Genealogy Chat

I visit the Essex RO yesterday on behalf of a GR member, and had a wonderful experience. The fisches for the register I needed to look at were missing from the cabinet, so a staff member came and looked for me just in case it had been miss filed.....No she could not find it, so she arranged for the original to come out for me to look at. I was looking at the actual register that the vicar had written in 200 years before, wow.....I felt so privileged, and yes I found what I was looking for. That made my day. kathlyn

I sometime visit the archives at Beverley and was thrilled when the staff produced an old register to look at. This was also for a GR member and I did not find the entry so could not solve their problem. Maureen

It's great ,isn't it? I visited Herefordshire Record Office where they'd not long received the marriage register for the little village, where my relatives lived. Started in 1837, it was only half filled when handed in, in 2004. ....It is a small place, lol.... So many generations of my family had all signed in there. Gwyn

Gwyn, It sends tingles up your spine to see something that was written about 'you', if you see what I mean. Just think, that on that day 200 years ago, none of the people in that church could have imagined that in 200 years someone would be looking at 'their day'. Kathlyn

Isn't it wonderful when you can do that. Several years ago I went to my local Somerset Office and I wondered if any of my ancestors were involved in the Battle of Sedgemoor (a family group lived just 2 miles away from the battlefield). I asked the staff if a list of those captured or executed existed and I was amazed when they brought out the original document signed by Judge Jeffreys for me to read! It sort of sends shivers down your spine when you know you are touching something that old and important. And no my ancestors weren't on the list so if they did get involved they must have nipped home and been safely tucked up in bed before the soldiers arrived! Sue

Sue, If you think about it, this hobby of ours is one gigantic history lesson. I am amazed at the amount of historical knowledge I have gained since embarking of this family path. After all, what would I be doing with my time if I were not sitting at my computer, visiting the RO?????? I could be going out with strange men, swigging the odd G&T, even spending loads of money on a shopping spree!!!!!!!! But no, I sit here, all demure, pounding away at the keyboard. lol lol Kathlyn

I agree. It's seeing the whole picture that makes it so fascinating. I like to get out history books and read about what was going on at the time. I've trawled through hundreds of sites for the various places where ancestors lived finding out about what life was like. For example.......discovering that on the rivers and canals in Somerset many cottages by the waterways were cider houses with doors open on the riverside explains perhaps why some of my boatmen ancestors went on to become publicans when they moved to the towns! Little snippets of information are so valuable too. I discovered that floods on the Somerset Levels used to be so bad that babies' cradles were made like little boats and that some years rabbits were found sheltering up in trees when floods were about. Knowing that a big family branch lived there made me wonder how they survived and what sort of lives they lived when for months at a time only the upstairs of their homes were habitable. Sue

I have never been able to describe just how I felt, when I was allowed to see the Will of my 13 x GGF, written in 1504. I was not allowed to touch it, but the feeling that I COULD reach out my hand and touch his signature, touch the paper he had touched, nearly 500 years later, made me cry with awe. This was the will of a fairly ordinary man just making careful provision for the next generation of his family. He could not have known that his 13 x GGdaughter would one day look at it and say Hi. On a less precious note - if I ever catch a fiche thief red-handed, I shall disembowel them with my umbrella. OC

OC I hope your umberella is one of the long, sharp ones, you know, one like Mary Poppins had. kathlyn

Wow, O.C. that was some experience. I haven't discovered many old Wills yet, but live in hope. Agree re. fiche thieves, - so selfish. Gwyn