Genealogy Chat

Does anyone belong to this or to any other affiliation, and do you recommend it?

They allow day membership to their London building, so I've never had the need for long-term membership (don't get to London often enough). They had very many records transcribed and indexed so the visits were a great help.

I was a paid member of Cambridgeshire Family History Society and they were (and still are) most useful for expertise, sales of microfiche, look-ups etc.

But, with the explosion of information available online, I guess these reputable organisations are now competing on many fronts!

Diane,

My advice is to find out if there is a local family history society to cover the area you are interested in. I am a member of the Glamorgan Family History Society and they have been absolutely brilliant for information. I have got parish registers (at reasonable prices), information on cemeteries and headstones, newsletters and found other members interested in the same area. They often do look-ups for members and research as well and because they specialise in one area they have lots of useful information.

Lynn

Diane,

It depends what your interests are. Since large chunks of my family come from Suffolk and as the SoG has manuscript copies of the Bishop's transcripts for many, if not most, of the Suffolk parish registers I have found the membership facilities invaluable. However, the coverage varies from county to county. Have a look at their online library catalogue to see whether the area you are interested in is well served.

Peter

Sean, Lynn, Peter, thanks for your input. My problem is my ancestors are so widespread!!

Day-membership could be very valuable though, I didn't know that was on offer...

Diane,

I will reply to your pm on here as it may be useful to other readers. If you go on the Society's webpage, and then click on the catalogue (sogcat), you can search to see what holdings they have. In fact they seem to cover the two parishes you are interested in quite well.

Peter

I belong to SOG and have found it absolutely invaluable. The parish records are an obvious draw but their library can hold the most remarkable gems and is well worth an entire day just browsing the relevant county shelves.

Jan

Jan thanks for your post.

Are we saying the SOG has parish records that are not in the county records offices? Or just that by visiting the SOG you have access to more than one county in one place?

The latter Diane - but as another post said you need to check what records they do hold via their on line catalogue. They don't have everything. They also hold certain transcripts in their library so you can double check your findings from the original records.

Jan