Welcome to the winter 2019 newsletter. Here's what we have for you this time around:

Contents

• What's new on Ancestry and Findmypast
• New books on Family History
• What's on in 2020
• Where are they buried?
• Wills online

And here's wishing a very Merry Christmas to one and all!

What’s new on Ancestry?

• Essex Parish Registers - Baptisms (1538-1918), Marriages (1538-1935) and Burials (1538-1994). These are transcriptions only - to view the originals images you can follow the link to Essex Archives Online which is a pay to view site.
• Bristol Parish Registers - Baptisms (1538-1918), Marriages (1538-1935) and Burials (1538-1994). Transcriptions with images.
• Pembrokeshire, Wales, Electoral Registers, 1740-1978

What’s new on Findmypast?

• 1801 Lancashire, Liverpool Census - Discover your Scouse ancestor’s address, occupation and who they were living with in 1801 with over 13,000 new and exclusive early census records.
• Westmorland Parish Records - Transcriptions with images.
• 1939 Register update - over 79,000 closed records searchable for the first time in association with the National Archives. These new additions are currently exclusive to Findmypast.

Free access to these and other online resources is available on any library computer if you are a library member.

Great British family names and their history (2019) John Moss

The history of Great Britain has been largely defined by powerful and influential families, many of whose names have come down to us from Celtic, Danish, Saxon or Norman ancestors. This book is a snapshot of several hundred such family names and delves into their beginnings and derivations, making extensive use of old sources, including translations of The Domesday Book and The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, as well as tracing many through the centuries to the present day.

How to trace your Irish ancestors. 3rd ed. An essential guide to researching and documenting the family histories of Ireland's people (2019) Ian Maxwell

Learn how to research and document your Irish ancestry with this essential guide, newly updated to include the latest genealogy tools. It is aimed primarily at researchers whose time in Irish repositories is limited, and who want to know what is available locally and online. It covers more than eighteen individual sources of information, making it simpler to organise your search and easier to carry it out both locally and on the ground. This books covers: - Where to begin - Researching online - Civil registration - Making sense of census returns, wills, election records - Migration, emigration - Local government and church records.

Tracing your ancestors using DNA, a guide for family and local historians (2019) Graham S. Holton

DNA research is one of the most important and rapidly advancing areas in modern science and the practical use of DNA testing in genealogy is one of its most exciting applications. Yet there is no recent British publication in this field. That is why this accessible, wide-ranging introduction is so valuable. It offers a clear and practical way into the subject, explaining the scientific discoveries and techniques and illustrating with case studies how it can be used by genealogists to gain an insight into their ancestry.

Tracing your Irish family history on the Internet. 2nd ed., Guide for Family Historians (2019) Chris Paton

In this, the fully updated second edition of his bestselling guide to researching Irish history using the internet, Chris Paton shows the extraordinary variety of sources that can now be accessed online. Thanks to the pioneering efforts of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, the National Archives of Ireland, organizations such as Findmypast Ireland, Ancestry.co.uk and RootsIreland and the volunteer genealogical community, an ever-increasing range of Ireland's historical resources are accessible from afar. His book is an essential introduction and source of reference for anyone who is keen to trace their Irish roots.

Tracing your insolvent ancestors, a guide for family and local historians (2019) Paul Blake

Debtors' prisons are infamous but very little has been written about the records of those confined within them. Even less has been written about the trials of those who were often incarcerated following misfortune or mismanagement rather than criminal intent. That is why Paul Blake's handbook will be so useful for researchers who want to find out about forebears who may have been caught up in the insolvency system. He covers the historical background to the handling of debt and debtors, and bankruptcy and bankrupts. He also describes the courts and procedures faced by both creditors and debtors, and the prisons where so many debtors were confined. Throughout the book details are given of the records that researchers can turn to in order to explore the subject for themselves.

We will be trialling a series of Saturday talks around the county covering the basics of starting your family history research. The first one will be in Horsham in January with more to follow. Keep a watch on the What’s on pages for more details.

West Sussex Record Office have launched their 2020 programme of Coffee Time Workshops and Talks on Tuesdays. Places on some of the workshops can go fast so don’t delay in booking your ticket.

This is a common cry from family historians. It is not always easy to trace burial locations but here are a few suggestions…..

• National Burial Index for England and Wales. This can be found on Findmypast (available free in all West Sussex Libraries). This index contains more than 12 million records taken from parish registers, bishop’s transcripts, earlier transcripts or printed registers. The majority of the records cover the period from 1813-1850 but the index does extend in both directions from these dates. The amount of information varies but most include name, age, birth year (might be an estimate), death year, burial date and place, place of worship and denomination.
  
  
• Online collections. There are various collections available through Ancestry and Findmypast (both available for free in all West Sussex Libraries). The latter has records for numerous counties. These are mainly transcriptions of parish registers and can go back to the 1500s.
  
  
• Records supplied by local councils. Just two examples in Sussex are: Adur and Worthing Borough Council, where you can search for burials up to October 2012 in both the Durrington and Broadwater Cemeteries;and Cuckfield Parish Council which provides access to digitised copies of burial registers from 1855 to c.2010
  
  
• Newspapers. Don’t forget to look in local newspapers. There may have been a notice put in to say where a funeral would be held and perhaps actual reports of the service. Many local newspapers can now be accessed online using the British Newspaper Archive (free in all West Sussex Libraries).

When the news that the Probate Service were reducing the charge to obtain a copy of a will to £1.50 family historians dug out their wish lists with delight. Unsurprisingly the high level of demand has resulted in a delay in processing orders and a look round the family history forums shows that many have been waiting months for their wills to arrive. 5 wills ordered on 22 August with an estimated delivery date of 6 September finally arrived over two months later.

So, was it worth the wait? For me - yes. The first of the wills to arrive showed a father leaving a bequest to his illegitimate son, the first time I’d seen written evidence of their connection. The other wills didn’t produce much new information but were still fascinating. The ordering process was easy to use and you receive an email when your will is ready to download. Hopefully the backlog will soon be cleared and the delivery time reduced but as family historians we are used to waiting - there’s still two years to wait for the 1921 census after all!