancestors would have been apprentices because it was a good way to train young people in order to give them a profession. There are many books available listing apprenticeship records. Here at Somerset Genealogy have recently acquired the rather rare (and expensive!) British Clockmakers & Watchmakers APPRENTICE RECORDS 1710-1800 by Dennis Moore.
This book gives the master and apprentices name, place, start date of apprenticeship, duration of apprenticeship and how much was paid for the apprenticeship. This book helped crack a case for a client who could find only one reference to an ancestor. A very valuable resource if you have a clock or watchmaker in your lineage.
One of the true gems in our collection is a unique ledger by 'George W Millard,Solicitor of Axbridge, Somerset. 1843 - 1846'. This is a hand-written one-of-a-kind document that indexes and copies letters written and received in his post as solicitor between 1843 - 1846. We suspect many of the original letters no longer exist so this is a very important historical document.
We also have digitised 'Who's Who in Somerset' (published 1934) which is available on Kindle and soon available in CD format.
Somerset Genealogy has invested heavily in numerous rare and out-of-print publications that have proved invaluable in our research service and many of these resources cannot be found online.
We also have digitised 'Who's Who in Somerset' (published 1934) which is available on Kindle and soon available in CD format.
Somerset Genealogy has invested heavily in numerous rare and out-of-print publications that have proved invaluable in our research service and many of these resources cannot be found online.
A small selection of Somerset Genealogy's private collection |
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Some rarer volumes from S.R.S |
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Our books cover all aspects of Somerset life including martime history |
Somerset Poll Taxes from mid 1300s |
Tokens;
We used 'Seventeenth Century Tokens of the British Isles and Their Values by Michael Dickinson' to re-enforce (as much as possible) a spouse of an early ancestor who stuck his own coins. There was some confusion as to whether this particular man married a lady named Mary or a lady called Anne. The coin he stuck bore his initials along with what could be his spouse, which in this case was an 'A'. We would like to point out that we are not experts on tokens and coins but the stuck coin along with documentation gave more weight to him being married to Anne rather than Mary.
Of course there are literally thousands books you can use and it's a question of pin-pointing which best suits your needs.
Schools;
Although schools have been around for centuries, prior to the 19th century, there were very few schools for the working classes. However schools can hold some interesting more recent information. Many have memorial plaques for past students who fell during the great wars. One of the stranger things we have found is an LP listing pupils who took part in a school play in Bridgwater in the 1970's. Of course, many schools hold records (the paper kind) of former students.
Ebay:
Ebay is a wonderful resource for finding genealogical material. A few years back we purchased an original 1915 Bridgwater Mercury newspaper. In 1915 WWI was in full swing and many local (Somerset) men had articles published about them. If you are lucky enough to find a local newspaper listed on Ebay, it's worth buying as you never know what you'll find! Another favourite of ours is old postcards. Surprisingly, they can give a great deal of information. Not only will they have an address, but quite often give a personal insight by whoever wrote it. Another great resource is original documents, Ebay is full of them and are well worth purchasing if you are lucky enough to find one for your ancestor.
The short list above is just a taste of different resources you could use to compliment your existing research or to breakdown brick-walls. We believe the more 'evidence' you find on an ancestor, the better as it adds flesh to the bones of their life story.
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